Chapter:01
00. Nain’s Return
Nain was the second of four siblings—one boy and three girls.
The eldest sister was a money-hungry woman who enjoyed a wild life.
The youngest sister flirted with men even before becoming an adult.
The only sibling with a similar personality to Nain was her younger brother, who was still very young.
Her father was a gambling addict who didn’t care about the family.
With a father who was practically absent, the family was completely the mother’s responsibility.
To support the family, her mother had to work.
Having never worked outside before, the mother gradually became irritable.
As her temper worsened, the siblings started spending more time outside the house.
The little brother was often left at the neighbor’s house, and Nain’s sisters quickly went down the wrong path.
Even as adults, her sisters couldn’t give up their habits of luxury, pleasure, and seducing men.
Unlike her sisters, Nain matured early.
Due to their poor situation, she started earning money before she became an adult.
She quickly became her mother’s pride.
But that only lasted a year or two. It didn’t last long.
Her mother started seeing Nain as a money bag.
When Nain’s income became higher than her mother’s, her mother quit her job.
Nain officially became the head of the family.
Her work was seen as something she had to do for everyone.
Since no one else in the family worked or helped, Nain never had a break.
Then one day, her eldest sister caused a huge problem.
She spent all the family’s money and even borrowed from loan sharks.
Nain had to pay off all that debt.
She grew more and more exhausted every day.
She wanted to run away.
Then, her youngest sister came home suddenly—pregnant.
The man was a successful merchant.
Even though he was more than twelve years older, he truly loved her sister.
They decided to marry, and of course, Nain was expected to pay for the wedding.
She worked day and night to gather money and finally married her sister off.
She thought she could finally rest.
But she didn’t even get a moment of peace.
Her eldest sister brought more debt again.
Nain couldn’t take it anymore.
“I can’t pay your debt anymore! You need to work too!”
That was her final outburst after sacrificing herself for her family.
Her eldest sister was furious at Nain’s words and tattled everything to their parents.
The next day, Nain was beaten to death by her father.
Just for daring to talk back to the eldest daughter of the house.
Nain died at the hands of the very family she trusted—her father.
* * *
“Gasp!”
At dawn, as the morning light faintly rose, Nain sat up with a short cry.
“I… I died! By Father’s hand…!”
Her whole body trembled as she grabbed the blanket with both hands.
Her heart was racing madly, and her breathing was rough. Her body kept shaking.
She touched her face with trembling hands and carefully checked her upper body.
There was no blood-soaked body.
Only the texture of old, dry clothes.
There wasn’t a single wound or bloodstain.
Only then did she realize she was unharmed.
Nain was alive.
“Was it a dream? A terrible nightmare?”
But the memory of her death was too vivid to be a dream.
It was as if it had been engraved in her brain.
“…A nightmare? Can a nightmare feel this real?”
She curled up and lay on her side, feeling the rough texture of the old blanket on her cheek.
“No, it wasn’t a nightmare. I really did die. And I came back to the past!”
She instinctively knew that her death was real.
She was sure this wasn’t a dream.
Nain had definitely died.
And now, she was alive.
She had returned to the past.
It was strange.
But instead of joy, she was filled with the fear and pain of death.
“It hurts… It hurt so much.”
Finally, tears welled up in her dry eyes.
She sobbed quietly.
The vivid memory of her death overwhelmed her.
After crying for a while, she stumbled out of bed.
She looked around the small room.
It was the same room from her memory.
A small, old room where sunlight barely reached.
It was her only place of comfort.
Out of habit, she straightened the messy blanket.
She shook the old bedding clean and neatly placed it on the bed, then sat on it weakly.
For a while, she just stayed there, unmoving.
Then she slowly got up and opened the door.
Near the bed in the empty room was a small table with an old book on it.
The title of the book was .
It was an old romance novel with a faded cover.
It was the only luxury Nain had bought with her childhood allowance and her favorite book.
Below the table, a newspaper had fallen.
