“Cats are lazy and stupid! I absolutely hate disgusting things like that!”

The saintess’s sharp voice that followed felt jarring.

Huh? I’d heard someone say those exact words once before in my previous life.

‘I hate cats. What’s so great about those stupid, lazy creatures that people keep them? They’re just disgusting.’

Someone with the same mindset existed in this possessed world too. Since those words matched someone I didn’t have a good relationship with, I felt uncomfortable.

“Oh, I misspoke. I’m afraid of cats, you see. Sorry, kitty.”

The saintess suddenly changed her attitude and apologized to the cat.

“This is His Highness’s cat. Its name is Cookie.”

“Ah, I misspoke earlier. Will you forgive me?”

She had briefly revealed her true nature, but no one seemed to pay attention. When the saintess carefully touched the cat, the tense atmosphere relaxed somewhat.

Of course, the cold stares directed at me remained unchanged. After that, I was dragged to the penitence room where I had to endure an hour of scolding from a priest.

But I couldn’t hear any of his words. My mind was filled only with the image of the saintess’s sudden transformation. I feared she might be someone I knew.

What if she had the same personality too? Looking at how the saintess was ordering me around now, she didn’t seem much different.

She had been my greatest nemesis in life—would I encounter a similar person here too? And she was the saintess I’d have to serve for the rest of my life?

The thought alone was horrifying. I hoped she had only acted sensitive today. But I couldn’t shake my anxious feelings.

Her self-centered attitude, the way she tried to shift blame onto me, and how she tormented me when I didn’t act as she wanted…

I had to risk danger to confirm whether the person possessing the saintess was who I suspected.

Getting a confession would be best, but that might expose my own identity, so I needed to think of another plan.

* * *

“Kyaaah!”

The saintess’s scream echoed through the prayer room. Startled priests and maids rushed into the prayer room all at once.

I also mixed in with them and entered the prayer room to see the saintess sitting on the floor with her face pale as a sheet. She moved her lips while pointing at something with her finger.

There lay a cloth with red writing on it.

“What on earth does it say? Could it be cursed words?”

Since no one could read Korean, they all looked puzzled. Then the saintess’s face filled with fear as tears welled up in her eyes.

“These are letters cursing me. Who brought this here? Who was coming and going from this place at dawn today?”

“The maids who clean the prayer room.”

“Someone must hate me. Because my holy power is still insufficient…”

Her face had turned pale while her gaze was directed at me. Like I was the culprit.

There was no evidence that I was the culprit. Because Cookie roamed around so freely and no one monitored the actions of such a sacred creature, it was impossible to know who it had contacted.

“There must be another possessor besides me.”

I didn’t miss the saintess muttering in a small voice. No matter how I looked at it, she was definitely the person I thought she was.

My face went pale, but I had to pretend to be calm and help clean up the situation with the other maids.

[Hanna]

The cloth that startled the saintess had a person’s name written in Korean.

She had particularly hated writing names in red when filling out OMR cards, so I wrote the name in red letters just in case.

This incident confirmed it. She was definitely someone I knew, and someone who had been entangled with me in a bitter relationship.

Her name was Kim Hanna.

From the moment I first saw her, she felt unsettling, and her way of speaking and behavior seemed familiar—I must have instinctively recognized her.

I had a connection with her from my previous life. That memory goes back to my third year of middle school.

I was briefly bullied back then, and the reason was ridiculous even thinking about it now. Kim Hanna, who sat in front of me by roll call number, asked me to show her my answer sheet during exam period, and I refused.

She was a delinquent, and I was just an ordinary student. We’d never even talked before, but just because I studied well and sat behind her, she wanted me to help her.

If we got caught, we’d both get zero points—why would I sacrifice myself for someone I wasn’t even close to? It was nonsense, so refusing was natural.

That incident triggered the delinquents’ bullying from then on. Deliberately bumping into my shoulder was basic. When I passed by, they’d loudly curse at me for everyone to hear.

That wasn’t all. My belongings disappearing was routine, and when I returned from classes in other rooms, my desk would be covered with mop water.

Even when I tried to convene a school violence committee, the teachers persuaded me not to and blocked it. The school didn’t want noisy incidents, so they tried to hush it up. 

