EVNB 03

 CHAPTER    03……………………………………………….

“That damned god bastard.”

In her mind, Rubelia hurled every curse she knew at God.

This was a curse. Otherwise, there was no way something like this could happen.

She should have realized it the moment the so-called “blessing” twisted the original heroine and hero into something strange.

This was clearly a divine curse and conspiracy meant to kill her no matter what.

If she didn’t do anything bad, she wouldn’t die—but now it felt like she would die even if she did nothing at all.

In other words, it was basically saying: “Whatever you do, you’re going to die anyway.”

There was no other explanation for this situation.

“No wonder my hand kept reaching toward him.”

Even the fact that she ended up grabbing Zerden must have been part of God’s scheme, which only made her rage internally burn hotter.

At the same time, she fell into overwhelming despair and panic she couldn’t escape.

‘What am I supposed to do now?’

With trembling eyes, Rubelia followed the knight toward the marquis’s estate like a zombie.

At the very least, she needed to get away from the Grand Duke right now.

Arriving at the marquis’s estate, Rubelia flopped onto her bed and seriously contemplated her situation.

After three months of trying so hard to stay alive, she couldn’t believe she had met the Grand Duke today of all days.

No, think about this properly.

The trigger for the Grand Duke wiping out the marquis’s family had been the marquis not shaking his hand. And the reason the Grand Duke had been able to propose a deal involving a handshake was because she had been scheduled for execution.

So if she avoided harming the heroine and stayed away from life-threatening situations like now, the original storyline wouldn’t happen.

Ah, I was worried for nothing.

Since the villain in the original story was described as extremely cruel, she must have just panicked unnecessarily.

Even if you fall into a tiger’s den, you can survive if you stay calm.

With that thought, Rubelia decided to ignore the so-called divine message she had heard the night before. Not that she had planned to trust it anyway.

Thinking about it, God only said to find her fated partner—he never said what she was supposed to do after finding them.

So merely finding her fated partner meant she had already fulfilled her “duty.”

And wasn’t fate something meant to be broken anyway?

Especially if that so-called fated partner was the dark mastermind in the novel who once led her family to ruin and attempted rebellion only to fail—she wanted to avoid anything involving him at all costs.

‘Why is my life a minefield?’

It was already hard enough avoiding the original heroine and hero.

Rubelia sighed deeply in frustration.

Eventually, exhausted from all the running around, she fell asleep.

In her dream, she saw Zerden.

The Zerden in her dream gave off a very different feeling from the one she had met today.

Unlike his composed appearance earlier, he was now a complete wreck. His body was covered in blood—she couldn’t tell whose it was.

No, what kind of dream is this…

She tried to ignore the scene and wake up, but as if controlled by someone, she couldn’t look away.

Zerden was kneeling on the ground, roaring in pain like a wounded beast. Around him lay a pile of corpses. The sword in his hand dripped blood, suggesting he had killed them—but he was also sobbing uncontrollably in agony.

His bloodshot eyes showed just how much pain he was in. It looked like even tears of blood might fall from them.

Why? How?

Wasn’t he the one who killed them?

Rubelia couldn’t understand the situation. And yet, the emotion piercing through her chest was undeniably real.

It was so overwhelming that she felt like she would suffocate under it, drowning in his feelings.

After suffering for a long time, Zerden lifted his head and stared into the distant void—directly toward where Rubelia was.

“Please… I beg you…”

Zerden, who didn’t seem like someone who would ever believe in gods, was praying to someone.

“…save me.”

His voice trembled weakly like a fragile candle in a storm.

The moment she heard his desperate plea, Rubelia jolted awake as if forcibly pulled out of the dream.

Her cheeks were wet when she opened her eyes, as if his emotions had infected her.

“…That was not a good feeling at all.”

She frowned irritably.

And then—

A familiar voice echoed.

—Please, save him.

“Are you insane? Why would I?”

Even though the man in her dream looked pitiful and tormented, she had no reason to save him.

She was barely managing to stay alive herself.

—He is your fated partner. His death means your death. What you just saw was the future he was originally meant to face. Please help him reach a different ending.

