TPHT 04

Chapter 04

Third grade of elementary school.

The moment I heard those words, my mind went completely blank, like a sheet of white paper.

“Hngh, huuuuhng… huuuuhng…”

Melissa, the young lady—no, the third-grader—burst into tears again, which was absolutely no help.

But this is normal.

Third grade of elementary school means ten years old in Korean age, nine in this world’s age.

It’s an age where you get nervous in front of others, make mistakes, get scared, and cry and run away.

Finally pulling myself together, I started to soothe Melissa.

“Oh dear, you’re ten? There, there, it must have been so hard for you… How did you end up possessing this body?”

“Hngh, huuuhng, uuuhng, I just… before I went to sleep… I was reading a webtoon with the Grand Duke oppa in it… huuuaaang.”

“I see, so it was a webtoon… Do you remember what the title was?”

Outwardly I pretended to be calm, but inside I was in turmoil.

Unlike novels, which explain even the smallest details, webtoons often condense explanations and show things through images.

That means even if Melissa remembered everything, there would be limits to how we could respond.

Assuming this little ten-year-old even remembers everything in the first place.

“Hngh, Save the villain oppa….”

At that moment.

My head suddenly spun.

‘…What?’

I couldn’t keep my balance and slumped to the floor.

As if electricity had crackled back on in a blacked-out room, a vivid image flashed into my mind.

It was me, reading the novel Melissa had just mentioned.

‘A novel I’d only read once, one that hadn’t left much of an impression…’

Maybe it was natural to forget it.

But with that single phrase from Melissa, the memory came back intact.

As if… Melissa’s words were a trigger.

[image1]

Shortened title: Save the Villain Oppa.

It was so popular that a webtoon adaptation came out almost immediately. Melissa must have seen that webtoon.

‘So I was an extra in a childcare story.’

A bureaucrat in some remote department—the kind of person who wouldn’t even get named once in any normal novel.

But I didn’t have time to be shocked.

“I-I, I wanna go home. I miss my mom and dad. I wanna play with Choco…”

“Who’s Choco?”

“Ou-our poodle.”

Melissa pouted her lips, her chin trembling as if she might burst into tears at any moment.

‘Oh dear.’

She seemed to be trying hard to hold back her tears, but there was no way that would work.

I took the sobbing child into my arms and comforted her, swallowing a sigh.

‘Oh my goodness…’

My head throbbed.

Not because of the guilt of having to tell a ten-year-old child that she can never go back.

She would find out sooner or later anyway.

Because among the thousands upon thousands of romance fantasy novels, the number of cases where someone returns to their original body can be counted on one hand.

What really made my head ache was the content of Save the Villain Oppa.

As the title suggests, the villain oppa—that is, Melissa’s older brother, Grand Duke Achilles—is the villain.

What does that mean?

It means that even though outwardly he seems to obey the Imperial Family, in reality he is plotting treason.

Yes.

The Grand Duke of Karditsa is preparing to rebel right now.

Dreaming the delusional dream that the Northern Autonomous Region will break away from being a mere autonomous region and come to rule the entire empire.

For your information, in the original novel Save the Villain Oppa, the Grand Duke of Karditsa briefly seizes the imperial throne, but in the end he is defeated.

And naturally, that end is decapitation by beheading.

Melissa gets beheaded along with him.

“Uh, unnie….”

The little girl trembling in my arms—she is going to die.

To be honest, I don’t care whether the Grand Duke of Karditsa lives or dies.

Considering the outrageous things he did in the so-called “original novel,” I’d rather assassinate him myself.

If I did that, Melissa would live, and the empire would be at peace.

Wouldn’t that be killing two birds with one stone?

But I don’t have that kind of ability, and if I leave them like this…

‘Then I’m just screwed.’

If war breaks out, the Child Protection Agency, which normally just idly looks after children, will simply cease to exist.

My hard-built workplace, my career—all gone.

Of course, I can’t rule out the possibility that I’ll just become a handful of blood mixed into a sea of blood.

Hahaha, my life…!

I let out a hollow laugh inside, then quickly came to my senses.

‘There’s no time.’

There are more than one or two people looking for Melissa right now.

Naturally, one of them will think of the balcony.

