“Angie. I can’t yield this time.”

“Neither can I.”

“Um, excuse me? Angie…?”

A strikingly tall and overwhelmingly handsome man and a little girl with bright silver hair neatly braided into twin plaits were growling at each other.

“I promised Mom we’d go on a picnic to the detached palace once the rainy season ended. We even linked pinkies!”

“I, too, made plans with my wife to relax at the Arno hot springs this weekend.”

“Do you know how long I’ve been waiting for the sun to come out?”

The little girl widened her round, pale-gold eyes and spoke with deliberate clarity.

“I’m going to read fairy tales with Mom, then fall asleep with her arm as my pillow. Right?”

“Fairy tales, really?”

The man scoffed, his golden eyes—several shades deeper than the girl’s—gleaming sharply.

“Angie. You should only read the imperial studies textbook for your private lessons with the academy’s headmaster. Stop deluding yourself into thinking you’re really seven years old.”

“Heh! You’re the mistaken one. Do you know how exhausting it would be for Mom to go to Arno and back?”

“Angie, address me properly.”

What kind of speech is that? Unable to speak, I pressed my fingers to my forehead.

It felt like the migraines from my terminally ill days were creeping back…

“How about this—why don’t we all go to Arno together? A picnic and a hot spring visit.”

“Absolutely not!”

“…Ha.”

Two pairs of golden eyes, distinct in hue but equally resolute, locked onto me.

“You haven’t had a moment of peace lately. For once, forget about Angie and work.”

“If we go with Cedrion, you won’t even be able to sleep properly! Mom, if you want to rest, you must come with me. With me!”

The two, who had been growling at each other just moments ago, suddenly turned to me, pleading desperately.

Again. Here we go again.

“My love, choose me.”

“Mom, pick me.”

“I’ve already prepared the scented oil from the southern continent that you liked, along with wine from Grantholia.”

My husband, Cedrion, who was usually expressionless, now gazed at me with deep affection.

“Mom, please. If you don’t, I’ll cry like I did when I was a baby.”

My daughter, Angie, scrunched up her face, looking ready to burst into tears.

“Angeliana, you promised to be respectful to your father. Cedrion, you’re competing with a child….”

Despite my desperate plea, the two of them, with faces as beautiful as sculptures—or perhaps angels—gazed at me, silently begging me to choose them.

I love them both. I’m grateful for this love. But…

‘This isn’t the first time… I’m exhausted!’

We’re a family, so why are they fighting over me like I’m a possession…?

How did it come to this?

****

Cough, cough—!

I jolted awake, hacking violently.

Something hot clogged my throat, making it impossible to breathe.

The last thing I remembered was walking along a riverside. The final chapter of a web novel I had been following had just been posted, and I was reading it in real-time when I suddenly lost my footing…

‘A fatal slip? Then… is this the Han River?’

Cough! Cough, cough! Before I could piece my thoughts together, the coughing fit continued.

“My Lady, are you alright?”

A woman’s face appeared through the airy, translucent canopy above me, her brown hair neatly twisted into an updo.

Her eyes were blue, and she was dressed in a gown. Was this a dream?

But my chest hurt too much.

“Who… cough, cough… is… cough…”

I tried to speak, searching for a clue, but the relentless coughing shattered my words into fragments.

Ugh, they say coughing too much can make you throw up—looks like it’s about to happen.

I covered my mouth, struggling to keep down the nausea rising in my throat.

“Oh dear, my lady… What are we going to do? You suddenly collapsed yesterday, and it’s already been half a day.”

“H-Half a—cough, cough—half a day?”

Cough, hack, wheeze, cough! A chorus of harsh, ragged sounds erupted from my throat.

Why are my hands so warm…?

“Cough… Hah!”

Absentmindedly, I pulled my hand away from my mouth—and froze.

Blood. Bright red, staining my palm.

I instinctively looked up at the woman before me.

What… is this?

And… who are you?

“Oh, my poor lady… You’ll be all right.”

The woman, eyes brimming with tears, tugged at the bell cord.

…Judging by her expression, I’m definitely not all right.

Soon, a group of young maids entered, quickly wiping me down, washing my face, and changing my clothes.

The ordeal swept over me like a storm, leaving no time for embarrassment.

When the whirlwind of care was over and only the brown-haired woman remained, I asked,

“Um… what’s the name of our country again…?”

“…My lady?”

Even in my dazed state, one thing was clear.

This was a possession. I had transmigrated into a novel.

Whether I was the protagonist or just an extra, I had no choice but to follow the story’s main plot. That meant the genre was crucial.

I’m no good at reverse harems. I don’t like political intrigue either, so I hope it’s not a palace drama. There’s no status window, so it’s probably not a game transmigration… Wait, could it be something other than a romance fantasy?

I anxiously waited for the woman’s response.

Her face soon crumpled with sorrow.

“For the most beautiful lady in Arcadia to suffer such a shock…”

Arcadia…?

That was the name of the country in Lady Flora Is Lovely, the novel I was just reading…

And then—

Knock, knock, knock!

A firm knocking sounded before the door swung open—without anyone’s permission.

A woman stepped in, her silvery-gray hair braided neatly behind her, glasses perched on her nose.

She carried a large leather bag and sat down on my bed without saying a word of greeting.

