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Chapter 03
“If we lived together… ugh, I don’t even want to imagine it…!”
Shuwen remembered the plot of The Cure for the Mad Duke. She also remembered exactly how the male lead treated the female lead.
The thought that the thorny path ahead would become her own was horrifying.
“So that’s how it is.”
Disappointment colored Titiana’s voice. Shuwen looked at her in confusion.
“I think he’s scary too. I’ve never met him, but I’ve heard the rumors often. I don’t intend to condemn him for killing on the battlefield. But all the atrocities he committed in Lucenia… you know about those too, right?”
“Mm, yeah. I know. I know.”
She knew very well.
Even if she hadn’t witnessed them firsthand, she’d experienced them indirectly.
Through words, at least.
“Just hearing the name Ranied is enough to make him appear in my dreams. When I heard that I’d received flowers yesterday, I imagined what he might look like and ended up having nightmares all night.”
“Really? Come to think of it, your skin does look a bit dull.”
Shuwen looked at Titiana with concern. Titiana gave a faint smile.
“Yeah… so, Shuwen, you have to help me.”
“Huh…?”
Something about that sounded strange. I have to help her?
“You know His Majesty is stopping Duke Ranied’s proposal from reaching me. I heard it directly from His Majesty as well.”
The emperor, who cherished his daughter, visited the princess’s palace at least once a day.
So it wasn’t surprising that Titiana knew about it.
“I don’t have the confidence to live with that man. As you know, I’ve never even left the palace grounds.”
“…”
“How could I spend my entire life with such a cruel man? That’s why I asked.”
“Asked… what?”
“That you marry him instead of me.”
“Ah… what?!”
That was the real shock.
Bang!
Shuwen sprang up from her seat and slammed her knee into the table.
But she didn’t even have the presence of mind to grimace in pain.
“…You asked for that?”
The original story had changed.
It had changed from the moment that strange imperial order was given to Shuwen. No—perhaps even before that.
Why did it change?
Titiana had accepted marriage to Duke Ranied as salvation. It was the only way to escape her overprotective father, the emperor.
But now she was having nightmares just from thinking about him?
“Why… Titi, why?”
Shuwen tried once more to think about what she might have done to alter the original story. As expected, there was no answer.
Seeing Shuwen’s face stiff with confusion, Titiana lowered her eyebrows.
A shadow of melancholy fell over her face.
“Why… why did you suddenly start thinking like that?”
“Suddenly? I hated it every single time I saw the proposal.”
“…”
Did I remember the original story wrong? No, that couldn’t be it. Shuwen had a very good memory. And up until now, every setting had matched the novel exactly—except for the relationship between Shuwen and Titiana.
Except for this absurd situation.
Titiana’s lips twitched, but when she raised her gaze, her expression was as calm as ever.
“You’re my only friend. We’re practically one and the same, aren’t we?”
Shuwen Berk’s role.
To become Titiana’s eyes and ears, satisfying the princess’s curiosity.
To be the isolated heroine’s “only” friend.
Sadly, Shuwen was faithfully fulfilling part of an extra’s reason for existence.
Titiana smiled, her eyes curving.
“So you understand me, right?”
The streets were noisy with a banquet celebrating victory in full swing.
Lucenia had a custom of savoring glory for as long as possible.
As Shuwen walked through the bustling streets on her own two feet instead of in a carriage, one line kept echoing in her ears.
I just couldn’t bring myself to live with him. That’s why I asked.
Shuwen was confused by the sudden change in circumstances.
But even stronger than the confusion was a sense of betrayal.
They’d been together for nine years—how could she do this without even discussing it once?
No. No. There’s something else I need to think about right now.
She needed to figure out what had caused the original story to derail.
If anything had changed, it was only the relationship between Titiana and Shuwen.
In the novel she’d read in her past life, Shuwen hated Titiana.
She was Titiana’s only friend, yet also a nasty girl who tormented her.
Titiana had cherished Shuwen at first, but little by little, that affection had faded.
But unlike the novel, the two of them now were extremely close.
Even before regaining memories of her past life, Shuwen had never bullied Titiana—instead, she’d carefully looked after the lonely princess.
“Call me Titi.”
They were close enough that Shuwen was the only one who spoke informally to the princess.
Come to think of it, that was another difference from the original story.
But this alone shouldn’t be enough to change the main flow of the plot.
Shuwen’s role wasn’t that important.
She was just seasoning meant to make the heroine seem more pitiful.
The absence of such seasoning shouldn’t have altered the story’s framework.
So what on earth changed Titi’s mind?
