STVC 01

Chapter 01

“…Why are you avoiding me?”

Sirius’s pink eyes shone faintly in the moonlight.

I was captivated by his gaze and couldn’t answer immediately.

“Is it because I’m cursed?”

His husky voice sounded painfully vulnerable. I should have told him it wasn’t that, but strangely, no words came out. I had avoided him, yes, but it was for his sake.

“Now you’re running away? I showed you what light is, and now you’re scared?”

His tone was polite, yet the intensity in his eyes resembled a predator sizing up its prey.

Instinctively, I knew this wasn’t his usual feigned act. He was sincere. His emotions, straight from his heart, were being honestly thrown at me.

“Please… please don’t back away anymore. I don’t know how much longer I can hold back.”

Ah. Where did it all go wrong?

I only wanted to stop the villain from falling into darkness… so why did the secondary male lead turn dark instead?

1. Childcare is Love

How many people remember the moment their life ended?

I thrashed in the darkness.

I couldn’t breathe. It hurt.

Struggling to survive, suddenly a blinding light appeared.

Amid the hazy vision, all I could see was pure white.

‘Am I alive?’

The surroundings were noisy, but I couldn’t make out any words.

I had nothing to say either.

Suddenly, a sharp pain in my hips made me open my mouth to breathe.

“Waa! Waa!”

By now, I was two years old.

Yes. I was two. A normal baby would eat, sleep, poop, and be completely carefree at this age.

Yet I lay in the crib, watching the babies with a troubled expression.

They slept peacefully like angels, looking exactly the same.

‘Maybe because they’re babies, they look like identical twins.’

I had been born into an ordinary family, graduated from a four-year university, and even lucked out with a job immediately—a completely normal life.

I had studied early childhood education and become a kindergarten teacher.

But who would have known this was the beginning of hell?

I liked children.

But variables like parents and unexpectedly clever kids made my life difficult.

The low salary didn’t help either. It was barely enough to live on.

Still, I never once thought about dying.

Every day was stressful and exhausting, but I endured, thinking it was the same for everyone.

As friends got busy with their own lives, I naturally spent more time alone, and my solace was novels.

Romance novels.

As a lifelong single, romance novels were both fantasy and a dream come true.

One day, for some reason, a romance fantasy novel showed up in my gift box. Honestly, I clicked it because the cover was pretty.

It was my first romance fantasy, so I thought I’d just peek at the free chapters. But before I knew it, I was buying the whole thing.

‘It was full of clichés, but the author’s skill made up for it. The immersion was incredible.’

The novel was titled “Cinderella Does Not Wear Glass Slippers.” Turns out, it was ranked #1 in romance fantasy.

No wonder it was so fun. The heroine was the daughter of a minor rural noble with the ability to see spirits. The story began when she entered an academy and got involved with various young men. I was enthralled by the magic and social hierarchy, looking up words I didn’t know.

‘The ranks were confusing.’

There were so many titles—viscount, count, marquis—that I didn’t know which was higher at first. Later, I just smiled like a mother reading about the heroine and male lead flirting.

Anyway, the story was about a lower-class heroine marrying the empire’s crown prince. As the title suggested, it was a refreshing story of a heroine taking control of her own fate!

‘She wasn’t dragged around by men, and the proposal scene where she confidently proposes was such a girl crush moment.’

It was truly entertaining.

I stayed up all night to finish the series and eagerly awaited the side story. When the notification came that it was posted, I got so excited that I banged my desk in the office—fortunately, it was lunchtime.

I had expected a sweet story about married life or children, but the side story was the villain’s past.

It seemed to show that no villain is without reason—the twins had to become villains.

I liked it, but the best comments were that it was sad, not the sweet side story I wanted. I agreed—the villain in the novel was already dead.

“Oh my, you’ve made it this far. Miss Cernia is walking on her own now.”

“Yes!”

Cernia Ardentain. A name both unfamiliar and familiar—this was my name in this life.

I smiled brightly at the maid holding me from behind.

“Shall we go eat?”

“Yes, meal time!”

At first, imitating a baby felt surreal, but since I often made sounds like “aba” and “kyaa” without teeth, I got used to it.

