Because She Had A Time Limit, She Became The Villain’s Daughter-in-law - Chapter 1

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Prologue
“Cough, cough!”
My chest tickled as a fit of coughing seized me. The dizziness that followed was almost worse.
‘I’m doomed.’
This was my first thought after transmigrating into the novel.
‘Of all the roles to be reincarnated into, why this one….’
I had transmigrated into the role of Laria Rose Rostri in a novel called “The Grand Transaction of the Empire.”
The pale pink hair and sparkling violet eyes, along with my delicate features, were actually quite pleasing to me.
‘My height is a bit short, but my round eyes and gentle expression make me look rather like a puppy.’
But the only thing I liked was my appearance. I was a supporting character—and worse, I was cursed with a terminal illness, destined to die at twenty-one.
‘I died at twenty-one in my previous life too, and now I’m fated to die at the same age again.’
“Cough, cough!”
I coughed up blood and had to wipe my mouth with a handkerchief.
“So what you’re saying is, the direct line of Rostri is down to just this sickly daughter?”
I was only fourteen now, and this was the funeral of the Rostri Count and Countess—my parents.
The moment I became aware of my transmigration, memories from the past naturally flooded in as if they were my own.
My father, a wastrel, and my mother, who indulged in extravagance as a counterbalance to him, left behind only massive debts before dying in a carriage accident.
“Is there nothing of value in the Rostri Manor? Search everywhere!”
I had never been happy at the Rostri Manor.
My parents’ relationship was terrible, and the household was always chaotic.
My only older brother was sent far away to the Eastern Continent to study because my father deemed him rebellious.
“Where did all the relatives disappear to during the funeral?”
“My money! The only person who can pay back my money is this sickly little thing?”
At a funeral where all relatives and friends were absent, I found myself surrounded by creditors.
I let their words go in one ear and out the other, my eyes constantly drifting toward the entrance. Someone was about to arrive to take me away.
In the original work, Laria never knew she was terminally ill until her death, but only two people in the world knew this truth.
One was my mother, the Rostri Countess, and the other was….
“Huh? That person is….”
“Why is Duke Icard here of all places….”
A man with an imposing height, jet-black hair, and eerily gleaming crimson eyes strode through the chaos with commanding presence.
‘The villain’s entrance is quite impressive….’
Even standing silently, his aura was overwhelmingly oppressive.
‘Duke Icard.’
Kalaudin Evan Icard, the Duke.
He was a man who had lived quietly, minding only his own territory, but after his wife’s death, he became obsessed with power.
He was also the hidden mastermind in the original work, willing to use any means necessary to seize control of the Nobility and the Royal Court.
Because he entered politics late, his power wasn’t yet overwhelming, but through his scheming, he eventually became the leader of the Nobility within a few years.
‘He even succeeds in arranging his son’s marriage to Princess Elani.’
Of course, I thought he would achieve his goals and gain control of the Nobility and Royal Court, but…. Princess Elani, the female lead, falls in love with the male protagonist instead of his son, causing all his carefully laid plans to crumble to dust.
‘The original work never revealed what goal he sought so desperately to achieve by climbing so high….’
The author said she would publish the side stories, but I had only read up to the conclusion before transmigrating, missing them entirely.
In any case, with his arrival, the funeral that had been chaotic suddenly fell silent.
The creditors whispered among themselves before quickly and respectfully lining up before Duke Icard.
‘This is the power of money and authority!’
I marveled anew at the sight.
‘It’s not mine, but how beautiful it is…. How wonderful to be a mastermind.’
Not just anyone could be a mastermind. Without anything to your name, attempting to be a mastermind would make you nothing more than a delusional dreamer in a corner room.
Then Duke Icard approached me without hesitation and asked in an ominous voice.
“Do you have anywhere to go?”
All my relatives had avoided the funeral, fearing they might become responsible for me. The Rostri Manor had naturally been seized and forfeited, and all the servants had fled.
“N-no, I don’t…. Cough!”
As I coughed, his eyes narrowed slightly.
I already knew what he would say next.
“Then will you become the wife of my son, Evan?”
Even knowing how this would unfold, I was utterly shocked.
To come at me so abruptly without warning. So he was proposing a child marriage, among the strategic marriages of the Nobility.
Child marriage was not uncommon in noble society. By custom, a young child like me could not remain long at a noble manor as a guest, for taking in a child and assuming responsibility required binding them as family and even granting inheritance rights.
“Matilda was very close with your mother.”
‘Matilda….’
It was the name of Duke Icard’s wife, who had passed away giving birth to his son.
“If Matilda were alive, she would have certainly wanted to take you in. So I shall do it instead.”
‘A lie.’