The front page of yesterday’s paper had a big headline.
[The worst villainess in history! Committed another crime…]
The hallway leading to the bathroom looked just like she remembered.
It was quiet and dark.
No one in the family seemed to be awake.
At this early hour, the only one up was probably Nain.
She entered the bathroom, washed her face, and looked in the old mirror.
A woman in her mid-twenties appeared in the mirror.
Brown hair, brown eyes.
A plain face with a tired expression.
When Nain smiled a little, the woman in the mirror smiled back.
A weak, faint smile.
She slowly stepped away from the mirror.
The woman in the mirror also faded away.
Her reflection changed—her dry brown hair turned snowy white,
and her eyes turned ruby red.
She had become a beautiful woman.
But Nain didn’t notice the change in the mirror.
By the time she left the bathroom, the image had completely vanished.
Out of habit, she got ready for work.
She walked quickly and left the house.
Everything was quiet.
It was too early for anyone else to be awake.
Nain was used to this time of day.
A short, bitter laugh escaped her lips.
Despite what had happened, she was still getting ready for work.
It made her wonder if habits really were that scary.
She let out a deep sigh.
The cold winter air made her breath visible.
Then, a thought came to her.
“I want to run away.”
Even if she stayed here, her end would be a meaningless death.
That realization made it hard to breathe.
She felt like the fear of death was suffocating her.
She thought she heard a voice.
“You wretched girl!”
Her father’s angry shout echoed in her mind.
Startled, she swallowed and looked around.
Her father wasn’t there.
With a small sigh, she started moving again.
She needed to think about what to do next.
Soon, she arrived at the lord’s castle.
Her job was the assistant to the lord’s secretary.
Her boss was very picky and quick-tempered.
She had to organize the day’s documents before he arrived.
When she opened the office door, a familiar smell greeted her.
The scent of ink, books, and paper.
The smell of coffee and a faint smell of cigarettes.
She quickly began cleaning her boss’s desk.
The financial report from the previous day and the new project plan were scattered on the floor.
The lord was even more difficult than her boss.
He didn’t like the new project plan, so it had to be rewritten multiple times.
Because of that, her boss was under extreme stress and took it all out on Nain.
He yelled at her and threw documents, books, and office items.
Nain had to take all the abuse.
Luckily, his aim was terrible.
Nothing actually hit her—everything landed on the floor.
In the end, all that remained was a dirty desk and messy office.
Nain picked up all the scattered documents and sorted them.
Some even had her boss’s footprints on them.
“I’ll have to rewrite this one.”
She took out the ruined documents and put them on her desk.
Just thinking about hearing her boss’s shouting again made her sigh.
But she was used to it.
She cleaned the office quickly.
She sat at her desk to finish the documents she needed to submit before he arrived.
Right in front of her was the calendar for the month.
She stared at it and flinched.
“I died on the evening of the 21st. Today is the 11th…”
She realized she had returned ten days before her death.
It was a strange and shocking realization, but she felt oddly calm.
She wanted to run away, but the fact she had returned to the past felt empty.
She should have been shocked, but…
“Is it because I’ve already experienced death? I feel strangely detached.”
She kept staring at the calendar.
She remembered shouting at her sister the night before—the 10th.
“I can’t pay your debt anymore! You need to work too!”
Her mother got furious, and her sister left the house angrily.
She probably went to their father.
She had a bad feeling.
Her father would get angry after hearing her sister’s story and come to kill her.
She had ten days left.
She tapped the number 21 with her finger.
“Ten days… Ten days until I’m murdered…”
She mumbled the words absentmindedly.
When a pen fell off the desk, she jumped in surprise and took her hand off the calendar.
She quickly picked up the pen.
Looking at the desk, she saw messy documents.
She couldn’t help but get to work.
“Even if I’m going to die, it’s not today. Let’s work first.”
Maybe she had gotten braver.
Even though she should be running away, she moved busily through her usual routine.
As if her future wouldn’t change.
