Chapter 1: Even Being a Trivial Young Lady is Fine

When I opened my eyes, I found myself as a ‘trivial young lady’ in a novel.

But it was okay. I lived a life worse than a dirt spoon in South Korea.

“Your ordered macarons are ready, my lady.”

A western man with blonde hair and green eyes, resembling a Hollywood actor, Brad Pitt, approached with a refreshing smile. He placed the three-tiered tray with macarons on the table.

“Thank you.”

I am currently inside a 19+ dark romance fantasy novel, <The Men of Saintess Rosetta>, not in South Korea, Europe, or Hollywood.

Otherwise, there’s no way to explain the scenery I’m seeing now.

Inside a lavish café decorated in a Victorian style, a splendid blend of gold and green, were young men and women dressed in dresses and uniforms were sitting close together like popsicles, sipping tea and exploring each other.

Of course, I was one of them.

The difference between me and them is that I have no interest whatsoever in the man sitting in front of me for a matchmaking meeting.

“You seem to like macarons. Do you usually order this many?”

The nobleman, my matchmaking partner, kept trying to talk to me. Even though I was ignoring him, keeping in line with the character setting of ‘the immature little villainess Yuria Graham’, he didn’t run away and endured for quite a while.

‘Just leave. I don’t have time for this.’

To hide my impatience, I put on a calm face and lowered my gaze to the table. The three-tiered plate in front of me was piled high with colorful macarons.

Even a few of these cost more than my dinner back home. Now I could eat them until I was sick of the sweetness.

As I picked up a pink macaron and put it in my mouth, it started to melt richly with a strawberry scent.

‘Melts so smoothly.’

It was so delicious that my feet, hidden under my dress, tapped the floor.

I impulsively put another sky-blue macaron in my mouth and gazed out the window with a blissful expression. The cherry blossom petals fluttering in the breeze were emitting a fantastic pure white light under the spring sun.

‘So beautiful.’

The spring in the Pins region is famous for that ‘cherry blossom tree-lined road’. It’s especially popular as a dating spot for young unmarried couples.

‘Must be nice to play around and fall in love.’

“Lady Graham.”

‘Ah, I really love having fun!’

“……Lady Yuria Graham?”

‘Sigh.’

At the persistent voice calling my name, I tore my gaze away from the window and looked straight ahead.

The young man sitting with his legs spread wide, Viscount Harris, was staring at me intently.

Can’t you close your legs a bit?

“What did you say?”

I casually answered and finished swallowing the macaron in my mouth.

“A wife with a big appetite lacks virtue. A good wife should be frugal. If you marry me, there will be many things you’ll need to learn.”

We just met today, and you’re already talking about marriage!

The viscount pushed aside the macaron tray in front of me with a distorted face. It happened so quickly that I just blinked in surprise.

‘Why are you moving it?’

I paid for them, and I’ll eat them! Don’t you know ‘my money, my treat’?

I closed my lips, which I was about to open in disbelief.

It’s been two months since I entered the 19+ dark romance fantasy novel, <The Men of Saintess Rosetta>. I still can’t get used to these outdated mindsets that sometimes surpass those of the Joseon Dynasty.

Oh, this is the West, so maybe it’s around the Middle Ages?

Even when I scowled at him, the viscount continued his lecturing without pause.

“Isn’t it a wife’s role to manage the household frugally and support her husband?”

“……”

“A woman who supports her husband well is the best bride material.”

It was getting worse.

“Don’t you know my reputation?”

“Haha, of course. You’re the ‘immature little villainess’, right? If you marry me, I’ll help you shake off that nickname! It’s all because you didn’t receive proper education from your parents…”

“Oh dear, then I’m not suited to be your bride.”

I cut off his words, feeling like my ears would rot if I listened any longer.

“As rumored, I love going out and can’t stay put at home. How can I get along with someone educated like you?”

“Ahem.”

Viscount Harris cleared his throat, seemingly embarrassed.

Will he leave on his own now?

“Then, have you thought about where you’ll live after marriage?”

You’re still not leaving?

“I have no intention of leaving Pins. I want to live stuck to my wonderful parents like a thistle.”

“That’s great! Since the Baron doesn’t supply weapons, I’ve built some connections with arms dealers.”

Despite my sharp retort, the viscount didn’t budge. Instead, he started talking about something irrelevant.

“I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

“Please speak well to Baron Graham. Ask him to prepare a deputy head position at the guild. Isn’t that what supporting your husband is all about? Haha.”

So that’s why he kept emphasizing support earlier; he was trying to get a position in the Graham family?

Yuria’s father, and now my father, Baron Graham, might not be a great noble, but he’s highly respected as the lord of the Pins region and quite wealthy.

No, to correct that, he’s one of the wealthiest in the Brillante Empire.

The main business of the Graham family is supplying military goods to various countries. However, the Baron, being a pacifist, never dealt with arms, even if it was profitable. They make enormous money just from food, medicine, potions, clothing, military uniforms, magic tools, and personnel. Enough for me to buy anything I want without worrying about my bank balance.

Even though I’m a trivial extra in the novel, at least I have a diamond-studded spoon.

