#.03
In truth, the male leads in the original story each have a touch of madness.
Emperor Marius shows an obsessive madness, willing to do anything to win the heroine’s heart.
The strongest, Leopold, is insanely devoted, giving everything he has without hesitation.
While these two display their obsession in a romantic narrative, the Tower Master, François, suffers from genuine lunacy.
There’s a tragic family background behind it, but…
That’s not the important part. The real issue is that his madness is as dangerous as a ticking time bomb, ready to explode at any moment.
Even while enjoying a nice meal, if something sets him off, he’ll destroy everything in his path. Although I was young and could perhaps be overlooked, my older sister had no strength to defend herself, making this encounter feel as perilous as walking on thin ice.
“Uh, unnie…”
I subtly pulled my older sister back, but she didn’t budge an inch.
“Yes, I am François Cassel. And you must be Emilia Berchio.”
Even without looking in a mirror, I could tell what my face looked like right now.
My pupils must have been shaking as if caught in an earthquake.
‘How on earth do these two know each other?’
Without caring about my internal panic, my older sister pulled out a chair and sat down in front of François Cassel.
“You received my letter, right? The paper on the connection between ancient magic and special abilities, along with the supporting data. As the Tower Master, you must know better than anyone how rare such materials are.”
“Of course. The fact that artifacts of ancient magic still exist is surprising enough, but if special abilities are involved, it’s a goldmine for a wizard.”
“Exactly. Especially since special abilities can’t even be utilized outside of Trovancha, right?”
Special abilities are unique powers that only appear in Trovancha natives.
As a result, many scholars across the continent want to study them, but the problem is that Trovancha maintains an extremely strict isolation policy.
Because of that, it’s nearly impossible not only to research but even to observe these abilities directly. Wizards are desperate for any paper discussing them.
‘But even if he’s the Tower Master, how did he get into Trovancha? The naval defenses there aren’t easy to breach.’
I sat next to my older sister, glaring at François Cassel.
If he threatened my sister, I was ready to pounce and bite his arm off.
“So, Miss Berchio, what is it that you want?”
François Cassel brushed back his dazzling silver hair and smiled sweetly.
His smile was so radiant it seemed almost divine, and I stared at him with my mouth slightly open.
On the other hand, my older sister, as if immune to his looks, simply ruffled my hair with her usual blank expression.
“How old do you think she looks right now?”
“Well… four? Five? She’s not your daughter, so… your sister?”
“Right, she’s my sister. My sister is very sick. She was born prematurely at seven months, and her body is incredibly weak. Even a slight surprise gives her a fever, and one cough in a cold breeze can lead to pneumonia. Oh, and you can just call me Emilia, not Miss Berchio.”
“So, you want me to use healing magic on her?”
“I’ve read your paper. You wrote that drinking a mana potion arranged similarly to divine magic and mana structures increases healing efficiency fivefold. Even if there’s no specific illness, in a growing child, it can stimulate and promote cell division to strengthen the body. Isn’t that right?”
Without taking a breath, my older sister spilled out difficult words in rapid succession.
While I was quietly listening, my head started spinning, but François Cassel chuckled as if he found it amusing.
“I heard you’re not a wizard, but you seem quite knowledgeable.”
“I’m not entirely clueless about this field.”
It was a statement brimming with the pride of Trovancha’s top magical researcher.
I felt a strange sense of pride too, but then I remembered that I was the reason my sister was meeting François Cassel in the first place.
“Unnie. Can we leave now? I feel stuffy.”
Nothing good ever comes from getting involved with François Cassel.
But instead of answering, my sister caught the attention of a passing waiter, ordered me an orange juice, and continued her conversation.
‘This really isn’t safe…’
Unable to take it anymore, I pretended to drink my orange juice and deliberately spilled it all over myself.
“Ah!”
My sister quickly took out a handkerchief and began wiping my clothes.
But there was so much juice that the handkerchief couldn’t handle it all.
My hands felt sticky, but if it meant escaping François Cassel, this much was bearable.
Yet, why was François Cassel looking at me like that?
He rested his chin on his hand, watching my sister and me with amusement.
“…Anyway, I’ll contact you later with the specific date and location. We’ll be going now.”
“Alright, take care.”
My sister took me, soaked in juice, back home.
I had tried to interrupt them, but it seemed all the important conversations had already finished, leaving me with a lingering sense of unease.
“Unnie. Are you going to see that man again? I don’t like him.”
“You couldn’t take your eyes off him because he’s so handsome.”
“Ugh. He was handsome… but I still don’t like him!”
“Still, if you want to get healthier, we’ll need to keep seeing him. Do you know how hard it was for me to arrange this meeting?”
Her charismatic tone made me lose the energy to argue further, and I pouted my lips.
“Hing…”
It was a timid rebellion in its own way, but the youngest older sister wasn’t someone who would care about such behavior.
In the end, only my clothes got ruined.
***
After Rebecca drowned in the lake, I suffered from a fever for a while.
It was because I was so shocked that I became physically ill.
