CH 02
‘After all, if it’s according to the original story, Dad would come, so why do I have to crawl?’
What’s more, it was my second life as Lady Billishia.
‘Once I went through this, I’ve experienced slavery enough. I can’t do it twice. Even for those whom I can’t see much from.’
Viscount Shrek and the maid were killed when Cassis stormed the Eillian mansion.
Of course, Dad also died on the death row.
But that’s 14 years from now, right?
Having returned, I knew his fate well, but as a five-year-old, I needed his care right now.
“How dare you treat me like a slave. Call my Dad right now!”
Slap!
It will collapse later, but now that I’m five years old, the Vallois family is the 4th most prestigious family!
I shouted as if I were about to break through the ceiling of the hall, equipped with the tone of the 99th evil villain.
“I a-apolog… Ugh…”
The maid, who unconsciously bowed her head at my spirit, bit her lower lip as if she wanted to.
“Are the noble guests here now?”
“No. No one else in the mansion today but Viscount Shrek…”
It was the same with the servants who were chattering from afar. Perhaps all the servants near the central hall were frightened.
‘Since even before the death penalty, I teased the employess with this kind of tone.’
(t/n: she spoke formally when she said, “are the noble guests here now?” as she was superior to the servants so it’s like she was looking down on them)
I looked around and saw that the air was frozen.
Everyone seemed shocked that they mistook me for a noble.
Except for Viscount Shrek, the real noble.
“They said that one-day old puppies aren’t afraid of tigers. Alright, you are a noble.”
(t/n: an idiom that is used when one’s behavior is somewhat reckless.)
“Viscount Shrek, how dare you treat Vallois…”
“But, little one. Are you really a member of Vallois?”
Grin.
The Viscount, who suddenly raised the corners of his lips, slowly folded his knees.
Thanks to that, when the shadow of the Viscount locked my little body, I thought something was wrong.
‘I was a little impatient.’
Come to think of it, the Viscount must be unaware that Dad is coming.
I’m so excited about the comeback.
Hmm. My mistake!
“Ouch!”
It was then.
Thudㅡ
Suddenly, my forehead was pushed back and my body lost its balance then fell with a thud.
As I fell on my back, I screamed in unexpected pain.
The body of a five-year-old was weaker and younger than I thought.
“Oh my, you’ll fall down if I touch you.”
As he was pressing down on my forehead with his wrinkled fingers, the corner of his lips rose abnormally.
“If you want to be treated like a noble, I will do it. But, Kid. Are you saying that you know that nobles who escaped from their homes are treated less than commoners?”
Billishia’s childhood began in hiding with her runaway mother, Vivian.
Naturally, Cassis didn’t even know I existed.
“Do you believe that His Grace, who has no humanity, will ever find you?”
However.
“Yes.”
Isn’t this my second life?
My auburn eyes narrowed ferociously as I replied sullenly, fiddling with my sore ass.
“No. It will never happen.”
Thud.
“For feeding you.”
Thud.
“For letting you sleep, you should be thankful, you bastard who is neither noble nor commoner.”
Every time he spoke, my powerless head was pushed back from being pressed on my forehead gently.
Viscount Shrek’s personality is still there.
‘But if I provoke him here, it’s a loss now.’
It wasn’t that I couldn’t easily discern that I was the daughter of a villain.
First, step back.
After judging the situation, I lowered my head without answering as a sign of compliance.
As I kept silent in this state, I heard a tch, sound as if he had expected it, and the Viscount stood up.
“Send her to the discipline room.”
“Yes, I understand.”
Yeah. It’s my fault that I stimulated him without thinking.
Anyhow, I’m worried about Mom. She must be in the bedroom because she is sick…
“Hmm, she’s still young, so it would be better for her to be with her mother. Just send her to prison.”
My eyes, which had been calm, shook violently at the remark.
Prison?
Wait, didn’t I return after Mom died?
***
Slam!
“I don’t have to give you food, so I’ll just come back in five days.”
“…That dreadful house of Vallois is also rotten inside. The Duke sweeps the Rolls Empire, but his wife and daughter are in prison.”
Before the prison door was locked tightly.
I looked for Mom in a hurry, ignoring the eyes of the knights who glanced at me through the door.
As soon as the knights closed the door, the darkness subsided.
My field of vision was blurred.
Reaching out into the darkness, I felt the curvature of her nose under the texture of the rags from the tips of my fingers.
It was clearly Vivian.
‘It’s God’s mercy.’
It felt like nightmares were coming over again.
Why, of all things, did I come back as a five-year-old who was already weak?
As a hot lump in the middle of my neck trembled, tears flowed through the white cloth.
I didn’t have the strength to be sane.
I dug into Mom’s arms, which had sunk to the bottom of the floor. I could feel the sadly bare bones and flesh through her cloth.
“…Wait for a little bit longer…”
The only thing I wanted to see again in my last life was Vivian.
For she was the only one who saw me as a child in my villain’s life, as the others saw me either as an enemy or a pushover.
‘I just wanted to hug you.’
