BCD 01

A woman whispered in my ear.

“Save me.”

I didn’t know whom she wanted saved, or how—but her voice was filled with desperation.

“Please, save those children.”

I struggled with all my might to open my eyes.

No matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t lift my eyelids.

‘I’ll do whatever you ask—help, save, anything—so how about you save me first!’

No matter what I thought, the woman paid no attention and continued saying whatever she wanted.

“You are another me. Even if you never realize that fact for the rest of your life.”

What kind of nonsense is this to say to someone who just got hit by a car… Huh?

‘Wait—am I dead?’

“I abandoned Cyfried, but you, please…”

Hey, excuse me, hold on! I can’t hear you! If it’s important, speak louder!

“The key to the curse…”

As my consciousness faded, her final words alone rang out clearly.

“Now open your eyes, Cielina.”

I snapped my eyes open.

I had no idea what was going on. It felt like someone had asked me for a favor in a dream, but aside from my current name, I couldn’t remember anything.

As I panicked and tried to sit up, a strange voice spoke.

“Don’t overexert yourself. Stay lying down. I’ll call the maid attending you.”

Jet-black hair gleaming as if carved from obsidian. Perfect features like a master sculptor’s work. A tall, broad frame that looked close to 190 centimeters—and since he wasn’t wearing a shirt, his solid physique was impossible to miss.

In the morning sunlight filtering through the curtains, the delicate lines of his muscles were laid bare.

I had never seen this man before, yet I felt as though I knew exactly who he was.

A character from the trashy BL novel I’d been reading just moments ago—I Stole My Sister’s Man.

The half-naked man before me looked like the protagonist on the novel’s cover brought to life in 3D.

‘Duke Killian Cyfried.’

Staring blankly at the living, breathing man, I murmured the name silently.

If he really was who I thought he was, then he was the character who played the role of “my sister’s man” in the novel.

And the fact that I’d woken up wearing only pajamas in the same bed as him meant that surely… this wasn’t some kind of book transmigration, right?

‘No way. That kind of thing doesn’t actually happen.’

The man glanced over me as I lay frozen, blinking stiffly, then raised his voice toward the closed door.

“Hans, are you there?”

“Yes, Your Grace.”

“Come in.”

The heavy door opened, and an elderly man dressed immaculately entered the room.

His disciplined posture, neatly combed silver hair, and monocle gave him the unmistakable air of a head butler—as if it were written across his forehead.

“Good morning, Madam.”

When his eyes met mine, he greeted me with a perfectly measured smile.

“The bath is being prepared. The head maid will come to escort you shortly.”

Madam? He just called me madam, right?

Which meant there was no escaping it—I was that man’s wife.

As I clutched my pounding chest and tried to make sense of the situation, there was a knock, and the door opened slightly.

“Good morning, Madam.”

Just as the butler had said, a middle-aged woman who looked like the head maid appeared.

She bowed politely to the duke, then approached me.

“Shall I help you up?”

“Help… me? Why…? I mean, why would I—?”

I instinctively mimicked the duke’s manner of speech, trying to sound authoritative.

Speaking informally to someone who looked old enough to be my mother made my Confucian-raised conscience scream, but I felt I had to match the atmosphere.

The head maid leaned close and whispered in my ear.

“There’s no need to be embarrassed. It’s natural for your body to feel sore the day after your first night. You did well, Madam.”

“What? F-first n—!”

“Madam?”

“Mm!”

I hurriedly clapped a hand over my mouth, but the duke had already heard my cry.

“What is it?”

He asked flatly, not even looking in my direction.

“I apologize, Your Grace. I startled Madam a bit.”

The head maid hurriedly explained. Even though the duke didn’t seem particularly angry, she was visibly trembling.

“I’m sorry. Because of me…”

“There’s no need for you to apologize to those beneath you, Madam.”

“I’m thirsty. Could you bring me some water?”

“Yes, Madam.”

She quickly left the room.

The butler let out a small sigh as he watched her go, then turned back.

“Your Grace, could you lift your arm slightly?”

