The memories of my previous life came to my mind suddenly after one year of birth. I was reading a novel because of a friend’s recommendation. The first part of the novel is where the female protagonist defeats the villainess who’s been harassing her, and then marries a wonderful male protagonist.

The villainess dies eventually and the protagonist soon gives birth to sons and daughters while living a happy life. And I became the reincarnation of the villainess’s daughter, not the child of the protagonists.

In defeat, the villainess commits an unforgivable sin and was confined to a very high tower by the male protagonist. Damn it, there was no detailed explanation of the crime. Born as the daughter of a villain in such a low-fidelity novel.

When the memories of my previous life flashed before me, only then did I understand this dark environment in front of me.

Even though I’m a sinner, I can’t be separated from my mother, so I’m sure I’m living here too.

“Hyu~”

I peek into the place where I heard a weeping sound.

“…I miss you, Duke. Did you really forget me…”

The villainess in the novel, who is my mother, missed her ex-husband from China, and couldn’t look outside the window except for when she breastfed me. This gloomy spire wasn’t very suitable for parenting, but in the end, I had to cut it off here. Because that would be my destiny, the daughter of a villainess.

***

There was a huge contradiction in the happy ending of this novel. The protagonists were married and spent three years together, as well as being a good-looking couple and always being polite to each other.

However, with the villainess around, the male protagonist was threatened.

She couldn’t just look at them, she tried to keep her place to the very end. However, the novel’s fate was on the side of the heroine, not of the villainess. The hero regarded the effort as defeat, and said she had committed a terrible crime that couldn’t be forgiven, she was proclaimed a sinner and was locked up in the tower.

And here.

Interestingly enough, the villain’s body already had the fruit of the male protagonist.

That fruit was me.

The daughter of a villainess and the male protagonist.

But the Duke wasn’t interested in me at all, and my mom misses the Duke all day long, ending up with her spending her nights in tears.

If my destiny is to be born the daughter of a villainess, then so be it.

It’s just a fixed story.

And if you don’t believe so, then you’d think this was just harsh reality.

But believing will open your mind.

***

Time has passed and I am now two.

When I was able to completely live on my own, I left my mother.

It seems that my mom still misses my father because when I left she didn’t care about me.

I can’t really remember the details.

Wouldn’t it have been a little sad, though?

Is it just my wish?

I left my mother behind, and I entered the doomed orphanage in the empire.

I’m only two years old and can barely walk. And the people who were interested in me just looked at me silently.

She’s the daughter of that evil woman, will she be like that woman as well?

Are you going to starve her this much?

Wouldn’t the Duke prefer it if she were dead?

They were busy gossiping among themselves even though the boat was making a rumbling sound. It was an environment that was different from the tower. It is dark, dull, and deserted, and it’s an environment void of affection.

If I hadn’t remembered my previous life, I would be crying everyday. I am fortunate to have the memories of my past life. Shedding tears, it must have bothered me more to see it.

I began to gradually adapt to this malice.

But it seems a little bit painful.

***

I am now six.

At some point, the nursery staff began to bother me.

“I called you. Didn’t you hear it??”

He appeared suddenly and made a nonsense argument.

“Are you staring at me? You look like your mother, so you’re a match for the west reading!”

It was already difficult to withstand the neglect and coldness, but the most difficult part was the sharp words they would say.

I didn’t want to become familiar with this. However, the reality was so harsh that I wasn’t able to withstand it.

By the time I became insensitive to this reality, no matter how secretly it has been happening, I was finally noticed by the nursery school director. The nursery manager looked at the embarrassed staff with a lazy and grumpy stare and quietly turned his head to me.

“Who would know if it doesn’t leak out?”

The words of the nursery head didn’t sound like she was blaming the staff, but rather small permission to encourage what they were doing. From then on, they didn’t feel guilty.

***

I am seven years old.

I know it shouldn’t be, but now I’ve been held back.

‘Damn story. Damn story’

Should I blame my wicked mother?

Or should I blame those people who made me like this?

Or should I blame the main characters of this novel?

‘I want to live in peace.’

During my days of depression, someone new entered the nursery. A pretty woman with a clear and good expression treated me kindly, different from the others. If I get hurt, she would take me somewhere to help clean and heal the wound.

I was very satisfied with this peace, which I’ve longed for a long time.

