Chapter 3
What was that sound?
When I turned my head, I saw a big man holding a small boy by the arm.
The man, frowning, snatched the ticket from the shabby-looking boy’s hand.
“This is the second-class car. Why is someone with a third-class ticket here?”
“I-I’m sorry. I was just curious about this place…”
“Don’t you know you’re not allowed in second class without a ticket? Get lost!”
The man’s harsh tone made the boy’s big eyes fill with tears.
‘Ah, seriously… picking on a kid?’
Of course, I could’ve just ignored it.
But the meddlesome eldest-daughter spirit in me couldn’t just watch.
“I had three younger brothers in my past life, you know.”
Besides, I’d already decided to live kindly.
So building up a bit of good karma with this wouldn’t hurt.
I approached the man and tapped him on the shoulder.
“Hey.”
“…Who are you?”
The man turned his scowling face toward me.
“I’m a first-class passenger. Why don’t you let the kid go?”
“What?”
“I don’t know why you’re making such a big deal over a seat and scaring a kid.”
I crossed my arms.
“By your logic, since I’m a first-class passenger and I came to second class, do I need to get lost too?”
“What nonsense is that? Why would a first-class passenger even come to second class? Do you even have a ticket?”
“Yes, I do.”
I looked at him confidently and held my hand out to Sophie, signaling her to show the ticket she was carrying.
But…
Sophie fumbled in her dress pockets for a long time.
Then, with a panicked look, she whispered to me,
“I’m sorry. I-I think I left the ticket in the cabin. What should we do?”
What?!
While I twitched my eyebrow in disbelief, the man watching us grimaced even more.
“These people are joking with me…”
“No, wait—”
“I was just disciplining a rude brat, and now scammers are interfering?”
He raised his hand high as if about to hit me.
“Damn it…”
I instinctively closed my eyes and raised my arm.
‘Is this idiot really about to hit a noble-looking lady in front of everyone?’
But I wasn’t too worried.
The chance he’d actually hit me was close to zero.
Because I had Deon, my quiet but reliable bodyguard, always following me.
I had approached the man believing in that.
“Now, Deon! Step in!”
And just as I called Deon’s name in my head…
Smack.
Someone caught the man’s raised hand.
As I expected, the hand didn’t reach me.
I smiled and lifted my head. As expected of my bodyguard from a noble family, Deon really did his job—
“…Huh?”
But it wasn’t Deon.
A stranger was holding the man’s hand.
I blinked, looking at the stranger. He was wearing a white shirt with brown suspenders.
He had brown hair and gentle yet sharp features that stood out.
Because of that, he looked oddly out of place against the background.
“Damn it, who are you?” the big man growled.
“Causing more trouble would only hurt us both. Let’s stop now,” the stranger warned calmly.
“They say the Ramier Express kicks out passengers who cause disturbances, and you must’ve paid a lot for your seat, right?”
“Haa…”
The big man scowled, annoyed, then jerked his hand away.
“Damn it, just my luck.”
He glared at me one last time and stomped back to his cabin.
“That guy, how dare he glare at you, Miss…”
“I’m fine, Sophie.”
Sophie clenched her fists at the man’s retreating figure, but I calmed her down.
Once things quieted down, the stranger turned to the little boy standing behind us.
“Finn, come here.”
“Brother…!”
The boy, called Finn, ran to him and hugged him tightly.
The stranger sighed in relief and held the boy close.
“I was looking for you everywhere. My heart almost stopped when you suddenly disappeared.”
“I’m sorry, Brother. I was just so curious about second class… hehe.”
‘So they’re brothers.’
It was easy to guess the situation now.
The younger brother had wandered off from third class, and the older brother had been frantically searching for him.
Then he had stumbled upon me confronting that man.
The boy, still in his brother’s arms, suddenly turned to me.
“Brother, that scary man was yelling at me, but this princess saved me!”
“…She’s not a princess. She’s Lady Hartmann,” Sophie corrected.
“So you’re Lady Hartmann. A noble lady saved my brother.”
The man smiled politely and bowed to me.
“Thank you. My brother is sick, so he mustn’t be shocked. It could have been dangerous, but you saved him.”
“It’s nothing. Actually, I should thank you for saving me…” I muttered softly, looking at him curiously.
‘Why does he seem so familiar?’
The suspenders and beret he wore.
The boy’s name, Finn.
The fact that Finn was sick.
‘Why does it feel like I’ve seen this before… read this before?’
“May you be blessed. Have a good trip. Come, Finn.”
The man smiled again and began walking away with the boy.
I kept tilting my head in confusion, but then my eyes widened.
‘Wait… hold on…’
The matching suspenders and beret he wore with his brother.
The sickly younger brother named Finn.
‘No way… that man…!’
Now I knew why they stood out so much.
He was Harry Jackson, one of the male leads from the novel!
Back in the cabin, Sophie left to take care of some things.
I sat by the window for a long time, deep in thought.
“I can’t believe I ran into one of the original male leads here.”
Harry Jackson.
He was the first male lead to appear when the original story began.
‘And he had the lowest social status among them.’
In reverse-harem novels, the male leads usually came from different social standings.
Harry was the lowest-ranked of them all, a commoner.
Born in the poorest circumstances, he had lost his parents early and raised his sick younger brother alone.
‘Come to think of it, I remember Harry mentioning in the novel that he had been on a train trip before.’
In the original story, the female lead Emily met Harry for the first time in the Hashite Empire, where I currently lived.
At that time, Harry was traveling alone and had already lost his younger brother, who suffered from heart disease.
‘Since Finn is still alive and traveling with him now, this must be before the story begins.’
I had already guessed as much, but now it was certain.
I bit my lip.
“That means… Finn will die soon after the train trip ends.”
Finn’s smiling face flashed in my mind.
He looked perfectly healthy, yet he was destined to die.
“…Damn.”
I felt a pang of sadness knowing the boy’s fate.
That bright, cute child… the younger brother Harry cherished so dearly… was going to die soon.
But what could I do?
I couldn’t change their fate.
After all, I had only come on this trip to accept my own fate.
“Get it together, Sehee. They’re just characters from a novel. Don’t get involved.”
Besides, I had already decided to avoid the male leads at all costs.
And since I had no reason to visit the lower-class cars anymore, I probably wouldn’t run into them again.
Even if I did, I had no intention of getting involved with the male leads.
