DTSML 01

Chapter 01

I remembered my past life when I was twelve.

It happened after I fell out of a tree while competing with my older brother to see who could climb higher.

This world was actually the setting of a novel.

And on top of that, my brother was the male lead!

Maybe it was because I saw his face every day, but I had never once thought of him as particularly handsome.

At first, I didn’t think much of it.

Even if this world was the novel I’d read in my previous life, I wasn’t the protagonist. What did I care about my brother’s love life?

But then came the day my brother brought home a friend he’d met at the academy during his vacation.

“Hey, big brother, who’s this handsome older brother?”

That was when I finally remembered my own fate in the original story.

“Deli, let me introduce you. This is Lord Alferen Ainluk, the young duke of the Ainluk family.”

“I’m Alferen Ainluk.”

He introduced himself in a straightforward, matter-of-fact manner.

It was hard to believe that this breathtakingly beautiful boy was the second male lead of the original novel, a character practically defined by the keywords heartbreak, bittersweet longing, and regret.

His dazzling silver hair and pale skin looked as though they’d been bathed in moonlight.

His blue eyes, sparkling as if studded with stars, held the cold, crystalline glow of a winter lake.

If he had been someone who had nothing to do with me, I would have been content to admire his beauty to my heart’s delight.

Unfortunately, the problem was that this man was the reason my life would be ruined.

Will First Love Come True? was a love triangle about my biological older brother, Adrian, and Alferen, who both fell in love with the same woman.

Torn between love and friendship, the two men made different choices.

Adrian chose love, while Alferen chose friendship.

As a result, Alferen married his fiancée, the third princess, who was also the villainess of the story.

The problem was that, in the original novel, I had a hopeless crush on Alferen.

Well, with a face like that, I can see why someone would fall for him at first sight.

I stared at Alferen, who stood before me with an impassive expression, and felt deeply troubled.

In the original story, I fell in love with Alferen at first sight and pursued him relentlessly.

I was a stalker, too. The creepy kind who followed him around in secret and constantly put him in awkward situations.

Since I was his close friend’s little sister, he couldn’t bring himself to deal with me harshly, which only made me more of a nuisance.

Well, that part could be solved simply by not stalking him.

The real problem was that the villainess eventually poisoned her husband, Alferen, and pinned the entire crime on me.

As a result, I was imprisoned in Kyrpikan Prison on murder charges and took my own life just a few days later.

My death became one of the catalysts that awakened Adrian’s hidden potential, as he suffered the loss of both his little sister and his friend.

So, in the end, I’m just an extra.

Now that I had actually become a minor character in a novel, I couldn’t help feeling a little indignant.

Kyrpikan Prison, of all places!

It was a notorious penitentiary reserved for the most heinous criminals.

A prison so infamous that no one who entered was ever known to return alive!

It was downright unfair to be thrown into prison for a crime I hadn’t even committed!

But I couldn’t exactly keep an eye on the villainess to make sure she never poisoned Alferen. And how was I supposed to interfere in a married couple’s affairs?

Right. A married couple’s affairs…

Wait a minute.

Weren’t they still unmarried?

A spark of hope suddenly ignited within me, and I stared at Alferen with burning intensity.

Just then, Adrian muttered dejectedly,

“Still, Deli, you’ve never once told your own big brother he’s handsome…”

“That’s because you’re ugly.”

Was that really important right now?

My life was at stake! I was going to end up dying in prison!

“You’re so mean.”

Adrian pouted and grumbled, looking utterly wounded, but I paid him little attention.

I had far more important things to worry about. Like, say, my own life.

If I couldn’t stop the poisoning, all I had to do was stop the marriage.

As long as he didn’t marry the villainess, she’d have a much harder time trying to poison him in the first place!

Maybe I really was a genius.

Having found a way to survive, I began my campaign of brainwashing Alferen in earnest. Every time we met, I made sure to plant a few ideas in his head.

“Hello, Big Brother Ren! It’s such a lovely day today!”

“It’s raining outside…”

“Oh, really? Then why am I in such a good mood? Maybe it’s because I get to see you! By the way, Big Brother, do you happen to like the color red?”

