The Young Male Protagonist Who is Destined for Ruin Fell for Me - Chapter 1

Sunlight filtered through the curtains I had tugged at the night before. Although it didn’t seem to be raining, I could hear the soft sound of trickling water.

I woke up with a pounding headache from the hangover, along with some mysterious aches all over my body.

“Ugh…”

It was clear that my body hadn’t escaped unscathed.

First, my back ached terribly. Then, there was soreness in my legs, like I had overworked them. My arms throbbed as if I had been clutching onto something, and my chest had a faint stinging sensation.

‘Did I get hit by a carriage and forget because I was too drunk?’

I glanced down to assess the damage, and froze at the sight.
My upper body was covered in what looked like scattered red flower petals. These weren’t random marks—they were clearly the aftermath of someone biting and sucking on my skin.

If these had been on more visible areas, like my arms or neck, I might’ve written them off as scrapes. But the marks were spread everywhere. When I tried to bend forward for a closer look, the sharp pain that shot through me made tears prick at my eyes.

‘Oh, right… I slept with a man last night.’

It all came rushing back. I remembered exactly what had happened.

‘I remember being upset about getting thrown into a novel, so I drank a ton to cope…’

Just a week ago, I had finally finished paying off my student loans, which had taken me four years of college—and one extra year of leave—to accumulate. All that was left in my bank account was a meager thirty thousand won.

To celebrate, I had ordered chicken to commemorate the end of my debt.

And with the last of my money, I bought and casually read a novel titled The Tycoon’s Fall and After.

The plot was about the world’s richest and most powerful man, a lonely and scarred figure, who experiences a dramatic downfall but later falls deeply in love, willing to give everything for it.

The male lead, who had never known love or companionship, fumbled through his first experience with love, throwing money around wildly in the process, and I found that quite amusing.
Little did I know, as I munched on chicken and flipped through the pages, that I would end up inside that very novel as an unnamed extra.

After downing some beer and dozing off on the couch, I woke up as Amelia Diane, the only daughter of the crumbling Diane family.

‘Of all the people to become, I ended up as someone from a family that went bankrupt from guaranteeing the wrong debts!’

The only silver lining? Amelia was incredibly beautiful.

Her light brown hair cascaded down to her waist in gentle waves, and her eyes were a stunning hazel, like an autumn field.

She had a delicate and pale appearance that made her seem fragile, despite her combat abilities. And her figure—well, it was the very definition of perfect curves.

After finally coming to terms with the fact that I had possessed Amelia’s body, I accompanied Count and Countess Diane to the bank early the next morning to figure out just how much debt the family was in and what my next steps should be.

But the debt I saw was far worse than I had anticipated. Though they said there was hope if we worked hard to pay it off…

‘To settle all of this, I’d have to work nonstop for the rest of my life, just breathing and doing nothing else.’

I returned home with a smile, but last night, I had slipped out of the crumbling Diane estate, intending to drown my sorrows in beer.

I remember downing glass after glass, but that’s about it.

“Ugh… it’s always the alcohol’s fault.”

Carefully wrapping myself in the blanket, I gingerly got out of bed. As I moved, flashes of the night before started to come back to me.

The sensation of running my fingers through a man’s dark hair, the feel of his firm shoulders and back as he moved rhythmically, like a beast.

And the words I had uttered.

“I want to hear you call me noona. Just once, please?”
Yeah, I was definitely drunk last night. I couldn’t bear the thought of facing the man from last night, so I was desperate to leave.

In the Hail Empire, ruled by a decadent emperor, it wasn’t unusual for nobles to spend a night together, even casually, without consequence.

‘Still, it’d be rude to leave without a note.’

The problem? I couldn’t remember his name. I glanced around the room, hoping for a clue, and something shiny caught my eye.
‘What’s that…?’

It was a man’s jacket, haphazardly thrown over the sofa. The golden embroidery on it looked oddly familiar.

Two fearsome beasts, standing on their hind legs, mirrored each other on a red shield. The beasts wore crowns, their sharp claws visible.

“…”

I tried to act like I hadn’t seen it and put the jacket down, but it was too late. I had already seen too much.

It was the emblem of the Childe Duke’s household, faintly engraved on the cover of The Tycoon’s Fall and After.

‘Why is this here?’

Suddenly, all my drowsiness vanished. In the novel, there was only one person who bore the Childe family crest.

Slam!

Just as I tried to convince myself it couldn’t be possible, the bathroom door opened, and a man walked out, wearing nothing but a towel around his waist.

“Oh no…”

It was obvious to anyone—he was the male lead from The Fall of the Tycoon and After.

Kylean Childe, with his jet-black hair that stayed pitch-dark even in the sunlight and those striking red eyes. The long scar running vertically across his hip confirmed his identity, just as the novel described.

“You’re awake, noona.”

He approached me with a calm smile and gently tried to help me sit up. When I couldn’t manage to get up on my own, he easily lifted me and laid me back down on the bed, pulling the blanket over me. Then, with a look of fondness, he lightly caressed my face.

‘…Noona? Has he always been this kind of character?’

Kylean Childe was a cold-hearted tycoon, someone warped by his obsession with money. And yet, here he was, the grand duke himself, using the term “noona.”

‘Wow… this is… amazing.’

I couldn’t deny it. The way he said it was unexpectedly nice, and I couldn’t help but smile a little.

But the Kylean I remembered from the novel wasn’t the type to fall head over heels for someone after just one night, let alone start calling them noona. Unless there was some backstory I wasn’t aware of…

“Why the sudden serious look? Are you in a lot of pain?”

He asked with a worried expression, wrapping his arms around my waist and holding me gently, as if genuinely concerned.

