Chapter 2: I Will Change this Miserable Story

Originally, I was Lee Joo-hee, a 23-year-old.

Amidst the abuse and discrimination from my stepmother and stepsister, I took on all sorts of part-time jobs since high school. So, instead of becoming an all-rounder… I became a jack-of-all-trades.

One day, while living as the ATM machine and fool for those two women, the evening before my stepsister’s wedding…

— Hey, don’t come to my wedding. Do you want to advertise that Mom remarried?

The voice over the phone was chilling.

“Why can’t I go to your wedding? I’m, I’m… family too.”

At that moment, I heard the shrill voice of my stepmother from afar.

— Why on earth does this girl think she’s coming? Does your stepmother’s word mean nothing?

With that, the call ended.

“Ah…”

I cried silently on the bed in the darkened company apartment. I wanted to faint from sleep, but the more I tried to sleep, the clearer my mind became.

Lying in bed, I turned on my phone to read some web novels. It was the least hobby I could manage before going out for substitute driving.

“Huh? The author’s debut work is here?”

<The Men of Saintess Rosetta>

The debut work of my favorite author.

It was a novel I had long wanted to read but couldn’t because it was out of print. There was an announcement that the debut work was being remade, but a few months later, I heard that the author was in a coma due to a truck accident.

‘It was quite a commotion among the fans because of that.’

But that debut work was up on the platform. Along with the unfinished remake version.

‘Shall I read the original version first?’

It was strange, but I was so glad that I immediately purchased the two-volume novel and started reading it.

<The Men of Saintess Rosetta> had a unique theme. It was the existence of beastmen.

These cursed beings couldn’t maintain their human form without the holy power of the temple and had to live their lives as half-humans or half-beasts with ears or tails.

The land of the beastmen, Moirai, where they sometimes turned into humans and sometimes into beasts, coexisted in this world with the human nation, the Brillante Empire.

In the past, the empire coveted Moirai, which was overflowing with natural resources, and after endless attempts, succeeded in conquering it, but withdrew when a curse suddenly spread.

Since then, retaliatory invasions from the beast kingdom Moirai against the empire, meaningless small-scale wars, had been repeated over several generations.

In such a backdrop, the heroine Rosetta appears in the clock tower square.

The heroine Rosetta was being chased by beastmen who were illegally residing in the human Brillante Empire. At that time, she was rescued by the crown prince who appeared by chance and awakened as a saintess in front of him. After that, at the victory banquet held by the imperial family, the crown prince escorted Saintess Rosetta and appeared with her.

This is where the problem arises.

The sub-male lead, Xavier, falls in love with the heroine, Rosetta, at first sight at the banquet.

‘Oh, a love triangle? This sounds fun.’

However, my pink expectations for a healing trope through the novel shattered as I approached the ending.

When Rosetta marries the male lead crown prince, Xavier goes mad and starts a rebellion. By forming an alliance with the enemy beast kingdom.

In conclusion, all the sub-male leads, including Xavier, died.

Only the male and female leads survived.

‘What is this, a misery disguised as romance?’

Life is miserable, and even the novel ends miserably?

Annoyed, I threw my phone in a fit of rage. With a thud, the phone fell under the bed.

“Ah, what do I do? A call for substitute driving could come, that was close… huh?”

I hurriedly got off the bed to pick up the phone, but my thoughts suddenly stopped.

Am I thinking about driving a substitute even now? Even though I’m not treated as family no matter how much money I bring in?

‘Damn, money, money. What’s so great about that damn money that I have to work myself to the bone for others?’

At times like this, I think of my mom who left home, whose face I can’t even remember. Dad was blunt too, but he was okay when he was alive.

‘I don’t want to live. I want to stop working and play.’

I want to live without worrying about money by my warm parents’ side. I want to raise animals and have a romance I haven’t experienced. I’m sick of this miserable life.

Tears I had been holding back fell down my cheeks. Having cried enough, I fell asleep on the floor like that.

Then, you should try changing it.

With a voice whispering in my ear, I drifted into a deep sleep.

And I woke up inside a novel.

To be precise, I woke up because I was so hungry that I couldn’t help but open my eyes.

‘Hungry… huh?’

In front of me, a western-looking couple, faces covered in tears and snot, were crying and looking at me, and a woman in a maid outfit with a swollen face stood beside them. The couple, who seemed to be husband and wife, were wearing ornate uniforms and dresses that looked like they were from a European classic movie.

“Yuria, are you alright?”

“Oh, my daughter!”

Before I could react, the two rushed at me with open arms.

“Huh?”

Bewildered, I couldn’t say anything and was hugged by the unfamiliar middle-aged couple.

“What did Mom say? Why starve yourself for a week over unrequited love? You foolish girl!”

“Yuria, I really thought you were going to die.”

My dad passed away, and my mom abandoned me, so who are you people?

They hugged me tightly, rubbing their cheeks against mine, making eye contact, and patting my head repeatedly.

“Why are you doing this? I don’t understand what you’re saying.”

“Yuria, you even starved yourself asking to be married, and now you’ve forgotten?”

They’re calling me Yuria? Marriage?

“Marriage?”

“Don’t you remember? You collapsed while protesting to marry Duke Xavier Auguste whom you can’t live without.”

Duke Xavier Auguste?!

Hearing the duke’s full name, I remembered.

In the R-rated miserable web novel <The Men of Saintess Rosetta>, he was one of the few Swordmasters who handled Aura.

The ultimate villain of this novel.

Yes, I had done what all romance fantasy readers dream of—being reincarnated into a book.

‘Crazy.’

In the latter part of the novel, when Duke Xavier starts a rebellion and advances to the capital, he devastates the Pins region governed by Yuria’s father.

Why?

