Chapter 1

Chapter 1

Even though the end was already set in stone, there were some things that still weren’t easy to do.

But at least, for me, it was.

There were things that I couldn’t change even if I wanted to, and because I knew this, I decided to faithfully fulfill my role to the end.

Truly. I don’t have to change it.

Because even though you tried your best to accept me as your wife, I know that you hate me.

Bang!

It was my father, Duke Percival, who pulled the trigger. However, contrary to my father’s plan, the target of that bullet became me instead of him.

Kylian Cypnos.

The male lead of this novel, and the man who would later become the emperor who would unify the continent. I was his wife, the villainess who was destined to die and disappear after my father’s coup d’état failed.

“Anais!”

The ear-splitting rupture made my mind wander.

Even so, the sound of rain hitting my ears intertwined with the stillness, making the surroundings quiet and beautiful. I could hear the rain’s pitter-patter against my cheek, but for some reason, I couldn’t feel anything. Maybe it’s because this body was someone else’s, not mine. In the end, I wondered if even my senses had become someone else’s.

“Why… why…!”

Whatever it was that I saw on television before, it’s all a lie. You don’t die the moment blood is spilled.

“Ugh…!”

Even though my vision blurred around me, I could see my Father’s gaze upon me very clearly. It was a look of regret, but at the same time, shock. I’m sorry, Father. But I don’t wish for things to go as you planned.

Then, a hand raised my chin as my vision distorted.

“Kyli, an…”

“Hold, hold on. Soon, the priest…”

“Kylian.”

I could feel my heartbeat slowing down. The sensation in my left hand was gradually disappearing. I heard that herbivores don’t feel any pain when they’re bitten by a carnivore. Perhaps I was in a similar state.

“Now live… happily… Kylian.”

“Anais…”

To die for the main character, Kylian, who I loved the most.

This was the ultimate goal that I set my mind to after transmigrating into this book. I regarded this goal as the only purpose of my life—to save Kylian Cypnos, who was the male lead of the novel entitled, 〈 Beneath the Water’s Shadow 〉.

I lived the life of a villainess faithfully. I did only the things he hated, did only the things he loathed, did only the things he feared.

So on the day I sacrificed myself for him, I wondered if he would laugh in derision.

“A-Ana… Hiic…”

It was strange how my eyes kept closing. The last thing I saw was Kylian looking down with his big eyes that remained like an afterimage.

His voice wavered, like the echoing rainwater. I could feel my body cooling down, but my chest continued to feel warm.

Goodbye, Kylian.

As much as the hope you gave me, I want you to live happily that much, too.

With this as my final thought, I felt a tug from below, pulling me down to an endless abyss.

I’ve experienced death twice now.

The first was when I died in a car accident, and the second was when I took a gunshot.

When thinking about it like this, it seemed like a pathetic and pitiful thing, but I was satisfied with how I lived both of my lives. Above all, in my second life, I died for the male lead, Kylian, who I loved very much.

Truthfully, that novel was what gave me the will to live during my first life when I had nothing else.

So, when I became Lady Anais Percival, who was the male lead’s villainous wife in my second life, it was a joyous and a strange feeling.

I can watch the person I loved the most from his side, and that beloved would look at me and talk to me. Oh, how thrilling it was.

Although my bias hated me, it didn’t change my desire to repay this grace.

Above all, he was far more beautiful than how was described in the novel. Black hair and bright yellow eyes filled with the sun’s radiance. His face was beautiful enough to make anyone speechless for about five seconds if your eyes ever met.

With eyes that shone like stars and with a nose so exquisitely angular and high as though it was a sculpture’s. Though his lips were always firmly shut, the sweet, low-pitched voice that flowed from them would make you want to listen to any request of his. Everything about him was so alluring.

“Do you hate me?”

“…….”

“We’ll still get married though.”

His face, looking at me at that time, was filled with some unknown disappointment. It was at that moment that I realized that, just like in the original story, he hated me. And, I recalled how I was destined to die even after being ignored until the end.

So, I stayed true to that mandated role.

Like a villainess, I made sure to cause him trauma—I loathed to think that he’d still remember me after I’ve died.

But even as I acted like that, I still vowed to take the bullet for him in the end.

Kylian was fated to be wounded gravely after being shot by my second life’s father, Duke Percival. He would be blinded in one eye because of that bullet, and the impact would paralyze the lower part of his body for five years, making him unable to move.

However, as it was written in the original work, the duke’s coup failed. After it was revealed that Kylian was the only remaining descendant of the emperor’s lineage, he was still enthroned as the emperor.

But of course, only as a puppet. He wasn’t able to oversee state affairs as he lived as though he was already a corpse because of the gunshot’s aftereffects. It was all thanks to the female lead, Lilith, that he was healed. He then became Emperor Cypnos, who conquered and unified the continent.

