Chapter – 01
0. The Reason She Decided to Make Her Daughter-in-Law Her Ally
Anriche slowly moved her steps forward.
In the distance, she could see a young boy lying face-down on the sofa.
‘Ugh, so cute!’
As Anriche stared at the child’s small, round black head, she grabbed her chest to stop herself from making a sound.
The boy’s eyes, fixed intently on the illustrations in the fairy tale book, were a clear violet color.
His plump, rosy cheeks bounced softly every time he turned a page.
‘I want to touch his hair! I want to stroke his cheeks too! Ah, even just once…!’
After internally fangirling to her heart’s content, Anriche suddenly snapped back to her senses.
N-no.
She couldn’t keep standing far away like this every day, admiring him from a distance before leaving!
“Ahem.”
After clearing her throat, she carefully opened her mouth.
“Um, Elliot?”
At once, the boy flinched in shock and hurriedly stood up.
Seeing how obviously wary he was of her, Anriche cried tears of blood inside.
‘No, seriously… just how horribly did she treat him for the kid to be this terrified?’
Still, she couldn’t live forever being hated by her own son, could she?
Steeling herself, Anriche forced the corners of her lips upward into a smile.
“Elliot, would you like to go for a walk with Mom?”
“M-Mother…”
The boy, Elliot, began trembling as he spoke.
His violet eyes quickly filled with moisture, overflowing with fear directed at her.
“Did… did I do something wrong?”
“Hm? No, why would you say that?”
“I-if I did something wrong, please tell me. I’ll fix everything.”
The child spoke while his shoulders shook violently.
Soon, tears began streaming down his chubby cheeks.
W-What did I even do?!
Startled, Anriche blankly stared at Elliot.
“So please don’t act so scary like this…”
Elliot’s face was truly filled with fear.
Hey, why are you crying?
Trying to comfort the crying child, Anriche hurriedly took a step forward.
“No, it’s not like that!”
“Waaah!”
But the moment Elliot saw her approaching, he burst into loud sobs.
What should she do now?
As Anriche frantically looked around,—
“What’s going on, Elliot?”
A man strode into the living room and gently picked Elliot up into his arms.
For a moment, Anriche forgot even her panic as she became mesmerized by the man’s beauty.
‘Waaah…’
Even though she had already met him once or twice before, she still couldn’t get used to how handsome he was.
He was a man who perfectly suited the cliché expression, “dazzlingly beautiful.”
Jet-black hair and eyes bluer than sapphires.
Smooth skin and a tall stature.
And even a strong, lean physique reminiscent of a wild beast…
So this was the kind of superior genetics one inherited from a statue-like father to create a child as adorable as Elliot.
That had been Anriche’s honest thought when she first met the man.
“Daddy!”
With his face covered in tears, Elliot tightly clung to his father’s neck.
‘Still, thank goodness at least his father is good at comforting him…’
With a sorrowful expression, Anriche watched Elliot bury his face in his father’s arms.
“Daddy… hic, Daddy…”
“Yes, it’s alright.”
The child’s gasping appearance looked pitiful.
As the man gently soothed Elliot, he slowly lifted his head and glared at Anriche.
His deep blue eyes were sharp like shattered pieces of glass.
“Did you tell him he was bothersome again?”
“Huh?”
What kind of nonsense was that?
Dumbfounded, Anriche’s eyes widened.
But the man continued speaking in an icy voice.
“No matter what, he’s still the child you gave birth to. Wouldn’t it hurt to show him at least a little love?”
No, I do want to love him!
Unable to argue back, Anriche could only bite down on her lip.
Holding Elliot protectively, the man coldly turned away from her and walked out.
As Anriche blankly watched his retreating figure, she grumbled internally.
‘Seriously, out of all the characters, why did I have to become the “evil mother-in-law”?!’
Now then, a question.
If one day, when you opened your eyes, you had possessed the body of the “evil mother-in-law” from the novel you read the day before—
And on top of that, both your husband and son already hated you…
In that situation, what would you do?
“Haaah…”
Anriche let out a long sigh and slumped into the vanity chair.
“No, if this was going to happen, they should’ve possessed me before the wedding at least!”
Unable to suppress her irritation, Anriche kicked her legs wildly.
