Chapter 1

Chapter 1

I think.

And think again.

About how to survive…!

While thinking hard about this, someone knocked on the door. She peered in with a gentle smile on her face.

“Dear sister Evelyn, I baked some cookies for you. I hope you enjoy it.”

“You didn’t have to do this.”

I glanced at my sister, Ophelia, who was smiling shyly.

‘Oh my, this girl’s name is Ophelia, too?’

Ophelia was the perfect heroine in the novel.

Blonde hair flowing in the sun, amethyst-colored glistening eyes, and porcelain skin resembling white jade. Conversely, you don’t need to explain it in great detail to know that she’s a rare beauty.

Seeing the many cuts strewn all over her hands, I pulled out a small jar from a drawer.

“Sit here. I happened to have an ointment from Sahara. The leader of Irudell sent me a prototype.”

“I-I’m fine. You don’t have to do that for me, so you should keep the ointment for yourself, Sister.” Ophelia hurriedly shook her head, though she couldn’t take her eyes off the ointment jar in my hand.

I let out a sigh.

Seeing how Ophelia refused another person’s goodwill towards her, I felt a sense of deja vu. Suddenly, the unforgettable novel’s content rushed into my head.

「 “After three days of just drinking water, Ophelia could not take her eyes away from the burnt bread in the maid’s hand.

“Please eat some, Milady.”

To her surprise, the maid who played the role of a warden readily sticks the bread out to her. Her stomach was stirred just by the mere smell of dry flour, but Ophelia shook her head.

“…No, thank you.”

This maid could have died miserably if she succumbed to hunger and ate that bread.

Like everyone else who treated her well. 」

However, it wasn’t exactly a normal novel…

Ophelia was the heroine of the rated-19 novel.

In the scene, she had not eaten anything for three days.

One day, turtle soup was served on Ophelia’s table, where she had been imprisoned by the male protagonist, Cassius. Still, the meals were well served.

As she tried to take a spoonful of it without much thought, the unusual pattern of a turtle’s shell came into her eyes. It was the same pattern of the turtle that Ophelia, who was always alone in Count Garneid’s residence, had fondly raised.

Of course, after seeing it, she cried and refused to eat the meat. Which caused Cassius to be angry, saying, “If you’re going to do that, then don’t eat anything.”

Well, how did it work out?

Naturally, since it’s rated-19…

I swallowed dry saliva and tried to drive the original scene out of my head. “Since you baked the cookies for me, just think of it as a small reward.”

“Sister…”

Her eyes filled with tears.

‘Good girl.’

I pulled out my handkerchief and gently wiped away tears that were swelling in her eyes.

Ophelia was treated as an outcast of this wonderful, Count Garneid family.

Although it was the birth of Evelyn, the Garneid County’s disgrace, that brought about the Countess’ death, everyone collectively despised Ophelia because she was an illegitimate child. Still, she did not resent anyone and cherished all her family members who treated her like hell.

‘If Ophelia wasn’t there, I might have been locked up in a mental hospital…’

Thanks to her dedicated efforts, I managed to get myself together and looked back on what I’ve done.

‘Anyone who saw those actions would think it’s the behavior of a crazy person.’

It wouldn’t be strange if I were to be taken to a mental hospital right now…

Ever since transmigrating, I desperately tried to play the role of the perfect successor as Evelyn. Thanks to this, I managed to regain my stature to some extent.

But, it was already too late.

It would only be half a year before Cassius, who was crazy for Ophelia, killed the Garneid Family.

And the first meeting between Ophelia and Cassius was only one week away!

***

‘I have to do something.’ I bit my lip carefully.

I tried to remember exactly what would happen once Ophelia and Cassius met for the first time.

Like in any other romance fantasy novel, their first meeting was coincidental and inevitable. At that time, Ophelia was talking to the turtle she cared for in the pond as usual.

Yes. That very thing that Cassius will later boil in the soup in the future.

“Turtle, is it delicious?”

As she was talking to her turtle that was chewing a cabbage leaf, all of a sudden, there was a sound of something rolling off the fence. Ophelia hurriedly ran towards the direction where she heard the sound. There lay a heavily injured man who was groaning in pain.

Obviously, it was Cassius Brudenell, the male protagonist.

Because he had asked her not to call a doctor, the angelic heroine took him to the basement instead and secretly treated him.

While it was a stroke of good luck for him, it was the beginning of misfortune for Ophelia. Since then, Cassius had become obsessed with her. Until the beginning of the novel, he tried to win over her in his own gentlemanly manner.

That is to say…

‘Gentlemanly’ according to his standards.

After manipulating the circumstances to make Ophelia more isolated and miserable, he would appear like a prince on a white horse to sway her heart.

The so-called, ‘disease-and-drug’ method.

