~Chapter 2~
Because things weren’t going my way, I kicked my feet in the air in frustration.
Yushen sighed deeply and asked in an annoyed voice,
“So you’re saying you only look like the witch?”
He really is sharp, just like the male lead should be.
I quickly clapped my hands and raised my voice.
“Yes! That’s it!”
“Do you have any proof?”
“Just look! My hair and eye color are different from the person you’re looking for.”
“You can dye your hair.”
“Agh, are you blind? Do you think this is dyed hair? This is obviously natural! It’s never been dyed or permed!”
I didn’t know if hair dye existed in this world, but even if it did, this hair had never been dyed.
Since I’d dyed and permed my own hair many times, I could tell by touching it.
But that wasn’t really scientific evidence, so I needed another reason.
Yushen’s face looked even scarier and colder than before.
“Fine. Let’s say you dyed your black hair pink. How do you explain the eye color?”
“……”
“There’s no dye for changing eye color.”
“……”
Yushen, who’d been talking so much, shut his mouth. I guess he thought my logic made sense.
Yeah, you can dye your hair, but not your eyes, right?
Haha, I win!
Just when I felt like I could clear up the misunderstanding and go free, Yushen finally opened his mouth.
“Black magic.”
“What?”
“If you use black magic, it’s possible.”
Black magic.
Leana was called a witch because she used forbidden black magic to disturb the empire.
That’s why so many people wanted to catch her—Yushen included.
“With all the things you’ve done, there’s nothing black magic can’t do.”
“But I’m not the Leana you’re looking for, so how could I use black magic?”
“Just having different hair and eye color isn’t enough for me to believe you.”
This stubborn male lead wasn’t going to listen to me.
Honestly, this whole situation was really frustrating, but I could understand why.
‘We must look so much alike that he really can’t tell us apart.’
In the original story, Yushen also killed Letitia by mistake, thinking she was Leana.
Still, it’s so frustrating!
“Agh! I’m telling you, I’m really not Leana!”
“Then why did you run away as soon as you saw me?”
“That’s because…”
Anyone would run if they saw you chasing them like you wanted to kill them!
That’s what I wanted to say, but I knew that wasn’t the answer he wanted.
“That’s enough for your ‘defense.’”
When I hesitated, Yushen cut me off sharply.
“Hey, wait!”
Clink—
“What? You’re not letting me go?”
“You might run, so I can’t let you go until we get to headquarters.”
I tried to pull the cuffs off my wrists, but they were so strong they didn’t budge.
Yushen grabbed the rope attached to the cuffs and dragged me along. I had no choice but to follow, looking as sad as a cow going to the slaughterhouse.
Since I couldn’t talk my way out, I couldn’t think of any other way to escape.
If only I had some holy power like the main character, maybe I could survive.
But I wasn’t the main character or even an important side character, so of course, I didn’t have any special abilities.
And the original Letitia died at the hands of Yushen early on, so I didn’t even have useful information.
I was about half-giving up when Yushen dragged me around a corner.
“Ahh!”
A black magic circle suddenly appeared under my feet, and I fell straight down.
I hadn’t expected it at all, so I landed right on my butt.
Rubbing my sore backside, I looked around.
The place I’d fallen into was just a normal house, as far as I could tell.
“Hi.”
I turned my head at the clear voice from behind me. There was a girl with jet-black hair and black eyes.
She looked at me with her arms crossed and then broke my cuffs.
I recognized her right away.
“Leana?”
“Oh, I thought they’d send some idiot since you couldn’t shake off Yushen, but I guess you’re not that dumb.”
So she was the one who got me into this mess.
I wanted to yell at her—why did she do something so awful? I almost died because of her! But she spoke first.
“You’re a fast runner, at least. I was worried since you crossed over at a weird time.”
Something about what she said felt strange.
Then I realized: she said, “crossed over at a weird time.” That meant she knew I was from another world.
‘How did she know I just got here?’
She was completely sure of it.
Maybe my coming to this world had something to do with Leana’s black magic.
I didn’t have proof, but I couldn’t rule it out.
Hmm, maybe I should just ask.
“…Did you bring me here?”
“Half right, half wrong.”
“Don’t be vague.”
“Hmm…”
Leana put on a playful face and pretended to think, then answered.
“I did call someone, but I didn’t pick you on purpose. I don’t know why it was you.”
It was a little better than before, but still didn’t explain much.
But would Leana, the villain, really tell me the whole truth if I asked?
I decided to ask something else.
“So what do you want from me?”
“Oh, I have a favor to ask. The person I was going to ask is dead.”
“Dead? Who?”
“My sister, Letitia Montrose.”
No way.
If that was true, how could I have possessed Letitia’s body?
“Letitia is already dead? That can’t be…”
“She died sooner than I expected, too.”
What? The story is changing too fast.
Normally, the original plot doesn’t get messed up until after the main character meets the male or female lead, right?
Wait, Leana just said Letitia died sooner than planned…? Does she know the original story? How?
Characters in the novel aren’t supposed to know that!
I was so confused I couldn’t hide it.
Leana kept talking.
“So I brought her back, and you showed up in her body.”
“……”
“So you have to live as my sister Letitia for one year.”
Leana smiled brightly, but it felt creepy.
‘She brought back someone who should’ve stayed dead, and now she wants me to live for her. Is that even possible?’
If I agreed, it felt like I’d be stepping into a black hole I could never escape from.
I protested.
“Why should I do that?”
“If you don’t, you’ll never be able to go back to your original world.”
“……”
“If you want, you can just stay here in that body. I don’t care.”
While talking to Leana, I realized something.
If Leana was the one who called me here, then there was no way I could beat her.
‘This can’t be…’
To get back home, I didn’t need to finish the story by meeting the main character—I needed Leana’s power.
But that didn’t mean I would just do everything she asked.
There had to be some other way to escape this world. I just had to find it.
“…Let me ask one thing.”
“Sure, go ahead.”
“Why me?”
“I already told you—I don’t know.”
“But why not?”
Annoyed, Leana frowned.
“Because the owner of the black magic chose you.”
Owner of the black magic? What’s that supposed to mean? That never came up in the original story.
I already knew this life wouldn’t go smoothly when I realized the plot was changing, but this was too much.
‘This is like playing on nightmare mode!’
My head spun with worry.
“I just borrowed the power of black magic. The owner is someone else.”
“Who is it?”
“Do I have to tell you that?”
She said I could ask anything a minute ago, but now she sounded annoyed.
That meant I’d hit a sensitive spot.
Leana waved her hand, as if to say not to ask more questions.
“Anyway, just live as her for one year.”
“Wait!”
I grabbed Leana’s arm as she tried to disappear.
No matter what, I needed more hints if I wanted to survive.
“Ugh, what?”
“If you want me to act as your sister, what do you plan to do?”
My question surprised her—her eyes went wide, then turned playful.
Don’t look at me like that. It makes me nervous!
“It’ll be fun if you figure out what I’m planning.”
Was she playing games with me? How am I supposed to know what she’s thinking?
I let out a laugh because it was just so ridiculous, but Leana just shrugged.
“You know this world’s story.”
“……”
“So it won’t be hard for you to guess what I’ll do. Right?”
