Chapter 4
The tyrant Roxidian from the book had been emotionally deficient from birth.
The beastly blood mixed into the imperial ancestors’ lineage had unfortunately manifested far too strongly in Roxidian.
Because of that, he was numb to the various emotions that any human should naturally possess.
His mind was brilliant, but he struggled to learn etiquette and common sense.
It was because he found it hard to suppress his instinctive savagery.
Taking pity on him, the late emperor and empress had forcibly infused emotions into Roxidian using the power of magic.
It had been fine during his childhood… but as he grew older, the magic’s power gradually faded.
‘The more it faded, the more the madness began to resurface.’
That was the reason he earned the name of tyrant.
And this setup later allowed the heroine to appear, for him to struggle to suppress his madness, become obsessed, and add that 19+ flavor…
‘But why, in front of me, has it turned into something so ridiculously sweet?’
Noah knelt on one knee before me.
“My greetings are late, Duchess. And congratulations. To have subdued His Majesty’s madness.”
“……”
“You’ve removed one of the empire’s hidden worries.”
…No, I didn’t exactly remove that worry because I wanted to.
“It’s too early for congratulations. There are side effects.”
“Side effects?”
“Fuc… I don’t want to say it myself.”
“Pardon?”
“I said I don’t want to say it, damn it.”
“But Your Majesty, as you know, I need to be aware of everything in this situation. Even if it’s a side effect that turns His Majesty into an idiot, I’ll understand, so please tell me. I’m prepared.”
“Want to die? Ha… It’ll be faster if you see it for yourself. Hey.”
Roxidian called me, and Noah naturally looked my way. I nodded.
“Looks like ‘Mom’ left a really nice gift.”
At the same moment, Roxidian’s expression melted away, and the way he looked at me changed.
A soft, tender smile rose on his face.
“You’re right, Liz. It seems Mother left a wonderful gift for my little sister.”
“……Your Majesty?”
“Oh, right. Is there anything you want?”
I could see Noah’s mouth drop open wide, just like mine had moments ago, as he stared at the tyrant chattering away to himself.
Roxidian, oblivious, kept crouching his massive frame beside me with the face of a doting big brother, eagerly asking about my well-being with utmost affection.
His crumpled-up posture was exactly like a tiger who thought it was a cat and had squeezed itself into a tiny box.
While he was like this, Noah desperately held back his laughter, and then, under the fierce glare from Roxidian once he returned to normal, he had to stifle his hysterics even harder.
“Ah, th-that, um, I’ll… heh, ah, look into what happened.”
Roxidian stood from his seat.
“Whew, let’s put today’s business off for now. You—consider this a warning: don’t go blabbing outside.”
“……”
All I could do was stare in bewilderment at his retreating back.
It felt like a storm had just swept through.
* * *
Roxidian, who had seemed like he’d come right back, didn’t visit me again after that.
And for some reason, my grandfather—the Altzveit Duke—who had returned from his outing that day, flew into a rage.
‘Roxidian and the Altzveit Duke don’t get along.’
It was one of the facts I’d learned as Charlize’s memories gradually resurfaced.
For whatever reason, the duke and Roxidian had a bad relationship.
No, terribly bad was more like it.
They were grandfather and grandson by blood, yet politically they were like sworn enemies.
Even so, both of them were indulgent toward Charlize in their own ways.
‘Well, even if she lived like a total scoundrel, they loved her enough to clean up after her every time.’
Right before my eyes were piles of gifts sent by one of them—my grandfather.
“The Duke prepared these out of concern for the Duchess, who hasn’t gone out much lately.”
“Oh.”
I whistled inwardly, but at the same time, I was lost in thought.
‘Wow, even with all this, he still won’t meet me?’
It was because I still hadn’t met the one person I absolutely had to—the man I was engaged to.
On top of that, the invitations I’d sent dozens of times had all come back unopened, just like always.
Meanwhile, divorce demands from my fiancé kept arriving at the Altzveit Duke’s residence.
I thought I’d been plenty polite about it. It was time to take matters into my own hands.
‘I wanted to make our first meeting somewhat courteous, now that the soul inside has changed…’
I had information on Askin in my head.