‘Yes, how could it be that only crazy people are in this nursery school?’

I prayed earnestly that this peace would remain for a long time.

***

Yes, why would peace stay with the daughter of the villain? I headed to the tower with drivers from the nursery at short notice. I was curious about the reason why he was acting as if he should have never met up with me as I took him with me so suddenly like this.

So I told the driver why.

‘I should be enthusiastic about my mother’s appearance before this all ends’

The diver replied, adding that this was a consideration that they gave me. The last part seems to imply the death of my mother.

‘Is this a consideration for me or a consideration for my mother?’

No, this is not a consideration.

It’s not a consideration for us, rather an act to help themselves. An act to take a spoonful of their unpleasant guilt.

‘They pretend it’s for me.’

With no sincerity in their actions.

‘I can’t even remember my face anymore.’

In the memories of my childhood, my mother was a woman that cried and cried with the longing solely for her husband. There is no way you would want to see a person that lazy.

Still, it was strange that my mom was dying soon. My dad didn’t expect anything anyway, but my mom…

When I was a child, when I cried because I was hungry, she gave me milk.

Strangely, if I was in my mother’s arms, I would have been warm enough to forget all of the hunger and sadness of my future.

‘This will be the last time… So let’s keep it in our memory so that you can remember it every time you miss it.’

But there was no need to make that commitment. The appearance of the woman lying in the bed was so different from the woman of my memories. She was so skinny at first glance. Waiting for her demise to come.

Even in my cloudy memories, it was like Yeowon. But not to that degree.

It didn’t matter who saw her, she was sick and it seems that she would die soon.

Even her breath would cut off wildly.

“D-duke…”

She was barely breathing, and she was looking for her love right until the end. Looking at it, strangely, my heart seems to be hurting and tears seem to well in my eyes.

The wounds of my past started to hurt. Even until the end, I thought my mom wasn’t interested in me… Strangely, my heart hurts.

Glancing, the driver turns his head to the side, but as we make eye contact, he turns away, as if avoiding my gaze.

Go on and on, Duke. I think she has abandoned herself trying to find that husband of hers.

She couldn’t call her Duke, so maybe she called her daughter.

Yes, she was also pretending for us.

Her Duke, Duke, Duke.

Her Love, Love, Love.

‘Anyway, that person forgot us and went on to live a happy life. Why don’t you know that?’

Or you did know about it and just didn’t let go?

I hated her, but on the other hand, I understood her. Because of the sad feelings that I kept and cherished for those who didn’t look at me until the very end had made more sense at this very moment.

I approached her side carefully, to the gaze that did not turn to me until the end. Then, I carefully placed my hands on hers’, which were loose, rough, and dry.

Despite being skinny like a skeleton, the difference between the hand of my adult mother and my young hand was quite large.

This is the last time.

I wanted to hold hands with my mother, so I forcibly stretched her small hand and caressed her finger. As my warmth was added to my mother’s cold hands, her gaze slowly shifted toward me.

“My name is Daphne.”

“….”

“No one named me, so I named myself. It’s pretty, isn’t it?”

“….”

I heard that my golden eyes match the color of my dad’s, the Duke.

If you look at me and think of your ex-husband, you’ll miss him again.

Nevertheless…

I laugh compellingly, to suppress the feelings that well up in me.

In the end, I want to send her off while laughing.

“I understand mom. Because mom isn’t really my mother but the wife of the Duke, so I won’t forget that…”

“….”

“Don’t struggle anymore, sleep well.”

Don’t wait for dad who won’t come, please feel comfortable.

“D…”

Her voice began to bust hard as if trying to say something. However, no other words followed.

As if the voice that couldn’t come out was resentful, mother made a whispering sound several times and wept.

Don’t wait for dad who won’t come, please feel comfortable.

“D…”

Her voice began to bust hard as if trying to say something. However, no other words followed.

As if the voice that couldn’t come out was resentful, mother made a whispering sound several times and wept.

Unbearable tears flowed down her skinny face

Her eyes narrowed as if trying to hold back her tears.

I waited for a while, but her closed eyes did not open.

The driver next to her quietly covered her mother’s face with a white cloth.

“Goodbye, mom.”

That was my last greeting.

One year after I was born, I suddenly remembered my previous life. Right now, I was in a novel I read on recommendation from a friend.

