Chapter 1 – The Curse
Today was supposed to be a happy day.
It was the day I could finally see with my own eyes that all my efforts to change my fate hadn’t been in vain.
Don’t people say you create your own destiny?
I used to believe that too—until I woke up inside the body of Laura Leways, a villainess fated to die in a novel.
“Of all the villainesses, why did it have to be Laura? She’s one of the ones that dies no matter what!”
At first, I despaired. But I quickly came to my senses. If I couldn’t return to my original body, then I had no choice but to change the future.
“Thankfully, I still have time.”
I entered the story right at the beginning—two years before Laura was supposed to die.
“And it’s not like Laura’s circumstances were all that bad.”
She was the daughter of a marquis, engaged to the Empire’s first prince—one of the male leads. Her noble status was solid.
On top of that, she was the only spirit summoner in the empire. She had real power.
“Too bad she used all that to stir up trouble.”
To be fair, not everything Laura did was of her own will. Most of her evil deeds were under orders from her father, Marquis Leways.
The marquis had ambition: he wanted a child of his blood to sit on the imperial throne.
He succeeded in getting his sister married into the royal family and even had a second prince born from that union. But the problem was that the first prince already existed—and he was born of the empress, giving him higher succession rights.
So the marquis put everything into destroying the first prince—eliminating the empress and purging her supporters one by one.
And Laura helped him.
As the first prince’s fiancée, she drove out loyal nobles from the capital and leaked imperial secrets to her father.
The marquis took all the gains while Laura took all the blame.
She knew it, but couldn’t refuse.
“How could she? The marquis kept threatening to annul her adoption.”
Laura was adopted into the Leways family because of her spirit summoning ability. Everything she had—food, clothing, social status—came from being the marquis’s daughter.
She didn’t dare defy him.
It was probably easier for her to go along with his orders and keep her life stable.
“I think she did her best in her own way… but she backed the wrong horse.”
Since the first prince was the main lead, the marquis was bound to lose.
When all his plans failed, the marquis made a final, desperate move—he made a deal with a demon to become emperor himself.
“Only to be executed by the first prince in the end.”
Laura was imprisoned and ultimately executed for all her family’s crimes.
Knowing all this, there was no way I’d keep acting like a villainess.
“Who would I be helping by staying evil?”
I immediately started turning my life around.
[I’m not trying to make excuses. I just want to show you that I’ve made up my mind. I won’t be my father’s puppet anymore.]
Of course, doing good deeds doesn’t erase all the bad.
But I still tried to do the right thing.
One major step? Starting a national business project to help refill the imperial treasury her father had emptied.
That’s how I got to know one of the sub-male leads, the head of the Machetta trading company.
[I didn’t know someone could be more beloved by gold than me. Are you a genius or something?]
From a jealous, bullying villainess…
[I still can’t believe I have holy power… But if Lady Laura asks, I’ll try. I’ll be a saint.]
…I became the saint’s close friend.
“Laura.”
And today, the marquis—my adoptive father—was going to die.
“…Laura?”
Instead of slapping someone at a fancy party,
“Did you call me, Your Highness?”
I stood beside the main male lead, the first prince, Asel—ready to take down the marquis not as a villainess, but as an ally.
“You look out of it. Are you okay?”
I was just overwhelmed, standing at the peak of everything I’d worked for. But to him, it probably looked like something else.
“I understand. Even if he made a deal with a demon, it must be hard to kill your foster father. No one would blame you if you couldn’t lift your sword here.”
“That’s true. Killing anyone is disturbing—but to kill someone you’ve called ‘Father’ for over a decade? That’s not easy. Maybe you should stay in the rear, where it’s safe?”
That was Angel, commander of the royal knights.
“Stop both of you. Don’t try to cozy up to Lady Laura just because the timing’s convenient.”
That was the saint, Seraphina.
“What’s wrong with being by my fiancée’s side?” Asel argued.
“She deserves respect as a noblewoman,” Angel added.
We each had a role.
The first prince, Asel, was a swordmaster here to slay the marquis. Angel came to assist and protect Seraphina. And Seraphina came to support from the rear.
As for me, I came as a spirit summoner. Not only did I retain Laura’s original spirit contracts, I’d formed a new one—with Akapillace, the dark spirit that ruled all shadows and darkness.
Once a Spirit King himself, Akapillace was now…
“How shameless. Weren’t you, Your Highness, trying to break off the engagement with Lady Laura not long ago?”
—nodding seriously beside Seraphina.
“That was a misunderstanding,” Asel tried.
“Whatever the reason, you hurt Lady Laura. And she only did those things because her father forced her!”
That shut Asel up.
“So when are you calling off the engagement? You said you would.”
Oh…
I remembered. The day after I woke up in Laura’s body, I’d made a deal with Asel.
He hated Laura. The engagement was forced, and she constantly dragged him into scandals. He’d wanted to break it off for ages.
Knowing that, I offered him a trade.
[If you protect me for the next two years, I’ll be your loyal ally.]
[I swear, I’ll be your sword.]
Two years would be enough time to change my fate—or gather enough money to run away.
“Come to think of it, that two years is almost up.”
Our eyes met. Asel flinched.
“About that engagement… Can we talk about it again?”
“…?”
“I have something I want to say.”
It wasn’t the right time to talk, since we were about to fight the final boss.
“Sure.”
Just nodding made Asel visibly relieved.
“Thank you.”
“Unbelievable. You always sneak your way in. Anyway, Lady Laura, shall I give you a blessing?”
“…Please.”
The marquis was hiding in a cave halfway up a mountain, where he had summoned the demon.
After the contract, he grew in size, sprouted wings, and developed thick, black skin. He looked monstrous—but defeating him was easier than expected.
“What did you do?!”
I bound his limbs with Akapillace’s darkness and wore him down.
Most of his attacks were blocked by Seraphina’s holy power. Defense wasn’t hard.
In the original story, the marquis was much harder to kill—because he escaped the cave and massacred civilians, absorbing their blood to grow stronger.
But I knew that future. No way I’d let it happen.
“That’s why we came early!”
We attacked before he was fully ready.
So the marquis turned into a giant sandbag.
…At last, the end of this journey was in sight.
“I’ll finish it,”
“Can I do it?”
After all, everything Laura suffered was because of him. For her sake, I wanted to end it with my own hands.
“If you want to.”
Asel nodded, and I stepped forward with my sword.
“Spare me!”
The marquis, sensing death, begged.
“I’m still your father! Think about it. Your whole life of luxury came from me…”
“Your mother is alive!”
“Don’t you want to meet her?!”
I didn’t answer.
After everything, how could I be swayed by words like that?
But then, the moment he died—something changed.
“You ruined everything. You’re the reason all my plans failed!”
The marquis glared at me with a gaze full of hate and fury.
I should’ve brushed it off—but the pressure was so intense, I froze.
“I curse you.”
“Your hopes will become despair. Those you love will abandon you. Only betrayal and confusion will remain.”
With his final breath, the marquis cast a curse on me.
Red mist swirled around my feet.
“Watch out, contractor!”
“Laura!”
Akapillace and Asel lunged toward me—
The final curse of the demon Beelzebuth pierces through you.
Your history is erased.
And then I collapsed.
“Ugh…”
Before I even regained full consciousness, pain throbbed all over my body. My limbs felt stiff, like I was tied up.
Wait, am I actually tied up?!
I opened my eyes—and locked eyes with Asel.
“Hey,”
“Answer me.”
He gripped my shoulders tightly, staring into my eyes.
“How are you here?”
His sword was pointed at my neck.
I couldn’t speak.
Because the way he looked at me—was exactly how he did two years ago.
