<h4>Chapter 1</h4>


    Trantor : nevermoorian


    _______________________________________________________________


    The ballroom is always cramped. My clothes and the people’s gaze on me are so heavy that sometimes it weighed me down.


    This was especially the case today.


    As soon as I entered the ballroom without anyone notice my presence, I opened the curtains of the terrace. The moment I stepped there and the outside aires in direct contact with my skin, I felt better.


    It would be reckless to wait for the ball to end at this rate. It’s obvious that the chilly weather would make the ball stays a little longer than usual. It’s about the dignity of the nobility.


    At the moment, I was in a good mood. I closed my eyes.


    Then the light pouring out onto the dark terrace.


    It was rude to enter the terrace when the curtains were closed, and it’s obvious who wouldmit such a discourteous act.


    “Nocton?”


    How did you know I was here?


    An unexpected face greeted me when I turned over.


    She has a long brown hair. A woman with a stunningly white dress came in and closed the curtains tightly.


    “It wasn’t—”


    “I’m sorry, Roa. I wanted to be polite, but I need to talk to you.”


    “What’s going on, Alice?”


    It’s Alice Limorand. A friend of mine for ten years. She’s the heroine of a novel, the precious Duke’s daughter who used to be a Baron’s, who will be betrothed to my childhood friend, Nocton Edgar.


    I didn’t mean it as metaphor. It was an unbelievable story, but I was reborn in a book’s world and she is the main character.


    Her beautiful angelic face, good personality, and the dramatic changes in her background were proving Alice’s status. I have no doubt that she is the heroine.


    Why would Alicee to me with such a hesitant face?


    All I could think of was a funny guess, and Iughed dimly. I don’t love Nocton but there are too many people in the world who are mistaken. It’s sad to hear that even my precious friend is one of them.


    We’ve been together for a dozen years, and I’ve been trying hard enough to get close to him, so no one really believed me when I deny it.


    “Alice, I’m telling you, I—”


    But what came out from Alice’s lips is not something that I expected. It was not an apology that said I’m sorry, I can’t help it.


    “I know it sounds crazy, but actually I have a foresight.”


    “Huh?”


    What are you talking about?


    Before I can proceed what she had said, she eximed with a determined look.


    “Duke Edgar is a terrible viin!”


    Uh, wh—what? What?


    ??????


    When did I realize that I was reborn in the book’s world?


    I don’t remember exactly but it doesn’t seem to take a long time.


    It is thanks to my fondness for reading romance novels. The vague memories of my previous life has made me doubt myself.


    Maybe I was born into a novel.


    The beginning of the doubt was when I grew up and looked into my own reflection in the mirror.


    Rose-like crimson curls, dim-colored eyes like the leaves of a rose, and—


    “Carol.”


    “Yes, mydy.”


    “I look very mean.”


    — a pair of sharp eyes, no matter who sees them.


    “I look worse than the witch’s illustration in the novel.”


    “Umh— it’s good, you look charismatic….”


    “Don’t lie to me.”


    It waste to say it’s pretty, because my eyes were surprisingly fierce. Of course, It was not a lie that I was as lovely as a kitten. However, the others in my family have gentle eyes. It’s unusual for me to have haughty eyes.


    Somehow the mere sight of myself made me shudder. From there I began to feel something like deja vu. My appearance reminds me of a typical viin character.


    Although I med myself for thinking too much, I began to feel ufortable whenever I looked into the mirror.


    But until then, I was only a little concerned.


    Then, the moment I saw a boy at the party I attended with my parents, that deja vu feelings wereing back.


    ‘Oh my god, it’s Duke Edgar!’


    The boy’s beauty, who was only ten years old, was alreadypleted. ck hair with graceful curls, a beautiful face like a porcin doll, and a pair of light purple eyes; he created a night-like atmosphere.


    Even if he’s not a Duke’s sessor, his appearance was enough to draw attention.


    While admiring the ghastly good-looking face, somehow I felt familiar with his ck hair.


    In one of the novels I read before my death, there’s a male character whose name was Edgar. Although the contents were a bit blurry, but the column with a ck haired man embracing a woman with a brown hair vividly depicted in my memory.


    Even then, I still couldught at my delusion, thinking I don’t think it’s really like that.


    But eventually the reality hits me.


    It’s the day when I travelled to a secluded estate for rxation.


    “Are you a nobleman?”


    “Yes, that’s right.”


    It was the moment when I saw that girl; the daughter of a poor baron—whose brighter and more beautiful than anyone else in this world.


    “Your face looks like someone I used to know, what is your name?”


    It was the moment when I saw her brown hair.


    “It’s Alice Momont, miss.”


    It was the moment when I knew her name is Alice.


