Amid the blossoming of spring, with birdsong filling the air, a blonde-haired child with soft brown eyes was born. She was a sweet little girl, named Ivy Whitmore
Her dad had a childhood friend, and their bond was so strong they swore one day their children would be married
But Ivy didn't like that idea. She wanted to marry someone she truly loved, not be bound to a person she didn't care for, and spend her life with someone she couldn't bring herself to like.
But her father's friend's son, the very one she had been promised to, liked her far too much. He followed her everywhere like a dog, and worse, he was arrogant and cruel. Whenever another man so much as approached Ivy, he would flare up in anger and cause a scene.
Ivy despised him.
Then one day, she encountered a young man who sported bright orange hair and warm brown eyes. His name was Alex Crystal, and Ivy fell for him at first sight.
When her childhood friend discovered this, jealousy consumed him. He tried everything to drive Ivy and Alex apart, scheming and intervening with their relationship.
And in the end, he lost. His jealousy cost him everything, and everyone.
The childhood friend's name was Nasa Winterheart.
"And that's the story." Allen said.
He ended up getting reincarnated into the worst romance novel called "The Garden of Our Love"
Two years back, Allen was looking for something to read when he found the novel.
It had 500 chapters. The romance was terrible, but Allen read them all. Why? Due to the action, world-building, lore, and magic. If the author had written an action-fantasy novel rather than a terrible romance, he would have been a legend.
And now everything made sense why the maids fled as soon as they saw him.
In the novel, Nasa Winterheart was spoiled, rude, obsessive, everything a villain was. And worst of all, Allen had been reincarnated as him.
Allen did not mind, though, that he was the ruthless side villain. He did not care about anything except for money.
The Winterheart family ranked among the top 50 richest families, so Allen figured he could just sit back and enjoy a life of comfort.
"This is wonderful. I don't have to lift a finger," Allen sneered.
CLANGโCLANG! BOOM!
A loud explosion came from outside, Allen got up and looked out the window and saw the knights training.
He saw the corpse of a monster lying on the ground motionless, bones poking out of the skin and blood leaking out, staining the ground red.
"You know what? Forget what I just said," Allen grinned with a twisted smile.
๐๐ฉ๐ช๐ด ๐ญ๐ฐ๐ฐ๐ฌ๐ด ๐ด๐ฐ ๐ค๐ฐ๐ฐ๐ญ. ๐ ๐ฉ๐ข๐ฅ๐ฏ'๐ต ๐ฏ๐ฐ๐ต๐ช๐ค๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ช๐ต ๐ฃ๐ฆ๐ง๐ฐ๐ณ๐ฆ, ๐ฃ๐ถ๐ต ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ธ๐ข๐บ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐บ ๐ฎ๐ฐ๐ท๐ฆ, ๐ฆ๐ข๐ค๐ฉ ๐ด๐ธ๐ฐ๐ณ๐ฅ ๐ด๐ต๐ณ๐ช๐ฌ๐ฆ, ๐ช๐ต'๐ด ๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ด๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ช๐ป๐ช๐ฏ๐จ, ๐ข๐ญ๐ฎ๐ฐ๐ด๐ต ๐ญ๐ช๐ฌ๐ฆ ๐ธ๐ข๐ต๐ค๐ฉ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ข ๐ธ๐ฐ๐ณ๐ฌ ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ข๐ณ๐ต ๐ช๐ฏ ๐ฎ๐ฐ๐ต๐ช๐ฐ๐ฏ.
๐ ๐ฆ๐ตโฆ ๐ ๐ค๐ข๐ฏ'๐ต ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ญ๐ฑ ๐ฃ๐ถ๐ต ๐ธ๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ธ๐ฉ๐ข๐ต ๐ช๐ต ๐ง๐ฆ๐ฆ๐ญ๐ด ๐ญ๐ช๐ฌ๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ฑ๐ช๐ฆ๐ณ๐ค๐ฆ ๐ข ๐ญ๐ช๐ท๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ฃ๐ฆ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ.
Allen grinned, spun around to head for his bed, but he fell and kissed the floor instead.
He lifted himself up, sat down on the bed, and clenched his fists, deciding to practice his swordsmanship no matter what.
"I'm a genius! How hard can swinging a sword be?" Allen boasted, blood trickling from his nose as he spoke.
Later in the evening, he sneaked out of the window and made for the training ground.
The scent of blood still lingered in the air.
Allen picked up a wooden sword lying in the corner of the ground. He swung it awkwardly at first, trying to mimic the knights, replaying their forms in his mind.
He recalled each movement with accuracy but still he kept falling, as if his body refused to follow what his mind knew.
But he didn't give up, practicing for three hours straight. In the end, exhausted, he gave up and went to bed.
The next morning, Allen thought about going to the library.
"Excuse me, could you tell me where the library is?" he asked a nearby maid.
"Ahโฆ at the end of the hallway, young master," the maid stuttered.
๐๐ถ๐ด๐ต ๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ธ ๐ฎ๐ถ๐ค๐ฉ ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ข๐ฏ ๐ข๐ด๐ด๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ญ๐ฆ ๐ธ๐ข๐ด ๐๐ข๐ด๐ข ๐๐ช๐ฏ๐ต๐ฆ๐ณ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ข๐ณ๐ต ๐ง๐ฐ๐ณ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฎ๐ข๐ช๐ฅ๐ด ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ฃ๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ช๐ด ๐ต๐ฆ๐ณ๐ณ๐ช๐ง๐ช๐ฆ๐ฅ?
Allen came to the library shortly after, and he was amazed. It had rows and rows of shelves, filled to the brim with books. It was paradise for any bookworm.
Like a child who has discovered a treasure, Allen dashed between the shelves, laying his hand on every book he could reach.
He grabbed more books than he could carry, flipping through each one with a grin that made him look like a complete moron. But for the first time in years, he felt at peace reading, no parents yelling, no classmates punching him. It's just him and silence.
After an hour, he finally understood the answer, it turns out you need muscles to perform Sword Arts.
"Sword arts?" Allen muttered in confusion.
Allen turned another book over to discover what Sword Arts was.
Sword arts weren't just techniques, they were philosophies passed down by legends, masters, and through family lines. Each art shaped the aura, stance, and style of the person wielding it.
In order to use Sword Arts, you need the strength to control them, without it, your body will tear itself apart until you can't move anymore.
"Hmm, I see. so basically it's just a sword fighting style. Guess I'll have to exercise and put on some muscle first," Allen muttered.
Allen right now was so skinny that a strong gust of wind could probably blow him away.
Later that night, he slipped out of the window.
He walked to the training field with a book entitled "How to Build Muscle in 1 Month."
Allen began with the simplest exercises, clumsy at first but determined. Each movement strained his weak arms, each breath thicker as he pushed himself further.
Hours passed. His body trembled, sweat soaking through his clothes. When he tried the advanced forms, pain tore through his muscles, his vision blurred, and a faint taste of iron filled his mouth. Blood trickled down his lip.
The book made it look effortless, but for someone as scrawny as him, it was torture disguised as training.
The book instructed him to do:
Standard Plank for 10 minutes
Bicycle Crunches 40 reps per side.
Scissor Kicks for 20 minutes
Side-to-Side Toe Touches 100 reps per side.
Mountain Climbers for 3 minutes
Jumping Jacks 10 minutes
Sit-Up 100 sets
By the end of the day, exhaustion weighed on him. He called it a night, went back to his room, and drifted into sleep the moment his head touched the pillow.