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Chapter 2
“I already didn’t like you in the book, but meeting you in person? You’re even more infuriating.”
The perfectly curved lips that had once looked beautiful were now stiff with irritation. Even her tone—previously layered with kindness so polished it was hard to tell whether it was sincerity or pretense—had turned rough.
But it wasn’t her expression or tone that caught my attention.
Only one word echoed in my ears.
“The original story…?”
“The novel you appear in.”
Without taking her eyes off me, she crossed her arms.
“Well. Since fooling you clearly isn’t going to work anymore, I’ll tell you.”
“……”
“Why your life is such a mess, what kind of people you’ve been dealing with, and why you could never beat me no matter how many times you died and came back. I think watching your face twist in despair after hearing it all would be entertaining.”
As though she had cast aside the angelic mask entirely, she twisted her lips into a crooked smile and continued.
What followed was an unbelievable story.
This world was the setting of a novel called The Damned Empire, a book Grace had read in South Korea.
Grace had died in an accident in Korea, then met a spirit that traveled between dimensions in a dream and reincarnated into the novel as an extra.
She survived by using her knowledge of the story at just the right moments—saving people by predicting floods and monster outbreaks that would strike the territory.
She hadn’t wanted to become the protagonist. She simply planned to succeed in business and live comfortably, so she had benchmarked someone in the original story who seemed intelligent.
And then, apparently, everyone she met praised her, confessed their love to her, the emperor became grateful to her—basically, her life turned out wonderfully.
“That person was you,” Grace said.
“The one I benchmarked.”
“When I got confused about details, I just watched your actions. Which abandoned mine you would choose, when you’d capture Kanus… and in the end, I was just a little faster than you.”
The corners of her lips rose slightly again as she spoke. Her eyes darted around as though studying my reaction.
As if she wanted praise for how cleverly she had used her knowledge.
“Do you understand now? My nickname, ‘The Eyes That Read All Creation,’ isn’t wrong. I knew the past and future through the novel. Well, the story’s ending has already passed by now, but…”
Grace looked at me smugly.
“Don’t you resent the heavens? They gave me the ability to stay exactly one step ahead of you.”
“……”
“How does it feel? You were never capable of beating me from the start. And in your isolated state now, even less so. So…”
She reached out and tilted my chin upward. Her voice became colder.
“Fix that arrogant attitude and tone, bow your head to me now, and admit that I’m superior to you, Iris Aphelemion.”
Smiling elegantly, she commanded me.
“If you listen carefully to me from now on, then you—”
“…Then.”
I interrupted her in a sunken voice.
“What?”
Grace looked at my face in confusion. She must have expected despair, but that wasn’t what I felt.
“So if I hadn’t existed, you never would’ve thought of any of those businesses? They were ideas only I could have had from the beginning?”
An uncontrollable rage surged inside me.
“Well, that’s true, but—”
“So creating the guild, recognizing the value of the paintings—those were all my judgments?”
“Using them at the right timing was my quick decision-making—”
“You…”
Boiling emotion rose like molten lava.
“You fucking bitch!”
I gathered every ounce of strength in my body and lunged for Grace’s head. Then I yanked hard with all my strength.
“You stole my future?!”
“KYAAAAAAH! MY HAIR!”
A shrill scream filled the cabin, and a thick clump of silver hair ripped free into my hand.
“KYAAAAAH! IT HURTS!”
Grace shrieked and struggled wildly, but I only stared at her with icy eyes.
“What the hell are you doing?! That hurts! Let go! LET GO, you crazy bitch!”
Half sobbing, Grace clutched her head.
“That’s my line.”
Holding the bundle of silver hair in my hand, I spoke coldly. Grace finally stumbled away from me, her face bright red.
“My plans. My ideas… What you stole was my life.”
“What are you talking about?!”
“How greedy do you have to be to take everything? If you’d left me even one opportunity, I wouldn’t have ended up like this.”
“Stop talking nonsense!”
Breathing hard, I glared at her. Grace shouted back:
“If you’d been lucky, maybe it would’ve been your future. But I was the one lucky enough to read the novel first.”
“Luck?”
I stared at her in disbelief.
“That wasn’t luck. It was effort.”
The coldness in my voice made Grace flinch.
“What?”
“Do you know how many books I read just to understand the flow of magic stones?”
“That…”
“Do you know how many places I visited without sleep just to choose a single mine? Did you think I discovered them by accident while traveling?”
“Th-that much…”
“You think creating a guild from a bunch of street trash was easy when I’d never even held a bow before? I sorted through all kinds of useless bastards and built that guild from scratch. I even got beaten so badly by opposing factions that my head split open! And you—afterward, you didn’t even properly take care of them, did you?”
“How is that my problem?!”
Her tightly clenched fists trembled pale white. Grace looked at me with genuine resentment and indignation.
It felt hollow.
So this was all the woman who had achieved everything I wanted really was.
“If you hadn’t transferred the imperial curse onto me, maybe I could’ve forgiven you.”
“I told you already, that was because Karsiel—”
“If I were you, I would’ve purified the curse first and searched for a way to heal the First Prince! If you’d simply told the emperor the name of the illness, he would’ve searched across all five continents for a cure! Even if it couldn’t be cured, imperial magic stones could’ve delayed the disease by thirty years! You just wanted all the credit for curing him yourself, so don’t make excuses!”
Grace’s face went pale. Instead of answering, she bit her lip tightly.
“I… because of you, I was cursed. I didn’t just lose my family… Cough!”
The cough I’d been suppressing burst out, and I covered my mouth with the blanket as blood splattered out.
At the sight of me coughing blood, Grace’s face paled slightly.
“That’s the aftereffect of the curse…?”
