Chapter 07
“Huh?”
I felt like I had just heard something strange.
When I blinked, my mother shrugged lightly and said in a breezy tone,
“There’s no need to think so hard about it. Let’s put it this way. Azalea, you were the one who brought that child here, weren’t you?”
“…Yes. I brought him.”
“Then I shall follow your will. He is yours, after all.”
Huh? I tilted my head at the incomprehensible words. Mother gently reached out and stroked my hair as if tickling it, making me let out a small laugh.
“If you don’t wish to send him away, then we won’t chase him out. My daughter, decide as you please. Do you want to keep that child, or throw him away?”
Keep him?
Ah, Mother. That wording is a bit…
But under her intense gaze, I couldn’t shake my head.
“Do you want him?”
Slowly, my head drooped.
It wasn’t that I wanted him. I was afraid of getting entangled with the original storyline. I just didn’t want to send him away like this. If I said no, Mother would mercilessly throw Vasilisa out.
After a moment, my head slowly nodded.
His limbs were astonishingly thin. I couldn’t believe that such a small body had truly destroyed my carriage.
When it was just a single line in the novel, I’d thought, ‘Well, a male lead should at least be this strong!’ But now that it was reality, it was simply terrifying.
If that small boy harbored ill will and merely swung his fist, something dreadful could happen to the people around me.
‘I don’t want to turn into a burst kimbap.’
It wasn’t appropriate for the situation, but I suddenly grew depressed thinking about my utterly useless Tilet.
‘Ugh, my Tilet that I can’t even use anywhere.’
I rubbed my face and dry-washed it with my hands. Just thinking too much had already made the back of my head throb. Letting out a sigh, I walked to the bed where the boy lay and braced myself against it. Then I looked down at the boy breathing evenly in his sleep.
“…To think I’d meet you.”
It felt strange. A character from a novel was right in front of me.
His hair was especially black, like pieces of the night sky pasted together, and his skin was pale and translucent in contrast.
He was truly beautiful and lovely. The sweat beading on his forehead, the damp strands of hair clinging to his skin, the furrow between his brows, the lips he bit even in sleep—everything made him seem pitiful and tender.
“No, no. Don’t be fooled by appearances!”
I clenched my fist. He was having a nightmare. Carefully pulling up the disheveled blanket, I rested my elbow on my knee and propped my chin in my hand.
“So you have nightmares too.”
I had plenty myself. The end of my previous life hadn’t been beautiful. I probably had trauma from dying. Sometimes I would wake in the middle of the night screaming, convulsing. The people of this world—my family—didn’t know the cause of my episodes, which made it harder and more painful for them.
‘It feels like my legs are cut off. It hurts. Dad, it hurts so much! Mom, waaah!’
What I remembered each time was the hands that held mine tightly. You’re not alone. You’re not trapped alone in the dark. I’m standing right beside you, protecting you.
So don’t cry.
Because of that, I was able to endure.
“Hey.”
Watching the boy mumble and sweat in his sleep, my conscience pricked at me. He might be a fearsome protagonist in the future, but right now he was only a young boy.
“Hey, are you sleeping?”
Then a thought suddenly occurred to me. What if this wasn’t the Vasilisa from the story? What if he was just a boy who happened to resemble him, and I’d mistaken him? If I sent him away like this, wouldn’t he die? Wasn’t it more likely that I was wrong than that an extra like me would coincidentally meet the male lead here?
Mother had said that if I wished, he could stay.
‘Wait… Mother doesn’t think I picked up a stray puppy, does she?’
The thought unsettled me. If I insisted, even if he truly was the male lead in his childhood, he might end up tied beside me like a pet.
That kind of future? I object.
I shook my head vigorously. If Vasilisa grew up feeling leashed and restrained, he would surely stab my heart with a blade.
Die, Azalea!
Just imagining it made my whole body tremble. Ugh, what a horrifying ending. It would be worse than the death of any villain in the novel.
Just then—
“…Hngh.”
“….”
At that faint whimper, my heart seemed to drop with a thud. Looking at him, I saw clear tears gathering at the corners of his scrunched eyes. A single dry tear rolled down.
