“I’m adopting the boy,” declared Duke Erhart Schuetz, the Carnage Bringer of the Empire.

The teachers of the orphanage gasped. What the duke was saying could mean only one thing—that feverish boy who could barely breathe was the son of the late Duke Clyder.

There were two duchies in the empire: House Schuetz, the Rulers of the Battlefield, and House Clyder, the Great Merchants. Each house was mighty all on its own, and they were close friends at that. If they had merged into one, they might even have rivaled the royal family in power, but Duke Clyder and his wife had died a decade ago in an accident. Their carriage fell from the Cliff of Monsters, taking the duke, the duchess, and their infant son with it.

Duke Schuetz searched the North with everything he had, eventually finding the couple’s lifeless bodies and some clothes that presumably belonged to the baby. As the cliff was infested with monsters, there was no way the child could have survived. But even so, Duke Schuetz had been roaming the empire for more than ten years now, looking for his late friend’s son.

And that boy is the lost son! The teachers of the orphanage were in true despair. To make things worse, the child was suffering from a high fever, which looked extremely suspicious. If they’d known, they would’ve treated him well, but it was too late. While they kicked themselves in deep regret, a girl was quietly observing the chaos.

At last, they meet, she thought. Duke Schuetz had found Damian, just as he did in the original story. Now free from his long abuse, the hero was about to meet his new family. I’m glad the duke managed to find him.

It had been a close call. Damian had gotten on the director’s bad side and then come down with a fever that hadn’t been part of the original story. But now that he and the duke had met, she could escape her original fate of getting kicked out of the orphanage for bullying the protagonist. She’d gotten back at the bullies for him, and had even exposed the teachers’ wrongdoings. Most importantly… I kept my promise to help him meet his family. The girl’s lips curled up in a soft smile.

“And…” The duke pointed a finger at the girl sitting next to Damian. “That girl. I’m adopting her as well.”

At this, the knight who’d been guarding his back asked, “Will Your Grace be taking her in as a daughter?”

The duke’s red eyes gazed at her. “No. She’ll be my daughter-in-law.”

“Pardon?”

Everyone in the room dropped their jaws at this, including the girl herself. Daughter-in-law? Did he just say “daughter-in-law”? It wasn’t possible. According to the story, Damian’s wife would be appearing far off in the future. And Ellie, who was just an insignificant little bully, was most certainly not her.

She’d only wanted to change the future a little bit, just enough to let her not get kicked out on the streets. But now I’m going to be his daughter-in-law! The girl, Ellie, let out a silent scream of despair through her gaping mouth.

* * *

I was one of the kids at the Saint Orphanage, situated at the end of the empire. My mother had been the most infamous thief in the empire until she was caught and killed while trying to steal from a count. After her death, I was all alone until the orphanage director took me in. But I wasn’t particularly grateful for that, as she worked the kids under her care to the bone. Even the few teachers we had were her distant relatives, so you could imagine what a mess the place was.

“The children look well taken care of.”

“Our orphanage always puts the children first.”

So those words were pretty infuriating. The director didn’t even blink an eye as she lied to satisfy the nobility. After winning a series of wars, the empire now had many smaller nations under its rule, and gold was flowing through it like water. With more money than they knew how to spend, the nobles set their eyes on the war orphans. So the director picked only the better-looking orphans to bring to the orphanage, scrubbing them clean and feeding them just enough to keep them looking “appealing.”

“I want that one.”

All a noble had to do was choose a child that pleased them, and then the adopted child would enjoy a good life under their sponsorship. Supporting war orphans was the easiest way for aristocrats to demonstrate their wealth and generosity. Or so they say. I didn’t buy it, knowing how terribly the orphanage was being managed and what the director had said when she found me.

“Oh, pretty girl, what are you doing crying here? Where’s your mommy?

Back then, I hadn’t said anything in reply, since I didn’t have a mother anymore. The director brought me to her orphanage because she liked my appearance, but there was something she’d failed to consider: My mother had been an infamous thief known throughout the empire. She was caught stealing from a distinguished county, and then she was hanged. Who would want to adopt a thief’s daughter?

“Huh? What... What’s wrong with this?”

It was on the day I was returning to the orphanage after my third rejected adoption. Suddenly one of the wheels snapped, and I hit my head against the wall of the carriage. And in that moment, I realized that I was in the world of a novel.

I used to live in a different world—a world where you could have things made and people called for you with just a touch of the hand. In my previous life, I took business ideas and made them actually happen. Even though most of my memories were hazy, I could recall moments of my work quite clearly, so I must have loved what I did.

Should I call that incident a happy accident, since it helped me remember my past life? Who knows. But there’s still something I don’t understand. Though I’d read a ton of books in my former life, the one I was in was the only one whose contents I could recall with clarity, and yet I couldn’t even remember its title.

Anyway, learning what would happen in the future was a win for me.

“Come and say hello to your new friend. He’ll be staying with us from now on.” The director had brought yet another kid, but her face was twisted in a frown. Must have lost another game. The director was a gambler, but judging from her constantly sour face, she probably wasn’t a very good one.

It would be better for her not to play games she can’t win, I thought as I looked down at the new kid. The boy’s clothes were worn rags, and he was so skinny that you could count each bone. His shoulder-length hair was dirty and matted, showing how little he’d been cared for. Most kids in his position tended to be scared stiff, but the boy in front of me looked oddly calm. I was looking at him in faint interest when it happened.

“His name is... Damian. Yes, Damian.” The moment the director said his name, I felt my heart sink. “He’s a delicate child, so don’t bully him, and be sure to get along. Fighting is not allowed.” The director added a few warnings, but it only sounded like a distant echo to me.

Damian. I knew that name. At last. I swallowed hard. Ever since I realized I was in a novel, this boy had never left my thoughts.

Damian was the hero of the story who would one day defeat the emperor, and I was just one of the small-fry villains who’d get kicked out of the orphanage for bullying him.