IRBC 1

Chapter: 1

“Congratulations on your wedding, David. See you at the ceremony tomorrow.”

“Yeah. Get home safely.”

David smiled lightly as he said goodbye to me. No matter how many times I saw him, his face was astonishing. He really was the male lead of this world.

He didn’t stop there—he grabbed my hand as I was about to climb into the carriage and guided my foot all the way to the step.

I sat down with a light step and, before the door closed, turned my gaze back toward David.

The corner of his lips curved mischievously.

“What are you going to do without me now?”

At his pointless concern, I snorted and shot back.

“If you come crying to me after fighting with Rosie, I won’t help. I’m absolutely on Rosemary’s side.”

“Alright. Don’t worry.”

With that, the door shut with a clunk. The navy-blue carriage began to move slowly. As I leaned back against the rattling seat, the tension that had stiffened my body gradually eased.

“Ughhh!”

I stretched my arms wide, and fatigue washed over me. My loosened body felt so drowsy I could fall asleep at any moment.

“Haa….”

But it would be a shame to fall asleep just yet.

“Hehehe….”

A sinister laugh filled the carriage. I lowered my head in the darkness, my lips twitching upward. Anyone who saw me like this would probably back away instinctively.

Even knowing that, I couldn’t stop smiling.

“It’s finally happening…!”

How long had I dreamed of this day?

Tomorrow, David Taylor—the protagonist of this world—and Rosemary Weaver would be bound together in marriage. The ending I had long awaited. The final chapter was right before my eyes.

“I’m finally free!”

My voice, brimming with laughter, carried deep satisfaction. I kicked my feet and even let out a short squeal before flopping back onto the seat.

When my laughter finally died down, the inside of the carriage fell silent. It was truly over. As that thought settled in, sleep poured over me.

The carriage jolted along with the sound of hooves, but everything felt fine. As my eyelids drifted shut, I smiled faintly.

“Hey.”

From beyond my hazy consciousness, a clear voice reached me.

“Hey. If you sleep here, your mouth’ll go crooked.”

What nonsense. As if sleeping in a carriage would twist my mouth.

Frowning at the absurd remark, I wondered who dared to disturb my precious sleep. I was going to see this idiot’s face for myself.

I tried to shake off the lingering drowsiness.

“…Did you faint or something?”

Who fainted?!

I grumbled inwardly, but at the same time, a sudden sense of wrongness made my body stiffen. I’d heard that voice before.

Judging by it, it sounded like a child’s—but did I even know any kids?

“Hey, get up.”

“……”

“Joy!”

In that moment, the worry vanished from his voice, and the owner of that clear tone tapped my cheek.

Tap. Tap.
The sound alone was irritating. Pain shot through me, and my sleep instantly disappeared.

“Ah!”

Startled, I jerked upright and opened my eyes. The lingering sting made my eyes water. I had never been woken up like this before.

I sprang up and scanned my surroundings. I wasn’t letting this rude brat off the hook.

But the moment I met the child’s eyes, I could only gape like an idiot.

The male lead—plump-cheeked and unmistakably younger—was staring at me crookedly, his lips pushed out in a sulk.

“What? You were really asleep?”

“…?”

“Told you. If you sleep here, your mouth’ll go crooked.”

“…David?”

That couldn’t be right.

“Still half-asleep?”

That slouched posture. That sulky expression!

It was unmistakably a young David.

“Why are you so small?”

“Wanna die? I’m bigger than you!”

“T-then what about the wedding? You’re supposed to get married tomorrow!”

“What kind of nonsense—no, what are you babbling about? Were you dreaming?”

A dream? Cold sweat trickled down my back at the sudden appearance of young David. A dream? There was no way the ten years I’d lived were all just a dream.

“Get a grip. Your father asked me to bring you. We’re eating together. Let’s go.”

David’s tiny hand grabbed mine and pulled. His movements were rough, but there was no strength in his grip—a small but gentle consideration for my frail body.

The warmth spreading through my hand couldn’t be an illusion. This wasn’t a dream.

“Uh…”

I stared blankly at the hand holding mine.

‘Shit….’

What were these short, chubby hands? I felt my complexion drain in real time.

This was… unbelievable, but it seemed I had regressed right before the ending.

“Hey, why do you look like that?”

“Huh?”

“Feel like throwing up? Or does something hurt? S-should I call the old doctor right now?”

The David who’d slapped my cheek so decisively earlier was gone. Now he was fidgeting like a puppy desperate to relieve itself. Exactly like the David from his childhood.

Because I often collapsed from illness, he’d been overprotective like this.

Calm down. I needed to sort out the situation.

Only then did I really take in my surroundings.

Beneath trees thick with crimson autumn leaves, pink-tinged flowers bloomed in abundance. They swayed sweetly in the gentle breeze.

This was the garden of the count’s estate—beloved by my mother, Countess Michaela.

