Chapter 1

The Ellenheim House, one of the four pillars supporting the Taran Empire.

It was the most powerful of the four ducal houses and held the deep trust of the common people.

I, Rielia Ellenheim, was the second child and only daughter of such a household.

At nine years old, I was also known as a sensible and clever child.

‘Hmph.’

“Listen to this, Riel. A few days ago, the firstborn of the Apet Marquisate fell into the pond. You know Kill, right? It was such a shallow pond, but he was thrashing around begging to be saved, it was hilarious!”

And I had an older brother, two years my senior, who was sweet but a bit foolish.

“Brother, won’t you be quiet?”

“He even had a frog sitting on his head and a carp stuck in his pocket! Riel, you should’ve seen it. And you know what else…?”

“Brother.”

I pulled my gaze away from the book I was reading.

“Why do humans have two eyes and two ears, but only one mouth?”

“Huh? Oh, yeah. Why?”

“That’s the gods’ way of telling you to use your mouth a little less and your eyes and ears a more.”

“We only have one nose, too.”

“We have two nostrils.”

My brother, Eren, looked astonished as if he had just attained supreme enlightenment.

“As expected, my little sister is so smart!”

“So Brother, why don’t you stop using your mouth and use your eyes instead?”

“But I want to talk more.”

“Didn’t you say you have a history exam the day after tomorrow?”

“Ah, that’s right!”

With the same soft purple hair and eyes as me, my brother smiled foolishly unlike me and cracked open his textbook. Simple-minded as ever.

I fixed my gaze back on my book.

It was going to be a completely ordinary afternoon.

…Or so I thought.

Father, returning from work, brought along an unexpected guest.

“You two, come say hello. This is His Imperial Highness, the Crown Prince.”

He was a gloomy-looking boy around my age. Pitch-black hair and soft purple eyes—somehow strangely familiar.

As I was rummaging through my memories, black energy began leaking from the Crown Prince. It pooled on the floor and slowly spread wider, though nobody else seemed to notice.

“His Highness will be staying with our household for the time being. He will be using the Pine Room in the main building, and going forward…”

The moment that energy touched me, it felt as though someone had struck me over the head.

A scene I had never seen before unfolded before my eyes.

Something huge was rushing toward me with a roaring sound. That’s a truck. A truck… how do I even know what that is?

…Aaaaaah!

Ah, I was hit by a truck and died.

What happened after that?

“Uh…”

Ellenheim, the Taran Empire, the Crown Prince, black hair and amethyst eyes.

Unfamiliar words brushed past my mind, and the very last thing that surfaced was the title of a novel.

<Obsessed With the Savior>

This is inside the book I read.

The moment I realized this overwhelming truth, my head started spinning.

“Riel!”

“Rielia!”

Leaving behind the voices of my parents and brother calling for me, I lost consciousness.

***

When I opened my eyes, a white ceiling came into view. Rolling my eyes sideways, I recognized the room.

“My lady, you’re awake! I’ll go call the mistress.”

My personal maid, Kelly, bolted out of the room the moment she saw me.

“Riel, my baby. You were asleep for so long, I was so worried.”

My mother hurried in, her eyes glistening with tears as she stroked my soft purple hair.

“Uh… I… cough.”

My voice was raspy and wouldn’t come out properly, so I drank some water.

“How long have I been asleep?”

“Today makes a week.”

“…What?”

“Your fever spiked like a blazing fire, and I thought something terrible was going to happen. We called a healing priest, but it was no use.”

Mother repeated several times how thankful she was.

The reactions of father, who arrived by evening, and brother, who had returned from his swordsmanship lessons at the Apet Marquisate, were no different.

Fortunately, a naturally sturdy child’s body recovered quickly, and soon the physician gave permission for me to walk around outside.

“Hoo…”

Sitting at my desk, I couldn’t help a sigh from escaping.

So I really am inside the story of <Obsessed With the Savior>?

Should I be grateful I ended up in one of the few novels I actually read, or should I feel cursed that it had to be this particular book?

<Obsessed With the Savior> was a 19+ blood-soaked, dark romance where a male lead who spent a miserable childhood goes out to subjugate magic beasts, meets a kind female lead, falls in love with her, and ends up abducting and imprisoning her.

