🔊 TTS Settings
Chapter : 1
“Ahhh!”
The ground beneath her feet suddenly gave way as the soil collapsed.
She plummeted rapidly from a terrifyingly high cliff.
She had studied astronomy despite how difficult it was and desperately researched astrology, all because she wanted to survive just one more day…
And yet, this was how it ended.
No. Maybe this was for the best.
This place was never fit for human beings to live in.
If she had survived any longer, she might have gone insane.
From atop the receding cliff, blood-covered men shouted viciously.
“Find the evil fortune-teller witch!”
“The moment you find the witch, cut off her head!”
At that moment, she snapped.
All the anger she had suppressed while struggling desperately to stay alive exploded at once.
“You bastards! As if that matters—I’m already dying right now!”
Survival time: 1 year, 4 months, 23 days.
Thus ended the life of the fortune-teller witch, an extra character in her thirty-sixth novel, The Viking Kingdom, with a fall from a cliff.
…No, seriously, I know this isn’t actually the end!
So for my thirty-seventh round, please send me into a novel where I won’t die!
“Miss Charlotte?”
Someone whispered softly.
She felt her shoulder being shaken.
“Miss Charlotte… Miss Charlotte.”
“Hey, isn’t she dead?”
“No way…”
“If not, why did she suddenly collapse and stop breathing?”
Terrified voices whispered above her head.
Stopped breathing?
Still suffering from the agony of falling off the cliff, she abruptly opened her eyes.
“Eek!”
The attendants jumped back in fright.
She had been slumped over a table. Rising upright like a spring-loaded doll, she sat up.
One of the servants standing at a distance asked while trembling,
“A-Are you alright, Miss?”
Instead of answering, she instinctively began assessing her surroundings.
The location was an elegant European-style hall decorated with gilded craftsmanship.
The people were lavishly dressed ladies in gowns and men wearing frock coats with cravats.
Charlotte’s face lit up with joy as she pushed herself up from the table.
“Ahhh! Finally!”
She had been transferred.
She was no longer the filthy fortune-teller witch being hunted by Viking warriors.
And judging by the dazzlingly luxurious interior…
It seemed that in her thirty-seventh life, she had become a precious young lady of a noble family.
Had happiness finally arrived after endless misery?
After dying in a sudden bus collision, she had repeatedly died and revived as insignificant extras.
Thirty-six times.
Each time in a different novel.
And now she had finally transmigrated into a romance fantasy novel again.
Ah, this was surely God’s reward for someone who had suffered thirty-six painful deaths.
“Sit down, Charlotte Able!”
Startled, she stopped herself from throwing her arms up in celebration and turned her head.
A middle-aged gentleman sporting a handlebar mustache was glaring at her unpleasantly.
“There’s a limit to how much you can startle your family. Just what kind of etiquette education have you received, Charlotte?”
Charlotte.
Charlotte Able.
Ah, so the extra she had become this time was named Charlotte Able.
“I apologize.”
She folded her hands neatly over her stomach and sat down obediently.
Now that she knew her name, she became curious about her appearance.
While looking around for a mirror, she noticed a silver tea pot gleaming nearby.
Looks like the maids here do good work.
Charlotte subtly used the polished tea pot as a mirror.
Bright, fluffy red hair.
Clear green eyes.
Delicate nose and lips.
Though she wore a worn brown dress and no makeup at all, the young woman in her late teens was remarkably cute.
Ah, so this face is mine now.
She was happy.
No, she was ecstatic.
Not only had she finally arrived in the romance fantasy she’d longed for, but she had also become such a pretty girl.
The pain of falling from a cliff and shattering her bones?
Already forgotten.
In fact, being chased to death by Vikings determined to kill the fortune-teller witch who had predicted the king’s death almost felt worth it now.
“Pfft.”
Laughter escaped from the women sitting like decorative dolls.
“Look at her grinning without any refinement. How can she be so foolish? She doesn’t resemble a member of the Able family at all.”
“Did you see that just now? She only understands what’s going on after getting scolded.”
“Well, she’s a lowborn illegitimate child. What can you expect?”
“And she’s an idiot too.”
“Exactly. That’s probably why she fell asleep right in the middle of such a solemn reading of the will.”
The reading of a will?
Only then did Charlotte realize everyone had gathered because of an inheritance.
Of course, thanks to the passive-aggressive remarks and her frayed old dress, she immediately understood Charlotte Able’s position in the family as well.
An upgraded version of a foolish Cinderella.
A young man standing beside the marble fireplace asked kindly,
“Are you feeling alright, Miss Charlotte?”
Charlotte looked at him and momentarily froze.
Wow.
Is that man even real?
Wavy black hair draped over the back of his neck.
Cold yet decadently alluring silver eyes.
Lips so red and seductive they seemed almost sinful, completely at odds with his smooth, low voice.
The man was breathtakingly beautiful, capable of tempting people with a single glance.
“Miss Charlotte?”
The man called again.