If I could come back. I didn’t need anything else, I just wanted to dig into Mom’s arms and hold her.
[Baby, are you okay?]
Because I miss that sweet voice that comforted me when I cried for 19 years.
In my 99th life, she was the only one whom I felt unconditional love from.
“…Hic, hic… Hicc…”
Mom’s pink hair was tangled under my swaying back.
Vivian was both the trigger and the cause of Cassis becoming the villain.
Vivian, who was afraid of Cassis’s twisted obsession, ran out of Vallois Castle even though she knew she was pregnant.
She obviously had no choice but to run away from the four prestigious families.
Of course, if I were Vivian, I would have planned where to run in the first place, yet Mom was so innocent that she wouldn’t even think of it.
Throughout my 99 lives, no one could’ve been nicer than Vivian.
‘And good people are always taken advantage of.’
My heart throbbed at the heavy truth.
Because Mom was a ‘good extra’, not a good main character.
This world began as Cassis, who witnessed Vivian’s death, became angry and became a villain in earnest.
That means Cassis will appear soon.
“…”
Shall I just end it here?
After I end this 100th life, in the 101st life, I’ll be a daughter of an ordinary villain.
It’s been a long time.
I got up quietly, crouching in Mom’s arms.
It was time to go back as Billishia.
***
“Sheesh.”
Moving and moving, there was nothing but endless darkness.
“Sheesh. I’m stuck here too.”
I was hoping that I might even find a hole in it. I crawled around and tapped the wall as far as I could.
“…Sheesh! There are walls everywhere.”
3 days in prison.
To be honest, I knew there was no hope in this prison where even the light couldn’t seep through.
But it’s not fair.
“Because I’m back!”
If I come back, I will be able to live well.
How did I get my second life? I have to do something out of this unfairness, though?
My first plan was to ‘escape’.
Now, it was inevitable that I would need to be taken care of by the Vallois family, but under the Imperial Law of the Rolls Empire, I’m able to formally become independent at the age of 16.
The Vallois family gives monthly money to their direct descendants as a maintenance fee, so long as I keep collecting the money until I’m 16 years old.
I can make a living for the rest of my life..
‘Let’s run to an unconditionally free country.’
Run away with the allowance money I received from my parents.
It was a crude life plan, but it was the only way to survive as a Vallois with an end.
First, the free country was 180 degrees different from the political system of the Rolls Empire.
Runaway nobles.
Skilled mercenary.
And even the emerging powers that have built up the capital.
Since they accepted everyone regardless of status or rank, of course, it had no choice but to grow in size.
‘Since the political ideology itself is different, it is unlikely that one will be able to tamper with the law.’
And I had another reason to flee to a free country.
‘Avoiding Peter.’
I died in his hands.
So, it meant that I could live my life to some extent if I avoided the male lead.
At that time, Vivian, who had died for a while, came into my gaze and I thought about making Cassis on my side.
‘There’s no way a villain can love his daughter.’
And as a professional extra, playing the original story was also a little off my mind.
I’m an extra, so my minor actions didn’t change the original.
What if I live like a mouse dead for 16 years and run away?
The original story would still be the same.
I, too, am able to live beyond the age of 19.
‘It’s the only way for me to live.’
First of all, to escape at the age of 16, I have to meet Cassis.
“Sheesh. Where is the way out?”
My body was starving because I was excited about the regression and made a mistake in judgment.
If I keep going like this, I might collapse from malnutrition before I even meet Cassis.
“I will live somehow. I’ll live longer than a squirrel this life!”
Don’t die. Here.
Ne. ver.
When I screamed with evil, adrenaline rushed through the veins in my body.
“Heyyyyyy!”
As I moved my elbows at twice the speed, my hips fluttered and accelerated like a fish.
I walked around the entire cell in a crawling position.
I won’t meet the male lead!
Messy blonde hair and golden eyes.
Huge physique. Slender tall stature.
Even the ascetic atmosphere felt through the marble-like skin.
I’ll never meet the damned mannnn!
Thudㅡ
‘Thud?’
Something soft touched the tip of my outstretched finger.
It didn’t feel like a wall.
‘What, is it something edible, I wonder.’
Even if it wasn’t a way out, it would be helpful if there was something here.
I grabbed the object and touched it to check what it really was.
Hm. Is it something edible?
Fluffy and strangely warm…
‘A gemstone for maintaining body temperature?’
Nope. There is no way such a precious thing could be in a prison cell.
Shaking my head, I fumbled a little more.
I could feel a thread hanging over the soft surface like a fine flour.
Upon closer inspection, the loose bundles of thread on my palms were glistening in gold through the darkness.
‘…Golden thread?’
Gold thread on the soft surface?
What the hell is this…
“A person.”
“W-What!”
“And this is my hair!”
The low-pitched tone that sounded like a warning in the blink of an eye made my shoulders tremble.
“I-I’m sorry! What lovely blond hair…”
My face, which was about to apologize for embarrassment, quickly stiffened.
A man. A person. Blond hair.
It was the number one thing I had to avoid.
