[Something’s strange. Why is there another contractor of the World Tree? Is this even possible? Surely the World Tree is supposed to choose only one person per era…]

Huh?

What does this mean?

There’s another contractor of the World Tree? Wait, was there supposed to be only one contractor of the World Tree to begin with?

‘I never heard about that…’

Come to think of it, I don’t think I’ve properly heard anything from Nyx.

I only heard about eliminating the source of evil, but I never heard how things would change as a result.

‘…What’s going on?’

Serena was intelligent.

And she had good bad luck.

Lastly, she had a good sense for bad things.

[I don’t know why the characters here nag so much. It’s annoying, I wish they would all die.]

Serena quickly turned the pages.

While doing so, she didn’t forget to keep an eye on where Nyx was.

Fortunately, Nyx was still sleeping.

‘I mustn’t be caught.’

Somehow feeling that premonition, Serena’s hand turning the pages sped up.

[…Two World Trees? How can that be? Wasn’t there supposed to be only one World Tree?]

Two World Trees?

Well, I’ve never heard that there was only one either. No, I don’t seem to remember hearing much about the World Tree at all.

It’s also true that I didn’t have the heart to find out.

‘…I wasn’t very interested in studying before either.’

I only thought about how to quickly deviate from the original story every day.

[Damn it, damn it. Those bastards! How dare they threaten me…! What should I do now? I can’t cancel the contract, can I?]

[…No, this is all inside a novel and everyone is a game character. Even if they die, they’ll come back to life. There are healing potions too. It’s okay, it’s okay. F*ck, I’m okay… I miss Mom.]

She seemed to have fallen into panic, writing her already bad handwriting even more messily.

Serena frowned.

Because she could feel the fear and terror, and the overflowing longing within it.

[What the hell is the source of evil? Why should I be tired because of such a thing!]

The handwriting became more and more sloppy as it went on.

Later, it got to the point where one had to stare at it for a long time to recognize the characters.

Nevertheless, Serena didn’t give up reading.

Somehow, her story…

[No, no, no!! It’s not true. They were all game characters. They were all game characters. They’re characters in a novel, right? That’s what they said!]

Strangely, it seemed to resemble Serena herself.

It felt like seeing herself when she had contracted with Nyx.

[Why, why was I driven out? They said I just had to play the role of the villainess. Just do bad things, they said! So why… why does everyone hate me?]

A sense of discomfort brushes through her mind.

She thought that the person who entered this body was evil from birth. That they couldn’t control their personality and acted recklessly while in the novel.

But was this side also moving under some kind of orders?

‘They told her to become a villainess?’

Was there really a need for that?

Does this mean there was intervention from something other than the original story’s force?

[It’s too hard. Everyone hates me. I want to go back…]

The other person was struggling.

They were in pain.

She started to feel her pain in each and every letter. Pain is felt in the writing that’s not sloppy, but pressed hard.

[…What, suddenly they say I can go back. They say I can go?]

[Can I see Mom now? They said they would grant a wish. What wish should I make?]

The handwriting returned to its original state.

This time, it seemed excited. Looking at the writing that seemed happy again made her feel strange.

‘Is it a good thing?’

Well, I guess it means they got what they wanted in the end.

[…What? This isn’t inside a novel, that’s impossible. Then what was that novel I saw? What was it?]

The messy, ruined handwriting was shaking as if written with trembling hands.

Serena stared blankly at the writing and then frowned.

‘Not inside a novel?’

Then what is this world?

Serena’s eyes became strange. She too firmly believed that this world was inside a novel.

In fact, there were quite a few characters she had only seen in novels.

‘Isn’t this inside a novel?’

The saintess protagonist and the villainess, the male lead and the second male lead.

A world where they all exist.

Serena quickly looked at the next page.

[…No, that’s right. It’s okay since it’s not my body anyway. I can go back. I can just forget everything and live. I’ll meet Mom and tell her I love her and like her. From now on, I’ll live properly. I’ll live diligently. That’s all I need to do. I can just pretend it was all a dream… Right?]

The other person, who had fallen into panic, started to deny reality. Serena took a breath.

It was because she couldn’t understand what was going on at all.

‘…What is this all of a sudden.’

I blinked blankly. I shook my head and rubbed my face once.

For now, I had to see everything before Nyx woke up, so I quickly turned to the next page of the notebook.

[It’s not me, this isn’t who I am. I just… I just did what I was told to do.]

Serena narrowed her brows at the weakly blurred handwriting.

Thump, thump, thump.

Her rapidly beating heart creates a sense of crisis.

Thump, thump, thump.

Her heartbeat was too loud.

She swallowed and turned to the next page.

[No… Mom can’t be dead. Why…? Why!! Why?! Why!! Whyyy!!! Whywhywhywhywhywhy!! Why on earth!! Why? Why? Why? Why? What was the problem? Why! You said you’d grant anything, so why, why has 40 years passed!!]

The way the last part was written, seemed as though she had almost gone insane.

The original letters were half erased by the words ‘Why? Why? Why?’ written over them dozens of times.

She managed to read it somehow, but the content was such that it might have been better not to see it at all.

‘…40 years?’

How could that be possible?

‘Is time different between here and there?’

No, what does it mean to grant a wish?

Serena quickly turned to the next page, but from there, the handwriting was different.

It was all written by Nyx.

She quickly flipped through, but there were no more writings in Korean.

Just as she was about to close the notebook after flipping through it, she turned her body to put it back and saw something written on the cover of the notebook.

It was faint writing, seemingly pressed hard while writing.

[Liar. I was deceived. I shouldn’t have trusted anyone.]

That was all that was briefly written.

Serena, feeling her heart pounding, clenched her fist and put the notebook back at Nyx’s bedside, who was still sound asleep.

After finishing tending to the herb garden, Serena lightly kicked Nyx with her toe as usual.

Flutter—!

Nyx opened its round eyes, looked at me, rubbed its eyes with the back of its hand, pretended to yawn, and got up.

Serena took a deep breath as she watched Nyx scurrying after her, clutching its notebook and pencil.

A chill ran down her spine.

‘…What on earth is that?’

For the first time, she felt afraid of the inexplicable black rabbit.

[Tenth. Investigate the World Tree and its contractor.]

And it was also the moment when one more item was finally added to her to-do list.

* * *

“…I said no. I won’t do it.”

“We believe it’s a revolutionary technology that can save the world, please consider our guild!”

“I said no. Pamel.”

Serena waved her hand at the guild master who showed no intention of leaving.

Pamel approached with a smiling face, subdued the quite large guild master with one hand in an instant, and dragged him out.

‘…Hmm, better not mess with Pamel.’

This had been Serena’s thought for the past few days.

Whatever Pamel was in the past, he was strong.

I once heard Drukan mutter, ‘What kind of monster is that…’, so he must be extraordinarily strong.

‘Could he be a hidden expert in seclusion, or a legendary assassin… Something like that?’

Serena thought.

And that was correct.

‘It’s fortunate that my old skills haven’t rusted, even if they had, it wouldn’t be difficult to subdue such ill-mannered thugs.’

That’s right, Pamel was a legendary assassin.