Once Melissa returns to the Grand Ducal residence, it will be extremely difficult for a commoner like me to have any connection with the Grand Duke’s younger sister again.

If Melissa herself sought me out, it wouldn’t be a problem, but expecting that kind of resourcefulness from a child in her current state was foolish.

‘As it is, she must be in a state of confusion…’

Melissa was none other than the protagonist of Save the Villain Oppa.

For the record, she’s not an illegitimate child. She’s just a very late baby, a whole seventeen years younger than her brother.

The Grand Duke and Duchess doted on their late-born daughter, but unfortunately, on her fifth birthday, Melissa fell into a lake and fell into a coma for four years.

The Grand Duke and Duchess called in all the famous doctors from around the world, but there was no improvement.

Despairing over their daughter who did not wake up for years, the Duchess fell ill and died, and the Grand Duke soon followed her.

And what did Grand Duke Achilles, who hurried back to the castle upon hearing the news of his parents’ death, find…?

His sister, wide awake and perfectly fine.

Remembering nothing.

By now, everyone can probably guess.

Melissa woke up because someone else’s soul had entered her body.

‘But I’m sure there was no mention in Save the Villain Oppa of a ten-year-old possessing her!’

I don’t think her age was mentioned at all.

But it was clear that it was an adult, not a ten-year-old, who had possessed her.

Because she used knowledge that only adults would have, saved the Grand Duke of Karditsa, and skillfully invested in business and real estate.

Looking at the ‘Melissa’ in front of me now, that was unimaginable.

I took a deep breath.

Whatever the case, I had to accept the reality before me.

And I had to act in a way that might help Melissa.

But before I could come up with any reasonable plan.

The door burst open and a man rushed in.

The very person I wanted to avoid more than anyone else: Achilles Karditsa, the Grand Duke.

The Grand Duke looked much more exhausted than when I’d seen him at the ballroom a few hours ago.

His disheveled silver hair and bloodshot purple eyes clearly showed the traces of his frantic search for his sister.

But a handsome man is handsome at any time.

Unlike at the ballroom, where he had seemed imposing and cold, he now gave off a dangerous and decadent aura, making him even more attractive.

…Meaning, unnecessarily sensual.

“Melissa.”

The Grand Duke spoke in a half-hoarse voice.

“So you were here.”

I had no desire to catch the eye of the villainous Grand Duke, so I tried to quickly slip away.

I failed, because of Melissa.

“O-oppa….”

No, Melissa! If you’re going to call for your brother, you should go to your brother. Not to me!

But Melissa, seemingly completely unaware of my silent screaming, slowly hid behind my back and peeked out only her face.

“Oppa, I’m sorry….”

The Grand Duke’s eyes narrowed.

He took a step toward me and slowly opened his mouth.

A voice mixed with clear hostility and wariness flowed from his lips.

“And who might you be?”

I sighed.

This is why I hate older brothers in romance fantasy. Treating someone who looked after your little sister with good intentions as “that person.”

“I am Tessa Harrington, Deputy Director of the Child Protection Agency, Your Highness the Grand Duke.”

Still, I greeted him as politely as I could, observing proper etiquette.

Because I didn’t want to give him any excuse to take issue with me.

I, too, value my life.

“Child… Protection Agency, you say.”

The Grand Duke’s expression grew subtle. Fortunately, his face was no longer as hostile as before, but I couldn’t let my guard down.

Melissa, trembling and gripping my hand tightly, was no help at all.

The Grand Duke stared at us intently, and finally, what came out of his mouth…

“Do you… also think that I abuse Melissa?”

…What?

The Grand Duke, who casually uttered the word “abuse,” looked deeply self-deprecating.

“Your Highness, I have never once thought that…”

Above all, my encounter with Melissa was pure coincidence, not part of my duties as Deputy Director of the Child Protection Agency.

But before I could say that, Melissa interrupted loudly.

“No!”

Melissa looked desperate.

“Oppa is… Oppa is…”

The child’s voice began to mix with sobs again.

Gripping my hand tightly, Melissa looked up at me and mumbled.

“He really cares about me, huuuuaaang….”

If only the Grand Duke could hear Melissa’s words.

Very unfortunately, Melissa was mumbling so quietly that only I, standing right next to her, could hear