Chapter : 2
The day of Milter and Duke Cassiar’s first meeting was approaching.
The time I was supposed to meet Duke Cassiar was drawing near, yet I was still shut up in my room, clutching my head, unable to step foot outside the marquis’ mansion.
Arhen Milter is dead?
How could the heroine of the novel already be dead?
My mind was filled with confusion, unable to accept Milter’s death.
I recalled the conversation I had with Count Arhen after belatedly hearing the news of her passing.
“To think that such a thing happened to Lady Milter, I can hardly believe it. Did she suffer from some kind of illness?”
In the novel, Milter was a healthy and energetic woman from birth.
Even in the face of Duke Cassiar’s constant persuasion, she steadfastly protected her love. She was strong, principled, and unwavering.
And yet, to die so absurdly like this?
And she was supposed to have the heroine’s plot armor!
The story had gone off track—far, far off track.
I wanted to know more about her death.
What if she had only faked her death?
What couldn’t a heroine do?
It sounded like something straight out of a melodramatic soap opera, but if there was even the slightest chance, I wanted to cling to it.
Because if she had truly disappeared from this world, then I—who had the same power as Milter—would inevitably be captured by Duke Cassiar.
“Originally, she was healthy enough to spar with knights. But when she turned thirteen, she began to mutter strange things and gradually grew weaker.”
The count’s face clouded with sorrow as he recalled the past.
“Strange things? What do you mean?”
“This is the first time I’ve ever told anyone this. The child said she had lived several lives over. But she was unable to change the tragic end each time. She said she wished someone would end the endless cycle for her.”
Milter had lived several lives?
Could it be that she knew the ending of the novel?
But the story I read wasn’t a regression tale.
Still, I couldn’t completely dismiss it as impossible.
Just as her death was something outside of the novel, perhaps she had indeed repeated several lifetimes the book never mentioned.
If Milter had known the ending, maybe she had tried desperately to stop the doom that awaited everyone.
“Hard to believe, isn’t it? I thought so too. She must have noticed my disbelief, for she never spoke of it again. I thought that was the end of it. But a few days before she died, she brought home a strange mirror, claiming she had finally found a way to change fate.”
A way to change fate?
What could that be?
Could the mirror have been a magical artifact?
“That very night, the child died suddenly. She had never been sick, not even with a cold.”
Milter had died without warning?
“Then the cause of death was never revealed?”
“Her heart simply stopped, so they ruled it as cardiac arrest. Perhaps it’s just my clinging to hope, but I cannot shake the feeling that something else killed her.”
Count Arhen struck his chest with his fist, unable to contain his grief.
How much must it have hurt, to lose a beloved daughter overnight?
I was devastated too.
“What happened to the mirror?”
At this point, the mirror seemed most closely tied to Milter’s death.
“She died the very night she brought it into the house. It felt cursed, so I shattered it.”
I understood why he had done so, but still, I couldn’t hide my regret.
That mirror had been the only clue to uncovering her death.
“Can you describe what the mirror looked like? Perhaps it’s an item I might know.”
“It was made of a material I had never seen before. Square-shaped, small enough to be placed on a desk. On the back was a disturbing picture of a girl with black hair and black eyes, wearing a short dress that showed her legs, smiling strangely.”
Wait a second—could it be?
“By any chance, was this symbol engraved on it?”
I scribbled something on a tissue and showed it to him.
“Yes. That unpleasant symbol was right next to the picture. But… how do you know that?”
My hunch was correct.
What I had written was: “Lee Joo-hye.”
The name from my previous life.
“Lady Arhen once showed me the mirror. It was unusual, so I remembered it.”
“I see.”
That was a lie.
I had never once met Milter.
But I knew exactly what mirror he was describing.
A square tabletop mirror with a photo pasted on the back.
It was the very mirror I had owned in my previous life.
A cheap one I had bought for a thousand won during my school days, with my photo taped to the back.
Since I often misplaced it, I had engraved my name on it.
And now, Count Arhen had called my photo “disturbing.”
It stung more than I expected.
I had once wished for a doting father like him—yet here he was, calling my face unsettling.
Still, that wasn’t what mattered now.
