Chapter 001
“The successor will be the child born to Stella.”
“…Do you even know what you’re saying right now?”
“Yes. It means that even if we marry, I will never take you into my bed.”
Clang—
The trembling teacup fell with a grating, unpleasant sound.
“Raimund. I’m asking this because I truly don’t understand, but surely you’re not talking about the successor to our house, the House of Martyre? Right? You must be talking about your house, the House of Larsen?”
“Hmph. Evgenia Martyre. Please stop acting so foolish.”
“Wh-What did you say?”
Raimund, who shook his head as if genuinely fed up, elegantly set down his teacup.
The teacup found its place without the slightest noise, revealing how perfectly calm he was.
He looked directly at the flustered Evgenia and said, “This marriage is happening because you want it. For your pathetic love.”
“…”
“So, shouldn’t my love be respected as well?”
It was utter madness.
Raimund looked at Evgenia, who was now trembling down to her shoulders, with an indifferent gaze, and then rose from his seat. It was as if whether Evgenia cried or not had absolutely nothing to do with him.
As the cold Raimund turned to leave, the sound of a dress rustling was heard from behind him.
Raimund, assuming Evgenia was coming to grab him again, turned back with a look of utter disgust.
And then.
“Ma-Martyre, what are you doing right now…”
“Raimund Larsen, you son of a BASTARD!”
Thwack, thwack, thwack!
“Die! Die!”
“Ugh, Aaaaargh! Stop!”
The single, heavily diamond-encrusted, weighty shoe—the only one of its kind in the Empire—could truly be called a weapon.
The sharp heel of the shoe relentlessly struck his shoulder, back, and arm.
“Uck! Stop it, Martyre! You lunatic! Agh!”
Raimund curled his body up and awkwardly backed away, but Evgenia did not give up.
It made her even angrier to see him still using the distant honorific ‘Martyre’ even while being beaten.
When they were children, barely sucking on bread soaked in milk, he used to call her Jenya, Jenya, so easily!
Limping because she’d taken off one shoe, she pursued him persistently.
Everything finally stopped only when the heel of the shoe struck his forehead with a loud thwack!, drawing blood.
“Hah, pant. Martyre, you’re seriously crazy—”
“Yes, I’m crazy. But you seem crazier. You’re a man entering the family as a son-in-law, and you say what? The successor will be Stella’s child? Thinking about it again just makes my blood boil. Take more, take more!”
“Agh, Argh!”
As the barrage of shoe heels resumed, Raimund’s clothes began to become increasingly disheveled.
After several attempts, he finally managed to get away from Evgenia and shouted, clutching his bleeding forehead, “You, you crazy wench! I thought you were at least pretending to be docile in front of me, but now that the Name has manifested, you don’t need to anymore, is that it?!”
“Go F*ck yourself. Do you want to be hit more? Huh?”
“…It won’t change anything, no matter what you do. Even if you act insane, I won’t ever look back at you…”
There was no need for him to say anything further here.
Evgenia flicked the hand holding the red-stained shoe, and Raimund’s face turned pale.
As he hastily fled the drawing room, there was nothing dignified about his retreating figure.
Evgenia gently set down the shoe and clicked her tongue, muttering, “Why on earth did I fall for a guy like that? Is this also the original story’s restrictive power, or something?”
* * *
Evgenia Martyre. The legitimate daughter of the House of Martyre, one of the only two ducal houses in the Empire.
A beauty renowned in the Empire’s high society, and also a madwoman.
Even though she had already celebrated her coming-of-age, Evgenia was still not engaged.
That was because she was deeply infatuated with Young Master Larsen, her childhood friend—that is, Raimund Larsen.
She had rejected all the marriage proposals she had received and blocked every proposal that came Raimund’s way.
Evgenia naturally assumed she would be the one to marry Raimund, but then ‘Stella Ael’ appeared before her.
She had watched with murderous eyes, wondering how a mere Baroness’s daughter managed to reel in Young Master Larsen, a Duke’s heir…
“Stella is the female lead, and Raimund is the male lead. I can’t beat that…”
Why hide it?
This place was the world of the fantasy romance novel <The Baroness’s Daughter Who Defies Fate>, and Evgenia was a reincarnator who had just recovered her memories of her past life.
The seats for the female and male leads were already taken.
So, wasn’t her remaining role obvious?
“Even as the villainess, how great would it be if the future were somewhat guaranteed?”
Burning at the stake? Beheading? Execution? Any of those would be better than Evgenia’s current future.
Evgenia Martyre was destined to… starve to death in prison!
“There was even a description that everyone held a festival, happy that I died. How do you live a life to end up like that? I thought I lived a pretty decent life, didn’t I?”
After she muttered this, the book in her mind flipped through its pages, recalling the things she had done.
