Everything was going according to plan.

Walking down the long corridor to the private vault following the bank clerk, Marie thought to herself.

‘I’m finally achieving my dream of being a wealthy layabout that I couldn’t fulfill in my previous life.’

This life hasn’t gone to waste. Though the beginning was humble, the end would be magnificent—this saying must have been created with today’s Marie in mind.

Hans suppressed a laugh and coughed when he saw Marie’s nostrils flaring with excitement.

The bank clerk ahead turned around at the sound of his coughing.

“Are you alright, Counselor?”

“It’s nothing. I apologize.”

The bank clerk nodded at Hans’s awkward smile and continued walking. Marie elbowed his arm and whispered.

“What’s wrong with you?”

“Are you that happy?”

Hans looked down at Marie, who was significantly shorter than him, and asked in return.

“Of course! The fortune of Baron Klein, one of the Empire’s renowned wealthy nobles, is finally coming into my hands.”

“Aren’t you a member of the Klein family?”

“Uh, what?”

“You sometimes talk as if you’re not.”

“I just have a habit of thinking about everything from a third-person perspective. Isn’t that objective and good? Hahaha.”

Marie laughed exaggeratedly, stung by his sharp observation.

Despite living as Marie Klein, the youngest daughter of Baron Klein, for 21 years now, she still couldn’t shake off her reader’s perspective.

Meanwhile, the bank clerk stopped in front of a reception desk where a vault receptionist was seated.

“Please submit your family seal and verification documents here.”

Marie rummaged through her bag and placed the seal and documents on the reception desk.

The receptionist examined the documents with a stern expression and adjusted his glasses before speaking.

“The documents are insufficient……”

“What? I brought everything our estate manager told me to bring.”

Marie pointed at Hans as she replied.

The receptionist held up the family relationship certificate from among the documents and began to speak.

“There seems to have been a misunderstanding in communication. From the list of required documents, the one that verifies family relationships……”

“Isn’t the family genealogy copy enough to prove that I’m the Baron’s daughter?”

“There’s no need to prove that you are Miss Marie Klein of the Klein baronial family, as that is verified by your family seal and the presence of your lawyer and the bank manager as witnesses. What I meant was that you need to prove your family relationship with the lawyer.”

“Hans? Hans and I aren’t family.”

“Then you don’t meet the beneficiary qualifications. It will be impossible to transfer ownership of the Baron’s trust assets to you.”

Marie’s eyes widened at the receptionist’s explanation. The receptionist tried his best to explain carefully, but the more she heard, the less she understood.

“Wait, why do I need a family relationship with someone else to receive the assets my father left?”

“When the Baron entrusted us with the trust, he specified conditions for the beneficiary in the contract.”

The receptionist searched for and brought out the contract. Marie picked it up with trembling hands.

In the ‘Special Terms: Beneficiary Conditions’ section, it was written in Baron Klein’s handwriting:

「The beneficiary must establish a family relationship with Hans, whom I, Paul Klein, have designated as the estate manager.」

“W-what is all this?”

Marie turned to Hans with an incredulous face at this bolt from the blue.

“Didn’t I tell you?”

His response was nonchalant.

“Ah, I forgot. Sorry.”

His face showed neither forgetfulness nor remorse. There was no way a lawyer could forget something like this.

It was clearly intentional.

“Excuse me……”

The bank clerk, who had been watching the two nervously, carefully spoke up.

“It’s not a difficult matter. You just need to become family first and then go to the government office to get the proper documentation.”

“No, the premise is all wrong. How am I supposed to become family with him?”

“For married individuals, adoption is an option. Even for unmarried people, adoption is possible, but legally it’s only permitted for men, so it doesn’t apply to you, Miss Marie. Marrying the lawyer seems to be the only option.”

The bank clerk cheerfully suggested a solution, looking pleased to be of help to a customer.

Hans smoothly agreed with the suggestion.

“Right, that’s an option.”

“What?”

“Isn’t it fortunate that there’s a solution?”

Hans raised the corner of his lips seductively toward her.

Marie saw the devil in his green eyes.

“You can’t marry me.”

“Why not? Because of our difference in status?”

Yes. The difference is enormous. Marie muttered inwardly.

‘You’re the male lead and I’m an extra! You’ve lived as a commoner, but you’re actually a prince, while I’m just a baron’s daughter!’

But she couldn’t exactly say that this was a world inside a book.

She had been reverse-played by the male lead she’d intended to use. She shouldn’t have carelessly interfered with the original plot.