She was already hated, so what exactly was she supposed to do now?!
Anriche von Valois.
She was the “evil mother-in-law” from the romance fantasy novel A Lily in Your Arms.
Born into the prestigious House of Sachsen, Marquis family, Anriche was the very definition of arrogance.
She was born into a noble family and had beautiful looks.
Which meant that she had lived her entire life believing herself to be the most noble being in the world.
Her sense of superiority toward others was so extreme that she barely even considered her servants human.
The only people she treated as equals were high-ranking nobles she deemed to be “on her level.”
And naturally, Anriche’s selfish behavior caused people to despise her.
One of those people was her husband and the father of the male lead, “Alexei von Valois.”
‘Even if they are commoners, is there really any reason to humiliate them so personally?’
‘And what’s wrong with that? They’re still just commoners and servants anyway.’
At the time, Anriche had asked that with genuine confusion on her face.
‘Does the Duke treat shoes, dresses, and hats as if they have dignity too?’
‘……’
The novel had described in detail just how shocked Alexei was after hearing that answer.
And yet, despite everything, Anriche wanted to bear Alexei’s child.
She was so obsessed with sleeping with him that one day, Alexei finally asked her why she wanted a child so badly…
‘Obviously, so I can be acknowledged as the mistress of House Valois.’
…That answer had been a masterpiece too.
And of course, there was no way Anriche would love the Elliot born from that desire.
She left her son entirely to the nanny while indulging only in luxury, ignoring even the management of the household.
One day, when her toddling young son waddled toward her looking for his mother, Anriche frowned and roughly shoved him away.
‘Why do you keep clinging to me? You’re so annoying!’
Hmm, now that she looked back on Original Anriche’s actions…
She could kind of understand why Elliot had practically gone into shock earlier.
Anriche nodded with a sigh.
Anyway, to summarize—
The grown-up Elliot would eventually become the male lead of A Lily in Your Arms.
And Anriche, now the mother-in-law, would treat the heroine, Liliana—who was described as a “lily”—as a thorn in her side and relentlessly torment her.
‘In the end, unable to endure her evil deeds any longer, the members of House Valois finally banished Anriche.’
But if mere exile were enough to break her spirit, Anriche wouldn’t have earned the title of “villainess.”
Even after that, she continued plotting one scheme after another and eventually drove Liliana to the brink of death.
As a result, Anriche was executed by her enraged family, while Elliot and Liliana confirmed their feelings for one another.
And then everyone lived happily ever after.
…That was the novel’s ending.
“Aaaagh! I don’t want to be exiled, and I definitely don’t want to die!”
Anriche screamed in despair.
To make matters worse, Elliot and Liliana had been her favorite couple in the novel!
Being cast out by her favorite couple as the ending? No way! Absolutely not!
As Anriche writhed around like a squid roasting over fire,—
‘…Wait.’
Suddenly, her violet eyes gleamed sharply.
Slowly sitting upright, Anriche sank deep into thought.
‘Then what about Liliana?’
Elliot was seven years old this year.
Which meant seven entire years’ worth of resentment had already piled up.
But Liliana was different.
‘Because I haven’t even seen a single strand of Liliana’s hair yet!’
According to the plot, Alexei and Elliot would naturally come to cherish and love Liliana.
So then, what if she made Liliana—who still had no reason to dislike her—become her ally first?
‘Father, dear… I don’t think Mother is actually such a bad person…’
What if Liliana said something like that with tearful eyes?
Then she would gain the strongest ally in the entire novel!
Joy spread across Anriche’s face.
‘Wow, this is totally killing two birds with one stone!’
She could gain favor with her favorite heroine and improve her relationship with her family!
Maybe I’m a genius!
Jumping to her feet, she first tidied her thick dark-brown hair that had fallen messily over her shoulders.
She took a hat and a light outer coat from the wardrobe and neatly tied the ribbon on the hat.
Finally, her violet eyes checked over her appearance with determination unlike ever before.
‘Liliana, your mother-in-law is coming to get you now!’
Anriche clenched her fist tightly.
Her violet eyes now glimmered with madness.
I’ll never bully you.
No, I’ll treat you better than anyone else!
So, you have to say as many good things about me as possible to my husband and son. Got it?
