Chapter 1
Chapter 1
The Villainess’s Younger Brother
“Today, a new family member is coming.”
The day she first met her younger brother. Ophilienne was six years old.
The reception room of the mansion was excessively tidy.
The floor gleamed, and the light streaming through the windows reflected once more off the patterns of the carpet, pricking at the eyes.
The servants had all stepped back against the walls.
Ophilienne stood at the center of it all. Her hands were clasped behind her back. It was the noble posture adults always demanded of her.
The door opened, and a child walked in.
He had the same ash-gray hair and gray eyes as her. She did not like that.
He was four, was it.
His frame was smaller than others his age, his shoulders slightly hunched. His hands hovered in the air as if searching for something, grasping at nothing.
His shoes were new, but they didn’t seem to fit, making his steps awkward.
The head of the house spoke.
“Mathios. From today onward, you are part of our family.”
At that moment, Ophilienne realized something.
This child was the chosen one.
Mathios looked around the room before his gaze landed on her.
For a brief moment, their eyes met.
There was expectation in those eyes. Careful, but unmistakable expectation. The hope that he could become family.
Ophilienne looked away.
She did not want to look at those eyes for long.
From that day on, Mathios naturally became the center of everything.
The same table, the same lessons, the same name.
But the weight attached to that name was different.
Every time the adults called Mathios, they put in an extra beat of care.
“He’s the one who will carry the family in the future.”
Those words always came with a smile, as if tossed out like a joke.
Ophilienne did not smile.
There was no reason to.
“Noona.”
Mathios called her that.
For some reason, the title grated on her.
“Don’t call me that.”
“Uh, uh…”
Mathios hesitated for a moment.
“…Then what should I call you?”
“Call me by my name.”
“Ophil… lienne.”
His pronunciation faltered.
That slight distortion got on her nerves. Everything about him got on her nerves.
Around the age of seven, Ophilienne became even busier.
There was much to learn, and much to show.
Mathios was always a step behind.
He never tried to get ahead.
He didn’t ask many questions, nor did he compete over answers.
When the adults smiled and patted his head, he simply accepted it quietly.
That attitude made Ophilienne even more uneasy.
Not competing meant he already knew his place. A cunning brat.
Mathios was smaller than her.
Five years old. An age where he followed rather than truly understood.
Even though Ophilienne deliberately kept her distance, Mathios approached her.
The sound of small, shuffling steps stopping in one corner of the room, the faint rustle of him lingering at the doorway.
When she was reading, he would somehow end up sitting beside her.
“Noona.”
She turned a page without answering.
The child’s hand came up onto the book. He didn’t touch the illustrations or the letters, only fidgeting with the edge of the paper. His expression was focused on the tips of his fingers.
Ophilienne coldly brushed his hand away.
The child lowered his head, looking dejected.
That pitiful sight lingered in her mind.
“…Fine.”
“Huh?”
“Just do whatever you want.”
“Whatever… I want?”
“Just…!”
Ophilienne took Mathios’s small hand that she had pushed away and guided it back to the edge of the page.
“Like this.”
“Ah, okay! I’ll stay next to you, Noona!”
“Do whatever you want.”
Mathios smiled brightly.
That smile lingered longer than she expected.
One late night.
The mansion’s hallway felt different from the daytime. With fewer lights, the shadows stretched longer, and the decorations on the walls seemed larger than themselves.
Ophilienne lay in bed.
Her eyes were closed, but sleep did not come. Outside, the wind scratched against the window.
Knock, knock.
It was very faint.
Too hesitant to be called a proper knock.
After a moment, again.
Knock.
Ophilienne opened her eyes.
She did not respond.
From beyond the door, there was the sound of shifting feet, then stillness.
For a long while, there was no sound at all.
“…Noona.”
Right in front of the door.
The voice was low. Much quieter than during the day.
“What.”
She spoke without even getting up from bed.
At some point, she had allowed him to call her Noona.
Now it was too bothersome to care, so she let it be.
The door opened slightly.
Mathios peeked in with just his head. His hair was messy, and in one hand he clutched the edge of a blanket.
“…I’m scared.”
“So?”
“…Can I sleep with you?”
“Go back to your room.”
Ophilienne said, looking at his clearly visible gray eyes even in the darkness. They were filled with fear.
Mathios did not move.
