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Chapter 3
I shook my head with a relieved smile.
“No, I was mistaken. I’ll go alone!”
Then, without hesitation, I began climbing the stairs.
Maybe it was because the path to avoiding death was finally opening up, but the staircase that once looked gloomy now seemed bright.
If I can just undo the curse, everything will be fine.
The male lead wouldn’t shrink, and I could live peacefully.
I did feel a little sorry for Rishid and Seria, but—well, they had love, and I had survival.
Priorities.
From now on, I’ll live a good life. Just—don’t die.
I had to cling to life and find a way back to my original world.
Lost in that determination, I reached the top of the stairs before I knew it.
A violet curtain hung over an arched doorway.
I reached out my hand.
“Is anyone here?”
The answer came from the side.
“You’ve come again, young lady.”
I jumped. Someone who had been standing still like part of the wall smiled softly and swept aside the curtain.
My eyes were drawn inward—
A large altar. Countless candles.
A crystal ball resting upon a round table. Tarot cards fanned like peacock feathers beside it.
…I actually found it?!
I exhaled, clutching my pounding chest.
The woman already seated gestured gracefully to the opposite chair.
“What do you wish to know today, my lady?”
The woman’s voice was clear and gentle. Judging from the fine wrinkles around her eyes, she seemed to be in her middle years.
I hurried to sit.
“Well, um, I’d like to cancel something.”
It was obvious that this was the place where the curse had been cast, but I decided to keep things vague—just in case.
“Ah.”
The woman nodded immediately.
“You mean the ‘Curse of the Doll,’ yes?”
Could things really be going this smoothly?
“Yes! I want to undo that curse.”
I almost teared up from relief.
But then, her gentle tone turned eerily cold.
“Cancel it… cancel, you say…”
Huh…?
A gust of wind blew from nowhere, snuffing out the candles lighting the altar.
What’s happening?
I hunched my shoulders, unsettled.
The woman raised both arms high into the air.
“I knew it! I knew this would happen! I warned you again and again!”
Her laughter rang out, shrill and mad.
I stared blankly.
Why is she laughing like that—it’s terrifying!
I wanted to cry but clenched my fists tightly instead.
Ghost houses don’t scare me, I told myself. Dying does.
The laughter, echoing high and long, abruptly stopped. My breath hitched.
“You poor, poor girl…”
In her arms was a grotesque doll—when had she taken that out?
She stroked its head tenderly.
“Did you truly think you could borrow such wicked power and then erase it at will? How arrogant.”
The woman shook her head, pitying me, and delivered the final blow.
“Once begun, a curse can never be undone. And the appointed day has already passed, has it not?”
“…What?”
The day had already passed?
“T-Then…!”
That means the male lead has already shrunk!
I forgot to be scared and blurted out,
“Wait—if it’s already started, then when will it end?”
In the original story, Rishid had lifted the curse after about two weeks with Seria’s help.
I didn’t know the exact duration.
The woman raised three fingers slowly.
“Three years?!”
I shot to my feet, startled.
But she shook her head.
“No. Three months.”
“Excuse me?”
“After that, he will return to normal.”
I blinked slowly at her blank expression.
“…What?”
Honestly, I was speechless.
Back in the carriage, I stared out the window, laughing weakly.
Three months? That’s the entire duration of the curse?
What kind of curse only lasts that long?
A curse should be something life-long and dramatic, shouldn’t it?
Still, when I thought about it, it wasn’t entirely bad news.
Three months didn’t seem so unbearable now.
And since it’s Seria who figures out who cursed Rishid…
If I could just keep them from meeting for that time, things might work out.
Sure, it would twist the plot a bit—but isn’t that how these “transmigration” stories go? The more you try to follow the original, the more it spirals out of control.
I had considered running away.
After all, Airel was already treated like an outcast among her own family.
But for someone like me—dropped into a strange world—having a steady allowance from a ducal house was a godsend.
And besides—
Airel ran away to the ends of the earth in the original and still got caught and killed by Rishid!
That kind of vengeance?
I wasn’t mentally prepared for it.
If I died here without ever getting back home, it would be far too cruel.
So running away was not an option.
The curse had already begun. The male lead had already shrunk.
The story was about to start.
Right about now—
Rishid would be wandering in despair, heading toward the Grand Temple.
I recalled the scenes from the original.
After being cursed, Rishid had left only a letter to his aide and gone to seek help from the temple’s priests.
There, he met Seria, newly appointed as the Saintess.
Rishid, unwilling to expose his weakness to the imperial court, had hidden his identity and asked for her help.
So, what I needed to do now was simple.
“I must stop Rishid from ever getting into Seria’s carriage!”
Yes—perfect.
Before the male and female leads could meet, I’d kidnap the male lead first and take care of him!
That way, even if the truth came out later that I was the one who commissioned the curse…
…Would that really work?
Ugh.
Even I knew how ridiculous that sounded.
But I was desperate.
“I really don’t want to die.”
Sure, it was too much to hope for zero consequences.
But what if Rishid never found out?
What if he trusted me completely?
Then I just had to make sure he never discovered the truth.
I clenched my fists again, holding back tears.
Alright. If it doesn’t work, I’ll make it work.
I was once a corporate slave back on Earth, used to impossible overtime and surviving on caffeine and spite. Perseverance was my middle name.
“Just wait, Your Grace.”
My survival variety show starts now.
“I’m sorry, my lady, but you’re not permitted to enter the Grand Temple.”
…Well, I didn’t see that coming.
“Why not?”
The holy knight guarding the entrance sighed.
“Because, my lady, you nearly burned down the temple once.”
“…I did?”
“Unless there’s another Lady Airel in this empire, I believe it was you.”
He gave me a look dripping with pity.
“You set fire to the temple garden, struck another noble lady, and kicked several knights who tried to stop you.”
“What? I—I didn’t—”
And then, the original story’s lines resurfaced in my memory.
‘Airel tried to confront Seria, but she couldn’t enter the temple, having previously set fire to its gardens in a fight over Rishid.’
…She was insane.
I sighed inwardly, cursing Airel Blandiche to the depths of my heart.
To set fire to a holy place over a man—she must have lost her mind.
“Then there’s no way for me to go inside?”
“Not unless you show true repentance and apologize, my lady.”
“I—I am repenting!”
I pressed my palms together, trying to look solemn.
“I regret that day deeply! Please, forgive me…”
The knight frowned.
“I’m afraid apologizing to me won’t help. I have no authority to grant permission.”
“Then who does have the authority?”
“The High Priest who forbade your entry, of course.”
The High Priest…
I frowned slightly.
Ah. I remember him now.
The youngest ever High Priest—the one who had appointed Seria as Saintess.
But where was I supposed to find him?
Just as despair crept in, a gentle voice called out.
“Lady Blandiche?”
I turned toward the sound.
A man stood there, smiling radiantly.
Hair as white as snow flowed to his waist.
His beauty was divine, as if heaven’s light itself had chosen to dwell in him.
“What brings you to the temple, my lady?”
There was no mistaking it—
The High Priest himself had appeared.
