I Don’t Want to be a Villainess

“Did you say you didn’t report to the Chairwoman? So you’re saying that for the past two days, she knows nothing about my antics?”

……Why?

Well, I mean, it’s nice for me that if you don’t report to the Chairwoman. I certainly don’t want to live as if I’m locked up in some prison and unable to do anything during my time in this body. That’s why I’ve been running away like this, wandering around.

But I didn’t go into it without preparation. After all, I thought I would have to confront the Chairwoman at least once.

I have no idea what character Yang Hye-in appeared as in the original work. She probably had no reason to appear unless it was in the Ye Sara route, so it wouldn’t be strange that she was someone I saw for the first time after coming here. Even if she appeared, it’s uncertain whether a CG existed for her or if her name was displayed properly.

“Why?”

When I asked again, Yang Hye-in, who had been momentarily frozen, finally looked at me.

“….”

But it still showed a look of uncertainty about how to respond.

“I…I just thought that I shouldn’t report.”

Her answer was, in many ways, quite surprising. The Yang Hye-in I had seen until now was a maid who hardly expressed emotion, the “cold and emotionless” type often found in subculture. If the Ye Sara route was about saving a lady trapped in a cage, this maid would have been the first wall to overcome.

Ah, right, of course, I had sensed at least that Yang Hye-in was worried about Ye Sara in her own way. Like when she looked at me with somewhat worried eyes whenever I said something foolish… And she even fed me in a caring manner after I first entered this body, as if she had done it many times before.

However, I had thought that her actions stemmed more from professional duty rather than personal feelings. After all, the contract probably stated that Ye Sara needed to maintain a minimum level of health.

“So, are you saying you didn’t report because you thought it would be ‘just’ unnecessary?”

When I asked, Yang Hye-in nodded.

There shouldn’t be a reason simply called ‘just.’ ‘Just’ is a term used when someone has done something and doesn’t quite know why, or doesn’t want to tell the other person the reason. If you dig deeper, there’s always a true reason hidden beneath the term ‘just.’

Of course, until the other party reveals that true reason, ‘just’ will remain simply ‘just.’ It sounds like an unreasonable excuse that anyone can see through, but it means there’s a reason they want to keep hidden, even if it’s awkward to make such excuses.

Asking more here would likely yield no answers.

What kind of person did Ye Sara evaluate Yang Hye-in as?

If my memory of Ye Sara had been streamed to me like a typical reincarnation trope, it would be much better than it is now. Forgetting her evaluations of those around her, it’s a significant problem that I have no idea what actions Yang Hye-in has taken toward Ye Sara over the past few years. Although this problem may not blow up right now, the cracks will only grow over time.

I am not Ye Sara, so I cannot display the same actions or mindsets she had until now. No matter how hard I try. Yang Hye-in won’t ask me why such changes occurred first, and I’m not close enough with Yoon Da-ho to exchange such inquiries either, and the kids I’m at least talking to at school have formed their relationships only after enrollment, so there’s no need for me to act separately.

The real problem lies with the Chairwoman.

The one presumed to have pushed Ye Sara into such a state.

For some reason that’s hard to pinpoint, this Chairwoman has been someone Ye Sara has seen since she was very young.

So, she is likely sensitive to Ye Sara’s changes. Given that she has managed her target so diligently, she will be even more so.

“But, my lady.”

As I was lost in thought, Yang Hye-in spoke up. Whether it was acting or not, a very faint worried expression appeared on her face.

“Even if I didn’t report, the Chairwoman has many ways to find out about what happened to you.”

“…That’s true.”

“And if she finds out about your behavior over the past few days, she will surely take action.”

“What…”

Before I could even ask what action, I quickly closed my mouth. This must be information Ye Sara should’ve known. It likely relates to why Ye Sara had to spend her middle school years in isolation.

To be honest, figuring it out wasn’t that difficult. The Chairwoman, who operates a company valued at an absurd 3,600 trillion won, after all. Moreover, considering she succeeded the position after Ye Sara’s father passed away, this means running such a large company within a family business without major issues.

Of course, the market cap reflects company assets, and the personal wealth of the Chairwoman is likely far less, but considering that Ye Sara possessed 5.7% of that market cap, it isn’t strange to think that the Chairwoman, Choi Na-kyung, has a comparable or even higher fortune.

……Hundreds of trillions of won is enough money to convince people to commit heinous acts.

……And it’s also more than enough to bury someone in society.

“I know.”

Having come this far in thought, I quietly replied.

“If the Chairwoman visits next, when will that be?”

At my question, Yang Hye-in blinked in surprise. It wasn’t a look you usually saw on her sharp features. Perhaps that also falls under facts that Ye Sara was supposed to know.

But as a professional maid, Yang Hye-in quickly wiped the expression away and respectfully bowed her head slightly before responding.

“The Chairwoman visits the mansion quarterly. The next visit will be on April 1st.”

*

Good.

While I can’t say it’s solid information, I gained a few more certainties.

First, the reason Ye Sara ended up so isolated appears to be Choi Na-kyung, the Chairwoman of the Eugene Group. Most likely, it relates to property. To somehow isolate Ye Sara, she probably did something awful to the people around her or coerced them, or possibly both.

So, it’s highly likely that this Choi Na-kyung is a complete lunatic. I mean, she’s gone through so much cost just to torment a single child. Since Ye Sara was very young.

Second, the Chairwoman visits this mansion once every quarter.

