Chapter 1

I was an ordinary South Korean college student who absolutely loved fantasy novels. However, having read so many, I eventually hit a bit of a slump after realizing I could predict exactly how a story would unfold just by looking at the initial developments.

Today, as always, I was reading a fantasy novel I’d rented from a bookstore on my way home after class. I read the opening, sighed, and closed the book.

“Wow, I can’t do it. I just can’t read this.”

The book itself was fun. The immersion was good, the developments were interesting, and the writing style wasn’t bad, either. But perhaps because I’d read way too many fantasy novels by now, I could see where it was heading all on my own.

“Here comes the protagonist’s awakening.”

Inevitably, danger approached the protagonist, and at that very moment, they awakened—just like the book’s title—a special ability. It wasn’t a bad development, but it was just so formulaic.

“Ugh! Arghhh!”

I had never dated a girl before, nor did I have any particularly close friends or anyone to grab a drink with. My life had no other hobbies or joys, so once the fun of my only pastime—fantasy novels—disappeared, my life suddenly started to feel empty.

“Sigh, what do I do now?”

As I closed the book and aimlessly fiddled with my smartphone, I noticed a site called ‘Raajo.’¹ I was already familiar with a lot of these novel sites, so I checked the popularity rankings first. I let out a sigh when I saw that the top spots were mostly occupied by romance fantasy or BL (Boys’ Love) stories, which were popular among women.

“Sigh.”

Even so, I had absolutely no desire to go back to the fantasy novels I had put aside. After going through the motions of paying, I opened up a highly-ranked romance fantasy novel.

I didn’t have any high expectations. I had liked fantasy novels in the first place because I enjoyed hot-blooded action and fresh storylines. But, to my surprise, this was different.

Romance fantasy was similar to fantasy, but it contained sweet love stories within it. Furthermore, seeing tired, overused tropes like regression appearing in a romance fantasy was incredibly intriguing. The ‘became a villainess’ genre was also insanely fun.

Just moments ago, I’d been devoid of any motivation to live, but I quickly fell into this new kind of fun. I completely forgot about sleeping or going to school, and for nearly 30 hours straight, I read novels on my phone while it was plugged into the charger, blasting through almost every one of the most popular romance fantasy titles.

Grrr-rumble.

“Ugh, I’m getting sleepy too.”

It wasn’t that I hadn’t noticed the time passing. I had simply been suppressing the urge because my desire to read was stronger than my need to eat or sleep. But feeling like I had pushed myself past my limit, I quickly boiled some ramen, ate it, and threw my body onto my bed like a corpse.

The sweet lines from the romance fantasy novels floated through my head effortlessly.

Just thinking about it gave me goosebumps and made me cringe, but I realized this must be the charm of romance fantasy.

One girl and three men as a baseline, huh?

Isn’t that insane?

Heh-heh.

That was how I drifted off to sleep, and when I opened my eyes, I couldn’t help but be shocked.

“Oh my, are you awake? Lady Armienne.”

“……”

Oh, this is insane.

I suspected it might happen, but I had actually ended up inside the world of one of the romance fantasy novels I’d read. And not just anyone—I was Lady Armienne, the quintessential villainess among villainesses, whose path was littered with dozens of easy death routes.

I’d seen plenty of romance fantasy where one reincarnated as a villainess, but those were always women inhabiting a woman’s body. I’m a man.

I had no intention of bothering the protagonist in the first place, and as a true ‘man’ who has no interest in other men, I was actually closer to being interested in the protagonist’s side.

“Is something the matter, my lady?”

Hearing the word ‘my lady’ ringing sweetly in my ears once more, I couldn’t help but clutch my head.

“Fuck.”