TMLYSISAT CH 01

“Ah, you two are brothers?”

“Yes.”

At Ridden Akarut’s words, my brother answered in a rather tense voice.

“You don’t look alike at all.”

Worried that the Duke might take an interest in my brother, I answered for him.

“We get told that quite often.”

At that, the Duke’s gaze, which had been fixed intently on my brother until just a moment ago, shifted toward me.

Ridden observed me as he leaned comfortably against the backrest. At the same time, he began spinning the revolver around with his right hand.

I desperately wanted to shout at him to keep that ridiculous gun still because it was making me nervous.

But I simply smiled pleasantly.

“Is that idiot your older brother?”

Ridden asked, jerking his chin toward Abel. Of course, my brother wasn’t an idiot, but we were the ones who had to obey whatever he said.

As if agreeing with his question, I nodded slightly. At my answer, Ridden suddenly burst into laughter.

If the devil ever laughed, perhaps he would laugh exactly like that.

The Duke’s laughter was so loud that my ears actually rang.

Whatever he found so amusing, Ridden continued laughing for quite some time.

After a while, he wiped the tears from the corners of his eyes with the back of his hand.

Then he raised the revolver he had been fidgeting with toward us. It was positioned so that all he had to do was pull the trigger to shoot us in the head.

He still had an amused smile on his face, as if he were enjoying the situation.

Abel was horrified by the sight and tightly grabbed my hand.

After briefly glancing at us, Duke Akarut grinned and asked,

“Should I shoot, or should I not?”

Abel swallowed hard. In the silence-filled room, the sound of him swallowing was surprisingly loud.

Ridden toyed with the trigger, his smile disappearing in an instant. Then he tilted his head slightly.

And at that very moment, a gunshot rang out.

With a loud crash, the window was completely shattered.

I was so startled that I couldn’t even think of turning around. I simply stared at Ridden with a blank expression.

Ridden tilted his head and spoke.

“Your reactions are boring. I was hoping one of you would start crying.”

“……The two of you may leave now. The head butler will show you to your rooms outside.”

Perhaps he had experienced things like this many times before, because Butler Ben shook his head in exasperation as he spoke.

Now that the tension had finally left my body, I felt as though I might faint at any moment. I desperately held up my trembling legs and hurried toward the door.

And then, Ridden, who had been staring intently at us, spoke.

“You there.”

Not knowing whom he was calling, Abel and I stopped at the same time.

Ridden nodded toward me and asked,

“What’s your name?”

Apparently, he was calling me.

“Chase.”

“Let’s see each other often, shall we?”

A chill ran down my entire body at Ridden’s words and his smiling face.

But I couldn’t let him see it.

As though I were genuinely delighted that my superior wanted to call for me often, I smiled back at him and nodded.

Then I vigorously wiped my sweat-soaked hands against my pants and hurried out of the room.

That was my first encounter with Ridden Akarut, the biggest madman in the kingdom.

The day my life changed by 180 degrees was, in fact, no different from any other ordinary day.

The only difference was that, on that day, I suddenly found myself in a strange world as if I had been placed under a spell.

I was terrified by the fact.

Before I could even think about whether I was dead or alive, I had already been born into a new body and was breathing.

Moreover, magic existed in this world.

Of course, it wasn’t the dazzling kind of magic I had only ever seen in movies.

Magic in this world was already on the decline.

The reason magic had begun to fade was none other than the changing times and the decreasing number of people who carried the bloodlines of magicians.

As a result, there were fewer and fewer people capable of modifying or maintaining the artifacts that had once been distributed exclusively through the magic towers.

Eventually, magic naturally fell behind, while science, which was easier for ordinary people to manage, developed instead.

Although this was a world where the power of magic had weakened considerably, everything was still unfamiliar to me.

All I wanted was to return home as soon as possible.

However, as time passed, this world, which had initially felt nothing but strange, gradually began to grow on me.

It was all thanks to my family, who whispered unconditional love to me every single day.

To someone who had grown up without a family, they were nothing short of a precious gift.

The affection of a family that I had only ever imagined in my dreams, and a world that seemed as though it belonged in a fantasy novel or movie…

All of it was the perfect, ideal world I had always dreamed of.

But then something happened that made me believe that coming to this world was actually a misfortune.

“Cherish, you have to stay hidden inside the wardrobe. Don’t come out under any circumstances. Understand?”

The sudden outbreak of war took everything away from me.

When Abel finally returned home, he burst into tears upon seeing me hiding inside the wardrobe.

