TPOVF 02

Chapter 02

Defying the seasons, the heat of summer blazed in hot June.

Yurenia stood before the main gate of the grand mansion, carrying a large leather bag.

Two lions facing each other, their front paws raised as if growling.

The emblem of the Valerio Duchy.

Her cherry-blossom-colored eyes sparkled at the massive, ornate gate decoration that boasted the majesty of the empire’s foremost ducal family.

‘This is the place.’

Where the story begins.

No, to be precise, it’s where the tragedy begins.

Because this was the main setting of 『Obsessive Bondage』, the novel Yurenia had been reincarnated into.

‘Oh, is that?’

Through the iron bars of the main gate, Yurenia’s eyes widened at the sight of the greenhouse.

I know that greenhouse.

That’s where the male lead, Kailus Valerio, did XX to the heroine, Emilia’s XXX…

“Miss Doviné?”

“Yes?”

Startled by the composed voice, Yurenia swallowed hard and tore her gaze away from the greenhouse.

The butler was standing behind her, hands clasped behind his back, as if he had appeared out of nowhere.

“Are you Miss Doviné, the new tutor?”

“Oh, yes! That’s me.”

Yurenia quickly came to her senses and answered. Then she gave a bow more precise and elegant than any textbook on etiquette.

“Pleased to meet you. I am Yurenia Doviné.”

“I am Butler Branson. What were you looking at so intently? Is there something wrong with the greenhouse?”

“Oh no! I was just admiring it because it’s so beautiful.”

Yurenia gave an awkward smile at Branson’s sharp question.

‘Why did I have to recall that particular scene of all things?’

The scene where the male lead Kailus’s karma was accumulated, which had drawn the most comments in the original work.

It was such an unforgettable passage that the moment she saw the greenhouse, she automatically remembered it.

It was definitely not because that scene was the hottest.

Probably.

“I see. I’ll give you a separate tour later. First, let’s go pay your respects to the Duke. This way.”

“Yes!”

Yurenia followed Branson into the mansion.

The central entrance, lined with topiary trees, was as beautiful as a landscape painting from medieval Europe. Yurenia placed one hand quietly over her heart as she walked.

‘Let’s do this, Yurenia.’

Thump. Thump.

Her heart raced violently as she stepped fully into the world of the original story.

It was five years ago that Yurenia realized she had been reincarnated.

One morning, while washing her face, she suddenly regained memories of her past life.

In her previous life, she had been a university student in modern Korea. A working student who earned tuition and living expenses through tutoring and all sorts of part-time jobs.

Since her family wasn’t well-off, she had to spend all her time outside of school earning money.

She didn’t complain.

Because thanks to that, she was able to leave home and attend a university in Seoul.

But life was inevitably hard and grueling. No matter how much she worked, money slipped through her fingers.

Tuition, rent for her studio apartment…

[Daughter, are you doing well?]

And supporting her family.

[Please send 1.5 million won to my account by Friday. It’s for your brother. His academy tuition.]

On her way home after carrying heavy beer mugs all night at a pub.

While looking at photos of restaurants her friends had posted on SNS on the late-night bus, a message from her mother appeared on the screen.

[Send more if you can.]

[I just sent you living expenses yesterday. And since when does academy tuition cost 1.5 million?]

She felt suffocated.

Her parents felt more sorry for her brother, who had been preparing for the civil service exam for five years, than for their daughter living alone in a foreign city.

[He needs to take a package special lecture. And why do you talk like that? Can’t you do this much for your family?]

Here we go again.

She was sick of it.

Whenever her parents tried to squeeze money out of her, they used the same old routine.

If she said she couldn’t send money, they would unleash all sorts of criticism.

Selfish daughter.

Ungrateful child who only thinks of herself.

According to her parents, she was a delinquent child who had run away from home, ignoring her family’s opinions.

At first, out of guilt, she gave them every penny she earned. But gradually, she began to realize something was wrong.

Her parents only pressured her. They never truly worried about her.

If they had truly cared.

On the day she shivered in her rooftop room with a broken boiler in the middle of winter, when she told them she had the flu and couldn’t go to work.