He stood there, one hand on the doorframe, his head lowered.
“I turned off the lights… but there’s a sound.”
“It’s probably the wind.”
“…Still.”
The child said that and said nothing more.
Instead, he fidgeted with his hands and took a step inside.
“I don’t like it. I’m sleeping alone.”
She said it again.
This time, more clearly.
Mathios stopped.
He blinked his large eyes and hugged the blanket with his small hands.
“…Then I’ll sleep on the floor.”
It didn’t sound like a request. It sounded like something already decided.
Ophilienne looked at the child, curled in on himself.
His bare feet touched the floor. Perhaps he was cold, his toes slightly curled.
“…Sigh. Come here.”
At her words, Mathios lifted his head. His eyes were slightly brimming with tears.
As if confirming, he looked at her once before cautiously approaching.
When he climbed onto the edge of the bed, the mattress dipped slightly.
Ophilienne shifted her body to the side.
Mathios curled up like a small animal.
After a while, he rolled slightly.
Their backs touched.
Ophilienne did not move away.
Instead, she steadied her breathing. She was wearing a thin silk dress, and his faint breath brushed against her back.
For no reason, she shook her body lightly.
After a moment,
The breathing behind her slowed.
A small, even rhythm traveled through her back.
Was he asleep?
Ophilienne turned around. The child, sleeping soundly, looked like a small animal.
She reached out and gently brushed his eyelashes with her fingers.
For some reason, sleep came easily that night.
Ophilienne stood by the window.
She idly played with the edge of the curtain as she looked outside.
It was winter. Snow was falling. The yard, the walls, all covered in white without a single footprint.
The door opened.
“Um…”
She sensed hesitation behind her.
“Do you want to have a snowball fight together?”
She stopped her hand.
The velvet curtain slipped between her fingers.
“No.”
She answered briefly and walked in the opposite direction.
As her footsteps grew distant, another set followed.
Mathios followed her a beat later.
He didn’t run. He didn’t try to catch up. He simply walked in the same direction.
“…I don’t like the cold. If you want to play, do it by yourself.”
“…Okay.”
His voice sank quickly, like snow.
Ophilienne stopped.
It felt like things had somehow turned out that way for no reason.
“…To add, it’s not that I don’t like you. I just don’t like the cold.”
“Then let’s dress warmly and play.”
There was no calculation in those words.
Just a face offering what came to mind.
“It’s bothersome.”
She cut him off again.
“…Okay, I understand.”
“What do you understand?”
“I’ll play alone.”
For a moment, she looked at him.
Mathios had already accepted the conclusion.
“…Do whatever you want.”
A moment later, there was movement outside the window.
Mathios was really out there alone in the snow.
Rolling snow into a clumsy snowman,
Then falling backward and waving his arms and legs.
A crude angel remained on the white snow.
“….”
Ophilienne leaned on her arm as she looked down at him, then picked up her coat.
When she opened the door, cold air rushed in all at once.
Her breath caught for a moment.
Mathios didn’t notice her as he rolled the snow.
When the snowball didn’t form properly, he rolled it around again and again.
“Mathios.”
He lifted his head.
His pretty eyes widened slightly.
“Huh?”
Before he could finish, a small snowball brushed past his face.
It burst under his chin.
A brief silence.
“……!”
Mathios laughed a beat late.
“Noona!”
This time, he picked up snow.
Unable to throw straight, the snowball hit her coat and slid down.
“You.”
Ophilienne lifted the corner of her lips. She picked up snow again.
Her fingertips quickly grew cold.
This time, she hit properly.
The snow shattered on Mathios’s shoulder.
“Wow!”
He took a step back.
He didn’t fall. Instead, he couldn’t stop laughing.
They moved around the snowfield, throwing snow at each other.
Who got hit first didn’t matter.
By the time their breathing grew slightly heavy,
Mathios dropped down onto the snow.
“I lost….”
Ophilienne stood before him. She picked up another handful of snow, but did not throw it.
After a moment, she sat down on the snow as well. The cold seeped through her coat.
Mathios looked up at her.
His cheeks were flushed red.
“That was fun. Did you have fun too, Noona?”
She did not answer.
Instead, she turned her head and smiled faintly.
Time passed.
She didn’t realize it then, but Mathios had become the most precious thing to her.
But after his sixteenth birthday, Mathios changed.