Welcome, It’s Your First Time Seeing A Cute Villain, Isn’t It? - Chapter 1

‘…Is this really the border town that I lived in?’

I was devastated by the unbelievable reality in front of me.

I couldn’t see anything ahead of me.

There was no light or warmth in the town except for one or two lights shining in the distance.

The only place shown under the dim light was the ruins of the collapsed house that was overgrown with weeds.

At one time, it was a place where the smoke went up the chimney and the sound of children’s laughter was endless.

At least until 13 years ago.

13 years ago, a monster appeared in the vicinity of the border.

My hometown, the border town, suffered the damage of the monster that resulted in numerous casualties.

Among them was my mom, Monica.

Monica was my only family, so I became an orphan after that day.

Even though my neighbor, Aunt Eve, lost her husband, she recovered my mother’s body and sent me to an orphanage in a big city.

Aunt Eve may not have known, but the orphanage director was a piece of shit.

I was beaten every day and made my way out of the orphanage. Somehow, I ended up living in the back alleys of Haven Street.

The Haven Street of Herman Duchy.

It was said that the entire money of the empire must go through Haven Street, to the point where it was known as the center of the empire’s economy.

Ever since Hercio Herman ascended the Grand Ducal throne, the duchy became powerful and the Haven Street grew even more.

The Grand Duke, who was obsessed with material benefit to the point he was nicknamed ‘Money Bug’, aggressively jumped into various businesses. As a result, the Duchy had a high source of income.

But the situation in the Duchy went downhill after his son, Theodore, caught a disease before he was able to assert his position.

Hercio began to focus more on curing his son rather than governing the Duchy, and to seize the rare opportunity, Theodore’s brother and sister, who were ousted from the line of succession and become vassal families, squandered the wealth of the Duchy.

Many people suffered from excessive taxes, and the ghetto in the back alley of Haven Street slowly increased.

Eventually, the castle’s finances broke down and the great Duchy disappeared from the map.

A few days ago, the Emperor declared the denunciation of Herman and incorporated the Duchy into the imperial family.

Unfortunately, the fall of the Duchy affected me as well.

Because my main income was flowing in from pickpocketing the luxurious aristocrats or wandering around the shops and begging on Haven Street.

As Haven Street disappeared along with the denunciation of the Duke, my only way to live was also lost.

Well, now I don’t need to worry about living anymore.

My days were numbered.

It had been 7 years since the terminal illness, which rotted away every time I had a seizure, began to encroach on my body.

Although there was a cure for the illness, it was so expensive that commoners like me could not even dream of it.

I had the same illness as Theodore, the son of Grand Duke Herman.

The cure was developed thanks to Grand Duke Herman’s hard work, but Theodore was already beyond cure and died.

The right to sell the drugs fell into the hands of the vassals family, and they sold the drugs at unprecedentedly high prices.

Thanks to this, I am dying without being able to take the medicine once.

‘There’s no time left, Lisian. Get ready. If you have any friends, family, or anyone you want to meet, go meet them.”

The quack in the back alley advised me this not long ago.

Get ready, huh?

It sounded like crap.

If you don’t get ready, the man in the sky won’t take you.

Thus, I only laughed at him. I bought a carriage to the border town and gave all the money I had saved.

‘I’m only going to take a look.’

I didn’t expect a crowded town like before, but I was hoping that there would at least be some survivors. I once heard that after seeing their own hometown, people will feel a little more relaxed.

However, the scenery of the bleak village only made me feel how much my life had fallen into the abyss.

I heard a wolf cry from somewhere. Those beasts seemed to be ready to eat me when I die.

“…Who are you?”

Then I heard the voice of a frightened woman.

I was so delighted to hear a human’s voice, so I turned my body towards the woman.

The woman, who was wearing a long robe and a hoodie, shuddered as if she was scared of me.

I quickly opened my mouth to relieve the woman’s fear.

“Do you happen to know a house where a single young mother and her daughter lived in? It was 13 years ago.”

At my words, the woman carefully walked a few steps closer towards me.

The lamp she was holding lit up the woman’s face. It was a familiar face to me.

“Aunt Eve?”

“How do you know my name….?”

“Aunt Eve! It’s me, Lisian!”

I grabbed the woman’s hand joyfully. I was very happy to meet an unexpected person in my memory.

The woman mumbled my name in surprise and shouted with round eyes.

“Lisian! You’re back!”

“Aunt, I didn’t know you were staying here.”

I spoke in a surprised voice because I thought my aunt would have left this town long ago, just like other townspeople who had lost their families.

