Chapter 3
It was a romance-fantasy novel.
Even after the female lead died, the story kept going!
And in the end, even the male lead died too!
Thanks to that utterly disastrous ending, the novel became a hot topic across every community, and the final chapter was flooded with comments.
[Is this that novel? The one where the main character dies and then everyone dies? The one where you only need to read the last chapter?]
[┗ Nope, you don’t even need to read the last chapter. Refund all the money I spent on this trash!]
[Seriously, is the author insane? Did they just give up on the story? Is this the end of Part 1? Is there a Part 2 or something? This makes no sense! Author! At least give us side stories! How can there be none?!]
[┗ LOL you’re actually willing to pay for side stories of this? What a sucker.]
After swallowing frustration for 300 chapters while rooting for the two leads’ happiness, I also joined the outrage and left my own comment.
[What kind of ending is this?! What the hell is the author doing?!]
“…Is that why I ended up transmigrating into this story?!”
But I wasn’t the only one who left a comment like that—so why me?!
I stared at the world before my eyes, now my reality. The handsome male lead standing beside me, the late summer heat, and the delicious tropical fruits giving off a sweet fragrance.
Looking at the shopkeeper waiting for my order, I spoke.
“Four mangoes, two bunches of grapes, four kiwis, and one bunch of bananas, please.”
The shopkeeper quickly packed them into a bag. Then Dayvin pulled out a small glass vial filled with silver needles from his coat and began stabbing each fruit one by one.
Seeing him pierce perfectly good fruit, the shopkeeper flinched in shock. I hurriedly handed over some silver coins.
“Please… keep the change.”
The shopkeeper accepted the coins politely and, after that, didn’t care at all whether Dayvin stabbed the fruit or not.
Dayvin tested all the fruit with the silver needles. When he was about to stab each grape individually, I stopped him.
“Let’s test those when we eat them. If the juice spills, it’ll be a hassle to carry.”
He nodded and packed the fruit back into the bag. Looking at the now full paper bag, I felt a bit regretful.
“Did I buy too much?”
“No, it’s fine. It’s not heavy.”
Then Dayvin bent his right arm and offered it to escort me. I placed my hand on it, feeling the crisp texture of his neatly pressed uniform.
I appreciated how carefully he treated me—but at the same time, I felt a bit guilty.
He held the fruit bag in his left hand, ready to draw his sword at any moment, while using his right arm to escort me when there were no enemies…
“…No matter how I think about it, living like this isn’t sustainable.”
A heavy feeling settled in my chest.
Dayvin had been holding off the assassins targeting me by handing them over to the authorities, but the situation hadn’t improved at all.
‘It’s because the reason they want to kill me hasn’t been resolved…’
In the original story, the one who killed Anise was Duke Raphtan. He wanted to make his daughter the Empress. The reason he assassinated Anise was simple—she was the Emperor’s fiancée.
‘And I’m still alive.’
A sigh escaped me before I realized it, and Dayvin looked at me.
“Is something troubling you?”
“Ah… I was just thinking about what we should do moving forward…”
My voice trailed off. Seeing me like that, Dayvin’s expression stiffened slightly as he also seemed to recall our frustrating situation.
“We can’t keep living like this forever. Shouldn’t we just run away?”
Unable to hide my anxiety, I urged him. I wanted to take the protagonists and escape this doomed empire as soon as possible.
As long as I didn’t die, they wouldn’t go on a revenge rampage. And whether the empire collapsed or not wasn’t my problem.
There was no reason for me to follow the original’s catastrophic ending that had set the internet on fire!
So I thought leaving as soon as possible was the best option, but—
“No. It’s not too late to decide after we make contact with His Majesty. Since today’s outing into the city was successful, next time we’ll find a way to safely reach the imperial palace.”
As always, Dayvin firmly opposed me.
“…I still think running away would be better.”
I muttered, not trusting the Emperor at all. Dayvin shook his head.
“First, we must identify who is targeting you and why. Until then, no matter where we go, they will follow us.”
That was the problem.
I did know who was targeting me and why—but since everyone thought I had amnesia, I couldn’t come up with a convincing way to explain it.
‘The one trying to kill me is Duke Raphtan! He’s doing it because I’m the Emperor’s fiancée! So if I break off the engagement and run away, everything will be solved!’
I wanted to say that so badly…
The moment I broke off the engagement, the assassination attempts would stop. But again, I had no plausible way to explain that, so I just bit my lip.
“His Majesty will make things easier for us once we reach him.”
Dayvin spoke reassuringly, but hearing his confidence made me feel strange.
As a fan of the original, watching the protagonists trust the Emperor—the same man they would later consider their enemy—felt like my brain was glitching.
Well, even in the original, they hadn’t doubted him from the beginning. They trusted him first, only to be betrayed later.
Just thinking about the Emperor made me uneasy. After all, in the original, he had betrayed Anise.
“…What happened to the people we sent to the palace?”
“I’m not sure…”
Dayvin answered weakly, unable to hide his concern.
Because I had transmigrated and Anise didn’t die like in the original, the enemies became desperate to kill me quickly. The protagonists realized the danger early and immediately tried to contact the Emperor.
But everyone sent to the palace disappeared.
Later, even knights from the count’s household went—but they vanished too.
It didn’t take long for the servants of the Miller estate to quit in fear.
To be honest, from that point on, I began to suspect the Emperor might be working with Duke Raphtan.
In the original, there was no indication they were allies. Although the Emperor destroyed the evidence of Anise’s assassination, it was portrayed as him yielding to pressure from the nobility. There was even a scene where he sincerely mourned her at her funeral.
Much later, he expelled Empress Ranie from the palace using Anise’s murder as a pretext and brought down the Raphtan family. Even the protagonists never believed he was directly involved in her death.
But as more people disappeared on their way to the palace, doubt grew inside me.
What if the Emperor already knew and was cooperating with Duke Raphtan?
After all, he was the final antagonist.
While I was deep in thought, Dayvin’s gaze suddenly sharpened. He had the ability to detect enemies from afar.
“…Enemies. They’re tightening the perimeter. We need to get out of here quickly.”
“Are we going to fight?”
I wasn’t worried about his ability—I was worried about the civilians. We were in the middle of the city. Innocent people could get caught in poison arrows or blades.
“No. We can avoid them.”
But how, if we were already surrounded?
As I blinked in confusion, Dayvin spoke.
“Lady Anise, may I carry you while I run?”
“Huh?”
Startled, I quickly nodded. He handed me the fruit bag.
“Then please hold this.”
I hugged the bag to my chest. In the next moment, Dayvin lifted me effortlessly into a bridal carry.
His handsome face suddenly so close made me flinch, but he remained completely calm.
“I’m going to run. If you feel like you’ll fall, hold onto my neck.”
“O-Okay…”
Dayvin started running while holding me. As if I weighed nothing, his steps were light, and his speed kept increasing.
He entered an empty alley and began sprinting like a track athlete.
No—faster than that.
My eyes widened in shock.
…Is this even human speed?
It felt like he was moving as fast as a car!
Then, using a stack of boxes as a foothold, he leaped up onto a rooftop in one smooth motion.
My mouth fell open.
“…Wow.”