“I’m fine,” I replied as politely and stiffly as I could, pulling the blanket up to my nose.

There was a very simple reason for my behavior. I wasn’t the original female lead, and I had no chance of handling someone like Kylean Childe.

Even though I had skimmed through the book, I still vividly remembered The Fall of the Tycoon and After.

Kylean had gone through intense psychological trauma from the brutal process of choosing the heir for the Childe family. The previous duke had believed that only the strongest son capable of protecting the family’s wealth deserved to survive, so he had encouraged the brothers to poison and plot against each other.

Kylean, the youngest son, had outlasted four of his brothers by employing “that method” and was the only one left standing.
Perhaps that was why he grew up so cynical.

People worshipped his wealth, treating him like a god, but no one ever approached him as a fellow human being. Unable to bear the looks of envy and contempt any longer, he threw himself off a cliff, but somehow, even the gods seemed to abandon him, because he survived.

Though people feared him more after that, they couldn’t help but despise him, praising his fortune while secretly calling him “the Monster Duke.”

All of this pushed him to the edge.

In the novel, Kylean eventually went mad and used his immense wealth to start a war—not just against the empire, but the entire world. It was his way of making everyone who had worshipped money suffer the consequences. The war he started claimed countless lives, and even the distant empires across the seas fell into ruin.

Yeah. There was no way I could handle someone like him.
Comforting the male lead on his path to destruction was a job for the original heroine, not for someone like me who didn’t even have the guts to run for class president.
Groaning, I forced myself to sit up and spoke firmly but politely.

“I don’t remember much from last night, but I had a good time. Since it’s morning now, I should probably head out so I don’t take up more of your time.”

Considering that Kylean was someone who had become disillusioned with relationships to the point of starting a war, I knew it wouldn’t be smart to act too cold or distant. I just wanted to keep things friendly, but for some reason, his lips curved into a playful smile.

“That’s strange. You kept telling me how much you liked it last night.”

“…I said I liked you?”

“Yeah, and I said I liked it too. You even said you liked what I was doing—especially when I got a bit rou—”

“Stop!” I quickly cut him off before he could say any more, my face burning with embarrassment. I desperately wanted to get out of there, but he didn’t seem in any rush to let me go, his eyes locked onto mine.

Right, he’s still the male lead. And wow, is he ridiculously good-looking. Probably the most handsome guy in this entire world.

His eyes were like pomegranate seeds, sweet and bright, and the way they reflected only me made my heart skip a beat. His sharp gaze, which could have been intimidating, was softened by the way his eyes crinkled when he smiled.

His nose and jawline were as straight and sculpted as those of the most famous actors. Yet his prominent Adam’s apple gave him an air of masculinity.

And his body… he had the kind of muscular physique that could put professional male models to shame. How could someone be so pure and yet so seductive at the same time?

‘I won’t see him again, so I guess it wouldn’t hurt to enjoy the view for a bit longer.’

As my eyes wandered over him, I heard a soft chuckle.
“Ah, now you’re looking at me like you did last night,” Kylean said, clearly amused. That’s when it hit me—I had been staring at him for quite a while.

“Ahem…”

“Why such a change overnight, noona?”

“Um, by the way, why do you keep calling me noona?”

Kylean responded as if reminding me of my own drunken behavior.

“Didn’t you say you wanted to hear it? You told me that twenty-three was the perfect age and that you’d love it if I called you noona.”

Twenty-three… Yeah, it’s a good age.

But then, I remembered the timeline from The Fall of the Tycoon and After.

Kylean was twenty-five when he started down the path to ruin. He met the original heroine around his twenty-sixth birthday.
He even called her “the gift” in his life.

That meant there were only two years left until his tragic ending.

Which meant I had only one option.

‘Run. And fast.’

If I got tangled up with this ticking time bomb, my second life as Amelia Diane would be over before it even began.

Getting involved with the man responsible for starting a war that led to mass destruction? That was a guaranteed ticket to hell.

Not to mention the mountain of debt the Diane family already had—I couldn’t afford to add a catastrophic male lead to my problems.

“It was nice meeting you, but I really should get going now.”

“Are you sure? You really think this is the first time we’ve met?”

“What?”

“I don’t think so.”

His playful tone caught me off guard, and I was too stunned to respond. Sensing my confusion, Kylean smoothly shifted the conversation.

“Earlier, you said you don’t remember anything from last night?”
“I was drunk… I don’t remember a thing.”

Kylean’s expression darkened, clearly displeased with my response.

To make sure he didn’t cling to me any longer, I decided to drop a bombshell that would hopefully make him lose interest.
Sure, there might be consequences, but that was better than being dragged to hell with him.

“I have something to confess, Your Grace.”

Steeling myself, I uttered the words that would most likely anger him.

“I approached you for your money.”

“…And?”

“You’re Kylean Childe—the richest family in the world.”

Despite my frantic explanation, Kylean simply moved closer, his face mere inches from mine.

“…I told you, I only liked you for your money!”

“Is that so? Well, I have plenty of money. So, does that mean you like me a lot?”

“Um? Isn’t that supposed to make you feel… insulted?”

“You like money. That just means I need to make more.”

Kylean locked eyes with me for a moment, then wrapped his arm around my waist.

“And right now, noona, you’re incredibly sexy.”

“…!”

“Besides my money, what else do you like about me? Yesterday, it seemed like you were quite fond of my face and body too.”

Flustered beyond words, I averted my gaze. But the “doomed male lead” leaned in, briefly taking my earlobe into his mouth, giving it a light lick before whispering.

“We started like this yesterday too. If you don’t remember, is it okay if I remind you a little more?”