Chapter 1

—Kyaaaah!

—Wh-who are you!

The quiet residence suddenly became noisy. Screams echoed from all directions, and the sharp sound of breaking objects pierced my ears.

I was reviewing documents late into the night and frowned deeply.

“What on earth is going on?”

There was no way such sounds should be coming from my residence. That thought was so firm that for a moment I wondered if I was hearing things.

But the clamor continued.

“Haah……”

It seemed like something serious had happened, but I tried to remain as calm as possible. If I panicked too, there’d be no solution.

I stood up to find out what was happening, when someone opened the door and rushed into the room.

Slam!

It was the maid Belta, her complexion deathly pale.

“Huff, huff! Lady Roa! An, an intruder…… an intruder has broken in!”

What? Who?

An intruder at this hour was obvious. Probably after valuables.

However, breaking through the extensive security alone meant this was an extremely skilled thief.

‘What an annoying pest to deal with.’

What should I do?

Well, they could take whatever valuables they wanted. I already had more than enough money, and I could just think of it as charity work.

While I was contemplating how to handle this,

Swish!

A black shadow entered through the open door. And before I could even be surprised, they pressed a dagger to Belta’s throat. The dagger gleamed with a cold, sharp light.

I gasped in shock.

‘D*mn it!’

A tall man wearing a black robe with a deeply pressed hat stood before me.

“Kyaah!”

Belta, caught by the intruder, squeezed her eyes shut and screamed. It had all happened so instantaneously.

I thought it was just a petty thief.

Worried about Belta, I snarled viciously.

“Who are you!”

I couldn’t believe someone had broken through all the residence’s tight security and made it all the way to the innermost room.

I’d been extremely careful about security because of my hidden identity. This couldn’t be happening.

Then a voice like classical music, elegant and mid-to-low in tone, reached my ears.

“I’ve finally found you. The Dia’s President and Lady Roa Seraphina.”

Dia’s President. Lady Roa Seraphina.

Both referred to me, and I’d been thoroughly hiding both identities.

My head spun.

‘How on earth does he know I’m Dia’s President?’

As I stood frozen like ice, the intruder pushed Belta aside and roughly removed his hat.

In that moment, his hair scattered beautifully through the air. It was like watching the night sea ripple.

The intruder’s face, illuminated by the chandelier light, shone brilliantly.

Ah?

Confirming his face—one impossible to forget once seen—I opened my mouth wide in shock.

I definitely knew this person.

I blinked. His face slowly formed on my retina.

Grand Duke David Kresimir.

The man who had invaded the residence was David, the book’s male protagonist with a sculpted, sensual, and supremely handsome appearance.

Why was he here?

Why had he suddenly raided my residence?

Unable to understand at all, my lips trembled.

“Why on earth is Your Grace here……”

At my sharp voice, David clenched both fists and wore a bitter smile. His face was threatening, as if he might resort to violence at any moment.

“For over a year, I’ve combed through the entire Empire searching for you, my lady.”

David spoke through gritted teeth. I let out a deep sigh and firmly crossed my arms.

“So why exactly?”

“Because you slept with me that night.”

David suddenly brought up a worn-out past that didn’t even remain in my mind. David and I had drunkenly spent one night together a year ago.

So what?

I furrowed my brow with a ‘what do you want me to do about it’ expression. Waves of anger radiated from my body. I was barely containing my fury.

“And? So what if we spent one night together a year ago?”

The male protagonist was a womanizer who kissed women left and right, so surely he wasn’t asking me to take responsibility……

I shot him a look that said I was annoyed to death. He wasn’t a petty thief or an elite assassin, but someone completely unexpected.

David twisted his face viciously, incredulous. His handsome eyebrows shot up.

“You really don’t care at all? Even though you spent the night with someone like me? How can you be like this?”

“……”

“How could you just disappear without a trace after that!”

He roared like a beast. I raised both hands to calm the agitated David.

“W-wait a moment.”

His gaze still held that night’s sultry and seductive hue.

‘Why is he still looking at me with those eyes?’

Those lustful eyes should have ended with that night. I absolutely wasn’t some runaway ex-girlfriend who’d cheated on him.

I decided I needed to be firm with David, who seemed to be misunderstanding something.

‘If you’re that curious, I’ll tell you.’

I spoke to him in an indifferent and calm tone.

“I just slept with you once.”

“……What?”

David’s voice cracked. He looked like he’d heard nonsense.

I drove the point home again.

“I just slept with you once.”

