I Have Become The Heroes’ Rival

The place where I was in was Irene’s Land, the land of fantasy.

Claudia and Felix called it “Irene’s Playroom”.

But at this scale, could it be called a playroom? They didn’t make a mistake and meant to say amusement park, did they?

After returning to the mansion safely without any crisis, I rode on the merry-go-round with my exhausted body.

In my original world, unless I had time to spare, I wouldn’t visit an amusement park to ride a merry-go-round.

But nowadays, it seemed that I could have a taste of what it was like to ride this machine that went around without meaning.

It was good to ride it when your mind was complicated and had a lot to think about. It was exclusively for me, so I could ride it whenever I wanted.

So, in a daze, I grabbed the beautiful golden mane and hugged the white horse’s neck.

‘This is healing, healing…….’

After a while, I regained my sense. Before I knew it, there was a meringue in my left hand, and I was eating it unconsciously.

Huh?

I was amazed that I was eating it so naturally. I was amazed a second time at how I only noticed it now.

As I looked around with wonder, Chamberlain’s servants waved happily to me.

They were like a mother and father who put their child on a merry-go-round and waved their hands whenever they saw the child.

I made a nervous expression for a moment because I wondered if the bean pods¹. had spread to Chamberlain’s employees.

Anyway, they were the culprit. I waved my hands in appreciation of their kindness in giving me something to eat.

‘I’d just been unaware of it, but they fed me, put me to sleep, dressed me, and played with me…….’

They always asked me if I was hungry, pushed me to go to bed whenever it got late, asked me if they should bring a chessboard and leave it with me if I look bored alone, and diligently taught me of the rules I was unaware of.

Most of the time Claudia took care of me, but when she wasn’t there, the employees took care of me attentively.

I didn’t know why, but they seemed happy, and I couldn’t help but feel like I had become the pet of the Chamberlain family.

‘Was there……. any difference?’

I was working hard for the happiness of Claudia and the Chamberlains. But those who didn’t know the situation at all would think that I was like rice larvae².

However, Felix told me something.

Cute things had their own value in being cute.

In the world, such a thing was usually called a pet.

I wasn’t entirely sure why everyone was so kind to me, but I thought it was enough because they looked happy.

Without hesitation, I gently laid down the dignity of a human being and enjoyed the attention of the people around me.

“Irene.”

At that moment, Felix, who returned from the imperial palace, called my name and stepped into the playroom.

You didn’t even take off the sorcerer’s robe properly and came straight to me as if you were on a conquest. Did you miss me that much?

Thinking so, I felt like I became a dog in the house waiting for the owner.

Haha, maybe I should greet him while wagging my tail.

I languorously stretched on the merry-go-round and waved my hand at him.

“Master, come on in.”

“……What?”

No, for some reason, I felt like I had to say that.

I asked Felix, who was visibly embarrassed and gestured behind me with my thumb.

“Why on earth are they doing that?”

Then he glanced at the people behind me and nodded as if he understood, and said, “Because Irene is lovely.”

“…….”

I didn’t want to hear such a silly comment.

Well, forget it. He was not someone I should have expected to get a proper answer from.

“If you want a more accurate answer, it’s because you’re a lovely person who they can’t help but love.”

How was that any different from what he said earlier?

‘I think he’s talking about himself.’

I looked at him and asked him why he came to see me.

“The Duke of Lamberg asked me if he could meet with Irene separately.”

“The Duke?”

I was so startled that I dropped the meringue in my hand.

The moment I heard that I remembered what I had been trying to ignore. I was Irene Amber, a one-time extra line who died in the original novel.

That man found me?

Not Claudia but me?

‘Ha……. Is that how it works? That person really is consistent.’

I chewed my lips with a dark expression for a moment and belatedly regained my mind.

The meringue that fell on the floor and didn’t touch my mouth laid on the ground, shattered into pieces.

“I refused, but I thought it would be better if I told you…….”

Maybe it was because I overreacted. Felix, who was looking at me carefully, gave me a worried look.

“I heard from Chloe. The Duke of Lamberg controls the city of chaos, Carlisle.”

Before Claudia’s public confession at the banquet, I remembered that I was so immersed in the role of the explanation freak³ that I would freely talk about topics that should not be spoken.

At that time, it was the moment when I firmly believed that it was not long until Claudia chose one of the three heroes…….

But they already knew it, so it was unavoidable. Regardless, whether it was Claudia or Felix, I already knew that they were not the type of person to talk about these things everywhere. Also, it was because I knew that God, the author, made it that way.

I nodded in affirmation. Yes, he was the ruler of the underworld.

If he acted according to the original, he would probably kill me sooner or later.

“I understand that there is no other point of contact between the Duke and Irene……. Did he approach because of the family debt issue⁴

?”

He asked as he leisurely chased me on the merry-go-round. I wondered if it made him dizzy following me around like that.

“It’s not like that.”

I had no plans to tell him that Benjamin was destined to kill me. I didn’t have any intention of getting him involved.

“But I’m sure there’s an ulterior motive. At the banquet, he was very good to me…….”

Of course, if you created a mysterious love triangle between the flower and the queen of society, Claudia and Erica, it was likely that everyone would pay attention to it.

