Chapter 1

Editor: Kalopsia & Diya

Chapter 1. Supporting Role

There was a romance novel.

The heroine, Priscilla, was a fallen aristocrat. She was introduced by the people and entered as the Duke’s maid.

She started working in the residence of the Fenvernon family, said to be the strongest of the ducal houses in the empire.

Words referring to the young Duke, the owner of a huge mansion, varied. He was said to be the lord of the vast lands west of the Grandia Empire, a swordsman born with magical power who will remain in the history of the Empire. He was also believed to be a young man so handsome that bards sang songs praising his beauty.

He had immense wealth and great power.

The Emperor cared for him but was wary of him, the nobles wanted to use him, and the priests praised him while fearing him.

But the Duke, to say the least, had been wandering aimlessly after losing his wife a few years ago.

Their marriage was not decided by them. It was established through political schemes. They possessed the courtesy of a couple, and their loveless marriage was desolate.

The reason the Duke married his wife, the daughter of a nameless Count in need of influence, was because of the Emperor’s trick. To prevent the Duke’s status from rising higher, the Emperor chose a woman who was useless to the Duke.

At the beginning of the novel, the Duke was called a brutal, cold-blooded man. He was called the dragon’s power and was a subject of awe. He was also used to everyone being afraid of him.

Still, because everything else about him was so attractive, countless beauties approached him, though no one received his love. So no one thought that the quiet and weak Duchess would move his mind.

Their marriage ended tragically. One day, the Duchess, who was walking alone, fell into the river and died.

It was not until his wife died in an unfortunate accident that the Duke began to regret.

To him, his wife was his only family, yet he couldn’t protect her. Having lost his ‘only family’, he fell into an inescapable and deep grief.

During their marriage, he had been on guard because she was the woman the emperor had chosen for him. He spent their years of marriage without love because he didn’t want to have anyone who was precious to him.

Maybe he loved her and they could have cared for each other, but in the end, they couldn’t. It was the Duke’s fault that the possibility withered without blooming.

What use was it regretting now? His wife’s soul would have already disappeared in the deep river.

The happiness he could have attained seemed infinitely beautiful.

It was only after the duchess died that Priscilla developed a sense of presence in front of the Duke. Gradually, she became the main character of the fantasy novel.

Thus, the duchess finally became his first love.

With indelible traces, she remained as a pathetic shadow and became an existence that served as an unbeatable enemy for the female protagonist.

But what was the use of it all?

The dead had no power. What more if it was an extra that only appeared once in romance novels.

The late Duchess was just an obstacle that the female protagonist must overcome, a source of conflict in the happy marriage of lovers, a background character who would eventually be removed from the Duke’s heart.

Eventually, Priscilla would remove the dark shadow in the Duke’s heart and fall in love with him.

There were obstacles, but it was a happy ending waiting for the two of them, as was the case in most romance novels.

But if there was one problem, it was the fact that I’d become the “Late Wife of the Duke,” Alyssa Fenvernon.

So now my husband was Rashid, Duke of Fenvernon, the male protagonist of the romance novel.

‘Ah, this is ridiculous. How did this happen?’

I sighed and held my head.

The long hair that could be held in my hands is a bright coral color. I’m wearing a chemise made of pure white silk and sitting on a bed covered with delicate-patterned sheets, and this was the bedroom of the Duchess of Fenvernon.

Everything around me was alive.

It means that I am now a character in the book.

When I woke up, I was in the world of a novel. I never dreamed that such a ridiculous thing would happen to me.

The start of the incident came from a very small mistake.

I, a twenty-two-year-old college student, went to the Han River to see a meteor shower and fell into the river when I lost my footing.

When I fell into the river, the ice cold water instantly filled my lungs and my body was getting heavier by the second. I felt a sudden urge to reach the light on the surface, but I couldn’t reach it.

Is this how I die? My life was not long, it ended without a hitch/ absurdly.

I was caught up in deep darkness and struggled and lost my conscience…

…and when I woke up, I was here.

When I opened my eyes for the first time, a gorgeous ceiling came into my view.

Where am I? I’m sure I fell into the river….

