Liriope stared blankly at the paper Theo had given her with a list of engagement dates.

His deliberately charming smile and teasing demeanor lingered vividly in her mind, making her cheeks still feel hot.

In the original story, the male lead’s playful side was reserved exclusively for the heroine. Toward other women—especially those who pursued him for his looks—Theo had always been cold and distant.

There was a reason people said he was the kind of man best admired from afar.

And yet, here he was, treating Liriope like the original heroine—teasing her, trying to charm her—and it was just absurd.

“Why on earth is he acting like this…” Liriope muttered as she clutched her head in both hands.

Then she dropped her hands and glared at the paper on the desk. Theo’s words echoed in her head, filling her thoughts.

One line in particular brought a wry smile to her lips:

“If you were going to regret it, you should’ve done so before using me. Even if that stupid crown prince begs and cries, our engagement won’t be undone.”

She hadn’t intended to regret anything in the first place.

And it wasn’t like Kaiden was going to cry and beg for her anyway—but hearing that their engagement couldn’t be broken actually made her feel a bit sorry for Theo.

Because eventually, he would fall for Rosearin. And when that happened, he would surely come asking for a breakup himself.

Even if he brought her a list of dates now, once he met Rosearin at the Harvest Festival and was swept off his feet, he’d probably wish she would just disappear.

Whether she had used him or not, whether he was angry about it or not, this engagement would ultimately mean nothing.

‘But why do I feel so uneasy?’

Resting her chin on her hand, Liriope stared down at the list of dates, falling into thought again.

It seemed she had inadvertently gotten deeply involved in the narrative of the male and female leads before the original story even began.

She had only said she liked the northern duke instead of the crown prince because no other character came to mind at the time. She never expected things to turn out this way.

She had underestimated the duke, who would’ve plucked stars from the sky if Liriope had asked.

“Haa…”

She sighed heavily and picked up the paper with the engagement dates.

“This feeling just won’t go away.”

Whispering to herself, Liriope gave the paper a little shake.

She had planned to avoid the second male lead to survive—but somehow ended up entangled with the main one instead.

Of course, she had no intention of facing a brutal ending like in the original story—and no reason to, either.

Once Theo and Rosearin fell in love, she fully intended to break off the engagement without hesitation. She also planned to become close friends with Rosearin, so there was no way she would ever mistreat her or give anyone an excuse to blame her for the breakup.

Even if she had ended up engaged to Kaiden, she had no intention of repeating the original story’s villainous deeds.

“Maybe I tried too hard to survive and ended up doing too much…”

Liriope muttered with a sigh.

The ominous feeling still left her unsettled, but she decided to push through. As long as she did her best to avoid that gruesome ending, she should be fine.

‘Well, as long as I become best friends with the heroine, I probably won’t die.’

Liriope set down the engagement paper and gave a small, shrugging stretch of her shoulders.

“Oh my, look who it is! Isn’t she the most popular lady in all of Gardea?!”

After the engagement article with Theo was published, Liriope decided to attend her first social gathering—a tea party hosted by Lady Selzionel, the Marquis’s daughter.

Pushed into going by Gemma, who fussed that she had to look absolutely stunning now that a national scandal had broken out, Liriope ended up at Feroce’s Boutique. But even with all that, she hadn’t expected this kind of welcome.

Madam Feroce was the most renowned boutique owner in the empire. She was a designer known for personally dressing only royalty, dukes, and marquises.

That meant starting from the rank of count, one could only wear her ready-made designs. And because the original heroine had been the daughter of a count, Liriope—who had read the story as a reader—had found this detail rather annoying.

“But look at this, our ever-beautiful Lady Liriope has come at just the right time—I’ve received a fabric that suits you perfectly!”

Of course, now that she was a direct customer herself, she actually found Feroce’s exclusivity quite appealing. That was the way of people—when you find yourself in a favorable position, you tend to think that’s the best one. Well, it was only natural.

“The fabric matches your deep blonde hair just perfectly. Please wait one moment.”

When Madam Feroce went into the workroom to fetch the fabric, her assistant designer, Sally, led Liriope to the sofa.

Liriope and Gemma sat sipping the tea served by the boutique, waiting for the madam’s return.

As Liriope sipped the hot tea, a thought crossed her mind—why was it taking so long just to bring out one piece of fabric?

And just as that thought was starting to settle, the boutique door opened—and in walked a stunningly beautiful young lady.

