〈001〉
One day, an invitation arrived for me.
“A ball is going to be held at the Winchester Count’s estate.”
My mother beamed as she handed me the invitation, and I was reminded once again of my existence’s role.
An extra, meant to decorate the radiant moments of the main characters.
“It’s been so long since the Camellia Mansion opened its doors. Wasn’t it last used for the former Duchess Winchester’s funeral? That would make it two years ago?”
My mother seemed to be searching her memory, but I had no idea. It had only been less than half a year since I woke up in the body of a side character in a novel, playing the role of her daughter.
“I never thought I’d find myself in a story like this…”
I let out a small sigh that my mother wouldn’t notice. At first, I was shocked, unable to accept the situation. My family, hearing my strange words, attributed them to aftereffects from a carriage accident and worried about me.
While being forcibly nursed in bed for a few days, I was finally able to grasp the situation. I had fallen into a strange world and had become the third daughter of Baron Pomots.
It took a bit longer to realize this world was from the novel The Sun of Tantilia. That’s because nothing had happened yet—the protagonists were still in their childhood.
“I wonder if I’ll get to see the heroine if I go to the Winchester estate?”
I thought of the female lead, Danielle de Winchester. Like a camellia blooming in the dead of winter, Danielle’s delicate beauty stood out—but her life was as harsh as the season.
Her childhood was marked by her father’s neglect and stepmother’s abuse. And as soon as she came of age, she was married off like property with a dowry—only for the marriage to become a tragedy. Her husband was a complete womanizer, and her married life was miserable.
It was the male lead who saved her in a moment when she nearly died because of her husband. Even after meeting her true love, Danielle’s life remained difficult. Her insane womanizing husband refused to let her go, and the male lead’s noble family fiercely opposed their relationship.
“Still, at least she does divorce that scoundrel and ends up with a happy ending, thank goodness.”
In any case, this world was the novel The Sun of Tantilia, and I was just an extra. It wasn’t hard to figure out what role I had been given.
All I had to do was look in the mirror.
Brown hair, brown eyes, a plain face—extra written all over me!
One look in the mirror and I understood perfectly. The subtly high yet unimpressive status of a baron’s daughter, the bland family name “Pomots,” and my own name “Naeri”—which felt hastily made-up—screamed background character.
“Should I buy a dress?”
“A dress for one ball? Just wear what you have.”
“But you never know, right?”
“Know what?”
“Oh, you! The Count of Winchester is still single, isn’t he? Why else would he suddenly open up that house and host a ball with no lady of the house? Obviously, he’s looking for a bride!”
My mother raised her voice in excitement.
“He does have a child, but there’s no better marriage prospect in the empire than Count Winchester. The family’s prestigious, they’re wealthy, and the count himself is one of the few sword masters in the empire. Plus, he’s very handsome!”
“Why would a man like that marry someone like me?”
“……”
With just that one sentence, my mother’s excitement deflated completely.
“You—you’re quite pretty when you dress up!”
“Still, why would the wealthy, handsome Count of Winchester, from such a good family, marry me—someone who’s just pretty with maximum effort?”
“…Must be because you take after your father…”
My mother muttered bitterly, still clinging to her fantasy. People often said she and my father looked so much alike they could be siblings. What did it matter who I resembled? They say couples who look alike live well together, and seeing how they’re still a loving older woman-younger man couple, I guess it worked out.
A gentle father and mother, a dignified older brother and his wife, a chatty sister and her quiet husband, a grumpy-but-sweet teenage younger brother, and adorable nieces and nephews.
The Pomots—this warm, bustling extended family—was the first real family I’d ever had as an orphan.
“So, you don’t want to go?”
“No, I’ll go.”
I shook my head. I had no ambitions of catching the Count’s eye and marrying him. I just wanted to see Danielle.
She probably wouldn’t be the composed and delicate yet strong version I knew. But I had rooted for her as I read the novel—watching her hold on to hope through hellish circumstances and protect her love amid countless trials—so I really wanted to meet her in person.
“If I stay here, will the events of the novel really start happening for real?”
The reality before me still felt vaguely surreal.
* * *
“This house feels… odd somehow…”
As soon as I stepped out of the carriage, the Winchester estate—also known as the Camellia Mansion—came into view. It was grand and magnificent, yet there was an eerie air about it. The trees in the garden were neatly trimmed, but the dry fountain and the vines strangling the distant trees stood out.
It felt like the mansion had been hastily cleaned up and rearranged just enough to invite people in.
The first floor, where the ball was being held, was brightly lit, but in contrast, all the lights on the second floor were off, which only added to the unsettling feeling.
“Will Danielle be at the party?”
I murmured to myself, though I knew the chances were slim. If it were a tea party for noble ladies, a private dinner, or a gathering for young heirs and heiresses, maybe. But at a large event like this, a young Danielle who hadn’t even debuted wouldn’t be allowed to attend.
In the novel, her stepmother considered it a waste to spend money on Danielle and postponed her debut over and over, eventually lumping it together with her coming-of-age ceremony. That’s where the scoundrel ex-husband first laid eyes on her—he had just enough sense to recognize beauty.
“Still, she’s probably somewhere in the house, right?”
Feeling like a solo fan going to a private fan meeting, I stepped into the mansion.
“Wow~ Rich counts really are different.”
That was my first thought as I entered Camellia Hall, where the ball was held. Unlike the outside, which felt like it had been put together in a rush, the hall was beautifully decorated.
A massive chandelier, glittering lights, music from a live orchestra, and elegantly dressed people created a breathtaking scene before my eyes.
“……”
Yeah. It looked breathtaking. But that was it. No one spoke to me or acknowledged me. It was as if no one even noticed I had arrived.
“Well, that’s how it is for extras with zero presence.”
I shrugged and went off on my own, found a servant to take my coat, and started wandering around for food and drinks.
“Wow~ The food really is delicious.”
As expected from the wealthy Winchester estate, the food was amazing. I didn’t know much about alcohol, but the sweet scent was nice too. Maybe it tasted better because I’d been starving since lunch—thanks to my mother, who made me skip meals in the name of keeping my dress figure flattering.
“Did you hear the news, Baroness?”
“What news?”
While enjoying a solo meal in a quiet corner of the ballroom, I overheard hushed whispers. They probably thought they were being discreet, unaware that I was right next to them.
“Yep. Still the invisible extra.”
That was something I’d realized over the past two months. “Naeri de Pomots,” the brown-haired, brown-eyed extra, was so ordinary that even her presence faded. If I quietly stood behind a table like now, people wouldn’t even notice I was there.
Ironically, that had also been the case in my real life. Ranked 12th in my class. Never class president or vice president. A biology major from a university no one had really heard of. Just another glasses-wearing, ordinary girl.
That had been the real me.
“They say the tutor for the Aitley Count’s family changed again?”
The Aitley family? That was the house of Danielle’s scoundrel ex-husband.
Hearing a familiar name snapped me out of my daze.
My current reality was this: I was now Naeri de Pomots, a baron’s daughter wearing a lacy dress that looked like something out of a painting, invited to a count’s ball—an extra in a story world.