I’m not sure why. What does it mean to come here after breaking Ye Sara’s relationships?

……Perhaps she comes here deliberately to abuse Ye Sara. I came to this side of the world on the night of January 1st. If by chance she met the Chairwoman during the day, that would roughly explain the bruises on Ye Sara’s back. To break Ye Sara mentally, she seems to have cut her off from the world and regularly visits to inflict physical pain. Such recurring violence would engrave who’s above and who’s below.

That must be it.

When the police visited the hospital due to domestic violence, the reason they threatened the doctor and moved high-ranking officials so the police retreated also started to make sense. If the perpetrator is the Chairwoman of the Eugene Group, it becomes a weapon that can be wielded against competitors, rather than merely a scandal.

The company has a market cap of that magnitude. In fact, the other domestic companies are not even competitors. From the Chairwoman’s point of view, other factions fighting for management rights within the same group would be a more significant threat than Homyeong Group.

……Wait a minute.

But, then, was there any option of not going to the hospital?

If the Chairwoman abused Ye Sara so severely, and she wanted to hide that abuse, wouldn’t it have been much better to just lock her up in the mansion instead of going to the hospital? At that time, I really didn’t have any major issues beyond the bruises. Even if health issues did arise, wouldn’t it have been better to hire a doctor and pay them handsomely for home treatment?

…….

Well, I’ll have to put this on hold. I need to gather more information before I can judge.

Anyway, it’s certain that the Chairwoman’s next visit is on April 1st, so I can consider that a sort of deadline.

If the Chairwoman somehow picks up on my existence, that time might be advanced. And before that, I need to set up at least minimal defenses to prevent the Chairwoman from cutting off all my relationships and isolating me from the world again. This is the ‘certainty’ I gained based on the information I received from Yang Hye-in.

Then, what should I do now?

I have a few ideas in mind. However, they’re still a bit vague. I’ll think through them and refine them as I go along.

What I urgently need now is Ye Sara’s memories.

I could ask Yang Hye-in, but the more I ask, the more she’ll start to suspect me. Even if she doesn’t think the person inside me has changed, it’s entirely possible that she’d think I’m suffering from a mental illness or memory loss. If Yang Hye-in comes to that conclusion and decides to report to the Chairwoman, I might end up locked away before I have a chance to do anything.

So, I need to grasp everything I can, to the extent that I can know without asking anyone. At the very least, I need to ensure that those who knew me can see me as simply ‘Ye Sara with a changed personality.’

“…….”

Therefore, I retrieved two of Ye Sara’s most personal items, which I had hidden deep in the desk drawer.

One was Ye Sara’s delusional notebook, and the other was an unopened letter she had written to the Chairwoman.

After laying those two items on the bed, I hesitated for a while, then sighed deeply and decided to take the notebook first. I felt guilty about it. No one wants to show their whimsical childhood fantasies to anyone else.

But…… given the situation, it doesn’t seem like Ye Sara will be returning to this body anytime soon. Besides, I need to survive first, don’t I?

I steeled myself and opened Ye Sara’s delusional notebook.

*

…….

Then, I found myself slightly regretting reading that notebook.

No, it wasn’t because the content of her delusions hurt me. Rather, I felt a bit guilty for initially thinking of the notebook as nothing more than a scribbled piece of work from her teenage years.

Indeed, the first few pages were, in fact, just like that.

But Ye Sara didn’t leave those delusions as mere fantasies.

She wrote down sentences, scratched them out with a pen, and rewrote them. With every revision, she tailored the sentences so they wouldn’t sound awkward or too childish. She added descriptions of characters’ actions and appearances between dialogues. Those descriptions were also revised multiple times to enhance the overall quality.

What initially was just a few lines of dialogue turned into a scene on the next pages. And on the further pages, the scenes became a plot, which eventually led to an entire short story being constructed.

Every time I flipped through the thick notebook, I found new pages that rewrote the same content. Each time she created a new version, the once flimsy story became richer, and the character descriptions became clearer.

By the end of the notebook, a short story was completed.

So, this notebook isn’t just a delusional notebook. It contains all of Ye Sara’s efforts to craft a novel. She take this writing seriously.

A story about a princess trapped in a castle, who finds salvation from a vampire one day.

……Honestly, I’m not sure if it’s well-written. I liked stories well enough, but my experience isn’t high enough to evaluate someone else’s work. But it’s undoubtedly an interesting tale. Unlike the ridiculous synopsis, both the princess and the vampire had their own backstories and reasons for their actions.

Did Ye Sara write this just as a hobby? Did she pour herself into writing this story to spend time since there was nothing else to do?

I lifted my gaze to the bookcase sparsely filled with books. Most of the books are world literature anthologies from various publishers. They weren’t unified under a single publisher. Perhaps Ye Sara casually picked books that appealed to her when she had the chance.

Could those novels have influenced her writing?

Was the princess a character based on herself?

There wasn’t a single part in the notebook where Ye Sara personally expressed her thoughts. It only contained ideas necessary to complete her unnamed story.

But.

“I didn’t want to give up.”

The princess’s line, spoken to the vampire as she leaves the castle, made me feel like it was a phrase Ye Sara herself wanted to say.

“…….”

I closed the notebook. Then this time, I picked up the envelope labeled ‘To Mother.’

Once again, I hesitated for a moment, but ultimately sighed softly, and opened the envelope.

Then, I took out the letter inside and began to read its contents.

---