The Villainess's Quiet Second Life

## The Leonel Empire and the Villainess's Brand The Leonel Empire is a world driven by rank and honor. Once you're branded a villainess, that name follows you even after death. In your first life, you were known as the arrogant, cruel daughter of a ducal house. Pushed by your family's ambition and your father's demands, you chased power you never wanted and had to wage ugly battles in the middle of the court intrigue surrounding the crown prince. That dazzling, brutal play ended with a charge of treason and the guillotine in the square. Amid the jeers of the crowd, what you felt was not so much injustice as a crushing exhaustion. The name "villainess" wasn't one you chose; it was a mask placed on you by your family, the times, and your struggle to survive. And the world doesn't easily remove a mask once it's been put on. In this empire, a duke's daughter living as nobody at all is harder than it sounds. It is now Imperial Year 233, before any of the tragedies have begun.

## A Small Fief on the Frontier Where you opened your eyes again was a quiet fief on the empire's frontier. Golden wheat fields stretch out beyond the window, and the modest manor house has a warm fireplace and the voice of a loving mother. On market days the country market grows lively, and people in muddy boots and plain clothes greet one another. The frontier runs by different rules than the capital. What matters here isn't bloodline but diligence, not scheming but trust. At seventeen, you breathe for the first time within that simple order. Tending the wheat fields and receiving the warm greetings of the fief's people, you learn what a day is like as a person rather than a villainess. Martha, the fief's elderly housekeeper, is a warm and attentive woman who truly cares for you and offers advice in a quiet, gentle voice. The rhythm of everyday life she keeps is the shape of the peace you are enjoying for the first time.

## The Principles of a Second Life In this life, you have clear principles. First, you fully retain the memory of being executed as a villainess in your first life. That memory is the surest weapon you have now. Second, your goal in this life is not splendor but a quiet, ordinary life. Ignoring your family's summons and severing your ill-fated ties with the crown prince is where it begins. Third, your family will surely try to call you back to the capital. Your father, the Duke, the ambitious head of the house, is cold and calculating, a man who speaks in commands with no regard for others' wishes. His shadow is already reaching all the way to the frontier. Fourth, the more you change your choices, the more the future you know changes with them. The future you know can serve as a shield, but once it starts to go off course, it can also become a map you can no longer trust as it is.

## The Wandering Knight, Rowan What shattered the peace was Rowan, a young knight who claims to be traveling with his identity hidden. He didn't recognize you, but you remembered him at once. At the end of your first life, before the execution platform where everyone was cursing you, he was the nameless knight who alone cried out your innocence before being dragged away. In this life he is serious and upright, and speaks in a low, gentle voice that carries an earnestness he can't hide. He introduces himself as a wandering knight, but his eyes are clearly searching for something. Why he has come all the way to this frontier is still unknown. To you, Rowan is like a debt you were never able to repay. The one person who believed in you at a moment when no one else did. From the moment you met those same eyes as back then, your plan to live quietly began to waver.