Liriope couldn’t take her eyes off her. Even though it was her first time seeing her, something about the girl felt oddly familiar.

“Ah, welcome, Lady Rosearin,” Sally, the assistant, said.

At the sound of her name, Liriope’s heart gave a sudden jolt.

That beautiful girl, unfamiliar yet familiar, was none other than Rosearin Melzevian, the original heroine of the novel.

Liriope stared at her, utterly mesmerized, just like she had when she first laid eyes on the Northern Duke.

Her dazzling platinum blonde hair paired perfectly with her pale white skin and mysterious green eyes—it was the kind of beauty that made people gasp in admiration.

From the way she moved to her elegant posture, she looked more like a noble lady than Liriope herself.

And right beside her, clinging like a shadow, was her commoner maid Mary—just as she had been described in the novel.

Mary had played the role of a loyal companion and great help to the heroine, so Liriope felt a fondness for her, too.

To see them both here, together like this—it made Liriope’s eyes sparkle with excitement.

“Hello, My Lady,” Rosearin greeted, having met Liriope’s gaze and quickly approaching with a polite smile.

‘Oh my god, it’s her! In the flesh!’

Without realizing it, Liriope shot up from her seat to return the greeting.

“Ah, hello—”

Thankfully, she caught herself just in time before she foolishly used formal speech or bowed.

Her rank was far higher, so using honorifics or bowing would have been completely inappropriate.

With that, Liriope quickly sat herself back down and kept her mouth shut.

Rosearin approached gracefully.

“I was hoping I’d get the chance to meet you. I’m glad to see you here.”

‘Wait—what? You wanted to meet me? Why?’

Liriope blinked in confusion as she looked up at her.

The original story hadn’t even begun yet, so there was no clear reason for Rosearin to seek out Liriope specifically.

As Rosearin looked at Liriope, who seemed puzzled, she pulled a handkerchief from the small purse hanging from her arm.

“I thought it would be right to give this to you, My Lady.”

The handkerchief she offered was folded neatly, almost reverently, and it carried a pleasant scent—likely perfume.

Liriope stared at the handkerchief in Rosearin’s hand, but when her eyes caught sight of the symbol embroidered on it, they widened in surprise.

It was unmistakably the emblem of the Northern Duke.

She remembered it clearly because one of the illustrations in the original novel had depicted the duke’s castle, and the flags with this very emblem had been drawn all over it.

It was exactly the same as the one from that illustration.

“It belongs to His Grace, the Grand Duke,” Rosearin said to Liriope, who was now staring at the handkerchief in thought.

When Liriope lifted her gaze to look at her, Rosearin gave a slightly awkward smile.

‘Why does she have this?’

Her face stiffened with confusion, but she quickly composed herself.

“I see.”

She nodded lightly, matching Rosearin’s tone and demeanor, brushing off the rising questions in her mind.

She didn’t want to show how unsettled she was, for some reason.

‘But seriously, why does she have this? Did they already meet?’

According to the original story, the Northern Duke and Rosearin were supposed to meet for the first time during the Harvest Festival.

Before that, at the Hunting Festival, Rosearin was fated to meet the Crown Prince, which led to Liriope becoming envious of her.

But this year’s Hunting Festival was still more than a month away.

So, based on the original timeline, the duke and Rosearin shouldn’t meet for quite a while.

‘What’s going on? Why have they already met? And what’s with the handkerchief?’

The more she thought about it, the more tangled her mind became.

‘Is this because I’ve already altered the original story…? No, that can’t be it. Even before I got engaged to Theo, those two had already met.’

No matter how she tried to rationalize it, the idea that they had met off-screen in a way not described in the original novel didn’t make sense.

It had clearly been stated that the two laid eyes on each other for the first time at the start of the story.

‘So then what is this? Why did they meet early…?’

Liriope was gripped by a strange sense of unease at the way things had deviated from the original plot.

Her expression must have turned quite serious, because Rosearin spoke again, this time looking a little apologetic.

“There was a time when His Grace, the Grand Duke helped me.”

“…Ah.”

“At that time, he gave me this handkerchief. But I felt uneasy keeping it, so I thought I’d return it.”

‘Uneasy? About what?’

As Liriope widened her eyes at her in confusion, Rosearin pressed her lips together for a moment as if unsure what to say—then finally spoke, meeting Liriope’s gaze.