Chapter 1.
Trying to Tame You
The thrill rising from my ankles, as if it would devour me whole in a single gulp, was almost like blazing fire.
—
“It’s something I got in exchange for a debt.”
Thud.
It was during early summer, a storm raging outside, when my foster father—Frederick Sachet, the viscount—pushed a pretty-looking boy toward me.
The boy, who had already been panting raggedly, staggered and collapsed helplessly under the rough shove.
For a moment, I almost reached out to catch him.
But instead, I swallowed my tension and clenched my hands.
He looked even more pitiful than I had imagined, and pity stirred in me—but showing sympathy carelessly was forbidden.
Especially if this child might one day become the monster who destroys me. All the more reason to be careful.
‘Still… I’ve finally met you.’
I quietly observed the ailing boy.
I couldn’t see my own expression, but surely my gaze must have been cautious, like staring at a dangerous wild beast.
“……”
But the monster’s childhood was far too fragile and beautiful to keep up my guard.
Anyone with a conscience would feel compelled to take care of him.
‘He’s just like a baby rabbit.’
His pitch-black hair, damp with cold sweat from the fever, reminded me of a black rabbit’s glossy fur.
His face was pale as if drained of blood, yet faintly glowing; his fever-flushed eyes strangely drew in the viewer’s gaze.
And those irises.
They were a color that seized attention, like early-summer wild strawberries.
It felt as if a tenacious, vivid life was thrashing inside his pupils—my breath caught for no reason.
“Lending good money only to be paid back with a person like this—I’m at a loss.”
Tsk.
Just then, while I was staring as if spellbound, the viscount clicked his tongue.
That snapped me back to myself.
“On top of that, I didn’t expect him to be this weak. This is hardly a good deal.”
Indeed, the boy, with his eerie, delicate beauty, looked as though he might die at any moment.
He seemed like someone who wouldn’t even have fangs.
If my violent brothers pressed on his neck as a “joke,” he looked like he’d never wake again…
‘Is this boy really the monster from the novel?’
I extended the hand holding my fan and gracefully lifted his chin.
According to the original story, fever-clouded red eyes should twist with rising anger…
But?
‘Did this kid just smile?’
It was just an instant—I couldn’t be sure.
Not that I could probe further; the boy wasn’t the most important matter right now.
I hadn’t forgotten that the viscount was still in front of me.
For now, he was the more dangerous one.
“From now on, this beast is yours. Keep him safe—don’t lose him or let him get damaged.”
Flutter.
A marriage contract—one I had never signed—fell to the floor, brushing against my knee.
My gaze naturally landed on the husband’s name written there.
**Helios Eizef**
The moment I mouthed that name, the viscount strode forward and grabbed my chin tightly.
“Answer.”
His eyes turned sharp with warning, so instead of showing pain, I quickly widened my eyes and smiled.
As if I were truly delighted.
Just like I’d trained myself to do all these years.
Enduring this kind of pain was nothing new.
“Yes, Father. I’m very happy to have a new family member.”
“He doesn’t know how to read or write, so it’s your responsibility to teach him and make him useful. At the very least, he needs to look human before the New Year Festival in a month. I’ll be introducing him as your husband.”
“Of course.”
Obedient and lovely, yet empty-headed—just the kind of doll he wanted me to be.
Then, in a deliberately light and frivolous tone, I asked:
“Then, which room should he use?”
A glint of satisfaction—and greed—appeared in the viscount’s blue eyes.
He didn’t want a daughter stupid enough to embarrass him in public, but neither did he want one clever enough to rise above him.
So this level of behavior was perfect.
“Didn’t I just say he’s your husband?”
“Then…”
“You’ll need to get close. Use the same bedroom.”
…Perfect.
I couldn’t stop the shiver that ran through me at those words.
**A monster was coming into my bedroom.
With the face of a deceitful little rabbit.
At last—finally—the story was beginning.**
—
The Sachet family.
Officially, we were wealthy nobles dealing in spices, imported flowers, and ornamental seedlings… but all of that was a façade.
The truth behind the Sachet fortune was counterfeit money.
And I was reincarnated as the adopted daughter of this financial criminal family.
A pretty doll perfectly adorned with dirty money from head to toe.
Frederick Sachet’s most expensive future product—Villyette.
My value existed solely through marriage.
“Anyone without worth deserves to die.”
That was the grace-before-meal chant the viscount muttered during dinner for as long as I could remember.
And indeed—when I was around twelve years old, I think—
The timid second sister, who had never once satisfied the viscount, suddenly vanished without a trace.
The day after she disappeared, I fell ill from terror, knowing I might be next—and that’s when I realized:
This world was the inside of a novel.
And I had reincarnated into the wrong book.
‘Damn it. Someone switch books with me!’
But of course, no one heard my screams.
In this nameless novel, the Sachet family was wealthy but forever trapped as lower nobles.
The high nobles—known as the “Reiheron”—held all political power, so no matter how rich the Sachets became, their business always hit a ceiling.
Enraged, young Frederick sharpened his knives in secret.
Then one day, the opportunity arrived.
One of the Empire’s four ducal houses—the house of Eizef, masters of magitech—was eradicated.
That night, Frederick secretly abducted the heir and hid him away in the countryside so no one could find him.
Until the right time came.
‘In other words, the whole “debt payment” line was complete nonsense.’
Helios lived in the stables of that territory, treated like a servant.
Rural knights bullied him, beat him, shoved him whenever they passed.
He was exposed to malice before he ever saw anything beautiful in life.
But his misfortune didn’t end there.
Once brought to the Sachet household, Helios became Villyette’s emotional garbage bin.
‘If she scratched, he got scratched; if she hit, he got hit. If she wanted a piggyback, he carried her. If she whined, he soothed her.’
After suffering like that, Helios volunteered for the monster subjugation war the moment he turned fifteen.
To escape Villyette’s grip.
‘Here’s where this novel gets twisted.’
Usually, the hero meets a kind heroine on the battlefield and falls in love, right?
But not this lunatic.
He returned from the battlefield with the title “The Butcher,” found Villyette, and imprisoned her.
So she couldn’t take a single step without him.
A warped obsession and hunger for possession.
But no one dared condemn him—because Duke Eschkal, who acknowledged Helios’s abilities, adopted him and made him heir.
House Eschkal, masters of magic.
A ducal house with power rivaling the imperial family.
Who would dare speak against him?
Everyone hoped instead:
That possessing Villyette would tame the monster—make him less savage, even calm.
But as Villyette broke mentally, failing escape attempt after escape attempt—on her 99th attempt, begging for divorce, then screaming she’d kill him—he simply said:
> **“Billy.”
> Helios, barely suppressing the ominous atmosphere, curled his lips and pulled her into his arms.
> When the disheveled, sobbing woman let herself be held, the monster’s eyes softened just a little.
> “If you wanted to play tag, you should’ve told me beforehand. You made me upset.”**
For reference, this scene happened right after the heroine failed her 99th escape.
A dark, degrading, obsessive confinement romance where the heroine, Villyette, breaks piece by piece.
And that Villyette…
As you know—
**was me.**
