Chapter 1
Even the rocks pricking the soles of my feet didn’t feel real. Every step I took felt like I was floating, walking on air.
Blood dripped from my wrists where the ropes were tightly bound, and the loud shouting made my ears ring.
The clanging of armor, the crimson sunset blazing in the sky, and the sharp, metallic scent of blood in the air—these were the only things grounding me in this dream-like scene.
Judging by what I could see… this was an execution ground. And the one being executed was…
My shoulders were forced down harshly, and I was made to kneel on the ground. The rough sand once again drew blood from my knees.
My vision spun wildly until someone grabbed my chin and lifted it—bringing everything into sudden focus.
Red. The entire world was dyed red. Like a sea of blood, the sunset signaled the end of this hour.
The end of time, and the beginning of the conclusion. The execution of the villainess. The death of the villainess. To the protagonist, this was the news of hope, and the beginning of the novel’s final arc.
“Don’t think this is the end!”
My cracked voice screamed in fury. Whether you heard it one way or another, it was full of hatred and anger.
If not for the vibration in my throat, I wouldn’t even have realized it was my voice.
“You think she’ll live happily ever after just because you kill me?!”
The ‘me’ who was screaming wildly shifted her gaze to the man in front of her. Even in this situation, it was almost laughable how striking he looked.
A sharp jawline and straight nose, eyes like polished black pearls, hair dark as death. The armor glowing under the blood-red sunset sent chills down my spine.
His name was Nox—the male lead of this world.
“I’ll seduce her family, lure her in, and then tear her to pieces. I’ll feed her body to the wild dogs and hang that pretty face from the castle walls. So everyone knows I won!”
As the shouting grew more frenzied, the soldiers pressed down on my shoulders to subdue me. My knees were stomped on, my hair pulled—but I didn’t care.
“Nox.”
But the moment he took a step toward me, my rough voice instantly softened.
As if I hadn’t just been screaming, I spoke in a gentle, coaxing tone. Yet there was a strange desperation beneath it.
“I love you.”
The words I whispered were filled with unmistakable affection.
“So please…”
As my lips curled into a smile, teeth peeking through, I felt my eyes narrowing gently.
“…look forward to it.”
A faint laugh slipped out along with my final words.
Nox showed no emotion at my madness. Instead, he silently drew his sword.
My eyes instinctively followed the tip. The clean blade, dyed red by the sunset, gleamed ominously. His black eyes were frozen cold.
And then—it was over in an instant.
I felt no chill of the sword, no pain of my neck being severed, no premonition of death. Only the pounding fear carved itself into my memory again.
The world spun. The world flipped upside down. And just like that, my consciousness vanished as if someone had yanked it away.
The last thing I saw was neither Nox nor the sword—but the horrifyingly red sunset.
…Unfortunately, that had just been a dream. A painfully vivid dream that felt real.
Ever since I possessed this novel, I’d seen that dreadful dream every time I “restarted.”
It was the final scene of the villainess—me—being executed, exactly as it happened in the original story.
I figured the reason I was being forced to see it over and over… was so I’d do everything in my power to prevent that ending from becoming reality.
“Sigh…”
A peaceful spring breeze and the sound of birdsong drifted through the window. The sun, oblivious to my mood, poured its bright light over the world.
A soft armchair, a blazing fireplace, a canopy-draped bed, ornate patterns embroidered with gold, and frescoes on the ceiling… I was, by all appearances, in the bedroom of a noble lady.
I had been reincarnated into the novel She of the Heavens. It was a common story where the male and female leads, married by contract, slowly fell in love.
And I… had possessed the body of the villainess who tormented the female lead out of love for the male lead—Lillith Crescent.
“So… which life is this now?”
One, two, three… This was now the fourth life I was living inside this novel.
The first time I possessed her, I had grand dreams of changing this world.
But…
My first life ended when I was just a baby Lillith.
