CH 2

“Old lady!”

There’s a saying that ghosts won’t feel refreshed even if you change them. The old lady, who appeared in front of me with her face sticking out, smiled unpleasantly.

“What are you doing? Why do you make me dream like this?”

Isn’t it cheap to do something like this?

Without thinking of the woman standing behind me, I screamed at the old woman. Such a dream, when I wake up, that’s it.

I’d rather roll when I’m pushed. If I did, I would have woken up right away from my dream.

[A dream?]

The old lady rolled her small eyes in all directions and made a strange laugh.

[This is not a dream, you punk.]

“What nonsense are you talking about…….”

“Miss… What are you muttering?”

When I looked back, it was already late. The woman, who was covering her mouth with frightened eyes, ran out screaming before I could stop her.

[The guys here are so handsome.]

“What do you mean it’s not a dream?”

[Tsk, it’s because you don’t have a clue. She’s the same as you and I don’t like her, try to save her. That’s why you’re here.]

“What?”

[The cursed child, the pain in this family. Isn’t that why you didn’t like Flotty?]

My grandmother knew exactly what I had read. Flotty Bevenia.

The wicked woman of <The Lady Walks the Flower Road>.

A woman with purple hair and gray eyes, instead of gray hair and purple eyes that has been handed down from generation to generation in the family.

[You’re going to die soon. You’re gonna need me to live.]

“Stop talking nonsense and take me back right away.”

[Then, I’m off to watch some boys.]

The old lady disappeared suddenly, leaving only those words. That ghost, who usually didn’t go even if I cursed her to get lost, disappeared this time.

Leaving me in this ridiculous situation.

***

All I did in this ridiculous world was do nothing.

The first day I came here, I was trapped in the gloomy basement of the Duke of Bevenia where the ball was held.

After that, I came up to my room, which is a shabby room in the corner of the mansion, and ate a simple meal a day, and lived my life.

After she disappeared like that, she never really came.

“I have to live. I have to live.”

This damn life is also my life of its own, so there are lingering regrets.

In the place where I lived alone, I didn’t even have the slightest desire to end my life. Thus, I have no intention of dying in a world I entered out of the blue in a book.

I managed to grab a pen with my thin finger, chewing the crumbly bread that had been pushed into my mouth.

This is the world in the book.

The Olan Empire. This woman whose body I took over is Flotty Bevenia. A woman who has been criticized for being a cursed child all her life that made her mind twisted.

A woman who would come to every ball and cause a commotion, and would rage if anyone so much as met her gaze, as if they were disrespecting her.

And one day, when Flotty opened her eyes, there was no one in the large duchy.

Due to the Duke’s crime, Flotty faced death at the hands of the Grand Duke. It hasn’t been long since I was in the novel so I don’t know what crime she’s already committed.

“No, how am I supposed to save myself in this situation? This body.”

In a word, there is no hope.

Even if I run away, I don’t have money or even a piece of jewelry.

Of course I don’t know what this world is like.

The duchy’s people didn’t want the crazy mutant Flotty to be seen by outsiders, so her surveillance was fierce.

“Ha……”

I smoothed my dark purple hair that I couldn’t get used to even after a week.

“When will the Grand Duke come?”

What did he say as he drew his sword?

“Where is your father?”

Yes, this is it.

I saw Flotty’s father. Duke of Bevenia. And I saw the Little Duke who was messing with me with his shoe-nose.

Flotty’s answer, of course, was ‘I don’t know’.

She couldn’t have known. Since there was no one when she woke up.

The Grand Duke thrust a sword into Flotty, and she was terrified and begged him to save her until her hands and feet were worn out, but there was no mercy from the Grand Duke of the Olan Empire.

Deng-gang.

Flotty’s neatly cut hair.

When I thought it could become my reality, my hair stood on end all over my body. It is no longer a story in a novel.

My neck could fall to the floor right away.

“So when is he coming?”

I have to know whether I should hide or go out with the other people in the duchy who will run away.

No matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t think of anything. I put down my pen and leaned back against the chair.

Let’s explore first.

In the meantime, I must gain strength by eating bad bread. I’ve summarized the contents of the novel as well.

I’m sure the people of the duchy will plot before they run away.

Selfish people who leave Flotti as bait and just take their own lives and leave.

