It was past midnight. Alone in the house, I endlessly read the letter that had come to me.

Beyond the window, heavy raindrops were fiercely hitting the ground. The dark room brightened momentarily with a flash of lightning, then darkened again.

Only after pondering the sentence once more did it sink in. I had lost all my family. I had also lost my residence and my family name. Although I had abandoned the residence and family name myself, I had no intention of pushing my family to their deaths.

“Lize!”

Someone’s voice was faintly heard.

Without thinking, I got up and went down the stairs. The man outside called my name several times while knocking on the door. After hesitating whether to open it or not, I pulled the doorknob.

As soon as the door cracked open, the rain-soaked man pulled me into his arms. His breathing was rough, as if he had been running.

“…Are you alright? No, that’s not what I meant to say… I’m so glad at least you’re safe. I’m sorry for being selfish. I’m sorry. Lize.”

He stumbled over his words and then stroked my back. I was more bothered by his wet clothes touching my bare skin than by his gesture.

“Lize.”

“I’ve always… hated Father, but I never wished for his death. I disliked my family, but I didn’t want to lose them. I just…”

“It’s not your fault.”

“…I didn’t desire anything. I didn’t want anything at all. If there was anything I desired, it was just family. I wanted a family.”

“Then… let’s do it with me. Let’s make a family together and create a happy ending.”

I could feel the man’s hand trembling. But now, I didn’t want to desire anything anymore.

* * *

I was poor. I was.

To be precise, my first life was like that.

Born in South Korea, I was the only daughter between a mother who had fallen into a pseudo-religion and a gambling-addicted father.

Because it wasn’t a normal family, life wasn’t ordinary either.

I gave up on university and my parents because of money. And I died because of money.

Until the moment of death, I dreamed of the male protagonist’s life from “The Hero of the Penton Family” that I had read since childhood, thinking that in my next life, I just wanted to have a lot of money.

That was probably all I wished for.

Money. Checks.

But who would have known that I would be born into a more miserable life than before, just with a lot of money? And as a character who appears in just one line in “The Hero of the Penton Family”.

“Lize! What on earth are you doing?”

It had already been ten years since I started living in this house.

I looked at the woman who snatched the book from my hands.

“I was reading a book.”

I said the obvious thing clearly. Isabel looked at the epidemiology book I had been reading and then threw it on the floor.

“Lize, I told you. Don’t read books.”

It was excessive, considering I wasn’t looking at obscene material or reading a book full of violence. Isabel was always like this.

She felt jealous that I had the most brilliant mind among her six children. Perhaps that’s why she didn’t assign a tutor to me alone among her children.

In the end, I coaxed Silke, who was a year older than me.

‘Hey, you don’t like studying, right?’

‘Why ask such an obvious thing?’

‘Then, shall I do it for you?’

She was a child who particularly disliked studying and books, so we communicated well. We meticulously planned, and for six months, I received education instead of Silke.

At first, the tutor who didn’t like this gradually taught passionately when he saw me understanding his words at once, unlike Silke.

But the loose-tongued Silke had told everything to Swel, the fourth child and her twin.

‘Li-ze.’

‘What?’

‘You want to study, right? Right?’

Swel demanded that I substitute for his lessons as well. When I reluctantly entered the room to fulfill Swel’s request, the tutor, as expected, nagged.

The next day, that tutor confessed everything to Isabel. In an instant, all my plans turned to bubbles.

After that, she would rush over whenever I looked at a book even a little.

“But you said I could read about two books, didn’t you?”

“I was wrong to think that. Stay away from books for a month from now on!”

It was strange to be scolded for studying, but I could understand Isabel’s feelings. It would hurt if the five children born from her own womb were overshadowed by someone else’s child picked up from outside.

An illegitimate child, Lize Marsen. Deep red hair with yellow eyes.

A child born between a woman who worked in the red-light district and a count father.

The woman who gave birth to me threatened that if they didn’t raise me as the count’s daughter, she would spread rumors about the count’s dirty body that had been rolling around. The count, frightened by that threat, brought me in.

“This won’t do, Lize. I should send you on an errand. Bitty!”

Isabel called for Bitty, the maid who would go on the errand with me.

“Madam, did you call?”

“Go on an errand with Lize. Just deliver the items in the warehouse.”

While Bitty went to the warehouse to fetch the items, I put on my outdoor clothes. As soon as I came out of the front door, Bitty came running with the items.

“Oh my, did you dress by yourself again, Young Miss?”

“You’re busy. And I can dress myself, it’s just clothes.”

“Still, Young Miss, next time don’t do it alone and make sure to call me!”

