IMLM 01

Chapter : 01

“Lady Amelio, are you all right?”

“It’s hard right now, but with time it will get better. Please don’t worry too much.”

Loreina Amelio.
The only daughter of Count Amelio.

The first words I heard after possessing this undeniably lovely body were rather cruel.

When I blankly lifted my head, the pitying looks pouring toward me deepened even more.

“Oh my, how dreadful. She must be terribly shocked.”

“Of course. Lady Amelio is only fourteen. To lose both parents at the same time at that age…”

As if possessing the novel I was reading on the day of my university entrance ceremony weren’t enough, it just had to be the day of this body’s parents’ funeral. What kind of situation was this?

But strangely enough, it didn’t feel unfamiliar.

I’d always been spectacularly unlucky. Something like this was practically routine for me.

‘Compared to being abandoned by my parents at birth and wandering around because no orphanage would take me in, this is nothing…’

I tried to console myself, thinking this was still bearable—but my misfortune didn’t end there.

Possessing a novel was already absurd enough, but apparently this was a full thirty years before the original story even began.

And when I learned on top of that that the body I’d possessed was an extra who wasn’t even mentioned in the original work, I made a decision.

If my life was going to be one disaster after another—tripping backward and breaking my nose every time—then I might as well become rich enough that I’d never have to worry about medical bills, no matter how many times my nose broke.

I never dreamed something would happen that even that couldn’t handle.

* * *

The beginning of all this was two years after I possessed this body—four years ago from now—when I first learned that I was terminally ill.

At the time, I had just turned sixteen, and I had very modest dreams.

First: to become rich enough to fix a broken nose.
Second: to watch the female and male leads fall in love thirty years later, when the original story began.

Since Loreina was a count’s daughter, I thought these dreams wouldn’t be hard to achieve.

Life at the House of Amelio continued in a way I could never have imagined in my previous world.

Of course, that didn’t mean the Amelio family was among the wealthiest in the empire.

Their territory was small, and the roads leading to it were complicated and treacherous—enough said.

But what did that matter? I wasn’t planning on going back and forth anyway. I had no intention of traveling all the way to the complicated capital.

And no matter how much money you had, if you died without spending it all, what was the difference?

Even without being a billionaire, the Amelio family’s wealth was more than enough to live quietly in a peaceful countryside.

For such a miracle to happen in my unlucky life—I was so moved I felt like crying. That was why I never expected it.

…That there would be an incident that would shatter all of it at once.

Clatter.

The teacup I was holding fell to the floor and shattered into pieces.

But I couldn’t be sure the sound I’d heard just now had come from the cup breaking.

Because the same sound had echoed in my heart.

“…What did you just say?”

My voice trembled as if someone were choking me.

‘Stay calm. I must have misheard.’

I prayed desperately inside. Please, let this be a dream.

Of course, the answer that followed crushed that hope to pieces.

“I said that you are the very last demi-human left in this world, my lady.”

Mary, the maid who spoke in a composed voice, quietly sighed and began cleaning up the broken teacup.

“Why do you look so shocked? As if you’re hearing this for the first time.”

That’s because I am hearing it for the first time.

“Please don’t joke about things like that. It would be harder to find someone who doesn’t know you’re a demi-human, my lady.”

…It wouldn’t be that hard. The person who didn’t know is right here, Mary. Standing next to you.

“You’re a half-elf, famous among demi-humans for your beauty and excellent memory.”

I see. I’d always thought my memory was good, but I’d never really considered why.

“And do you know how many people praise your hair? Pink hair isn’t common, you know. And such a beautiful shade—there’s only one in the world like yours.”

“……”

“To think I’d get to serve the last remaining demi-human in the world. You have no idea how happy I was at first.”

Mary smiled softly as she wiped up the spilled tea.

‘Sure, being the last demi-human in the world sounds great.’

The problem was that it wasn’t my setting—it was Leonard’s.

Leonard, the male lead of this novel.

At present he was living in hiding for certain reasons, but Leonard was a demi-human—one of the rarest kinds, a half-dragon.

