Chapter 1

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Translator: Harry Potta

Chapter Title: I'll Raise the Villain Properly - Chapter 1

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1

There's a saying that if life feels boring, you should raise a son.

This rang true for me as well.

"Our Lucian, why are you so quiet today..."

They say the most dangerous time when raising a six-year-old is when the child goes quiet.

Entering his room with a sense of dread, I was utterly horrified.

"Lucian!"

The entire room was blanketed in flour. Lucian, covered head to toe in the stuff, ignored my shocked cry and kept slathering it on the walls.

I rushed inside and scooped up the flour-buried little rascal in my arms. A cascade of white powder rained down from his body.

"This is going to drive me insane. Where the heck did you even get flour?"

There was no way this tiny kid had toddled off to the kitchen by himself to fetch it. And the kitchen staff wouldn't have just stood by.

"Where's the nanny? Where on earth is Grace?"

"The nanny left. I pretended to be asleep!"

"What?"

I was speechless as Lucian puffed out his chest like he'd done something praiseworthy.

"You pretended to sleep?"

"Yeah."

"Why on earth?"

"To scare you, Aunt!"

Lucian flashed an innocent grin. Seeing that pure smile drained any will to scold him right out of me.

"Right... our Lucian, such a good boy... training your aunt's heart to be tougher..."

"Huh?"

Lucian shot me a displeased look. But right now, I couldn't afford to worry about his feelings.

As I stood, my foot slipped on the flour sack on the floor.

"Ow!"

A short scream was followed by a dull thud echoing through my skull.

"Ahaha! Aunt, you're such an idiot! Falling like that is hilarious!"

Lucian's belly-laughs grew distant as darkness closed in.

"Lady Lucella!"

Soon, maids rushed into the room at the commotion, and I blacked out.

While unconscious, countless scenes flashed through my mind.

From a black-haired woman lying in bed reading a book, to her closing it in tears.

They say your life flashes before your eyes right before death. But thinking back, I had no such memories in my own life.

I realized too late. These were memories from my previous life. My current existence was inside the novel I'd read back then: From Illegitimate Child to Family Head.

The protagonist of From Illegitimate Child to Family Head, Edwin, was the illegitimate son of the Bellomon Duke—the head of the Roberta Empire's foremost noble house.

After bouncing between orphanages and enduring all sorts of hardships, he finally entered the place he belonged: the Bellomon Ducal Residence, at the age of nine.

But life there was far from easy.

The Bellomon Duke's legitimate son, Lucian, bullied the protagonist relentlessly every single day. The retainers, too, resented this newcomer emerging as a potential heir.

He ended up fleeing to an academy, where he met the heroine, Violeta. With her help, he vanquished the villains and rose to become head of the Bellomon Ducal Family.

And among those villains who faced Edwin's retribution was one in particular...

"Aunt's such a sleepyhead. Sleeping all day long?"

My one and only nephew—and blood relative—Lucian Bellomon.

Blinking my unfocused eyes furiously, Lucian's innocent face came into view.

"Lady Lucella, you're awake!"

"Are you alright?"

The maids, faces etched with worry, hurried to my side.

"What happened?"

I rubbed my still-throbbing occiput as I spoke.

"You slipped on the flour sack on the floor."

"There happened to be a toy right there... You hit your head on it as you fell."

"You were out cold for a full half-day."

"No wonder it hurts so much."

Touching the back of my head revealed a fist-sized lump. It was a miracle I hadn't gotten a concussion.

"Is your stomach upset at all?"

"No."

"No dizziness?"

"No. I'm fine. What about Lucian?"

"He's over there."

I turned toward where the maid pointed. There was Lucian, gleefully yanking stuffing out of a cushion.

He'd been sitting right beside me moments ago. The boy moved like lightning.

"Lucian."

Calling him softly, the little villain approached with lips pursed in a pout.

"Gonna nag me again?"

Normally, I'd have lectured him: flour's for cooking, not pranks; don't rip open cushions...

But instead...

I pulled him into a tight hug.

"Huh?"

