Chapter 1
“Welcome aboard, this is the Ramier Express.”
A staff member in uniform bowed politely. The noisy sounds of the busy platform faded away.
“I already made a reservation,” my maid Sophie said as she stepped forward.
“This is the Lady of the Hartmann family,” she introduced me.
“Ah, you are the one who reserved a first-class seat. It is an honor to meet you, Lady Hartmann.”
The staff member twitched his eyebrows as if recognizing me and greeted me politely—neither too much nor too little.
“Sorry, but may I see your nameplate and ticket? We must check tickets regardless of your status.”
“Here,” Sophie handed the staff the nameplate and ticket she had prepared.
After checking them quickly, the staff smiled at me.
“Reservation confirmed. I’ll guide you to your seat.”
Following the staff, I walked with Sophie and the knight who carried the luggage.
We stopped in front of a door decorated with luxurious carvings. The staff opened the door, and a cozy train cabin came into view.
It was large and glamorous, with a big bed that didn’t even feel like a train cabin.
“This is, without a doubt, the best room among the first-class cabins,” the staff proudly said.
“You can enjoy the big window view, a table for tea, and even a private bathroom. There is also a bunk bed room right next door for your servants.”
“It’s as good as I heard. Thank you,” I smiled after glancing around.
“No need to thank me. If you need anything, just press this button at any time,” the staff replied before politely leaving.
“Phew, the Ramier Express really is top-notch. The room is amazing,” Sophie said softly as she looked around.
“Miss, are you okay? Aren’t you hungry?”
“Yes, thank you,” I answered.
“Please sit and rest comfortably. We’ll handle the luggage.”
“Alright, thank you.”
Sophie glanced at me with concern, maybe because I now often said “thank you” instead of causing trouble like before. Soon, she and the knight left to unpack.
I sat by the window, watching outside.
The train was almost ready to leave the platform. There were horns blowing, people boarding quickly, and others waving goodbye.
[One year.]
As I quietly watched the goodbyes, the doctor’s voice echoed in my head.
[You only have one year left to live.]
The Ramier Express would take me across the continent in a month, showing me the world.
The reason I boarded this train was simple:
I had recently been diagnosed with a terminal illness.
That was also the day I found myself in the body of a villainess in a novel.
A week ago, my doctor looked at me with a hopeless expression. He held the result of a magical test from the temple.
“What do you mean, only one year left?” My parents, standing beside me, pressed the doctor as if it was unbelievable.
“As you know, I have been trying to control the abnormal surge of magic in Lady Hartmann’s body since childhood. But…”
The doctor looked at me with pity.
“I’m sorry. I can no longer control it.”
He placed the test result in front of us. It showed the flow of magic in my body, a test I had done regularly since I was young.
“Do you see the magic gathered in the chest?”
“…”
“What we feared most has happened. I’m sorry.”
Normally, magic should spread throughout the body and mix naturally. But the test showed a huge concentration of magic in my chest.
“Within a year, Lady Hartmann… your life will end.”
The doctor bit his lip as he looked at us.
“This makes no sense,” my parents said, their voices trembling.
“How can our only daughter… Is there really no way to save her?”
“Please save her! Haven’t you treated her well until now?”
“Actually, the fact that she survived this long with this much magic inside her is already amazing. There’s nothing more I can do.”
“But still…!”
“Enough,” I finally spoke when my mother was about to cry loudly.
Everyone turned their heads toward me.
“Irene.”
“Please, leave me alone. I want to be by myself.”
“Irene, but…”
“Everyone. Please leave.”
My parents looked at me with pain in their eyes, but they left the room with the others.
“Let’s all go out. Let Irene have some time alone.”
When the door finally closed, I suddenly stood up.
“…What is this?”
What is this!
I looked at the unfamiliar clothes I was wearing—old Western-style dresses, not the clothes from South Korea.
And even the scenery in my head was completely different.
‘Until a moment ago, I was lying sick in bed.’
I was Yoon Sehee, a 25-year-old woman from South Korea.
Born into a poor family as the eldest daughter, I worked hard, sacrificing everything for my siblings’ education and my own tuition.
I worked myself to the bone and became a cancer patient at a young age.
I died before I could even live my life fully.
‘And now… I transmigrated? Into a romance fantasy novel?’
I used to read romance fantasy novels on my phone all the time because I had nothing else to do and no money.
It seems I experienced the “transmigration” I only read about in those novels.
‘Irene… that’s the name of the villainess from the last novel I read before I died.’
《Emily and the Four Travelers》
It was a reverse-harem romance fantasy novel where the female protagonist Emily traveled the world with four male leads.
I clearly remembered reading that novel before I died.
Irene Hartmann, the villainess of the novel.
She was the one who stood between Emily and the male leads.
‘I’m sure. Everything matches the description in the novel, even the terminal illness.’
I looked at Irene’s reflection in the mirror: long black hair, fair white skin, a sharp nose, and cherry-like lips.
Irene had been weak and sickly since childhood because of the side effects of her magic. This made her sensitive and hysterical.
She often mistreated servants and was jealous of others.
‘Her personality worsened even more after she was diagnosed as terminally ill.’
Then she started obsessing over the male leads, who were supposed to be with the heroine.
‘And Irene will die.’
She will be executed for trying to poison the heroine.
Like in most romance fantasy novels, Emily turned out to be the holy saint of the empire, born once in a hundred years.
Irene would be executed by one of the male leads, the crown prince, for attempting to kill the saint.
Exactly six months from now.
