CHAPTER 02
With a solemn expression, Everett tied her hair tightly and left her room.
Though it was morning, Baron Gronzie’s mansion remained dark and silent.
She entered a small room with a long table, where Baron Gronzie was already seated and eating. Everett bowed politely in his direction.
She still couldn’t bring herself to call him “father.”
“You’re here.”
He replied curtly without even lifting his head.
In The Arcana of the Saint, Baron Gronzie was described as a doting father with wealth that rivaled the highest-ranking nobles, despite being a mere baron.
But the man now sitting across from her was nothing like the novel’s portrayal.
“Is he like this because the story hasn’t started yet?”
At present, Everett had awakened in her new body three years before the start of The Arcana of the Saint’s first episode.
“Everett only shows up near the end of Episode 1, then gets thrown into the temple’s underground prison in Episode 2.”
Right now, Everett was 20 years old.
“Which means I’m living in a prologue that didn’t even exist in the original story…”
The Baron, supposedly smitten with his daughter, was just a fat, sluggish middle-aged man.
“Then where did all the money come from that he donates to the temple later on?”
The Baron was slicing through a hard, blackened piece of bread as if it were steak.
In front of Everett, who had taken a seat, a plate of the same dark bread and a bowl of thin soup were placed.
“Maybe it’s because I’m in the prologue… but things feel really different from the original.”
She tore off a small piece of bread and began chewing.
“Ugh… I shouldn’t have let the word ‘Arcana’ tempt me into reading this thing.”
Before entering The Arcana of the Saint, Everett had been a veteran tarot card master running her own tarot shop in Korea.
“Arcana” was another term for tarot cards.
So of course she couldn’t ignore a romance-fantasy novel centered on them.
The problem was, despite boldly including “Arcana” in the title, the card interpretations in the story were a complete mess.
In the novel, the only one who could read the cards was the heroine, Saint Angelus.
Even considering it was fiction, Angelus’s interpretations were absurdly wrong.
“As a tarot master, I just couldn’t stand how bad it was.”
Lost in thought, Everett clicked her tongue unconsciously.
Hearing that, Baron Gronzie—who had been slicing his bread with forced elegance—lifted his head.
“A noble lady making such noises during a meal…”
“Ah, my apologies.”
He set down his knife with a sharp clack and let out a brief sigh.
“Everett, I told you before, didn’t I? Today is the day I depart for the East.”
“Th-The East?”
“Yes. I plan to meet a friend involved in large-scale business there. I’m uneasy leaving just you and Daisy behind in this mansion… but I can’t keep living like this, can I?”
His eyes briefly flickered with worry as he looked at her.
Everett’s mind kicked into overdrive.
“So this is where the massive donation to the temple three years later comes from.”
Apparently, the trip would last at least a year.
The Eastern region was vast, and business was not something that turned a profit overnight.
Unlike the anxious-looking Baron, Everett was cheering inwardly.
“Finally! I’ll be able to leave the mansion freely!”
Right now, she was living in a time that wasn’t even in the original novel.
Everett wanted to explore this “prologue” world and see it for herself.
The Baron, who always showed up out of nowhere to stop her from going out, was finally leaving.
Her lips twitched with delight, but she quickly put on a sorrowful expression.
“Father, I’m more worried that such a long journey might harm your health. Please don’t worry about me. Just return safely.”
The word “father,” which had been so hard to say over the past ten days, now rolled off her tongue with ease.
***
Baron Gronzie left for the East.
With him gone, Everett decided it was time to put her plan into action.
In three years, the original story would begin, and Everett Gronzie’s fate as the “first villainess” would be sealed.
But just because the future was set didn’t mean she’d sit around sulking in a gloomy mansion.
She had once built a successful tarot business from scratch—she wasn’t about to give up now.
“I’m not going to let this world beat me.”
Her first goal: avoid the underground prison of the temple three years from now.
Second: Make money using her specialty—tarot cards.
“First things first, I need to confirm something.”
For the first time, Everett left the mansion without anyone stopping her.
She reached the central plaza fountain and looked around.
Dozens of streams of water gushed from ornate statues, arching beautifully in every direction.
A faint rainbow shimmered over her head under the strong sunlight.