Eating the mashed food fed by the maid, I recalled the side story.

The Ardentain Duke family, with its radiant hair and vibrant green eyes, represented nobility at its peak—diamond spoons.

The eldest son, Ariel, and eldest daughter, Arielle, were fraternal twins.

Their names and appearances reminded one of The Little Mermaid, though the twins’ personalities were entirely different.

Ariel became a secondary male lead villain who even rebelled because of the heroine.

Arielle loved the male lead, the crown prince, and became a jealous antagonist to the heroine.

Reading the novel, I had cursed their behavior, but in the side story, it turned out their obsession and need for love stemmed from being abandoned by their parents and betrayed by the only cousin who cared for them.

‘And that cousin is me in this life!’

Their dark turn was entirely my fault.

I was originally the child of the previous Ardentain Duke, but after a carriage accident killed the duke and his wife, I became an orphan overnight.

The current duke, my younger sibling, inherited the title and took me in.

‘The duke and duchess’ relationship was notoriously bad in social circles.’

The duchess, already pregnant, went to the villa, claiming her health was poor after giving birth to the twins.

The duke provided everything but gave no affection. In total parental neglect, the cousin who raised the twins was both parent and friend.

‘But then I became jealous, accused the nanny, killed her, and committed suicide.’

The despair of losing the only person who loved you, coupled with my curse in death.

‘There’s no one left in this world to truly love you… that’s cruel.’

I moved my lips mechanically, lost in thought, when a voice interrupted.

“Finished eating? Shall we take a nap now?”

When did I finish?

I had been so engrossed in the story that I didn’t even notice whether the food went into my mouth or nose.

I nodded, smiling, and the maid laid me down in the bed.

The nanny hadn’t come yet. She had gone to the villa a few days ago but would return soon.

My goal: raise the twins with love so they wouldn’t turn dark!

Though I had been a kindergarten teacher in my previous life, I wasn’t confident. Teaching and childcare were on a different level.

But I had responsibility.

Even for my last moments…

‘Mom and Dad must have been very sad. I was supposed to meet friends this weekend, and it’s a shame I couldn’t see them one last time.’

I fulfilled my teacher’s duty to the very end.

On the way back from a school trip, the bus had an accident—maybe a brake issue—and went off the road into the mountains, rolling into a lake.

In the chaos, I used the emergency hammer to break the windows and send the children out. Releasing each child’s seatbelt took time.

After sending the last child out, I couldn’t escape and sank with the bus.

‘Ugh. Let’s stop thinking about the previous life!’

I shook my head. Thinking about my past life only left regrets.

Just when I thought I had died, I was reborn.

Amazingly.

I didn’t know how. I just opened my eyes—and I was a baby.

‘I can’t change the past! The only thing I can change is the future!’

Clenching my tiny fists, I vowed: no matter that this is inside a novel, I will survive!

“Big sister, let’s play with dolls today!”

“No! I’m playing war with you today.”

The twins, who once slept soundly in their cribs, were now five years old. Though they didn’t receive the love of the duke and duchess, they grew up with abundant love from me and the nanny.

“Shall we go for a picnic today? The weather’s nice.”

“You mean just the garden, right? We went last week.”

“If you don’t want to, you can stay. I’ll go with big sister alone.”

“What? Who said I don’t want to? I just want to go further.”

The little ones pressed their points while sticking close to me.

Though they looked identical, their hair and eye color differed subtly. Their bright green eyes sparkled as they asked me:

“What do you think, big sister?”

“What do you think, big sister?”

They spoke simultaneously, unplanned, and it made me laugh.

“I’m just happy being with Arielle and Ariel. Nothing else matters.”

“Really?”

“Really?”

“Yes. Really.”

The sofa shifted as both children climbed into my lap.

I naturally patted their heads and said:

“Or shall we read a book here today?”

“If you read it, big sister, I’d like that.”

“I want a hero story!”

“No. They always fight. I like love stories.”

The twins, identical in appearance but polar opposites in taste, suddenly ran out and brought back their own books.

Ariel held The Heroic Tales of Aslande, a fairy-tale-style story of the Aslande Empire’s first emperor.

Arielle held The Secret Knight and the Imprisoned Princess, a romance story.