♛
Mayerie Syringa.
It’s been my name for 20 years. The eldest daughter of Viscount Syringa was full of vanity and made readers frown.
That was me. And I was an extra villain who appeared in ‘The Duchess for a Limited Time’.
‘But why did it suddenly come to mind?’
In my previous life, I was an ordinary college senior. Before graduation, I was a college student who could be seen everywhere, wondering whether to get a job or study as a civil servant.
‘I don’t have any memories after that…’
I remembered the memories of my life and the stories I read, but I don’t know why I died. No matter how hard I tried to recall my memories, I couldn’t remember them. Like someone intentionally deleted those memories.
The last memory of my previous life was reading the ending of this novel.
“Hey, I have a lot of things that I have to talk about over there, so you wait here.”
“…”
The man who escorted me said bluntly as I was clearing up my thoughts because of the unforgettable death of my past life.
Without hearing my answer, he went to a group of people who he seems acquainted with.
‘Who are you to tell me to wait?’
Left alone, I ignored the man’s words and headed to the empty terrace to clear up my confused thoughts.
When I got there, a cool breeze blew touching my skin. It was winter now, but it was not colder than winter in Korea in my previous life because the capital of the Empire was located in the south.
I had a thick shawl and recalled the last memory of my past life that I couldn’t think of.
‘Why and how did I die?’
I didn’t understand. I must have died and reincarnated, but no matter how much I squeeze my head, the end of my memory was reading the ending of this novel.
It was a situation where only a deep sigh came out of me as there was no answer to my question of why I died.
‘Something’s not clear…’
I was lost in thought, and suddenly I noticed a white butterfly attached to the terrace railing.
The moment I thought it was a butterfly in the winter, I heard a lot of noise in my head, as if I was turning on a radio that did not match the radio waves.
—De…fi..nite…ly…
A child’s voice. At the same time, I had a splitting headache.
It felt like someone poking my brain with a sharp needle. I stopped thinking for now because of the terrible pain.
Let’s put aside my death from my previous life that I couldn’t remember. First of all, it was clear that this world I reincarnated was the world from the last novel I read.’
The evidence was the male protagonist who overwhelmed the audience. I grabbed onto my throbbing head and calmly organized the current situation.
‘The Duchess for a Limited Time’.
It was a common regression romance fantasy novel.
Radiata, the heroine who was abused and raised by Count Ricoris for being illegitimate, was sold as a mistress to an old man to cover the luxury of her family.
She suffers from more terrible abuse and male phobia there. She tried to escape with the last courage she had but when she was in danger of being caught, she jumped into the lake.
And the moment she thought she’d die, she returned to the past.
Realizing that Radiata had returned to the past, she used her knowledge of the future to marry the Duke of Kolnuta and make him fall for her.
The Male Lead was the Duke, and the Sub-Male Lead came out as an Archmage of the Wizard’s Tower and a psychopath called, the ‘King of The Dark World.’
The original story begins with Radiata’s return, and that was today, the first day of the New Year’s Party.
‘I wonder if Radiata’s back by now?’
I blankly looked up at the sky and combined the time in the novel with the memory of my past life.
‘On the last day of the New Year’s party, Radiata visited the Duke of Kolnuta and proposed to him a contract marriage.’
The Empire’s New Year’s Day has a tradition of local nobles coming to the capital to greet the emperor and to report on their territory.
It was a valuable time to see the craftsmanship that did not deviate well in the north because it was essential for all nobles.
In the novel, the Duke of Kolnuta suffered not only from me but also from many aristocrats.
Even the Imperial Princess was so courting him passionately.
The problem was that he became fed up with women who cried and begged him for love because he suffered from hardships since he was young.
‘Still, the male protagonist who was warm to his woman gradually opens his heart to Radiata and falls in love with her. But no matter how much I think about it, what am I? The extra villain that became the opportunity for the Female Lead and Male Lead to meet…’
A stalker who has been following the Duke for 3 years, trying to fall in front of him, trying to pour wine, or making a lot of unimaginable tricks!.
