IGHC 02

Chapter 2

Her face was such a perfect match to Daisy’s that anyone could tell they were mother and daughter at a glance. She smiled faintly, and I held back the sigh that had been about to escape me and smiled back instead.

“What’s Daisy doing? She’s been cooped up in her room lately and won’t come out.”

Whenever I looked at Madam, it felt like I was seeing Daisy twenty years in the future, which was why she was one of my favorite people.

Her gentle voice eased my gloomy mood ever so slightly.

“She said she was embroidering a handkerchief for Lord Lennox…”

My voice trailed off. Our heroine had everything going for her, except any talent whatsoever for embroidery.

Madam, who clearly knew that too, made an equally awkward expression.

“…That won’t end well.”

“…I think she’s already half given up.”

As I shrugged, the noblewoman gracefully swept back her soft brown hair.

Then she picked up a piece of bread and held it out to me.

“That looks delicious. Here, have one, Selly.”

“Yes, thank you.”

As I accepted the bread politely with both hands, Madam clicked her tongue playfully.

“You really never change, even after ten years. You could at least start treating me like your mother by now.”

The burden of those terrifying words made me instinctively take a step back.

“What are you saying, Madam? I fully intend to live and die as a maid.”

“And when exactly did you plan to leave? Weren’t you the one who said you’d be buried with this family?”

“I can’t believe the mistress of a count’s household considers a verbal agreement legally binding.”

“My, you really never let a single remark slide, do you?”

“I learned from you, Madam.”

We smiled at each other like we were locked in a battle of wills, but in the end, she was the one who yielded first.

“Fine, fine. Off you go already.”

I wasn’t sure if it was appropriate to describe a woman in her forties this way, but the look in her narrowed eyes could only be called pouty.

Pretending not to notice her gaze, I bid her farewell and slipped out.

The moment the door closed behind me, another sigh escaped.

Since I didn’t really have anything to do, I wandered leisurely down the hallway, lost in thought.

Knights were training in the practice yard, while maids walked around chatting in pairs and groups of three. Everyone seemed busy living their own lives in their own places.

Are you happy…? Yeah, I guess you are. Everyone except me.

Ah, damn it. I wish I could just get showered in money for no reason. I wish a perfectly legal piece of real estate with no tax issues would suddenly become my property.

Muttering the same impossible wish I used to make back in Korea, I let out another deep sigh by the window.

“Ugh…”

I groaned as I slumped against the wall in a corner of the corridor.

Work itself wasn’t difficult at all, but somehow it felt like my spirit was being worn away day by day.

Honestly, I knew it was already a privilege for an orphan girl with no connections to have worked as a maid in such a prestigious count’s household for ten whole years.

But this place still didn’t feel like where I belonged.

I’d been around six or seven years old when I opened my eyes in this world, but Daisy had transmigrated into her body at the age of four.

According to the game’s setting, Daisy had been kidnapped as a child. Later, when the kidnappers discovered she was actually the daughter of a noble family, they became afraid of retaliation from the count’s household and abandoned her at an orphanage.

Daisy transmigrated into the story shortly after arriving there.

Even as a child, Daisy had been beautiful, and in an orphanage full of children starved for affection, she stood out like a nail sticking up.

Of course she couldn’t fit in. They’d thrown a heroine who looked like she had been born to be loved into a place overflowing with children who had never received any love at all.

As a result, Daisy was bullied constantly and never had any friends. She spent most of her time alone.

Then one day, I suddenly barged in with a dramatic “I’m just like you!” speech.

Considering how lonely she’d been, it wasn’t hard to imagine how much comfort that must have given her.

To be honest, I’d approached her without any real plan because I had a habit of acting impulsively when I got too stressed. But Daisy never once asked how I knew about her. She seemed perfectly content just to have a friend.

I’d agonized over what excuse to give her. Should I say I saw it in a dream? Or claim some god gave me a revelation?

After that, the story unfolded exactly as I remembered it.

A servant who had once worked for the Wintellia family recognized Daisy and contacted the count’s household. Thanks to that, she was reunited with her parents.

Thankfully, Daisy refused to go without me, insisting that if I stayed behind, she would too. So I ended up getting dragged along to the count’s estate as a bonus.

And just like that, I’d spent the last ten years living as the heroine’s maid.

“Ah… they’re training hard.”

For commoners, working as a maid in a noble household was an excellent job. Food and lodging were provided, so it was easy to save money too.

Great benefits, great working conditions, and on top of that, I even received special allowances as Daisy’s personal maid.

By commoner standards, I could live quite comfortably, even after indulging in a few luxuries.

And because I occupied the bizarre position of being both Daisy’s maid and her friend, nobody ordered me around or nitpicked at me.

I wasn’t even doing much work, yet I was earning several times more than I ever had in Korea. That kind of setup would’ve been impossible there.

It would probably be hard to ever find another workplace where slacking off this much was so perfectly acceptable.

