OTRNHB 01

Chapter 1: Prologue

When I opened my eyes, my head throbbed as if it would split open.

Memories rushed in like a receding tide. In those fleeting fragments, I was me—but also not me. The unfamiliar recollections swirled nauseatingly, so vile they made me retch.

“I don’t understand anything… Who—who are all of you? And I…”
“You don’t know who we are, Florence?”
“No… Florence? Is that… my name?”

Her trembling voice was pitiful—yet disgusting. Pretending to cry, she smirked inwardly: Amnesia’s the easiest way out, huh? Tropes exist for a reason.

Yeah. Convenient.

“…Yes, Florence. You are Florence. My daughter.”
“And our little sister.”

They smiled warmly at her. A smile they’d never shown me. They welcomed her so effortlessly, even though they’d been merciless to me—the one who groveled like a dog, baring her belly for scraps of their affection.

Everything that was hard for me became laughably simple for her.

“Florence, my one and only flower.”

My fiancé, who’d never spared me a glance, whispered love to her in a voice dripping honey.

He caressed “me” with adoration. I’d never seen his eyes so molten-hot, never felt his careful touch or the warmth of his palms. A feather-light tickle crawled up my throat—vivid, yet not mine.

I don’t know that kind of dizzying happiness.

I remember the way he used to look at me. Like I was a buzzing insect when I fell chasing after him.

That man wasn’t capable of such heat.

“I’ll never let you go, my love.”
“Where would I go without you? You’re my everything. We’ll be together forever.”

I shuddered. Hearing my voice echo in my skull was horrifying. My lips moved, but I wasn’t speaking.

My body. My voice. But not me.

The soul puppeting my flesh belonged to another girl.

An intruder from another world—Jang Hyunji—now possessed me.

“Magic? Spirit arts? This is insane. Jackpot.”
“Give it back! That’s MY body!”
“And I’m even pretty? Wow, I could feast just staring in a mirror.”
“Give it BACK! Get out! Disappear, you demon!”
“This figure though… damn. Healthy, slender calves—how’d you even walk in these legs?”
“Don’t touch me! Don’t move! STOP!”

The reflection in her mirror was alien.

My face made expressions I’d never worn. I wasn’t smiling. I wasn’t speaking. I wasn’t moving.

My body had been stolen by a devil!

She grinned at the mirror.

“Possessing a side character from a romance fantasy novel… Poor kid, but if someone else took over, she was fated to die anyway. Classic setup.”
“NO! I didn’t die! I’m NOT dead!”
“Florence, I’ll live the rest of your life well—so rest in peace.”
“I’m alive! GET OUT OF ME!”
“Guess my name’s Florence Love Seymour now. Ugh, so extra.”
“That’s MY name…! My grandmother gave it to me, you monster!”

I screamed until my throat tore, but my voice vanished unheard. Humming, she turned from the mirror. As her footsteps faded, my consciousness snuffed out like a candle.

I don’t know how long I cried. How long I begged.

Give it back. Disappear.

When I woke, it was in a stranger’s world—in her body.

I knew instinctively: This was the vessel of the thief who stole my life.

“I don’t want to die… Please, I don’t want to die…”
“Save me! It burns! Why me—WHY?!”

Every night, agony scalded my flesh.

Flames. Strangers’ lifeless faces. Dozens of escapes, sobbing until dawn. And her, shrieking in my skull:

“I’m Florence now. This is MY place. You think I’d let you take it back? Return to that trash-world of yours?”
“…I don’t want to die…”

I gasped for air.

Though I’d lived barely five months in Jang Hyunji’s body, her memories in mine spanned five years. Desperate screams clung like oil in my mind, but deep breaths steadied my churning stomach.

I stared at my palms.

Clenched. Opened. They moved as I willed.

“…I can move…”

Tears splattered onto my hands.

My voice, in my ears.
My body, under my control.

Five years after losing my flesh to a transmigrated romance novel heroine—

I took it back.