“Lisian, I also don’t know why I can’t leave this place.”

Her voice was damp. I could imagine how hard Eve’s life would have been without her telling me.

‘…But I’m glad I came. I can’t believe I met my aunt.”

Whether she was thinking the same thing as me, my aunt led me to her house with a tearful face.

Her house was one of the few remaining houses in the town.

My heart was torn into pieces when I thought of her. To think that she lived alone in such a dark and dangerous place, but I tried to not show it.

Perhaps she felt the same way when she saw my rotten body, but just like me, she tried not to show it.

As expected, Eve opened a small box filled with neatly piled up clothes that my mom left behind and handed it over.

“These are a couple of clothes and necklaces that Monica left behind. I wanted to tell you, but I heard the news that you ran away from the orphanage. So there’s no way I could tell you anymore. Oh, there’s a letter, too.”

I heard the name ‘Monica’ after 13 years.

I was grateful because Eve kept my mom’s belongings for 13 years.

There was a small wooden box inside that contained a necklace and letter that looked quite expensive.

We had to save money all the time because of our poor condition. I didn’t remember my mom wearing this expensive necklace.

“I can’t read this because I’m illiterate. And I don’t want to show it to anyone. I don’t know that Monica can write.”

My mom wrote this?

Among the commoners, only a few people could do that.

If she knew how to read and write, she could have entered the aristocratic family’s house, became a maid of honor, and lived leisurely. But why didn’t she do that?

I took out the letter with many questions in my head.

I could read quite easily because of Mama, the only adult who took care of me in the back alley of Haven Street.

I was used to the language system of reading and writing because I had a memory of using Korean alphabets in my last life, which I couldn’t even remember anymore.

[Happy 5th birthday, Lisian.]

That was how the letter began. It was just before my birthday that my mom wrote this. My mother died on the morning of my 5th birthday when she was attacked by a monster. So she must have had no time to deliver the letter.

I read a few more lines.

But I doubted my eyes.

“What was it about, Lisian?” asked Aunt Eve. I tried to answer calmly.

“I love you and I wish you a happy birthday. Aunt, I’m going to get some fresh air.”

Aunt Eve patted me on the shoulder. I hurriedly went out. When I was hit by the cold air, a curse word popped out of my mouth.

“Fuck…what are you saying?”

Strange words were written in the letter.

First of all, my name was Sophia Herman, a 100 days old unfortunate granddaughter of Grand Duke Hercio Herman, and Monica, herself, was the maid of Duke Herman.

[My father collapsed and I was in dire need of money. I was only 18 years old. Even though I knew I shouldn’t do it, I…]

She joined hands with the dark organization and kidnapped me.

After kidnapping me, she asked for money, but Grand Duke Hercio said he couldn’t give any money.

He said, ‘There’s no negotiation, so whether you kill her or save her, do whatever you want.’

The organization’s boss said that Grand Duke Hercio Herman is a crazy money bug that kills his own granddaughter, and he told Monica to kill me.

[But I couldn’t bring myself to kill you. I’m going to let you go now. I’m really sorry for everything. Please be happy. My daughter, Lisian. No, Sophia. Will you forgive me?]

I crumpled the letter at once.

The old paper was parsed in my hand.

“Huugh…huuughh.”

I really didn’t want to cry, but tears flowed down and I couldn’t breathe.

Are you saying the mother that I came to visit before my death was a kidnapper, not my real mother?

Even worse, my real family abandoned me for money and never looked for me until I became like this?

My heart was thumping so hard.

My ears were ringing, while my hands and feet kept shaking.

Contrary to my heart who wanted to run away, my legs were numb. My body didn’t listen to me.

‘Damn it..why now-’

It’s a sign of seizures.

I bit my tongue, but my body was already becoming weak.

The quack said I would die if I had a seizure this time.

I definitely could feel pain, I could hear anything well and see well, but my body didn’t budge.

Monica, you ruined my death.

You love me? You wanted me to forgive you? How could you say that?

How dare you fool me like this until the end?

With that wealth and power, that great old man, who let his granddaughter die for money, did not even beg me to forgive him.

My life has hit rock bottom.

They’re both the same.

Fuck you, Monica.

Fuck you, Duke Herman.

But neither Monica nor Duke Herman was in this world anymore.

So my inexhaustible anger burned my heart helplessly.

My eyes slowly closed. I heard a distant voice.

“Oh my! Lisian…Li….Si…An…!”

I couldn’t believe this was my end so I bit my lips.

A light of heat flowed from the necklace with an orange pendant that I was holding.

My second life ended absurdly at this fucking moment.