“You’re here, Dame Gwendolyn.”

Gwendolyn?

That name appeared whenever a doctor was needed in Lady Flora Is Lovely. The empire’s top medical slave—no, physician.

If the heroine got slapped, the male lead was injured while undercover, and the heroine’s father fell ill, Dame Gwendolyn was always summoned.

“When did the symptoms first appear?”

“Yesterday was the first time she coughed up blood.”

I see. So this body started vomiting blood yesterday.

I nodded along like I was hearing someone else’s story.

Dame Gwendolyn took out a stethoscope-like tool, placed it on my chest, checked my pulse, and then pressed a hand to my back, sending a tingling energy through me.

Traditional medicine, modern medicine, and magic combined.

After examining me using various methods, she let out a heavy sigh.

“This is something I should be telling her guardian…”

The woman who had stayed by my side the whole time darkened.

Am I an orphan, then? But there are maids here, and this room screams wealth.

And if I’m “the most beautiful lady in Arcadia,” that means…

“Lady Odelia.”

“Y-Yes?”

Wait. What? Odelia? Me?

Odelia—the one who tormented Flora in every way possible?

I quickly scanned the room for a mirror.

Oh, wow… it’s exactly as described!

Platinum blonde hair that captured both the splendor of gold and the sanctity of silver, with amethyst-like eyes that shimmered gently beneath it.

They called her the most beautiful woman in the world, and yeah, she really is stunning.

On top of that, the pale skin tinged with illness and the dried blood at the corners of her lips added a tragic, almost sinful allure.

So, the genre of my transmigration was…

It’s a villainess story!

As I struggled to understand my situation, Dame Gwendolyn dropped another bombshell.

“This may be sudden, but since His Lordship isn’t here, I’ll tell you directly.”

Gulp. The gravity of her voice made me swallow dryly.

“My lady, at best, you have about a year to live. Your magic and divine power are leaking away, causing your heart and lungs to fail.”

The words struck me like a blow to the head.

Dong, dong, dong…

A faint bell toll rang in the distance.

“That bell… could it be…?”

“My lady, you must let go now. Whether that coldhearted man becomes the crown prince or not, it’s no longer your concern.”

“Sniffle…” The brown-haired woman dabbed at her eyes with a handkerchief.

So today was the epilogue of Lady Flora Is Lovely—the very day I died while reading it.

The day the male lead, Michael, was officially named crown prince and became engaged to the heroine, Flora.

And the villainess, Odelia—the body I now inhabited—had tormented Flora relentlessly, desperate to become the crown princess.

As a diehard Flora fan, she was a villainess I despised.

And now… I was her.

Odelia was mentioned in the epilogue…

[With the Marquis of Lure imprisoned in the Coffin of Atonement, Lure fell into ruin, and his only blood relative, Odelia, was exiled, never to return to the capital.]

That was the one sentence…

But wait, she was exiled because she was diagnosed with a terminal illness?

A villainess who was supposed to cause havoc and waste money is terminally ill?

She just died, and now she has to die again within a year?

***

“The criminal Alexandre Lure’s daughter, Odelia, is ordered to leave Belvo within three days.”

The next day, a royal messenger delivered the decree of exile from the capital.

“Though your father’s crimes are grave, and your misdeeds have shaken the kingdom’s order, by the merciful plea of Lady Flora, the future crown princess, the punishment has been reduced to exile. Reflect on your actions and never return to Belvo.”

“L-le-leave Belvo…?”

“The benevolent king has not forgotten the grace he received from your ancestor at the nation’s founding. Out of pity for the last descendant of Lure, he has chosen to spare the Meldorf territory instead of confiscating it.”

“Agh, why Meldorf of all places…?”

The brown-haired woman, who had been identified as my nanny, let out a series of mournful sobs, and an ominous feeling crept up on me.

Bad feelings are never wrong, and sure enough, when I finally arrived in Meldorf…

I see why they left this place for me.

Even to my city-bound eyes, which had never traveled abroad, the village was nothing but countryside. The so-called “mansion” with its blue roof was simply rundown.

Odelia’s father, the Marquis of Lure, had been convicted of nothing less than conspiring to commit treason.

When the male lead, Michael, ultimately agreed to get engaged to Flora, the Marquis of Lure—thinking he was doing it for Odelia—challenged Michael’s legitimacy and tried to blackmail the royal family.

How could a legitimacy controversy be over the royal family’s only son? He was countered immediately, turning the whole affair into one of the novel’s most satisfying moments.

This incident was used to emphasize how much the Arcadia royal family cherished Flora, and the scale of the punishment reflected that.

The marquis’s aides and vassals were all imprisoned in the Coffin of Atonement, a place where no one could emerge alive.

Only his ignorant daughter was spared, given a measly estate, and allowed to keep her life.

Shouldn’t they have executed the whole family and confiscated all their property? If this were the Joseon era, they would have wiped out three generations.

Thanks to that, I could spend my remaining year in peace, so this worked out well for me in a way.

Who cares about plausibility? I worked three part-time jobs in my past life, so I’ll just forget the complications and treat this as a one-year vacation…

No one knows who I really am. I have plenty of money. This place is heaven.

Maybe this is just a taste of reincarnation. If I can wrap up this life without any trouble, my next one will be even better.