Chapter 1

Diana Beatus, the youngest daughter of the Beatus Duke family, always considered herself utterly ordinary.

Why, you ask?

Because her eldest brother, firmly in place as the heir, left no room for succession disputes, her sister dominated the central social circles, sparing Diana from having to attend social events, and her younger brother had undertaken the family's military duties, leaving no role for the plain youngest child.

Though overshadowed by her renowned siblings in the capital, Diana didn't mind. In fact, she relished it. What a comfortable life it was!

With her siblings shouldering the burdens, Diana, unlike other noble daughters, enjoyed freedom from responsibilities and obligations.

Yet, those envious of her free-spirited life were quick to belittle her.

"Halfwit lady."

Diana didn't care what others said. She never really listened to anyone anyway.

Fulfilling only the bare minimum required by her family, she could enjoy a blissfully carefree life.

That was until she mysteriously fell ill.

When was it? Three years after a red moon appeared, she was afflicted daily, her energy draining away. She suffered from bloody coughs and struggled to breathe on feverish days.

That day, too, was one of her regular doctor visits.

"I say this every time, miss, but it's truly baffling. We can't identify the cause of your illness, nor can we find a cure."

She was tired of hearing the same thing over and over. Lying in bed, she gazed at the ceiling with blurry eyes, wishing she could argue.

"Hey, doctor. Do you really not see this smoke escaping from my body?"

Every time her energy drained, a dark red vapor seemed to rise from her body and drift out of the mansion.

After the doctor left and without realizing it was her birthday, Diana was wracked with unbearable pain. Then, suddenly, a maid rushed in through the door.

"Oh, miss! It's a disaster!"

It was an excruciating pain, like death's approach. She was dying.

"The eldest miss! She's been charged with treason! The prince has ordered an immediate execution!"

The maid's voice faded away. Diana's breath was running out. At the brink of death, she realized.

"An immediate execution by the prince?"

Oh, damn it.

This was the world of a novel.

Just as she realized she was reincarnated into a novel, Diana died, pathetically.

The novel was a dark romance about the prince and a saintess.

The saintess, surrounded by adoring men, and the prince striving to win her over. Meanwhile, Diana's elder sister, cast as the villain, attempts to assassinate the prince who doesn't love her and is executed for treason.

Her eldest brother, the main antagonist, meets a gruesome end, and the villainous family is completely annihilated.

So who was Diana Beatus?

The youngest child in a family of villains, an extra who disappears without significance, barely mentioned in a single line as a terminally ill character.

Ah, life.

"Faint sobs."

"Soft crying."

As she floated toward the sky, her consciousness plummeted back to the ground at the sound of weeping.

Gasping, she took a deep breath. The air felt strange in her lungs.

Her senses, previously engulfed in darkness, began to revive one by one.

"Ah!- !"

Her body ached all over.

Was she in hell? Why was the pain not ending even after death?

Tears streamed down her face as she opened her eyes with difficulty.

It hurt so much. The excruciating pain she felt right before dying was starting all over again.

"Please don't die!"

The pitiful wails suddenly turned into a scream.

"I'm already dead." Before she could even ponder on this, something was grasped in her hand.

Diana exhaled a weary breath, clutching tightly onto the object in her hand.

It was a survival instinct. Buried under the objects someone handed her, Diana instinctively embraced them.

Surprisingly, the pain began to fade.

As the intense pain subsided, her grip strengthened.

"Don't leave me and die, big sister!"

How much time had passed? As the pain vanished and Diana regained her composure, she slowly blinked her heavy eyes open.

'Am I alive?'

"Sniffle. Sniffle."

Diana, buried in everything except her face, followed the sound of sniffling and turned her head.

It was a young boy.

Chubby cheeks, adorable features. The boy, his eyes taking up half his face, brimmed with tears.

As their eyes met, the boy began to sob anew.

"Who are… cough"

"I'll get you water!"

The boy, around five or six years old, with red eyes and gray curly hair, hurriedly ran off and returned with a cup of water.

As she sat up, Diana saw what had been covering her.

'Eek. What's this?'

The dolls covering her were sinister and eerie, as if they belonged in a horror movie.

On the giant bed lay a collection of these grotesque dolls.

A chilling aura filled the room. Diana involuntarily swallowed hard.

"Don't worry. They're just cursed dolls."

What could possibly be reassuring about that? The boy cheerfully said, pushing the unease aside. Diana took the cup he offered, moving the dolls aside.

