Chapter 1

One day, when I opened my eyes, a new world unfolded before me. I couldn’t have imagined that such an unbelievable story would happen to me.

It all started with a simple cold. My weakened body, due to excessive work and frequent overtime, easily fell ill. The problem was that even if I was sick, I couldn’t rest due to my demanding schedule. Continuing to work in a poor condition, my body couldn’t withstand it.

Heart failure due to overexertion. Living in a dark office alone, staring at the monitor until the end. Even in that moment of death, there was only one thing she worried about.

‘Ah, I still have to finish writing the report… otherwise, that bastard, Manager Kim, will go crazy.’

She didn’t want to get up again. If she opened my eyes, it felt like piles of documents and emails would greet her. But this is a completely different world!

“What…?”

An unfamiliar sight in front of her eyes. It didn’t look like any architecture from modern society but rather had a medieval feel. Tall canopies and clotheslines were welcoming her.

This was a nightmare that seemed worse than seeing 999 new emails in the inbox.

Of course, she screamed on the spot, and the servants who heard the sound appeared and restrained her. Even the people who came to calm her down were wearing maid outfits, not modern attire.

“Let go of me!”

“P-Please calm down.”

“I said let go!”

She had to get out of here right away. This couldn’t be reality. After working so hard, her mind must have gone crazy. She was just an ordinary citizen, and if she had a wish, it was to escape from the piles of annoying documents by winning the lottery. Not to be dropped off in an unknown place like this.

“Your Highness!”

“Madam!”

From the various titles she was called, it was clear that her status was quite high. It was obvious from the fact that maids appeared in the first place.

“I said I wanted to have fun and eat! I didn’t say I wanted to go to a different world!”

There was no use struggling. Fortunately, she was someone who adapted to reality very obediently and avoided causing trouble. It wasn’t good to stand out in South Korea.

“Are you really okay?”

“…Yes.”

“Should I call a doctor?”

“I just had a nightmare for a moment.”

The names she heard and the titles directed at her amidst the previous commotion. They were fragmented pieces of information, but it seemed like she knew what kind of place this was. There could only be one reason for something like this to happen to her. Pushing aside the maids who were reluctant to leave, she lay back on the bed and closed her eyes, but nothing changed.

It was the same ceiling as before. An antique interior that she could never get used to.

“No, it can’t be.”

She denied it in her mind, but her body had already accepted that all of this was reality. Adaptability is the most important trait for a worker in modern society. It was a moment when she, who faithfully worked harder than anyone else while expressing a desire to quit, disliked herself.

Right now, there were maids waiting for her in front of the door, and in the mirror, there was a woman with silver hair and violet eyes. And she called herself Amelia Seraphin…

“So, I am Amelia Seraphin.”

That wicked and pitiful woman? Both words were contradictory, but other than those, there was no way to describe Amelia.

A small gift from a friend who felt sorry for her because all she did was work. She called it a gift but it was more like passing on an unread book. Her friend had a hobby of reading romance fantasy novels, and surely she gave her the book she cherished the least because she didn’t have any more space at home.

The title was too tacky, and the edges and cover were very worn out. ⟨The Woman of the Sun⟩. The book, which already seemed quite outdated, was also lacking in content. It unfolded from the perspective of the antagonist, not even the protagonist. No matter how much I immersed myself and read, the end for the antagonist was always death.

The name Amelia Seraphin was very familiar.

“Why of all things…”

The woman whom she seemed to have possessed. Amelia Seraphin was the antagonist of ⟨The Woman of the Sun⟩ and the mother of Leonel Siegfried, the villain who drove the entire story. The problem was that she was supposed to have died a long time ago.

* * *

There was not even enough time to be deeply lost in thought. She had to be examined by a doctor as a result of her commotion that was not really a commotion.

“Your Highness, is there anywhere you feel uncomfortable?”

“No, there isn’t.”

It would be foolish to say here that she had lost her memory or that she wasn’t actually Amelia.

“I just had a nightmare, that’s all.”

“We should conduct a proper investigation…”

“There’s no need to cause a fuss.”

Amelia brushed off her hair as if she were annoyed, and her face became heavily wrinkled. Then she waved her hand to shoo away the unwanted guests.

“That’ll be all. You can leave now.”

“But…”

“If I make a real scene in here, will you leave then?”

“I-I understand.”

Even after the doctor left, one maid remained by her side with a stiff expression. It was easy to guess who she was without asking. Headmaid May. She was the faithful maid of the Duke Siegfried household, tasked with monitoring her nominal mistress.

“May.”

“Yes, ma’am.”

Amelia spoke as if she were not trembling with anxiety. As expected, it was May. Her indifferent expression, light brown hair that looked like it would fall out, and cloudy gray eyes were all just as they were described in the book. It suddenly dawned on her that this place was really like a scene from a book.

“I’m a little tired and want to go back to sleep.”

“…….”

“What are you going to do? Aren’t you leaving?”

So, it was time for her to leave as well. May had to have understood that much, but she still stood there, guarding her post.

“If you sleep too long, it’s not good for your health.”

“That’s for me to…”

“I’ll bring you some food.”

The Duchess had no power over the maid of the house. Amelia let out a sigh at May’s words and watched her disappear after saying she would bring food. It was really giving her goosebumps how much the contents of the book matched what was happening now. She had only read the book by chance, despite being busy with work.

She had seen it by chance. She thought it was only natural to throw away such a gift. But strangely enough, it kept catching her eye. Even though she had never read a romance novel before.

Before she knew it, she had become someone who carried the book around with her. She couldn’t let go of it because she felt sorry for the protagonist Leonel and because he was somehow similar to her. When he was in pain, she was also in pain, and when he was sad, she was sad too. She realized that this was what it meant for emotions to be conveyed through a story.

In fact, the friend who had given her the book had forgotten that she had ever given it to her. And when she told her the title, she didn’t know what it was about.

“Let’s try to summarize the details first.”

Unfortunately, she hadn’t read ⟨The Woman of the Sun⟩ several times. She had only read it once, but the emotional toll of falling deeply for Leonel made it feel like she had read it many times.

“Still, fortunately, it hasn’t been that long since I read it…”

It had been about two months. She couldn’t accept Leonel’s death to the point where she had to take sick leave. The story begins with Leonel’s parents. His father was Raphael Lloyd Siegfried, the Iron-Blooded Grand Duke.

“Son of a b*tch.”

The mere mention of the name sent an uncontrollable rush of anger through her. Was this really true? Amelia anxiously ran her hand through her hair several times.

Knock.

She was startled by the knocking sound, but before she could answer, the door swung open.

“It worked this time.”

“…….”

His voice and tone were filled with annoyance. Even his brows were deeply furrowed. The unwelcome intruder was directing his anger towards her.

“Why did you call me again?”

A breathtakingly handsome face, hair, and eyes shining brighter than gold. Raphael Lloyd Siegfried, the beginning and cause of all this misfortune.