Prologue
Year 1628 of the Divine Era, Year 233 of the Imperial Era.
I was poisoned.
By the time I realized it, I was already writhing in agony as my insides tore apart.
My throat burned hot and my chest felt tight; as soon as I opened my mouth, a gush of fishy clotted blood spilled out.
“You actually ate it because I told you to.”
I heard the cheerful voice of Bella, the woman I had believed was my only friend.
“Looks like you’re nothing more than a character in a book. Even if you’re the female lead, this is all you amount to? Your incompetence is why you’re in such a sorry state.”
I wanted to ask Bella why she was doing this to me, what I had done wrong.
But the pain choked me, and not a single sound came out.
I fell to my knees on the floor and collapsed.
At that moment, the mark on my left forearm suddenly burned like it was on fire. From the glowing mark, something poured out like a snake slithering across the floor toward Bella and was absorbed by her.
Instinctively, I felt it.
That was my power.
My divine power, which I had been unaware of until now, was draining out, every last drop flowing into Bella.
“Well, this turned out well, didn’t it? Your divine power will now be mine. The heroine needs to be charming for people to read about her, right? It’s time for the real female lead—me, who possessed this body—to have a happy ending with the original male lead. Sheiriya will be so happy.”
Bella gently stroked the energy that crawled like a fiery snake over her body.
The fiery snake dissolved into her at her touch.
Female lead…? Real male lead…? Sheiriya…?
Though confused by the talk about original male and female leads and books, my eyes widened at the familiar name.
“Why is my fiancé’s name coming out of your mouth right now?”
A dark and dirty thought arose.
I imagined the worst possibility.
“Could it be… Sheiriya joined your plan to kill me?”
At that moment, something inside me snapped.
There was a woman I thought was my true friend.
There was a man I thought was my true love.
But both of them, they betrayed me.
How, why, for what reason?
Could such a thing really happen? What did I do so wrong?
I thought those two understood me, who had tried my best despite having no abilities, but…
“Still, you’re the original female lead. It’s pathetic to see you squirm and die like a bug.”
Bella clicked her tongue and then giggled.
“Since you’re going to die anyway, how about knowing more before you go? I couldn’t tell anyone, and it was really frustrating.”
“Wh-what…?”
“This world is just one story. A romance novel, at that.”
And then Bella revealed unbelievable truths.
“You’re the protagonist. And I came from another world. The original owner of this body was just a side character, a close friend of the protagonist, but I didn’t want to play that role.
Since you have so much, why not share some? So I took everything you had and planned to live happily ever after.”
Unbelievable stories. The claim that this world is just a story. And that she is the protagonist because she came from another world.
Yet she said it so lightly.
As if the living me wasn’t even human.
Even if I accepted all this as true, why did she confidently call herself the protagonist just because she came from another world?
She treated this world as a toy for her amusement.
For such a trivial reason, she shattered my life and dragged it into ruin.
As if it were a game.
“I did stir things up a little, but everything went wrong because of you. You know that, right? So the new saintess, the new saintess Bella, will fix everything.”
“…Huh, cough.”
“To Sheiriya, I’m more useful than an incompetent saintess like you. Be happy; the man you like will have an easier time from now on.”
It was all lies. I was paying the price for foolishly trusting someone with my blood.
Tears of injustice welled up.
My breath grew faint. The more blood I lost, the colder I felt. Just as that coldness began to fade, strangely, I felt warmth spreading through my body.
“—Aaaaaah!”
I thought I heard Bella’s scream from afar.
“Rasel! Snap out of it, Rasel!”
Wait, that voice…
That voice’s owner shouldn’t have been here.
In my barely visible sight, I saw that man’s desperate face—jet black hair and red eyes.
Those eyes that always looked at me with disdain, that always made me shrink back, flashed briefly before fading away.
“Why… are you…?”
And then I lost consciousness.