After our parents died, Abel worried that something terrible might happen to me because I was a girl, so he suggested that I disguise myself as a boy.

Thanks to that, I gained another name: Chase.

We survived by using the little magic we could still wield to beg for money.

Until then, I had never questioned this world at all.

But then, as though to make up for everything we had suffered, unbelievable things began happening one after another.

First, people began appearing one by one, saying that they wanted to become our sponsors.

Then, an extraordinarily beautiful girl, beautiful enough to make anyone’s eyes widen, said that she wanted to take us with her.

And as if that weren’t enough, this girl turned out to be the daughter of the Seville Marquess family, a famous family of magicians.

Perhaps she had been troubled by the sight of us begging on the streets using magic.

Or perhaps, being the daughter of the Seville family, she had recognized Abel’s magical talent at a glance.

The sight of the girl smiling brightly and extending her hand toward us, while Abel nodded with his face flushed red, looked like something straight out of a painting.

“Won’t you come with me, street magician?”

At her words, Abel hurriedly hid his blackened hands behind his back.

Watching him, a suspicion began to grow in a corner of my mind.

‘Could this really be a coincidence?’

It was strange that two people who looked as though they could become billionaires simply by relying on their faces were standing right in front of me.

No matter how much of a fantasy world this was, that didn’t mean every single person in it looked like they had stepped out of a fantasy.

From that perspective, this scene was truly unusual.

One was a war orphan with no backing whatsoever, while the other was an incredibly noble young lady.

For two people who had absolutely no connection to each other to become linked like this…

Wasn’t it almost as though fate had brought them together?

Even if I assumed that these two exceptionally beautiful people were the only protagonists of this world, it wouldn’t have been an exaggeration.

After all, the protagonists in fantasy novels were always beautiful or handsome.

“My name is Isis. May I ask what your name is?”

“……Abel. I’m Abel.”

Abel finally gathered enough courage to speak.

Upon hearing his answer, she smiled sweetly.

“That’s a pretty name.”

In an instant, Abel’s face turned as red as if it were on fire.

“But when are you going to take my hand?”

Startled by Isis’s words, Abel hesitated for a moment before finally gathering his courage and placing his hand over hers.

Watching the two of them, I thought they looked exactly like the heroine and hero of a novel.

And at that moment, the pieces of the puzzle began falling into place one by one.

Why were Abel and I, who were still so young, able to survive the war without suffering so much as a single injury?

Why had one coincidence after another brought us such incredible luck?

Memories that had been hazy, as though covered in fog, came rushing back to me like a flood.

That was when I realized it.

This world was actually inside a novel whose title I couldn’t even remember.

And those two were the protagonists of this world.

The first thought that crossed my mind was that even if we followed her, I had to continue disguising myself as a boy.

I couldn’t remember the details exactly, but Abel was known to have a ‘younger brother,’ not a younger sister.

The protagonists would eventually reach a happy ending.

If the story were to change because of me and their ending were altered, it would be best for me to interfere with the original plot as little as possible.

And so, Isis suddenly entered the world of darkness that Abel and I had been living in.

Isis became our sponsor and our only savior.

Isis would sometimes call me over and personally serve me tea.

“Chase, your birthday is coming up soon. Is there anything you want? Hmm…… How about a brooch?”

“I’d be happy with anything you give me, Miss.”

I was simply telling her the truth, but Isis burst out laughing, telling me not to joke around.

“I’ll buy you a birthday present tomorrow. Let’s go out together.”

Isis held my hand as she made the suggestion.

Although it seemed as though Isis had been focusing all her attention on me, she had actually been sneaking glances at Abel outside the window for quite some time.

Watching her, I carefully opened my mouth.

“Tomorrow, I’m supposed to go on a picnic with my brother for the first time in a while……”

The moment I mentioned Abel, Isis visibly stiffened.

“Miss, if it wouldn’t be too much trouble…… Could you go on a picnic with us tomorrow as my birthday present?”

Isis’s eyes slowly widened as she looked at me.

But only for a moment.

Soon, her cheeks turned bright red.

Isis hesitated for quite some time before eventually nodding.

If I were to be completely honest, perhaps I didn’t even need to try this hard.

Isis and Abel would probably have reached a happy ending on their own.

Of course, judging by the usual progression of novels, there would undoubtedly have been some conflict between the male and female leads before they reached their happy ending.

Even so, I never imagined things would turn out like this.

A few months ago, Isis collapsed because of an unfortunate accident.

And when she woke up again, she no longer remembered Abel at all.

Nor did she remember me.