The fact that Kim Hanna came from a wealthy family and they feared problems was another reason they blocked the committee.

I had two friends I hung out with, but they distanced themselves from me, afraid of being bullied too. As a result, I became an outcast in my class.

There was someone who stood up for me then. A friend from the neighboring class.

We’d never had a single conversation, but she willingly testified for me. She even recorded videos of me being bullied.

‘If you help me, you’ll be ostracized too—is that okay?’

‘It’s natural to call wrong things wrong. Ostracism? I’d rather be alone than be friends with such cowardly kids.’

I was impressed by her high self-esteem, not caring what others said. Thanks to her, more students testified that I was being bullied, and the school could no longer hush up my problem.

Fortunately, I went to a different high school from Kim Hanna, so I wasn’t bullied after that. However, that incident remained as trauma. But I tried to live confidently like the girl who had helped me.

After going to high school, I heard news about Kim Hanna. There were rumors that she got cast somewhere because of her pretty face, but I never saw her on TV.

But what kind of terrible fate was this? Of all people, Kim Hanna had also possessed someone in the same world as me.

Had she also come here after dying like me? What kind of terrible connection was this?

I thought she had possessed someone about three months ago. Around the time my holy power started slowly draining away—she would have appeared when more than half my strength had already drained.

After struggling for three years only to be used and abandoned, the protagonist of this possessed world was Kim Hanna. It was a reality I didn’t want to accept. I resented God.

‘What wrong did I commit to deserve such terrible punishment? Are you angry because I didn’t help the Alpha Empire with a pure heart for three years? Isn’t this too much?’

For the first time, I blamed God, having never complained to him before.

He gave me abilities telling me to live for the empire’s people, but I turned away from that? I sacrificed myself for three years—wasn’t that enough?

Even so, being used by them for my entire life was too much. Just imagining the future that would unfold was horrifying.

But all the fault was originally mine anyway. I got what I deserved for pushing my responsibilities onto others. Still, I resented God terribly.

Why did he make me possess the villainess in the original story? That was the problem from the start.

It might be God’s revelation telling me to have a good heart again, but I didn’t want to follow it. If I lived sacrificing myself like this, I’d live a life of bondage forever—for whose benefit?

Most importantly, living with Hanna was impossible, so I had to escape from the imperial palace somehow.

They had abandoned me saying I was useless anyway. They forcibly demoted me to a maid serving the saintess—where would I find a fool to go along with that? 

They abandoned me but planned to thoroughly exploit me until my holy power disappeared—I’d be an idiot not to see their scheme.

I had no reason to show loyalty to the imperial family. I had no intention of moving as they commanded.

The empire’s people… Kim Hanna would protect them. She was the saintess now, wasn’t she? If the fake saintess continued staying in the imperial palace, it would only destroy the original story.

So I planned to leave the Alpha Empire according to the original plot. Since I was willing to move according to the original story myself, no one would interfere.

* * *

In the early dawn when everyone was asleep, I trusted my abilities and tried to escape outside the imperial palace. The security was quite tight, but since not everyone patrolled the imperial palace, I could skillfully avoid them by sensing their presence. The moment I climbed over the wall and escaped outside the imperial palace, I felt elation.

Finally, I was escaping from Kim Hanna!

Just as I was sighing with relief, I suddenly felt a massive shock sweep through my entire body like being electrocuted.

“Kyaaah!”

I stopped walking and screamed in agony. I couldn’t even stand properly.

Soldiers who came running after hearing my scream forcibly lifted me up. Only after they dragged me back inside the imperial palace did the pain subside.

Only then did I realize the pain was caused by the mark carved on my body last time. The imperial family had definitely done something to prevent me from escaping.

I had to be dragged back to the imperial palace. Joy instantly turned to despair.

“As long as the brand is imprinted, you can never escape outside the imperial palace.”

Only after hearing the priest’s words did I recall when the High Priest had caused me pain in the prayer room last time. He had carved a brand on my body that would cause pain if I left the barrier surrounding the imperial palace.

The maids wouldn’t know this fact, and while the priests knew, none of them had told me, so I was unaware.

I had waited only for today, but to think I would fail. Having tasted such great frustration, I had no energy left to resist.