***

I jolted upright as though I had been burned. For a moment, I thought that the scene unfolding before me was my life flashing before my eyes.

After all, I had spent more than enough time travelling in rattling carriages under the warm sun to have grown thoroughly weary of it.

However, that reassuring assumption faltered when the pungent scent of mint hit my nostrils.

‘So the scent was coming from inside my mouth…….’

I lowered my gaze and took in the clothes I was wearing.

The sight startled me.

The pale violet, light, flowing skirt and beige linen shirt were completely unlike anything I would usually choose.

At that moment, I was struck by an unsettling suspicion.

With arms that felt strangely weak, I opened the small leather bag on my lap and took out its contents one by one.

‘A white embroidered handkerchief, an old pendant, a letter, a mirror, a hairpin, a fountain pen, a small tin box, and chocolates from a confectionery…….’

Every single item was unfamiliar.

They were all small trinkets that I wouldn’t usually carry around.

Take this dainty little bag, for example.

Half in disbelief, I turned towards the carriage window.

An entirely unfamiliar face stared back at me from the glass.

‘This…… isn’t me.’

Her light brown hair was styled neatly in a half-up, half-down arrangement, and her pale violet eyes were reflected in the window.

Her face was much slimmer than mine, and her large, doe-like eyes and thin lips made her look extremely delicate.

No matter how hard I looked, I could find no trace of my former black hair and eyes.

‘This isn’t my life flashing before my eyes? Then what in the world has happened to me?’

At that moment, the carriage, which had been moving smoothly, lurched violently, causing my body to sway helplessly.

An anxious voice called out from the driver’s seat.

“Are you all right, Lady Fermen?”

Fermen.

Naturally, I had no memory of such a name.

However, aside from the coachman, I was the only person riding in the carriage.

Therefore, the name Fermen could only belong to me—or rather, to the owner of this body.

‘He called me a lady, so perhaps she was not of low birth.’

I shook my head several times to clear my confusion before answering calmly.

“I am perfectly fine. How much farther is it to our destination?”

“Not much farther, my lady. We should arrive at Viscount Will’s castle in approximately twenty minutes.”

Viscount Will.

Once again, it was someone I had never heard of.

‘So Fermen was traveling by carriage to Viscount Will’s castle.’

After a moment of silence during which I blinked repeatedly, I hurriedly rummaged through the bag.

I had suddenly remembered the letter tucked inside it.

The elegant handwriting on the page conveyed heartfelt concern for Fermen.

…

[To my dear friend Fiona Fermen

I received your letter. By the time this reply reaches you, I imagine you will have finished preparing to depart for Viscount Will’s castle.

Oh, Fiona, what are we going to do?

When I found out that you were going to marry him, I burst into tears. I couldn’t stop crying because my heart ached so much for you.

After all, Viscount Will is notorious monster for devouring his brides!]

…

‘A monster who devours his brides…….’

The rest of the letter contained expressions of concern for Fiona Fermen, along with several pieces of information about Viscount Will.

…

[That monster has already taken three brides, yet every one of them disappeared before even a hundred days had passed…….

Not a single trace suggesting that they escaped was ever found, so rumors began to spread that Viscount Will had devoured them.

You must always carry a weapon and remain prepared for the worst. After all, no rumor is ever entirely without foundation!

If anything serious happens, gather whatever money you have and flee in secret!

And whatever you do, never return to your family. Those who sold you away are not worth seeing again.

My family is not particularly well-off either, but we can certainly provide refuge for one person.

I sincerely pray that no harm comes to you.]

…

There was nothing else of particular significance, so I folded the letter again and placed it inside the bag.

‘Although this is not Viscount Will’s first marriage, Fiona is likely of a similar social standing if she is marrying a viscount.’

However, judging by Fiona’s clothes, bag, and the condition of the carriage, her family appeared to be in financial difficulty.

The letter had indeed implied that she was being sold into marriage.

‘Circumstances like these are more common than one might think, so that is hardly the greatest problem. The real problem lies elsewhere.’

Why had I become Fiona Fermen?

I had undoubtedly died.

I had driven the jagged edge of the broken restraint directly into my carotid artery, so no other outcome could have been possible.

‘Then did the original owner of this body die as well?’

As though searching for some clue to Fiona’s disappearance, I rummaged through the bag once more.

Nibbling on a piece of sweet chocolate as I searched more thoroughly, I discovered several pills inside the small tin box and immediately froze.

“These are…….”

They were small, round pills of a turquoise hue.

Each one was stamped with the letter E, and when I held one beneath my nose, I detected a faint lemon scent.

It was astonishing.

These pills were far too expensive for the daughter of a family impoverished enough to sell their own child to possess so many.

I hastily shoved the small tin box deep inside the bag as though concealing it, then sank into thought once more.

However, I was not given much time to gather my thoughts.

“Lady Fermen, we have arrived. Please step down.”

Twenty minutes had already passed.

Taking the coachman’s hand, I stepped down from the carriage, only to be rendered speechless by the unexpected sight before me.

‘This is supposed to be a nobleman’s castle?’

Forget a castle — this was practically an abandoned ruin!

“Ahem.”

Perhaps even the coachman found the sight deeply unsettling, for he cleared his throat awkwardly before ringing the bell.

Meanwhile, I studied Viscount Will’s castle, growing more astonished the longer I looked.

Long, tangled vines crawled up the walls, while cobwebs of every size clung to the grounds, lending the castle an eerie atmosphere.

The grass had grown so tall that it scarcely deserved to be called a lawn, and even the front door was covered in rust, making me wonder whether anyone lived here at all.

Perhaps this truly was an abandoned castle. After all, no one had appeared even after the coachman rang the bell three times.

“How strange. Not even a single servant has come out…….”

As the coachman had said, this was far from an ordinary situation.

The woman who was to become the mistress of the household had arrived, yet not a single person had come to welcome her.

“Are you certain this is Viscount Will’s castle?”

“Yes! There is no doubt about it. I even brought a map. I-It is such a notorious place that I could not possibly have mistaken it for anywhere else.”

I checked our location on the map the coachman had hastily unfolded.

‘West of the capital……. It is approximately half a day from the nearest city. As the coachman said, this castle belongs to a man notorious for being a monster, so we cannot have come to the wrong place.’

After considering the matter briefly, I returned the map to him and spoke.

“Very well. Thank you for bringing me this far. You may leave now.”

“Pardon?”

The coachman seemed startled by my words.

Even if this was my destination, it would be unconscionable to leave a woman alone at an ancient, deserted castle.

However, escaping the castle’s unsettling atmosphere appeared to be far more important to him than concerns about propriety.

“Then…… I shall take my leave. Please stay safe and well, Lady Fermen.”

Without offering so much as a perfunctory protest, the coachman bowed deeply, turned the carriage around, and hurried away.

All that remained were the body of a woman named Fiona Fermen, me trapped inside it, and a single shabby travelling bag.

“Hmm.”

What a predicament!

Not only did I not understand my own circumstances, but I was also expected to marry a man known as a monster in a haunted castle like this.

The door remained firmly locked.

There was nothing I could do about it.

I decided to climb the castle wall.