The novel had a full happy ending, in which the main character (the heroine) of the first book defeated a notorious villainess who deceived her and married a handsome male lead.

Eventually, the wicked woman died and the protagonists have a daughter and a son and live happily ever after.

And I was reincarnated not as the main characters daughter but the same wicked woman. The wicked woman has committed an unforgivable sin, and was confined in a high spire by the male protagonist.

Damn, there was not a single explanation for the crime.

When I recalled the memory of my previous life, I understood the gloomy environment that I saw before my eyes.

‘Heuk!’

I heard the sobbing noise, so I rolled my eyes to see where it was from.

“…I miss you, Duke did you really forget about me?”

The evil woman in the novel, or my mother, was looking at the window all day long, missing her ex-husband, except when she was breastfeeding me.

This depressing spire was the most unsuited place for parenting, but in the end I’ll have no choice but to grow up here because that’s my destiny as the daughter of a wicked woman.

...* * *...

This happy ending novel had such a big sequence.

In fact, the evil woman was the wife of the male lead. Married and spent three years together, they remained courteous to each other. They were a couple with good relationship.

However, with the appearance of the female lead, the male lead feels affection for her, and the wicked woman position was threatened. She couldn’t just sit around and watch them. So she tried to keep her position until the end in the way she could.

But, the fate of the novel was on the side of the heroine, and not the villainess.

The male lead regarded her effort as a defeat.

‘She has committed an unforgivable and terrible sin,’ he said. ‘So I have accused her of being a sinner, and have locked her up in the spire.’

And here.

Interestingly enough, the evil woman’s body already had a couple’s relationship with the male lead and I was the fruit of the couple.

The daughter of the duke who was the main character and the villianess.

But the Duke was not interested in me at all, and my mother spent the whole day in tears missing him.

If this was my destiny to be born as the daughter of a wicked woman, it would be fate.

It’s just a set story.

If you don’t think so, this reality is too harsh.

It would be better to believe that it is a story.

...* * *...

Time passed and I turned two.

I was separated from my mother when I was able to feed myself. My mother still seemed to miss her husband so much that she didn’t give me any attention on the day I left.

Actually, it’s been a long time so I couldn’t remember the details.

But wouldn’t you be a little sad ?

Is it just my wish?

Leaving my regret behind, I separated with my mother and entered an empire-run nursery.

Now, only two years old, I’m barely able to move my body, but what I receive has been just malicious gaze and indifference to me.

– Because she’s the daughter of a wicked woman, just like her.

It’s tough, isn’t it?

– You’re gonna starve yourself to death?

– Wouldn’t the duke like it if she died?

It was no different from the spire. A dark, dreary, desolate and an unfriendly environment.

“If I didn’t have the memory of my past life, I would have been a crybaby every day.”

I’m glad I have the memory of my past life.

If I shed tears, I’m sure they would have bullied me because they didn’t want to see it.

I slowly began to adapt myself to this malice.

I think it hurts a little bit.

...* * *...

I turned six this year. From some point on, the nursery staff started bothering me little by little.

“I called you, didn’t you hear me?”

He came out of nowhere and started making a fuss.

“Are you staring at me? You look like your mother, and you’re so spiteful!”

Ignorance and coldness were also hard to endure, but what was harder than that were sharp-eyed words.

I didn’t want to get used to this.

By the time he became insensitive to reality, he was eventually caught by the director of the nursery, no matter how secretly the incident happened. The head of the nursery, who looked at the embarrassed employees once and for all at the same time, quietly turned his head.

“If it doesn’t leak out, who knows?”

What the nursery director said was not to blame them, but to acquiesce in their actions. Since then, they haven’t even felt guilty.

...* * *...

I turned seven.

I know I shouldn’t, but I’m used to it now.

‘The story that’s going to be my damned fate.’

Should I blame my evil mother? Or should I blame those people who made me like this? Or should i blame the protagonists in the novel?

‘I want to live in peace.’

After such gloomy days, a new person came into the nursery. A pretty woman with a clear and good expression treated me with kindness unlike the others. When I got hurt, she took me to heal my wounds, took care of my food secretly, and she patted me as if i was pretty and treated me like her own child.

I was very satisfied with this peace after a long time.

‘Yeah, how can there be only crazy people in the nursery?’