“I got bored of lying down and tried to escape my cradle… only to have the ceiling collapse on me.”
A ridiculous way to die, before I even got a chance to do anything.
The second life, I was eight. I saw someone fall into a lake during a walk and tried to save them—only to drown myself.
“A kid that age diving into a lake without any gear? Of course I died.”
I admitted my mistake freely.
The third time, I was ten. I was peacefully strolling through the Imperial Palace when I was stabbed by a passing assassin.
“Unbelievable.”
That one really wasn’t my fault.
As I recalled each of those deaths, all my energy drained away.
“It’s already been a month… huh.”
That meant I’d spent a full month avoiding everything after landing in this timeline.
With my last ounce of strength, I jumped out of bed and marched to the full-length mirror.
Waist-length hair, platinum-blonde to the point of near whiteness. Gently upturned eyes with ruby-colored irises. A cold, sharp impression when not smiling, and a delicate, slender figure.
Despite praying to possess someone else this time, I looked exactly like the Lillith Crescent described in the novel.
“How old am I again?”
If I remembered correctly, she had her coming-of-age ceremony last year.
“So I only have one year left until the story ends?”
It didn’t feel good, how each restart brought me closer to the final scene.
What should I do to avoid dying again?
I had two goals now. First: survive all the random accidents that happened in this world.
Second: prevent the bad ending where the villainess is executed.
“If I look at how I died each time…”
The ceiling collapse during the first life happened because Nox, who had been invited to House Crescent, suddenly awakened his powers.
The drowning in the second life happened because I tried to save someone—who turned out to be the female lead.
That event was even in the original story. It was a trial she faced in childhood, caused by a magical trap. As an ordinary child, I stood no chance.
The assassin in my third life was aiming for the sub-male lead, a prince.
Unfortunately, I witnessed it. And the assassin killed me on the spot to silence me.
“In short… I died every time because I got involved with the main characters.”
I was starting to get it.
“The protagonists grow through crises and hardships. So naturally, trouble follows them. And nobodies like me just get swept up and die.”
If I were truly the villainess Lillith Crescent, I wouldn’t have died so easily.
She was skilled at ignoring people dying in front of her, clever and sly enough to slip out of even big incidents.
But I wasn’t like that. If someone was dying, I’d try to help them. And I had no way to dodge an assassin’s blade.
“…Okay. First of all, I need to avoid those people as much as possible.”
If I stayed away from the main troublemakers, I could probably avoid the trouble itself.
I was an adult now, so I should be able to manage better than when I was younger. I could make excuses to refuse meetings, or just walk away.
“And as for the execution ending—I’ll cancel it out with good deeds.”
Charity, volunteering, even divine visions if I had to. I needed to push my image from villainess to saint so they wouldn’t dare execute me.
Time was tight, but if I started working on my reputation now, I might just avoid that ending.
“If things really go south, I’ll just escape the empire.”
Living as a fugitive would be hard, no doubt. And if I ran at the wrong time and raised suspicion, I might end up dead anyway. So that would be my last resort.
“I’ve got to do this right. No matter what!”
I clenched my teeth, steeling myself with burning determination.
But… why do I feel so uneasy?
At some point, my fine hairs were standing on end, and a chill ran down my spine. I could hear someone pacing outside the door—it was clearly a maid, but even that made me nervous.
Then, as if to confirm that anxiety, came two soft knocks at the door.
Because of how atrociously Lillith had behaved in the past, no maid dared to speak to her first.
Even though I’d spent an entire month locked in this room, no one had checked on me, and no one looked at me strangely.
“My lady, it’s almost time for your audience at the palace,” the maid said quietly when I didn’t respond.
Palace?
My breath caught in my throat at that word.
If I was going to the palace, then obviously it meant the Imperial Palace.
And the Imperial Palace was where the villainess’s first downfall—and the sub-male lead—awaited.
In other words… it was the lion’s den.
