“You know, I’ve actually thought the world was terrible for quite a long time.”
Before I  possessed Yerena, I lived as a civil service exam student for years, studying day and night without rest.
In my twenties, when I should have been at my prettiest and most free, I didn’t properly enjoy it. After studying so much, all the friends I had somehow disappeared from my side.
I lived in anxiety that if I couldn’t become a civil servant, I would live as a loser.
Because I was alone and didn’t know how to do anything else.
Perhaps heaven understood my desperation, and I finally passed the civil service exam.
The only problem was that as soon as I passed, I fell into a manhole and entered a novel…
So I became Yerena and lived like a loser again for the past year.
Paying back debts that weren’t even mine, going to battlefields where I faced life and death.
Living such a life, how could the world not seem terrible?
It was more than terrible; sometimes it made my teeth chatter.
I couldn’t really imagine a future where I wouldn’t live as a loser.
“But the reason I’ve survived until now is because there was always something that helped me endure during difficult times.”
Sometimes, a delicious snack was the small happiness in my life.
Other times, I could live another day because there was a drama I liked. I had to live somehow to see the end of that drama.
After becoming Yerena, just when I was about to reach my limit after enduring and enduring, I met Bless.
That small, cute companion of mine gave me happiness.
It wasn’t just Bless.
I was also grateful for meeting Duncan and the Guildmaster. Because of them, I could live as Yerena, as Anya.
But the Guildmaster probably thinks of me as just someone who is somewhat quirky, foolishly bright, and only has tamer abilities.
He doesn’t dislike me, but I probably wasn’t something he could rely on.
Even I didn’t think I was that impressive. I had caused him trouble too…
But now I’ve created a foundation to become a competent person who can help him.
I wanted to become an impressive person and establish myself as his support.
Though I didn’t know the circumstances, I felt sorry for him having to hide his face while turning his back on his family and status.
“I think Honey surely has difficult things he can’t tell me about. I hope that my existence becomes a strength for such a Honey to live for tomorrow.”
[…]
“I hope that because of me, you won’t feel that this world is only terrible.”
After revealing my innermost feelings without hiding anything, what I felt was embarrassment.
Even I don’t know why I became so honest.
But once words are spoken, they can’t be taken back. This time, I held my breath and waited for the Guildmaster’s answer.
I just hoped he wouldn’t rebuke me, saying who was I to talk about being his support.
Soon, a sweet voice came from the Guildmaster, who had been silent all along.
[I miss you.]
It wasn’t the first time I heard him say he missed me.
I’d certainly heard it recently, too, but today, the same words seemed to have a different meaning.
Was it because the Guildmaster’s voice trembled faintly?
At that small tremor that felt like the beginning of love, my heart started to pound.
[I also wonder if I was your support.]
The answer to that question was simple.
“You are already my support.”
Could there be anyone who supported me as much as he did?
Without him, I wouldn’t have been able to escape from the life of Yerena in the original story.
[Ha, I want to meet you right now. And…]
“And what?”
[…There’s something I want to confirm, but let’s talk about it when we meet.]
Is it just my absurd delusion that our hearts have connected?
I wanted to place hope in the Guildmaster’s heart. I hoped he would take off his hood and confess his real name to me.
I thought him revealing his name would be equivalent to confessing his love.
[Then let’s see each other tomorrow morning.]
“Yes! Let’s definitely, definitely meet.”
The communication ended with the sound of the Guildmaster’s laughter.
I had a wonderful premonition that not only had I successfully expanded the business, but my wish to love might also come true.
But I couldn’t remain immersed in this ecstatic feeling for long.
Because there was a small presence from the forest path next to the trail.
“Wh-who’s there?”
Bless, who had been hiding in my robe because of Cain, also seemed to have heard the sound and tried to jump out of the robe.
Soon, someone emerged from the bushes.
“…It’s you.”
It was the man who had suddenly disappeared during breakfast.
Oh. I wondered who it was.
I breathed a sigh of relief. At least that man didn’t seem like he would suddenly harm me.
The man quickly wrote something in his notebook and held it up in front of my eyes.
「That person, someone you like?」
“Are you going to give me relationship advice? By the way, where were you before suddenly jumping out of the bushes?”
「You’re really ugly right now」
This person, really. Looking at my lovely face full of love and talking about ugliness.
But my face was covered by a hood and shouldn’t be visible, so I couldn’t understand what he was seeing to talk about ugliness.
“This ugly person will be going now. Come back to the inn or not, do as you please.”
I’m letting it slide because I’m in a good mood today.
But the man blocked my path, preventing me from leaving.
He seemed to have more to say.
“What now?”
「What does it mean to like someone?」
It was the same question I had heard from the Guildmaster before.
I recited the same answer.
“You keep thinking about that person, your heart pounds when you see them, and you feel like you can’t live without them…”
Back then, I thought I couldn’t like someone whose face I didn’t know. So I might have liked Duncan more than the Guildmaster.
But after that accidental kiss, after knowing his true identity, I realized I thought of the Guildmaster differently.
Once I recognized my feelings, I thought about the Guildmaster more than usual, my heart pounded more for him, and I felt lost about how to live without him.
The moment I recognized it as love, strangely, my loving feelings grew.
In an instant. To a size that even I couldn’t measure.
“Don’t tell me you also have someone you like?”
“….”
The man just stared at me.
Then he dropped the notebook he was holding weakly. He didn’t seem to have any intention of answering.
“If you’re not going to answer, I’ll be going now.”
I quietly slipped past the man.
Instead of stopping me further, the man quietly followed behind me.
By the time we reached near the branch, I couldn’t find him anymore.
As he always did, he appeared like the wind and disappeared like the wind.
*** 
I lay on the sunbed with the best view of the sea and watched as darkness began to settle over the ocean.
My mind was at ease, feeling that both love and work would be resolved well.
People should live enjoying such leisure.
“The more I look at it, the more beautiful the sea is.”
I wiggled my toes.
Lying on a sunbed facing the blue summer sea, enjoying the gentle summer breeze, with no major worries about tomorrow.
It finally felt like I had arrived in heaven.
At that moment, I saw Marco, whom I had sent to bring iced coffee, approaching.
“Master! I’ve brought your coffee.”
“Yes, thank you.”
“Congratulations on successfully securing the contract today.”
“Thank you again!”
“Our Master is kind-hearted, good at work, and even beautiful, which is really amazing.”
Marco’s social skills seem to be becoming more and more sophisticated by the day.
I gently stroked Marco’s curly hair.
“Thank you, even if it’s just flattery.”
“It’s not flattery! I’m curious about what you did before taking the branch manager position. I think you must have done something amazing that I can’t even imagine.”
“….”
What did I do before that?
I worked like a dog to pay off the debt Yerena’s parents had incurred, under the three troublemakers of the Allen Order who didn’t care about my human rights.
Recalling that time after so long sent chills down my spine.
Those were grueling days I never wanted to return to.
Marco, unaware of my circumstances, was letting his imagination run wild.
“What do they call someone like Master? A hidden master…?”
Hidden master, my foot.
A hidden beggar would be a more fitting expression for me, but not wanting to break Marco’s fantasy, I bragged.
“Hidden master. I like that nickname. Let’s go with that!”
It’s a big deal that I like being a hidden master now.
I emphasize, I never wanted to go back to when I was guiding the three troublemakers.
Anyway, since Olivia has found her place, I probably won’t have to guide them again.
I giggled like a villain and gulped down my coffee.
As I tasted the bitterness of life, my mouth was filled with coldness.
“Was there anything unusual while I was at the Count’s residence today?”