I prayed earnestly for this peace to last.

...* * *...

Yeah, no peace for the wicked woman’s daughter.

I headed to the spire with knights with the sudden appearance of the nursery director.

I was curious. Until now, you’ve been acting like you shouldn’t have met me, so why did you take me all of a sudden?

So I asked the knight why.

“You have to see what your mother looks like since this is the last time.”

The knight replied so, adding that it was the courtesy they had for me. The last one was probably talking about my mother’s death.

They looked very relaxed.

‘Is this a consideration for me or for my mother?’ No, this is not a consideration.

It may not be a consideration for us, but an action to reap a spoonful of their ***** guilt.

‘Pretending to care for me’

No one really cares for me.

‘I can’t even remember her face anymore.’

When I was a kid, my mom was just crying and crying, missing her Ex-husband. There’s no way she would want to see me.

Still, it felt strange that my mom would die soon. My dad didn’t expect it anyway, but my mom still…

When I was a kid, if I cried because I was hungry, she would hug and breastfeed me. Strangely, when I was in my mother’s arms, I was warm enough to forget all of my hunger and my sadness.

‘It’s the last time so let’s keep it in my eyes so that we can think of it if i miss her.’

But there was no need to make such a commitment. The image of a woman lying in bed was so different from my memory that I shut my mouth in shock.

The skinny woman was waiting for her imminent death at a glance. She looked thin even in my hazy memory, but she wasn’t this thin.

It seemed to anyone that she was sick, and that she was about to die. Even the breathing was cracking violently.

“D…uk…e”

She was looking for her love till the end, even though she had difficulty breathing.

The sight made my heart feel numb and tears roll over my eyes. The wounds that had been inflicted on me throughout the years and abusive remarks were endurable at these moments.

To the end, however i don’t think my mother is interested on me. Strangely my heart ached.

“I… want to see…”

A glance turned to my side. When the knight who brought me met my eyes, he turned his head as if to avoid my gaze.

It seems that she continued to look for her ex-husband who abandoned her. Since they couldn’t call the duke so they called her daughter.

Yes, they were pretending it was for us.

Her Duke, Duke, Duke.

Her love, love, love.

‘Anyway, That person has already forgotten us and is living happily ever after. Why don’t you know that?’

Or do you know but you don’t want to let him go?

I hated my mom but on the other hand, i think i could understand her. The sad feeling of the one who didn’t want to see me until the end was so understandable at this moment.

I approached her carefully, who was looking away from me until the last minute. And carefully put my hand on her dry, rough hand.

Despite being as thin as a skeleton, the difference between the adult woman’s hand and my younger hand was quite large.

‘…..’

This will be the last time.

I wanted to hold my mom’s hand so I forced my little hand and held her fingers. My warmth was added to my mother’s hands, which were as cold as ice, and her gaze slowly moved towards me.

“My name is Daphne.”

“…..”

“No one gave me a name, so I named it myself. Pretty, right?”

“…..”

My mother’s eyes were glued to my eyes.

I heard that this golden pupil is the same color as my dad’s eye. You will see me and remember your ex-husband and miss him again.

But I smiled happily, holding up my burning emotion on my head. At the end, though, I wanted to send you with a smile.

“I understand Mom. You wanted to be the Duke’s wife, not my mummy. So I won’t forget…”

“…..”

“Don’t suffer anymore, sleep tight.”

Don’t wait for the dad who won’t come. Please feel comfortable now.

“D….”

The tone of the voice was small as if it were about to say something. But nothing more could be said. As if she was resentful of the voice that did not come out, her mother made more colorful noises and shed tears.

The unbearable tears followed down her dry face.

Mom closed her eyes tightly as if she was trying to hold back her tears.

I waited for a long time but she didn’t open her eyes anymore.

The knight standing next quietly covered my mother’s face with the white cloth.

“Bye, Mom.”

That was the last greeting.

“It’s time to go back.”

The knight, who watched my mother’s death with me, held my hand tightly.

‘No, I haven’t seen her yet!‘ Even though it was a miserable and horrible figure, I wanted to see her until the end to keep it in my eyes.

Since this is the last time, after this i won’t be able to see you anymore!

‘A little more; a little more!’

At least, I wanted to wipe away the tears that were in my mother’s eyes.

