Chapter 1

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 air comes 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 would commit 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 Alice come to me with such a hesitant face?

All I could think of was a funny guess, and I laughed 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 exclaimed with a determined look.

“Duke Edgar is a terrible villain!”

Uh, wh—what? What?

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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 with just a few clues.

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, my lady.”

“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 was late 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 villain character.

Although I blamed myself for thinking too much, I began to feel uncomfortable 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 were coming back.

‘Oh my god, it’s Duke Edgar!’

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

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

While admiring the ghastly good-looking face, somehow I felt familiar with his black 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 black haired man embracing a woman with a brown hair vividly depicted in my memory.

Even then, I still could laught 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 relaxation.

“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 becomes 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 plan. 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 decades later, Alice’s misfortunes come 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 becomes 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 become the third-rate villain who stand in the main character’s way, the story will flow regardless of me.

Although I didn’t read the book completely, 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 villain…

… 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 glance, the contents of the book slipped into my mind.

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

“—Rose glared 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 vocabulary, I remember about a dozen more lines with the description of her eyes.

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

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

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

She starts with trivial things such as insulting the heroine, spraying water, finding fault with her etiquette, and later 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 villainess had committed and puts her in the fire.

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

“She was eaten by a flame 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 a completely 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 a common level.

The only things that are not common 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 be common sense since then?

It made me feel uncomfortable to think of such a thing. I thought that if I had a close relationship 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 particularly 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.