So what was the problem?

“…Can a person’s life really be this boring?”

Darkness filled my tightly shut eyes. Was this really my future?

It wasn’t just boring. It was painfully, soul-crushingly boring.

Daisy, the heroine, was soon to become engaged to Crown Prince Lennox, the game’s male lead.

She had a prestigious family, mutual feelings with the crown prince, stunning looks, charm, wit…

Apparently, she was already one of the most talked-about figures in high society. As expected of my heroine.

And no, I’m not biased.

Anyway, Daisy was forging ahead on her own path exactly like a true heroine should, and her future was guaranteed to be smooth sailing.

But what about me?

Ever since I fell into this world, I hadn’t accomplished anything.

I didn’t have any useful skills…

Honestly, I felt more like dead weight holding Daisy back.

I’d just been an office worker who messed around with Excel spreadsheets. What exactly was someone like me supposed to accomplish in a fantasy world?

To make matters worse, this body had absolutely no talent with its hands. And despite that, I’d somehow managed to live ten whole years without achieving a single thing.

Sure, I’d steadily saved my salary. I even had enough money to open a small shop.

But still…

“What exactly am I supposed to do here…?”

I’d gone from being a modern person addicted to spicy mala tang and otaku hobbies to suddenly being dumped into a romance fantasy world without even magic.

What was I supposed to do here? It felt like feeding thin rice gruel to someone used to rich modern food—nothing could possibly taste satisfying anymore.

And worst of all, I wasn’t even the protagonist.

I was an extra.

Even now, I still couldn’t adapt to this world. Sometimes I’d dream about Korea, and when I woke up, my pillow would be soaked with tears.

This place never felt like somewhere I was meant to be.

And so I’d spent ten whole years doing nothing but breathing.

The only advantage I had was knowing the original story, but even that would disappear once Daisy got married.

Daisy and Lennox, the main characters, would undoubtedly conclude their story with a classic “and they lived happily ever after.”

But what about me?

What was my ending supposed to be?

“Ha…”

The very word “ending” felt impossibly distant.

I didn’t want to get married.

I didn’t even want to adapt to this world.

So what was going to happen to me?

Daisy was the heroine. Naturally, this world had been created for her.

But where exactly did I fit into it?

Even now, I still didn’t know.

In romance fantasy stories, transmigration and reincarnation were usually just devices used to start a new story. People crossed into other worlds for no reason all the time.

But even so, I still couldn’t understand why I was here.

Was I supposed to just… live because I’d ended up here?

But what kind of meaning did that sort of life even have…?

“My head hurts…”

I let out a long sigh and scratched at the back of my neck.

If I had to transmigrate, couldn’t I at least have become the heroine too?

But no. I wasn’t even an extra from the original story! I was literally nobody—a character with zero relevance to the plot who got shoved beside the heroine as her friend and ended up being raised half like a daughter.

How was I supposed to feel comfortable in that situation?

I was sick of scraping by, saving every penny like a miser.

I’d been an insignificant extra in Korea too, and now I was one again in this life?

At least if I could throw money around recklessly, life might feel more enjoyable. But I was only a maid. Damn it.

There was no way I could act spoiled and say, “Mommy, I want a jewel-covered dress~” when I was only treated half like a daughter.

Though honestly, the count and his wife genuinely did want to adopt me, and if I ever joked about something like that, they’d probably buy me entire chests full of dresses.

Which honestly made it even scarier.

I already felt guilty enough taking money while doing barely any work. I couldn’t pile real debt on top of emotional debt too.

Of course, I still took every benefit available that didn’t cause any paperwork problems.

…Hey, what’s with that look? Money doesn’t just grow out of the ground, you know.

“Selly, there you are! Could you go find the young miss? The count asked for her, but she’s not in her room.”

I’d been sitting there blankly, drowning in gloomy thoughts, when one of the maids—someone I wasn’t especially close to, but who was nice enough—called out to me from down the corridor.

“Yes, should I tell her to go to the count immediately?”

“Yep, please.”

As soon as she finished speaking, the maid hurried away again.

Watching her leave, I began trying to figure out where Daisy might be.

But seriously, what am I supposed to do about my future? And my awkward sense of conscience?

God, I wish you’d made me just a little more shameless and thick-skinned…

You seriously messed up my stat distribution…

“Ah, what a miserable life…”

After stuffing the remaining piece of bread into my mouth, I dusted off my backside and stood up.

My body felt stiff, so I stretched lazily before glancing out the window and making one heartfelt plea.

Dear God, I’ll be perfectly content living as an ordinary nobody, so could you please just send me back to modern Korea?

Obviously, there was no answer.

Damn it.

Guess I should just get back to work…

Letting out another habitual sigh, I shook my head.

I already knew no answer would come.

So I stopped wasting time on pointless wishes and started searching for Daisy instead—

Completely unaware of how dramatically my future, and my fate, were about to change.