I mean, I’m sure it went like that?

“Uh…”

It’s as if I just had a sweet dream because I felt quite comfortable, but because I suddenly felt a stinging cold sensation, my eyes shot open.

“Please open your eyes!”

“What…”

It was bright. The sunlight coming through the clear glass ceiling was warm. However, the water in the water garden that the light touched was cold enough to make my jaw tremble.

The shape of the stained glass that caught my eye had a sacred yet unique feeling.

“Huh…?”

“Lady Anais! Please open your eyes!”

I couldn’t move well because my body was so cold. My fingers were numb and wouldn’t even bend, and my body was in an even worse condition. I was shivering all over, and perhaps because of how cold it was, I had no strength at all.

“C-Cold!”

“Lady Anais!”

My teeth gritted with the trembling. I tried to walk to get out of the water, but my legs had no strength and I immediately staggered.

“Ugh!”

I sank into the cold water with a splash, and it was difficult to get up because no one was there to help. However, as I struggled without giving up, my senses gradually returned, and I was able to move at will—at least, little by little. Soon after, I swung my arms and legs, leaned against the wall, and finally got out of the water.

“What…?”

I saw my hands. They were very pale, and above all else, these hands looked different from the hands I knew. I don’t know anything else, but just by seeing these pretty hands, I could tell that this was a beautiful person.

“Lady Anais!”

“It’s cold…! T-Too co… eek!”

My legs were also weird. They were strangely different in shape, like they were someone else’s legs. These weren’t the legs that I saw everyday.

Just as I began to wonder if this was the start of my third life, I heard a familiar voice.

“Lady Anais! It’s you, right?”

A piece of cloth was draped over my head and, with that, my body temperature quickly grew warm. There was a hole or something on it, so I pushed my head out of it.

“Ah…”

“Lady Anais!”

The person in front of me was Reverend Zisis, a mid-ranked priest who was High Priest Lewarren’s direct subordinate.

“How am I alive? Are you sure I’m not dead?”

“Lady Anais!”

“Yes…?”

Reverend Zisis’s expression was strange as he looked at me. Then, all of a sudden, my hair cascaded down, catching my eye.

“Maybe it’s because it’s wet?”

“Huu…”

My original hair color was platinum blonde, and you could say it’s close to silver. But right now, my hair was bright blue. I was startled by the color of my hair, which I had never seen or heard of, and pulled it.

Unsurprisingly, it hurts for real.

Oh my god.

“Lady Anais Percival!”

“Huh?”

“You’re awake!”

“Right now… What’s going on?”

“You died once before, Lady Anais. And now, you are Lilith Isadora.”

“What?”

Zisis’ expression looked grave. If so, then it seemed to be true. His hoarse voice trembled as he spoke, and he was clenching both hands into fists in front of his chest.

I approached a nearby mirror with legs that didn’t move well, like I was a baby deer. This must be the temple of the goddess, Roseraine. The walls were made of mirrors and the ceiling was made of clear glass.

The conclusion I had barely reached in the mirror was this—that I had reincarnated into the body of someone called Lilith this time.

“Why is my hair like this?”

“It’s because you woke up in someone else’s body. It’s a kind of side effect.”

“Huh? What kind of side effect are you talking about? It’s blue…!”

“Is your hair color the problem now? There must be something more important than that,” a different voice said.

Through the mirror, beside Zisis, Lewarren’s face could be seen. Since he’s here too, then I’m sure I’m at the Roseraine Temple right now. Besides, his expression was the same as the one I had seen in my lifetime. Eyes that looked at me with pity, and a little compassion mixed with it.

“I didn’t even worship Roseraine, but was I granted entrance to paradise? No— but if this is paradise, why are you here, Lewarren? Aren’t you supposed to go to purgatory?”

“I’m gonna go crazy.”

As he swept a hand over his face, he walked behind me and said in a low voice.

“Listen carefully.”

“Huh? Oh…”

“I-I will tell her instead, High Priest!”

“Huu… Fine.”

When he furrowed his brows like that, it was exactly the same as when I kind of accidentally broke his favorite glass artifact. I couldn’t understand the situation at all, so I glanced at Zisis. In my previous life, whenever Lewarren and I fought, the only way we properly talked again was when we had Zisis as an intermediary.

“It was just as you said, Lady Anais. Lord Kylian became the emperor.”

I didn’t tell Lewarren about my past life, but I pretended I had the ability to see the future and often told him about Kylian’s future. He was set to later become Kylian’s right-hand man during the time that he’d conquer the continent.

“Okay, so…?”

“P-Please help us! He’s gone mad!”

“What?”

I could hear a ringing in my ears, as if I heard something that I shouldn’t have.

“I beg your pardon?”

“His Majesty, Emperor Kylian Cypnos— he’s gone completely crazy!”