Chapter 3
Before I knew it, all the servants and maids had left the room, and the door had long since been closed.
Roxidian, who had briefly shut his eyes, cracked them open just a sliver—and immediately scowled.
I flinched at the sight, and with a faintly irritated, languid expression, he spat out curtly.
“Ya, come here.”
Why was that? My body hesitated on its own.
It didn’t feel strange at all. After all, the Charlize in my memories had moved just like this, irritation and all.
“Ya, ya, Yun Ji-hu! Yun Ji-hu! Big trouble! Hurry up and come here!”
And that was when I stepped up to Roxidian.
“Draw the curtains.”
“Turn off the lights.”
…So this was what déjà vu felt like!
“Ah, and bring some refreshments. Make them yourself.”
“Ya ya, cook some ramen. Like two servings pretending it’s for three.”
…Why was I suddenly thinking of my now-deceased close brother, Yun Ji-hoon?
No, their behavior was synchronized at 100 percent.
“What are you doing? I said draw the curtains.”
Could it be that every brother in the world treated his little sister the exact same way?
No, that couldn’t be right. There had to be kind brothers, gentle brothers somewhere in the world, didn’t there?
‘The Roxidian I’d read about in the book was at least that kind of gentle brother.’
At least until Charlize nearly inflicted a fatal wound on the heroine.
I swept a hand down my face in utter disbelief, and without realizing it, my mouth moved on its own, naturally.
“You draw them.”
Ah, I’d let it slip without thinking.
“Me?”
“Yeah. Don’t you have hands?”
“Huh? You’ve grown up a lot?”
Charlize had rebelled in her own way too, so this much should be fine, right?
It was just that Yun Ji-hoon had overlapped in my mind, and I’d blurted it out.
But Roxidian’s expression turned ridiculous as he watched, and soon he let out a scoff.
“Pulling that same puberty rebellion again? Should I correct those bad habits of yours after so long? Huh?”
What was this? The male lead acting like some third-rate thug?
I scowled, feeling the romance of the novel I’d loved shatter to pieces.
And that was my mistake—letting my guard down for just a moment and underestimating the tyrant male lead’s mad power.
It was truly just an instant, but Roxidian’s eyes sank dangerously low.
“Kuh, ugh… Of all times. Now.”
At the same time, an eerie gold flickered in his crimson eyes.
‘Wait, hold on… That’s not…?’
In the book, the tyrant Roxidian suffered from a bizarre Madness.
He’d occasionally lose control and rampage wildly, which only fueled his reputation as a tyrant.
This was my blunder in forgetting it, even briefly.
Shing—a sharp gust of wind sliced through the air.
I forgot even to step back in time.
Before I knew it, Roxidian—now perfectly expressionless—had drawn his sword from its sheath and was aiming it straight at me.
Gasp. I held my breath.
Waaah, damn it, give me back my romance. Where did that handsome, gentle brother go?
That had been the one silver lining of waking up as Charlize, or so I’d thought!
The moment Roxidian casually lifted his hand, I squeezed my eyes shut and yelled.
“Mo-mommy! Get away!”
Boom!
At the deafening crash, I pried my eyes open—and there he was, Roxidian, sprawled out far ahead of me.
He was a skilled swordsman, after all; he quickly pushed himself up to regain his balance. But I wasn’t looking at him anymore.
‘What, what’s this? Why’s my necklace acting up?’
Incredibly, the necklace hanging around my neck was glowing with golden light.
At the same moment, a memory flashed through my mind.
“Our daughter, our son—you siblings have to get along, okay? Or Mommy’s going to get mad.”
“Especially you, Roxidian! Take good care of your little sister!”
It was Charlize’s mother, the Late Empress.
A woman with the same red hair as her great-uncle, beaming brightly in the memory.
“If your brother bullies you, call for Mommy anytime. I’ll scold him good and make him nice and kind.”
In that instant, amid whirls of dust, Roxidian slowly rose to his feet.
I swallowed hard without thinking at the sight of him gripping his sword in one hand.
Did I… did I just send my brother flying? It sure seemed like it.
Whatever power it was, I had no idea—but please, spare me…!
Terrified the sword might come flying again, I trembled all over when suddenly Roxidian dropped it to the floor, his face shocked.
Clang!
With that, he strode right up to me.
“Oh no, what have I done…! Are you alright, Liz?”