Snapping out of her daze, Charlotte shook her head lightly.
“Would you like me to call a physician? Since you lost consciousness and collapsed, I would recommend receiving medical attention first.”
“No, I’m fine. You don’t need to worry.”
“That’s a relief.”
Charlotte smiled brightly in response to the man’s obvious concern.
Perhaps because she had only just left The Viking Kingdom, where human lives were treated as worthless, his kindness moved her deeply.
Hearing someone worry about her for the first time in a long while warmed her heart.
After confirming that she was alright, the man turned back toward the others.
“Now that Miss Charlotte has regained consciousness, as the lawyer of the late Countess Dowager Able, I will continue reading the remainder of the will.”
So he wasn’t family.
He was the lawyer.
“This concerns the inheritance left to Miss Charlotte Able.”
Fwoosh.
The lawyer unfurled the scroll he was holding.
“To my beloved youngest granddaughter, Charlotte Beatrice Able, I leave the seven-story building located on Rainbow Street, along with everything contained within it. Charlotte, I hope what I leave behind will be of great help to you.”
Listening to the lawyer’s pleasant voice, Charlotte’s eyes widened.
A seven-story building on Rainbow Street?
Charlotte Able—that’s me.
Does that mean I’m inheriting the building?
Whoa!
That’s incredible!
Charlotte quickly covered her mouth with both hands to stop herself from screaming in excitement.
Her feet bounced beneath the worn skirt of her dress.
The moment she arrived in a new novel, she inherited a building.
A seven-story building, no less.
Every time she transmigrated, the pain of dying had been unbearable.
She had prayed only to be sent to a novel where she wouldn’t die…
And instead, a building had fallen into her lap.
Tears welled in her eyes.
The countless jobs she’d had as extras over thirty-six lives flashed through her mind.
She would no longer need to dig through the earth while worrying about droughts and poor harvests.
She would no longer need to crawl around serving arrogant masters.
She would no longer worry about being unable to buy bread because she lacked money.
Because now she was a landlord with guaranteed monthly income.
Goodbye hunger.
Goodbye cold.
At last, a flowery road awaited her—one with a comfortable home and financial security…
“This is absurd! How can you give the Rainbow Street building to that idiot?!”
A shrill voice shattered her hopeful fantasies.
The other men immediately joined in.
“That’s right! This is absolutely unacceptable!”
“Mother must have lost her mind! How could she leave that building to such a fool?”
“I refuse to accept this will! Mother clearly wasn’t in her right mind when she wrote it!”
Right.
There was no way such amazing luck would simply fall into her hands without resistance.
Charlotte glanced past the red-faced men toward the noblewomen.
Their expressions were elegant and dignified, but their eyes were as terrifying as venomous witches.
She hadn’t even been here fifteen minutes.
Don’t tell me…
Am I going to die again?
Damn it.
Absolutely not.
Do you know how hard it was to finally make it into a romance fantasy novel?
At that moment, she noticed a shattered teacup beneath the Wedgwood table.
At a glance, it was obvious the real Charlotte had dropped it when she died.
If Charlotte Able had died while drinking tea at this very seat…
Could it have been poison?
“Would you like to file an objection?”
After listening to the complaints of the Able family members, the handsome lawyer asked calmly.
“Of course. If Mother had been of sound mind, she would never have given the Rainbow Street building to the sole stain upon our family.”
One noblewoman fluttered her folding fan and declared arrogantly.
“Understood.”
The lawyer then turned to Charlotte.
“The other heirs have raised objections regarding Miss Charlotte’s inheritance. Will you accept their objection?”
His tone was polite, but it sounded more like:
Are you going to fight them or not?
Still shaken by her suspicion of poisoning, Charlotte quickly gathered her thoughts.
That’s right.
Poison wasn’t the immediate issue.
The real problem was that her seven-story building was about to disappear.
Unless she planned to die right now and move on to another novel, she absolutely had to keep that building.
Worried that she might reveal her soul had changed, Charlotte asked as foolishly as possible,
“Um… if I accept their objection, what happens?”
“The legitimacy of the inheritance will be judged according to Imperial law.”
“…”
“The trial will take years.”
“Years?”
“At minimum five years. At worst… there’s no telling.”
Gasp.
Seriously?
“Of course, both sides may petition His Majesty the Emperor. However, you would then need to wait until His Majesty permits a retrial.”
The handsome lawyer kindly added,
“Receiving His Majesty’s attention is akin to plucking a star from the heavens.”
If what he said was true, then it would become a battle of endless patience and endurance.
She’d grow old before receiving the inheritance.
It felt like he was advising her not to go through with the trial.
Could it be that even this lawyer wanted her to give up the building?
“If a dispute goes to trial, am I the only one who can’t receive my inheritance?”
“According to Imperial law, only Miss Charlotte’s inheritance would be frozen.”
“R-Really?”
A surge of crisis swept over her.
In that case, endurance wasn’t the only problem.
Lawyer sir…
That means I’m the only one getting completely screwed over here.
