Chapter 1. The Perfect Way to Escape from a Dysfunctional Family

“Let’s adopt this child.”

A voice as clear and beautiful as a pearl.

When I heard those words from the owner of that voice, I cannot express how happy I was.

I thought I wouldn’t have to survive another day on dry, crumbly bread.

I thought I wouldn’t have to see people coming back injured and demanding I heal them with my healing ability.

Believing this, without hesitation, I followed the Marchioness.

“From now on, you will be called ‘Isabel Valenti.'”

“Isabel……”

“Do you like the name?”

“Very much!”

When I boarded the carriage with her, I was not only given a proper name but also learned the details of my situation.

First, I was being adopted under the pretext of “sponsorship.”

Second, since they decided to adopt me because they valued my healing ability, I should work hard to master that ability.

However, I should not reveal my healing ability to anyone outside the Marquis family without permission.

Third, even though I was adopted, I was now a member of the Marquis family, so I should quickly learn etiquette and focus on my studies.

There were many other instructions as well, and I took them all to heart.

When we finally arrived at the Marquis residence, I noticed some servants who didn’t approve of me, but I didn’t mind.

There was plenty of time, wasn’t there? I was only 11 years old, so I thought that if I learned etiquette, focused on my studies, mastered my healing ability, and treated everyone kindly, eventually more people would like me.

‘A bright future is unfolding before me!’

About a month after my adoption, the attitudes of the Marquis couple and my older brother, who was much older than me, began to change.

Their gentle gazes turned sharp. Their affectionate voices became critical of everything I did.

It was as if they all took off their masks of kindness once I had fully adjusted to the place.

***

“I suddenly became curious about something.”

With an attitude that changed as easily as flipping one’s palm, after seeing such behavior for several days, my much older brother quietly approached me one day.

“Can you heal your own wounds with that ability? Even if you fall badly or get injured?”

I wanted to ask what he meant by that, but I couldn’t.

Because with curious eyes, he pushed me down the stairs behind me.

Bang! Thud!

As I tumbled down the stairs with a loud noise against my will, a fact I had forgotten suddenly came to mind.

That this was the world inside a novel.

‘No wonder my luck seemed too good.’

The fact that I had transmigrated into the novel’s villainess, ‘Isabel Valenti.’

***

Whether in movies, dramas, or novels, other people’s failed romances were always delicious to watch.

I could immerse myself in their stories because they were fiction, not my own.

But even though they started with failed romances, I preferred stories that ended with firmly closed happy endings, so I was selective about what I watched.

Among the works I cherry-picked, the last one I read was a romance fantasy novel called ⟨The Pearl in the Mud⟩.

‘Familiar stories taste good, but this one was too frustrating.’

The romance fantasy novel ⟨The Pearl in the Mud⟩ begins with a common story.

A compassionate female lead known as a saintess, and a male lead who is the strongest swordsman no one can match.

The story begins with these two people falling into a fated love.

‘The male lead’s brother complex was the biggest obstacle in their romance.’

In a story filled with common clichés, the problem was that ‘he denied his love as quickly as he realized it.’

But what if the reason for his quick denial was because of his blood brother? He blindly followed his brother, considering him the top priority in his life. It wasn’t called a brother complex for nothing.

The moment such a person realized his love for the female lead, he also realized where his brother’s gaze was directed.

‘Why did they have to fall for the same person?’

The male lead’s brother, Theodore, was responsible for all sorts of unfortunate narratives. Born with a curse that gave him headaches 24 hours a day, he also couldn’t see anyone’s facial features, which all looked like eggs to him.

Fortunately, or unfortunately, his own face seemed to be an exception to the curse, as he could see it properly in mirrors.

This brother of the male lead happened to meet the female lead by chance. Naturally, he desperately sought love from her, who had shown him some kindness and seemed capable of breaking his curse.

Knowing this, the male lead denied his feelings for the female lead while continuing to be drawn to her, fighting, making mistakes, and misunderstanding all at once.

‘And only after Theodore dies does it head toward a happy ending.’