It was filled with scenes of imprisonment and heated, passionate trysts day after day, and I had been thoroughly impressed by the male lead’s stamina…

The problem was that the male lead went half-mad and killed everyone around him, and our household happened to be included in that circle!

The primary culprit was the heir of Ellenheim—in other words, Eren.

I had wondered how my kind brother could possibly torment someone, but the mystery was cleared up immediately.

While my brother and I were on our way to the library, we ran into the Crown Prince.

“The daughter of Ellenheim greets His Imperial Highness…”

“Such an unlucky bastard.”

Huh? Did my ears stop working right after my illness?

“What did you just say to His Imperial Highness, Brother?”

“I said he’s bad luck.”

As if used to it, the Crown Prince walked past us lifelessly, acting as though he hadn’t heard a thing.

“How could you say that to His Imperial Highness! Apologize to him right now.”

“No way! You passed out the moment that guy arrived, Riel.”

Eren glared at the Crown Prince.

“They said he brings misfortune, and it’s really true. The reason he was kicked out of the Imperial Palace in the first place was because the Third and Fourth Princes got hurt because of that jerk.”

The Crown Prince coming to stay at our household, just as my brother said, was because he had supposedly caused injury to the sons born to the new Empress, who used to be an imperial concubine.

To be precise, the Crown Prince had been with the Third and Fourth Princes when a tree suddenly snapped and collapsed over the two princes?

Claiming the Crown Prince might have used black magic—or even if he hadn’t, that keeping him anywhere near the princes was dangerous—the Empress had driven him out of the palace.

And the Emperor, completely infatuated with the Empress, told him to go.

It was only because my father stepped in and offered to take him in under our family that the Crown Prince avoided being banished to some remote province.

“Brother, do you really believe such groundless rumors?”

“It’s not a rumor. Kill saw it. He said the tree fell all by on its own. Isn’t it suspicious that it happened to crush the two princes?”

I blocked my brother’s mouth and looked down the hallway, but the Crown Prince was already gone.

According to <Obsessed With the Savior>, the male lead, Richard Pell Telegras, possessed an excessive amount of magical power.

Generally, one could sense magical power with the help of high-level mages or by using magical artifacts.

However, Richard’s magic was of such supreme purity that absolutely no one could sense it, and there was no one to teach him how to control it either.

His overflowing mana would act up on its own and cause accidents, which earned him the nickname “The Child Who Brings Misfortune.”

“So Riel, if you see that guy, stay away.”

The fact that the Crown Prince brought misfortune was already common knowledge.

And because of this, peers including my brother bullied him, which caused him to go on a rampage! And right here in our household, of all places!

Co… could it be that the reason my brother was mistreating the Crown Prince was because of me?

“Brother, me fainting had absolutely nothing to do with His Imperial Highness.”

“But Riel…”

“And talking to His Imperial Highness like that is a breach of etiquette.”

Mentioning “etiquette” made my sweet brother flinch, and I drove the wedge in deeper.

“I simply cannot stand rude people.”

Brother wore a look as if he were about to cry.

Oof, I’m sorry, but it can’t be helped.

First, I needed to stop my brother from acting mean to the Crown Prince and show him that I didn’t faint because of the prince.

“Brother, I’ll help you with your philosophy homework, so let’s go.”

“Yay!”

And then I’d treat my heartbroken brother well, too.

***

“Hoo.”

I stood in front of the Pine Room where the Crown Prince was staying and took a deep breath.

We got off on the wrong foot the first time, but let’s improve our relationship. That’s the only way our household survives, right?

Knock, knock.

Knock, knock, knock.

Is he sleeping? It’s daytime, but he might be napping, so I should come back later.

Thinking that, I turned around just as the master of the room appeared.

“Hello, Your Imperial Highness.”

I greeted him politely, but the Crown Prince didn’t even look at me and swept straight into the room. No, he tried to walk in, so I slipped right in after him.

It might look a little shameless, but you have to see his face to build a connection!

“Your Highness, I don’t think I greeted you properly last time, so I came by. I am Rielia, daughter of Ellenheim. This year…”

“Leave.”

“Pardon?”

“I said, leave.”