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Chapter 02
I realized the world I lived in was the setting of a novel during the spring of my sixteenth year.
Spring—the season when frozen earth thawed, fresh green shoots pushed through the soil, and flowers bloomed in every color. As warm breezes began to sweep across the land, people shed their heavy winter clothes, their faces bright with life and anticipation.
Everyone except me.
While the rest of the world welcomed spring with open arms, I spent every day on edge, anxiously watching my surroundings.
Because in my life, whenever the weather turned beautiful—especially in spring—something terrible always happened.
Unfortunately, caution couldn’t stop fate.
That unusually warm, cloudless day—a spring day so mild it hardly belonged in the North—misfortune found me anyway.
Riding in on a gentle spring breeze…
…came the end of my engagement.
There was nothing I could do in the face of such a one-sided decision.
I wasn’t the daughter of a titled noble. I had no powerful parents or influential relatives to stand behind me.
Standing before the priest who had come to deliver the notice of annulment, all I could do was bite my lip hard enough to buy myself a few extra seconds.
No one rushed me.
Yet the silence hanging in the room was oppressive enough.
In the end, after giving a few small nods, I signed my name.
Just like that…
An engagement that had lasted five years came to an end.
It felt absurdly empty.
My engagement to Jess had been the very first thing in my life that had ever truly belonged to me.
I treasured it.
Protected it.
Loved it with everything I had.
And now I was told it had never been mine to keep.
Funny how people can hand you something so carelessly, only to snatch it away again.
There really wasn’t anything crueler than that.
If I’d never had it in the first place, perhaps it wouldn’t have hurt so much.
But I’d already known what it felt like to possess it.
I knew exactly what it meant to me.
And that realization made the loss all the more painful.
…
When everyone had finally left and I was alone…
I simply stood there.
I had no idea what I was supposed to do next.
There wasn’t a single person in the North I could truly call a friend.
No one to comfort me.
No one to offer advice.
So what did I do?
“…Miss? Good heavens! How did you get up there?”
…
I climbed a tree.
And cried.
God.
“Someone help! Lady Linea is in the tree!”
To make matters worse, sixteen-year-old me had chosen the biggest, tallest tree in all of Lefgaen Castle.
Unbelievable.
I sat there quietly sobbing among the branches—
and, somehow…
that was the exact moment I remembered that this world existed inside a novel.
Why now…?
As if that weren’t enough…
I’d also regressed.
To summarize: I’d died once, been reincarnated as Linea Hanover, lived until I was twenty-two…
Then died again.
And returned to being sixteen.
Most people would be lucky to experience either reincarnation or regression.
I’d somehow managed both.
Was that supposed to make me happy?
Not at all.
If I was destined to remember everything eventually, couldn’t it have happened before I climbed into a tree?
Seriously…
Who discovers they’ve been reincarnated while crying in a tree with freezing wind blowing in their face?
“Lady Linea! Are you all right?”
Half-listening to the worried voices calling from below, I took stock of my situation instead.
Comfortable boots.
Practical trousers.
My hair tied into a high ponytail.
Two perfectly clean handkerchiefs tucked inside my jacket.
“…Looks like I came fully prepared to have a proper crying session in a tree.”
I really had planned this out.
A long sigh escaped me.
What exactly was sixteen-year-old me thinking…?
Then again…
There was no point asking.
That reckless sixteen-year-old was me.
Who else could I blame?
If I couldn’t understand myself, who would?
“Lady Linea! How did you even get up there?”
“…Hmm.”
I blinked.
Honestly…
I had no idea.
Maybe my memory had become muddled after mixing sixteen years of memories with those from age twenty-two.
Or maybe I’d simply forgotten.
I certainly didn’t know how to climb trees.
So I couldn’t have climbed up here on my own…
Did I use magic?
If so, there should be a mana stone somewhere.
I began patting down my clothes in search of it.
Just then—
A powerful gust of wind swept through the branches behind me.
“Careful!”
“…Ah—”
The branch beneath me lurched violently.
My heart slammed against my ribs.
I barely managed to steady myself, but my balance was precarious.
If I loosened my grip even a little…
I’d fall.
I can’t move…
How am I supposed to get down from here?
Then someone suddenly shrieked.
“The wind! Everyone, look away!”
“…Huh?”
The people below stared in confusion.
“Lady Linea’s petticoat might be showing! Nobody look up!”
“…What?”
So that’s what they were worried about?
…Except I was wearing pants.
Still, despite everyone’s bewilderment, someone shouted again.
“Eyes down!”
“But Lady Linea could fall at any second! How are we supposed to stop watching?”
“Don’t pretend you’re worried while sneaking glances upward. What if Lord Jessian finds out?”
“…R-Right. Is… is this enough?”
The knights hurriedly lowered their heads.
Because of Jess?
Though there wasn’t much point anymore.
Our engagement had already been broken off.
He had no reason to concern himself with me.
Carefully, I glanced down.
Everyone had obediently lowered their heads—
except one man.
A knight stood there looking directly at me with an amused grin.
When our eyes met, he gave me an exaggerated wink.
…One of Jess’s adjutants.
Or perhaps he wasn’t yet, at this point in time.
I couldn’t remember his name.
Only that he’d been known as an exceptionally skilled swordsman.
Why is he acting friendly toward me?
I’d never been particularly close to the knights stationed in the North.
There had never been any reason for us to become friends.
We’d simply remained polite strangers.
This translation keeps the tone similar to officially published English webnovels such as The Villainess Turns the Hourglass, The Perks of Being an S-Class Heroine, or The Broken Ring, rather than translating the Korean literally.
I can also translate the entire chapter in this same polished novel style over several parts without skipping any content.