I took a sip of tea to moisten my lips and smiled as I pushed the macaron tray toward the viscount.

“You must be low on sugar. You’re saying such ridiculous things.”

I didn’t forget to blink my sky-blue eyes cutely and give him a fresh smile. Smiling prettily while making snide remarks was the specialty of the immature Yuria Graham.

In the end, the viscount’s face crumpled, and he roughly pulled off his garishly colorful cravat.

“I’ve been letting your insincere answers slide, but what did you just say?”

The thick eyelids of the viscount trembled.

“Oh dear, you’re low on magnesium. What did I say? I can’t remember…”

“I was going to marry you despite knowing you were immature and strong-willed, but instead of being grateful, why are you acting like this?”

Why? I’m doing it on purpose. And who said I would marry someone like you?

The café patrons started glancing over. It was time to send him off.

“Viscount, are you curious about the reason?”

I smiled sweetly, curving my eyes like crescent moons. At that smile, the viscount nodded, looking slightly less angry.

Even if Yuria Graham is a trivial character, she’s set to be quite beautiful. Thank you, author.

“I don’t like you.”

“What?”

The viscount’s face, which was starting to relax, crumpled again.

“Above all, your style is terrible.”

“What did you say? Terrible?”

His bird-like eyes grew even larger.

“That’s not all. Your thinking is terrible too.”

“Huh?”

“So I won’t marry you. Unless you’re the handsome Duke Xavier Auguste.”

“Ugh…!”

“Then, goodbye.”

“What kind of ill-mannered woman is this?”

It took exactly 10 minutes for this matchmaking partner to storm out. It was a record.

“What should we do? Miss! What if you ruin another matchmaking?”

Maya, my  dedicated maid who had been waiting inside the café for the meeting to end, ran over, fuming, as she watched the viscount’s retreating back.

“This is the last one, right? Father is too much. Is it reasonable to send a daughter, who has just recovered from collapsing, to matchmaking meetings for two months in a row?”

“Miss, if you can’t get married, you might have to enter a convent in a place worse than Pins.”

“Oh hoho. Maya, my father only talks like that; he would never actually do it. And I… I’ll marry someone I love.”

“Is that why you mentioned Duke Auguste earlier?”

“Why? You said you saw the Duke at the send-off ceremony too, Maya? A handsome man like him is rare.”

“Yes, I know he’s handsome.”

Though I said that, I hadn’t actually seen him myself.

Maya, her face flushed, resumed speaking clearly.

“This isn’t right! Duke Auguste is a great noble. And thanks to him, we can live peacefully without worrying about a war between the Beast Kingdom and the Empire. He’s too good for a childish young lady like you.”

That’s right.

Even though a war has broken out with the Beast Kingdom at the neighboring border, young men and women can leisurely flirt over tea in a pretty café and peacefully hang out on cherry blossom-lined streets thanks to Swordmaster ‘Duke Xavier Auguste’.

“Maya, isn’t your assessment of me too harsh? And I know he’s a great noble.”

“No matter how much I care for you, Miss, wrong is wrong. I’m not good at lying.”

“I have something I must do when I meet the Duke. It’s a waste of time going to these matchmaking meetings.”

At my words, Maya shook her head and sighed deeply. Her braided hair swayed as she did so.

“Don’t you remember? Before the war, you did all sorts of things to Duke Auguste, like this, like that, like this. Do you think he’ll meet you?”

“Uh, I don’t remember. My memory is hazy.”

I can’t know things that aren’t even in the novel.

Even though I possessed this body, I don’t remember much. Other transmigrator heroines remember everything, but I didn’t have such transmigration buffs.

Looking down at me with a tired expression, Maya didn’t seem like she would stop talking.

“Hazy memory? Don’t you remember getting rejected when you visited the Duke’s residence without permission?”

That was Yuria, not me.

“You got drunk at a banquet and approached the Duke to give him a gift, only to throw up on his clothes.”

“Ugh.”

“You even ordered wedding attire on your own and sent it to him through a messenger.”

“Urgh.”

“You waited all day in front of the gentlemen’s club.”

“Stop!”

Sigh, Yuria really planted death flags, and quite deeply.

“And when that didn’t work, you went on a hunger strike for seven days, demanding to marry him, and eventually collapsed.”

“Maya, can you forget about the past? I’m heading to the guild now, so please prepare.”

“Again?”

“Sigh.”

At my fierce gaze, Maya nodded slightly. She called a waiting servant to carry the shopping bags.

Holding only a fan, I left the café and climbed into the waiting luxury carriage. The carriage was filled with a luxurious aroma.

‘This is the smell of wealth.’

I contentedly savored the scent and looked out the window as the carriage started moving. The medieval-style buildings I had grown accustomed to quickly passed by.

Beyond them, far in the distance, was a mountain ridge. Just beyond that was the mansion of Duke Auguste, whom the citizens of the Empire feared yet respected.

Duke Xavier Auguste, the sub-male lead of <The Men of Saintess Rosetta>.

At the same time, he was the person who would ‘slice’ my neck in the very near future.

‘Do you think I’ll just sit and wait to die? I’ll survive, even if I have to change the original story!’