The Tyrant Oppa Is a Bonus, Episode 2

Chapter 2

“Ah, no!”

What?! I sprang up from my seat.

‘No, my coins! I must go back!’

The Duke appeared slightly startled, but soon his face turned cold, as if dismissing the matter.

“Hmph. I told you time and again to conduct yourself properly.”

“Ah, no, Grandfather. Absolutely not!”

A refined savagery flickered across the Duke’s expression.

‘How dare you speak so insolently when you possess nothing…’ His voice rang out clearly in my mind.

“I have no intention of permitting this broken engagement. Do not utter foolish words, and keep a tight rein on your fiancé.”

“Yes, yes!”

The Duke said this to me, then turned his head and addressed the person beside him—the one who had been eyeing me with concealed displeasure.

“No doubt the Duke of Remut has some backing to demand the engagement’s dissolution with such confidence. Find out at once.”

“Yes, Your Grace.”

Regardless of all that, only one fact lingered in my mind.

Exactly one year. I only needed to maintain the engagement with that man for one year…!

But the other party was vehemently pushing for a broken engagement.

‘First, I must meet that man without fail.’

As I resolved thus, the Duke’s gaze fell upon me. It was a look brimming with disapproval.

“You may do as you please, as you always have, but do not even entertain the thought of being swayed by that fellow’s handsome face and accepting the broken engagement. Not that you have the means to repay him, of course.”

I could feel his unwavering resolve: under no circumstances would he tolerate a broken engagement.

Resolve, you say? What a godsend this was.

To my eyes, he looked like an angel with wings.

Good heavens, he appeared as an angel who would restore my coins.

I nodded resolutely.

“Yes, Grandfather!”

At that, the Duke faltered for a brief moment and looked at me with a bewildered expression.

* * *

Life as a villainess was quite comfortable.

Naturally.

Charlize was, at her core, the heiress of the greatest conglomerate in this world, a cherished and beloved princess of a noble house.

Moreover, as far as I knew, her relationship with the male lead, the tyrant, was also amicable.

Thus, she had become a selfish, extravagant, and unruly villainess—one who could not rest until she had done everything she desired, and who could not sleep soundly unless she obtained whatever she coveted.

‘Having died without spending billions, I’ve awakened with a diamond spoon in my mouth.’

A truly fine proposition… if only this villainess were not a terminal case with little time left.

Once the female lead appears, this villainess is doomed to die by the karma she has accumulated!

In simpler terms, she had already incurred far too much enmity.

Moreover, the point at which I had awakened was not long before the female lead’s arrival.

‘With just one year… I must strive to avoid the karma this body has built up while also working hard to maintain the engagement with that man.’

Yet the man who was my fiancé had not shown so much as a hint of his face, only demanding a broken engagement.

And the karma this villainess had amassed could manifest before me at any moment.

This was why I could not fully enjoy the few days of waking up with such a splendid diamond spoon.

Fortunately, as the days passed, Charlize’s memories surfaced bit by bit, and by now, enough had come back that living as Charlize posed no great difficulty.

Though I was astonished at how she had managed to accumulate so much karma.

I toyed with the necklace in my hand.

“My daughter, my son. Siblings must get along well, yes? Otherwise, Mother will be angry.”

This was the necklace that Charlize’s mother—the late Empress Dowager—had left for her.

For some reason, she had earnestly urged Charlize to wear it at all times, and Charlize had heeded that advice, wearing it even on the day I awakened.

‘But then…’

I turned my head.

“….”

The moment my gaze landed, the maid who had been standing there hiccuped and coughed.

“I-I beg your pardon, Your Highness!”

The maid sister dropped to her knees with a thud.

In my hand was the envelope and letter she had handed me.

“P-please spare me, Your Highness!”

I turned the letter over in my hands.

This letter was an invitation I had sent to my fiancé—whom I had yet to see even once—asking him to meet me just once, though he demanded a broken engagement that I could never allow.

It had been returned.

Unopened, no less.

‘Well, that’s a refreshing refusal.’

And the maid sister who had brought this letter was trembling as she knelt.

It was not her fault, and I had no intention of scolding her, but I kept my expression blank.

“…Was there no other reply?”

“I-I was turned away at the door…”

Goodness. So I was even denied at the doorstep?

At the realization that my fiancé despised me more seriously than I had thought, I let out a sigh.

As a reader of this book, I understood perfectly well why the fiancé, Askin Remut, hated ‘Charlize.’

Charlize had an ardent love for beautiful things, and in her eyes, the most handsome man—alongside her own older brother—was this very Askin.