And before the original story even began, every demi-human in the world except Leonard disappeared.

So what did that mean for me, who had just learned I was a demi-human?

“…I die before the story even starts, obviously.”

“Yes? What did you say?”

“Nothing.”

I quietly bid farewell to my life goals.

Goodbye, leisurely life as a rich unemployed person.
Goodbye, modest dream of watching someone else’s romance in my old age.

It was short, but I enjoyed it. Those were the happiest two years of my entire life.

‘How did I not even know something this huge? If people had talked about my parents, I would’ve realized right away.’

I thought about it seriously, but the answer came surprisingly quickly.

It was my fault.

Now I could say it calmly, but right after possessing this body, I’d been in utter confusion.

Anyone suddenly thrown into another world would lose their mind.

I’d stood blankly at the funeral…

‘…then fallen backward, hit my head, and passed out.’

Naturally, people assumed it was shock from losing my parents so suddenly, and for the past two years everyone had avoided mentioning the count and countess.

‘And since I never asked, it’s only natural I didn’t know.’

I should have asked sooner. Seriously, my luck was abysmal. Who would’ve guessed I was one of the few remaining demi-humans in the world?

“Mary, if I were terminally—no, if I were to die sometime soon, what do you think it would be from?”

At my words, Mary raised the corner of her lips as if she’d heard a funny joke.

“Oh my, why would you say such a thing? You’re not an ordinary human like us, my lady.”

“…Right.”

“You’ve even received God’s blessing, so you’ll live for hundreds of years at the very least.”

Hundreds of years at the very least. And yet I couldn’t even live that “at the very least,” dying before the story even began?

And when they say thirty years later, that just means anytime before the story starts—so even if I died tomorrow, it wouldn’t be strange.

It felt so unfair I thought I might cry.

In this world—the world of the novel Crucia—all existing demi-humans had received the privilege known as God’s blessing.

True to its name, the blessing protected demi-humans from disease and fatal accidents.

Which meant I wouldn’t die from illness. And I wouldn’t die from an accident either.

‘Then the only thing left is being murdered.’

This was just too much. What was the point of having money, even enough not to care if my nose broke?

No matter how much money you have, you can’t revive a dead body.

‘If magic existed in this world, maybe…’

But in a setting where magic had disappeared three hundred years ago, expecting something like that now was ridiculous.

‘So do I just wait helplessly for the day I die?’

Without even knowing when that would be?

Unable to bear thinking about it any longer, I lay back on the sofa in despair.

After finishing cleaning up the broken glass, Mary walked over and shook me gently.

“Please get up, my lady. You have things to do.”

“Don’t tell me you want me to reply to love letters again.”

“…Th-there are other letters too!”

Which meant most of them were love letters. What rotten luck.

Even in a situation like this, I had to reply to them?

“Just burn them all, Mary.”

“Burn all of them? Really?”

“Yes. Or gather them up and use them as firewood in winter.”

Mary looked flustered by my unexpected answer.

I was about to drive the point home when a low voice suddenly came from behind me.

“That won’t do, my lady.”

I didn’t even have to look to know who it was.

There was only one person in the mansion with a voice like that.

“If I were to write you a letter, would you burn that too?”

“Of course not, Gilbert…”

When I replied weakly, Gilbert smiled gently.

It was the smile of a butler who had served the House of Amelio the longest.

“Then other people’s letters are the same. It’s polite to reply, my lady.”

“Gilbert and those people are different. Those letters are sent just based on rumors about me. They won’t care even if I don’t reply—”

“My lady.”

At his repeated call, I finally nodded and let out a quiet sigh.

I wanted to say this wasn’t the time for such things, but there was no helping it.

I couldn’t exactly announce that I’d suddenly become terminally ill. Even if I did, no one would understand.

“Fine, I’ll write replies. But I’ve rejected so many already that I’ve run out of things to say. Do you have anything new?”

“You don’t need to worry about that.”

Gilbert selected a few letters from the pile and placed them in front of me.

The first was a party invitation.
The second was also a party invitation.
And the third… another party invitation. Huh?

