WTARS 01

Chapter 01 …

Muriel Terni tried to take her own life.

No—more precisely, it ended as an attempt.

Because it was discovered that the poison she swallowed was, in fact, a sleeping pill.

“Did she really try to die?”

“No way. She just acted it out to fool the lord.”

Even the servants who had felt an oddly uncomfortable suspicion—wondering if she had truly meant to kill herself—quickly concluded that it was nothing more than a trivial commotion. And so they went back to criticizing Muriel as usual.

The wicked woman of Terni.
A demon-like woman who did nothing but evil.
A vicious wife they wished would hurry up and disappear, for the sake of their pitiful lord.

Here, in the Winterberg Ducal Estate, Muriel Terni was that kind of existence.

I was certain I had died, but when I opened my eyes, I found myself in an unfamiliar place.

Not long after realizing that fact, some woman stormed into the room and slapped me across the face.

Smack!

Staggering slightly as I clutched my burning cheek, I let out a small groan.

Then came a voice—elegant, yet theatrical to the point of sounding exaggerated.

“What a truly vile person. Muriel, you are the worst.”

I slowly turned my head to look at her.

Pink hair like spring blossoms, and eyes the color of clear water.
She was so lovely that it made you wonder whether anyone else like her could even exist in the world.

“You caused a fake suicide scandal just to get Raul’s attention, didn’t you? Did you really want it that badly? And of all days, on the anniversary of the former Duke and Duchess of Winterberg!”

Muriel? Raul?

They were familiar names. They had to be.

Muriel Terni.
Raul Winterberg.

They were the protagonists of a regret-filled novel I couldn’t let go of until the very moment I died as a terminally ill patient.

‘…She definitely called me Muriel, didn’t she?’

If I was Muriel, then the person standing in front of me was—

‘Siena Castel.’

A princess of the neighboring kingdom of Castel, and the male lead Raul’s childhood friend.

“Your father, Duke Terni, brutally murdered Raul’s parents…! And yet you—how could you…!”

Panting in fury, Siena took a deep breath and bit down hard on her lip.

Before long, she regained her royal composure and scolded me in a dignified, authoritative voice.

“After committing so many atrocities, you didn’t even repent. Instead, you pretended to be the victim and deceived everyone—and now you’ve caused such a ridiculous disturbance. Have you no shame?”

“……”

I parted my lips, unsure what to say.

I had no idea what was going on, and I wasn’t even the real Muriel—but hearing that still felt unfair.

Because every so-called evil deed attributed to Muriel was actually nothing but false accusations.

“I’ve already spoken to Raul. I told him it would be best to exile you to the contaminated zone, in accordance with the laws of the Winterberg territory.”

“Ah…”

“That’s the ending that suits you best—meeting a miserable death there. Muriel Terni, the wicked woman of Terni.”

Casting a contemptuous glance at me as I sat collapsed on the floor, Siena turned sharply and walked away.

“……”

I sat there blankly for a while. Only when light finally seeped into the dark room did reality sink in.

I think… I’ve possessed someone.

The tragic heroine of a regret-filled novel that ends in sadness—
Muriel Terni.

I had been an orphan, and at twenty-one, I was diagnosed with an incurable terminal illness.

Maybe that was why I became so deeply immersed in Muriel’s story—because she was in a situation similar to mine—and why I wished so desperately for her to be happy.

But Muriel suffered her entire life and died.

Meanwhile, the male lead Raul barely regretted anything—his remorse was no more than a hamster’s eye booger.

Why did it end like that?

Why couldn’t Muriel ever be happy?

I kept turning over the injustice of that ending in my head, to the point that I was obsessed with the novel right up until my death.

Maybe that was why I ended up possessing Muriel.

“……”

Clatter, clatter.

Inside a swaying carriage, I sat facing Raul and stared out the window.

From the moment I got on, I could feel his persistent gaze stabbing into my skin, making it prickle all over. Still, I stubbornly avoided meeting his eyes.

As if determined to ignore my will, his cold voice cut through the air.

“I suppose I have to admit your acting was impressive. Did you really want my attention so badly that you pretended to be dead?”

“…?”

No, she really tried to die, though?

I was left speechless by the blatant false accusation.

“And of all times, on the anniversary of my parents’ deaths. You insulted the former Duke and Duchess of Winterberg.”

Well, back then, Muriel was in a severely unstable mental state.

‘Do you think she had the presence of mind to care about their anniversary?’

The Terni and Winterberg families were bitter enemies.

Then how did Muriel end up marrying Raul?

It was all due to the king’s political intentions—he wanted to resolve internal conflicts within the kingdom.

When the king forced it, there was no choice. Muriel and Raul entered an unwanted marriage as a symbol of reconciliation.

Raul treated Muriel coldly, calling her the daughter of his enemy, and constantly hurled venomous remarks at her.

That wasn’t all. Everyone in the Winterberg Ducal Estate ostracized and harassed Muriel.

‘The one at fault was Duke Terni, not Muriel. And she wasn’t even his biological daughter.’

Unable to endure the malice directed at her, Muriel swallowed poison and attempted to end her life…

Only to discover that it was actually a sleeping pill—the pharmacist had scammed her.

