TYSIV 03

Chapter – 03

“Who on earth wrote something like this? Why did they describe me this way? What kind of grudge did they have against me?”

As Luciena searched for the culprit in her mind, her eyes rapidly scanned the pages of the novel.

[The villainess Luciena betrayed her one and only older sister and deliberately stole the only man her sister had ever loved.

Then, pretending to comfort her heartbroken sister, she secretly mocked her to her heart’s content.]

“No, I…!”

Luciena was so dumbfounded that she couldn’t continue speaking.

It was a complete fabrication.

Her father, who valued the prosperity of the Dimtel family above all else, had intended to marry her older sister, Lesyuna, to Fritche.

But Sister Lesyuna had regarded that marriage as something worse than death.

So Luciena had sacrificed herself and married Fritche in her sister’s place.

“Who could have written such utter nonsense…?!”

Luciena gripped the book so tightly that the corner of its cover crumpled.

[When Sister Syanule still didn’t know the true nature of the villainess Luciena, there was once an incident during their childhood in which Syanule accidentally knocked over and shattered a porcelain vase their father treasured like a family heirloom.

At that moment, Luciena smiled like an angel and offered Syanule a helping hand.

“Sister, I’ll say that I broke it. I’ll take the punishment for you, so even if I get scolded, you have to pretend you know nothing until the very end. This is our sisters’ eternal secret!”

Syanule, who was innocent to the point of foolishness, believed Luciena’s words without the slightest suspicion.

The price for trusting the young villainess so foolishly came the very next day.

Syanule was slapped repeatedly by the adults of the household.]

No. That’s completely different from what really happened. I was the one who got scolded instead of Sister Lesyuna. That porcelain vase had been a special gift personally bestowed by His Majesty, so Father was furious with me. Who twisted the story like this…? Wait… don’t tell me?

Luciena’s eyes widened.

As if struck by lightning, she shot up from her seat.

[“This is our sisters’ eternal secret!”]

Exactly as written in the novel, the promise that Luciena would take the blame for the vase her sister had broken had been a secret known only to the two Dimtel sisters.

The moment she became almost certain who had written this absurd novel, Luciena’s heart began pounding faster and faster.

She hurriedly grabbed a memo sheet from the table and scribbled something down.

The author’s name—and the story’s narrator—was written as ‘SYANULE.’

Rearranging those letters…

“Sister Lesyuna…”

It became LESYUNA.

Luciena’s hands began trembling from shock.

Lesyuna Dimtel.

The eldest of the three Dimtel siblings.

The older sister who had passed away earlier that year.

Clutching at her violently pounding heart, Luciena opened the very last page of the novel.

She needed to see the future rather than the past.

She needed to know how this unbelievable story ended.

[The villainess Luciena meets the most miserable and agonizing end at the very moment her happiness reaches its peak.

Her soul, unable to ascend to heaven, wanders through thousands of hells forever.]

The instant she read the final page—

Luciena’s heart stopped.

Chirp… Chirp, chirp…

The cheerful songs of birds announcing the morning slowly pulled Luciena awake.

“Ah…”

She was in none other than her room at her childhood home.

Come to think of it… I collapsed at the inn… Did I lose consciousness and arrive home while I was out? But why did I collapse?

She stood blankly for a moment, lost in thought.

“Ah, right. I fainted after reading that ridiculously distorted novel…”

Still groggy, Luciena looked around the room as she recalled the previous night.

“Wait… I heard this room had been cleared out after I got married. Then what happened to it?”

Her room looked exactly as it had in her childhood.

Tilting her head in confusion, Luciena got out of bed to look for a calendar.

After dying and returning countless times, the very first thing Luciena always did after reviving was confirm what point in time she had awakened.

The moment her feet touched the floor—

She felt something strange.

“Huh…?”

Her body felt unnaturally light.

Her gaze naturally dropped toward herself.

The silk nightgown hung straight down from her waist without the rounded curve that should have been there.

Only then did Luciena realize…

Her stomach was flat.

“Ah…!”

The baby was gone.

The moment that truth hit her, all strength left her legs, and she collapsed onto the floor.

“What do I do… My baby… No… my baby…!”

The guilt she felt toward her child and her fury toward the curse soon became tears that streamed down her cheeks.

For a long time, Luciena sobbed uncontrollably, forgetting even to breathe properly as she mourned the child who had left her.

To honor the baby who had suffered through ninety-nine cycles of her deaths, never once seeing the light of the world before disappearing forever…

Luciena prayed.

After spending a long while drowning in grief, her tear-filled eyes gradually sharpened once her prayer ended.

Once, Luciena had made a vow.

If she ever found the one who had cursed her—

She would personally make them suffer a miserable death.

Lesyuna… I don’t know why you did this to me. But if you hate me enough to curse me like this… then I’ll change this fate myself.

Even if that person…

Was her one and only sister.

After mourning her child, Luciena found the calendar.

The date read:

December 20. Ten years earlier.

W-What is going on…?

Unable to believe what she was seeing, Luciena rushed to the mirror.

The face that had gradually become gaunt and lifeless through countless deaths was now soft and full with youthful baby fat.

“This… can’t be…”

Her trembling fingers touched her own cheek.

Then an involuntary gasp escaped her lips.

Reflected in the mirror was a beautiful young girl overflowing with vitality.

She still had the innocence of youth, yet anyone could see how stunning she was—radiant enough to seem as though she sparkled.

She was the very image of an innocent noble lady, her purity completely untouched.

Luciena stared blankly at her reflection.

Only then did the forgotten memory return.

She had died of cardiac arrest after reading the distorted novel about herself at the inn.

And then…

She had begun a new life.

Without the child she had carried.

It wasn’t only her baby that had disappeared.

Luciena had returned to the age of fifteen.

For the first time in her hundred regressions, she had gone back to her childhood.

Regression itself was nothing new.

She had experienced it so many times that it no longer surprised her.

But this regression was different from all the others.

Until now, she had always returned to some random point during the ten months when she had been pregnant.

Never before had she leaped back a full ten years into the past.

Just as she decided she should find one of the maids, she took a step forward.

Crack.

Something beneath her foot made a sharp sound.

“…So this came with me too.”

It was the ruby necklace strung together with dozens of pearls—a gift someone had given her after she married Fritche.

No matter when or under what circumstances she regressed, the necklace always followed her.

Even if she had lost it in her previous life, it would somehow return to her after the next regression, as though drawn by a magnet.

The rubies were large and rather gaudy, so she had never actually worn it around her neck.

But whenever she held it in her hand during her darkest moments, her heart would somehow calm.

Before she knew it, Luciena had begun treating it like a lucky charm.

Wait… Was the color of this necklace always like this?

The pearls had become dull and faded.

And the tips of the blood-red rubies were stained a dark crimson, almost black.

As Luciena focused on the ruby pendant—

Knock. Knock.

Someone knocked on the door.

Her personal maid, Fioda, entered with a bright smile.

“My lady, you’ve slept in again today! We can’t just stand around—hurry and have breakfast! We need to get started preparing for your birthday party!”

Seeing Fioda again—the personal maid she had never seen once after her marriage—

Luciena was reminded once more that she had truly returned to her childhood.

While Fioda helped her prepare for the party, only one person occupied Luciena’s thoughts.

Her one and only sister—

Lesyuna.

And the witch who had cursed her.