Because the Pins where Yuria lives is located on the way to the capital and serves as a buffer zone between the Brillante Empire and the beast kingdom.

Baron Douglas Graham, a doting father but upright character, refuses to betray his country and open the way to the capital. He loses his life to the duke, and Yuria and the baroness are also beheaded by his sword.

In that scene, Yuria and her parents’ names are mentioned in just two lines. It was a brief appearance, but it was so intense that I remembered it.

‘Ah, my neck.’

Feeling a chill around my neck, I instinctively hunched my shoulders.

Is it still attached?

I felt around my neck with both hands to check and took a deep breath. Then I clenched my hands tightly until they turned white.

Now, two months after being reincarnated, my immediate goal is to remove the death flag hanging over me!

‘Xavier Auguste must be the one to save Rosetta. Not the crown prince!’

If the duke ends up with the heroine, he won’t start a rebellion, right? Then Pins will be saved, and the baron couple and I won’t die at the hands of the mad duke.

Yes, what I need to survive is the so-called Love Bridge Project to connect the mastermind duke and the heroine!

Sorry to Rosetta, but I need to survive first. At least Rosetta has the protagonist’s buff and survives well throughout this novel!

But the problem was how to meet the duke who had already gone to war.

Unfortunately, I entered Yuria’s body after she had weakened herself through fasting, so there was no way to meet him.

A 19-year-old girl, without the strength to wield a sword, couldn’t just rush into the battlefield,

‘Hello, Duke. The saintess is about to appear, would you like to have a matchmaking session?’

I can’t greet him like that, can I? If I said that, I’d either be treated as a crazy woman and stabbed by the duke’s bastard sword¹the term “bastard sword” originated in the 15th or 16th century and was originally used to describe an irregular sword or one of uncertain origin or abandoned on the battlefield to be torn apart by beastmen.

‘Just imagining it gives me chills.’

Okay, let’s think of another way.

In the original, Xavier Auguste recalled having great difficulty due to a lack of supplies during the war with the beast kingdom, a month before the victory banquet.

Now, a month before the original begins, no matter how much Yuria stalked the duke, if I go with war supplies, he won’t be able to turn me away.

‘If he has a conscience after receiving help, he’ll grant me one favor.’

I have to run away from the villainous duke, but to survive, I have to approach the villain.

Ha, life.

‘Once the duke meets Rosetta, I’ll definitely cut ties and ghost him!’

And I’ll live happily, eating and drinking well with my new parents.

So, since I came to my senses, I’ve been preparing a thorough plan for two months. Today’s work was an extension of that plan.

The Graham Trading Company.

A massive building made entirely of marble. A large sign at the entrance greeted me.

I forced Maya, who wanted to come with me, to return home and walked confidently into the building. As soon as I pushed through the revolving door, an elderly man with gray hair came running quickly.

“Miss, you’ve arrived?”

“Yes, Joseph. Everything is ready, right?”

“Of course, Miss. But won’t you tell me what you’re planning to do?”

Joseph gave me a meaningful look, waiting for my answer.

He already knows everything but still asks.

Joseph, the general manager of the trading company, was also in charge of personnel, handling the recruitment of volunteers, cooks, and healers for war support.

As usual, I glanced at Joseph with a nonchalant expression and crossed the marble lobby while taking off my gloves. Joseph, who had taken my gloves, followed closely beside me.

“Joseph, Father told me, ‘If you’re not going to learn about the trading company, go back to matchmaking.’ Doesn’t that mean he wants me to actively learn about the company?”

“Yes, that’s true, but I also have to report to the master…”

“Why, don’t you trust my abilities?”

When I stopped walking, Joseph flinched and stopped.

“Not at all! Thanks to your help with the bookkeeping, it’s been a tremendous help. I never expected you to know double-entry bookkeeping. When did you learn it?”

When did I learn it? I learned it while doing accounting part-time jobs in the other world.

“I learned it over my mother’s shoulder.”

“No, is that… possible?”

“Well, I’m a Graham too.”

“Ah, I see. But why don’t you tell the master? He’d be so pleased.”

“It wasn’t the right time then.”

“Pardon?”

“I’ve done a lot of wrong things, haven’t I? I want to surprise Father little by little.”

What parent would be happy to hear their daughter is preparing to go to the battlefield?

“Oh, Miss!”

Joseph, seemingly understanding my words differently, clasped his large hands together.

“I’ve known since you were a baby that you were brilliant. People say you’re immature, but you’ve grown so well. The master would be so pleased to know…”

“Thank you for thinking that way.”

I gently patted his shoulder, which was trembling with emotion. After a moment, Joseph, having regained his composure, asked.

“But Miss, water spiritists are different from cooks or healers. They’re so arrogant. Even the trading company failed to recruit them repeatedly.”

Today was the last day for selecting non-combat personnel, with only the recruitment of water spiritists remaining.

“Joseph, do you know what water spiritists want most?”

“A contract with a higher spirit? High natural affinity?”

“No, a stable supply of food.”

“Food?”

To be precise, a stable supply of ‘special ores.’

To contract with spirits, you need natural affinity, but even after contracting, you need special ores to strengthen the spirits.

This fact will be revealed later, but I’m the only one who knows it at this point.

‘It’s a tip only someone who’s read the novel would know.’

I gave Joseph, whose face was full of question marks, a bright smile and turned around. The quick-witted Joseph swiftly approached and opened the door to the interview room.

“Now, let them in.”

“Yes!”

With a loud voice, Joseph shouted.

“Spiritists who applied for the Graham Trading Company’s non-combat support recruitment, please come this way!”

The water spiritists, cloaked in arrogance and pretentiousness, entered the interview room one by one. Once a total of five spiritists had entered the room, Joseph closed the door and left.

However, not a single one of them greeted me as they came in.

‘What a sight.’

So, they want to try this, huh.