“Damn it, why isn’t there a single servant around?”

David ran a hand roughly through his bangs, irritation clear on his face. His sharply raised eyebrows reflected his mood.

‘Right. Before he met Rosemary, he was a real jerk….’

David was the type who turned over a new leaf after meeting Rosemary. After countless trials, he eventually earned the “gentle male lead” title.

He’d been so kind and considerate lately that I’d forgotten what a brat he’d been as a kid.

Still, forgetting this? He wasn’t the kind of jerk you could easily forget. I looked at him with a cold, unimpressed gaze.

But my blank stare must’ve seemed strange to him.

“Hey. I’ll go get someone, so stay here. You can be alone, right?”

“What?”

“Don’t suddenly collapse. Wait here, okay?”

“David, I’m not sick—!”

I tried to stop him, but unable to rein in his impatience, David bolted off like an arrow.

I wanted to shout after him, but I forced myself to breathe calmly. If this really was reality, even raising my voice could make me collapse.

Swallowing hard, I dropped down onto the grass.

I was wearing a white dress, so it was bound to get grass-stained, but I didn’t have the luxury to care. My head spun with confusion.

‘…So if this isn’t a dream, that means I’ve regressed, right?’

I lifted my hand and pinched my cheek. It hurt.

Regression… something you only saw in novels.

But after transmigrating into a novel in the first place, regressing one more time didn’t feel that shocking.

Regression? Fine. It’s a fun trope. I used to read tons of regression romance fantasies.

But why—of all times—right before the ending?! And why me?!

My blood pressure spiked again. Pressing a hand to my throbbing head, I took a deep breath. The goal had been right in front of me, yet I’d been sent back to the past.

‘If I regressed, how old am I now?’

I needed to know the exact point. I quickly scanned the dress I was wearing. My memory was hazy, but it seemed like something I’d worn early after transmigrating.

I rolled up my sleeve.

Not long after I’d transmigrated, I’d forgotten I was a sickly ten-year-old and ran around recklessly—only to collapse from dizziness. That incident had left a scar on my elbow.

“Let’s see…”

Grunting, I pushed up the frilly sleeve, twisting my body to get a good look.

“The scar… ah. There it is.”

Finding it, my face brightened slightly. The chaos in my mind eased just a bit.

The scar was still reddish. The scab hadn’t even fully fallen off.

Judging by that, it hadn’t been long since the injury.

Probably around the autumn when I was ten.

Ten years old.

Which meant that to see David and Rosemary’s wedding again, I’d have to wait another ten years.

A hollow laugh escaped me at the absurdity. The efforts I’d poured in over the past decade flashed through my mind like a slideshow. Tears blurred my vision.

‘Do I really have to do all that again? Are you kidding me?’

This younger body was sensitive to emotion. Tears welled up, and my heart pounded uneasily. Uncontrollable sadness and frustration squeezed my chest tight.

“Joy! Joy!”

As I sniffled, a familiar voice called out from afar. It was little David.

“Why are you sitting like that? Did you fall? Are you dizzy?”

Even now, the way his tone changed in front of others sent a chill down my spine. You two-faced brat. Yeah, this is who you were.

“Miss! Are you all right?”

“Joy! What happened?”

With David in the lead, my personal maid and my mother rushed over, faces full of alarm.

“Let me see. Did you fall? Are you hurt anywhere? Hm?”

“Miss! The doctor is on standby! Come on, I’ll carry you!”

“Joy, my dear… Good heavens! Why do you look so pale? Let’s go inside. The wind is cold.”

Their worried voices overlapped. Overwhelmed, I could only sniffle again. I’d experienced this hundreds of times as a child, yet I never got used to it.

“Why are you crying? Does it hurt a lot?”

David crouched down in front of me, flustered, reaching out. Carefully, he wiped the tears at the corners of my eyes with his sleeve.

“Don’t cry. Get up. We should go inside quickly.”

“I’m not crying.”

“Alright, alright. I get it. Just stand up now.”

“I can walk by myself…”

I muttered weakly, but despite my protest, I ended up being carried on the maid’s back.

It was an all-too-familiar position. Come to think of it, until my heart condition improved, I’d been carried like this often.

If I remembered right, my illness had mostly healed by the time I was fourteen. So it’d been about six years since I’d last been carried like this.

“Joy, my baby. Are you okay?”

Emotion welled up again, and my nose started to sting. Seeing my reaction, my mother studied my face with worry.

“Mother, I’m fine.”

“M-mother? Joy, why are you calling me that all of a sudden?”

Ah. Right. I was ten right now.

“T-the book! I must’ve been impressed by something I read. It just slipped out…”

“I like being called ‘Mom’ better.”

“Yeah. I like calling you Mom too.”

Even in this chaos, I had to watch how I addressed people. It was enough to drive anyone crazy.