When I Quit Being A Wicked Mother-in-law, Everyone Became Obsessed With Me - Chapter 1
Anriche quietly moved forward.
In the distance, a young boy was seen sprawled out on the sofa.
‘Oh, so cute!’
As Anriche gazed at the boy’s round, black head, she held her heart tightly to avoid making any noise.
The boy’s eyes, fixed on the illustrations in the storybook, were a transparent purple.
His rosy, chubby cheeks wobbled as he turned the pages.
‘I want to touch his hair! I want to pat his cheeks! Just once would be enough…!’
Anriche, who had been lost in her thoughts, suddenly snapped back to reality.
Ah, no.
I can’t just stand here at a distance, gushing over him and then go home like this!
Clearing her throat, she carefully opened her mouth.
“Um, Elliot?”
At that, the boy was startled and jumped to his feet.
Seeing him clearly on guard, Anriche internally shed tears of blood.
‘No, how badly did I treat him before for him to be this scared of me?’
But she couldn’t live forever hated by her own son, could she?
Gathering her resolve, Anriche forced a smile, lifting the corners of her mouth.
“Elliot, would you like to go for a walk with Mom?”
“Uh, um, Mother….”
The boy, Elliot, began to tremble with his voice.
His purple eyes, quickly filling with tears, were brimming with fear towards her.
“Did I do something wrong?”
“Huh? No, why would you say that?”
“Please tell me if I did something wrong; I’ll fix it all.”
The child spoke while shivering, and soon tears began to stream down his chubby cheeks.
Wh-what did I do?
Flustered, Anriche stared blankly at Elliot.
“So please don’t act so scary…”
Elliot’s face was truly filled with fear.
Why are you crying over there?
In an attempt to comfort the crying child, Anriche hurriedly took a step forward.
“No, it’s not that!”
“Waaah!”
However, as Elliot watched her approach, he suddenly burst into loud sobs.
What should I do?
As Anriche anxiously looked around, a man strode into the living room.
“What’s wrong, Elliot?”
The man gently picked Elliot up in his arms.
In that moment, Anriche forgot her confusion and was mesmerized by the man’s beauty.
‘Wow…’
She had already encountered the man a couple of times, but she just couldn’t get used to his looks.
He was the kind of man for whom the cliché description of “stunningly beautiful” fit perfectly.
With jet-black hair and eyes bluer than sapphires.
Smooth skin and a towering height.
And a solid, lean physique reminiscent of a wild beast…
It was a stroke of luck to inherit such superior genes from a father like him to have a cute child like Elliot.
That was the honest feeling Anriche had when she first met the man.
“Daddy!”
With a tear-streaked face, Elliot clung to his father’s neck.
‘At least it’s a good thing that his father can comfort him well…’
Anriche watched with a pained expression as Elliot buried his head in his father’s embrace.
“Daddy… Hic, Daddy!”
“It’s okay.”
Seeing the child gasping for breath was quite pitiful.
The man, gently soothing Elliot, slowly lifted his head and glared at Anriche.
His sapphire-blue eyes were sharp, like broken shards of glass.
“Did you say it was bothersome again?”
“Wha—?”
What kind of nonsense is this?
Anriche widened her eyes in disbelief.
But the man continued with a voice as cold as the wind.
“Regardless, it’s your child; how about showing him a little love?”
No, it’s not that I don’t want to love him!
Unable to voice her protests, Anriche could only bite her lips in frustration.
The man, holding Elliot close, turned away from her and left without a second glance.
Anriche stared blankly at his retreating figure, feeling a surge of anger inside.
‘No, why did I have to become the “evil mother-in-law” among so many characters!!’
***
Now, here’s a question.
If you woke up one day and found yourself possessed by the “evil mother-in-law” from a novel you read the previous day, and on top of that, you had already earned the hatred of your son and husband…
What would you do in such a situation?
“Haah.”
Anriche let out a long sigh and slumped into the vanity chair.
“Seriously, if that’s the case, why couldn’t they have just possessed me before the wedding!”