With practiced hands, he began dressing the half-naked duke.

In the blink of an eye, the duke was fully dressed in a neat outfit and turned to face me again.

The moment our eyes met, goosebumps rose along my arms beneath the pajamas.

Golden eyes that shifted color depending on the light.

Eyes like a wolf’s—pinning me down, as if declaring that this was now my reality.

“What would you like me to call you?”

“……”

Seeing my delayed response, he added a brief explanation.

“You seemed startled when I called you by name in front of the servants yesterday. If you prefer honorifics, I’ll use them from now on.”

“Ah…”

He said “yesterday” casually, but of course, that “yesterday” didn’t exist in my memories.

“My late brother and his wife used to call each other by name, so I did so without thinking. It seems I was careless.”

“N-no, it’s fine.”

I waved my hands reflexively, feeling like I was accepting an apology meant for someone else. Still, he seemed to be waiting for a proper answer.

“Cielina… just Cielina is fine.”

At last, I spoke the name I hadn’t wanted to acknowledge out loud.

“Is that so?”

He shrugged, looking mildly surprised.

“Then let’s call each other by name.”

With that short exchange, he left the room without hesitation.

The door shut with a soft click, and silence settled over the bedroom.

‘Am I really Cielina Kiev… no, Cielina Cyfried?’

I had no choice but to accept this unbelievable reality.

I, once an ordinary Korean job seeker, had died in a traffic accident.

I’d woken up again in the world of the BL novel I’d been reading.

And the character I’d possessed was the protagonist’s older sister—and the wife of the man who would later fall madly in love with that protagonist.

‘Of all the characters, why did it have to be the one with a dead ending…’

I let out a hollow laugh.

Cielina Cyfried.

A woman who was betrayed by both her younger brother and her husband, driven insane.

In her quest for revenge against the two of them, she committed countless atrocities, only to be killed by her husband in the end.

[Serves her right. Honestly, dying quickly was a mercy.]
[Finally, some catharsis.]
[I felt bad for her at first, but she totally crossed the line. If it dragged on longer, I would’ve dropped it.]

The comments posted on the chapter where she died came back to me.

A death no one mourned.

But I wouldn’t die miserably like the original Cielina.

I wouldn’t be jealous of their love—and if I wasn’t, there’d be no reason to go mad.

‘If they say we had our first night, then we must’ve just gotten married, right?’

I coolly organized the situation in my head.

Sure, the mention of the first night startled me—but it wasn’t like I was the one who’d actually done it.

And judging by the duke’s attitude, this marriage was clearly one of obligation.

‘Honestly, possessing Cielina might be better than being Maid #1 or Random Citizen #1. Her family is a grand ducal house close to the imperial family, and now she’s a duchess. At least I won’t have to worry about surviving.’

I decided to think simply.

I’d quietly wait for the two of them to meet and fall in love—then get a divorce.

Peacefully. By mutual agreement. With a generous settlement.

Simple, but the safest route.

‘Interfering to help them get together or running away to avoid harm—that’s just asking for trouble.’

There’s a cliché that always appears in transmigration novels.

If you try to push the main characters together? You end up entangled with the male lead instead.

If you run away? The protagonist becomes obsessed with you.

‘So I’ll do nothing.’

The fact that this was a BL world gave me even more confidence.

In this genre, male characters fall into eternal love just by locking eyes—but female characters are barely worth the air they breathe.

There was no way the protagonist would suddenly fall for me.

‘After the divorce, I’ll buy a quiet rural estate and a manor. I’ll build a big ranch, hire a manager, and raise sheep and ponies.’

Imagining that rosy future, I even felt lucky.

A life of leisure without worrying about money.

Wasn’t this exactly the life Kim Hana, the job seeker, had dreamed of every night?

‘Oh, right. The dream. Was it before I died? Or right after? I feel like someone spoke to me… but who was it?’

No matter how hard I thought, all I could vaguely recall was the voice of a strange woman.

‘It’s bothering me more than I expected.’

Just then, a young voice sounded from outside the door.