EPISODE 2
“Since villainess and extra reincarnations are trendy these days, am I one of them? Ugh, I hope not.”
Leticia had no desire to live in the same world as those so-called doting fathers—men who were better described as delusional lunatics.
She had just accepted her reincarnation and resolved to live her second life properly.
But to think she might’ve ended up in a world full of human disasters—people with status, wealth, and power, but not a shred of sense or decency? That was too cruel.
“There’s no way to avoid getting involved… is there.”
When the heroine, Arietta, reached adulthood, she would debut into the capital’s social scene—
and the Sharon County residence just so happened to be in the capital.
Even worse, her family business was a jewelry company.
That meant no hiding away in some countryside estate living off land income.
Her family dealt directly with people. There was no escaping involvement with the main cast.
“…Okay. First things first—gather information. I can’t make a plan without knowing anything. But… how am I supposed to gather it?”
Leticia was only six years old. Her mental age might’ve been a little higher thanks to the reincarnation “buff,” but her language ability was still that of a child.
“Don’t reincarnators usually get a language buff? What a scam.”
Sadly, Leticia had been betrayed by the most basic of reincarnation clichés.
Since she still couldn’t understand some of the more complicated words adults used, information gathering was going to be tough.
While she was lost in thought, the food on her plate barely decreased. She just sat there, fork in hand, staring blankly.
Her mother, noticing, looked worried.
“Letty, sweetheart, do you not have an appetite? Why aren’t you eating?”
“…Ah! I’ll eat now. I was just thinking.”
Leticia hurriedly grabbed her fork and spoon, shoveling food into her mouth so she wouldn’t worry her mother further.
Her grandfather, watching her with his usual sternness, cleared his throat and spoke.
“Now that I think about it, Letty’s six already, isn’t she? Time really flies.”
Her uncle nodded in agreement.
“It feels like just yesterday we all panicked when she toddled all the way to the garden after taking her first steps—and now look at her.”
Unlike her calm, reserved siblings, Leticia had always been active and mischievous since she was a baby.
Of course, her “accidents” weren’t serious—just the kind of trouble any normal child caused.
Like the time she stole her brothers’ books when they refused to play with her, laid on top of them so they couldn’t take them back, and ended up falling asleep there.
Or when she tried to feed her hated carrots to her stuffed bunny, only to get caught—and insisted, “If the bunny can’t eat it, it must be too gross for me, too!”
“Yes, Letty’s always been such a lively and spirited child,” her grandfather said with a smile. “Hmm…”
Then, suddenly, he dropped what was, to Leticia, a nuclear bomb.
“It’s about time she started lessons with a private tutor.”
“A tutor?!!”
Leticia nearly dropped her fork.
Her peaceful, play-filled days were officially over.
She remembered how her older siblings had stopped playing once their tutors arrived, and her lips trembled.
“A tutor? But she’s only just learned to read! She only knows picture books.”
“Yeah! Letty doesn’t know history or geography or anything.”
“She just plays all day—she’s never studied at all.”
Their innocent but brutal honesty made Leticia’s face contort.
She couldn’t even deny it, which made it worse.
“Then until the tutor arrives, you three can teach her a bit,” her aunt added cheerfully. “Letty should start reading books and studying with her siblings.”
“Auntie, I hate you,” Leticia muttered inwardly as she forced herself to answer politely, “Yes.”
And thus ended her carefree, reincarnated idyll.
After breakfast, Victoria and Lennart sat Leticia down for a “lesson.”
In truth, it was more like sitting in the library with snacks, chatting about random topics.
“Let’s start with reading. Letty, can you read a storybook on your own?”
“I can read The Princess of Thorn Flowers! I memorized it from when Nanny read it!”
Leticia said proudly, thinking she was doing great for her age—but Victoria’s face darkened.
“That’s the book I read when I was three… even Marie read it when she was four.”
“Well, you can’t even climb trees! I can climb all by myself!”