Somehow, it seemed this life was ruined too.

That sad premonition flashed through Marie’s mind.

A warning to any future book transmigrators who might come after her:

‘Don’t pick up the male lead carelessly!’

※※※

Twelve years ago.

Dying and waking up inside a book—I thought that only happened in novels.

Marie had been in this world for 9 years already. Since she woke up as a newborn baby, she initially thought this would turn into one of those stories where the female protagonist is coddled and adored by her family.

Born as the sixth daughter of Baron Klein, a renowned wealthy man in the western region, unfortunately, she didn’t receive the benefits of having a daughter-obsessed or sister-obsessed family.

Hearing the Emperor’s name, she knew this was the novel “Dear Prince,” but she couldn’t figure out who she had transmigrated into.

With all the novels she’d read, how could she remember the names of all the extras?

The year Marie turned nine, her older sister Vivian became the Empress’s lady-in-waiting. That day, she finally understood.

“I heard your youngest sister was found dead last night. Vivian, you must be heartbroken. I’ll give you leave to rest.”

“No need, Your Majesty. She was such an odd child that she was disowned by the family. I had no affection for her and we weren’t close.”

“Still, as a noble’s daughter, to freeze to death on the street in this winter is truly pitiful. I’ll cover the expenses, so please make sure she receives a proper funeral.”

The “Marie Klein” she had transmigrated into was an extra among extras in the original work, never even mentioned by name, with this brief description being all there was to her.

An ill-fated extra with the miserable ending of freezing to death on the street.

She was a character hastily created by the author to effectively portray the Empress’s benevolent nature in a short paragraph.

Marie couldn’t know why she would be disowned by her family in the distant future, but she could understand why none of her family members would stand up for her then.

“Everyone is too cruel. No matter that the Baroness passed away after giving birth to Miss Marie, how is that the young miss’s fault?”

Gretel, Marie’s personal maid, would occasionally burst out in indignation, saying this like a mantra.

That was why her father and siblings treated Marie like she was invisible.

There’s no chance of being loved here. Marie realized this at a young age.

Judging from Vivian’s career mentioned in the original work, Marie would be driven out of the family twelve years later, at the age of twenty-one.

‘I absolutely cannot be thrown out penniless like in the original story.’

Marie decided to try to remove the death flag placed before her fate.

Money was indeed the issue. The first thing she did was to save the allowance given for maintaining her dignity instead of spending it.

Even if she walked around in old clothes, the people of the Baron’s household wouldn’t notice anyway, as they paid no attention to Marie.

The problem was Marie’s growth rate.

“Miss, this absolutely doesn’t fit you anymore. We need to buy new clothes!”

Gretel, who had been trying to squeeze Marie’s small head into clothes that had become too small, let out a yelp.

“Did I eat too many sweets?”

Marie scratched her head with an embarrassed expression.

Perhaps because the author was a dessert enthusiast, every dessert in this world was delicious.

They melted in the mouth more smoothly than soufflé cake, were sweeter than dalgona coffee, and chewier than macarons.

‘No choice. Activate Plan B!’

The Klein baronial family boasted an impressive book collection comparable to an entire floor of a university library’s reference section.

The Baron allowed anyone to borrow books as long as they kept a record and returned them properly.

Whenever friends asked to borrow books, Marie secretly charged them money, even keeping a ledger.

“That’s too cheap! Are you sure that’s all it costs?”

“I’ve been wanting to read this book so badly. Thanks, Marie!”

The innocent noble children gladly paid, delighted. She charged extra when they wanted to borrow books that were already reserved.

Marie felt guilty about deceiving the young ladies and gentlemen, but she had to save herself first, so it couldn’t be helped.

“You stooped so low with those little ones, and this is all you’ve collected? I guess it’s pocket change after all.”

Realistically, after twelve years of this, she would barely be able to afford a cottage in the countryside.

She absolutely needed to buy a house to avoid freezing to death. She couldn’t waste her savings on hotel bills.

Marie immediately activated Plan C. Her target was Schrödinger, the owner of the pastry shop she frequently visited with her friends.

He always sighed deeply with a worried face, saying he was about to go bankrupt because of the shop’s rent.

One day, while petting the owner’s cat that had climbed onto the counter, Marie spoke to him.

“Are things that bad?”

“Miss! I apologize. I’ve been rude in front of customers.”

“Why don’t you take out a bank loan and just buy this place? The shop next door is empty too, so why not get both?”

Schrödinger waved his hands in refusal at her suggestion to ‘go big or go home.’