VOLUME 1

Chapter 1. I Possessed A Time-Limited Extra

In a room filled with noon sunlight, two people are having a conversation.

The butler with a worried face stands by, resting his hand on his thigh and listening to the girl sitting on the bed.

The girl’s lips, which were trembling, finished speaking and were obediently sealed shut.

“…He said we can quickly secure money by doing this.”

“Really… Did the Count instruct you to do so?”

The butler glanced suspiciously at the girl with narrowed eyes.

The girl looked around as if checking her surroundings and then clasped her hands around her mouth.

There shouldn’t be anyone else in this attic room, but her actions were enough to create a cautious atmosphere.

“As you know, there is a lot of money being spent in the townhouse. Now it’s burdensome to cover it with the income from the estate. So, your father found a solution.”

“I haven’t heard anything like that….”

The butler evaded answering, stretching out his words. Normally, he wouldn’t have paid any attention to the words of a mere young lady, but he was intrigued by this idea of a way to raise money.

Until now, the manor’s operating expenses had been covered by the family’s excesses while staying in the townhouse.

Because of that, the mansion was impoverished, and the butler’s pockets were light. Because he knew too much about the Count’s secrets, he couldn’t quit his job.

Knowing well the uncomfortable situation of the butler, who couldn’t fill his own pockets, the girl chose sweet words that would please him.

“A lucrative job can never be safe. Since you, the butler, serve a crucial position for the Count of Vita, you should not be endangered, my father entrusted me with the task. If I take the lead, it can be dismissed as a child’s prank.”

“The Count… said I am an important person?”

“Well, of course. When my father was worried about the butler, he personally gave a letter before leaving. Because if it leaks out wrongly, the butler will be in danger. So, don’t worry, butler. Just secretly prepare what I’m telling you. If everything goes well, there will be a share for the butler too.”

The girl effortlessly spewed lies. With a smiling face, she spoke fluently, not even giving the impression of falsehoods.

By emphasizing that the commoner butler is more important than herself as a noble and subtly hinting at his share, the butler, who had been skeptical, completely fell for it.

“Do I have a share too?”

The butler took the bait, and the girl’s calm eyes drew a smile as if they had been waiting.

“Of course. You are keeping the secret that you are partially involved in. And you’re managing the estate affairs. Even if I handle all the paperwork, you are the one practically leading the mansion. Naturally, we should take good care of you.”

The girl tilted her head slightly and lightly raised the corners of her lips.

Her blue eyes dilated more than usual, giving her a face like an innocent child who speaks only obvious words.

As graceful words flowed like water, combined with the pure face of a girl, falsehoods sounded as if they were the truth.

“Well… I do contribute a lot to the mansion.”

“That’s right. Without a butler, the Count of Vita would have had an even harder time than now!”

The girl clapped her hands in agreement.

The clueless butler forgot that all he did was pamper the servants as though he were the real master in the absence of the count.

He raised his left hand to his right shoulder and nodded as if preparing for a ceremony.

“Understood, Miss Adelia. What should I do?”

The butler’s blatant greed was evident in his tone of calling her ‘Miss’ and attaching a name without being asked.

His slow, smiling eyes and his fake smile felt unpleasant.

Adelia’s eyelids twitched. It was so subtle that the butler, whose mind was consumed by money, hadn’t noticed it.

“Get me a carriage and a room in the Madeline area as soon as possible. And make sure no one knows I’m gone. I’ll take care of the rest.”

“The Madeline area… As expected, the area where the saint came from seems to be a bit different. I understand. I’ll arrange it.”

The butler quickly calculated the expenses in his mind, opting for the cheapest option in case Adelia failed to return.

His selfish thoughts were clearly written on his face.

Adelia gently drove the final wedge with a wrinkled brow.

“Leave the rest to me, and just make sure to keep an eye out. If anyone finds out, we’ll all be in trouble, including you and the Count.”

“I… I don’t have anyone to talk to.”

“Well, I wouldn’t think a butler like you would speak so carelessly like a commoner, would you? You’ve been working for the Count for so long, you should have noble manners.”

“Haha…”

“Don’t tell anyone else and leave no traces, like a voice recording or sending a letter to my father for confirmation. If this gets out, we’ll all die together, won’t we?”

Adelia slowly smiled at the butler.

Her blue eyes, visible between her neatly closed eyes, sparkled eerily.

The butler shuddered unknowingly. He blinked his eyes a few times, wondering if he had seen wrong.

“Why? Is something wrong?”

“No, no. Then I’ll go out.”

The butler lightly bowed his head and left the room.

It wasn’t a greeting suitable for a noble lady, but it was familiar to the butler.

“How pitiful.”

As the butler closed the door, Adelia let out a snort and approached the desk.

Her characteristic kind face was buried in expressionlessness, and only coldness remained. Adelia got up from bed and went to the desk.

There were neatly arranged documents, and a stained pen was placed neatly on the desk.

“How could he barge in so suddenly. The butler almost saw this book.”

With a sigh of relief, Adelia lifted the book with a red hardcover that was in between.

She skillfully slid the book between the shelves, then she blocked its cover with other items.

