Chapter 001
Personality is Destiny!
Personality is destiny.
If that saying is true, it makes sense why Roanne Eleanor Heartwood’s life changed at a certain moment.
“My Lady! Lady Roanne has opened her eyes!”
The maid’s loud shout struck her ears. Roanne opened her eyes dizzily and looked around.
‘What is this? I clearly…….’
She had originally been living alone in a one-room basement, barely making ends meet through grueling part-time jobs. Her last memory as a lonely orphan with no one to lean on, abandoned by both parents, was a truck’s headlights approaching terrifyingly close on her way home from work.
‘The truck… it seemed so close…….’
On that dark night, on that deserted road, a drowsy driver’s truck seemed to be racing terrifyingly without slowing down. Her last memory as she headed home, dazed and engulfed in fatigue, was the truck approaching with a tremendous roar.
‘With that, I must have been hit…….’
While she was lost in thought, several people suddenly burst into the room along with the maids.
“Roanne!”
“You’ve finally opened your eyes, Roanne!”
Roanne? Are they calling me?
She slowly looked around. Then she examined those who had approached her bedside. A soft, cozy bed, and a spacious, pleasant room. It was a splendid environment that her original self could never have imagined. Furthermore…….
“Do you know how much your father worried!”
A father for her, who had no parents. This was truly unrealistic. A slight frown formed on the forehead of the girl who now occupied Roanne’s body.
‘Let’s see, this situation is…….’
She observed the middle-aged man looking at her with pitying eyes. The man, dressed in respectable medieval-style clothing, looked like a nobleman from a painting.
And behind him was a woman staring at her while shedding droplets of tears. The woman, who looked to be around the same age as her father, was pretending to wipe away tears, but her sharp gaze seemed to be scanning Roanne’s condition strangely.
“Roanne, my heart felt like it was burning with worry for you too!”
As she stared blankly, the woman who had been pretending to wipe away tears spread her arms and cried out.
‘What is this, a play?’
Roanne was revolted and looked at the two men and women watching her with bated breath from behind the woman. They had hair colors similar to the woman’s and faces that looked quite alike; they seemed to be siblings.
“Sister, why did you do that?”
“Noona, don’t ever do that again!”
Roanne’s lips curled into a smile.
‘Look at this.’
A swarm of family members she never had in her original destiny had suddenly appeared.
* * *
Roanne Eleanor Heartwood.
She was the eldest daughter of the Viscount Heartwood family and the only child of his deceased first wife. Roanne had become like Cinderella in a fairy tale, living with a stepmother since childhood and two step-siblings she had brought with her.
Despite the stepmother’s mistreatment and the step-siblings’ bullying, Roanne barely endured life at the viscount’s estate, relying solely on her father’s love.
However, that was her delusion. Her stepmother, who wanted to get rid of the grown girl quickly, had forced a marriage upon her with an absurd suitor.
‘In that process, the person called my father must have only listened to the stepmother.’
Lying long on the bed, Roanne put a piece of fruit placed on the side table into her mouth. Since her body was uncomfortable, the maids brought snacks and meals directly to her room at the right times to serve her. And as she quietly observed and grasped the situation, she organized the facts she had discovered so far.
Alexis Adrian Glister.
The second son of the Count Glister family and their only troublemaker. It seemed he was the one she was engaged to. Unlike the upright eldest son, he had caused all sorts of riots and trouble since childhood, making him someone the family had practically given up on.
The only thing he had to boast about was being of the Glister Count’s bloodline, but since the family loathed the second son, even that couldn’t be claimed as a special halo.
A scoundrel who had dabbled in everything that could cause problems—alcohol, violence, women—he was a match that no father, no matter how humble the family, would ever offer his daughter as a spouse. And yet, she had been shoved into that spot.
‘I don’t know how she persuaded him, but…….’
Her father, Viscount Heartwood, seemed to cherish her on the surface, but he appeared to be even more swayed by her stepmother. He was too unreliable for her to trust and navigate her life here.