    ‘Oh my god.’


    The vague contents of the book became clear and enlightenment came like a lightning.


    As I suspected, I was born in a book’s world.


    It was an undeserved sense of awareness.


    In fact, from what I remember, it was not a very special novel.


    The heroine’s childhood was a little different.


    The main character, Alice, grew up as the daughter of Baron Momont. She was an illegitimate child so she wasn’t treated well.


    She grew up with all kinds of humiliation, yet she still had a bright personality and kind heart.


    Soon, when she became an adult, it was revealed that her background was false.


    Alice, who was known as the illegitimate child of the baron, actually was the youngest daughter of the Duke of Limorand.


    The story goes like this.


    Baron Momont was a knight of the Duke. He joined the Duke’s knight when the Duchess already had two children, and the moment he saw her, he fell in love at first sight. He lives under the delusion that she loves him too, and bes angry when the Duchess was pregnant with Alice, the Duke’s third child. He thought the Duchess betrayed him.


    “I will make you regret for betraying me!” The line was something like this.


    The funny thing was, at that time, the baron was already married and father of two children, but he paid no attention to his family.


    The baron, who intoxicated with his emotions, makes an ugly n. When Alice, the Duke’s third child, was born, he kidnapped her.


    He took advantage of the midwife’s weakness, changed the child to a stillborn baby, and brought the real baby to his house as an illegitimate child.


    As a child brought for revenge, there is no way for Alice to be properly raised and treated well.


    She was going to end her life by living an unhappy life and being sold into an unhappy marriage.


    She did.


    But two decadester, Alice’s misfortunese to an end by the midwife, who was silenced by the baron’s threat.


    It’s because of the truth that the midwife, who was dying from severe illness, confessed in her will.


    Her grand birth revealed and she bes the Duke’s treasure. She went through many things, left the Baron’s family, loved by her new family and found her love.


    That’s what the flow of the story was like, so I realized that even if I was born in a book’s world, nothing would change.


    Unless I be the third-rate viin who stand in the main character’s way, the story will flow regardless of me.


    Although I didn’t read the bookpletely, I read it until the mid-second half so I knew the name of the important characters. And there’s only a small part of the viin…


    … wait a minute.


    I pulled out a mirror to the sudden rise of facts.


    My face, which is not different from usual, was reflected in the mirror.


    Rose-colored hair, round forehead, thick eyebrows, and upraised eyes. I couldn’t judge a man’s character based on his looks, but my eyes looked as bad as always.


    Looking at the familiar nce, the contents of the book slipped into my mind.


    Wasn’t this the image of the viiness who was executed for harassing the heroine?


    “—Rose red at Alice with a blurry look. The sharpness in her eyes were still there, but the usual hazy eyes—”


    I didn’t remember exactly what happened before and after that, but I think there was such a phrase.


    Perhaps due to the author’s limited vocabry, I remember about a dozen more lines with the description of her eyes.


    It’s a typical Cindere Story; not only the protagonist, but the viin was also cliche.


    For God’s sake. My name was Roa Valrose. A redhead with sharp eyes. And simr surname with the viiness.


    ??????


    I realized that I was born in a book’s world as the viiness who bullied the heroine. It’s a predictable story so what the viin would do is really obvious.


    She starts with trivial things such as insulting the heroine, spraying water, finding fault with her etiquette, andter carries out the assassination of the protagonist.


    Of course, the male lead does not close his eyes.


    In fact, Edgar’s character rakes out the sins that the viiness hadmitted and puts her in the fire.


    I remember a little bit of what it was described in.


    “She was eaten by a me that more red than her hair.”


    Is it okay for an all-year-old novel?


    I thought it was cool when I read it, but it was apletely different matter when it became myself.


    Of course, I didn’t have the confidence to do so even if I was told that I could live viciously.


    Sometimes I get irritated and angry, but at amon level.


    The only things that are notmon are my mean cat-like eyes.


    Although I can live as rationally as an adult, but my child’s body is a default setting.


    However, no one can be sure what the future would be like.


    Maybe the original story is based on fate and I would act like a girl crazy in love and try to kill Alice.


    In the beginning, being reincarnated in a book was something I couldn’t possibly expect, how can I be sure that there will only bemon sense since then?


    It made me feel ufortable to think of such a thing. I thought that if I had a close rtionship with him, I would be able to avoid the burn.


    To be honest, I had to rely on the protagonist.


    Although the hero’s love story was not particrly memorable, but by the nature of the romance genre, the male lead would be the most perfect man in the novel. Appearance, background, abilities, and love.


    Maybe I can take away the lead role.


    With that kind of ambitious desire, I decided to approach Nocton Edgar.