“Madam, are you okay?”

Someone who noticed that I had opened my eyes ran and wiped the cold sweat off my forehead.

Madam? Who are you talking about? Are you talking to me?

“…where is this?”

As I woke up while wondering, a headache that seemed to break my head came over. I screamed and fell.

At that moment, a strong shock hit me as if I had been struck by lightning. Along with the story and the memory of Alyssa, the body’s original owner, quickly penetrated my head. Thanks to this, I realized that I had fallen into the world of romance novels.

A violent pain ensued. It was a terrible headache, like a needle was stabbing my head.

“Ahhhhhh!”

“Madam, Madam! What am I supposed to do?”

As Alyssa screamed and covered her head, the maid made a fuss. Before she had brought in other people, Alyssa had already passed out.

When I came back to my senses, it was already midnight.

The duchess’ bedroom was still in the deep darkness. Blue moonlight shone through the closed window. The cool light somehow made me feel uneasy. My parched lips made me feel thirsty.

I got up and lit a candle. The dim interior soon emerged against the weak light.

The bedroom that I looked around again was no longer an unfamiliar space. Now I know this place. This was where Alyssa had stayed for over a year.

‘How did this happen?’

I wish everything is a dream. When I wake up again, I’ll be in the hospital. This is all a dream and I’m actually just unconscious.

But as the morning dawned, I slowly began to accept this reality.

I had to do that. Because no matter how many times I opened my eyes, I was still in this strange world.

In the morning, a doctor came to see me. According to the doctors, I woke up three days after falling into the Seira River across the land and barely survived.

“Madam, do you recognize me?”

“Yes, you’re the Duke’s doctor.”

In response to my answer, the doctor exchanged a meaningful look with the maid. As it turns out, speaking too politely to him, who’s a subordinate, was embarrassing to them.

Even if Alyssa was from the countryside, she was still a noble. Normally, she would have treated them informally.

But after a few days, I got tired of that, too. My daily life, with nothing to see or play, was boring and dull.

Meanwhile, I recalled Alyssa’s memories one by one and began to connect with them. I also slowly retraced the memories of me, the 22-year-old Kim Ye-ri, who fell into the Han River.

The novel 《The Inevitable Destiny》, which underlies this world, was a book that was in my bag when I drowned. I thought it was an extremely ordinary story, no different from other Harlequin¹ romance novels.

But I became a character in that same novel…

I recalled what I had seen when I had looked into a mirror.

Beyond the colorful gold mirror, a woman was looking at me. She had pink hair that painted a soft curve, gray pupils mixed with blue, and a small slender body.

When I slightly tilted my head, the woman in front of me did the same. Even though I’ve seen it countless times, I still couldn’t get used to my new reflection, even if it was really me.

But surely the woman in the mirror was me, and now I was Alyssa Fenvernon.

She wasn’t the main character nor a supporting character with power, but an extra whose name was mentioned in the novel. There were so many other characters, but why did I have to possess the role as the male lead’s ex-wife?

Besides, it’s really too much that the story unfolds only when you die.

In other words, Alyssa, Rashid’s wife, who was supposed to die and become his ex-wife survived, unlike in the original novel.

Only when Alyssa dies will Rashid glorify her, miss her, regret his past words and deeds, and leave her as a scar in his heart. Only then would Priscilla, the heroine, heal the loss of his family and wife, but things got messed up. Perhaps this is good?

In fact, Rashid’s beloved “original Alyssa” has died.

It’s because I’m alive in the ‘body of the real Alyssa’.

‘What should

I do now?’

I sighed as I looked at the ring on my left ring finger.

The love for Alyssa— I don’t know if it really is love— but what will happen to Rashid who doesn’t realize it? Will destiny still follow its original path?

And what should I do when I meet that Rashid?

Is there a way back to my original world?

If I continue to remain in this world, how should I live?

Why did this happen?

I constantly thought about it, but there was nothing I could answer.

As I dwelled on my thoughts like this, twelve days passed in the blink of an eye while living as ‘Alyssa’ and taking care of my health.

Rashid grabbed the end of that time to come to me.

* * *