But my desperate defiance was just one of the little annoyances for the knight.

The knights wanted to dispose the body even faster.

I gave my body strength to try to move forward. Then the knight, with a strong grip on my arm, looked down at me with an irritated face.

I saw that he was trying to yell out loud as if he wouldn’t hold back his anger, so I hurriedly asked him before he even got angry.

“What’s going to happen to my mom now?”

“……”

The knight’s gaze immediately became strange at the question. A very slight sense of bewilderment seemed to remind him that I was only seven years old.

He didn’t know what to say so he just stayed silent.

Well, I’m just a seven-year-old kid.

Since I’m not old enough to understand what happens, so now how will you explain me that?

The knight kept his mouth shut a few times, and he soon raised his lips. There was scorn in his eyes.

“Your mother will be punished now. “

“…..”

Punishment… so you’re saying it wasn’t a punishment she recieved untill now?

Yeah, I didn’t even expect you to comfort me.

To them, I am not a seven-year-old child, but finally,

Because she’s the daughter of a dead evil woman!

The knight’s eyes glanced back. My mother’s body was covered with a larger white cloth than before.

I saw my mom’s cold body being moved by someone to somewhere else. And the knight threw a terrible look at her side and looked at me. His hateful eyes were no different than when he looked at my mother.

“Your mother was punished by going to hell for doing bad things.”

“…bad things?”

“Yes, bad things! So don’t do any bad things and live a good life.”

The knight wanted to add something else, but he turned his head and shut his mouth again.

Maybe he wanted to say otherwise, you’d turn out to be like your mother.

The knight dragged me out once again. The disdainful glance which were seen a liitle while ago, couldn’t be erased from his sight.

I turned my head back as I struggled along the knight’s fast steps. A narrow, grayish-colored spire was seen above the high stairs.

‘Living was like hell, but you’re going to hell even if you die?’

My mom only did it to protect her, and you kept her locked up in a place like this until she died.

What did my mom do to you guys so badly?

What did I do to you guys?

Because I couldn’t eat properly, my small size body is now being dragged away by the knight. I can feel the gaze from behind.

Is it a malicious or a reproachful gaze? What is certain is that none of them feel sorry for the daughter who lost her mother.

Neither sympathetic nor comforting gaze exists. That was the reality given to me.

The novel did not elaborate on the death of the wicked woman and her daughter. I guess it was enough to mention such a dark story in one line after a happy ending.

But-

What if the heroine didn’t disturb the couple in the first place?

What if she hadn’t touched a man with a wife?

If she had fallen in love with another sub-man, It wouldn’t be like this!

History is said to be recorded from the winner’s point of view.

My mom will be remembered as a loser and a wicked woman who will never be good even if she is burned to death forever.

And I will also be recorded in the story as an extra who died miserably.

‘I don’t like that.’

My mother’s death was the intended ending of this novel.

My death is also scheduled.

I’ll be surrounded and beaten to death by many people tomorrow according to the flow of the novel.

‘Because I’m the daughter of a wicked woman?’

That’s not funny.

Even if I raise my head, there is no good look at me. Even though i am just a child and have just lost my mother.

I tried to keep my composure and gave strength to my body, but failed to withstand the force of the knight who dragged me and fell down.

I fell down with a pretty loud noise, so I could feel the eyes of the people around me again. I slowly raised my head and tried to stand up without even thinking about the prickly and negative gaze around me.

I can’t see the faces of the people around me.

The sky was so clear that it looked strangely grayish.

And in such a grayish world, I could see people dyed black.

They looked down at me with sharp eyes as if they wanted to tear me to pieces.

They were looking at me as if I was a monster.

But to me, they were the real monsters.

...***...

“Oh, my God! Daphne!”

I turned my head when I heard the sound of running and a sweet voice that didn’t fit in here.

The only woman who was nice to me in the nursery was running fast towards me.

‘….was it Ulinee?’

I searched through my hardened mind and remembered her name, then i called out her name.

“..Ulinee”

“Yes, Daphne. my God. You’re just gonna watch her fall like that?”

An angry voice made the knight standing next to her had a wry look.

Then the knight stared at me from behind Ulinee, who raised and supported me. He glared at me as if it was my fault that I fell so why should he be the one hearing that and turned his head away.

I didn’t even want to deal with it.