…Pardon?
“I’m sorry. Brother was wrong. Brother did something awful!”
Truth be told, Roxidian was a fiercely wild-looking man.
Yet here he was, pulling a sullen expression like he’d swapped souls entirely, gripping my shoulders with worry etched on his face.
It was like a tiger trying to mimic a tiny kitten.
Hiding those massive claws while gazing up pitifully.
My jaw nearly dropped at the sheer cluelessness of it.
“…Your Majesty?”
“‘Your Majesty’? What’s with the formality between siblings? Come on, call me Brother.”
“…”
What was this? Did the male lead have a split personality or something?
Just as confusion started to hit me, Roxidian’s face twisted violently.
And in the next breath, it shifted back to the fierce scowl from when he’d first entered.
No—fiercer, even.
“Ya, you damn brat, what the hell did you just do to me, little sis?”
“…”
“Argh, shit—my Madness.”
I was just as clueless as he was.
Roxidian glared daggers at me and raised his hand. Thinking he was about to strike, I flinched hard and squeezed my eyes shut on instinct.
“U-ugh, Mommy!”
“…”
The room fell silent once more.
When I opened my eyes…
“Gasp—did I scare you? Sorry. Brother was just going to pat your cheek…”
Insane. Another overly polite “brother” mode that didn’t suit him at all.
…Hold on. Don’t tell me.
“Mommy?”
“…”
No way—did yelling “Mommy!” make this brother flip back and forth like that?
I had zero clue how or why, but… it sure seemed like it.
“Argh, what the fuck is this? I feel like I’m gonna hurl!”
“Mommy?”
“Oh dear, I’m sorry, Liz.”
I gaped openly as Roxidian’s expressions flipped wildly back and forth.
God, all I wanted was my coin refund—what the hell was all this…?
I’d run smack into this bizarre mess before even meeting my all-important fiancé.
It felt like some unwanted bonus—or an annoying burden—right before the main event.
* * *
What the hell was I supposed to do with this? I just sat there, mouth agape, sneaking glances at Roxidian.
His face seemed to be piling on more fury by the second, in real time.
Still, I stuck to the script faithfully—every time he reached out, I yelled “Mommy,” and he flipped every single time.
“Ya, can’t you cut it out already?”
“Ha, but if you grab me, you’ll hit me, right?”
“What? When have I ever hit you…”
“Uwah—Mo…”
“Ah, damn it—I won’t, I said I won’t!”
In the end, Roxidian gave up trying to grab me and raked a hand over his own face.
“Noah.”
The moment Roxidian muttered the name, the space behind him ripped open like it had been slashed by a blade.
Incredibly, someone popped out of the black-hole-like void.
“My God.”
It was an exceedingly handsome man, his forehead glistening with a light sheen of sweat.
He swept his gaze over the room and frowned right on cue, as if he’d been expecting it.
“…So you’ve finally beaten up your one and only blood relative because of your Madness? Filial impiety…”
“Shut it.”
He had handsome yet delicately refined features.
Hair as blue as a slice of the sea, an elegant jawline, gray eyes slowly blinking open—I knew him instantly.
Noah.
The sub male lead.
“I was only a little late, but what in the world is this?”
Compared to Roxidian, he gave off a softer impression.
His expressionless face was so exquisitely beautiful it could be mistaken for a woman’s—yet it carried a chill, an icy edge.
“You said you had it under control!”
His fine, ash-gray eyes flicked toward me for a split second before snapping back to Roxidian.
“You have to cherish the Empire’s sole remaining Imperial bloodline besides Your Majesty. You know exactly what would happen if even one of those lines vanished in the current situation.”
Noah Chandais, full name.
The sub male lead, and the Emperor’s aide-cum-guardian knight.
I even knew the other role he played.
He was the one tied to the book’s massive twist, so I’d figured meeting him would come later…
“Weren’t you on your way to welcome the long-returned Duchess and discuss her fiancé? So why’s the floor smashed, and why’s a sword drawn, Your Majesty?”
“Ah, just shut up for a sec.”
Roxidian half-covered his ears before raking back his hair.
“Anyway, my Madness has settled.”
“Pardon? That’s what’s important right… Oh. Very important indeed.”
Noah fixed me with a gravely serious look.
“Huh. I see. So the key… was the Duchess all along…”