When I looked up in confusion, Gilbert smiled. A faint hint of mischief lingered in the wrinkles around his eyes.

“As you said, there’s no need to reply to meaningless letters.”

“……”

“Especially those absurd love letters.”

That was welcome news. Not having to read those nauseating letters was a blessing.

I smiled gratefully at Gilbert and immediately began writing replies.

‘Though they’re all just refusals to attend parties.’

A party, in a situation like this?

In a crowded place like that, how would I know I wouldn’t get stabbed to death?

‘I can’t do that with the precious life I barely managed to get.’

As I was writing my tenth reply, I noticed a familiar name.

A very precious name—one that would become a turning point in my life.

“…Mary. Mary!”

“Yes, my lady?”

“Bring me different stationery. The prettiest one you have! And if there’s good perfume, bring that too!”

Startled by my urgency, Mary quickly brought a bottle of perfume and pink stationery.

I took them, wrote a reply saying I would attend the party, then lightly sprayed the letter with perfume.

Praying that this letter wouldn’t end up as firewood in their fireplace.

“Done. This should get across how much I want to get closer, right?”

“Do you know the sender?”

Gilbert asked with a surprised expression, apparently not expecting me to accept the invitation.

I raised the corner of my lips and grinned.

Of course I knew the name.

* * *

Leonard Jen Derkian, the male lead of the romance fantasy novel Crucia.

He was a truly perfect figure, worthy of being the male protagonist.

Beautiful looks. Tall stature. A noble lineage as a descendant of the God of Life. And as proof of that lineage, even an empire—the Empire of Kailum—bestowed upon him.

Chosen as the next emperor the moment he was born, he walked a literal path of flowers.

A life with nothing to envy—yet Leonard had one fatal weakness.

A curse cast three hundred years ago by a witch, who traded her life to deliver it.

[In the end, not a single person will remain by your side.]

Only the emperor and empress, who were nearby, heard the curse clearly. Its content was vague, so at first no one took it seriously.

That is, until a few months after Leonard’s birth, when the emperor died of an unknown illness.

Considering that he was a dragon blessed by God, it was a shocking event.

The empress, devastated by the shock, soon grew weak herself and passed away, and Leonard truly became alone—just as the curse foretold.

As if that weren’t enough, the curse didn’t end there.

As if to prevent Leonard from forming bonds with others, he developed a fatal condition that made him unable to recognize other people’s faces.

Not only that—he quickly forgot moments spent with others.

The only things Leonard could remember were fragmented memories of others, or memories from when he was alone.

Someone like that couldn’t possibly live by himself, so the original story introduced a helper.

‘With this helper’s aid, Leonard safely escapes the imperial palace.’

At the time, the palace was so dangerous that he faced over ten assassination attempts a day.

He was a baby who couldn’t even walk yet—there was no way he could remain in the palace.

So Leonard hid in a safe place under the helper’s protection for hundreds of years, until he gained enough strength…

And that helper—the person who was essentially his savior—was the Hentison family.

The same family that had sent me the party invitation.

‘Of course, I’m not entirely sure they’re the same family.’

The novel mentioned that Hentison was a common surname, and no title was ever specified.

Still, it was worth trying.

I couldn’t just sit around and die without doing anything.

There was no safer place in the world than beside Leonard, descendant of the God of Life. It was where the life force was strongest.

If I stayed near Leonard, my chances of surviving would increase dramatically—before the story began, and even after it started.

‘Since getting close to Leonard himself is difficult because of the curse, I’ll have to get involved with his close associates instead.’

Loreina had a beautiful appearance, so I thought it would be relatively easy.

And with the status of a demi-human blessed by God, it seemed entirely possible.

…At least, that’s what I thought until I arrived at the party.

Clatter.

The glass I was holding fell to the floor and shattered miserably.

I stared at the boy who was gripping my arm like a lifeline.

Among the countless people in the ballroom, only his red eyes seemed to shine vividly.

The boy’s tightly closed lips parted, and a trembling voice slipped out.

“…What are you?”

What am I?

…Isn’t that my line, kid?