ICWKV Chapter 01

Chapter 1: I Confessed Without Knowing He Was the Villain

“I like you,”
Sella confessed to the woodcutter, Rody.

“That’s a dangerous thing to say. Do you even know what kind of person I am?”
Dangerous?
Sella tilted her head, confused.

“What do you mean? Rody, you’re kind and gentle.”

Hmm? At that moment, it looked like Rody lowered his head and smiled faintly.
Did she imagine it?

“Kind and gentle, huh… I do not think you really know me at all, Sella,” he said, still wearing a faint smile.

“What? Of course, I know you! You’re pure-hearted and generous!”

She had tried so hard to avoid dying at the hands of the villain in this story, but somehow, it ended up with her older sister about to be killed instead.
She couldn’t let that happen. She had to protect both herself and her sister from the crazy villain.

And the only hope to survive was this man. She had to win him over, no matter what!

“Ah, so if I were greedy, cold, calculating… maybe even devious, then you wouldn’t like me?”

“Of course not! There’s no way you’re like that. Actually, I like you just as you are.”

Saying she liked him for who he was, without any reason, sounded more sincere—and it wasn’t a lie. She genuinely liked this man.

“I see. So, you’d like me no matter what kind of person I am?”
Rody smiled—this time, it looked like a truly satisfied one.

“Yes! So, Rody, if you don’t mind… why don’t we start dating? And maybe, if we fall in love, we could get marri—no! I’m rushing things. Let’s just start with dating?”

“Dating…”
For a second, there was a strange glint in his eyes. Sella felt a chill down her spine.
This man’s response could determine my sister Betty’s fate, so I must be nervous.

“Yes! Let’s date!”

“Hm… but Sella, you don’t even know my real name.”

“What? Of course I do, you’re Rody!”

“Rody’s not my name.”

Huh? Is he joking?

“Why are you messing with me…? Oh! You mean your full name? I thought you just went by Rody. Sorry! Then what is your real name?”

Could it be… he’s not just a commoner?

“Rodiac Pestrique Günther.”

“…What?”

“Rodiac Pestrique Günther. That’s my full name.”

“That’s… a long name.”

“Is it?”

“Yeah… Rodiac Pestrique Günther… Rodiac… Pestri… Wait.”

That name… it sounded familiar.
Pestrique… like “plague”?

“AH!”

Sella screamed.

“What’s wrong?”
Rody—or rather, Rodiac—took a step toward her with a lazy expression.

Sella instinctively stepped back.
Stay away!

Rodiac Pestrique Günther!
That was the name of the hidden villain in this novel!

He was the one who killed everyone around the heroine, earning the nickname “Plague” in reader comments because everyone who got close to him ended up dead!

No way. This must be a coincidence. Just the same name.
But her legs were already shaking.

It made sense. In the original story, “Sella” was just a background maid with barely a name who died during the villain’s rampage.

Rodiac stepped forward again.

“Wait! Just a second!”
Sella raised both hands in front of her to stop him.

She looked closely at his face:
Dark brown hair, flawless skin, blood-red eyes and lips, stunning features, a commanding presence…

Oh no. He was the villain.

Had she been blind this whole time?

“Sella?”

The villain took another step.

“Come clos—”

She almost told him not to come closer but quickly shut her mouth.

“What were you going to say? ‘Come closer’?”
He asked with a smile that once made her heart flutter but now froze her in fear.

“N-No, I…”

“Why are you trembling?”
His red eyes gleamed. What used to look sexy now just looked deadly.

“Sella, you said you’d like me no matter what kind of person I was, right?”

“…Yes?”

“And now you know my name. That doesn’t change anything, right?”

Oh no.
She had worked so hard to avoid dying—and now she’d confessed to the villain!

“This… this isn’t right…”

Her whole body trembled now.

“This isn’t right? What do you mean?”

She had to say something. Anything.

“Not dating…”

“Not dating? Ohh, I see now.”

“W-What?”

“You want to skip dating and go straight to marriage, huh?”

He stared at her with a smile tugging at his lips.

“W-What? No—!”

But she couldn’t finish. The villain cut her off.

“Fine. I like that idea. Marriage sounds good.”

His lazy voice came through his perfect smile, and Sella couldn’t say another word.
Her tongue felt frozen.

---

Three years ago.

Sera, at age 21, was hit by a car. She thought she had died—but then she woke up as 17-year-old Sella.

An orphan raised in a strange system where children were basically bought from orphanages, Sella had no choice but to adjust.

She didn’t know what story she’d landed in until she turned 20 and a noble’s butler came looking for a maid.

“Should I apply to that house?”
Sella whispered to her sister, Betty.

Betty and Sella were rare real sisters in the orphanage. They grew up relying on each other, and naturally, they shared an inseparable bond. Because of this, when they were young, they insisted that they could never be separated. As a result, neither of them was adopted, since no one would take both at once.

In fact, because of her beauty, Sella often received offers for adoption, but Betty was devoted to her, and Sella didn’t want to be apart from Betty. The orphanage director used Sella’s attachment to Betty, to take advantage of Betty and make her work harder.

However, just a few days ago, on Sella’s twentieth birthday, they had agreed to apply for job opportunities if they came up. They planned to earn money quickly and, someday, live together. So, even though it seemed like it was part of their plan, something in Sella’s mind made her hesitate when she heard the name.

“Seidan, Seidan… Why does that name sound so familiar?”

“She will be employed as Lady Kesselaya’s personal maid. The maid who was previously working left unexpectedly, and we need someone to start today,” the butler of the Count’s house added.

At the mention of the name “Kesselaya,” Sella suddenly realized she had entered the world of a novel she knew well—“Imprisoned Kesselaya”, a 19+ dark romance novel.

In the story, the villain falls in love with Kesselaya, but Kesselaya falls in love with the crown prince. The villain goes crazy and kills everyone around Kesselaya, including her maids, before killing the crown prince. In the end, he takes control of the empire and imprisons Kesselaya in a secret room, where… well, you can guess the rest.

The majority of the story took place in the secret room, between Kesselaya and the villain. Even if she had read the novel, there was almost nothing useful about the world itself. She hadn’t even finished reading it, and now, somehow, she had ended up in this world!

Moreover, the first people the villain killed were the heroine’s maids. If she took this job, she was essentially buying herself a one-way ticket to death.

“Sella, what’s wrong? You agreed to take the maid job here,” Betty whispered from the side.

“No, sister! Not that house! Let’s choose another one next time…” Sella whispered back.

Just as she was whispering, the orphanage director, with a booming voice, finalized the deal with the butler of Count Seidan’s household.

“Sella says she’ll go. Until her full childcare fee is paid, her salary will be sent to the orphanage, and you just need to provide Sella with room and board!”

 

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• ❁ • ❁ • ❁ •By Freya• ❁ • ❁ • ❁ •

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