I blinked, thinking to myself. Duke Icard was someone currently expanding his power. There was no way he would take me in for such a romantic reason.
According to the original story, he had learned of my illness by chance and intended to marry me to his son in order to exploit my predetermined death.
‘I know the entire original story! I can see through his dark intentions, yet who would have thought I’d follow along so readily….’
“I shall repay all of your parents’ debts and promise you a life without want.”
“Thank you for taking me in, Father.”
I answered quickly.
I was that ‘who’.
Even knowing the entire original story, this was the optimal strategy. After all, since I was going to die anyway, wasn’t it better to live luxuriously as the story dictated rather than die among creditors?
“…Father?”
Duke Icard’s eyes pierced through me with an eerie gaze. Standing before such a powerful mastermind, even a minor supporting character like me felt terrified.
I answered, thoroughly intimidated.
“I-I’m sorry. S-since we’re family now….”
A brief silence fell.
“It’s fine.”
His voice was low and cool, making everyone tense.
“Let’s go.”
And so I followed Duke Icard.
On the way to the Count’s Manor, Duke Icard stopped by the Imperial Palace to submit the marriage certificate, and with that single document, my name became Laria Rose Icard.
‘As I thought… there’s no way there would be a wedding ceremony.’
My husband Evan, a year younger than me, was at the Academy, so I couldn’t even see his face.
In 『The Empire’s Grand Transaction』, Evan was a minor character with barely a few lines of description. He was so insignificant that he couldn’t even be called a secondary male lead. And I was the ex-wife of that minor character, making me an even more worthless existence.
‘Given my soul’s capabilities, I should be playing a villainess role… but this body I’ve possessed is utterly pathetic.’
My unlucky possession cost the villainess genre one talented candidate. Usually, villainesses had money. After all, doing bad things required funds.
But a minor character with no money, no health, and no distinguishing features? There was nothing I could do about this situation.
‘I should have possessed a wealthy and robust villainess. What a shame.’
I was immediately assigned a spacious room and a maid at the Count’s Manor. Sadly, for someone like me who was already living on borrowed time, following the original story’s trajectory was the best route. Of course, I wasn’t ignorant of the cure.
‘Ochlasia tree fruit.’
I had an older brother, Fred, five years my senior. With the same pink hair and purple eyes as me, he was currently studying abroad on the Eastern Continent, though the Eastern Continent had been cut off from trade for years due to the infestation of magical beasts.
He would only return after I died, and there was a scene where he wept at my grave, speaking of the cure.
“Garba’s Lung Disease was a common ailment on the Eastern Continent… yet it could be cured simply by consistently consuming ten Ochlasia tree fruits daily for five years….”
So my illness was classified as incurable in the Empire because no one knew the cure, but on the Eastern Continent, it was already a conquered disease. Still, it wasn’t particularly helpful information for me.
‘Ochlasia trees are extremely rare species. Besides, even though the fruits bear year-round, they’re difficult to preserve, making them even harder to obtain….’
Ochlasia fruits rotted instantly once they fell from the tree, making them nearly impossible to obtain in the market.
‘Even if I could somehow get one or two… I could never consistently obtain ten.’
I had already come to terms with reality. Lounging comfortably in someone else’s home and dying peacefully was the best ending I could hope for.
‘Let me aim for the next life. If I could be possessed once, I can be possessed twice. Please, let it be a wealthy villainess next time, please….’
But my thoughts changed when I took a solitary walk through the mansion garden near my assigned room.
‘Huh? What is this?’
I stopped in my tracks. The Count’s Manor garden was impossibly filled with Ochlasia trees, each one bearing a neat nameplate.
‘This, this doesn’t make sense? Is this the possessed one’s blessing?’
As if someone had arranged it all beforehand.
‘Is this a divine message telling me to live anew? Or a demon’s message telling me to destroy the original story?’
Seriously… to possess me in such a pathetic role and then place the cure right in front of me like this? This had to be a joke….
“I humbly receive this blessing.”
It was certainly no joke—it was incredibly fortunate and gracious. Whether it was the god of possession or the demon of the original story, I took a moment to clasp my hands together and offer a prayer of gratitude.
“That said….”
If anyone thought I was the type to immediately lose my mind and frantically pluck and eat them in desperation, they were sorely mistaken.
“I can’t just eat them carelessly just because I’m in a hurry.”
I was easy-going, yes, but I was the type to carefully select and eat the ten ripest fruits.
‘Well then.’
The plump fruit was no larger than a thumbnail and fit in my mouth in one bite, but it was incredibly sweet.
My eyes gleamed as I thought.
‘Excellent. This life, let me live longer than twenty-one!’

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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