‘애초에 트럭에 치여 죽은 것 같은데, 대체 왜 이렇게 됐는지도 모르겠고.’
For now, she had to accept that she was Roanne Eleanor Heartwood. And as soon as she accepted it cleanly, she could feel the ‘real Roanne’ completely leaving her body with a sigh of relief.
The ‘real Roanne’ had shuddered and thrown off this life without any lingering regret, departing for the world beyond. And in that place, she, who was full of a desire for life, had taken up residence like this.
‘It’s not that I don’t understand.’
She let out a faint sigh after grasping the ‘real Roanne’s’ current situation. The ‘real Roanne,’ who was set to marry the famous scoundrel of the Glister family, seemed to have loathed that fact to the point of trembling.
She had been forced to attend a meeting between the families, and even there, Alexis appeared drenched in alcohol and covered in blood.
-What. Are you the one marrying me?
How much he had been beaten or punched, his face was so covered in blood and swollen that it was impossible to even recognize what he actually looked like.
The moment he giggled in that state and reached out his hand to Roanne, she fainted. And when the ‘real Roanne’ regained consciousness a long time later, she clung to her father, crying and pleading.
-This marriage, please just take back this marriage! Please, Father!
However, Viscount Heartwood did not seem to listen to his eldest daughter’s request. The marriage continued to proceed steadily regardless of her will.
Eventually, unable to take it anymore, the ‘real Roanne’ attempted to elope at night with a childhood friend she had known for a long time. But even that did not help Roanne’s fate.
-Sorry, Roanne.
Roanne, who had all the jewelry belonging to her biological mother stolen—which she had brought for the elopement—could only be in utter despair. Her childhood friend, the man she had liked for a long time, took the jewelry Roanne had brought and abandoned her in the middle of nowhere.
-You can just go into the Glister Count’s family and live comfortably.
Having lost all her mother’s jewelry and been abandoned by the man she trusted, Roanne ended up wandering aimlessly and threw herself into the river. Fortunately, her life was saved by a passerby, and she returned to the Viscount Heartwood estate like this to be nursed.
‘It must have been a trial hard to bear for a viscount’s daughter who grew up sheltered.’
Roanne—the one who had now occupied Roanne’s body—sprang up from the bed and stood in front of the mirror.
Abundant golden-brown hair, large sparkling blue eyes, a pale complexion… she still looked sickly, and at a glance, like someone terrified.
‘Roanne.’
Roanne looked at herself in the mirror and reached out her hand. And she quietly leaned her forehead against the cold surface of the mirror. The soul had already left without regret, and only the remaining shell conveyed the cold temperature of the mirror.
‘I will try to survive somehow.’
The desire for life that she had never let go of, even when she lived alone in a single room without parents. Perhaps that is why her will to live and Roanne’s soul met at a strange point in time, resulting in this.
Roanne threw her body and life to her as if brushing it off and left completely. And she, standing in the form of Roanne, had no intention of giving up, no matter what position she stayed in.
No matter how difficult things were, she wanted to live. She was happy when she ate delicious food, and if there was a staff dinner at the store where she worked, she felt good all day. To such a person, Roanne’s current life was nothing short of luxurious. She could never give up on anything.
* * *
“I will get married.”
During a quiet and gloomy dinner, Roanne suddenly spoke. Probably, a dinner without her would be more lively than this. When Roanne broke the silence and spoke, the eyes of the family members who were eating in silence widened as they turned to her.
“Roanne!”
Her stepmother was the first to cry out.
“How did you come up with such a wonderful thought!”
Because you’re in a mood to kick me out anyway, whether by forcing me to marry or using some other method. It’s hard to beat someone with a negative obsession. Besides, she hadn’t yet properly adjusted to her current life. In times like this, it was wise to take a step back.
Roanne looked at her stepmother and grinned.