“Oh, my God. Your knees are all scraped.”

“…..”

“Let’s go back quickly and heal it.”

If you’re talking about going back, you are probably talking about the nursery.

‘…Wait a minute.’

Come to think of it, I’ll end up living in a nursery school, so how the hell am I going to be beaten to death?

My death would have been marked as a single line in the novel.

So how the hell do i die ..?

“Oh, Daphne. You must be very sick. What should I do?”

‘Why was she outside the nursery…?’

The voice of the one who was sad to see my wound suddenly stopped.

I raised my head, feeling strange, and met her eyes, which were more glistening than usual.

“Oh, there’s someone to meet before we go back.”

“Who?”

Ulinee smiled at my question and nodded.

And there was a big shadow over us as we had waited for it. I felt something was strange and began to raise my head slowly.

A large physique, dark navy hair as if the night sky were stained, and a sharp jawline that matches those sharp-eyed eyes. There was one thing that stood out above the colorful appearance that told me he was the main character.

The glittering gold eyes that I’ve only seen in the mirror.

I was able to notice instinctively. The fact that the person standing before me is my father.

I quickly lowered my head before my father made a eye contact with me.

My body trembled because I felt like his eyes were full of displeasure that was directed at me.

My mom died, and now I have…Dad the only one who didn’t even care about my existence.

If even my dad throw me away, I’m really going to…

I wiped my sweaty hands on my hook which were caused by nervousness.

“Who is this child?”

The knight seemed a little perplexed at the question.

Ulinee, who had already come to my side, spoke in a bright voice.

“This child is the daughter of the Duke.”

“Daughter?”

It was a ridiculous voice.

I could hear a voice asking the knight next to me, leaving Ulinee behind.

His voice full of irritation asked, and the knight who hesitated, answered.

“She’s the daughter of the evil Freyr.”

“…ha.”

A deafening sigh and a clear feeling of displeasure. A cold gaze that descended upon me.

‘… but if you miss this opportunity.’

I’ll die tomorrow, no matter what.

‘I don’t want to die…’

I moved my hand slowly, unable to raise my head.

As if a doll was moving, she raised her fluttering arm to the point where he almost shook her trembling hands.

“Pa…pa.”

And when I started calling my dad i slowly started to lift my head up.

He refused to listen to what i was trying to say and backed away as if he was avoiding my hand trying to hold onto the hem of his robe.

“Not my child.”

“……”

His eyes went through my eyes to the crumbly, short hair.

Purple hair, color passed down by my mother.

Perhaps it reminded him of my mother, his expression got deeper than before.

“It can’t be true.”

There was no hesitation in his firm answer.

“She was a woman who hired someone to hurt Eunice. Since she didn’t have money, she probably said that she would give herself away to one of them.”

“It’s understandable since she was a woman who had been trying hard to keep power and her place better than love.”

There was a terrible silence.

“Don’t dare put a dirty child in your mouth, as my child, when no one knows whose blood is flowing in her.”

When that was over, knights with my mother’s body came down behind us.

Dad, or the Duke, moved his steps towards the people as if he had no interest in me, and soon after, there was a peculiar, lifting sound of the cloth.

“You certainly died. I know the body. Take care of it.”

As if there was nothing more to see, the Duke walked out of there without hesitation.

The last time he visited was to confirm the death of his wife.

The evil woman’s death, my mother’s death, was miserable to the end.

It was a death that everyone was happy about.

...***...

I was led back to the nursery by Ulinee’s hand.

On the way, Ulinee didn’t say anything to me and that wasn’t like her.

I’d normally feel strange, but I wasn’t in a condition to notice it.

As soon as Ulinee entered the nursery, she looked down at me with a cold gaze, as the Duke did.

“…Ulinee?”

The expression of Ulinee, who always smiled at my small voice, was stiff.

“Ah, really.”

A voice full of annoyance, not the usual kind voice. The woman, who swept my hair roughly, looked down at me.

“I thought what I was holding was a golden cord to straighten out my life but, it was a rotten one.”

A scornful look now followed over the irritated voice.

“I tried to follow her and live comfortably as a duchess’s nanny.”

Only then I could see why she was kind to me.

“Ah, I’m so annoyed. What should I do? “

A voice that couldn’t stand anger, and then, with the end of the words, came the sneer from behind.