“Merrien. Good work today!”

“You too, Charlotte.”

The two Saints who had finished healing at the temple exchanged greetings.

Both had their bodies slumped as if their energy had been completely drained from using holy power all day, but their eyes remained bright.

While organizing her things, Charlotte spoke as if something had occurred to her.

“Ah, Lady Bernando was very eager to meet us.”

“Now that the situation has improved… it should be fine to meet her, right?”

‘Come to think of it, it’s been quite a while since I read a romance book.’

Merrien suddenly recalled a book that had been sitting on her desk for some time.

This must have been about the fiftieth time she had resolved to read it.

No matter how well it was wrapped, dust would have accumulated on it after all this time.

Just as Merrien’s brow furrowed at that thought, a sudden gust of wind swirled around.

Merrien closed her eyes, haphazardly grabbing her pink hair that was blowing in all directions.

When she opened her eyes after the wind had completely subsided.

“Merri. Shall we have dinner in the outer garden?”

Ariel was standing right in front of her.

Extending his hand to her.

***

“Haah…”

Merrien sighed as she looked at the elegant letter in her hand.

By now, all the buildings and streets damaged by magical beasts had been restored thanks to the Tower magicians.

The injured had also completed their healing with the active support of the two Saints, the Imperial family, and the Duke’s household.

Though it couldn’t be said that everything had completely returned to normal, everyone was making an effort.

[Luna Bernando]

This tea party invitation must be part of those efforts.

A letter sealed with the black fox emblem.

‘I was forewarned by Charlotte, but…’

Merrien’s gaze wandered around before settling on a book placed in the corner of her desk.

“I really need to read it now.”

[The Tower Master and the Mistreated Saint]

After receiving even a first edition written by the author herself from Lady Bernando.

She couldn’t postpone it any longer.

It would be impolite to attend the tea party without reading the gifted book.

“Yes, I’ll read it.”

Finally determined, Merrien picked up [The Tower Master and the Mistreated Saint].

What’s the big deal anyway!

Then she opened the book with trembling hands.

But at that moment.

The book flashed with light.

“…H-Huh?”

The startled Merrien had no time to close the book again.

Before her eyes, the printed text in the book began to wriggle and then clumped together into a black mass.

Those combined elements squirmed and transformed their shape.

Then, taking the form of a long hand, it shot out from the book…

“Wh-What?”

That hand pounced on Merrien.

Kyaaak! Merrien’s scream was quickly swallowed. She had already been sucked into the book.

The system window left in midair began to crackle.

***

The moment she realized she was being sucked in, Merrien instinctively covered her face and curled up.

‘That was so creepy. Completely, ugh. The text was moving like it was alive.’

The text in the book had wriggled, turned into a black hand, and then swallowed her.

After seeing Forcite’s eyes turn into a gate, she thought she wouldn’t see anything bizarre again.

What on earth was happening to her?

The frightened Merrien curled her body into a ball, but surprisingly, the black hand gently set her down on the floor.

She felt no pain, and everything around her was very quiet.

“……”

Merrien cautiously opened her eyes.

It was so dark here that nothing could be seen, as if there was no light at all.

‘…This is inside the book, right?’

But I was already inside a book.

Does this make any sense?

Somehow, I didn’t want to read it.

Merrien made a tearful face as she moved her body little by little. She didn’t forget to wrap her arms around herself as a precaution.

But it was strange.

The light that spread when she opened the book and the wriggling text.

No matter how she thought about it, they were very similar to the magic she had seen from Ariel.

‘If there was magic on it, Ariel wouldn’t have missed it.’

Moreover, nothing happened when Ariel opened it.

Why on earth…?

Just as Merrien was rolling her eyes in thought.

Click-! Suddenly, a light turned on from a diagonal direction.

“…Huh?”

A stupid sound escaped her. She couldn’t help but be surprised.

Under the light sat her real-world self, ‘Han Ji-an,’ in front of a computer.

“Does it make sense for the Tower Master and his wife to die miserably like this every time?!”

She was in the middle of reading something and pulling at her hair.

At Han Ji-an’s voice, Merrien was momentarily dazed before feeling a throbbing in her head.

“What crime did Merrien commit? She could have lived happily with the Tower Master.”

At Han Ji-an’s continuing voice, Merrien sat down, holding her head with both hands.

Memories that had been gone for a long time were returning to her mind.

“…Haah, huk…”

Merrien couldn’t suppress a groan from the painful sensation of memories forcibly squeezing their way in.

Completely blind to her presence, Han Ji-an wrote feverishly on the computer, utterly possessed by her task.

Each character was recorded one by one in Merrien’s mind.

[Merrien, who had been living an unhappy life in the temple, one day discovers a secret garden that no one but herself can find in a place she escaped to.]

[She unknowingly passes through a portal created by the Tower Master.]

…

[The Tower Master kidnaps Merrien to the Hartez Duke’s mansion and proposes a contract.]

…

[Merrien perfectly heals the Tower Master’s magical power outburst.]

As an enormous number of sentences were recorded in her mind, Merrien now sat on the floor, gasping for breath.

Her hair was stuck to her forehead with sweat, making a mess.

“My reality is terrible enough, at least Merrien should be happy.”

Unaware, Han Ji-an continued writing while wiping away flowing tears.

After a while, the typing stopped.

Han Ji-an, who seemed to be contemplating something, muttered while looking at the monitor.

“The title is… ‘The Tower Master and the Mistreated Saint.'”

Thump- Thump- Thump-.

Although it was a very softly murmured statement, Merrien’s heart began to beat fiercely.

[You have discovered ‘Han Ji-an’.]

[Memory has been unlocked.]

The system window blocked Merrien’s view. Before she could realize anything, countless memories flooded into her mind.

“…Haah.”

Only after a considerable amount of time had passed did Merrien stand up, exhaling heavily.

“…So that’s it.”

Only then did she understand everything.

Although her head was still throbbing and her body was staggering, she now remembered everything.

That she, who had read the original work, wrote a fanfiction called [The Tower Master and the Mistreated Saint] because she felt sorry for the Tower Master and Merrien’s lives.

It was a novel she had written hoping that the two characters who met unjust deaths would be happy.

It was also the system’s doing that made her think she had only read three episodes of the original work until now.

Even if the story she and Ariel had created didn’t perfectly match, the starting point and the fact that she achieved healing were the same.

‘Then Ariel is truly someone who goes against the flow of the ‘original work’…’

That’s why she couldn’t return to reality.

This place isn’t the original work, but inside the fanfiction I created.

Just as Merrien’s thoughts reached this point, Han Ji-an’s gaze suddenly turned toward her.

Even though she had been right in front of her until just now, she hadn’t given her even a single glance.

“Han…Ji-an.”

Merrien unconsciously called that name.

For some reason, facing her real-world self felt so unfamiliar.

Perhaps… because it brought back those gloomy and unhappy times as they were.

It was difficult even to face that dark-complexioned face directly.

But then.

“Merrien.”

At the sudden voice, Merrien was startled and opened her eyes wide.

She never expected Han Ji-an to speak to her.

Could they actually talk? That’s… my past, how is this possible?

Such thoughts were momentary.

“You must be happy.”

Her past self, who had always been unhappy, smiled brightly.

[Hidden feature ………..]

And the system screen crackled, filling the center of her vision.