Chapter 3 – Not My Type

By the time she turned seventeen, Evelyn realized she had been reincarnated into a novel she had frequently read in her past life. At first, everything was chaotic, but to survive, she had no choice but to adapt to the original story. 

《 Bonds of Eternal Salvation 》 the novel she was reincarnated into, was a bleak and hopeless story with nothing but misery. The male leads weren’t just in love with the female lead, but they were dangerously obsessed with her, textbook examples of the obsession trope.

Axion, who was once a candidate for the main male lead, ended up on the ‘regret route’ and naturally slipped into the role of a secondary love interest. Even though he knew he’d never end up with the heroine, he still stayed by her side, quietly eliminating one rival after another. And to him, his own fiancée wasn’t an exception.

The reason was simple: she was an obstacle to the female lead’s future.

Under normal circumstances, Evelyn wouldn’t have cared at all about what choices they made. But this time, she couldn’t just watch it all unfold from a distance… because the fiancée who would die by Axion’s hand was none other than herself.

‘Honestly. Does this guy not have a shred of loyalty?’

Seriously, how could he just kill a fiancée he’s known for more than ten years, without so much as a second thought?

Of course, it wasn’t as if she couldn’t understand his actions, either.

In the original story, Evelyn had a somewhat sharp and slightly twisted personality. She didn’t torment the female lead out of jealousy, but it stemmed from a perverse desire to watch her fiancé in a difficult position. So, she looked for all kinds of ways to escape death. She tried, albeit belatedly, to act friendly and build a friendship, and even made a point to show up at the duke’s residence every day. But trying to fix a relationship that was already broken beyond repair was futile.

Looking back, it was almost funny, but her relationship with Axion was irredeemable.

In the end, she gave up on trying to get along with him and resolved to break off their engagement before coming of age. As long as they parted ways peacefully, she figured the families would keep up their alliance.

Her plan was to maintain the alliance between their families while keeping herself out of Axion’s sight so she could survive. 

After all, out of sight, out of mind.

She even enrolled in the academy, hoping it would serve as a good enough excuse. But for some reason, she still ended up spending three whole years at Roxen Academy together with her fiancé.

‘Isn’t it about time for this to end?’

She just wanted an amicable split to finally cut off this exhausting relationship, so how did it turn into a breaking news headline about their marriage?!

Evelyn wondered if she was trapped in a dream… or, more accurately, a nightmare.

In denial, she pinched her own cheek as hard as she could.

“Ouch—!”

“My Lady, what are you doing?!”

Damn it, this really wasn’t a dream. It was reality.

︵‿୨ ₊‧꒰ა ཐི༏ཋྀ ໒꒱ ˚₊ ୧‿︵

She was able to meet Axion again relatively quickly.

They met at the same café as yesterday, the same spot where they’d shared countless tea times together over the last ten years. The café was warm and inviting as usual, but today, a cold tension seemed to radiate from one particular table. Of course, Evelyn was pretty sure she was the only one who felt it.

“We heard the news! Congratulations on your marriage!”

“Thank you.”

Axion nodded smoothly when some passing nobles stopped to offer their congratulations.

‘What? Thank you?’

Evelyn couldn’t help but let out a dry, incredulous laugh at the absurdity of the situation. Perhaps sensing that something was off between the two, the nobles began whispering to each other in voices barely above a murmur.

“They must be having a lover’s quarrel, don’t you think?”

“Fufu, must be nice to be in that stage.”