How had Milter gotten hold of my mirror?
Was it connected to how I ended up inside this novel?
Maybe I was missing something.
What exactly had happened right before I came here?
I lay back on the bed, closing my eyes to recall that day. Since realizing my reincarnation, I could remember it vividly.
I had fallen asleep after reading the novel after work.
And after that?
I remembered faint voices in the darkness.
A dream!
I shot up in bed as the memory struck me.
Yes, I had dreamt after falling asleep reading the novel.
In the dream, I heard the voice of a strange woman.
“You who hold the will to change fate—may blessings follow you on your path.”
In the darkness, faceless, she pressed her forehead to mine, passed something to me, and vanished.
That was the last of my memories as my old self. Since then, I had lived as Alios Liel.
If I had received Milter’s power that night… could that woman have been her?
But why me?
Wait—she had called me “one who holds the strong will to change fate.”
Was she referring to the thought I once had—that if I could, I’d rewrite the novel’s ending?
So that was why Milter chose me? Even at the cost of her own life?
If I could turn back time, I’d uninstall every novel app and never touch another one again.
Better yet, I’d never install them in the first place. I’d live my life without ever reading novels!
I sobbed in frustration at the thought, only to realize I had long since missed the time I was supposed to meet Cassiar.
He knew I was the daughter of House Alios. If I didn’t show up, he would surely come looking for me.
“Milter-unnie, how could you leave me behind like this? If you go, you’ll never even see Hassen, the man you loved! I can’t let you go like this!”
I cried out into the empty air, feeling as if my head would burst otherwise.
With everything fitting together too neatly, I could no longer deny that Milter was truly gone.
Slumping like someone whose world had collapsed, I suddenly leapt to my feet.
If I stayed still, I’d only end up entangled with Duke Cassiar and ruined in Milter’s place!
There was still a chance.
I could board any ship, flee the empire, and live quietly by running trade with the knowledge I’d built up!
I had enough savings from working in the merchant guild to last a while.
Like a criminal preparing to flee in the night, I began stuffing a large bag with whatever I could grab.
“This should be enough! Time to leave!”
I even took the money from my safe and hurriedly stormed out, heading for the parlor with frantic steps.
“Oh my, Liel. Just getting up now?”
At the end of the hall, my mother stood, smiling warmly.
“Mother.”
Even if I left, I couldn’t go without saying goodbye.
Tears welled as I ran into her arms.
“Oh my, what’s gotten into you? Did you have a nightmare?”
If only it were a nightmare.
A dream I could wake up from.
The thought that I might never see my family again blurred my vision with tears.
If I had known this would happen, I would have spent more time with them instead of working.
I had always thought I could see them anytime—they were always at the mansion.
But in pushing it off again and again, ever since I began managing the guild, I hadn’t even taken a single family trip.
“Mother, thank you for raising me all this time.”
“What’s this nonsense all of a sudden? And what’s with all that luggage? Don’t tell me you’re planning to leave already?”
How did she know?
I probably did look like a runaway fugitive. But still, she seemed to know exactly why I wanted to leave.
“You knew?”
“Of course. I was already told the situation. We had a guest while you were asleep.”
A guest?
Only then did I notice that she was dressed more formally than usual, even wearing her treasured ruby necklace.
She only wore that when entertaining someone truly important.
Who could have come to see me?
I had no close acquaintances who would visit the mansion personally.
I had been busy learning and then managing the guild.
Besides, I had left the guild’s work to Vuit—so this visit couldn’t be business-related.
No matter how much I thought about it, I couldn’t guess.
“There’s no one who’d come to see me, so who—”
My eyes drifted to the sofa in the parlor.
And the moment I saw the man reclining comfortably there, I nearly screamed.
Why are you here?
“So it’s true that beauties are sleepyheads.”
Sitting across from my father, calmly sipping tea, was Duke Cassiar.
His gaze was fixed squarely on me.
And why were his eyes like that?
At first, I had been shocked simply to see him here.
But now, it was the way he was looking at me that truly unsettled me.
“To think such a beautiful woman could be so fond of sleep.”
He smiled at me tenderly, gazing with the lovestruck eyes of a man looking at his beloved.