“The book said you could see the temple’s beautiful spire from the fountain… Ah, there it is.”
Her gaze landed on several towering spires in the distance.
“Let’s go see what the temple really looks like.”
This was the temple of Anish—the prophet who led the Bartmann Empire to victory in the Continental Unification War.
The temple was massive, even more than she’d imagined, and completely white, with not a single decoration.
Perhaps that’s what made it feel so sacred.
“In the novel, one of the male leads, Yankeller Penayo, is the son of the High Priest. He became a priest as a teenager to follow in his father’s footsteps.”
But Everett hadn’t come to the temple to meet him.
“The book said the Arcana is held in the hand of the Anish statue.”
She wanted to check if the Arcana from the book was the same as the tarot cards she used.
“If they are tarot cards… then making money in this world won’t be a problem. I need to earn as much as possible before the main story starts. Then I can buy a peaceful little estate by the sea.”
Everett planned to live in luxury and calm until the end of the original plot.
“Since Episode 1 hasn’t begun yet, Angelus probably hasn’t even appeared. That likely means the Arcana isn’t known to the world yet.”
How much did people in this world actually know about the Arcana?
It was a question that had bothered her ever since she decided to use tarot cards for business.
According to the novel, after Prophet Anish’s death, no one could interpret the Arcana.
That was why people praised Angelus as a saint when she eventually appeared.
If people here had never seen a tarot deck before, they might find her readings new and fascinating.
Everett’s heart raced with anticipation as she approached the temple.
Since it was still morning, she was the only one climbing the steps.
Just then—
“Hey! You there! Where do you think you’re going?”
Two novice priests in plain gray robes appeared in front of her.
One of them, looking very young, barked arrogantly:
“This isn’t a place some random girl can just waltz into!”
Though Everett’s dress wasn’t flashy, it was clear she came from a noble family.
But seeing her without a maid and climbing the steps alone, the novice priest clearly didn’t feel the need to show any respect.
He looked her up and down with disdain in his eyes.
“Are you kidding me? A novice priest, acting like this?”
Everett was too stunned to even respond and simply stood there.
Perhaps thinking she was scared, the two priests exchanged glances.
“You! Don’t you know there’s a serious punishment for entering the temple without permission?”
The pudgier novice priest stepped down a few stairs toward her, puffing out his chest and shoulders to look intimidating.
“What’s with that ridiculous, idiotic pose? Is he trying to threaten me?”
His arrogance, aimed at someone he thought weaker, was obvious.
“So this is how future priests behave? Acting like thugs toward noblewomen? They’ve learned all the wrong things.”
Running a business was tough.
Especially a tarot shop—dealing with all kinds of customers, from those who hated their cards to those who disliked her tone.
Some even came in drunk, and on rare occasions, she had to physically defend herself.
“I’ve learned plenty of tricks to handle problem customers. Guys like this? I can take them down in one move.”
Everett waited, ready for the priest to come just a little closer.
The only drawback was that unlike before, she now had the body of a delicate 20-year-old noblewoman.
So she had to strike a vital point in one clean shot.
The priest’s gaze was growing increasingly creepy.
“Just a bit… a bit closer.”
Her target: the underside of the jaw and the lower body.
Everett slid her right leg back slightly, preparing to kick.
But then—
“You two! What do you think you’re doing?”
Startled, the novice priests turned around.
“Y-Yankeller, sir!”
They quickly bowed deeply, flustered.
“Wait… Yankeller?!”
He was the supporting male lead who secretly loved Angelus in the original story.
A young man of 24, dressed in a blindingly white priest’s robe, who still hadn’t fully lost his boyish looks.
His light brown curls bounced as he strode toward them.
“Were you threatening a visitor to the temple?”
“N-No, sir! We were just trying to guide her…”
“Silence. I was watching the whole time. Don’t lie.”
“It’s not that… ugh!”
Yankeller kicked the kneeling novice priest hard in the knee.
“Stand properly.”
The priest groaned and stood awkwardly.
“Come to my room after you’re done with today’s duties. Your punishment will be given then.”
“Yes, sir… Yankeller…”
As they limped away, Everett slowly brought her leg back.
Once the priests were gone, Yankeller turned to Everett and asked:
“Are you all right, my lady?”