So Muriel merely slept like the dead for two days before waking up…

That was the story up until the moment I possessed her.

“The fact that you crawl into my bedroom every night is utterly repulsive.”

“……”

That was because the maids released rats and insects into Muriel’s room, forcing her to flee.

“Do you truly believe I would ever want to share a bed with you? I’d rather die than touch a woman who makes me nauseous just by looking at her.”

‘Wow… what a complete piece of trash.’

I applauded in my imagination—clap, clap—in admiration of this fearsome mouth befitting a regretful male lead.

“Your punishment has already been decided, so stop pretending to be the victim to gloss things over.”

Pretending to be the victim? How ridiculous. You don’t know anything.

I wanted to refute him, to clear Muriel’s injustice at least once—but…

‘It’s pointless. He wouldn’t believe me no matter what. That’s how it was in the original story.’

Yeah. No need to waste energy. Ignoring him is the answer.

I turned my gaze back to the window. I could feel his sharp, displeased stare, but I didn’t care.

Soon, the carriage arrived at its destination.

“From today on, this is where you will live.”

A shabby cabin backed by a black forest.

And before it, a barren wasteland where not even a blade of grass would grow.

This was the place Muriel was exiled to after enduring countless false accusations at the Winterberg estate.

“Do not take a single step outside, and live as if you were dead. That is the minimum mercy I will grant you.”

So it begins—true suffering…

“As an exile, you are a criminal. Even if you die here, the Terni family will have no grounds to protest.”

Protest? As if they would.

They’d probably celebrate her death.

Muriel was a disposable pawn to the Terni family, after all. You just don’t know it.

“Food and daily necessities will be delivered once a month by servants. As you can see, everything around here is contaminated land.”

That’s right. This was a contaminated zone.

Living there didn’t mean instant death, but staying longer than six months was dangerous.

Physical abilities would slowly deteriorate, and skin and internal organs would be irreparably damaged.

The original Muriel, too… ended up with her body so ruined that daily life became difficult.

Eventually, she even contracted an incurable disease.

“Let me make this clear once more.”

Raul’s blue eyes flashed. The only emotion readable in them was hatred toward Terni.

“I can poison you to death without any evidence. I could even disguise it as an accident. Be grateful that I’ve spared your life.”

Ah, yes… thank you so very much. Should I bow, perhaps?

I shot Raul a subtle glare.

“…If you need assistance, request it from the Winterberg estate. I’ll send a servant once a week.”

That servant probably won’t come.

Every vassal of Winterberg wants Muriel dead.

“Then, reflect on your past sins and live well.”

After the unlucky regret-filled bastard left in a gust of cold air, I stepped into the cabin and looked around.

‘Just as I expected…’

All the furniture was worn out, the windows letting in drafts.

The wooden floor was thick with dust, clearly never cleaned. Cobwebs clung to the walls and ceiling.

A sigh escaped me.

“…Let’s start with cleaning.”

First, I flung the windows wide open and shook the dust off the furniture.

Then I swept and scrubbed the floor thoroughly—cleaning the window frames, the walls, everything.

About thirty minutes later, the cabin wasn’t sparkling… but it was reasonably clean!

“Heh, I really am good at cleaning.”

Feeling satisfied, I took a look around the interior again.

It was old, but not bad enough that a single person couldn’t live here.

With cleaning done, I stepped outside to take a breather and slumped weakly onto the bench under the eaves.

‘How am I supposed to survive here from now on?’

At the very least, I had to endure living here for a month or two. Even if I planned to flee in the dead of night afterward.

With Muriel’s trash-tier stamina, traveling alone was impossible. I’d collapse and die on the road.

‘First, let’s focus on building up my physical strength.’

The problem was food…

In the original story, Muriel barely survived on the monthly rations and supplies the servants delivered.

Couldn’t I just do the same?

No…

That would be difficult. Because—

‘Those bastards stole everything halfway…’

Next to the cabin was a small storage shed.

I found boxes inside that were presumably left by servants, but when I opened them, they were all completely empty.

‘Something’s different from the original story.’

In the novel, the servants’ harassment hadn’t gone this far.

“Hah… I’m a possessor too. Don’t I get some kind of buff or something?”

I muttered with a deep sigh.

That was when—

“…?”

A sudden sense of something strange.

I slowly lifted my head.

Something ominous wavered before my eyes.

A mysterious cluster of blue light, as if I could almost reach out and touch it.

As it gradually took on a clearer shape—

▶▶▶ Adjusting connection status…… Please wait.

It turned into a window straight out of a game.

“What is this…?”

Was I hallucinating?

I blinked my wide eyes, rubbed them with the back of my hand, and looked again.

The blue window was still floating in the air.

‘Could this be… a status window?’

▲ Connection complete! Updating shortly. (Estimated time remaining: 29 seconds…)

Fwoosh!

The screen emitted a bright light and grew larger.

Soon, familiar words appeared before me.

Congratulations!

You have acquired the ☆Healing Farm Life☆ perk!

From now on, skills and items for farm life will be provided.

Enjoy a happy farm life together with the system that will guide you anytime, anywhere ♡..