MDCHC 01

Chapter : 〈001〉

One day, an invitation arrived for me.

“The Winchester Count’s family is holding a ball.”

Seeing my mother hand me the invitation with a beaming smile reminded me once again of the meaning of my existence.

An extra, placed there to decorate the shining moments of the main characters.

“I can’t remember the last time the Camellia Mansion was opened. Wasn’t it at the late Duchess of Winchester’s funeral? That must’ve been two years ago.”

My mother seemed to search her memory, but I wouldn’t know. It had been less than half a year since I’d possessed the body of an extra in a novel and begun living as her daughter.

Who would’ve thought I’d wake up to find myself inside a novel?

I let out a small sigh so my mother wouldn’t notice. At first, I was confused and couldn’t accept the situation. When I said strange things, my family chalked it up to aftereffects from a carriage accident and worried over me.

During the few days I was forced to lie in bed and be nursed, I finally managed to understand my situation: I had fallen into a strange world and become the third daughter of Baron Pomots’ household.

It was only later that I realized this world was the setting of the novel The Sun of Tantillia. That was because, at this point in time, we were still in the childhood of the main characters—before anything had happened.

I wonder if I’ll be able to see the heroine when I go to the Winchester’s place.

I thought of the heroine, Danielle de Winchester. Like a camellia blooming in the middle of winter, Danielle’s life was as harsh and unforgiving as winter itself.

Her childhood was filled with her father’s neglect and her stepmother’s abuse. As soon as she reached adulthood, she was practically sold off into a marriage as part of a dowry. Her husband was a complete womanizer, and life in her husband’s family was grueling.

The moment she nearly died because of her husband, the male lead saved her. Even after meeting her true love, Danielle’s life didn’t become easy—her crazy, debauched husband refused to let her go, and the male lead’s noble family was fiercely opposed to their relationship.

Still, in the end, she does get divorced from that scoundrel ex-husband, and they have a happy ending—so at least there’s that.

In any case, this was the world of The Sun of Tantillia, and I was an extra. It was easy to figure out what role I’d been given.

All I had to do was look in the mirror.

Brown hair, brown eyes, plain looks… the very definition of an extra!

The moment I saw myself in the mirror, I understood completely. To top it off, I had the subtly high status of a baron’s daughter, belonged to the unimpressive-sounding House of Pomots, and had a name that felt lazily thrown together—Nairi. It all screamed “extra.”

“Should we buy a dress?”
“Why buy a dress just for one ball? I’ll just wear what I already have.”
“Still, you never know.”
“Know what?”
“Oh, child! The Count of Winchester is still single, you know? Why else would he open the gates of that long-closed mansion and hold a ball when there’s no lady of the house? He must be looking for a bride!”

Mother’s voice rose in excitement.

“He may have a child, but there’s no better match in the Empire than the Winchester Count. His family is prestigious, he’s rich, and he’s one of the Empire’s rare sword masters! And on top of that, he’s quite handsome!”
“And why would such a man want to marry me?”

At my single question, my mother’s excitement instantly deflated.

“You—you’re quite pretty when you dress up, you know!”
“But would the wealthy, handsome Lord Winchester—one of the Empire’s most eligible bachelors—really go out of his way to marry someone who only looks ‘quite pretty’ if she tries her absolute best?”
“Well… because you take after your father…”

She muttered the last part, still unwilling to let go of the idea. My parents looked so alike that strangers often mistook them for siblings, so I didn’t see why taking after one or the other mattered. They said couples who resemble each other live happily—and judging by how my older mother and younger father were still a loving pair, maybe that was true.

A gentle father, a caring mother, a dignified older brother and his wife, a talkative older sister and her quiet husband, a grumbling but good-hearted teenage younger brother, and adorable nieces and nephews—

The Pomots family was a large, warm household, the first real family I’d ever had since I was an orphan before.

“So, you don’t want to go?”
“No, I’ll go.”

I shook my head. I had no ambition to catch the eye of Lord Winchester and marry him, but I did want to see Danielle.

She wouldn’t yet be the refined, delicate yet steadfast Danielle I knew. But I had cheered for her while reading the book—admiring how she kept her hope alive in hellish circumstances and fought to protect her love through countless trials. I wanted to meet her in person.

If I keep living here, will I really get to see the events of the novel play out in real life?

Even now, the reality before me still felt strangely unreal.

“Something about this house…”

The moment I stepped down from the carriage, the Winchester estate—known as the Camellia Mansion—came into view. It was huge and magnificent, yet somehow gave off a gloomy air. The garden trees within sight were well-kept, but I could see a dried-up pond and vines tangled around a distant tree.

It looked as if an abandoned mansion had been hastily cleaned up to receive guests.

The first floor, where the ballroom was located, was brightly lit, but in contrast, all the lights on the second floor were out—adding to the eerie atmosphere.

“I wonder if Danielle will be at the party?”

I muttered to myself, but the chances seemed slim. She might attend an afternoon tea for noble ladies, a private dinner for close acquaintances, or a small gathering of young nobles—but at a grand event like this, an undeclared debutante like Danielle wouldn’t be allowed.

In the novel, her stepmother had been too stingy to spend money on her, delaying her debut until it could be combined with her coming-of-age ceremony. That was where the scoundrel ex-husband first saw her and fell for her beauty.

“Still, she must be somewhere inside that house, right?”

Feeling like I was about to attend a personal fan meeting, I stepped into the mansion.

Wow~ As expected, a wealthy count’s house really is different.

That was my first thought upon entering the Camellia Hall. Unlike the somewhat hastily decorated exterior, the inside was fully and elegantly prepared.

A massive chandelier, sparkling lights, the music of a live orchestra, and guests in splendid attire—all blended together into a truly magnificent ball before my eyes.

…But that was all it did. No one approached me or even acknowledged my presence. It was as if no one knew I was here at all.

“Well, that’s what happens when you’re an extra with no presence.”

I shrugged, found a servant to take my coat, and began searching for food and drinks on my own.

“Wow~ The food really is good.”

As expected of the wealthy Winchester family, the food was delicious. I didn’t know much about wine, but the sweet aroma was pleasant. My mother had skipped my lunch, insisting that the fit of the dress was more important, so maybe that made everything taste even better.

“Did you hear, Baroness?”
“Hear what?”

While enjoying a quiet meal in a corner of the ballroom, I overheard two people whispering. They seemed to think their voices were low enough for privacy, clearly unaware I was standing nearby.

I guess I really am invisible as an extra.

That was something I’d learned over the past two months. With my brown hair, brown eyes, and utterly plain looks, “Nairi de Pomots” was so unremarkable that even my presence seemed to fade. Right now, standing quietly behind a table, no one noticed me at all.

Ironically, that had been true for the real me too—12th in my class, never a class president or vice president, a biology major at some obscure regional university, a plain girl with glasses.

That had been the original me.

“The Earl of Aitley’s family has changed their governess again.”

The Aitley family? That was the scoundrel ex-husband’s family!

Hearing a familiar name snapped me out of my trip down memory lane.

My current reality was this: wearing a lace-trimmed gown you’d only see in paintings, attending a count’s ball, and living as Nairi de Pomots, a baron’s daughter—and an extra in someone else’s story.