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Chapter 5
As I stared at the system window with a pale face, Uncle waved his hand in front of my eyes.
“What is it? Spit it out.”
“Uncle… prepare yourself mentally.”
Uncle nodded indifferently.
Just in case, I quietly pushed anything dangerous farther away, took a deep breath, and answered.
“The ending is… ending up together with one of the male leads…”
The moment I finished speaking, I carefully glanced at Uncle’s reaction.
Surprisingly, his expression didn’t look too bad.
Maybe this would actually be okay?
Just as I started feeling hopeful—
“What do you mean by ‘ending up together’? I just have to marry one of them?”
Ah.
He misunderstood.
Still, his eyes burned with determination as if, if that was all it took, he would immediately capture one of the male leads alive and marry him on the spot.
Honestly, I wished it were that simple too.
But the actual ending of the IF side stories was…
“I’m guessing you probably need to confirm sincere feelings with one another.”
[Correct answer.]
“So I seriously have to genuinely fall in love with one of those so-called male leads?”
“Probably…?”
The moment I gave a small nod, Uncle climbed straight onto the windowsill.
I stared blankly for a second, wondering what he was doing—
Then realized he was trying to jump.
I hurriedly grabbed him around the waist.
“I’d rather die.”
“Please calm down, Uncle!”
“I’M NOT GAY!”
“I know! But Beatrice is a girl!”
“So what?! I’m still a man in my fifties!”
As if he truly intended to jump, Uncle shifted his weight toward the outside of the window.
I desperately wrapped my arms around his waist and held on.
He said he died from getting stabbed, and apparently that made him fearless too!
After struggling for quite a while, I finally managed to drag Uncle back into the room.
I collapsed onto the floor, panting.
Uncle muttered something about my weak stamina, but I ignored him.
A world that moved toward destruction just because the heroine acted differently from the original—
It was obvious what would happen if the heroine disappeared entirely.
“If you die, I die too. So please stop saying things like that.”
I tightly held onto Uncle’s hand and pleaded.
My plan to rob the Count’s family and enjoy my second happy life hadn’t even started yet.
There was no way I could die now.
The dream of becoming a rich unemployed person—
I absolutely had to achieve it.
After seeing my desperate expression, Uncle clicked his tongue and flopped onto the floor.
“Even if I fell from this height, I wouldn’t die. Maybe just break a leg or something.”
Staring at the ceiling, Uncle irritably ruffled his hair again.
“Having to like a man… what rotten luck.”
Uncle rubbed a hand down his face and sighed deeply.
Thankfully, it seemed he had given up on trying to die.
“I’ll do my best to help you.”
“Not sure this is something that can be solved just because you help…”
“It’ll work. Just trust me.”
I had ten years of romance fantasy experience.
Turning one middle-aged gangster into a proper heroine?
Well, maybe it wouldn’t be as easy as eating cold porridge—
But I was still confident.
Though whether Uncle could actually connect emotionally with the male leads was another issue entirely.
Anyway, somehow, I would stop the destruction of the world and enjoy my second happy life.
“So what kind of guys are these male leads anyway?”
“Ah, about that…”
I looked around before grabbing some paper and a pen from the desk.
Male Lead 1 — Michael Rotten
Crown Prince
Traits: Secretly authoritarian. Right now he acts like a devoted lover, but later he becomes complete trash by using his status to imprison and kidnap Beatrice.
※ Extremely dangerous ※
Male Lead 2 — Raymond Wishes
Duke
Traits: Gentlemanly, but later gets influenced by the Crown Prince and becomes Trash No. 2.
Also the person Uncle punched at the spring banquet.
Male Lead 3 — Shamal
Mage
Traits: Low self-esteem + timid personality. Constantly lingers around Beatrice.
Might actually be the hardest to romance because he lacks courage.
That was the rough summary.
After I showed the paper to Uncle, he silently read it for a moment before suddenly frowning deeply.
“You’re telling me I have to end up with all three?”
“Um… well…”
Since the IF side stories had three separate routes where Beatrice ended up with the Crown Prince, the Duke, or the Mage…
Wouldn’t reaching true love with just one of them be enough?
