Chapter 1
“Madam, the Count is calling for you.”
Erina, who had been sitting quietly, rose as the attendant before her bowed deeply.
The attendant led the way as she followed him. When she stepped out of her room, she saw that one side of the hallway, entirely made of glass, revealed the dreary, rainy weather outside.
The attendant guided her from her second-floor room down the stairs and toward the mansion’s entrance.
Standing at the entrance was a man who had just come inside and was brushing the raindrops off his clothes.
Erina stopped walking as soon as she saw him.
“You’re here,” she said.
At her words, the man ran his hand through his silver hair, which glistened in the light, and paused in brushing off the rain.
His crimson eyes, vivid even in the brightly lit room, flickered slightly as they met Erina’s gaze.
His reaction made her stomach churn, but she did not let it show.
“Bring the child,” the man ordered.
A knight standing quietly behind him pushed forward a small figure cloaked in a black hood, making the person stand beside the man.
With a careless motion, the man pulled back the hood, then spoke to Erina in a matter-of-fact tone.
“This is the child who will succeed me.”
“Today…”
So, today was the day.
Erina swallowed the rest of her words and observed the trembling child.
The child’s light brown hair, reminiscent of soft beach sand, was slightly damp, with raindrops clinging delicately to the ends.
Unable to bear looking at the pitiful child any longer, Erina turned her head away. Her gaze met the man’s as he stood there, silently studying her.
“There won’t be any children between you and me, so I decided I needed an heir,” he said.
The man spouting such nonsense was none other than Erina’s husband and the male lead of the novel she had reincarnated into—Count Faylon Eols.
“Is there a problem?” he asked.
In truth, Erina didn’t have a problem with it.
But in the original story, the character Erina Eols had been deeply hurt when her husband brought home an heir without even consulting her, which ultimately drove her to become a villainess.
“No,” Erina replied.
For her, it wasn’t a problem.
“Not at all.”
Now that she had reincarnated as Erina, she didn’t love Faylon, her husband and the novel’s male lead. She had no reason to feel hurt.
“It’s no problem at all,” she added.
Hearing her answer, Faylon cast her an inscrutable look.
Erina glanced briefly at the still-trembling child before turning her back on them.
Because she was acting differently from the original Erina, she believed there was no way she would become a villainess.
After all, she wasn’t hurt, she wasn’t disappointed in him, and she wasn’t harboring any seeds of resentment toward the innocent child.
She’d soon realize, however, just how wrong she was.
***
Erina realized she had reincarnated into the novel a month ago.
The original story was a typical romance novel.
The plot revolved around the male lead, who entered an arranged marriage with someone else, and the female lead, who fell in love with him. With divine intervention, they overcame every obstacle through love.
The original male lead was none other than her husband, Count Faylon Eols, and Erina herself was the villainess designed to illuminate the protagonists’ love story.
When Erina discovered that her role was to interfere with their romance and meet a tragic end, she felt both relieved and miserable.
Even though she realized she had been reincarnated into the novel, her memories of living as Erina were vivid and undeniable.
She had already grown to hold an unrequited, intense love for her husband, whom she had seen as her only salvation from her dark life.
When she learned of her future misfortune, the reality of having to erase the love deeply rooted in her heart was devastating.
But she didn’t want to die miserably, as in the original story, so she resolved to let go of her feelings.
After days of crying and reflecting on the original story, Erina finally understood why her love for Faylon had gone unreciprocated.
She was the only heir of the Medelia family, but after her parents died young, she had been deceived by her uncle, who took over the family.
Her uncle treated her as a burden and rushed to arrange a marriage for her as soon as she came of age.
After years of evaluating potential suitors, her uncle arranged a meeting with Count Faylon Eols, who proposed an advantageous deal through their marriage.
Erina learned she had been cast out by her family and met Faylon with a tear-streaked face on their first encounter.
Despite her disheveled appearance, Faylon remained courteous.
As she sobbed uncontrollably before him, he had silently handed her a handkerchief with a stoic expression. That moment of unintentional kindness caused Erina to fall hopelessly in love with him.
To him, it was probably just a polite gesture, but to Erina, it was a lifeline, a single flower blooming on barren soil.
When Erina decided to accept the marriage, cherishing her secret first love, her uncle hastily arranged the wedding.
On her wedding day, however, Erina discovered that the building her parents had left in her name—their only legacy—had been included in the marriage transaction.
Her uncle had promised not to touch the building, yet as soon as she came of age, he claimed it as family property and handed it over to the Eols estate.
Shocked and enraged, Erina confronted her uncle, only to learn that the building had already been passed to Faylon’s mother, Mireya Eols, the matriarch of the Eols family.
To Erina, losing what she considered her parents’ only memento was devastating. She went to Mireia and demanded its return.
Unfortunately, Faylon witnessed the scene of Erina demanding the building from Mireia and began to see her as a selfish, immature woman who disregarded the importance of family agreements.
On top of that, Mireia had taken control of the monthly allowance meant for the Countess under the guise of education, leaving Erina with nothing.
When Erina protested, claiming the money was rightfully hers, Faylon overheard her exasperated remark:
“Then should I use Mother’s money instead?”
Without knowing the full context, Faylon concluded that Erina was a greedy, shameless woman trying to take even Mireia’s share.