Unable to contain her irritation, Anriche thrashed around.
I’m already hated; what do they expect me to do!!
Anriche von Balua.
She was the “evil mother-in-law” from the romance fantasy novel A Lily in Your Arms.
Born into the noble Saxon Marquis family, Anriche was the very epitome of “arrogance.”
She was born into a good family and was beautiful in appearance.
That meant she had lived her life believing she was the most noble person in the world.
Her sense of superiority over others was so strong that her subordinates were hardly seen as people.
She only interacted with high-ranking nobles, whom she considered to be on the “same level.”
And Anriche’s selfish behavior inevitably provoked disgust among people.
This included her husband, “Alexei von Balua,” the father of the male lead.
‘Is there really any need to humiliate a commoner so personally?’
‘So what? They’re just commoners and servants, after all.’
At that time, Anriche had asked back with a genuinely puzzled expression.
‘Does the Duke treat objects like shoes, dresses, and hats with personal consideration?’
‘…….’
In the novel, it was thoroughly documented how shocked Alexei was to hear that response.
Yet Anriche still wished to bear Alexei’s child.
Her obsession with being intimate was so intense that one day, Alexei asked Anriche, “Why do you want to have a child?”
“Well, obviously, it’s to be recognized as the mistress of Balua.”
That answer was also a masterpiece.
There was no way Anriche would love the son she had given birth to.
She left her son in the care of a nanny and ignored household duties, indulging only in luxury.
When her young son walked toward her, looking for his mother, Anriche frowned and roughly pushed the child away.
‘Why are you clinging to me? So annoying, really!’
Well, looking back at Anriche’s actions in the original story…
I can somewhat understand why Elliot had such a fit earlier.
With a sigh, Anriche nodded.
In any case, to conclude, the growing Elliot becomes the male lead in A Lily in Your Arms.
And Anriche, now a mother-in-law, sees the heroine “Liliana,” who is described as a “lily,” as a thorn in her side and torments her…
‘Ultimately, unable to endure her evil deeds, the members of the Balua family will end up banishing Anriche.’
However, if being banished were the only consequence, Anriche wouldn’t have earned the label of “villainess.”
After that, Anriche would remain oblivious, plotting various schemes, and would push Liliana to the brink of death.
Thus, Anriche would be executed by the enraged family, and Elliot and Liliana would confirm their feelings for each other.
And they all lived happily ever after.
…That’s the conclusion of the novel.
“Ahh, I don’t want to be banished or die!”
Anriche had a fit.
Moreover, Elliot and Liliana were the couple she liked most in the story!
Being banished in the ending for my favorite couple? No! No way!
As Anriche thrashed about like a squid being grilled over a fire, a thought suddenly struck her.
‘…Wait a minute.’
In that instant, her purple eyes glinted sharply.
Rising slowly, Anriche fell deep into thought.
‘Then what about Liliana?’
Elliot was now seven years old.
That means he had already accumulated seven years of dislike.
But Liliana was different.
‘Because I haven’t even seen a single strand of her hair yet!’
In the story, Alexei and Elliot would naturally come to cherish and love Liliana.
So what if she could win over Liliana, who hadn’t yet accrued any dislike against her?
‘Father, dear… I don’t think mother is as bad as you say…’
If Liliana were to say this with tears welling in her eyes…!
Then I would gain the most powerful ally in this story!
A look of joy spread across Anriche’s face.
‘Wow, this is like killing two birds with one stone!’
I could score points with my favorite heroine and improve my relationship with my family!
I must be a genius!
She sprang up from her seat and started to tidy her luxurious dark brown hair that had fallen over her shoulders.
She took a hat and a thin outer garment out of the wardrobe and neatly tied the ribbon on the hat.
Finally, her purple eyes, inspecting her outfit, shone with determination like never before.
‘Our Liliana, your mother-in-law is coming to get you now!’
Anriche clenched her fists.
Her purple eyes now glimmered with madness.
I will never torment you.
No, I will treat you better than anyone else!
So, you must speak of me as positively as possible to my husband and son. Got it?