Chapter 1. The Role of a Supporting Character

There was a romance novel.

The female protagonist, Priscilla, came from a fallen noble family and entered the Duke’s mansion as a maid through an acquaintance’s introduction.

The place where she came to work was the mansion of the Penvernon family, said to be the most powerful among the only five ducal houses in the empire.

The descriptions of the young duke, the owner of the vast mansion, were diverse. He was the lord ruling over the vast western lands of the Grandia Empire, a magic swordsman born with marvelous magical powers that would go down in imperial history. He was also a beautiful young man whose looks were praised in odes by minstrels.

He truly possessed enormous wealth and immense power.

The Emperor cherished him yet was also wary of him, the nobles desperately sought connections with him, and the commoners feared yet praised him.

However, as for the Duke himself, he had been wandering aimlessly since losing his wife a few years ago.

When his deceased wife was alive, they weren’t particularly affectionate. Bound by a political marriage, they merely maintained the courtesies of a married couple, their loveless marriage life was utterly bleak.

The Duke’s marriage to a wife from a declining count’s family was due to the imperial family’s scheme. They attached a woman who was essentially useless to him, just enough to maintain appearances without allowing the ducal family’s status to rise further.

Originally, the Duke was known as a cruel, cold-blooded man. Possessing immense magical power called the ‘Dragon’s Strength,’ he was an object of awe. He, too, was accustomed to everyone fearing him.

Still, because everything about the Duke was extremely attractive, numerous beauties approached him, spreading rumors of affairs. But no one managed to win his love. Thus, no one thought that the quiet and timid Duchess would move his heart.

Their marriage eventually ended in tragedy. One day, while walking alone, the Duchess fell into a river and died.

Only after his wife passed away in this unfortunate accident did the Duke begin to regret belatedly.

To the Duke, his wife was his only family. But he failed to protect her. Having lost the only ‘person of his own’ within his circle, he sank into deep sorrow.

It had been years of coldness, wary of the woman the Emperor had attached to him, disliking the idea of having someone precious.

But perhaps he could have loved her. They could have lived cherishing each other, but in the end, they didn’t. It was the Duke’s mistake, and the possibility withered without coming to a bloom.

What use was there in regretting now? Her soul had already disappeared into the deep river waters.

The happiness he failed to grasp seemed infinitely beautiful. She, who he lost gradually, became the protagonist of his fantasy.

Thus, only after her death did the Duchess’s presence grow within the Duke.

And so, the Duchess finally became his first love.

She remained as an indelible trace, a pitiful shadow, becoming the ‘unbeatable rival’ for the female protagonist.

But what use is all that?

The dead have no power. Especially if they’re just an extra whose name only appears in a romance novel.

The former wife is just a mountain for the female protagonist to overcome, an element of conflict for the lovers’ happy union, someone who will eventually be shaken off from the Duke’s heart.

In the end, Priscilla erases the dark shadow in the Duke’s heart and falls in love with him.

There are twists and turns, but ultimately, what awaits the two at the end is a happy ending. As what always happens in romance novels.

If there’s one problem, it’s the fact that… I’ve now become that ‘Duke’s deceased former wife’, Alisa Penvernon.

In other words, my current husband is the male protagonist of the romance novel, Rashid, the Duke of Penvernon.

‘Ah, this can’t be. How did it come to this?’

I sighed deeply, clutching my head.

The long hair in my hands is a bright coral color. The clothes I’m wearing are a chemise made of pure white silk, the seat I’m on is a bed covered with intricately patterned sheets, and this place is the bedroom of the Duchess of Penvernon.

Everything around me is saying it.

That I’ve now become a character in a book.

I never dreamed that such an absurd thing would happen to me — waking up one day to find myself in the world of a novel.

The incident started from a very trivial mistake.

I, a 22-year-old college student, went to the Han River to watch a meteor shower and slipped, falling into the river.

In an instant, the ice-cold water choked my breath. My soaked body felt as heavy as a thousand pounds. I reached out towards the breaking light beyond the water, but couldn’t reach it.

Is this how I die? My life, not even that long, ending so absurdly.

Struggling in the deep darkness like that, I lost consciousness and…

…when I woke up, I was here.

When I opened my eyes, an ornate ceiling I had never seen before came into view.

Where is this? I definitely fell into the water…

“My lady, are you alright?”

Someone who noticed I had opened my eyes rushed over and wiped the cold sweat from my forehead.

My lady? Who are they talking about? Surely they’re not addressing me?

“…Where am I?”

As I raised my body in confusion, a headache that felt like my skull was splitting overwhelmed me. I screamed and collapsed back down.

At that moment, a strong shock hit me as if I had been struck by lightning. The contents of the novel, along with the memories of Alisa, the original owner of this body, suddenly invaded my mind. Thanks to this, I realized that I had fallen into the world of a romance novel.

An intense pain followed. It was a tremendous headache, as if needles were piercing my entire head.

“Aaagh!”

“My lady, my lady! What should we do!”

As I screamed and clutched my head, the maid caused a commotion and stomped her feet. It seemed she had called for other people, but I fainted before they arrived.

When I regained consciousness again, it was in the middle of the night.

The Duchess’s bedroom, enveloped in deep darkness, was quiet. Bluish moonlight shone through the closed window. The cool light, as if observing me, somehow made me feel uneasy. My parched lips made me feel thirsty.

I got up and lit a candle. The dim interior soon revealed itself, leaning on the weak light.

The bedroom I looked around upon waking up again was no longer an entirely unfamiliar space. Now I knew this place. Every corner of the bedroom where Alisa had stayed for over a year was now present in my memories.

‘How could something like this happen?’

If only it were all a dream. If I fell asleep and woke up again, then I’d be in the hospital. That actually, it’s all just a dream I had while I was unconscious.

However, as morning dawned, I slowly began to accept this reality.

I had no choice. Even after opening my eyes several more times, I was still in this unfamiliar world.

Around mid-morning, a doctor came to examine me. According to the doctor, Alisa had fallen into the Sehera River that crossed the continent, was barely rescued, and had woken up after three days.

“My lady, do you recognize who I am?”

“Yes. You’re the Duke’s family physician, aren’t you?”

At my response, the doctor exchanged meaningful glances with the head maid. Apparently, speaking too politely to him, a subordinate, had surprised them.

Even if she came from a family of little influence, Alisa was still a noble and would have naturally looked down on them.

If I couldn’t return to my original world right away, I needed to adapt to this place for now. I felt the need to follow her behavioral patterns so that others wouldn’t find me strange.

“It seems you’re like this due to the shock. You’ll get better if you rest well.”

Thanks to the doctor’s diagnosis, I was able to stay cooped up in the bedroom for a while, receiving care from the servants.

I rested without doing anything. I ate, slept, ate again, and slept.

‘I don’t want to do anything. I’m already not doing anything, but I want to not do anything even more.’

But after a few days, even that became boring. A daily life with nothing to see or do was tedious and dull.