Epilogue 1. The Beginning of a Villainess

“Hey! Turn down the TV! I’m about to write!”

Jaerin shouted at her younger sibling who remained engrossed in the TV in the living room.

When the loud noise finally diminished, she sighed and sat down in front of her computer.

Tap. Steam rose from the tumbler she placed on the desk. Today she planned to dedicate herself to writing until dawn with a cup of coffee as her companion.

Noh Jaerin. She was a popular author working under the pen name ‘Aroji2.’

She originally worked as a pharmacy clerk, but after her recently completed novel became a huge hit and secured a drama adaptation, she boldly quit her job and transitioned to becoming a full-time writer.

Of course, this decision came from her confidence in making a living through writing. Even she herself thought her talent in writing was innate.

‘Still, I never planned to become a writer. Life really……’

The catalyst for everything was her sudden realization of her past life.

In her past life, Jaerin was a count’s daughter named ‘Roselina.’

Being nobility was nice, but d*mn it, Roselina was sickly. She developed a rare disease just when she debuted in society and tried to spread her wings, forcing her to live a life of despair afterward.

The one who gave hope to Roselina’s life was rather her best friend, Aristie.

Aristie Crua Yentrice.

Beauty, character, status, and wealth. From any perspective, she could only be the heroine of a romance novel—a perfect woman. Plus, she was the Emperor’s fiancée.

Of course, Aristie too initially lived an unfortunate life harboring inner wounds like other heroines. However, after marrying the Emperor and falling into a passionate love, she reclaimed her true self and enjoyed the golden age of her life.

She was kind, beautiful, and wise to the extent that all people admired and revered her.

— Come to the imperial palace, Rose. I’ll make sure to cure you.

How grateful she felt that such an amazing friend genuinely worried about her.

— But will His Majesty the Emperor welcome me?

— Of course. He already gladly permitted it. A separate palace has been prepared, so you just need to bring yourself.

Through Aristie’s encouragement, Roselina came to stay in the imperial palace and received treatment at the same level as the imperial family. This allowed Roselina to regain her health for a while.

However, it would have been better if that was all. Using her entry into the imperial palace as an opportunity, darkness began to sprout in Roselina’s heart. The moment she saw Emperor Khalid, she fell into an unbearable love.

‘How can a man be this perfect……’

The more her affection for the Emperor grew, the more her jealousy toward Aristie increased. Completely unaware of Roselina’s feelings, Aristie frequently called Khalid to spend time together so her friend wouldn’t feel lonely.

With the three of them spending much time together, Roselina naturally came to understand the Emperor’s hobbies and tendencies. She also thoroughly learned how Aristie spoke and behaved in front of the Emperor, and which aspects of Aristie the Emperor loved.

‘Please, if only I could make this man mine……!’

While suffering from her one-sided love, an opportunity to confess finally arrived. Aristie had to travel abroad after receiving a message from the Princess of Terosia.

Though Aristie worried about her friend’s health until the moment she left, Roselina took advantage of her absence from the palace to confess her feelings to Khalid. She called him to a private drinking setting, using her illness as an excuse. She subtly imitated Aristie.

However, Khalid didn’t waver in the slightest. Though he politely rejected her because she was his beloved woman’s best friend, his eyes couldn’t hide his contempt.

— Let’s pretend I didn’t hear what you just said. I have no intention of keeping any woman by my side except the Empress.

After that, Khalid never met Roselina alone again. Even when gathering with Aristie who had returned from abroad, he kept his distance from Roselina.

Roselina felt deeply hurt and miserable about this. She couldn’t suppress her feelings of resentment.

‘Why do you only see Aristie. Why does Aristie have everything. I’m so sick. I’m suffering. If only Aristie weren’t here……!’

Without realizing it, the arrow of resentment began pointing toward innocent Aristie. At some point, Roselina found herself hating her friend who monopolized Khalid’s love and dreaming of revenge.

Then one day, when she felt she might go mad from jealousy, Roselina finally attempted to poison Aristie. Thanks to the imperial physician’s quick treatment, her life was saved immediately, but there was almost no chance of recovery.

However, Khalid searched everywhere and found a rare medicinal herb, which saved Aristie’s life. And then.

— Repaying kindness with enmity! Arrest that villainess immediately!

Roselina faced execution when her crime was discovered. The one who saved her life was Aristie, who had barely regained consciousness.

— She’s my sick friend. Her illness made her heart sick too…… So please don’t kill her, please……

Thanks to Aristie’s plea, Roselina’s sentence was commuted to exile, saving her life. But even so, her life didn’t last long.

