The following web novel series is a work of fiction. It contains high levels of suggestive content and violence, which may be offensive to some readers. It also explores potentially controversial themes such as sexual assault. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental. Reader discretion is advised.

The Viridescent Tiara

Chapter 1

Tung—

Tung—

Beyond a dark forest, a bell was ringing to signify the end of a funeral. A group in black mourning clothes bowed their heads deeply in silent prayer.

Coffins were slowly lowered into the earth.

There were a total of three graves. Lan stared at the coffins with an empty gaze.

I couldn’t stop it.

She had known this would happen.

She had been the one to write this story.

She was its author.

So she had anticipated this, yet she hadn’t been able to stop it from happening.

She looked up at her younger brother.

They didn’t share a drop of blood. He was the novel’s male lead, dressed in a dark blue academy uniform. He must have felt her eyes on him. He looked up to face her.

His eyes were as bright blue as an iceberg. He looked steadfastly back at her.

Lan unconsciously averted her gaze, but, realizing what she had done, quickly looked back. He had already turned away.

When the last prayer ended, they began to cover the coffins with dirt.

Father, Mother, and my little brother Tas. Lan clenched the hem of her black dress.

She felt a hand on her shoulder.

“Lan.”

Startled, Lan lifted her head.

“Uncle.”

Lan tried to hide her unease as she looked at the other person. It was a good thing that her black veil concealed her face somewhat.

Her uncle, Baron Lindbergh, was an ambitious man, ambitious enough to want to usurp the duke’s house.

“I know you are hurting, but there is a conversation that I must have with you.”

“Please go on.”

“Lan, I see you as my own niece, but the duke’s house does not. It is only a matter of time before you are driven out of the house for not sharing the duke’s blood.”

Baron Lindbergh looked around before whispering toward her. “But I want to respect the wishes of my elder brother, who gave you the duke’s surname. I believe you should become the next head of the house.”

“I...”

Lan was taken aback. She trailed off.

Baron Lindbergh gave her a vague smile.

“Otherwise, you will be thrown out. Everything you have owned up until now will be taken away from you. Not only your dresses and hats, but also your daily bread. You will end up sleeping on the streets.”

His words were sufficient to threaten an innocent person who had just had their coming-of-age ceremony. Baron Lindbergh lowered his pale face toward Lan and looked at her with satisfaction.

“So you must trust me as your uncle. Hm?”

“I understand.”

Lan’s answer made the baron cry out in delight internally.

“Good. You are being wise.”

“Uncle, may I go and meet with the other guests?” Lan asked.

The baron nodded. Lan tried to shake off the temptation to massage the shoulder that her uncle had clutched, and left.

She glanced in Eustaph’s direction. As she’d expected, he was encircled by people.

Ugh, this is driving me mad.

It was difficult for Lan to stop herself from running toward Eustaph right now. She went closer to the graves being covered with dirt instead.

“Miss.”

One of the men covering the coffins with dirt looked uncomfortable. Lan shook her head.

“It’s okay. Go on.”

The men exchanged looks, then continued on. Dirt rapidly piled over the smooth surfaces of the coffins.

Lan watched it happen as she thought to herself.

Four years.

It had already been four years since she had dropped into this world.

Lan had been a university student in her mid-twenties before it happened. It had been a weekend. She had been driving back to her own place from her parents’ house.

Then, wham! There was a large impact, followed by complete silence.

When she woke up, she found herself in a strange world. It took a week for her to realize that she had become a character in a story she had written.

What was the title again? ‘An Eternal Love’? Only a fifteen-year-old could come up with something like that…

The only reason she remembered how the story went was due to the file she had found on her computer back at her parents’ place. She had been organizing the files on it. At first she’d thought, What’s this? but then she opened it and recognized it immediately.

It was like a switch had turned on. The storyline came rushing back to her. She was lucky she had sheepishly read the story back then.

But of all characters to possess…

She was the daughter of the male lead’s stepmother, who had given the male lead trauma.

Why did I have to be born as her? And this is also way before the storyline.

The female lead in her story was a dimensional traveler. The male lead was twenty when he met her.