The pain had gone, but her strength was completely drained. Her hands trembled just holding the small cup.

But the water was sweet and refreshing.

"It's water with demon poison."

"Pfft. Cough Cough"

What?!

"No, it's not poison! It's medicine!"

Poison, but not poison? The flustered boy brought a white cloth to wipe her mouth.

After a bout of coughing, she took a deep breath.

Can I trust this? Diana glanced suspiciously at the boy, who just smiled shyly.

Somehow, she was alive. She was sure she had died, so this must be a resurrection.

Diana looked around. The room was unfamiliar, old, and worn.

Shouldn't one wake up in the same place they died?

"Where is this? And who are you?"

"This is a magician's castle. I'm Noel, your brother."

The boy hesitated before looking straight at her.

Noel. Brother?

The word was foreign, and silence fell for a moment.

In the original story, the Beatus family included only four siblings, including her. In reality, too. A brother more in our family? That's impossible.

"Big sister?"

A flash of memory crossed her mind.

The Beatus family's illegitimate child. A child a maid left behind for money.

Her siblings didn't care, and she had forgotten about the neglected child. Soon after he arrived, she fell ill.

"Diana big sister?"

"Yes, that's right, Noel."

Acknowledging her seemed to brighten his red eyes, emblematic of the Beatus family.

For some reason, he brought her a small hand mirror.

Reluctantly, she looked at her reflection.

Hair nearly black, eyes pink under haughty brows, adding splendor to her doll-like features.

A fragile appearance couldn't hide her exceptional beauty.

"Ah, I'm back."

She was not the deathbed figure she had been before dying.

Diana remembered herself, so emaciated she couldn't even swallow thin soup, her cheeks hollowed, resembling a skeleton.

Yes, that's how she died. Realizing she was in a novel, she couldn't do anything but lie in bed.

Diana flexed her thin hand.

Watching her hand move, she lay back powerlessly, a listless laugh escaping her.

She was alive. In pain, but able to move. That's all that mattered. Forget the original story. She had to survive first.

Saving a doomed villainous family was a thought only possible when healthy. Her own well-being came first.

"You said if I stayed quiet, big sister would come. Then I wouldn't be alone."

Diana frowned slightly at Noel's words about being trapped in the magician's castle.

So someone had confined the illegitimate child of the Beatus family and abducted her, Diana, as well? And this was unrelated to the original story?

Why did something that wasn't supposed to happen, happen? She should've been lying in her luxurious room, bedridden.

"How long have I been here?"

"Not long."

The boy didn't know the exact date. Still, she could guess the situation from the information pieced together.

She was trapped in the magician's castle with Noel, with no idea who the culprit was.

The vast castle, empty of people, was bound by a powerful barrier.

A barrier that couldn't be exited without the owner's permission wasn't common in this era.

The magicians of this era could only use simple magic with magic crystals.

This was like an ancient mage tower. Even the wide-open windows were blocked by a barrier.

Wind flowed in, hinting at a possibility, but her hand was stopped by an invisible wall at the window sill.

Could she break this invisible wall? Throwing a candlestick experimentally, it passed through and fell below.

She had expected the candlestick to bounce off.

Watching the falling candlestick, Diana's pink eyes suddenly shifted to the dusky moon hanging high in the sky.

"Ah, the red moon."

The red moon had risen precisely when she fell ill. She distinctly remembered.

So, she was returned to the time she just began to get sick.

Sigh, waking up to find herself kidnapped and imprisoned by some lunatic.

Does a tragic romance novel affect even an extra like her?

Forget the original story; her life was in danger. What to do? How does a terminal character in the novel survive? The original story offered no solution for a character briefly mentioned.

"Big sister, are you in pain again?"

As she clutched her head in agony, Noel brought a cursed doll as big as himself.

Despite Diana's look of disgust, Noel cheerfully offered the doll.

"Hug this, and it will ease your pain."

"It will ease my pain?"

"You suffer from a disease where magic is draining from you. This cursed doll will help."

A disease of magic draining away? Something even renowned doctors couldn't diagnose.

"How do you know that?"

"I can see it, big sister."

As she touched the doll, black smoke emerged from it and began seeping into her body. Vitality returned to her, as if by magic.

"Right?"

Noel smiled meaningfully, his eyes crinkling.

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This novel has been translated up to chapter 35.

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