I was simply curious.

About what the male protagonist, described as incredibly s*xy and virile, was actually like.

※※※

I transmigrated into this novel two years ago.

Before the transmigration, I received a three-month terminal diagnosis at the best hospital in South Korea.

I was a late-stage pancreatic cancer patient, known to be the most painful type.

My face was shriveled like a mummy, my eyes hollow and empty. My hospital gown constantly slipped off my body, which had become thin as a plank.

“Three months my as$. I want to die now.”

My voice came out metallic, and I felt intense pain every time I swallowed.

I had no family or lover to stay by my side anyway. Dying now or dying in three months was the same to me.

I saw no hope in life.

When I was young, my biological father was violent whenever he got the chance, and my mother couldn’t endure him and left home.

I had to grow up early in a cramped studio apartment.

「I told you to put it here!」

「D-Dad. Don’t get angry.」

「Did you do wrong or not!」

My father couldn’t control his anger at the slightest thing. His temper was so foul that he became a monster when things didn’t go his way.

I was my father’s emotional trash can. A small child he could treat however he wanted, who always cried and begged for forgiveness.

Maybe it was because I walked around hunched over, worried about when I’d get hit, that My father stopped beating me when I got smaller.

But at some point, struggling with poverty, my father suddenly strangled me one day, saying we should die together.

「We’re dying together. Okay? You’re a good girl, right?」

Perhaps my life ended there. My already small soul shattered completely.

The sight of my own father strangling me with all his might looked like the grim reaper himself.

A deep wound formed in my heart, and I could no longer live with my father.

Eventually, I received help from an agency and became independent before even reaching adulthood. With nowhere to rely on, I had no choice but to work like crazy to earn lots of money.

Just when life seemed to be getting a little better……

Cancer at thirty!

Everything was truly f*cked.

“F*ck! Haha!”

A hollow laugh came out with the curse. My nose bridge stung and tears welled up. This couldn’t be happening.

Feeling utterly miserable and wronged, I noticed a novel lying open carelessly beside the bed.

It was a very s*xual and raunchy 19+ romance fantasy called ‘The Grand Duke Covets the Nanny’s Body.’

It was completely different from the refined books I usually read. The only reason I read such a book was because I was exhausted from fighting the disease and life was too boring. I even found it surprisingly entertaining, giggling as I read.

And the male protagonist in the novel, David, even appeared in my dreams sometimes.

He whispered dirty words while half-n*ked.

「Your body is so sweet.」

At times like that, shivers ran through my body.

‘Right, I’m the one who’s crazy.’

How exhausted and desperate must I have been for the protagonist of a raunchy 19+ romance fantasy to appear and comfort me.

I lost my mind just like that and died miserably with no one watching.

Naturally, I thought there would be nothing after death. Once the body rotted and the soul disappeared, there would be no more pain.

But I came back to life. No, I opened my eyes borrowing someone else’s body.

※※※

A white person with blazing red hair like the sun and uniquely lovely pink eyes.

The face was white as flour, the chin pointed, and the nose extending from between the brows was high as a mountain.

It wasn’t my face and felt very unfamiliar, but even by modern standards, it was extremely beautiful.

Moreover, I was standing alone in what looked like a medieval movie set, the kind you’d only see in films or foreign dramas.

“What the h*ll is this?”

My voice was frail like a deflated balloon. It seemed like someone who had never properly spoken out loud before.

“Ahem! Kuhum! Why is it like this?”

I spoke repeatedly, clearing my throat. It was amazing that I was freely speaking a language I didn’t even know.

‘Why am I doing this right now? Aren’t I dead?’

I hadn’t reincarnated with my memories—I had entered someone else’s body.

If this wasn’t some pointless dream, it meant transmigration, something I’d only seen in novels or movies.

There’s no way! Right?

I slapped my cheeks several times to wake up from the dream. But I only felt vivid pain in my cheeks.

I’d never heard of a place like this being heaven or h*ll.

“Ah, what the h*ll!”

I was wandering around the spacious room in confusion when the door burst open without even a knock.

“Hey! Are you crazy?”

I turned my head, wondering what was going on.

A woman with wavy brown hair hanging down approached me huffing. She wore a voluminous Rococo-era dress. She was completely different from me in my rather shabby negligee.

I glared at the suddenly appearing person warily.

“Who are you?”

Even with strangers, I responded to informal speech with informal speech.

At my very aggressive shout, the woman opened her mouth in momentary confusion. Her eyes shook violently.