Chapter 2 

“Mm? You’re acting strangely today. Come on, get up already! Today’s the day you make your debut in high society. You need to get ready!”

“…Huh?”

“Oh dear, someone must be very confident. Wake up and hurry!”

Pulled to my feet by a young girl who was acting oddly familiar with me, I stumbled over to the mirror.

The moment I looked into it, I doubted reality itself.

No matter how many times I rubbed my eyes, the person reflected there wasn’t me.

“…What is this?”

Soft pastel-pink hair curled into gentle waves. A petite frame, smooth skin as white as snow, delicate features, cherry-red lips, and large, bright light-green eyes that resembled those of a puppy.

It was the first time I had ever seen someone this adorable.

But what shocked me even more was that this beautiful face moved exactly as I did.

And most of all…

The description of this appearance sounded incredibly familiar.

I just couldn’t remember where I’d heard it.

“What do you mean, ‘what’? You’re Young Lady Rose.”

“…Young Lady?”

“Lady Rose Stacy. Please wake up already. Why are you acting like this today? I’m Lisa, the one who loves the greatest treasure of the Stacy family! Once you’ve washed up, you’ll feel much better. Come on!”

“Uh…”

It wasn’t until my bare skin touched the bathwater that everything clicked.

The instant I stepped into the water, realization hit me like lightning.

That’s right! Rose! Rose Stacy!

She was the extra character my best friend, Shin Ji-ah, had painstakingly created.

Every detail of this appearance—

Every single description—

They were all the exact words Ji-ah had proudly rambled on about countless times.

“…Ha…”

And just like that…

I became Rose Stacy, fourteen years old.

* * *

Honestly, I couldn’t remember a single thing about getting dressed up.

I couldn’t understand what was happening, nor did I want to.

So my mind had completely fled reality.

The fact that I somehow made it to my debut ball was a miracle in itself.

The people who seemed to be my father, mother, and older sister kept telling me to smile, so I simply smiled like a doll.

I didn’t know the first thing about ballroom dancing, yet my body apparently remembered, because I danced with several young noblemen without any trouble.

Maybe all the spinning made my memories even hazier.

After somehow surviving the debut party and returning home, I collapsed face-first onto my bed.

I didn’t want to think.

If anything, reality was beginning to sink in, making me want to escape it even more.

This is a dream.

Yeah…

When I wake up, I’ll be back in the tiny apartment I’ve finally gotten used to.

Repeating that to myself like hypnosis, I fell asleep.

The next morning—

“…Shin Ji-ah, you bitch.”

That was the moment I finally gave up.

Nothing had changed.

Listening to Lisa—who, judging from the way she spoke, was apparently my personal maid—only made everything feel even more real.

Since nothing had changed overnight, I accepted reality.

First:

This wasn’t a dream.

This was reality.

I had no idea how it had happened, but it made more sense to accept that than to believe I’d gone insane.

Fine.

Just like all those popular fantasy romance novels these days…

I’d transmigrated into a book.

Whether I ever found a way home or not, I’d adapt to this world and live like the heroines in those stories.

That was my decision.

I’d always been the type to give up quickly when something was impossible.

So I buried myself in books.

I had to learn something.

Fortunately, Rose Stacy had apparently been a diligent girl who loved reading since childhood, so nobody found my sudden obsession strange.

After devouring every book I could find…

I finally accepted the truth.

This really was the world that damned Shin Ji-ah had created.

It felt like I’d become the protagonist of someone else’s novel.

Book-transmigration romance had become incredibly popular lately, and I’d read plenty of them myself.

But actually becoming one of those protagonists…

That was a different story.

Because there was one enormous problem.

In those novels, I’m supposed to be the heroine.

Here…

I wasn’t.

The heroine of Shin Ji-ah’s novel wasn’t Rose Stacy.

Rose Stacy was merely an extra destined for a tragic death.

When I read stories like this, I’d think, Wow, this is exciting.

Living through one?

God damn it.

I wanted to strangle my author friend.

“…When I get back, you’re dead.”

I swore I’d never read another fantasy romance novel again.

Well…

That was assuming I could even return.

Normally, in these stories…

People couldn’t.

Then again, most protagonists had died before being reincarnated.

Whatever the case…

Being Rose Stacy was absolute hell.

I’d rather have been some nameless extra who never even appeared in the story.

Please.

Anything but an important supporting character.

There was at least one silver lining.

I didn’t have a politically arranged fiancé.

My situation was already bad enough.

If I also had to deal with some loveless engagement, I really might have exploded.

The only thing keeping me sane was that I was currently fourteen, an age Shin Ji-ah had never written about.

There were still five years before fate was supposed to unfold.

Everything Ji-ah had written happened when Rose Stacy turned nineteen.

Then I found another reason to despair.

Since the author was my best friend, I knew far more about the novel than any ordinary reader.

