When Pesha was around nine years old, she fell from a tree and hit her head, and that was when she realized that this world was inside a romance-fantasy novel.
In the original story, ‘Pesha Rydell’ was a wicked villainess who tormented the female protagonist, Io Clark.
According to the original, ‘Pesha’ was a childhood friend of the same age as Io. She had always subtly looked down on her, but when Io’s circumstances began to improve, she could not overcome her jealousy and tormented her like a madwoman.
However, the end of villainess was always merciless.
‘Even after marrying the male lead, she still doesn’t come to her senses and keeps setting traps, until the male lead ends up killing her.’
And since she died early in the original story, that meant she would not even live long enough to enjoy a long life before dying young.
She had been born as the daughter of a prestigious ducal family, only to end up with such an unfair fate!
Pesha racked her brains from every angle.
‘If wicked deeds are the problem, then can’t I just live a good life?’
Yes, that was all there was to it.
‘If I treat Io well, I can become a kind helper to the male lead instead of a villainess!’
It would be even better if they could simply have nothing to do with each other at all!
The two protagonists would share a thousand-year love just as they did in the original, so if she helped that love along, all her problems would be solved.
Io would live happily in her own way, while Pesha would distance herself as far as possible from the original story and spend a leisurely old age living off the ducal family’s fortune.
It was a perfect plan.
“……That’s what I thought, anyway.”
When she muttered quietly, Duke Rydell shouted at her with a face red with anger.
“Are you listening to me or not?! You’ve gone too far! Do you think your father is a joke?”
Pesha let out a deep sigh inwardly, then furrowed her brows into a sorrowful expression and shook her head.
“Of course not, Father. I just thought Count Namoi was far too good for me. Wouldn’t my friend Io be a better match for him? It might not be too late yet. Even now…….”
Smack!
She had only gotten that far when Pesha was slapped across the face, her head snapping to the side.
The cheek struck by a hand as large as a serving tray stung.
A surge of fire rose in her chest, but Pesha endured it like a dignified lady.
“Are you still on about that? Lady Clark is a precious purification mage! Do you really think His Majesty the Emperor would marry her off to some commoner-born nobody like that?”
Then what about me?
The words surged all the way to the tip of her tongue, but even if she asked, her father’s answer would already be decided.
Yet contrary to what her father had said, if Io truly was a precious purification mage, then all the more reason she should marry Owen Namoi.
After all, she was probably the only person capable of purifying the corrupted eastern lands.
“Are you wronged? Then you should have been born with purification magic too!”
Her father spoke as though purification magic were nothing more than carrots or potatoes sold at the market, but there were so few people born with that power that they could be counted on one hand in the entire country.
Naturally, Io’s value skyrocketed.
Since Io had purification power as well, Pesha had naturally assumed she would marry Owen.
In the original story, Io lived a life of being mistreated and did not even know that she possessed purification power before being forced to marry Owen by the Emperor’s command.
At first, she was treated poorly because Owen was wary of her and his subordinates were rude to her.
Then, after accidentally discovering her purification power, she began purifying the corrupted territory, and her abilities gradually came to be recognized.
As the relationship between the two dramatically progressed and Owen learned about the wounds Io had suffered, he eventually went so far as to mercilessly punish Pesha for tormenting her……
No matter how cunning Pesha had become after tormenting Io for so many years, there was no way she could possibly escape the male lead who had conquered the entire eastern region.
‘But I’m the one who’s supposed to marry him now? Does this make any sense?’
While her father continued shouting, Pesha kept her head bowed and her eyes unfocused, idly counting the patterns on the flooring while her thoughts wandered.
Then her father’s thunderous voice fell over her head.
“How dare you refuse His Majesty’s command and bring shame upon me! The sin is beyond measure. You are forbidden from leaving the house until the day of your wedding!”
“F-Father.”
“I don’t want to see you! Get out of my sight!”
Her father, furious at the very tips of his hair, drove Pesha out of his study.
Bang.
She stood quietly in front of the closed door before finally letting out a deep sigh.
“I’m seriously in big trouble…….”
At this rate, she really was going to have to marry Owen Namoi.
‘He must have made some kind of deal with Father while Father was looking for a duke who had a daughter.’
Her father had probably received part of the land of the Clapton Kingdom that Owen Namoi had driven out.
It was exactly the same situation as when Io had been married off in the original story, as though she were being sold away.