“Yes.”
My illness was different from a cold or pneumonia. It was the delayed consequence of exposure to dangerous magic, something doctors couldn’t cure.
“The only cure is the fruit of the Hashins tree, which grows only in Yulkan.”
At present, the Yulkan Kingdom and the Empire were at war. It had begun when Yulkan’s crown prince—called the God of Strategy—attacked the Empire’s southern territories.
Grace avoided my eyes again. It wasn’t simply fear of blood.
I knew it.
The realization of why she couldn’t look me in the eye snapped something inside me.
“That painting back then—the ‘Woman with the Golden Bow.’ How did you obtain it?”
“I-I bought it, obviously! I paid a huge amount!”
“If you lie to me, I’ll rip out every strand of your hair. That person doesn’t move for money alone.”
“Don’t!”
Grace screamed before finally blurting out:
“She refused to sell it no matter how much money I offered… I said it was fine, but one of my subordinates drugged her and forcibly brought her over…”
“So you kidnapped and threatened her. Told her you wouldn’t let her leave unless she handed over the painting.”
“W-we were going to make a deal anyway! I just said we’d let her go once she signed quickly!”
A hollow laugh escaped me.
That woman—how dare they.
“So what you’re saying is…”
I glared at Grace murderously.
“You kidnapped and threatened Yulkan’s princess—the twin sister of the ‘God of Strategy,’ the greatest genius painter in the kingdom.”
“……”
“You humiliated Yulkan royalty over a single painting because you wanted to make more money.”
“I-I didn’t know she was a princess back then! I thought she was just a talented unknown artist!”
“Then you should’ve learned! Or stayed quiet!”
With my thin hand, I grabbed her by the collar.
“Ghk!”
“You started a war! You created a disaster and couldn’t clean it up afterward! Do you know how many people died because of you?!”
“L-let go!”
“Cough! Khk!”
Perhaps because I’d become too agitated, the coughing wouldn’t stop. The already filthy bed quickly became soaked in blood.
“Let go!”
Taking the opportunity, Grace shoved me hard. I slammed into the wall and collapsed to the floor.
Her face, which had gone pale moments ago, gradually regained its color once she saw me struggling to breathe.
“Hah… are you insane?”
“……”
“What’s the point of cursing me now? I’m still the Empire’s Wisdom, the heroic daughter of Duke Serbe, while you’re a dying beggar.”
“……”
“When the Empire’s Wisdom offers you a hand, you’re supposed to kneel gratefully and take it.”
She snapped irritably.
I laughed coldly.
“You’re the one who wants to kneel.”
“What?”
“You didn’t come here to help me. You came to beg for my help, didn’t you?”
“You…!”
Even while gasping for breath, I sneered at her.
“So there wasn’t a way to end the war in the novel, huh? That’s why—you thought if things worked out by following my ideas until now, then I could end this war too.”
“Sh-shut up.”
“You can’t do anything on your own. You have no desire to learn, no natural talent. All you know how to do is use people.”
“I SAID SHUT UP! Even without you, I found top-grade spirit stones, I made Karsiel fall in love with me—”
“The prince took your hand for political reasons. If you mistook that for love, then you’re pathetically foolish.”
“You!”
Just as I had done earlier, Grace grabbed me roughly by the collar. My emaciated body swayed dangerously.
“Do it while I’m still asking nicely. Think of a way to end the war. I have frozen Hashins fruit stored in my mansion in the capital. Without it, you’ll die.”
Grace growled.
“So your reputation will suffer if you can’t stop the war?”
“Just think of a way to win!”
She sounded desperate enough to ignore my mockery entirely.
“Cough!”
When I couldn’t answer because of my coughing, Grace finally loosened her grip.
But I reached for her hair again.
This time grabbing an even larger handful.
“KYAAAAAAAH!”
“I’d rather die than become your stepping stone again.”
Putting all my sincerity into each word, I spoke quietly.
“LET GO! LET GOOOO!”
Because of her struggling, something hard caught between my fingers. It had clung to her clothes during the scuffle—a magic-stone ornament, apparently.
“D-don’t touch that!”
Grace screamed frantically, scratching at the back of my hand. Ignoring the blood running down my skin, I tightened my grip and tore it free.
“So you don’t like losing what belongs to you?”
“Th-that’s a first-class magic stone! I received it from Marquis Dikan as a reward for exterminating monsters—”
“That’s good.”
With swollen lips and a weakening voice, I murmured:
“I’m glad I could take something from you before I die.”
Holding onto my fading consciousness, I raised my arm high.
“Stop! I won’t forgive you!”
“Cough!”
Even while coughing violently, I didn’t stop.
So this was the last thing I’d do before dying—destroying some nameless magic stone.
It was pathetic, but still better than dying helplessly.
This was the greatest revenge I could manage.
Whoosh—
“No! That’s the one that reverses time and space—!”
CRASH—
The golden magic stone slammed into the cold stone wall and shattered into pieces.
“You crazy…”
Grace cursed.
Smiling in satisfaction, I collapsed back onto the bed.
“I won’t let you—”
The buzzing in my ears drowned out the rest of her words. My vision blurred.
Everything before my eyes seemed to disappear.
So this was death.
It’s unfair.
I wanted to see at least one of my plans succeed.
No… honestly, I wanted to accomplish all of them.
I wanted to earn mountains of money.
And actually… there had been a time when I wanted to do well within House Aphelemion too.
Clinging to all those lingering regrets, I closed my eyes.
And when I opened them again—
“Miss, it’s morning.”
I had returned to being eighteen years old.
With all my memories intact.
“So… I came back.”
Including the memories of my first life—the life without Grace’s existence, the true story of the novel The Damned Empire.