They wouldn’t have started with, “What are we supposed to do if you can’t earn money?”

Even if it was just empty words, they would have asked if their daughter was very sick, told her to go to the hospital first.

To her family, she was nothing more than a wallet that produced money. Guilt was their tool for squeezing money out of their daughter’s bank account.

‘I’m so tired of this.’

With an annoyed feeling, she ignored the message notification and opened a web novel app.

Reading web novels in brief moments on the late-night bus ride home was her only pleasure. While reading, she could forget her troublesome reality.

At the time, she was deeply into 『Obsessive Bondage』, famous for being a dark, angsty story.

The male lead, Kailus, committed novel acts of trashy behavior in every chapter before getting thoroughly wrecked in the latter half.

How pitiful Kailus was.

At first, she thought, ‘Please, just let the male lead get wrecked already,’ but as she kept reading, she found herself thinking, ‘Please, stop wrecking the male lead.’

Did he really have to be ruined this much?

Even though the male lead, Kailus, had a rag stuffed in his mouth.

Being handsome is innocent, right?

Looking at the cover illustration, Kailus was completely innocent.

Well, come to think of it, the heroine Emilia wasn’t any less innocent either.

‘If someone had just taken a little care of Kail when he was young, they wouldn’t have ended up like this.’

She was thinking this as she got off the bus at her stop.

[I’m so upset because of you. Why are you so mean?]

Another message came, breaking her immersion in the novel.

[Mom, please stop. I’ve done more than enough. Even if you give money to my brother, he won’t use it for tuition. I’ve told you so many times it’s like pouring water into a bottomless pit. I’m struggling too|]

She wrote the message in a rush of frustration, then deleted it all.

There was no point in arguing.

It would just end the same way.

She opened her banking app and transferred this month’s tutoring fee to her mother.

‘I guess it’s the same for the characters in the novel and for me—neither of us had good adults around us.’

Adults are always the problem, no matter where you go.

She thought bitterly as she crossed the street.

At that moment.

Screeeeech!

With that sound, the headlights of a car engulfed her.

‘So I got a reincarnation truck too? No, I guess I got a reincarnation car?’

Upon regaining her memories of her past life, Yurenia looked in the mirror, dazed.

Very light beige hair, and pink eyes.

A completely different appearance from her previous life. But this life wasn’t much different from the last.

She was born into a baronial family—nobility, technically—but she was far removed from the glamorous social circle.

The Doviné Barony was lower nobility. So their standard of living was similar to commoners.

Instead of making her social debut, Yurenia entered the Royal Academy. Her parents had died in a carriage accident around the time she enrolled.

Because of that, the barony passed to a relative she had never even seen before.

Due to imperial law stating that when a noble without a son dies, the title must be transferred to a ‘male’ heir, whether direct or collateral line.

It was unfair, but what could she do?

That was the law of this world.

At least she was fortunate to have entered the Academy on a full scholarship. At least she didn’t have to worry about tuition.

In the empire, unmarried women who lost their parents young usually either sought refuge with relatives or struck out on their own.

Yurenia chose to become a tutor right after graduation.

‘Wait a minute. But did I simply reincarnate? Or did I possess the novel I was reading?’

In none of the novels she had read so far did a tutor appear.

Then she probably wasn’t the protagonist or the villainess.

That would make her an extra.

‘So what if I’m an extra?’

Yurenia had no connection to dazzling balls or high society. Although she was of noble birth, she was now a tutor.

‘Whether I was reincarnated as another person or possessed the novel I was reading, it doesn’t matter. Let’s live quietly, existing without being noticed.’

Having died after scraping by in her previous life, she decided to work hard and fast in this one.

Earn and save as much as she could while young, and spend her old age in comfort.

Becoming a wealthy grandmother was Yurenia’s life goal.

But then.

<Urgent> Valerio Duchy <Seeking>

Tutor needed to educate a 7-year-old boy. Room and board provided, 400 gold per month (negotiable)

As her contract ended and she was looking for a new job, Yurenia fatefully came across a single notice.

The Valerio Duchy—the setting of 『Obsessive Bondage』, the high-steam dark romance novel she had read in her previous life.

A notice that they were seeking a tutor there.