How to Tame That Gentle Male Lead - Chapter 1.3
“When I get out of here, I’ll exchange a silver ring for silver coins and eat first. Hehehe!”
But as soon as she stepped outside the building, she froze.
Her humming stopped. The scene that met her eyes was not a street, but almost a half-destroyed ruin.
A chilly wind brushed her nape.
Collapsed buildings everywhere, street trees bent in half. Messy footprints left by people fleeing in droves, and shattered glass shards reflecting sharp light in the sunlight.
“Oh my… What on earth happened here?”
No matter where she looked, only the landscape of a destroyed city greeted her. There was no sign of people, not even an ant, anywhere.
“Don’t tell me…”
…Eldis looked down at the destroyed city with cold eyes. Only a ruthless fire burned in his icy sea-colored eyes. He held not a shred of sympathy for the world that had taken away what was most precious to him. Even pity was a luxury for him, who had lost his lover…
‘…Has the ending where the male lead goes berserk and leads to world destruction already come?!’
She was too shocked to speak.
It felt like a lump of ice had lodged in her chest.
Resena slowly began to walk, looking for any signs of people. But all she found were corpses. Even those who were dying from blood loss would breathe their last as she approached, not giving her a chance to speak to them.
A chilling fear spread coldly from her fingertips.
“…Hello! Is anyone there?!”
The building that looked like a restaurant had collapsed, and all the various breads displayed inside were covered in dust. Clutching her rumbling stomach, she wandered around, but the only edible thing was water drawn from a relatively intact well.
But even that couldn’t be drunk with peace of mind.
“Kyaaaaaaah!”
“Aaargh. Monsters!”
“Save me!”
Resena discarded the water and quickly hid behind a wall, holding her breath. As the scene of the route where the corrupted male lead opens the gate to another world where monsters were trapped, leading the world to destruction, vividly came to mind, she felt like she was about to cry.
‘I’m so scared…’
Moreover, she had nothing to protect herself with now. If a monster appeared, she would end up as a mere snack. She could only tremble and wait for the monster to pass by.
Fortunately, the monster seemed satisfied after devouring people and passed by with thunderous steps. A chimera with a lion’s head and a snake’s tail disappeared beyond the broken sidewalk with a strange cry, and Resena finally let out a sigh of relief.
“Ugh…”
The place where the monsters had passed was indescribably horrific. She suppressed the urge to vomit.
Resena trembled as she stepped around the pools of blood.
But that didn’t last long. Soon, the ground began to rumble.
‘Wh… what now? What else is going to happen here!?’
Placing her hand over her anxiously beating heart, Resena looked up. A massive white light could be seen rising in the distance over the ruins of the half-destroyed city.
“Huh?”
But that light was approaching her direction.
Greedily, devouring all the ruins of the city.
“This… This crazy male lead…!”
Resena’s face turned pale. She could recognize it immediately as it had been described several times in the epilogue. That light was an instant death weapon created by the male lead by sacrificing his own lifespan.
If hit by that, one would die instantly. Turning into dust.
Terrified, Resena started running frantically in the opposite direction. The necklace string around her neck broke, and rings began to fall, but that wasn’t the issue now.
“No. I don’t want to die. I don’t want to die…!”
She reached out her arms, but the circular light swallowed Resena in an instant.
Indeed, there was no pain.
Because she turned to dust in a blink of an eye.
…And so, she met her end.
***
“Gasp!”
Resena sat up abruptly. The softness of the four-poster bed supported her body, but that wasn’t the issue. She felt all over her body to check if her new body was safe, then clutched her face, deflated.
“I’m alive… I’m alive…”
Tears streamed down her cheeks. Resena trembled. The memories of the cold prison, the terrible meals she had there, and dying from the male lead’s instant death weapon after managing to escape, made it impossible for her to calm down.
“Hoo, ha. Hoo, ha…”
Only after taking several deep breaths could she barely regain her composure. Resena bit her lip and clutched the blanket tightly.
The cold sweat on her hands and the vivid memories proved that what she had experienced wasn’t a dream. She didn’t know how she had regressed after dying, but it was obvious that if she stayed still like this, the same thing would repeat.
“My lady.”
A knock on the door snapped her back to reality. The time had already passed 8 o’clock.
“Wait a moment! Come in a little later!”
Her stomach growled, but thinking came first. Resena desperately tried to come up with a way to prevent this ending rather than remaining dazed.
‘First, I need to cancel all the evil deeds that the previous Resena had prepared.’
Resena grabbed a notebook and fountain pen from the table beside her. Her fingers were trembling, but she somehow managed to write down the contents she had read in her previous life and the evil deeds she had come to know through her experiences. Before she knew it, half the notebook was filled.
Time flew by, and while she was writing intently, the sun had already risen high in the sky. Her stomach was growling seriously, and after writing a considerable amount, her hand was starting to hurt, suggesting she needed a break.
“I’ll just have a quick meal and continue writing. Then based on this, I’ll somehow prevent it all.”
Her own words made her feel more confident. By then, her trembling body had also calmed down. Resena took another deep breath and closed the notebook.
There were still several months left. Before reaching destruction.
When she rang the bell to call the maids, they still looked at her with fearful eyes. She knew exactly why they feared her so much.
‘The previous Resena used to throw porcelain at the maids or hit them as a daily occurrence.’
There were countless times when she had worn rings and slapped their faces, leaving scars. Verbal abuse was so common that it was natural for the maids to cower in fear whenever they faced Resena.
‘But I have no intention of instilling fear in them from now on.’
Whether they became her allies or not wasn’t that important. However, if they continued to harbor hostility and fear towards her, they might give malicious testimonies at the trial six months later.
‘To make them uninterested in my crimes… I need to make them at least neutral towards me. For that, I need to make them realize that I’m not a bad person like before.’
“Luna.”
“Yes, my lady.”
The headmaid bowed respectfully. She knew better than anyone how spoiled and demonic her young lady, who had grown up pampered as the first child, could be.