[Correct answer.]
“Thankfully, it seems you only need to end up with one of them.”
I sighed inwardly in relief.
If we had needed to romance all three, it would’ve been a nightmare.
Compared to that, one seemed manageable.
Unlike me, however, Uncle’s expression became even darker.
“Ugh…”
He stared down at the paper as though he already had a headache.
Meanwhile, I pulled out another sheet of paper and started writing down the major events from the original story that I remembered.
The swordsmanship tournament.
The hunting competition.
The ship party.
And the very first upcoming event was—
“The First Princess’s tea party.”
I fell into deep thought.
If I sent Uncle to the tea party in his current state, the world’s destruction would only accelerate.
After thinking for a long time, I finally decided that before the tea party happened, I would completely transform Uncle into a perfect noble lady.
And to do that…
“We’ll need heroine lessons.”
It seemed my amazing lectures would be necessary.
For some reason, I had a feeling I was going to become extremely busy very soon.
“Well then, I should get going now.”
Uncle, who had been sitting blankly while staring into space, stood up and personally escorted me to the door after hearing I was leaving.
“I’ll come again tomorrow.”
“Do whatever you want.”
“And stop causing trouble from now on.”
Uncle dug at his ear with his finger as though my nagging annoyed him.
Seriously.
“Get some rest.”
Leaving Uncle behind, I stepped out of the room—
And immediately found myself facing several pairs of eyes staring directly at me.
The Marquis and several women who seemed to be Beatrice’s maids were all looking at me with emotional expressions.
What was this?
Awkwardly, I closed the bedroom door behind me and stepped into the hallway.
Then suddenly, the Marquis grabbed my hands.
“No matter what we tried, we couldn’t calm Beatrice down.”
Ah.
So I was the only person who had managed to calm her since she changed.
Only then did I understand why everyone was looking at me like that.
“How in the world did you do it, Renée?”
“Um… the power of friendship? Maybe…?”
I awkwardly darted my eyes around and gave a vague answer.
Power of friendship, my foot.
We just understood each other because we were both transmigrators.
“I see… I understand.”
But the Marquis looked like he completely believed my excuse.
After repeatedly thanking me while holding my hands, his eyes even turned red with emotion.
“Renée, I know this is shameless of me, but could you come visit our estate for a while? At least until Beatrice regains her memories… I would like you to help her.”
Perfect.
I needed to meet Uncle every day for heroine training lessons anyway.
I smiled gently while firmly holding the Marquis’s hands.
“Of course. I’ll help however I can. She’s my friend, after all.”
“Thank you so much, Renée. Truly.”
The Marquis seemed genuinely moved and told me to ask for anything I needed.
Jackpot.
The Rockwood family was even richer than the Sauver family.
Under the excuse of helping Beatrice, I could definitely make a huge profit.
The entire carriage ride home, I hummed happily to myself.
Sir Ulver gave me strange looks, probably because I looked way too cheerful for someone whose childhood friend had supposedly gone insane—
But I ignored him.
It was freezing.
After staying in warm Beatrice’s bedroom, returning to my ice-cold room made the chill feel even worse.
I looked toward the spot where the firewood pile should have been, intending to add more logs to the fireplace—
But of course, there was nothing there.
Seriously, wasn’t Louis going too far?
Shivering, I pulled the blanket over my head.
I had been trembling from the cold for quite some time when—
“My lady, it is almost time for the Count to return.”
A maid knocked on the door and politely informed me.
I removed the blanket I had so disgracefully wrapped around myself.
Honestly, it felt like the Count wouldn’t even notice whether I was there or not.
Even while thinking that, I obediently allowed the maids to braid my hair neatly and prepare me to greet the Count.
When I went downstairs, Louis and his servants were already waiting there.
I immediately frowned and stood across from Louis.
Even after seeing me, Louis openly ignored my existence.
Meanwhile, he looked refreshed and warm, probably because he had been comfortably drinking tea somewhere cozy.
While I had been freezing in an icy room.
“Count Sauver has arrived!”