“I’m going out.”
“Yes, Duchess. I’ll prepare right away.”
The place where that man might be at this hour…
There was only one.
A little later, I let out a small gasp of admiration while looking at the hem of my outing dress.
“……I picked the plainest one possible.”
In Charlize’s wardrobe, which treated extravagance as a virtue, the concept of ‘plain’ didn’t exist.
‘It really is pretty…’
Yes. My face was so beautiful that I never got tired of looking at it.
If I’d debuted in entertainment with this, I could’ve made enough money to feed myself and three generations down the line just on my looks.
It had a bit of a sharp, venomous vibe, sure.
But the absolute beauty covered that up perfectly.
‘Charlize must have known her own looks inside out. And she made great use of them.’
Her wardrobe was filled with luxurious clothes that suited her perfectly.
Thanks to that, finding a dress without revealing cuts had been like chasing stars in the sky, so I had no choice but to throw on an outer garment and head out of the mansion when—
“E-ex, Du-Duchess!”
I blinked in confusion.
A maid blocked my path, bowing deeply before lifting her head again, trembling with an expression that screamed ‘Please don’t kill me!’
What? Did something happen?
The servants in this house all feared Charlize.
No matter how nicely I’d treated them these past few days, they couldn’t overcome their terror overnight.
……Just how many people had she terrorized?
Anyway, I tilted my head.
So why was she blocking me?
“V-visitors have arrived.”
“Visitors?”
“Yes, your ladyship’s friends…”
“Ah.”
Friends? As I tilted my head, Charlize’s memories surfaced in my mind.
Ahh. Friends. She meant those guys.
Charlize never committed her misdeeds alone.
There was a gang she often stirred up trouble with.
A collection of people with similar temperaments to her own, or sly sorts who tagged along to pick up scraps from her background.
‘They were called the Capital’s Gae-mang Scoundrels Club. Or just ‘Gae-mang’ for short, from what I remember.’
As the name suggested, they’d all end up with ruined lives later… which they could only blame on their own karma.
And Charlize, the leader of the pack, met the most gruesome end of all.
I rubbed my neck.
‘Wow, it really hits home now that I’ve possessed a tragic abuse novel.’
If the story proceeded exactly like the original from here, I—Charlize—would be killed by the object of my obsessive love, and the brother I trusted would fall head over heels for his beloved woman and not lift a finger to help.
In short, I’d die alone, in agony, in a way so horrific I’d never want to be reborn.
‘I’ve already met that so-called brother… but it’s not even betrayal—he’d totally side with the heroine the moment she shows up.’
In the original, they were close siblings.
He didn’t seem to like me at all—treated me worse than a stray dog—and if watching me get harshly rejected didn’t just fuel his anger toward me, that was a relief.
The relief was that if I could just survive here for a year…
‘It’d have nothing to do with the original story.’
I could return before Charlize’s death in the original plot!
It’d be a close call, timing-wise.
So.
“Cancel the carriage preparations.”
“……Yes, Duchess.”
‘To survive safely for the next year, I need to cut off these toxic friends early.’
The Gae-mang scoundrel friends visiting me now wouldn’t help with my plans at all.
Better to nip it in the bud.
‘Wait for me, fiancé. I’ll come see your face soon enough.’
It was a shame I hadn’t seen my fiancé’s face yet, when I needed to negotiate as soon as possible.
But if I thought of it as one step back for two steps forward, it wasn’t a loss.
“Bring in the guests.”
* * *
The lavish reception room.
Charlize’s reception room was different from the usual structure.
Most noble ladies preferred layouts with pretty tables for tea or large windows.
But Charlize’s was the opposite—no large windows at all, and even the existing ones had blackout curtains.
Thanks to that, it could create a night-like atmosphere even in broad daylight, and it was no different now.
With the soft magical lights on, the scene evoked a high-end pub.
‘In dramas, you see chaebols hanging out in fancy bars—somehow, this doesn’t look any different from those…’
Yes.
The servants of this house, tamed by Charlize’s tyranny and terror, had prepared everything without being told.
And on the comfortable, plush sofas sat several men and women.
