By Some Unbelievable Twist, I Became the Villainess’s Older Brother

No, how could something like this have happened? Wait, if he was Enoch Laochenes, then…

With difficulty, Jaeyi turned his stiff neck and stared at the girl in horror. He thought he could guess her name easily enough.

He cautiously parted his lips.

“Are you… Zyla? Zyla Laochenes?”

The girl smiled radiantly.

“That’s right. I’m Zyla! Brother is Enoch, and I’m Zyla!”

“…You’re lying.”

Feeling devastated, Jaeyi pressed a hand to his forehead. His thoughts were in complete disarray.

Puzzled by Jaeyi’s reaction, Zyla tilted her head and studied his face.

Then she placed a hand on his shoulder and gently patted him. Her clear, innocent eyes regarded him with concern.

“Brother, are you alright?”

Jaeyi spoke cautiously.

“…Are you really Zyla?”

“Yes! I’m Zyla, the prettiest girl in the world!”

“This can’t be…”

His head throbbed. Taking all these absurd circumstances together, it appeared he truly had entered the world of a book.

Moreover, the owner of the body he had entered was a supporting character in the novel. He was even the older brother of Zyla, the woman known as the greatest villainess of her age!

In truth, Jaeyi had begun enjoying romance fantasy novels when the world started feeling especially harsh. Some might say the hobby did not suit him… but whenever he sat down and read, he could forget every worry and concern from reality.

After his parents divorced when he was young, he had been left with his paternal grandmother. Both his parents remarried, and neither came to see him even once afterward.

In the end, he had no choice but to live alone with his grandmother, who ran a fish shop. His friends teased him every day because his body smelled of fish, but Jaeyi was alright.

His grandmother was by his side, after all. But shortly before he entered high school, she passed away. Jaeyi was left alone in the world at a young age.

Given his circumstances, Jaeyi had never had the leisure to think about friends, romance, or love like other students his age. He had greater concerns of his own.

Meals, textbooks, tuition, living expenses, part-time work, and the like. All those worries about money.

Those worries, which he could never forget and which never seemed likely to fade, always weighed him down. But whenever he read a novel, every one of them vanished as if by magic, at least for that moment.

Among them, a romance fantasy novel titled 〈The Tyrant’s Hidden Blade〉 was his favorite.

The story itself was not particularly unusual. 〈The Tyrant’s Hidden Blade〉 was a collection of clichés from beginning to end.

The male protagonist was the Imperial Crown Prince, and the female protagonist was a powerful female knight who loved her liege. It was an exceedingly common tale, but Jaeyi had another reason for reading 〈The Tyrant’s Hidden Blade〉.

It was Enoch Laochenes, a character with silky silver hair and emerald eyes who, to quote the book exactly, was described as being like an angel descended from heaven―

In the story, Enoch always seemed to lack nothing. He was ever confident and dazzling, and even had such a good nature that anyone who met him loved him.

Jaeyi had thought that was wonderful. Perhaps that was why he couldn’t help liking Enoch, who was his complete opposite.

He especially loved the scene where Enoch never yielded even as his family reeled from the villainess Zyla’s crimes. The image of Enoch refusing to give up and struggling to protect his house had lodged deep in his mind.

Enoch’s actions in the story were worlds apart from the irresponsible sight of Jaeyi’s father turning his back as he left him with his paternal grandmother. And now, unbelievably, Jaeyi was inside the body of his favorite character.

As he reviewed his circumstances once more, Jaeyi’s eyes went distant. They said you never knew what lay ahead in life. The saying had never felt more true.

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* * *

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Left alone, Jaeyi returned to the room and stood before the full-length mirror again. A rigid body and frozen face confronted him.

Jaeyi raised a hand. The man in the mirror raised his as well.

This time, he lifted a foot. Of course, the man in the mirror did the same.

With a tense expression, Jaeyi raised his hand and stretched his cheek. Naturally, the hand in the mirror dutifully stretched the cheek too. The neat brows above the green eyes scrunched sharply, as if displaying his displeasure.

By then, everything suddenly felt futile. Jaeyi spun around and headed for the bed.

Then he flung himself facedown upon it.

“This can’t be…”

Yes. It was truly impossible. Could something like this actually happen?

After thrashing around on the bed for a while, Jaeyi suddenly sat upright.

Enoch Laochenes. The eldest son of House Laochenes and the heir who would become the next duke.

At fourteen, every member of House Laochenes, from the direct line to its branch families, had already recognized him as the heir. That was why people simply called him the Young Duke.

Yet despite his exceptional looks, outstanding ability, and powerful support, Enoch was only a supporting character who died in 〈The Tyrant’s Hidden Blade〉. Of course, that was not Enoch’s fault.

Even after the Emperor burned the villainess Zyla at the stake, Enoch had struggled to rebuild his house. But before long, he died young at the hands of the Imperial Crown Prince and vanished from the story.

And the villainess Zyla in this world… in other words, Enoch’s younger sister, Zyla Laochenes, was the sort of villainess who was more popular than the protagonist herself.