“Not particularly…”

“Oh! That’s great! A fortune-teller I met the other day told me that you’re incompatible with the color red. Apparently, you should especially avoid red-haired women!”

“You believe in that sort of thing?”

“Anyway, you have to keep disliking red from now on, okay?”

“…All right.”

First, I made a point of arranging seemingly accidental encounters and planting prejudices against the villainess.

“Big Brother Ren, bad women are completely useless. A good woman is always the best choice! Especially someone who tells you how handsome you are, praises you, and showers you with affection. Oh! And don’t even look at the color red! Especially red hair!”

I also never missed an opportunity to warn him not to waste his life on a bad woman like the villainess.

“You already have a fiancée? Come on! You should marry someone you love! Who cares about political benefits between families? You’re already doing well enough on your own. What is there to worry about? And remember to watch out for redheads today!”

I was particularly careful to remind him that he didn’t need to cling to his family for the sake of his father’s dying wish or whatever, just in case that was what made him hesitate.

In the original story, Alferen valued his relationships so much that he desperately tried to conceal his feelings for the female lead.

Honestly, the female lead’s first love wasn’t my brother. It was Alferen.

If he hadn’t chosen to marry the princess in order to preserve his friendship, he would have become the male lead instead.

I might have been interfering with my brother’s love life, but what could I do?

I cared more about myself than I did about my brother!

And so, under my meticulously laid plans, Operation: Break Off Alferen’s Engagement began.

Eight years passed.

Unfortunately, despite my relentless brainwashing campaign, Alferen still hadn’t called off his engagement.

Seriously, why not?

He didn’t even like Nanael, so why on earth wouldn’t he break off the engagement?!

At this rate, the third princess, who was the same age as me, would make her debut at the social season this year and marry Alferen the following year.

After that, Alferen was destined to be poisoned by the princess.

Which meant I’d still end up with the prison ending!

Ugh, this wasn’t working.

It looked like I needed to take more drastic measures.

It wasn’t as if I could drag the female lead over here from another country, either…

Just then, Adrian, who had been playing with a ball, casually asked me,

“Deli, your debutante ball is coming up soon. Is there anything you want?”

“Nope.”

“Come on, tell me. Your big brother will get you anything you want!”

Adrian puffed out his chest as he boasted, and I gave him a half-lidded stare.

Compared to the reckless little brat he’d once been, he’d grown into a fairly dependable young man.

But to me, he was still nothing more than a hairy monkey.

The thought of this foolish brother of mine showering the female lead with all kinds of affectionate gestures made my stomach churn a little.

Just then, my eyes met Alferen’s.

He stopped reading his book and casually asked,

“Deli, is something on your mind?”

Alferen affectionately called me by my nickname.

If the original Rodelia had heard him say that, she probably would have swooned on the spot.

Unlike in the original story, I’d become quite comfortable around him.

That was the result of finally giving up my habit of secretly stalking him, just as Rodelia had done.

“There’s something I’d like to get from you, Big Brother Ren…”

“What is it?”

“A letter breaking off your engagement.”

“…You’re bringing that up again? Haha.”

Alferen chuckled and brushed it off as a joke.

He did that every single time.

What was I supposed to do about his stubbornness? No matter how passionately I lectured him—which was really just another attempt at brainwashing him into breaking off the engagement—he never budged an inch.

Shouldn’t even the heavens have been moved by this point, given how much effort I’d put into it?

“I’m serious. You know how selfish the third princess is. I’ve heard rumors that she’s even killed people. And I’ve told you before, haven’t I? You’re incompatible with the color red!”

“But your hair is reddish, too. It was even redder when you were younger. Does that mean I should avoid you as well?”

“What?”

“I don’t think I’d like that.”

Alferen lightly toyed with a strand of my hair as he murmured in a low voice.

Was it just my imagination, or did his blue eyes seem particularly embarrassing to look into today?

Flustered by how suddenly close he’d gotten, I tugged my hair away and protested.

“T-This isn’t red! It’s pink! Big Brother, you need to get your eyes checked. If you can’t even tell colors apart, there’s no hope for you!”

“Is that so?”

Alferen stepped back as casually as if he hadn’t just moved closer, wearing a relaxed smile.

Then he asked,

“In that case, who would you like me to marry?”