Exiled to a distant land without proper treatment, her disease rapidly worsened.

Eventually, Roselina met her lonely death in exile. Pointed at by everyone as a villainess.

All these memories suddenly surfaced in Jaerin’s mind.

‘No, why would past life memories suddenly emerge when they’re not even good ones!’

Jaerin grumbled in displeasure but suddenly became curious about writing her past life as a novel. She thought perhaps she could find happiness by fulfilling through fiction the love she couldn’t achieve in her past life.

With that thought, she immediately sat in front of her computer and began writing. She skillfully blended everything from the time period background to memorable social events into the story.

The protagonist of the story was, of course, Roselina.

Jaerin overlaid all of Aristie’s words, actions, and personality onto Roselina and made the Emperor fall in love with her. Then she reversed the attempted poisoning, framing it as Aristie’s deed.

‘What does it matter. It’s just fiction. No one but me will read it anyway.’

She truly intended it only for herself. That’s why she didn’t feel any particular guilt.

However, circumstances changed when her sibling, who accidentally came across Jaerin’s novel, secretly uploaded it to a web novel site. Word of mouth spread rapidly, and publishing companies began flooding her with love calls.

— Sis! I’m sorry for uploading it secretly, but this is really a hit. Even the online communities are going crazy about it!

— That doesn’t mean you can upload someone else’s writing without permission!

Jaerin expressed all kinds of irritation toward her sibling, but honestly, she didn’t feel too bad about her novel gaining popularity. No, she rather liked it. It felt like Roselina’s miserable life was being compensated.

Eventually, Jaerin changed her pen name from “Semi-Dried Squid,” which her sibling had carelessly chosen, to “Aroji2” and officially began serializing.

Of course, “Aroji2” meant “Roze.”

Everything went smoothly. Her popularity rose endlessly, and her income was respectably substantial. The writing flowed so well that the conclusion was just around the corner.

But……

‘No, I. I never intended to make Aristie receive so much hate……’

Jaerin could no longer continue writing. The reason was that her heart grew more troubled as readers cursed Aristie.

Alice, my friend. The one who cared for me like a parent, who worked harder than anyone to cure my disease, who saved my life despite almost dying because of me—my precious friend.

How could I think of making someone as kind as you into a villainess? Why did I commit another sin against you?

How dare I kill you, even in fiction……

‘Let’s stop.’

Just before Aristie met her death in the story, Jaerin discontinued the serialization. Despite the barrage of criticism, she had no regrets.

Instead, she appeased readers by publishing the incomplete work as a book. Then she took time for self-reflection.

Of course, she didn’t just spend that time quietly repenting. The medical thriller novel she conceived during that period later became a huge hit.

“Yawn……”

While typing away and writing her next work without hesitation, Jaerin felt drowsy and picked up her tumbler. She took a few sips of coffee to wake herself up when her sibling, who had been in the living room, burst through the door making a fuss.

“Wow, sis! Big news! Ye Sujin died!”

“What? Ye Sujin……?”

Could they mean the actress Ye Sujin?

“Check your phone quickly! Breaking news is everywhere. It’s spreading all over social media that a junior actress killed her?”

At her sibling’s urging, Jaerin picked up her phone and searched the news. Indeed, headlines about top actress Ye Sujin’s m*rder dominated the feed.

When she searched social media, various rumors about Ye Sujin’s death poured out. The most credible account suggested that junior actress A, who had been bullied by Ye Sujin, had fed her sleeping pills and then killed her.

“People have been saying Ye Sujin was nasty for a while. Everyone overlooked it because she acted so well. Seeing how much hatred she earned, she must have severely bullied her juniors.”

Her sibling chattered away without taking their eyes off the phone screen. They continued finding anecdotes about Ye Sujin one by one, reading them and repeatedly expressing shock.

Stories circulated about how she made a rival actress drink alcohol and deliberately caused her to drive drunk, or how she arranged a meeting between another actress and a married man she once loved, encouraging an affair.

These were all stories that had fizzled out due to lack of evidence, but with Ye Sujin’s death, they resurfaced and became widely discussed. However, Jaerin showed little reaction to the shocking anecdotes her sibling shared.

Her writerly curiosity activated, and she became absorbed in thinking about an odd detail.

“Sis, what’s wrong?”

When her sibling asked, Jaerin rolled her eyes and replied.

“Nothing. I just suddenly wondered.”

“About what?”

“You said earlier that some junior fed her sleeping pills and killed her.”

“Yeah. So?”

“If she died while sleeping, maybe she doesn’t even know she’s dead?”

What if in that state, she possessed someone in a novel……?