TLDH~01

Chapter 1

My name is Leticia Essior.

I remember my past life.

Some might ask if that’s even logically possible.
Or wonder if I’m just confusing it with a dream.

When I first recalled my previous life, I thought the same.
That it was all just a dream—
a nightmare that began with my grandfather’s death and continued with the news of my father’s demise on the battlefield.

But unfortunately, that night when I was cast out of the ducal house, and my carriage crashed, leaving me half-dead—
what came flooding back into my mind wasn’t a dream.

It was too vivid, too real.

That I had once been Lee Si-a, a woman born in a place called Korea.
That the world I lived in now was a fictional one—a novel that Lee Si-a had read in her past life.
And worst of all—
that the supporting character in that novel was Leticia Essior, me.

Oh, and one more thing:
I also knew the future of my house—how the once-great Essior Duchy would soon be utterly destroyed.

‘Essior will fall?’

To be honest, the fact that I was a side character in a novel wasn’t as unbelievable as that.

The Essior Duchy was one of the five ducal houses that upheld the Tepharoa Empire and its imperial family, the Somomet line.
Unlike the other three ducal houses that had inherited their titles from conquered kingdoms during the wars of unification,
Essior was different.

Essior had been there from the beginning—
a founding family that helped the Emperor establish the empire itself.

And that such a house would collapse?
Who could possibly believe that?

Yet while I wrestled alone with this dreadful knowledge,
the tragedy of Essior had already begun.

“Exterminate every last one of the Essior line. Leave not a single soul alive.”

Those words came from the very man who had thrown me out—
my accursed uncle, Andrea Essior,
who became the 11th Duke only to be charged with tax evasion soon after.

And tax evasion was only the tip of the iceberg.
Embezzlement, assault, bribery—
He committed every filthy crime imaginable,
and those accusations drove Essior into ruin.

Then came the final blow: treason.

He was accused of attempting to assassinate the crown prince, Kalian,
and of plotting to enthrone the second prince instead.

That was the end.

The Emperor’s patience snapped,
and the imperial family declared an open bounty—
ordering every last member and servant of Essior to be hunted down and killed.

At that point, I could no longer deny it.
Everything was unfolding exactly as it had in the novel.

And in that moment, a single thought consumed me:

“I have to run.”

Even if I’d been cast out of Essior,
there were still people in the capital who knew my face.
It wasn’t safe.

So I erased my name and fled as far as I could.

But perhaps one cannot truly escape fate.

A few years later, a massive earthquake struck the empire.
The walls and ceiling collapsed as I slept, burying me beneath them.

Then—blackness.

My memory ended there.

I was only twenty years old.

‘It hurts.’

My entire body throbbed.

It was an unpleasant, searing kind of pain that told me I was somehow still alive.

I had run because I wanted to live,
but since the moment I remembered my past life,
I had always suspected that I would die young again—
though I hadn’t expected it to be by getting crushed under a building.

Did the author really need to kill off a side character who had nothing to do with the main plot?

‘They could’ve at least let me live quietly somewhere.’

In my previous life too, I’d died young—just over twenty—hit by a car.
An orphan with no one to rely on, life had been far from kind.

But those memories were the only reason I managed to survive after being exiled from the duchy.

The memories of Lee Si-a—
a girl who had done every part-time job imaginable,
who learned to smile while being insulted,
who could talk her way into turning one favor into ten,
and simplify ten problems into one.

“Letty, you’re so clever!”
“How could you think so thoughtfully at your age?”
“As expected of our brilliant Letty!”

Remembering all that, I couldn’t help but think—
it was pure luck that I’d regained Lee Si-a’s memories after being cast out.
Had I been left with only the memories of the pampered noble lady Leticia,
I probably wouldn’t have lasted a week.

‘Honestly, I might’ve starved to death the day I left the capital.’

Even with my past-life memories, survival hadn’t been easy.
Still, I’d wanted to live.