As soon as she said those words, Erina found herself face-to-face with Faylon, who had been standing outside the door listening. Desperate to clear up the misunderstanding, she hurried after him to explain, but Faylon, who had already made up his mind about her, refused to believe her.
Until just before their marriage, Faylon had been polite to Erina, but after that incident, he began treating her coldly. Mireya, sensing the situation was turning in her favor, smugly belittled Erina. The servants, realizing that she was unloved by the head of the household, also began treating her with subtle hostility.
With Mireya pulling the strings inside the Eols mansion, Erina’s dignity as the lady of the house was trampled on. She took over all the rights and privileges Erina was supposed to enjoy as the Countess, using them to indulge herself in luxury.
Every month, the funds allotted to Erina were spent on dresses and jewelry for Mireya, under a variety of pretexts: that it was inappropriate for the Countess of Eols to engage in extravagance, that Erina, a mere baron’s daughter, didn’t understand money, and so on.
Though it was Mireya who lived in opulence, Erina was always blamed for it. Reports to Faylon described her as a greedy and vain wife leading a shocking lifestyle.
Unaware of these behind-the-scenes manipulations, Erina repeatedly requested meetings with Faylon to explain, but he outright refused to see her. Gradually, Erina became isolated within the mansion.
With no trustworthy family to turn to, all she could do was cling to her unrequited first love for Faylon. She quietly endured, hoping that one day he would realize the truth and acknowledge her.
But once Erina became aware of the future, she discarded her feelings for him along with her futile hopes.
The original novel began a year after Erina’s marriage. Feeling suffocated in the mansion, Erina begged Faylon to have a child, to which he responded by adopting an orphan and introducing the child as his heir—that day was today.
The original Erina, furious and heartbroken, lashed out at him for his coldheartedness, but he ignored her and walked away. That moment marked the beginning of her transformation into a villainess.
But the current Erina no longer had any love or expectations for him. Unlike the original story, she did not lose her temper with him today.
For a brief moment, she held onto a faint hope that perhaps things might change.
Would Faylon be willing to talk to her now that she was acting differently? If they could talk, could they untangle the misunderstandings of the past?
If so, maybe she wouldn’t have to live as the villainess who dies unloved. Maybe this ridiculous story, which glorified an affair as a grand love, could have a different ending.
Perhaps the foolish male lead, who only looked at what was right in front of him, might realize that an affair was wrong and give up his fleeting passion. If that happened, perhaps he and Erina could coexist peacefully.
Yes, maybe—
“Erina!”
The sharp voice outside the door interrupted her thoughts. Erina stopped running her hand through her hair and sighed audibly.
The maid standing nearby flinched at the sound of her sigh, but Erina didn’t care. After all, everyone in this mansion—servants included—saw her as nothing more than a scapegoat and a nuisance.
“Erina!”
The voice grew louder, followed by an impatient knock on the door.
The door burst open, and Mireya Eols, Faylon’s mother and Erina’s mother-in-law, entered the room.
“You’ve come, Mother,” Erina greeted her politely, standing up from her seat.
The response she got was a thunderous scolding loud enough for the guards outside to overhear.
“You—!”
“Yes, Mother?”
“Do you have any sense at all?”
The line was so stereotypical of a dramatic, tyrannical mother-in-law that Erina almost laughed. She barely managed to keep her composure and responded calmly.
“What do you mean?”
“What did you do to make your husband bring home a child as his heir?!”
“It was the Count’s decision. He didn’t consult me about it.”
“Exactly! What did you do to make him take such drastic action? That sweet boy of mine wouldn’t do this unless you drove him to it!”
How Faylon could be called “sweet” when he remained blind to his family’s machinations was beyond Erina’s understanding. Or maybe she thought he was sweet because he never questioned her actions?
“Who knows?”
“What?”
“I’m curious too. What did I do that would make him adopt an heir from outside?”
“Are you seriously asking me that instead of reflecting on yourself?”
“I’ve loved and waited for him—that’s all. So why did the Count do such a thing, I wonder?”
“Oh, my heavens!”
Mireya gasped, clutching her chest, as if Erina’s calm questions had struck a nerve. She stomped her feet dramatically.
“Is it any wonder he’s straying when you act like this? No need to say more!”
After glaring at Erina for a long time, Mireya stormed out of the room just as dramatically as she had entered.
Through the still-open door, Erina could see the rain continuing to pour against the glass walls outside, the dreary weather mirroring her life in the Eols mansion.
Even now, nearly a year into her marriage, Erina felt like a prisoner in this house without chains.
A husband who refused to listen to his wife’s truths.
A mother-in-law who constantly belittled her with insults disguised as advice.
Servants who never took her side.
Every day felt suffocating.
“Poor soul,” Erina muttered to herself.
These people had turned her into a villainess.
Before long, Faylon would bring the novel’s female lead into the house, claiming it was for her safety.
And the heroine would manipulate events to make Erina seem cruel and irrational, painting her as the villainess to be condemned.
The original Erina died lonely and broken, a so-called villainess crushed under the weight of her circumstances.
“Close the door,” Erina instructed.
“Yes, Madam,” the maid replied.
As the rain continued to fall outside, Erina stared out at the bleak, gray sky.
Surely, things could turn out differently if she didn’t follow the original plot.
If she quietly endured and stayed out of trouble, if Faylon eventually realized the truth about her, wouldn’t life improve?
But Erina was too naive. She had underestimated how deeply rooted the events of the original story already were.