The only difference was that the person had changed from Io to Pesha.
She had done her very best to live kindly, only to end up becoming an intruder who interfered with the love between the male lead and female lead.
As it was, her relationship with Io had grown distant as they got older. If she went so far as to interfere with her love as well, there was no telling what kind of consequences would come her way.
Yet no matter how much she thought about it, she could not come up with a way to avoid this marriage.
If she secretly ran away in the middle of the night, or found a decent helper……
‘But who am I supposed to hide behind to escape the strongest person in this entire world?’
Pesha kicked the innocent wall with a thud.
“Ah!”
Only her foot hurt.
“If he were just a little weaker, I’d look for someone even stronger.”
That man’s absurdly overpowered specifications made it difficult even to find another collaborator.
Drive away the kingdom’s army? Exterminate the foreign tribes? What kind of General with some legendary ability to walk thousands of miles in a single step was this?
At this rate, he might even ride down on a leaf.
“Haa…….”
Pesha grabbed at her hair.
“Isn’t there some way…….”
She was muttering to herself when someone approached her.
“What?”
The voice, thick with mockery, was familiar.
Pesha turned her head weakly.
Her younger brother, Jeremy, was looking down at her with an intentionally arrogant posture.
“What are you doing in Father’s study?”
She had already just been scolded by her father, and now that she had to run into Jeremy, who looked so much like him, her mood instantly soured.
“…….”
She ignored him without answering and was just about to walk past when Jeremy grabbed her forearm with considerable force.
“Did you forget that I told you not to wander around the main residence without permission?”
His tone was picking a fight, as usual.
“How dare someone like you even set foot here?”
Her head throbbed.
Ever since realizing that she had been reincarnated into this world, she had lived more kindly than anyone.
For example, when Pesha was young, she had shown great talent in herbal studies and once received the opportunity to study abroad in a principality where medicine had flourished tremendously.
The problem was that, at exactly that time, Jeremy had begun showing an interest in swordsmanship.
Her father had also made it painfully obvious that he would rather invest in the son who would inherit the family than in his daughter, so the long-awaited opportunity to study abroad went to Jeremy.
‘If you were going to steal my opportunity, you could at least have studied hard.’
After only two years abroad, Jeremy returned home of his own accord, claiming that he had grown tired of swordsmanship.
Her father, who had placed great expectations on Jeremy, was disappointed by the incident, and that disappointment spilled over onto Pesha.
That was when her younger brother, who had previously only been somewhat distant like any other sibling, began openly keeping her in check.
He had always been confident that, simply because he was the son, he would naturally inherit the family. But when he sensed that their father’s attitude toward him was not quite right, he became anxious that his share might instead be inherited by Pesha.
Pesha had not the slightest intention of fighting over the succession anyway, but whenever she saw Jeremy so blatantly trying to trample her down, her own stubborn pride rose up instinctively.
And now that Pesha was going to be married off as though she were being sold away, Jeremy was probably celebrating inwardly, and he continued needling her as though he had no intention of giving her even the slightest opening.
“Ah, I get it. You begged Father to please call off the marriage, didn’t you? Of course, he must have given you quite a scolding.”
He had gotten some of it wrong, but he was not exactly mistaken.
“Are you bored? Go do your own work.”
Even though she answered coldly, Jeremy did not care in the slightest.
“How insolent……. Do you think someone like you will even be able to say a word once I inherit the family before long?”
They had raised him dotingly since childhood, never making him endure a single difficult thing, and as a result, his arrogance had reached the heavens.
Every word out of his mouth was so irritating that she felt like punching him right in the face, but she soon abandoned the thought.
If the Emperor had gone so far as to announce the marriage directly to Owen Namoi’s face after his triumphant return, there was no turning back now.
Even for the sake of the adults’ pride and dignity, the marriage had become one that could not be called off.
Once the water had been spilled, she had to find a way to clean it up. Blaming someone else would not change a thing.
‘But I really can’t stand seeing this brat get so full of himself.’
Pesha crossed her arms, gave a small scoff, and spoke.
“Really? But I’m going to become Count Namoi’s wife now, so I have no interest in this household that you’re going to run into the ground.”
“What?”
“That’s right. House Namoi will continue to prosper because this marriage will solidify His Majesty the Emperor’s trust in them…… Hmm, but I don’t have the slightest expectation for House Rydell once you become the duke.”
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