“…What?!”

Rubelia stared blankly, dumbfounded.

All kinds of curses echoed in her mind.

What did this so-called “fated partner” even matter? Why her?

Perhaps sensing her anger, the god sounded troubled.

He could not say much. He was a god, and thus restricted from interfering too deeply in this world.

Still, the reason he was going this far was because Zerden was a being beloved by the divine.

Zerden, who should have lived a happy life, had his fate twisted by something that coveted his soul.

Not only that, the dark force targeting his soul had also sent his fated partner’s soul to another dimension.

So the god had brought that displaced soul into this world, hoping she could restore Zerden’s original fate.

And to do that, he had granted Rubelia a special power.

This was only possible because she had come from another world, leaving a slight tear between dimensions.

But he could not explain any of this to her. Time was limited, and divine laws forbade revealing such things to beings from other worlds.

—So please… take care of him.

For Zerden, and for herself as well.

With that, the divine presence faded away.

After the god disappeared, Rubelia stared into space in stunned silence.

“So that’s it? You drop a bombshell and just leave? Huh? Being a god means you can do whatever you want?!”

She punched the air in frustration.

“…Of course my life wouldn’t be easy.”

Thinking back on her past, she muttered emptily.

Life in Korea hadn’t been smooth either—but at least she hadn’t lived fearing for her life.

‘That damn telephone pole.’

If she hadn’t bumped into that pole, she wouldn’t have ended up in this world.

Rather than living a golden life with her life on the line, maybe being poor was better.

She suddenly missed her old, humble life in Korea.

“Sigh.”

Her thoughts tangled messily as she sighed.

She didn’t want to believe in the god’s words, but she also couldn’t afford to ignore them if her life was at stake.

So, unwillingly, she had to stop Zerden’s death. Otherwise, she would die.

“First of all, the Grand Duke’s rebellion is what causes his death, right?”

If the rebellion failed…

Then there were two ways to prevent Zerden’s death: make the rebellion succeed, or stop it entirely.

Rubelia leaned toward the latter.

She was just an ordinary Korean woman. There was no way she could help engineer a successful rebellion.

And if the marquis family got involved, the risk was too high. If it failed, they would be annihilated by the emperor for treason anyway.

Stopping the rebellion wouldn’t be easy either, but it was worth trying.

And if it didn’t work… well, she’d figure something else out. Something she didn’t want to think about.

Trying to stay optimistic, she grew more irritated the more she thought about it.

‘That damned god.’

There would never again be such a cruel twist in her life.

“…So if I decide to stop him from rebelling, how do I even do that?”

She fell into serious thought again.

Then suddenly—

“Right. I’ll become his friend! He’ll listen to a friend, right?”

Rather than barging in and saying “Don’t rebel,” she needed a step-by-step approach.

First, become his friend so he wouldn’t immediately dismiss her words—then persuade him.

That was the best plan.

After all, friends were supposed to stop each other from doing stupid things, right?

The next day, Rubelia opened her eyes with a sleepy face.

Despite how much she hated thinking, she felt like she had done more thinking yesterday than in her entire life.

So today she deserved to sleep in—but of course, nothing was ever that kind.

She woke up because of the noisy commotion outside.

“…So I have to run away again today.”

Without even thinking, she concluded that only two people could be making that noise outside her room.

Still, I should at least change out of my nightclothes.

She quickly washed up as quietly and quickly as possible.

Without a maid’s help, the cold water nearly froze her whole body—but what could she do?

Time to run.

But she couldn’t leave.

She had skipped dinner the night before and was now too hungry. If she tried to run like this, she felt like she would collapse.

“Haah… fine. Just once.”

Given what she had said before, the heroine and hero probably wouldn’t do anything dangerous like last time. The worst she’d suffer would be mental exhaustion.

After several deep breaths, she finally gave permission for them to enter.

The moment she finished speaking, Aria and Hasedian rushed into the room.

In their hands were gifts for her.

A bouquet of flowers and a tiara—the same dangerous combination as last time.

The moment she saw them, Rubelia shouted:

“You insane bastards!”