He was currently seventeen.

There were three years left before the original storyline began. And she had come here four years ago, making it seven years. She would be stuck in this novel for seven years. This made it harder to understand what was going on.

Lan was supposed to have died.

Lan Romea de Latia.

She was the daughter of the male lead’s stepmother, who was brought into the house when the duke remarried. Of course, they did not share a drop of blood.

As the original novel writer, she hadn’t even given this character a name. She’d had to come here to learn what the character’s name was.

Still, the young duke had been deeply in love with his new wife. He took Lan in readily, and officially made her the duke’s daughter.

Eustaph’s stepmother then birthed a boy, Tas, and that was when the harassment toward Eustaph began. Lan had been complicit. Still, it hadn’t been that bad by the time of Lan’s death.

Lan was supposed to die by Eustaph accidentally crushing me when he fell out of a tree.

Then, Eustaph’s stepmother was supposed to become half-crazed and abuse Eustaph more insistently. She was supposed to also hire a tutor that added to the abuse, leaving him with a trauma toward women.

But then I came here. Lan had instead come back to life when she, the author, entered this world. She’d pleaded with her angry mother to send Eustaph to the imperial academy. Her mother had praised her for her wisdom, happy to be far away from him.

I just wanted to get that tutor away from Eustaph.

Eustaph seemed unsure about the entire thing, and a few vassals protested, but ultimately, he left to attend the academy. Eus probably wanted to escape the tutor too.

Lan nodded to herself. She believed that she had behaved not too badly up until now.

Or so I thought…

But in the end, her parents and Tas had still died in a carriage accident. She had known it would happen, but she hadn’t been able to stop it.

They had been on their way to the capital to see Eustaph. The imperial academy was holding a school festival, and Lan had begged her parents for them to all go and see Eustaph.

But then, she had become bedridden with a bad fever. Unable to cancel their trip after all their preparations, her parents and her brother left alone and were met with a landslide. There were no survivors.

This wasn’t how it was supposed to be…

Her family had died in a ship accident in her story. She’d thought they only needed to avoid ships.

But that had not been true.

Lan buried her face in her hands.

It had only been four years. It had been as long as four years. Though they were not her real family, they had treated her well, even while she was confused by her memories.

“Sister,” a deep voice uttered.

Lan’s head shot up.

Eustaph was standing there. Though he was two years younger than she was, he was already about as tall as her.

“You aren’t well. You should retire.”

His face was too impassive for her to conclude that he was concerned for her. Lan gazed briefly at him, then nodded. She turned and faced the estate in the distance.

The duke’s manor, right by the foot of the mountains, was visible from most parts of the duchy. It stood tall in the foreground of soaring mountains. It had been made by no human hands.

It was the handiwork of a magician. And so were the giant mountains behind the estate.

The mountains were called the Ice Wall. They lent the duchy its name: the Ice House Latia.

Within the giant mountains was a beautiful white Door. The great sage Ivrea had pushed all the darkness inside and sealed it shut behind the white Door.

House Latia was the Door’s protector. They were older than even the empire. Wars swept through the continent, and the kings and feudal lords changed, but the house remained here.

Part of that is also because of how barren the land is.

Lan sighed quietly.

The duchy of Latia was barren. It spread across a wide expanse. Winter lasted for half the year. Farming was difficult, and very little of its land could grow crops.

The duke’s finances were always tight. We’re on the brink of bankruptcy. Her mother’s extravagance was to be blamed here.

“May you be blessed with the shade of green.”

This phrase was said to the mistress of House Latia from one generation to the next. Because… every mistress of the house possessed what was called the “Viridescent Tiara.” Green was a precious color in the duchy where half the year was passed in winter. And to be a full green viridescence was a blessing.

It was no strange matter for the white-gold tiara studded with the highest quality dark-green emeralds to be called the Viridescent Tiara.

In the same manner that the blessings of greenery would be shared, the mistress’s benevolence should also be distributed.

“May you be blessed with the shade of green.” This was where the greeting came from.

Yet, her mother had hated the tiara. She’d had a new tiara made with rubies and sapphires. She also had necklaces, rings, dresses, earrings, bracelets, and belts made to match.