The child who didn’t even sob openly made my heart ache. Facing such a small, thin boy, I felt cruel for imagining distant futures. My conscience stabbed at me. At the very least, I should brush aside the hair stuck to his forehead.
Just as I slowly reached out—
‘Huh?’
In an instant, my wrist was seized. No—an immense pain shot through it. My vision spun. Before I could blink, I had been thrown onto the bed where the boy had lain.
And I saw the boy straddling me.
It had all happened in the blink of an eye.
“You.”
I had never forced myself to look at his eyes before, but now they were there. Brilliantly shining. Dazzling, like a luminous gemstone.
A beautiful violet that seemed capable of leaving a deep mark. Like the lovely purple flower with white stripes I once saw in the garden while holding Sasha’s hand.
How pretty, I vaguely thought—
Then he abruptly lowered his head.
“What are you?”
“….”
I froze, mouth slightly open. His breath was right in front of me, but his beautiful face only made it more frightening.
And the situation was far from sweet. He raised his hand to my throat in threat. Considering his Tilet, if he merely put strength into that hand—
My neck would snap cleanly in two.
“I asked what you are.”
Wow. I hadn’t known polite speech could sound that unpleasant. I admired him purely for that. Here was someone who sounded rude with just his voice.
“Why am I here?”
That’s what I want to ask. Why did you fall onto my carriage?
“If you don’t want to die, talk, noona.”
Cold sweat poured down my back. No knights or maids were around. A chill ran through me. What the hell! Was I an extra who dies instantly at the hands of the male lead? Is that why I never appeared in the novel?
“Did you kidnap me because I’m too pretty?”
Kidnap?
“You know what happens to people who do bad things, right?”
“…?”
“What do you think I’ll do to someone who kidnapped me?”
What is this brat even saying?
At that moment, pure anger surged through me, overpowering the dizziness and fear. A vein throbbed at my temple. I glared at the insolent child acting shamelessly.
Who kidnapped who? You’re the one who dropped out of nowhere and wrecked my precious carriage! My fragile heart almost burst because of you!
My lips trembled with rage.
“Hey.”
“…What?”
“Yeah, you.”
At my fiery call, he widened his eyes. He looked like a cute kitten, but it didn’t calm my anger. Also, my neck really hurt under his grip.
“I get that you’re at that rebellious age, but drop the idea that the whole world revolves around you. I kidnapped you? For what? Is your face plated in gold? And do I look so poor that I’d kidnap someone for money? What is this? I’m rich!”
“….”
He looked somewhat dazed, but that wasn’t my concern.
Today, I will discipline you with the power of righteous fury!
“I don’t care how amazing your Tilet is. You dropped from the sky and nearly killed me—attempted murder—and destroyed my cherished carriage. So pay for the damages.”
“…What did you say?”
“For reference, my carriage was specially commissioned from the Mage Tower, so you’d better be prepared to cough up at least a thousand gold. So? How are you going to repay it?”
“….”
I snorted, but an awkward situation followed. The shock from being yanked earlier had been severe. And the stress from shouting in a feverish rage—
Then it happened.
‘Oh no.’
Suddenly my vision blurred and my head throbbed. That familiar sting at the tip of my nose. At the same time, I saw the utterly bewildered face of Vasilisa-the-brat, who suddenly looked exactly his age.
“Hey.”
Yeah. Hi. First time seeing something like this, huh?
My consciousness was fading. The scene on the bed must have been disastrous. This useless body that couldn’t even read the situation.
In a dying whisper, I muttered,
“Just you wait. When I wake up… I won’t let you off… I’ll nag you to death….”
There were two warm sensations spreading.
I must have fainted with blood pouring from both nostrils.
“Can’t you even do something that simple? It’s easy.”
“You insolent brat! Do you think everyone’s like you?”
“Isn’t it just that you’re stupid?”
For Vasilisa, the world had always been too easy. As if he were the protagonist of the story itself.
There were occasional gift-like crises in life, but they always ended anticlimactically without him even trying. His opponents were too weak, and people were too simple.
He had been born with power. He possessed excellent looks and outstanding acting skills. Even with bothersome people, if he smiled sweetly and whispered pleasing words, they would obediently follow as if controlled.
From a young age, he had been confident that he could make anyone his ally as easily as manipulating them with his fingers.