So that the letters written next to the book couldn’t be seen.

[The Princess’s Taming Diary]

That was the title of this world, a daily healing novel about a young princess growing up with the love of her family.

The beginning of this incident dates back to a week ago.

‘Bada,’ who was working overtime, collapsed from exhaustion and when she opened her eyes, she found herself in the body of a woman named ‘Adelia Vita.’

In the novel, Adelia is an extra character who would meet her death by collapsing at a reception hall three years in the future. Her cause of death was cardiac arrest due to a weak constitution. In simple terms, she had a limited lifespan.

Even an extra, insignificant character had a limited fate.

The only fortunate thing was that she had read this novel more than ten times.

“It’s still unsettling to keep a book that contains the original content, like a prophecy, stored like this. No one here could read Korean, but I should hide it better.”

Adelia reluctantly took out the hidden book again.

Although the book that meticulously transcribed the original was not even half completed, it already contained parts of the future.

Adelia put the book in a deeper place and rearranged the position of the items in front of it to completely hide the book.

After hiding the book so meticulously that one wouldn’t even know it was there, she spun around with satisfaction, lifting the corners of her mouth.

Adelia hummed an unknown tune and moved her feet in front of the dresser.

“Wow…I really can’t get used to this.”

Adelia stopped in front of the mirror and trembled in surprise.

It was a face she had been seeing for a week, but it still felt awkward, as if she were wearing a mask.

Blue eyes that seemed to embrace the sea. Silvery hair that seemed to have captured a slightly humid cloud.

“It’s not fair to be this pretty.”

Despite her unkempt hair, which had never been cared for, and her awkward body, she was quite beautiful.

After pinching her thin cheeks, she averted her gaze from the mirror, which she had been staring at intently.

“If only I wasn’t weak, I wouldn’t have been an extra.”

Adelia grumbled as she took out a comb in front of her.

She slowly began to comb her silver hair, which fell down to her collarbone, with a sloppy comb.

Her hand, which was going down smoothly, started to get tangled around her shoulder.

“If only I had brought even a cheap one, it would have been better.”

After several attempts, she eventually gave up combing her hair as it continued to get tangled.

As Adelia put down the comb with a thud, her eyes sank deeply, like a deep lake.

“Ugh, so annoying.”

Adelia suddenly stood up from her seat.

The old chair fell back weakly, but she didn’t care and lay down on the bed.

Adelia was not in a position to demand anything in this mansion.

She was just a nameless young lady. No one thought of her as a master.

“I’m so sick of this…how have I been living all this time?”

Adelia asked herself. More accurately, she asked her past self.

She didn’t not know the answer, as she had all her memories. She just couldn’t understand why she had lived such a foolish life, clinging to her family’s love.

“If it weren’t for the Imperial laws, I would have left this house a long time ago.”

Adelia let out a deep sigh.

According to the laws of the Decra Empire to which she belonged, all nobles were owned by their family. They were allowed to run a business under an alias or a pseudonym, but leaving the family or getting married required the permission of the family head.

“If I were a count… I wouldn’t just give myself away for a low price. Selling is the only option, I suppose.”

Adelia thought with her lips pursed.

Her father, Count Vita, was a man who saw his daughter as his possession rather than a person.

And now that his second wife had given him a son, who would be the heir to the family name, and a healthy youngest daughter, his affections were fully directed toward them.

Naturally, Adelia, who was physically weak, became a pushover. She couldn’t even stop the abuse from her stepmother and half-siblings.

— Don’t mess with the maids or servants and waste unnecessary money. Just play with that thing.

The memory of that day suddenly came up. She could almost feel the count’s presence next to her.

Adelia scrunched her face at the memories she didn’t want to recall.

“What a shitty place.”

After muttering a light curse, the memories scattered.

Her face was still filled with annoyance, but her eyebrows were slightly furrowed.

“I’d rather live pitifully. I would have been so happy that I wouldn’t feel guilty even if I left everything behind and ran away.”

If Adelia had lived a slightly better life, she would have willingly abandoned everything and started anew without any regrets.

“It’s already unsettling enough to wonder if I really transmigrated after death. And if I even give up my name, it feels like I’m losing everything.”

Unfortunately, she couldn’t be so heartless as to discard everything about the real Adelia.

Rather than living a lifetime with regrets after abandoning everything, it was more comforting for her to find true freedom, even if it was a bit troublesome.

“I must seem like such a fool, don’t I?”

But what can I do? It’s just in my nature.

Adelia reached out her hand into the air as if trying to grasp the light shining through the window, moving her fingers.

“But I still want revenge. That way, I won’t be tormented when I look back at these memories.”

As someone who lived with all of Adelia’s memories, she had to make a choice.

Whether to forgive her family or erase them completely from her memory and bring them down to the ground, Adelia’s choice was the latter. Only the real Adelia, not the imposter who had taken over her body, could forgive them.

“All I need is white magic…. Just white magic.”

Adelia muttered to herself with her eyes tightly closed, as if brainwashing herself.

The faint voice was more desperate than any other murmuring.

* * *