Thus, she had exploited Askin’s circumstances: when he was in dire need of a large sum of money, she had pestered her maternal grandfather to use the family’s influence to lend him a massive amount and demanded an engagement in return.

What was more, Duke Altzbeit had gone a step further and imposed exorbitant interest.

It was a slave contract: either repay the interest for life, or offer up his martial prowess in lieu of the interest.

Askin accepted the engagement and signed the debt contract at the same time. This was possible for the following reasons:

First, this man was the strongest swordsman in the empire, but his family was on the verge of ruin!

Thus, to salvage his family’s crisis, he had no choice but to accept Altzbeit’s proposal.

Despite the poor salary, he had taken on a massive debt, pledging as collateral both his excellent subordinates—who had remained by his side—and his own abilities, which were hailed as the empire’s finest.

The reason his family had been driven to the brink of bankruptcy and needed such a large sum was because of his only sister.

‘Because his only sister had an incurable disease.’

Moreover, with no proper treatment available, maintaining her life required a constant, enormous sum for medical expenses.

The money received through the engagement with the Altzbeit family had also been used for treatment when his sister’s health had sharply deteriorated, helping her overcome a critical crisis.

“Should I go see him myself…?”

“S-shall I make preparations?”

The maid sister, who lifted her head with a start, looked a bit pitiful.

Well, strike while the iron is hot—I should at least see his face once.

Just as I was about to rise from my seat, there came a knock, and the door opened to reveal another maid sister, her face pale as death.

“Y-Your Highness! His Majesty the Emperor has come to see you!”

I paused mid-motion.

Huh? The Emperor? So, the tyrant?

The Emperor. The male lead of this book, and Charlize’s older brother.

Strangely, many of Charlize’s memories had surfaced, but unfortunately, those concerning her tyrant brother or her fiancé were still hazy.

‘What do I do now…’

I rested my chin in my hand, pondered, then turned my head.

“Tell him I won’t see him right now.”

“…Pardon?”

“Where is Grandfather?”

“His Grace the Duke is away on important business today.”

Oh dear. So I couldn’t use Grandfather as an excuse?

“Then just say I won’t see him.”

I still couldn’t clearly recall how Charlize had treated that tyrant brother of hers.

I didn’t want to act awkwardly and arouse suspicion.

I absolutely had to get my coins back.

“B-but, Your Highness, that is…!”

“There is no need for that.”

At that moment, a low voice rang out.

Startled, I turned my head.

“Since I came in person.”

I saw a figure standing askew by the door.

Jet-black hair and deep red eyes, the same shade as Charlize’s.

The Emperor, my older brother.

And the male lead, Roxydian.

‘Why does he look so menacing?’

Charlize was such a beauty, and since he was the male lead, he was naturally an incredible handsome man, but he felt more like a wild beast than a human.

When he saw me, he grinned, baring his teeth.

“Hello, little sister?”

Those eyes—they weren’t smiling at all, were they?

At that moment, memories surged into my mind.

They were so vivid that it was strange they hadn’t surfaced before—Charlize’s memories.

“Princess?”

“Don’t call me that!”

Oh, now that I recalled, it seemed Charlize did not particularly like being called a princess.

Strictly speaking, she was a princess, but she apparently disliked not living in the imperial palace.

“Don’t call me that.”

No sooner had I spoken than Roxydian strode in.

Still grinning, he pointed his sword at me.

…A sword? Are you mad!

“Haha, how dare you defy your elder brother, who is like the sky itself? Shall I correct your manners again today?”

And then it all came flooding back.

For some reason, unlike what I had read in the book… this man was not showing any sign of being a doting, sister-obsessed brother. Why?

Fortunately, he pressed the sword—still sheathed—against my neck, but who would feel at ease with such behavior from a tyrant in a book?

‘…Well, he was a lunatic in the book too, but this is truly insane.’

In the book, he was a character who acted more villainous than most villains and committed such mad antics that one had to wonder why on earth he was the male lead.

I never imagined he would act so outrageously even toward his own sister.

And judging from the memories just surfacing, Charlize’s personality was not one to back down from this either.

Roxydian let out a snicker and withdrew his sword.

Then he casually plopped down onto the sofa, as if it were his own home, even stretching his legs out and resting them on the table.

“Ah, I’m stiff. So stiff.”

Seeing his languid posture, I felt not admiration for his height or face, but an involuntary exasperation.

‘…What is this? This sense of déjà vu.’

Something in my chest—no, in my mind—seemed on the verge of surfacing, yet not quite.