When I became so sick that I couldn’t even go out, I had no choice but to quit kindergarten as well.
As a result, now that my body has recovered, I have a new problem: I’m incredibly bored all day long.
“I miss my frieeends. Francescaaaa. Martinaaa. Antoniooooo! I want to see Antoniooo!”
Unable to hold back, I started a protest by lying flat on the floor.
My older brother said he’d done enough raising his younger siblings and moved south on his own, and my eldest sister was busy with work.
So my targets became my freelance-at-home second sister and the youngest older sister.
“I’m boooored.”
“Princess, shall we play doctor?”
“No! Second Unnie, you’ll just lie down and fall asleep again!”
“Ehehe. You caught meee.”
My second unnie laughed in her nasal tone, going “hihiing.”
I clung tightly to her leg.
“Second unnie, let’s go to the playground. Please?”
“Noo. What if you catch a cold while we’re out? That’d be terrible.”
“Aaah, Uniiieee.”
After ten minutes of rubbing my forehead against her leg and pleading, my second unnie ignored my stubbornness with her characteristic smooth smile.
Then, bang! The door slammed open, and the youngest unnie stumbled out, having just woken up late.
“Just let her go dig in the sand or something! She doesn’t even go to kindergarten anymore; how bored must she be staying home alone?”
Judging by her groggy state, she didn’t seem to be in a good mood.
As my second unnie described her, our household troublemaker, the youngest unnie, sometimes exploded when she didn’t get enough sleep. And now seemed to be the beginning of one of those times.
“There’s no helping it. Go get changed quickly.”
“Okay!”
Excited, I quickly changed into my outdoor clothes and came back out.
Holding my second unnie’s hand on the way to the playground, I felt so happy I thought I might float into the sky.
“You’re so happy, aren’t you?”
“Yeah! I’m sooo happy!”
I couldn’t remember the last time I’d been to the playground.
Even if I knew the original story, it wasn’t like I remembered my past life; I just had a slightly older mental age than my peers.
So being stuck at home all the time was unbearably suffocating and depressing.
‘On top of that, I was so worried that my sisters might end up meeting the male leads from the original story.’
My second unnie had turned down a job as a secret banquet chef, but my eldest sister was bound to take on an escort mission for someone from the Trovancha government.
And the youngest unnie seemed to be in contact with François Cassel because of me…
Nothing good would come from getting entangled with the male leads, and I was anxious. So anxious.
“Phewww.”
I let out a deep sigh, and my second unnie chuckled softly, probably thinking I was imagining something strange again.
In the meantime, we arrived at the playground.
I slipped my hand out of my second unnie’s grip and ran excitedly toward the playground.
My heart pounded at the sight of the sand and the colorful swings.
“Be careful while you play!”
I couldn’t even hear my second unnie’s words.
I climbed up the stairs to the slide first.
“Wheee!”
I had missed this feeling of sliding down with a swoosh.
After going down the slide about five times in a row, I got on the swing, while my second unnie sat on a bench nearby, knitting.
“Ahaha!”
While I was happily swinging, someone started pushing my back.
It was probably one of the moms or dads at the playground.
“Is it fun? Higher?”
“Yes! Higher!”
At the sound of the man’s voice behind me, I nodded eagerly.
The swing went higher and higher. It felt like I was flying in the sky.
My laughter grew louder, and the sunlight sparkled brilliantly.
So lost in excitement, I didn’t realize my hands were losing strength.
It only took a moment for my body to fall from the nearly 90-degree-angled swing.
I saw my second unnie’s face turn pale from across the playground.
Time seemed to slow down, and as the blue sky filled my vision, I whispered, ‘Goodbye, world.’
“…Huh?”
I expected excruciating pain, but instead, I felt something firm and warm.
Dumbfounded, I looked up to see a muscular man holding me tightly in his arms.
“Uh, uh?”
Before I could even react, my second unnie ran over, screaming.
“Lilianaaa!”
She snatched me away and started inspecting my body.
Her face, usually so full of life, had gone completely pale, as if she were about to faint.
“Are you okay? Are you hurt anywhere?”
“No, I’m fine.”
“Oh my gosh…”
She hugged me tightly, and I could feel her trembling.
“Hey, kiddooo!”
Right on cue, a man with dazzling blond hair ran toward us.
He must have been the one pushing my swing.
The man was incredibly handsome, but his face was just as shocked as my sister’s.
“You didn’t hit your head, right? Your arms and legs aren’t broken? You fell so suddenly—I thought you were going to die.”
“Don’t worry, Marius. The child is safe.”
“Leo, you caught her just in time. I thought this little one was done for.”
I realized the blond man was called Marius, and the man who caught me was called Leo.
And then I froze.
Because I knew exactly who they were.
They were the male leads from the original story, Marius von Chemelhoffen and Leopold von Waldrachen.
“Liliana?”
My eyes shook violently. This situation was too confusing.
So… why are they here…?
• ❁ • ❁ • ❁ •By Esraa• ❁ • ❁ • ❁ •
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