No matter how much she thought about it, there was no answer.
“Shu, we’re friends. You are me, and I am you.”
Nine years.
They’d spent that long together. But even so, the wall of status had never completely fallen.
In this world, status was absolute.
And Shuwen had been born here and lived her entire life within it.
Even while spending time casually with Titiana as she wished, Shuwen had never forgotten Titiana’s rank.
That said, she couldn’t completely deny Titiana’s words either.
To Shuwen, Titiana was also her only friend.
And since Shuwen truly served as the princess’s eyes and ears, what Titiana said wasn’t entirely wrong.
She’d been walking aimlessly to clear her head when a shop she’d visited before appeared right in front of her.
Shuwen paused, looking at the magic-item shop.
Something she’d forgotten came to mind.
Right—my necklace.
Two days ago, she’d received a letter telling her to come pick it up.
She’d put it off out of laziness and then forgotten.
Since she was here anyway, she might as well retrieve it.
“Bearded uncle. Have you been well?”
Leaving the accompanying knight at the door, Shuwen stepped inside the shop.
The man sitting at the workbench turned his head.
Some customers called him “Beard” instead of by name.
Knowing that alias meant you were a “special” customer.
“Oh, you’ve come? Why so late? I’m sure I sent a letter two days ago—or was it four?”
Beard complained as he looked at Shuwen.
He normally didn’t remember customers who only visited once or twice.
The reason he remembered this one was because of the item the small girl had commissioned.
In his entire life, he’d never received such a bizarre request.
“I forgot. Is it ready?”
“Hah, you come late and still rush me. Wait a moment. I’ll finish this up and bring it out.”
“Yes.”
Beard briefly glanced at Shuwen as she sat down on the customer sofa with a gloomy face.
Soon, the sound of crafting filled the room.
Tap, whirr, tap, whirr, tap.
“Haa…”
A deep sigh, heavy enough to make the ground sink, mixed into the steady noise.
A short while later, Beard brought out the item.
A round black collar with a gold chain attached.
“I still don’t understand why anyone would want to put a dog collar on a person…”
At his words, Shuwen flinched, feeling as though her thoughts had been read.
That necklace.
The restraint collar—commonly called a dog collar—was something Esselian put on Titiana.
As if the novel weren’t already an R-rated misery fest, it really did everything.
And now I’m the one who might end up putting it on.
Shuwen had commissioned the necklace for Titiana, in her own way.
She planned to advise Titiana to strike first and put it on Esselian before he could put it on her.
For now, that seemed like the best option.
“Uncle, if I were to put this on an adult man, when would be the best time to do it?”
“C-cough…!”
The magic embedded in the collar was “neutralization.”
At least, that was how Shuwen had designed it.
In the original story, it was a truly vile collar that sent electric shocks through Esselian whenever Titiana cursed him.
Shuwen, fully aware of why Beard was blushing and clearing his throat, almost wanted to applaud his imagination.
“W-why ask me something like that?!”
Aren’t you a little too embarrassed, sir…?
“Still, um… if you’re thinking of putting that on someone, you’d better abandon that idea.”
“Why?”
“No matter who the target is, the fact that you’re asking me means it won’t end well.”
Beard stroked his graying beard and offered completely unhelpful advice.
“You’d obviously end up dead trying to force it on someone. Especially someone as small as you—no question about it.”
This shop, known only to wealthy and influential clients, saw all kinds of people.
Even if not collars like this, those with perverse tastes often commissioned similar items.
Beard assumed this customer was one of those types.
Otherwise, she wouldn’t have asked for special effects.
Shuwen looked at him with downcast eyes.
“I’m disappointed in you, uncle.”
“I’m saying this because you remind me of my little sister. She had her odd sides too. She’s gone to a foreign land now…”
Beard wiped at the corner of his eye, missing his sister.
Ignoring him, Shuwen muttered to herself.
“I don’t want to use this either. I never planned to use it myself…”
“No refunds.”
Thinking she was about to cancel the order, Beard cut her off before she’d even finished speaking.
Shuwen couldn’t help but laugh.
“I’ll pay the remaining balance. How much is it?”
“Seventy gold. No haggling. I already gave you a discount.”
Shuwen was rummaging through her purse when—
Jingle, jingle—a bright bell announced a new customer.
“By the way, uncle, do you think maybe—”
Shuwen lifted her head to ask what had just occurred to her.
But Beard’s face looked strange.
His eyes and mouth fell wide open, and then he blurted out something shocking.
“D-Duke… Your Grace?!”
What? A duke?
Don’t tell me it’s that duke…?
