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CHAPTER 34
Instead of getting answers, Riana just ended up with more questions.
Even in The Reincarnator’s Possession Situation, where the red-haired male lead cooked amazing potato soup—the original setting was a bamboo forest!
“I might not know much about nature, but I do know what bamboo looks like…”
When she met the third male lead at age ten, the hut was definitely in a beech tree forest!
Riana clutched her head, completely overwhelmed by how messed up everything was.
“What the heck is going on!!”
The fact that Veloci Duke turned out to be the cat she’d known all this time? That was shocking, sure. It was a big surprise and made her angry.
But the original Veloci Duke had been a big wolf, not a cat? That wasn’t just shocking—it changed everything.
The situation she believed was a possession… was different from the original story.
And that meant everything else could be different too.
‘So all the things I believed until now… they might all be wrong.’
She had to rethink it all.
From the very beginning.
Even starting with whether this really was possession at all.
Her whole life was about to be flipped upside down in just a day, but Riana couldn’t give up the life she’d lived for over ten years. Her dreams and goals hadn’t changed.
She still needed money to buy her own island.
Even if she was part of some crazy experiment, she still had to collect her salary.
“Nnnghh!”
The bag she brought now had added gold coins, and it was heavier than she expected. Riana groaned as she crawled out through the doghole.
The sun had already set. She couldn’t tell the exact time, but it was clear the Duke’s isolation time was coming up fast.
‘I can’t be late!’
She had left late because it took her time to recover from the shock, and now the heavy bag slowed her down too.
Either way, neither was a valid excuse for being late in front of the Duke.
“Ahhh!”
She was rushing and totally out of it, so one of her shoes slipped off. It flew outside the doghole, but there was no time to go get it.
“Forget it!”
Riana just ran barefoot toward the Isolation Tower like her life depended on it.
She looked a total mess, but there was no time to clean up. Still, if she could sneak into the tower, tidy herself up, and serve tea looking neat, it should be okay…
“…Huh?”
Riana’s eyes shook as she reached the tower.
There was something she definitely hadn’t expected.
Standing in a line in front of the tower were four people staring at her—Killian, Kim, Bastian, and Allen, who looked depressed like he missed his chance to leave work on time.
“Uh, what are you all doing here?”
Riana asked, and Killian gave a sarcastic smile.
Kim sighed and put her hands on her hips, Bastian avoided her eyes and bit his lip, and Allen just looked gloomy.
Riana knew instinctively.
‘I’m late.’
They caught her mid-escape.
The four men sat around the sofa. Riana had the honor of sitting right in the middle. All four sets of eyes were locked on her.
It felt like a courtroom hearing.
‘Great. I just got back, and now I’m about to get kicked out?’
What do I do now?
Riana had just returned from a mission at the secondhand market on 11th Street where she’d suffered a big loss. Now, the Droche Duchy, which offered top local wages, suddenly felt very precious to her.
Just when she started to feel loyal to the company—boom, interrogation. Fate really didn’t go easy on her.
“Um… actually—”
She had tons of lies ready to go after “actually—”, but didn’t even get the chance to start.
Kim interrupted her.
“Thank you, Miss Riana.”
“…What?”
“Thank you for coming back. No one’s ever come back after running away before.”
He even grabbed her sleeve and bowed his head. He looked genuinely touched.
Bastian’s eyes were practically tearing up.
“There have been people who got seduced by the ‘nagging’ before, but no one ever got defeated by it and still came back. I’m proud of you, Miss Riana.”
Nagging. That was Duke Droche’s second strategy for firing people.
Most of the people who couldn’t stand his nagging didn’t just sneak out in the night—they fled the entire country. Once you crossed the Duke, it was hard to live in the kingdom anymore.
Riana was the first to ever come back. And on top of that, she had even timed it so she didn’t leave during working hours, which made her extra commendable as far as the secretary and butler were concerned.
“…Ah.”
