🔊 TTS Settings
chapter 02
Roha had possessed ‘Siena’ only a day ago.
At first, she was extremely confused.
But when she looked at her situation, she quickly realized that even confusion was a luxury she couldn’t afford.
The princess didn’t wish for anything.
She was just a young lady from an ordinary noble family.
No, even a passing commoner extra would do.
If that was still too much, even a servant girl—which are so common these days—would have been fine.
…Unfortunately, the character Roha had possessed, ‘Siena,’ was a beggar who hadn’t eaten in three days.
She was lame, her skin was covered in sores, and it smelled like she hadn’t bathed for three months; just turning her body made a stench waft.
“Wow. At this rate, I’m going to pass out from my own smell.”
Who was the insane author who put a character like this in a romance fantasy novel?
“More importantly… what kind of story is this?”
Siena stared at her dirty, brown bare feet and lost herself in thought. The stone walls of the temple pressed coldly against her back.
Right then,
“They’re here! The Black Knights of the Bledel Duke are here!”
Suddenly, there was a commotion nearby.
Men in obviously expensive clothing were entering the temple. All the beggars’ eyes and ears were glued to them.
“Ugh, beggars! Even today, disgusting faces.”
Their words of contempt didn’t stop anyone starving.
The beggars sitting along the wall all held out tin bowls and made a ruckus.
“My lord! Please show mercy and receive the goddess’s blessing!”
“Sir knight! Coins… or even food…! The Goddess of Healing will be pleased too!”
‘I… can’t just stay silent here, can I?’
Siena, caught up in the atmosphere, also raised her voice.
“Give me a penny!”
“Give me a penny…?” Isn’t that line way too K-beggar-like?
As soon as she thought that, a strong wave of reality hit her.
“Ha… my first line after possessing a romance fantasy is ‘Give me a penny’…”
Only now did it truly feel like she was a beggar.
This was a city in some unknown country.
Siena was homeless in front of the temple wall.
The first sensation she felt after possession was hunger. Her empty stomach felt like someone was slicing it with a sharp razor.
It seemed everyone was hungry. When the knights left, the beggars’ faces clearly showed disappointment.
“Those bastards. Not a single coin given.”
“What good is it that the Bledel Duke’s territory covers the northeast and earns more than the royal family?”
One beggar spat to the side next to Siena. He had just been begging the knights in black cloaks for mercy.
“With such a nasty heart, there’s no way the Goddess of Healing would lift the Bledel Duke’s curse.”
A curse?
Siena’s ears perked up at that.
Maybe she could figure out what kind of novel this was.
Siena subtly joined the conversation.
“What kind of curse?”
The beggar glanced down at her as if looking through her.
“What, you don’t know, Siena? The famous curse of the Bledel Duke?”
“What’s that?”
At a man’s voice cutting in from somewhere, the beggar started babbling excitedly.
“You know the rumors, right? When he was a child, he was cursed by a dark mage, and he suffers twisting pain day and night.”
“Didn’t you hear? Because of the curse, the Bledel Duke’s personality became terrible.”
“Ah, no need to say more. He’s the craziest in the capital. Crawls even to the Crown Prince.”
“Hmph. I see.”
“Hey, whoever you are, if you’ve heard the rumor, you need to pay for the info…”
As the beggar tried to turn away arrogantly, suddenly a man’s strong arm struck swiftly from behind. In an instant, the man forced the beggar’s mouth open with one hand while pressing a dagger against the back of his tongue with the other.
The surrounding crowd’s attention fell on the man holding the beggar.
Eyes as black as night and filled with arrogance.
A haughty expression as if nothing in the world mattered.
“B-Bledel Duke…!”
Only then did the beggar recognize the man and gasp.
“Shall I cut that useless tongue for the price of the rumor?”
“N-No… please…”
Before he could even finish speaking, the Duke twisted his wrist lightly.
Flash.
The dagger’s sharp blue blade reflected the light.
Seeing that, Siena let out a small scream from her throat.
“Ah!”
“Ugh!”
When the Duke released the jaw he was holding, the beggar collapsed onto the street.
The beggar sprayed blood like a fountain through his clenched teeth.
At that moment, small droplets of blood also splattered on Siena’s face as she squeezed her eyes shut.
Everyone around tensed and shrank like hedgehogs.
The Duke, meanwhile, smiled delicately, only with his eyes.
“Why are you all trembling? I didn’t cut the tongue, so relax.”
Indeed, when the beggar cautiously touched his mouth, the tongue was intact. Siena could clearly see his fingertips trembling.
“I cut the frenulum under the tongue, so now you can spread rumors with even clearer pronunciation. Want me to tell you a few secrets others don’t know?”
The Duke leaned his face close to the beggar sitting on the ground.
“First, the damned Crown Prince suffers from the same curse. Second…”
The beggar stared straight ahead, sweating profusely from the Duke’s presence.
“Only a saint sent by the Goddess of Healing can completely cure this curse.”
“S-S-Saint…”
“Moreover, even just touching the saint’s fingertips reduces the pain of the curse. Fascinating, isn’t it?”
“Eh?”
“Not fascinating?”
“It’s fascinating! Very fascinating!”
Ahahaha.
The beggar, pale as death, even clapped his hands trying to please him.
Seeing that, the Duke’s face twisted in an instant.
“My curse… is fascinating?”
The beggar gulped. His face hardened like stale bread.
“No! No! That’s not what I meant…”
The Duke laughed again as if teasing him.
“Your pronunciation has already improved. Now, spread the rumor widely so we can find the saint.”
“Yes, yes!”
“Consider yourself lucky. I’m in a good mood today.”
The Duke turned and headed toward the temple.
At that moment, one of the knights following him hurriedly stopped him.
“Your Grace, as you know, you cannot bring bloodied items into the temple.”
The Duke looked at the dagger in his hand. Blood stains on the blade were clearly visible.
“Ah, right.”
Clang.
Siena’s tin bowl shook with the sound. The Duke had tossed the dagger there.
Siena’s mouth dropped open.
The hilt had jewels embedded, clearly valuable.
At that moment, she had a feeling.
‘This is a lottery…!’
Though she felt sorry for the beggar who had just been threatened, Siena was already calculating the dagger’s value in her head.
‘For a collector like the Bledel Duke, it should come with a premium, right?’
As Siena stared at the dagger, the Duke glanced at her and frowned, just as he had when seeing the blood on the blade.
“What a disgusting life. You like items covered in someone else’s blood that much?”
‘What the hell?’
For a moment, Siena felt a surge of irritation.
‘Just because he tossed a dagger like that, he thinks he can say whatever he wants? Judging by that temper, he’s clearly a villain.’
Perhaps unable to fully abandon her impulsive nature from her previous life, words escaped her mouth.
“Excuse me!”
Hearing that, the Bledel Duke, who was heading into the temple, turned to look at her.