There had been kind people around me,
moments of fleeting happiness.

If I had stayed in the capital?
If I’d still been the Lady of Essior?

‘Maybe I’d have survived.’

In the novel, the capital was protected by a great magic circle that the male lead activated.

‘If only…’

But that thought faded as the pain intensified.

‘What’s the point?’

I was already dead.

With a faint, bitter laugh, my darkening vision stretched farther and farther away.

Maybe the next life would be better.

Having gone through reincarnation once,
it didn’t seem so far-fetched to hope for another chance.

So I prayed—

Please, just let me be a little happier next time.

And just as I released my final breath—

“Milady!”

Someone shook me violently.

“When are you going to wake up! It’s long past time to rise!”

The voice was familiar—
an irritated maid’s voice I hadn’t heard in years.

‘Huh?’

Milady?

That was the title I used to hear from the servants of the duchy when I was a child.

‘Is this… my life flashing before my eyes?’

But of all the memories to relive,
did it have to be the one with the maid who used to bully me?

‘What a way to go.’

If this was going to be my final memory,
I’d have preferred my father instead.

Not that our relationship had ever been warm.
He’d spent most of the year on the battlefield,
and I’d grown distant, convinced he didn’t love me.

My cousins had helped cement that belief—

“Who’d ever acknowledge a useless fool like you as their daughter?”

So our relationship had always been strained.

But looking back now,
I realized my father had tried, in his own way,
to bridge that distance between us.

Every time he returned from war,
before even going to the palace,
he’d come straight to me.

And though his hands were calloused and rough,
he’d always pat my head gently and say,

“Have you been well, Leticia?”

As a child, those words had hurt.
I’d waited for him for so long,
only to be met with the same cold greeting.

But now I understood.
That was his way of saying he loved me.

Have you been well, Leticia?

I miss you too, Father.

Swallowing the ache in my throat, I let out a shaky breath.

It wasn’t him, but even so—
if this was my last vision, I’d face it.

So I slowly opened my eyes.

“Ugh…”

The first thing I saw was a ceiling—
familiar, gilded, and tacky as ever.

The golden pattern that looked fancy from afar
but cheap up close.
The cobwebs in the corners that the maids always missed.

“Exactly the same.”

But before I could linger in nostalgia,
a sharp pain shot through my arm as someone yanked me up.

“How long do you plan on pretending to be sick? Get up already!”

The maid’s rough grip made me wince.

“…Ow.”

“Oh, please! Enough with the fake illness already! Without your nanny, we’ve got twice the work as it is!”

That voice—sharp, nagging, and far too familiar.

Slowly, I turned my head.

“…Arina?”

‘But Arina died years ago.’

‘Wait, is this… the afterlife?’

‘Don’t tell me I have to be tormented by her here too?’

My confusion deepened as I stared at her face.
And then I noticed—
the arm she was grabbing looked much smaller.

And the pain felt real.

‘Can a near-death vision feel this vivid?’

‘And isn’t it supposed to be of past memories?’

‘But I don’t remember anything like this happening…’

Then—

‘What’s going on?’

I blinked rapidly, trying to clear my head.
Then, panicking, I yanked my hand free and stumbled out of bed.

“Milady! What kind of rude behavior is that!”

Ignoring her angry voice, I ran to the mirror.

And there—
staring back at me was a small, childlike Leticia.

“What in the world…”

I blinked, dumbfounded, staring at my reflection.
Then I lifted my skirt.

“They’re gone.”

The scars—
the ones I’d gotten on both knees when I fell at age six—
were gone.

“No way.”

My trembling hand traced the mirror’s surface.
Then, as if testing reality, I raised my hand and—

Smack.

A sharp pain bloomed across my cheek.

It hurt.

“Milady!”

“It really hurts.”

Too sharp, too real to be a dream.

Could it be…

“I’ve come back?”

Truly—

I’ve returned to being six-year-old Leticia?

Impossible!