I changed into my silk pajamas with the least friction and quietly opened the door.

I walked carefully in the hallway, wherein servants did not pass.

“The situation is not… I should at least leave.”

There was a glimmer of light on the dark hallway floor. It was from the Duke’s bedroom.

I crept nearer to the bedroom to hear the fine sounds of conversation.

“What did the prince say?”

Done. Finally, I can hear it properly. Thanks to the quietness of the corridor, voices could be heard through the thick doors.

“He said it would be better to prepare.”

“How the hell do you handle things!”

“Aren’t you going to lower your voice?”

Getting ready? What are they getting ready for?

The Duke and his wife talked secretly again, lowering their raised voices.

“It was a bad time. If it wasn’t for the damn Grand Duke of Noctis…….”

“So what did I tell you? I said we should aim for the Grand Duke first, not the crown prince.”

“What does a woman like you know? Stop talking and get ready!”

“The Crown Prince is a weak human being, but the Grand Duke is different. I always told you.”

Since then, the conversation has not continued. His wife’s words were ignored, and after some noise, the bedroom became quiet.

“What? Is that it?”

That’s all I’ve ever figured out. The weak Crown Prince and Grand Duke Noctis. Yes, I remembered the name of the grand duke who invaded this duchy.

Devon Noctis.

A cruel, merciless man.

I didn’t crawl out quietly just to discover this.

I can’t help it even if I’m disappointed today. Still, after reflecting on the conversation, the Grand Duke will soon come to the duchy.

If I want to blend in as a maid, I should get a maid’s uniform in advance. I can start preparing for tomorrow.

With such complacent thoughts, I returned to my room and went to sleep.

And when I woke up the next day, there was no one left at the Duke’s residence in Bevenia.

***

Flotty can’t even be called a villain. At the beginning of the novel, she plays just a supporting role in order to show the strength and power of Grand Duke Noctis.

Flotty, whose hands are bound and kneeling, with her purple hair hanging down instead of gray hair, is the symbol of the family of Bevenia.

Yeah, that little supporting character is me.

“Tell me where the Duke has gone.”

The man’s first impression was very strong, as the writer intended.

The pressure from the man who was in all black was beyond imagination.

Flotty in the novel, who was despised by the people of the duchy, was trembling in front of this man and repeating that she didn’t know.

Now that I’m Flotty, I can’t give him any answer either.

“I don’t know.”

That’s all I could say. I don’t know anything.

I never imagined they’d run away so soon. The duke and his wife didn’t go to bed after the conversation, they were preparing to run away…….

‘Those punks were going to screw up! Why did they run away leaving their daughter behind?’

Have they ever thought she was their daughter? What’s wrong with her hair color?

No, no. This would not have happened if a priest did not proclaim Flotty as a “cursed child”.

“I’ll ask you again.”

Despite being a woman with such a small body, the knights did not hesitate to draw their swords. A man walked leisurely through it.

Grand Duke Denver Noctis.

I chewed hard enough to rip my lips. I can’t think of a way out of this damn situation.

If I die here…….

There is no guarantee that I will be able to return to reality. I have to survive without fail.

There’s no way that crazy old lady would send me back nicely.

“Where did the Duke of Bevenia go?”

The Grand Duke was kind enough to ask back. There was a tinge of darkness in his sharp eyes.

High and long nose and straight mouth, a tall height that everyone looks up to.

“I’ll spare your life.”

His low voice froze the air. Now that no one has taken care of me and left, my body must be healthy.

“I really don’t know. I was… you know, a daughter who was treated like a curse in the family. The Duke did not give me any information.”

“You’re good at lying.”

“If it’s a lie, why would I be the only one left at the duke’s residence? I’m just a bait.”

“Bait?”

“The Grand Duke, who has lost time because of me, will miss the time to pursue the Duke of Bevenia. The Duke was aiming for that.”

I must not tremble. There’s nothing to fear because it’s not a lie. Flotti prayed without saying anything, hoping the Grand DUke would understand.

“Your Excellency is still under the Duke’s plan.”

I tried to hide my nervousness and moistened my dry lips with my tongue.

The myriad blades facing me glowed sharply as if they were about to dig into my throat.

“You mean it’s already late.”

“So even now…….”

“Kill her.”

“……what?”

The man’s orders were issued relentlessly. Why? Why?