Throwing steak onto the floor because the doneness was not to her liking.
Whipping a maid because her hair was curled at a 2-degree slant.
She even self-harmed to grab Raimund’s attention.
Just a week ago, she clearly remembered climbing onto a windowsill in front of him, begging him to love her.
“The wind was… stronger than I thought…”
The man who saw Evgenia staggering in the wind clicked his tongue and casually turned his back and left.
After that, she shattered furniture, tore up bed sheets, and then…
“Suddenly, I recalled my previous life. …No, is it even right to say ‘suddenly’?”
A cautious hand reached for her collarbone area.
On her smooth skin, which was enough to make her sigh, black letters were etched like a tattoo.
Raimund Larsen.
It was the name of the man she had just chased out after raising an absolute ruckus.
“Ugh. A ‘Name’? This feels even more fantastical than reincarnation.”
In the founding myth of the Empire, her homeland and the setting of the original story, there is a passage that says: In the distant past, the Gods themselves designated partners for love.
A thousand years after its founding, this was treated as nothing more than a ‘myth,’ but think again.
Why do you think the original novel’s title includes ‘Defies Fate’?
“It’s just a myth created to somehow put an obstacle in the love of the male and female leads, that’s all, yes.”
If she had only hidden the Name in a panic the moment she first woke up, that would be one thing, but unfortunately, she had been out of her mind with pain at the time.
By the time she finally managed to compose herself, the fact that Raimund’s Name had manifested on her was already widely known throughout both ducal houses.
Among the servants, the engagement between Raimund and Evgenia was already accepted as a fait accompli, so there was no one who would believe her if she denied it now.
Thus, she tried to behave like a reformed person and maintain a good relationship with the male lead, just like her predecessor villainess-transmigrators.
…The result was a new experience: striking a person’s head with a shoe heel.
“No, but is this my fault? He was saying something that wasn’t even human!”
Since recalling her past life, her burning love for Raimund had long since cooled.
It was enough that she didn’t even tremble when she saw his face.
She had actually been relieved by this, but how could she have known that Raimund’s head would bring such misfortune?
“Was he always like that? My rose-tinted glasses must have been Adamantium-grade…”
How could he say he would cut off his wife’s family line right in front of her?
He must be utterly insane, or he must truly believe in Evgenia’s love—ugh!—it had to be one of the two.
Considering the things Evgenia had done up until now, the latter was overwhelmingly more likely.
“This won’t work. Being friendly with the original male lead? That is absolutely impossible.”
Even after seeing his face just once today, she was capable of striking him with a shoe heel.
If she saw his face two or three more times, she would undoubtedly cause a catastrophe someday.
“Murder is out of the question, of course.”
If she couldn’t befriend Raimund, she couldn’t befriend Stella, the original female lead, either.
It was obvious that to the completely delusional Raimund, any kind approach from her would be interpreted as distorted.
She was going to try to resolve this nicely through negotiation and break off the engagement, but seeing that he had already made plans for the successor, it seemed Raimund was absolutely set on the marriage.
“He asks for his love to be respected, but then makes the person he loves an adulteress? Does that even make sense? He’s insane, even after thinking about it again.”
Furthermore, his attitude of treating that twisted sense of values as perfectly normal!
Perhaps the solid affection developed through adversity was because Evgenia had committed so many insane acts in the original story.
This meant that unless she committed acts on par with the original story’s insanity, Raimund’s mind might not change.
But Evgenia was not one to stop here.
“You think I’ll let that happen? Just you wait and see.”
Evgenia smiled faintly and tling-tling— rang a small bell.
“Did you call, my Lady?”
“Yes. Where is my Father now?”
If Raimund’s mind wouldn’t change, then she would simply change the mind of a more powerful person.
For example… the esteemed Duke Martyre, who loves the daughter who closely resembles his late, sickly wife more than anything in the world.
»»» ♡ «««
Notes:
1. Name (네임 / neim): As explained previously, this refers to a magical inscription or mark, often related to a soulmate or binding fate, that appears on a person’s body. Erasing it usually has severe magical or physical repercussions, in this case, shortening the lifespan.
2. Son of a BASTARD (개XXXXX야 / gae-XXX-ya): This is a heavily censored Korean profanity used for extreme anger, literally “dog-fcking bstard/son of a b*tch.” It has been translated here as a strong equivalent to convey the raw fury of the character.
3. Adamantium-grade (아다만티움 콩깍지 / Adamantium kongkkakji): Kongkkakji (콩깍지) literally means ‘bean pod’ and is used idiomatically in Korean to mean ‘rose-tinted glasses’ or the delusion of being deeply in love. Adamantium is a fictional, incredibly durable metal (from Marvel comics). The phrase means her delusion of love was practically unbreakable.