"What's with you, Aunt? Suddenly acting all weird?"

Clearly caught off guard, Lucian squirmed in rare confusion. He tried to wriggle free, but I held his little head fast against me, refusing to let go.

All because I'd learned the horrific fate awaiting my little villain.

I was born into the Lilfrey Earl Family and enjoyed a childhood of abundance.

My family was wealthy, my parents affectionate, and my five-years-older sister kind. Compared to the grind of my past life, it was paradise.

But those happy days were fleeting.

The year I turned twelve, my parents perished in a carriage accident.

Since my sister and I were both minors, the title naturally passed to Father's brother, Adolf Lilfrey. And the new Lilfrey Earl treated us harshly.

Viewing us as thorns in his side, the moment my sister came of age, he pushed her into marriage like he'd been waiting for it. It was the perfect legal way to purge an unwanted bloodline.

Thus, my sister was all but exiled into marriage with the Bellomon Ducal Family.

Uncle crowed about forging a marital alliance with the Bellomons, but my sister couldn't share his glee. The Bellomon Duke had someone else he loved.

With nowhere to lean, one day she made me this offer.

'Lucella, come live with me. If you stay in Lilfrey, you'll end up in an unhappy marriage just like me. I want you to meet someone wonderful and live blissfully—without being sold off.'

She meant she'd protect me until I could stand on my own as a minor.

'But I'm not Bellomon blood. I can't keep living with you, the Duchess, bearing the Lilfrey name.'

'I'll talk to Dehart about it.'

Dehart Bellomon. Head of the Bellomon Ducal Family and my sister's husband. I figured that iron-fisted man would never allow another mouth to feed.

'Do it.'

But permission came surprisingly easily.

'Just don't meddle in my business, wherever or whatever I'm up to.'

There was one condition attached.

It was a hurtful remark, but my sister showed no reaction. She was simply thrilled we'd live together.

Yet I knew she was hiding her pain.

So I always tried to bring smiles to her face. We only had each other to rely on.

When I heard she'd had a baby, I was over the moon. Someone else to shower her with love—it filled me with joy. Finally, a way to repay the love she'd given me.

But before I could settle that debt, my sister fell to an incurable illness.

'Lucella, please protect my child.'

'I will. I'll keep Lucian safe.'

'Thank you. Sorry for asking this.'

Leaving those brief final words, my sister departed the world at just twenty-three.

At eighteen, I was left alone with my two-year-old nephew.

I lived diligently, pouring into Lucian all the love she hadn't been able to give.

Some sneered that I was shameless for lingering at the ducal residence despite not sharing a drop of the duke's blood, but I turned a deaf ear. I had to honor my promise to her, no matter what.

Yet raising Lucian was no small feat, even with the nanny and maids' help. Compared to other kids his age, he was mischievous and strong-willed.

Sometimes, worn out from tending him, I'd shed quiet tears alone. But more often, he brought smiles to my days.

Raising a child—especially one who looked just like my sister—was pure joy and fulfillment. Watching him grow filled me with a pride like nothing else.

"And yet Lucian turns out to be the villain."

On top of that, the one who gets punished by the protagonist after he becomes head of Bellomon.

"How is this fair?"

Lucian had lost his mother at two and never once felt proper love from his father.

For such a child to meet death as his end? It was too cruel.

'Of course, Lucian does torment the protagonist Edwin quite a bit...'

His underdog tendencies shone brightest when bullying the hero.

Slipping worms into pasta, locking him in rooms, even outsmarting him with clever schemes as he got older.

'I get why Lucian hates Edwin.'

Unlike himself, the illegitimate suddenly appeared out of nowhere—then monopolized the duke's love that Lucian had never known.

'But that doesn't make bullying okay.'

Bullying and violence can't be justified, no matter the circumstances.

'I have to raise Lucian right.'

I was like a parent to him. And no parent in the world wants their child to grow up rotten.

Above all, to avert that doomed death awaiting him, I had to raise him properly, come hell or high water.

'Protect my child.'

For my sister's dying wish, if nothing else.