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Chapter : 1
“How could you do this to me, Sister?”
“……”
“I trusted you, Sister Frea… This is just too cruel!”
Behind the tearful Astella, her father and brothers were glaring at Frea with ominous looks. They seemed ready to hurl harsh words at her at any moment.
In a situation that naturally drew a deep sigh, Frea frowned.
What did I even do? I just did everything you asked me to.
‘This is why getting taken advantage of always ends badly.’
Without a doubt, Frea had done nothing wrong to Astella. Given her position and circumstances, she had no choice but to grant Astella’s requests, so she had kindly done everything for her.
If anyone’s wronged here, it’s me. If it weren’t for Astella, I wouldn’t have been used like this, and none of these unexpected things would have happened.
Right. If Astella hadn’t asked her to meet her future mother-in-law in her place…
Who would’ve imagined I’d end up hearing something like that?
And from her cousin’s future mother-in-law, no less. Frea closed her eyes, her head throbbing.
This was the first time she had ever found it so annoying to be related to Astella.
“Lady Valche. Are you ignoring my sister right now?”
“It seems you’re trying to evade responsibility for your mistake. How dare you show such an attitude in front of us?”
Apparently displeased with Frea’s behavior, Astella’s two brothers, who had been glaring from behind her, stepped forward. Seeing them snarl without a moment’s patience, Frea couldn’t stop the sighs rising from within.
“Lady Valche. You will pay dearly for making my daughter cry.”
Now even Astella’s father, Duke Vinok, joined in to pressure Frea.
Ah, my fate…
Reduced to a pitiful state where her life felt threatened by her cousin’s doting father and brothers, Frea clutched her head in despair.
I want to go back… to before I possessed this body.
Yes, if only she hadn’t possessed someone.
If she hadn’t become ‘Frea Valche,’ none of this would have happened in the first place.
“…What is this?”
One day, after falling asleep while reading a novel recommended by her sister, Yoon Seol-ah woke up as usual and headed to the bathroom to wash up.
But on the way, she froze when she caught a glimpse of herself in the mirror.
“……”
Silver hair like fine threads of silk, and blue eyes. Blinking a few times at the unfamiliar appearance, she soon realized, as memories flooded in.
Ah, so this is that “possession” you only read about and hear people talk about.
“My sister would be so jealous. She was always wishing something like this would happen.”
After calmly checking her condition, Seol-ah went and sat on the sofa beside the bed.
Even in a situation where she should have been shocked and confused, she could remain calm—perhaps because her sister was always reading and talking about novels with situations like this.
“So refreshing……”
Leaning back on the sofa, Seol-ah relaxed as a breeze blew in through the open window.
In any case, she was quite satisfied with her current situation.
I don’t have to go to work.
Hurray for forced freedom.
She had no idea what had happened to her original self, but she was happy just to be free from that hellish office job.
“…But why did it have to be ‘Frea Valche’?”
Soon, however, Seol-ah came back to reality.
Now Yoon Seol-ah—who had become ‘Frea Valche’—could tell who this body originally belonged to from the reflection in the mirror and the memories surfacing in her mind.
She was Frea, a supporting character who appeared as the female lead’s cousin in the romance fantasy novel she had read last night, <I Won’t Yield Even to My Mother-in-Law’s Tyranny>.
“I can accept being possessed into a novel I was reading right before falling asleep, even as a side character. But why did it have to be ‘Frea’?”
Out of all the side characters, it had to be someone who only played the role of being the female lead’s doormat.
Frowning, Seol-ah slowly went over her memories.
The story itself was no different from a typical romance fantasy.
Astella, a girl who had lived in an orphanage suffering abuse from the headmaster, turned out to be the long-lost daughter of a duke. She returned to the ducal family, received love from her family, met the male lead,
and together they overcame hardships and painted a happy future.
If there was anything unique, it was that the male lead’s mother—the future mother-in-law—made life after marriage miserable.
But as the title suggested, following the usual female-lead cliché, Astella eventually even won over her mother-in-law.
My sister said Astella was lovable, charming, and smart, so she naturally won the hearts of her family, the male lead, and everyone else. But from what I saw, that wasn’t it.
It wasn’t obvious because she was overshadowed by many supporting characters, but if you looked closely, you could tell.
The “privileges” given to a “lovable heroine” were a given—and there was always someone working beside her for her sake.
In the original story, Frea appeared as the angelic cousin who took good care of Astella, but from a reader’s perspective, she was basically someone who did everything for her—a doormat. That was Frea.
Tsk. Clicking her tongue, Seol-ah complained inwardly.
It would’ve been better to be possessed into Astella. She gets a doting dad and brothers, lives in luxury, meets the male lead, and lives happily ever after.
In contrast, the Frea she had possessed was someone Duke Vinok had assigned to help Astella adapt to high society after returning to the ducal family.
“Life really is unpredictable.”
Seol-ah let out a short sigh. She had escaped being a wage slave, only to become a doormat now.
No—maybe not yet.
She didn’t know what point in the story this was. If it was before the original plot began, and before she had been assigned to assist Astella, there might still be hope.
Since I’ve inherited her memories, maybe I can just enjoy a free life like this…
Just then, the door opened with a sound and someone entered.
“Oh my, Miss. You’re already awake.”
A woman who looked like a maid approached and, as if used to it, began tidying the bed.
“You could’ve slept a little more… You’ll be at Miss Astella’s beck and call all day again today.”
At that, Seol-ah stiffened slightly, glanced at her, and answered slowly.
“…I woke up early. I guess I didn’t sleep very deeply.”
“That’s understandable. You’ve been through so much these past two months. You already have so much administrative work, and on top of that you’re attending to Miss Astella. Even if you had two bodies, it wouldn’t be enough.”
While straightening the messy pillow and neatly spreading the blanket, the maid continued to grumble.
Instead of replying, Seol-ah listened carefully. If she heard this maid out, she felt she could grasp the current situation clearly.
“Miss Astella’s education, social schedules, even her daily life. Taking care of all that and catering to her moods must be exhausting, yet you’re amazing.”
“Mm.”
Seol-ah nodded vaguely. Soon, after finishing the bed, the maid came closer, gently tidied Frea’s tousled hair, and naturally began to massage her.
“From what I saw yesterday, Miss Astella seems to be getting even more unreasonable. You must’ve been tired being dragged around everywhere.”
“It’s fine. It’s… always been like this.”
“Still, attending to her every day and even putting up with her demands—how hard that must be. You never complain even once, so I feel upset on your behalf.”
Miss Frea is just too kind.
Seeing the maid sigh deeply with a face full of dissatisfaction, Seol-ah thought:
If everything I’ve heard so far is true…
She could gather more than she expected from just this short exchange.
This maid was probably Frea’s personal maid, and they seemed quite close.
She hadn’t escaped to forced freedom—this was reemployment. No, she hadn’t escaped being a slave at all.
The original story had already begun, and Frea was already Astella’s doormat.
…There was no hope to begin with.
Once she grasped the situation, memories of all the “doormat” things she had done surfaced belatedly.
Somehow… it felt like everything was already ruined.
“Welcome back, Miss. You worked hard again today.”
Greta, the maid, greeted Frea as she returned after finishing her work. Taking her coat, she said, and Frea managed a small smile.
“Thank you. Please bring something light for dinner up to my room.”
“Yes, I will. Would you like to bathe first?”
“Yeah, in a little while.”
“Then I’ll come up in ten minutes.”
“Alright.”
Climbing the stairs to the second floor and entering the room at the end of the hallway, Frea flopped down onto the bed. Burying her face in the blanket, she muttered
