Chapter 1. Becoming the Villain’s Assistant

Elena was the young lady of the Count of Jellisto family.

She was a quiet, elegant, and gentle young lady. She never got excited about anything and had a kind heart that cared for those around her, so everyone liked her.

‘Of course, that’s because I’ve been reincarnated into a character with very good conditions.’

When she opened her eyes, she found herself inside a novel.

That was Elena’s exact situation right now.

She wasn’t the female protagonist, but she wasn’t a character destined to die young either. And she was just a young lady from an ordinary noble family.

Her role was simply to help the female protagonist fall in love with the male protagonist a few times. It wasn’t a bad role, as she gained the female protagonist’s trust just by playing Cupid a few times.

Moreover, Elena was completely unaffected by the villain’s rampages. Her family had no connection to the villain, so she didn’t suffer any unjust treatment.

“Oh my, how wonderful. I really must have been reincarnated into a character with great conditions!”

A smile kept creeping onto her face.

There was no danger of death, and since she didn’t know how to return, she decided to adapt to life as Elena.

Thanks to the Count’s excellent business skills, her life flowed smoothly. And as long as she attended the lessons that nobles should know, no one interfered with Elena’s free lifestyle.

And so, 8 years passed since she entered the novel. It wasn’t a short time, but she was satisfied with her life.

Elena, who woke up from her soft bed, stretched and welcomed a refreshing morning.

Warm sunlight tickled her face. It felt as if feathers were brushing against her face, and Elena smiled broadly as she shook off the remaining sleep.

“Young lady, the Count is calling for you.”

“Father?”

As she was rubbing her eyes with the back of her hand, Genie took her hand down and handed her a cold towel.

Since Genie had told her not to rub her eyes for fear of wrinkles, Elena just held the towel to her face to calm the itchiness.

“When did he return without any prior notice?”

“He said not to tell you because you would wake up early if you knew.”

“Oh, Father.”

Elena got up from the bed and walked to the mirror while changing her clothes herself. Although she became a noble young lady, she still dressed herself.

It had been 8 years since she had insisted on doing it herself, so now the Count’s household no longer tried to forcibly serve Elena. The maids’ duties had changed to tidying up the bed or preparing clothes for her to change into.

Gathering her golden hair that reached her waist, Elena looked at herself in the mirror.

When she first became Elena, she was a child with chubby cheeks, but now she was starting to look quite ladylike.

Her golden hair, which she inherited from the Count, cascaded down to her waist in luscious waves, and her green eyes, inherited from the Countess, held the mystique of emeralds.

The young lady with a fresh image murmured as she parted her red lips.

“Today looks good.”

Elena nodded, seemingly enchanted by her own appearance as she stared into her eyes in the mirror.

Except for the fact that one of her eye colors changed when her body was unwell, a trait inherited from the Countess, she was a pretty young lady.

“You should say you’re pretty today too.”

Genie, who was attending to her, stood behind Elena. She fixed the ribbon that Elena found difficult to tie by herself while looking at her beautiful mistress in the mirror.

“Mirror, mirror on the wall, who’s the fairest of them all? That’s right, it’s Lady Elena.”

“Don’t do that in front of others.”

She warned in advance, worried that people might think she had a princess complex.

Who would have thought she’d adapt the ‘Snow White’ story like this when I told it to her.

“What’s wrong with that? It’s true that you’re pretty.”

Elena laughed heartily at Genie’s playfulness, who was sometimes more like a friend than an employee. Thanks to Genie, laughter was added to this special day.

“The weather is nice, would you like to go for a walk in the garden after meeting with the Count?”

“Sure.”

A walk because the weather is nice… this is truly a life worth living. Isn’t the world really beautiful?

The life of a beloved young lady in a noble family was truly wonderful.

‘I must have done a lot of good deeds in my past life.’

Otherwise, how could she receive this beautiful and happy life? When she entered the first week of her reincarnated life, her will to return to her original world became so weak that she ended up settling down here.

She didn’t want to go back to her original world either.

The heavy steps she had to take every day to go to her part-time job, just thinking about it made her whole body shudder.

After tying the ribbon at her waist to create a slim silhouette, Elena left the room.

* * *

When she entered the office, her father was facing the window with his back to the desk. With his hands behind his back, lost in thought, he didn’t seem to notice Elena’s entrance.

“Father.”

Elena carefully called out to her father.

She caught a glimpse of him frowning in the reflection of the glass window, but when he turned around, that expression had disappeared.

‘I wonder what’s wrong?’

She felt slightly tense as the usual warm atmosphere was absent. As she smoothed out the wrinkles in her skirt, waiting for her father to speak, time seemed to pass slowly.

Her father, as if he had made a great decision, looked at Elena and slowly opened his mouth.

“From today, our Jellisto family has decided to follow the Grand Duke’s house.”

For a moment, Elena’s fingers tensed, gripping her skirt.

‘Did I hear that correctly?’

Elena touched her ears, wondering if she had misheard. A crack suddenly appeared in the happy and peaceful morning.

“By Grand Duke, do you mean the one I know?”

Her voice trembled slightly as she asked, filled with an ominous feeling.

“Yes. I’m talking about Grand Duke Rudfelix of the Ryan Grand Ducal family.”

Her father answered as if she was asking about something very obvious.

Elena looked at the ceiling for a moment. If she hadn’t, she might have cursed at the face of the father who had raised and loved her.

Grand Duke Rudfelix Ryan…

Recalling that name that almost took her breath away, Elena wrinkled her nose. Because we’re forming a connection with the precious Grand Duke’s family?

‘No.’

In that brief moment, many thoughts crossed Elena’s mind.

‘The Grand Duke is the villain, isn’t he?’

The Grand Duke himself was the villain of this novel and the final boss that the male protagonist had to defeat. The end of the novel was the Grand Duke’s death, but her father had decided to follow the villain, not knowing it was a path to his own demise.

“Why so suddenly?”

The Count of Jellisto family was neutral, not taking sides with anyone, so they didn’t suffer any damage no matter what chaos ensued.

Even when the villain fell at the end and the male protagonist became the emperor, opening a new world, they remained unchanged in their position, which was why she had been so happy.

If you’re wondering whether Elena, who knew the contents of the novel, tried to change her surroundings, that wasn’t the case either.

‘I didn’t even try to change the novel. I didn’t even go near the main characters.’

Although they might encounter each other a few times in social circles, Elena had been restraining herself as much as possible.

She had wished more than anyone for the novel to flow as it was meant to. She knew who the villain was and what plans he had to bring down the male protagonist. But she didn’t reveal this to anyone.

What would she gain by doing so? And besides, they would clash eventually anyway, so what was the point of bringing it forward?

She thought it was best to just pretend not to know anything and only move to live her own life comfortably…

‘This couldn’t have happened suddenly, could it?’

First, she needed to know the circumstances. No, she desperately wanted to know. Only then could she decide whether to intervene or remain an observer!

“Please tell me what happened.”