“Alright, alright. I got it.”

As we left the mansion, Bitty followed behind. As soon as we passed through the garden and out the main gate, the town of Hosha came into view. There were people crowding the streets along with the sight of the market that always opens.

In contrast, next to the mansion on the mountainside, there were dense trees. To go on the errand, we had to go down the hill towards the market, but my footsteps moved sideways.

“Young Miss! Lize Young Miss! Where are you going?”

The flustered Bitty hurriedly called out to me. I never intended to just go on the errand obediently in the first place.

As I ran into the forest without a plan, the surprised Bitty quickly followed me. Passing through the trees, a small lake came into view. As it was still winter, no fish could be seen in the frozen lake.

After gauging the thickness of the ice frozen on the lake, I stepped onto it. After playing on the slippery lake for a while, I saw a flower bed at the far end.

Flowers blooming in various colors were showing off their hues. Especially, the purple flowers said to bloom only in winter caught my eye.

“Young Miss!”

“Just a moment! Let’s look around a bit!”

“W-wait! Please wait!”

Ignoring Bitty’s desperate calls, I ran towards the flower bed.

Pushing through the flowers that had grown as tall as my head, I went forward. I sensed someone’s presence ahead. After a few more steps, I could see a boy and a girl sitting in the center.

Their silver hair, which matched well with the flowers, shone in the sunlight. Their clear blue eyes, darker than the sea, seemed as if they could pierce through me. My body stiffened at the sight of their doll-like appearances.

“Oh? It’s the elder sister from next door!”

The little girl pointed at me as she spoke. At the same time, the boy who noticed me closed the book he was reading and frowned.

His expression clearly showed that I was unwelcome.

“Let’s go, Yune.”

The boy stood up.

“Why? I want to stay longer!”

“Mother told us to come back quickly, remember?”

I was taken aback as this was the first time I had seen them face to face.

But it’s not like I didn’t know who they were.

I looked at the Penton Duke’s mansion behind the flower bed. That place was neighboring the Marsen mansion where I lived, and it was also where the protagonist of the novel “The Hero of the Penton Family”, which I had been reincarnated into, lived.

Yes, that beautiful boy glaring at me fiercely was the male protagonist, Yurik Penton.

…The person who would someday put me on the gallows.

The Marsen family and the Penton family had not been on good terms since long ago. And the Marsen family was full of corruption.

In the future, Yurik, who would become the head of the Penton family, would expose that corruption and put all the Marsen family members on the gallows.

“Let’s go, Yune.”

“I said I don’t want to! Can’t we stay a little longer? The elder sister from next door is here too, right? Right?”

I wonder if Yune knows? The male protagonist, Yurik, didn’t like the Marsen children from the beginning.

「Whenever I saw those stupid Marsen children, I felt disgusted.」

I remembered the description I had read before.

I was about to leave the uncomfortable situation when the book in Yurik’s hand fell in front of me.

As soon as the book fell, the three of us stood still.

In the small silence, I looked down at the open book. Yurik, whom I thought would be reading some heroic tale or autobiography, was reading a fairy tale book.

And one full of pretty fairies at that. It was a book I had read when I was two years old, but now I wouldn’t even glance at it.

‘Ah, did he bring it to read to Yune?’

I was thinking secretly.

“Oh? It’s brother’s favorite book!”

Yune said, on the verge of tears.

“…”

“…”

Judging by how worn the book was, it wasn’t something he had read just once or twice.

I picked up the book that had fallen in front of me and dusted off the dirt thoroughly. As I was about to hand it to Yurik, he suddenly appeared in front of me and snatched the book with a completely reddened face.

Yurik, who had put the book to his chest, immediately turned his back and headed towards the Penton mansion. Holding his sister’s hand tightly.

“Elder sister from next door!”

It was then. Yune suddenly called out to me.

“What’s, what’s your name?”

“…Lize, Lize Marsen.”

“Lize? That’s a pretty name! Then, see you next time! Pretty elder sister!”

She waved her hand big at me with a bright smile. I also waved my hand shyly.

It was a sudden encounter. While I was in a daze, Bitty’s voice, who had been looking for me all this time, was heard from afar.

“Young Miss! Where are you? Young Miss!”

“Ah…”

I ran to Bitty. Bitty, who thought she had lost me, was standing in a state almost ready to burst into tears.

“I was so scared thinking I had lost you, Young Miss!”

“I’m sorry.”

“What on earth were you doing?”

“Just… There happened to be pretty flowers. It’s getting late, let’s hurry to the village before Mother scolds us.”