Chapter 3

Lying next to the sleeping Ray, she watched the child’s peaceful face.

Suddenly, a faint light flickered from the bag carelessly left on the floor.

Carefully, she sat up and pulled out the glowing magic stone.

‘Gotcha! Caught you this time, you sneaky bastards!’

The magic stone was part of a pair, the other one installed at her house.

When any movement was detected inside the house, the stone would activate, and its twin would show the interior of the house.

She stared intently at the palm-sized stone.

Intruders were moving busily.

And among them, a woman’s face she knew well appeared.

It was a face she often saw in the newspapers.

‘Ugh, Diane Lesper this time?’

Diane Lesper, the spicy villainess from the novel, was searching her house with her subordinates.

• We’ve searched everywhere, but no one is here.
•  Did Geiser take them?

Diane’s voice, directed at her nervous subordinate, was sharp and irritated.

• I don’t think so. There’s been no unusual activity from Geiser today.
• Then where is the child now
• That, I’m not sure…

Smack.

The sharp sound of a slap echoed.

Even through the magic stone, the force of it startled her.

The subordinate’s head snapped to the side.

• Were you about to tell me you don’t know?
• I-I’m sorry, Lady Diane.
• No! Don’t apologize! Instead of wasting time apologizing, move faster! Find them immediately! Right now!

Diane’s shrill, high-pitched voice was loud enough to hurt her ears, even from this side.

‘Her personality is exactly as described in the novel.’

Even when reading the novel without voice support in her past life, she had imagined Diane speaking in this tone. It matched her expectations perfectly.

•  We must find the child. I need the child. If I have the child… If I can just have them…

Diane Lesper muttered to herself, wringing her hands nervously.

The madness in her eyes was chilling.

After confirming that no one was in the house, Diane and her group left.

She put the now-dormant magic stone back into her bag, deep in thought.

‘First the dark guild, and now the villainess from the original novel… Why is everyone so desperate to find Ray?’

A terrible suspicion crept into her mind.

The suspicion that Ray might be closely connected to one of the major characters.

She had realized that this world was the setting of a novel when she was about ten years old.

At the time, she had been drowning in endless despair after learning that her impoverished parents had abandoned her at an orphanage.

She felt life was meaningless.

An existence abandoned even by her own parents seemed utterly pointless.

One day, as she merely existed, memories of her past life flooded into her mind.

The memories were vivid.

She had been a woman living in South Korea, working as a pharmacist.

She had died at the young age of twenty-eight in a car accident.

And she realized something.

The world she was living in now was the same as the novel she had been reading just before her death.

The Tiramble Empire, located in the southeastern part of the Coel continent.

The Rimetten Imperial Family, which had ruled the empire for 300 years.

The capital, Conradin, where all the empire’s wealth, power, and culture were concentrated.

The high-ranking noble families of the capital, including the Fuchs Grand Duchy, the Conver Ducal House, and the Lesper Earldom.

Although the story hadn’t started yet, she was certain.

The names etched clearly in her memory were proof enough.

At the time, she was still young and felt a mix of wonder and fear.

She began writing down the novel’s plot in a notebook, recalling as much as she could.

The orphanage teachers later told her that they had been relieved to see her, who had always been gloomy and lethargic, suddenly brighten up and work so diligently.

Perhaps because it was the last book she read before her death, she remembered the entire plot in detail.

But there was one problem.

Nowhere in the story was there a girl named Astrid from an orphanage.

At first, she was deeply disappointed.

‘Ah… I’m not even an extra in this world. How meaningless.’

She remembered laughing bitterly at the absurdity of it all.

But the disappointment didn’t last long.

Her past life memories changed her life.

Realizing that this was a novel’s world and that she wasn’t even an extra erased her habit of searching for the meaning of life.

She stopped wasting time and energy on something as nonexistent as the meaning of her existence.

She decided to walk her own path in this world, which was hastily pieced together by its creator.

Instead of resenting the parents who had abandoned her or worrying about an uncertain future, she focused on enjoying the present—being warm, full, and happy.

“Astrid, stop overthinking. Focus! And remember.”

She closed her eyes.

Memories of her past life were pushed aside for now as she focused on recalling the novel’s plot.

She went over the details carefully.

But no matter how hard she tried, there was no mention of a seven-year-old child.

Nor was there any mention of the name ‘Ray.’

‘Maybe I’ve forgotten something.’

She wasn’t confident in her memory.

It had been a long time since she’d thought about the novel’s plot.

If she could find the notebook she had written in as a child, it might jog her memory.

The notebook was in her forest home.

Since she was ten, whenever she read articles about the main characters in the newspaper, she would compare and update her notes.

She would add details to fill in gaps in the story.

‘I need to check that notebook!’

She stood up abruptly.

Even the smallest clue could be crucial, and she needed to grab onto anything she could.

Diane Lesper or Geiser’s men could return at any moment.

Deciding it was best to go now under the cover of darkness, she quickly changed her clothes and prepared to leave.

She left a note for Ray, who might wake up and panic, saying, ‘I’ll be back soon.’

***

Riding through the cold night air, she pushed her horse to its limit.

Tying the horse near her home, she walked the remaining ten minutes, keeping her footsteps quiet and blending into the shadows.

Fortunately, she sensed no presence near or inside the house.

She entered cautiously.

Passing through the living room and bedroom, she headed straight to the study.

It was a small room she used as a workspace.

She retrieved an old notebook tucked into the corner of the top shelf.

Flipping it open, she moved to the window where moonlight streamed in.

She decided to start with the middle section.

The current timeline matched the middle of the novel’s plot.

She quickly scanned the notebook for words like ‘child’ or ‘seven years old.’

But it was futile.

‘My memory was right. There’s no mention of a seven-year-old child anywhere.’

Closing the notebook, she shoved it into her bag.

She would need to examine it more thoroughly at the inn.

She planned to reread it carefully, looking for connections to ‘Geiser’ or ‘Diane Lesper.’

As she stood to leave, she heard footsteps entering the house.

There were several of them.

‘Damn, this is bad!’

She drew a dagger from her waist, gripping it tightly in both hands.

As a light turned on in the living room, a sharp voice rang out.

“Hey, little rat, I know you’re in here. I saw it through the magic stone.”

They had planted a magic stone in her home.

She cursed herself for underestimating Diane.

“I’m a pacifist! I hate unnecessary violence.” 

‘Pacifist, my foot! I know exactly what kind of person you are.’ 

She sneered inwardly.

“Just hand over the child. If you do, I’ll leave quietly.”

“If you saw through the magic stone, then you know the child isn’t here. Do you really think I’d bring such an important child here?”

She replied in a calm, confident voice.

With the study door between them, Diane raised her voice again.

“How about this? Sell the child to me. If you bring the child here tomorrow, I’ll pay you.”

It was a statement befitting the world’s greatest materialist.

There was no value in responding to such absurd words.

“Have you ever thought that raising a child in such a remote and backward place is abuse?”

She barely suppressed the urge to retort at the insult to their cozy home.

But she couldn’t stop her hand, which was holding the dagger, from trembling.

“I can provide a more hygienic and safe environment for the child. Because the child is important and precious, I’ll ensure they have the best clothes, food, and education.”

“Stop talking nonsense.”

Unable to hold back any longer, she ground her teeth and flung open the door.