Riana didn’t know what to say in response to the unexpected warm welcome. Judging by her direct bosses, none of them seemed to be angry…
But the real problem was the employer.
‘Killian wants to fire me.’
Whatever bet he had going with the prince, it was serious. The way he pretended to fall in love at first sight clearly meant he was putting in real effort.
‘So what’s he going to do?’
Will he drop the act and fire me now? Or will he keep pretending and let me off the hook?
Riana thought about everything she had learned from the memory potion about “Killian Droche” as a character.
‘If it’s him, he’ll probably use this chance to fire me.’
Killian was cold and valued efficiency. Even when he proposed to Deborah at the end of the original story, it was half a business merger.
‘Ugh… I should’ve been more careful.’
Her nerves were shot.
She was already thinking about finding a new job… or even blackmailing the Duke with his secrets just to keep this one.
That’s when Killian finally spoke.
“Miss Riana may have been a little late…”
Everyone in the room focused on him.
“But she caused no damage to work. Anyone here feel harmed?”
He looked around the room like he was waiting for someone to raise their hand.
Kim firmly shook her head. Bastian made a big X shape with his arms. Allen opened his mouth a little but no one noticed or cared.
The atmosphere already decided things. Killian concluded calmly.
“I’m sure Miss Riana had her reasons. What matters is that she came back.”
It was Riana who was stunned by this generous attitude.
“…But isn’t there a clause in the contract that says I can’t go out without special permission during the contract period?”
Kim quickly jumped in.
“You must have had a special reason. Right? You did, didn’t you?”
“The clause says you have to get permission before going out.”
With nothing to say in reply, Kim turned to Killian. Without hesitation, he summoned the contract with magic.
“That kind of clause can just be edited.”
He placed the contract on the table. The line about going out was crossed out in red, and Killian’s signature appeared next to it. The paper floated toward Riana.
“Sign it.”
“…”
Of course, since Riana didn’t want to get fired, she went along with the forged contract.
Scratch scratch
But even as she signed, she felt unsettled.
She could understand why Kim or Bastian would do this. They probably didn’t want to go through the trouble of hiring someone new.
But Killian? Why would he go this far to protect her?
Once the contract was changed, Riana was no longer someone who had run away and come back—just someone who returned late from a short outing.
“Please don’t be late again.”
That was the only scolding she got.
Just like that, isolation started as if nothing had happened.
Allen went home. Kim left. Bastian returned to the main building. Killian went to his office in the Isolation Tower.
Riana’s place was the maid room in the Isolation Tower.
She carefully hid the bag filled with her precious gold coins in the corner.
Then her eyes naturally turned to the cozy bed.
‘I just want to lie down and rest.’
It had been a long day. Well—actually, it wasn’t even a single day. She hadn’t slept for two nights, so it felt like one endless day.
So many shocking things had happened all at once. She hadn’t even processed half of it yet.
“Riana, aren’t you tired? Come lie down.”
The bed seemed to be calling to her telepathically.
She was almost hypnotized, walking toward it, when she suddenly stopped herself with an effort of will.
“I look like a total mess right now.”
As someone from Korea, she couldn’t stand the idea of dirtying her bed. Even after she possessed this body, she’d never once climbed into bed with shoes on.
How could she lie down on that sacred bed looking like she just rolled through a doghole?
‘I better ask if I can go wash up at the main building.’
With that in mind, she opened the door of the maid room to go get permission.
“Ah!”
Riana jumped back in shock. She had almost crashed into a man standing right outside. Killian had come all the way to her room, his hand frozen mid-knock.
She stepped back, startled. But he was still close. She mumbled to herself, confused.
“I was just about to come see you.”
“The bell didn’t even ring.”
Killian pushed the door open wider. The gap was now big enough for him to walk through.
‘Is he coming in? Is he going to pull another weird stunt?’
Riana narrowed her eyes.
She couldn’t figure out what Killian was thinking at all.
Why did he give up such a perfect chance to fire her? Why was he still pretending to be in love at first sight?