[ T/N: Similar to the idiom, “carry fire in one hand and water in the other.” To be duplicitous or to deceive. ]

But surprisingly, Ophelia knew what was going on.

“Don’t think of me as a fool. What happened to me… It’s all because of you, right?” Saying so, she stared disgustedly at Cassius as if he were a dead rat, then turned cold.

That was the point that drove him crazy.

Ophelia, who was kind to everyone and continued to love her cold-hearted family, came to despise him. Therefore, he planned to massacre all family members of the esteemed Garneid County and spare only Ophelia, who would be locked up in his cage forever. After that, well, isn’t it obvious?

Ophelia, who was trapped in the cage, spending nights with Cassius…

Okay, let’s stop. My stomach is lurching just thinking about it.

So, who the hell was this Cassius, who annihilated the Garneid Countdom and locked up the heroine, the only survivor?

He was the sole heir to the Brudenell Duchy, the household that holds the most authority in the Empire apart from the Imperial family.

Now, you might be wondering, where the hell was the Duke of Brudenell while his successor went on a rampage?

Let’s say that Cassius made sure he was as useful as a limp piece of vegetable. Even though he wields the power of the duke in a correct manner, he will soon be killed by Cassius.

‘No, let’s not think about it anymore…’

I took a deep breath slowly. My heart, which had been pounding with burning anxiety, subsided little by little.

First of all, it is easy to change the first encounter as it was written in the novel.

Because Ophelia keeps sticking to my side. I wasn’t sure if it was because I was trying to be nice to her lately, but it seemed like if I told her to get down on her knees, she’d really do it.

What I was most worried about was the storm that would come since I changed the future.

Of course, I didn’t sit still throughout the past half a year just doing nothing—I even went as far as planning the downfall of my family and acting like a complete madman so that I could get banished to the countryside.

But even after all that, the plan still fell through.

It feels as though my desperate struggle remained like a storm in a teacup.

[ TL/N: Storm in a teacup is a Korean idiom, saying it’s making something out of nothing or something that looks important, but actually isn’t that big of a deal. Thank you, Yonnee for sharing such a helpful link as well!

Link: https://m.blog.naver.com/PostView.naver?isHttpsRedirect=true&blogId=jaein3389&logNo=221316601952 ]

What’s worse than the plan falling flat on its head, was that I almost got taken to a mental hospital…

As I thought, it’s the same again this time.

What if… not even an ant comes near him when he falls from the fence?

Cassius Brudenell will die without any treatment.

According to the novel, Cassius was destined to die if he did not receive Ophelia’s treatment that day.

Now that I think about it, it is hard to understand how he easily escaped the life-or-death crisis so easily.

Though I almost never doubted that as I kept turning the pages without thinking. It was an R-19 novel I bought for shits and giggles anyway, so I didn’t think spotting plotholes like that was important.

However, now… it is important.

Cassius should not die.

At least, not inside the walls of our house.

If it is revealed that Duke Brudenell’s successor died in Garneid County, the furious Duke of Brudenell will destroy our family…

I bit my lip again.

The options that were available to me were numerous, but they’re all just unfilled gangjeong.* However, I could not stay still and let poor Ophelia run willingly into Cassius’ arms.

[ TL/N: Gangjeong is a traditional korean snack; it means the options she has are insubstantial or worthless.

Link: https://hinative.com/ko/questions/17017292. (Thank you again, Yonnee!) ]

I had to do something for Ophelia, who saved me from the crisis of being dragged into a mental hospital.

***

Sneaking out of the mansion in a modest dress was easier than I thought.

The maid, who had been monitoring me at my parents’ command, gave in and lent me her dress when I threatened to jump out of the window if she wouldn’t give it to me.

Wearing a maid’s grab and throwing away my dignity as the County’s Young Lady is just a drop in the bucket compared to everything else I’d done thus far. There is a reason why I was nicknamed, ‘the crazy wench of Count Garneid.’

I immediately headed downtown.

‘We just need to make sure that Cassius Brudenell doesn’t get hurt in the first place.’

That way, on the day Cassius would run away, he wouldn’t break into our house. However, of course, I do not intend to save him if he happens to be on the brink of death. It would be a big deal if Cassius has a crush on me.

It may sound ridiculous, but I’m serious.

Cassius was a certified madman, and as such, no one would be able to predict his thought process. So, what if he had a crush on Ophelia not because she was a pretty, and good heroine, but just because she saved his life from the crisis?

I was an insignificant extra whose head was lopped off in an instant, but that didn’t mean I dreamed to rise to the role of the heroine who would later be kidnapped and imprisoned.

Besides, if I became the heroine this time, Ophelia would become the extra who’d die a meaningless death.

I don’t want that either.