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Chapter 2
Life never goes the way you want it to.
It was an obvious truth—so obvious that most people would shrug it off.
But no one understood it more painfully right now than Rovellin Dines.
Originally, Rovellin Dines had been a perfectly ordinary viscount’s daughter in the Empire of Heriette.
But one day, by pure coincidence, she realized something shocking:
She was a character inside a novel.
There was no dramatic lightning strike of enlightenment, no piercing headache, no cinematic awakening.
She simply got hit on the back of the head by a vendor swinging a baguette in the marketplace.
And that impact triggered memories of her past life.
‘Is this really okay? Seriously, is this allowed?’
But she didn’t even have time to cry over such an unglamorous awakening.
Because the character she had reincarnated into was—
‘A woman destined to have her head chopped off by the guillotine!’
The original Rovellin was a villainess who stole her best friend Cornelia’s husband—the heroine’s husband.
And not only that, she committed various crimes before ultimately being executed.
“Miss, are you alright?”
The merchant who had just bonked her on the head looked worried.
Rovellin snapped back to reality.
“Ahaha, I’m fine! No, thank you!”
If she had continued living without knowing anything, she would have walked straight toward that death ending, step by step, exactly as the novel dictated.
‘I owe you my life!’
She shook the merchant’s hand enthusiastically before quickly leaving.
The merchant stared after her, bewildered.
“She gets hit by a baguette and thanks me… what a strange young lady.”
* * *
“Reincarnation? What kind of novel-like situation is this?!”
Back home, Rovellin paced nervously around her room.
As she had just realized, this world was the setting of a novel titled “The Noble Lady Who Returned After Revenge.”
It was a typical “satisfying revenge” story where a betrayed heroine—cheated on by her husband and best friend—returns in darkness and takes glorious revenge.
Rovellin had enjoyed reading it in her past life.
But—
‘I didn’t want to be inside the revenge target list!’
She buried her face in her hands.
In just two seasons, Cornelia and the Crown Prince would become engaged.
And by the new year, they would have a grand wedding.
Then Ian—careless, fickle Ian—would grow bored of Cornelia and turn his attention to Rovellin, his wife’s friend.
And just like in the original story…
She would be publicly humiliated by the crowd, then taken to the guillotine.
“I can’t die like that…!”
Rovellin bit her fingers anxiously.
If she wanted to avoid Cornelia’s revenge…
“Right! I just need to get rid of that useless original husband first!”
Her eyes lit up.
The entire tragedy started from Cornelia’s disastrous marriage.
Cornelia was kind and gentle—but unfortunately, she had terrible taste in men.
Her husband would betray her with her best friend.
So if Rovellin prevented that marriage and instead connected Cornelia with the original male lead—
Then Rovellin herself would have no reason to die.
“It’ll be easier than eating a cupcake.”
The original male lead, Brian, was also her and Cornelia’s childhood friend.
If destiny already decided they would fall in love, she just needed to nudge them a little.
Knock knock.
A maid entered.
“Miss, an invitation has arrived from Count Kale’s estate for a banquet.”
At those words, something clicked in Rovellin’s mind.
‘Count Kale’s estate… that’s where Cornelia and Ian first meet.’
It was the very place where everything begins.
Where the Crown Prince becomes interested in Cornelia and eventually proposes.
The beginning of all disasters.
“Miss, shall I decline it? Do you have other plans?”
“No. Tell them I will definitely attend.”
Rovellin answered firmly.
This was her chance to cut off her doomed connection with that bastard Ian from the very beginning.
* * *
…Or so she thought.
‘My God… a one-night stand?’
The day after escaping Count Kale’s estate, Rovellin had spent the entire day curled up on her sofa.
Her mind was in chaos.
What bothered her most was that she had absolutely no memory of the night before.
It felt like she was truly becoming the promiscuous villainess from the original story.
“But that was an accident,” she muttered defensively.
The original Rovellin had seduced Ian with clear intent.
This time was different.
And in any case, she had successfully prevented Cornelia and Ian’s first meeting.
Instead of spending time together in the garden like the original story…
They had spent the night together in bed—
“K-khm.”
She cleared her throat, embarrassed, and forced herself to stop thinking.
“Right. I shouldn’t waste time on useless things. I should focus on Cornelia—”
“Me?”
A voice came from behind her.
Rovellin jumped in shock.
A woman with night-sky blue hair and vivid violet eyes had entered the room.
“Cornelia!”
Cornelia—the heroine of the original novel, and Rovellin’s best friend.
Rovellin rushed toward her immediately.
This was The Noble Lady Who Returned After Revenge—the novel she had loved in her past life.
And Cornelia was her favorite character.
‘My favorite character… standing right in my room?!’
Before her reincarnation, it had felt normal.
But now it felt miraculous.
“Did I just hear my name? …Huh? Bell, why are you looking at me like that?”
Cornelia giggled at Rovellin’s teary eyes.
Rovellin smiled too.
‘She’s even more beautiful when she smiles!’
And she even called her by her nickname.
Cornelia was still kind and gentle—before her future “darkening.”
Most importantly, she adored Rovellin.
She would probably eat a stone-baked scone if Rovellin offered it.
“Hey, Connie.”
“Mm?”
“I really, really like you.”
“W-what are you suddenly saying?!”
Cornelia blushed furiously.
It was usually Cornelia who constantly expressed affection first.
But she didn’t seem to dislike this change.
A maid entered with snacks, and the two young ladies finally settled down.
“Bell, where were you yesterday?”
Cornelia asked carefully while pouring tea.
“I… I wasn’t feeling well, so I went home early.”
“I see. You should’ve told me—I would’ve gone with you.”
Cornelia’s concern was sincere.
Rovellin felt a pang of guilt.
‘I’m sorry, Cornelia… your precious friend is trash.’
She couldn’t exactly say, “I spent the night with the Crown Prince and don’t even remember it.”
So she only smiled.
“Anyway, it’s good you went home early. There was quite a disturbance last night.”
“A disturbance?”
“Apparently, His Highness the Crown Prince stayed at Count Kale’s annex… and some young lady sneaked in.”
Rovellin nearly dropped her teacup.
“They say His Highness is secretly looking for that woman. Oh, I only heard this from Brian, so don’t tell anyone.”
Cornelia wrinkled her nose.
It seemed Brian, Ian’s aide, had informed her.
Rovellin’s heart pounded violently.
“…Is that true? That the lady was the one who entered the Crown Prince’s room first?”