And as mentioned… The duke’s finances are tight.

The long winters had to be prepared for, but she was buying luxuries. It was no surprise that they’d fallen into debt.

And Eustaph, the heir, is still underage.

Lan glanced at her younger brother walking beside her.

Black hair and bright blue eyes. The contrast made his eyes look bluer. He was as talented as his sharp demeanor suggested.

I mean, he’s the male lead.

But being the male lead also meant being faced with many trials. The stepmother and tutor’s harassments were one. And there had been others that followed.

Baron Lindbergh.

After their parents’ deaths, their uncle was to take advantage of the fact that Eustaph was underage to rule as regent. While wielding his duke’s powers, bit by bit, he turned the duke’s assets into the Lindberghs’. The baron became a count, and eventually, he forced Eustaph to marry his daughter. He tried to assassinate him, but Eustaph survived with the help of a loyal vassal.

Though the vassal dies.

Lan glanced at the knight following them from one pace away. Wow, he’s openly glaring at me. If looks could kill, Lan would already be dead.

Ross Wilde. He was a character that was supposed to die.

I need to stop it.

Lan said quietly to Eustaph, “Eustaph.”

“Yes, Sister?”

Every time Eustaph made a point of calling Lan “Sister,” she felt like he was being sarcastic. Though I don’t mind being called “Sister.” It was a strange feeling.

“I’m on your side,” Lan said while looking at him.

Eustaph didn’t freeze, nor did he answer.

“I want you to know that,” Lan continued anyway. They would reach the carriages soon. “Uncle seems to have the intention of making me the head of the house.”

This made Eustaph slow his pace. Lan smiled and turned slightly toward him.

“I am going to become the head.”

“Then what?”

Lan’s smile deepened. “I will prevent Uncle from laying a single finger on the duke’s estate. And once you come of age, I am going to return it, intact, to you.”

Lan spoke simply.

The pair had reached the carriages. They were each going to ride in their own. This showed the distance between them.

Lan bent her knees slightly and bowed more respectfully than one might expect for someone bowing to their younger brother.

Then, she murmured, “May you overcome the blue flames.”

This was a greeting meant only for the head of House Latia.

Eustaph responded without the slightest twitch of an eyebrow.

“May you be protected by the flame.”

* * *

Eustaph pressed his temples lightly.

“What did that fox say?” Eustaph’s knight asked.

Eustaph responded quietly, “That she is on my side.”

“Tch.” Ross clicked his tongue vigorously. “She said so herself?”

“She did.”

“She is even worse than a fox.”

“You think so?”

“I think so.”

Ross squinted. He was about to say something else, but Eustaph was lost in thought.

Lan Romea de Latia… He certainly had not forgotten the way she had bullied him when they were younger.

But he fell out of a tree, and that was when things seemed to change. She consistently sent him letters. She gave him pocket money. She was the only family member that had visited him at the academy.

I thought she was trying to sweeten me up, knowing that I was the next head of the house.

He thought she was trying to trick him with her beauty, just like her mother had done with his father.

Her soft, sparkling flaxen hair. Her dark green eyes, like a tree in summer. She possessed the beauty of a ripe apple and sunlight, rare in the north and certainly precious.

Eustaph fingered the ring hanging from his neck.

It was the Azure Ring, the symbol of the head of the house.

If anyone besides the head wore the ring sealed with the flame spirit, they would immediately be immolated.

Its wearer could borrow the flame spirit’s power.

This was why “May you overcome the blue flames” was how one addressed the head of Latia.

“But Ross, I’m still underage. I’m not old enough to take on the title.”

“These are not ordinary times.”

“Yes, that’s true, but if Uncle claims he should be regent…”

Ross scowled. “That raccoon?”

“He is clearly salivating at the mouth. That was likely his reason for talking to Lan earlier.”

Lan said so herself. Eustaph did not say this last part. He thought of her again. What should I do?

“I don’t have enough options,” Eustaph said.

He smiled bitterly and let go of the ring.

“I should estrange Lan from Uncle.”

Ross nodded. “That is probably the best way.”