“Why would a noble need to climb trees…? Anyway, looks like we’ve got a lot to teach. We’d better start with reading.”
“Tori, why not teach her history or geography instead?” Lennart suggested. “Even if she can’t read, she can memorize what we tell her.”
Victoria’s eyes brightened.
“Good idea! Okay, Letty—do you know the name of our country?”
“Fontheon!”
The moment she answered, both siblings stared at her, wide-eyed.
Apparently, that was correct.
“How did you know that? You can’t even read properly.”
“Of course I know! You think I’m dumb?”
“Then what’s the Emperor’s name?”
“What’s a ‘name’?”
At only six, Leticia still didn’t know some of the formal vocabulary.
“It means his real name,” Victoria explained kindly. “That’s how we refer to the Emperor and the imperial family.”
“Ah, then… Philip… something? De? Pon? Anyway, Fontheon!”
She recalled what she could from the “original novel,” but the Emperor’s full name was long and complicated, so she winged it.
“Whatever. In romance fantasies, royal names always end with the empire’s name anyway.”
She thought she’d nailed it—but Lennart sighed.
“If you go outside and call me that, you’ll get taken away.”
“To be precise, His Majesty Emperor Philippe Astin Johannes. Ponteon is the name of an empire, and should not be used carelessly.”
“Oh… got it.”
Victoria continued,
“And the other imperial family members are…”
She recited an endless list of long names flawlessly, and Leticia was honestly impressed.
“Oh, right—what does the Crown Prince look like?”
“You mean His Highness the Crown Prince. Uncle said he has black hair and red eyes.”
That was exactly how he was described in the original story.
Crown Prince Mathias.
“Seriously? Black hair and red eyes again?”
Half the male leads in romance fantasies had that same combination.
“Wait, wasn’t that supposed to be the northern duke’s trait? I thought princes were always blond.”
Even though Leticia hadn’t read every romance fantasy, she remembered the clichés—
there was always one blond male lead and one black-haired rival.
But in the original novel, there was no northern duke. Only Mathias.
“Why do you ask? Don’t tell me you like His Highness?” Victoria teased.
“Why would I? I’ve never even met him.”
“Most girls haven’t, but they’re still obsessed. Even the academy students gossip about him.”
“…How old is he?”
“Same age as Lennart.”
“What the—”
Lennart was ten. Victoria was thirteen.
The thought of thirteen-year-old girls squealing over a ten-year-old boy made Leticia’s expression twist in silent horror.
“Well, princes are always objects of admiration. Reality doesn’t matter—they look cool.”
“But he’s ten!”
“Still. They say he’s handsome. If he weren’t, no one would care half as much.”
“Fair point,” Leticia thought.
Because in these worlds, the difference between a jerk and a brooding romantic lead was just the face.
A jealous stalker became a “devoted lover” the moment he was attractive.
“Anyway, at least I got some useful info.”
The male lead, Crown Prince Mathias, matched the novel’s setting perfectly.
And the heroine existed, too.
“So this really is the world of the original story. What a trash universe.”
As Victoria and Lennart’s well-meaning but forgettable lecture continued, Leticia started organizing everything she could recall from the original story.
Though she wasn’t yet good at writing, she pretended to keep a diary so no one would question her notes.
Her family, bless them, respected even a child’s privacy.
“Still… this is hard. All the knowledge I have is useless.”
She was just a six-year-old noble girl.
Even with knowledge, she had no way to use it—and no authority to persuade adults.
Even her ten-year-old brother didn’t have any influence; what hope did she have?
“And even if I said, ‘We have to do something about the Duke’s family,’ it’s not like anyone would believe me…”
In the original story, the Duke of Avril’s family rarely visited the capital before the heroine’s coming-of-age. They stayed in their territory almost all year, only visiting for about a month.
So, realistically, Leticia had no contact point with them anyway.
Still, just in case, she summarized all the information she’d gathered so far:
“First—my name never appeared in the original story. So I’m probably not the villainess, just an extra. Our jewelry business was mentioned, though…”