Then suddenly, I thought that the man who was escorting me earlier was my current fiance.
‘Wait… I have a fiance, did I stalk the Male Lead? Why did I do that?’
Until I recovered the memories of my previous life, I had a very simple and one-dimensional view of values.
I spent each day thinking that I should get engaged before I became an adult and that I should dress up in expensive dresses and accessories in order not to be ignored by other aristocrats.
I grew up only on my own, self-taught, and my education was only about dancing, embroidery, and basic etiquette, so I understand that I could only think of stereotypes as a frog in a well…
‘Isn’t it just because I didn’t read a book.’
Unlike in my previous life, where I liked books quite a bit, in this life, I kept away from reading books because they were boring.
If I were a high-ranking aristocrat, I would have learned more about the history or basic learning of the Empire, but I did not have much knowledge.
‘It’s like I’m so stupid that I don’t even have a personality conflict.’
If it was not a fragmentary memory and the entire previous life’s memory comes to mind at once, it would inevitably conflict with the original values.
However, one side was so poor that it felt like it was absorbed without impact. With a heavy sigh, I leaned against the railing on the terrace and touched my forehead.
‘Anyway, I’m glad I found a memory of my past life before the end of the novel.’
I don’t know why, but thanks to the memory of my previous life, I was able to avoid the death flag.
‘I don’t know if because I didn’t show up like in the original novel, the Female Lead and Male Lead would still meet right?’
I shook my head to shake off the negative thoughts. It will be okay because there are aristocrats who follow the Duke.
Among them, I was the most aggressive follower of all. Even so, the Female Lead and Male Lead will be bound by a strong fate, so even if I don’t exist, they will still meet.
I tried hard to rationalize. However, I was worried if something went wrong because I and the Female Lead’s misfortune continued.
‘I hope you don’t go through such misfortunes again.’
As a reader who had read the book, I wish for her happiness. But now I’m not a reader, I’m living in the same reality as the Female Lead.
I had to live too. “Why is it me…”
The depression burst out of my mouth. While muttering a sigh of lament, I heard the opening of the terrace door from behind.
Usually, when there are people on the terrace, they mark the curtains, but I forgot to close the curtains because I was in agony.
When I turned my head in surprise at his presence, I made eye contact with someone I knew very well.
“Ah… I-I thought there were no people be-because the curtain wasn’t draped.”
A voice without confidence, a poor tone. Plus, the irritating bangs that covered his eyes!
I read it only in the novel, but I could tell who it was at once. He’s Grandiel Magnolia, which is the crystal of dross.
‘He was a character who was insulted by the readers for being a waste of his status.’
It was a minor supporting character in the novel, but readers hated him because he gave sweet potatoes whenever he appeared.
(T/N: Sweet potato – used to describe someone who is frustrating or slow to catch on with the conversation. )
I stared at him sadly, Grandiel was so intimidated that he was not in the position to apologize to me.
‘Well, He doesn’t even know I’m only a Viscount.’
His status is a Crown Prince! In the first place, except for the Emperor, he was a Crown Prince and didn’t need to honor anyone, but Grandiel spoke concerning everyone.
‘That’s why other nobles ignored him.’
The Crown Prince was like a character created by the author to highlight the coolness of the Male Lead.
With a common high status, all the coolness to the Male Lead, and all the sloppiness to the Prince.
Even when things broke out, the Male Lead solved them all and took care of them, and his incompetence, as a supporting character became more prominent.
Even though he was in a position that could be seen as a Sub-Male, no reader supported him because of his character.
When I read it, I also swear because it was frustrating, but when I looked at him in reality, I felt sorry for him.
“Yo-Youngae. Are you mad a— at me?”
(T/N Youngae – young noble lady. Maybe you all know this already.)
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