I was informed that Benjamin asked Martina for my personal information.

It was apparent that he really wanted such trivial information. He was trying to win favor and make it his own.

In fact, I revealed it to Claudia.

Since the day she confessed to me, she had never met Benjamin but instead defended herself indirectly.

Benjamin’s expertise in grasping other people’s weaknesses was evident in the kidnapping of Claudia that occurred in the original.

But before the disaster could occur, I hired a competent escort, and Claudia listened to everything I had to say.

Now, wherever she went, she was always accompanied by an escort assassin⁵. In other words, the kidnapping was prevented in advance.

Thanks to this, we were able to prevent incidents that we might be vulnerable to in advance.

This operation meant that in the scenes where the original heroes would appear to save Claudia, instead, the continuous message that the three heroes’ existence was unnecessary replaced it. It was an extension of that operation.

However, Benjamin did not think the operation would work.

If plan A didn’t work, he would have arranged another strategy for plan B, plan C, and plan D.

Even if the kidnapping plan collapsed, he would definitely try another trick.

I was very anxious when I heard that Benjamin was looking for me. But, in truth, I knew that I would have to meet him one day.

Benjamin wasn’t the type to go crazy like Lucas when looking for me.

However, just because he was calm did not mean that he would not do anything. Instead, the more calm someone was, the more afraid I became. It was harder to figure out what the hell they were planning.

Therefore, it was better to meet and start negotiations before working. And just in time, he said he wanted to meet me.

“I will meet him.”

“Are you going to be okay?”

“It’s a dead-end⁶ anyway.”

As if Felix had no choice, he said, “Then I will go with you.”

Would it really be okay if Felix came along?

Of course, it was much safer than being alone.

However, as the Duke was the ruler of the underworld, he played the most decisive role in destroying the Chamberlain family.

That guy was particularly nasty.

In the original novel, due to his damned mysticism⁷, the rice cake didn’t loosen until the end and just ended in clumps⁸.

I put my legs together to one side to jump off the horse.

“Okay. Then let’s think about the details together.”

All right. Now all I had to do was jump…….

“Hmm?”

Then Felix opened his arms from below. It seemed to me that he thought I would accept it and jump off with peace of mind⁹.

No, wait.

Last time, I had a futile battle and gave in to using his lap as a pillow¹⁰, but I could never allow a hug.

But it’s scary to think like that.

“Chloe boasted to me that Irene hugged her.”

Felix said with his eyes half lowered as if he was disappointed.

At first glance between the eyelashes, the sky blue eyes looked so sad and lonely.

‘Are you talking about the blood donation¹¹ service?’

It was the first time I’d ever acted cute in public, ever since I was born.

Honestly, I suddenly remembered about it yesterday night and then kicked up the quilt away in a fuss. I wasn’t immune to it at all.

Maybe it was because I had been exclaiming that their beauty was the best. It seemed that it was not an illusion that the perfect brother and sister began to use their beauty intentionally.

I was the one who fell for their beauty.

“I’m not giving you a hug.”

T/N: Thanks so much for your patience everyone!! So sorry again about the late upload. (This novel is actually one of the hardest that I’ve TL-ed since the author uses quite a lot of references, inferences, and also idioms/phrases. Once again, I hope the footnotes prove useful!! Also added some notes to the reference to past events in case anyone was curious).

I hope you enjoyed this chapter and look forward to the next one! Please have a lovely week~

^{1. There’s a Korean saying ‘(one’s eyes are) covered by a bean pod’ meaning that someone is blinded by love. The author plays with this idiom by saying the ‘bean pods had spread’ i.e. the suggestion that the love that the Chamberlain siblings have for Irene has spread to the employees as well.↩}

^{2. A rice larva hatching is the worst thing you can get in your rice (that’s what I believe anyway since rice is life…!) All rice has larvae in it, but if the rice is stored at room temperature for over 3 months, the larvae will hatch and become maggots.↩}

^{3. An ‘explanation freak’ is someone who explains everything regardless of whether other people know it or not. (I don’t really like the word ‘freak’ but the author used it so I kept it >^<)↩}

^{4. Note: in chapter 3 it was mentioned that Claudia’s father borrowed money from Benjamin’s financial institution in which one of the guarantees was her (but Irene helped pay this off).↩}

^{5. In case you forgot, it was revealed in chapter 15 that they hired the ‘Guardian Assassin’ who could hide their presence and appear in a second whenever needed. ↩}

^{6. She’s saying she pretty much has no choice but to meet him, so she might as well do it.↩}

^{7. ‘Mysticism’ is a vague religious/spiritual belief associated with the belief in the occult.↩}

^{8. This statement is the author’s way of explaining how annoyingly persistent (and obsessed) Benjamin and how his method of attacking his target was did not destroy the rice cake instantly but rather chopped it into several pieces. (Sort of like playing with their prey before killing it).↩}

^{9. “Piece of mind’ is the feeling of being safe or protected.↩}

^{10. FYI this occurred in chapter 11! ↩}

^{11. So this actually confused me a bit, but it’s pretty much Irene likening herself ‘hugging’ Claudia as a blood donation (aka a service of goodwill). i.e. when she was helping her get rid of the prince in chapter 15.↩}