Theodore met a lonely death without being chosen by the female lead. Before she could even break his curse.

Meanwhile, the male lead, hearing words like ‘the living must go on’ from those around him, accepted his feelings and connected with the female lead while still mourning his brother.

‘There weren’t even any side stories or extras.’

It wasn’t worth reading multiple times, but I thought it was decent enough for a one-time read.

But now I’m in an awkward situation. Why, of all the novels, did it have to be ⟨The Pearl in the Mud⟩? If I had transmigrated into the female lead of the novel, I wouldn’t be inwardly wailing like this.

‘Me…! Me being Isabel…!’

Isabel Valenti.

The adopted daughter of the Valenti Marquis family.

……And a villainess with an unhappy ending.

‘What’s the big deal about love anyway.’

Even though love doesn’t put food on the table, Isabel, like Theodore, staked everything on love.

The reason was simple. For someone who had never experienced love, it was the first love she had ever felt.

To explain what this means, I need to discuss the Marquis family that Isabel belongs to.

Looking broadly, the Valenti Marquis family is one of the noble families, but looking closely, they’re a dysfunctional family.

The first reason they’re dysfunctional is that the current Marquis forcibly took his brother’s wife and married her.

The brother’s wife, who became the Marchioness, didn’t resist and obediently went through with the wedding. The reason was simple: she and the Marquis had already been seeing each other behind the brother’s back since she was engaged to the brother.

‘They probably wanted to create a good image rather than dig up the past.’

The Marquis couple, perhaps becoming conscious of how others viewed them after some time, turned their attention elsewhere.

They adopted a girl under the pretext of sponsorship. That was ‘Isabel,’ whom I had transmigrated into.

At first, they pretended to give love, but once people’s interest faded, they began exploiting Isabel’s healing ability in earnest. It’s generally known that those with abilities go to temples for education, but it was revealed by the previous generation’s saintess that they are essentially exploited.

‘Whether it’s the Marquis family or the temple, they’re all corrupt societies.’

But there was something more important: the revealed truth was being ignored by everyone due to the temple’s silencing efforts, and the Marquis couple were busy taking advantage of this.

‘Isabel,’ who had been exploited by the Marquis couple while living like this, was always thirsty for love, and in such a situation, she happened to meet the male lead by chance.

And she fell in love at first sight.

‘Isabel had a one-sided love for the male lead, and Theodore had a one-sided love for the female lead—a crossed fate……’

Not wanting to ruin the first love she had ever known, she worked so hard to turn her one-sided love into a mutual one.

But the male lead didn’t recognize her sincerity, and eventually, Isabel became blinded by jealousy and turned into a ‘villainess.’ The first thing she did after becoming a villainess was to torment the female lead.

Torment, and torment again. After tormenting her in all sorts of ways, everything was over.

After living her whole life being exploited while hiding her ability from the outside world, she not only failed to achieve love but also had her status as an adopted daughter revoked and was married off like being sold to an old nobleman.

There couldn’t be a worse ending.

‘And that’s supposed to be me?’

Why, of all people, did I have to transmigrate into ‘Isabel’?

After a moment of despair, I thought. All of this (setting aside the Marquis family’s atrocities) happened because of love, so wouldn’t it be fine if I just didn’t fall in love?

‘I enjoyed it because it was someone else’s story. The male lead isn’t even my type!’

Fortunately, since this is long before the original story begins, I thought that if I behaved properly from now on and didn’t act like a villainess, wouldn’t it be okay?

But just as I was contemplating this—

“Fortunately, there’s no danger to her life.”

I heard the doctor’s voice.

I stared blankly at the ceiling, then rolled my eyes to look to the side. Next to the doctor stood my father, mother, and older brother in order.

Now that I recalled the original work, I had no desire whatsoever to call them by such terms, but unfortunately, since we were still bound as family, I couldn’t avoid these titles.

“I hope there won’t be any other problems elsewhere?”

Sure enough, I couldn’t hear a single word of genuine concern.

The words from my father’s mouth were concerns about ‘whether it would affect my ability,’ but the doctor, who couldn’t know this, just tilted his head.