But I wasn’t the author.

That meant I didn’t know everything.

I knew Rose Stacy died.

But I had never learned how.

Ji-ah hadn’t shown me the chapters she’d written right before Rose’s death.

So I knew I would die…

But not the circumstances.

Seriously?

Knowing I’d die without knowing how?

What kind of half-baked information was that?

As if things weren’t bad enough…

Life as fourteen-year-old Rose Stacy wasn’t exactly peaceful either.

“Rose! Rose! What are you doing? Your sister’s here, and you didn’t even come out to greet me?”

Ugh.

That bitch.

She acted as though she were royalty and naturally expected me to come welcome her.

I was already mentally exhausted, and she still found new ways to irritate me.

Seeing Riana Stacy with my own eyes was even worse than hearing descriptions about her.

Just looking at her was enough to ruin my mood.

To be fair, she wasn’t truly ugly.

Plain, maybe—but not hideous.

The real problem was her attitude.

The arrogant way she looked down on everyone with her chin raised made her seem utterly repulsive.

I sincerely wanted to ask the original owner of this body—

Rose Stacy…

How did you put up with this woman?

I grew up in the harsh realities of the twenty-first century.

I wasn’t the sort of person who tolerated everything just because someone happened to share my blood.

At first, I endured it.

Partly because I had enough problems already.

Partly because arguing was exhausting.

And partly because I was supposed to pretend to be Rose Stacy.

She was the third daughter of the family, after all.

The problem was…

I only knew nineteen-year-old Rose.

And I didn’t even know her that well.

At first I stayed quiet, watched everyone carefully, and tried my best to imitate Rose.

But just because Seo Ye-eun had become Rose Stacy didn’t mean I’d inherited Rose’s personality.

Unfortunately for certain people.

“Rose. Clean this up.”

Riana ordered me to clear away the dishes she’d just used, as if I were her maid.

That was the last straw.

“Don’t you have hands? Clean it up yourself. Or better yet, tell that maid you’re always so proud of dragging around with you to do it. Isn’t that what maids are for?”

“W-What?!”

Ah.

Crap.

The words were already out.

All my careful acting had become meaningless in an instant.

But there was no taking them back now.

Honestly, it wouldn’t have lasted much longer anyway.

Unlike Rose Stacy…

I wasn’t a pushover.

“Oh, if you can’t even form a proper sentence, then just shut up. Don’t advertise how stupid you are. Actually… maybe staying silent for the rest of your life would benefit everyone.”

I flashed the same smug smile Shin Ji-ah always wore whenever she delighted in teasing someone.

Riana’s already plain face turned bright red with fury, making her look even worse.

Yet she couldn’t think of a comeback.

That alone proved how empty-headed she was.

Rose had spent years putting up with this?

She really was the world’s biggest doormat.

“I’m getting tired of watching you flap your mouth like a goldfish. Want to leave first? Or should I?”

I wasn’t actually asking.

I wasn’t stupid enough to expect an answer from someone incapable of giving one.

With that, I turned around and walked away without hesitation.

Honestly, the mere fact that I’d bothered walking over to sit with her in the first place was already the greatest act of kindness I’d performed all year.

Naturally, I got scolded later that day.

Riana immediately ran crying to our parents.

Count and Countess Stacy reprimanded me for being disrespectful to my older sister.

I listened with one ear and let it go out the other.

Then they asked,

“Why would you say something like that?”

I couldn’t help laughing in disbelief.

“So how long am I supposed to endure it?”

“My whole life?”

“Until the day I’m sold off to another noble family through marriage?”

The words left them completely stunned.

The Count and Countess Stacy genuinely loved their children.

But precisely because of that…

I had to say what needed to be said.

For my own future.

And perhaps…

For the real Rose Stacy’s future, if she ever returned.

“Even if you have no intention of using me that way, that woman who sees me as nothing but a nuisance will make sure it happens.”

“I know.”

“I know that’s the fate of noble daughters.”

“But…”

“I hate it, Mother.”

“…Rose.”

“I’d rather die.”

At those words, everything changed.

The Count and Countess looked at me with heartbreaking expressions, as though they were on the verge of tears.

Finally, they nodded.

“Very well.”

“We’ll do as you wish.”

Since Riana’s bullying was already well known within the family, I was finally allowed to live freely in the Stacy household.

I didn’t know what fourteen-year-old Rose Stacy had originally been like.

But one thing was certain.

I had already changed her fate.

The fate of the third daughter who spent her life being tormented by her eldest sister.

I might be living as Rose Stacy now…

But that didn’t mean I had to be Rose Stacy.

Once I reached that conclusion, life became much easier.

Still…

I never completely gave up hope of going home.

Every now and then, I’d wonder—

Maybe when I wake up tomorrow…

I’ll be Seo Ye-eun again.