***

A beam of sunlight filtered through the dark curtains and passed over Ariel’s face.

“Hmm….”

‘I feel like my head is going to crack.’

Ariel, groaning in pain from a hangover, rubbed her eyes open.

With no energy to get up from her damp and limp body, the only movement she could manage was to roll her eyes to survey the space she was in with half-closed eyes.

Furniture made of mahogany wood, walls adorned with elegant patterns, and a floor that shimmered with white marble.

It definitely wasn’t her house…. The interior was too luxurious to be someone’s mansion.

Swoosh.

The feeling of a cool blanket slipping between her legs was still there.

Startled, Ariel pulled up the blanket, revealing a spectacle of flesh.

And a n*ked body that didn’t belong to her caught her eye. It was a well-built, expansive back with what seemed to be a man’s toned muscles.

Ariel was surprised and covered her mouth back with the blanket.

‘I almost screamed!’

Her emerald eyes trembled in disbelief.

Ariel pulled the blanket in front of her and covered up her exposed chest.

Swish.

At that moment, the man, who was sleeping deeply, turned his body towards Ariel.

‘Leopold!’

When she saw his face, the events of the previous night flashed through Ariel’s mind like a movie.

The man with dark purple hair who called himself Leopold.

The person who made her burn like fire wherever his red eyes met hers.

Leopold, who irresistibly drew her into his intoxication.

She tried so hard to avoid this man, but…

Was it because of her fate in the original? No matter how much she tried to escape, she ended up in his embrace.

Ariel’s beautiful face twisted in confusion.

‘This is not the time. I need to escape from here!’

Afraid that Leopold would wake up, she quietly slipped out from under the blanket.

On the floor, their undergarments and her dress were scattered, a testament to the heat of the previous night.

She had hoped that those fragments of faint memory were a dream… But it was not a dream, it was reality.

Ariel shook her head twice and sighed in a voice so small that it couldn’t be heard. She turned to check if Leopold was still asleep.

Fortunately, Leopold breathed steadily and showed no signs of stirring.

Taking advantage of the moment, Ariel quickly picked up her clothes and cautiously tiptoed away like a cat burglar.

Standing in front of the dark maroon door, she whispered softly to the sleeping Leopold.

“Don’t forget what happened last night, we decided to bury that.”

Having quietly slipped out of his room, Ariel walked through the imperial corridor as if nothing had happened.

‘There’s no way my name would stay in his memory… But still, I should stay home for now, just in case.’

Ariel’s blond hair swayed lightly in sync with her footsteps.

But her stomach felt twisted due to her hangover.

‘It’s probably just because of my mood. I’m feeling uneasy because of the cheap liquor I couldn’t handle…’

Ariel furrowed her brow and pursed her red lips with a faint taste of bitterness.

***

Ten years ago.

Before falling into this world, Yerin was an office worker in her late twenties. She was on her way back home, driving her car after working late.

Perhaps it’s because she was tired. Without seeing the guardrail, ‘thud!’ she bumped into it and lost consciousness.

I was definitely in the car…….

When Yerin opened her eyes, a beam of spotlight was shining on her within a black space.

And she heard a voice.

“Help me…”

“Who are you?”

Yerin looked around, perplexed. But all she could see was pitch-black darkness, nothing else was visible.

“I will give you all abilities… You must save that person…”

It was a low-pitched male voice that sounded like a sob.

“What? What are you talking about!”

Yerin shouted with all her might, but there was no response.

She put more strength into her voice and shouted again.

“What on earth are you saying!”

‘Why am I suddenly feeling so dizzy?’

But then, Yerin strongly felt like she was being sucked into somewhere.

When dizziness covered her vision, making it feel like her surroundings were spinning wildly, she tightly closed her eyes.

“Hic, sob…”

This time, it was a woman crying.

Who could be crying?

In order to find the source of the sound, Yerin quickly opened her closed eyes.

As she did, her vision opened to a spacious bedroom with an antique interior.

On a large bed adorned with a silk canopy, she had been sleeping in the pinkish bedding with tears in her eyes.

“Ariel! Ariel!”

“Miss!”

When she opened her eyes, Marchioness Rose and May, who had been nursing her with tears, cried out in surprise.

“Who… are you?”

Yerin, possessing Ariel’s body, looked around in confusion.

‘It was definitely dark just a moment ago. How did this happen?’

A western-looking appearance with different eye colors.

Even the smell in the air was unfamiliar, and she was surrounded by people she was seeing for the first time.

“She must have lost her memory because she hit her head when she fell from the carriage!”

Rose cried out to May.

“I’ll call the Marquis!”

After May hurriedly left the room, Rose pulled Ariel, who had been lying down, close.

“Ugh… my child… thank you for being alive…”

‘Ugh. I can’t breathe. But Ariel? It can’t be the Ariel from 『Captivating the Outstanding Emperor』.’

Yerin, who barely lifted her face above Rose’s shoulder, rolled her eyes and looked around.

It was an utterly incomprehensible situation.

A great fear seized her heart like a shadow.

Thud.

“Ariel!”

Marchioness Rose rose to her feet at the Marquis Louis’ appearance.

She wiped away tears from her eyes and made room for Marquis Louis.

Tears were also welling in Louis’s eyes.

‘I can’t believe Ariel has really opened her eyes and is looking at me!’

His eyes closed, overwhelmed with relief, and tears spilled down his cheeks.

“Can… can I have a mirror, please.”

Yerin reached out her hand toward Marchioness Rose and made a request.

When she did, May, who had followed Louis, handed her a hand mirror instead of Marchioness Rose.

‘Blond hair, emerald eyes. Colorful lips! Could it be… am I really the Ariel from『Captivating the Outstanding Emperor』? It’s just like the description in the novel.’

The reflection in the mirror had the face of a fourteen-year-old girl who possessed a captivating aura and appearance.

She rubbed her eyes with both hands, looked at the mirror again, and glanced around, still unable to believe it.

To be reincarnated into the world of the novel she read, the only pleasure in her exhausting corporate life…

Yerin, who had possessed Ariel, stared blankly into space as she sat down.

Then, suddenly, energy returned to her emerald pupils.

This was because one question brushed through her mind just before she regained consciousness.

‘Whose voice did I hear right before I regained consciousness? They said they would give me all their abilities, but it definitely wasn’t the voice of Ariel’s father, Marquis Louis.’

Suddenly, she was curious about the voice and why it had called her here.

Yerin was absorbed in thought, paying no attention to the gazes of the people around her.

At that moment, Marquis Louis cautiously opened his mouth. He was concerned that his daughter might have injured her head.

“Your injuries have been healed by holy power. But you didn’t regain your consciousness, and I was so worried.”

“……”

“You opened the door of the carriage you were riding at full speed and bounced out outside. Don’t you remember?”

“I think she might have lost her memory, honey.”

Marquis Louis recounted the events to his daughter, who just looked at him blankly, seeming to have lost her memory.

To express her dissatisfaction with her father, who did not allow her to buy dresses and accessories as she pleased, she opened the door of the carriage she was riding at full speed.

He told the story of how the carriage’s wheels got stuck on a big rock, causing Ariel to be thrown out of the carriage to the outside.

Furthermore, he mentioned that due to the wind blowing on the poorly maintained road, her limbs were severely injured, and she fell into a coma.

Yerin could only stare at the ceiling with an expression of disbelief at the unimaginable reality.

That’s right. She had possessed Ariel, the villainess from the novel 『Captivating the Outstanding Emperor』.

Ariel Clark.