Chapter 3
“Gasp!”
Juyeon shot up like a person emerging from water. She was on a bed.
‘What about the gunshot wound?’
Before she could even feel for her chest, a person’s figure suddenly rushed at her.
“Cecilia!”
“Ohh, Cecil!”
What, Cecil?
There was no time to question the strange name.
A woman hugged her tightly, and a middle-aged man who was wiping away tears was visible behind her. Judging by their hair and eye color, they didn’t seem to be Korean.
“You’re finally awake. Do you know how scared I was that you wouldn’t wake up?”
Come to think of it, the words she was hearing were not Korean either.
Juyeon stared at the face of the middle-aged woman who had hugged her.
The woman, who had her beautiful silver hair tied neatly, had light gray eyes. And the man standing next to her had dark purple eyes and silver hair.
In the mirror behind her, she saw her own long, silver hair and large eyes that were a subtle mix of light gray and purple. She was a beauty.
“…Ah.”
“Cecilia? Are you feeling unwell?”
To survive in the underworld on her own since she was 10, Juyeon needed exceptional intuition and the ability to calmly assess any situation.
So, she couldn’t help but realize.
The appearance and name of this body perfectly matched the female protagonist of the novel she had read before she died, and her family, who were also exactly as described in the novel, were standing in front of her.
“…No, I’m not unwell.”
She had died, and her spirit had entered the body of the novel’s protagonist, Cecilia Cissil.
“But my memory… it feels a little hazy, Mother.”
Since she had made a decision, there was no reason to hesitate.
A lie to survive flowed out as naturally as always.
***
<The Irresistible Tragedy>.
The protagonist of that novel was Cecilia Cissil.
The beloved only daughter of the Viscount Cissil, and an idiot who was naturally kind and weak and couldn’t do anything even when she lost someone precious or when her family died.
Thanks to her avid reading of the novel, it wasn’t hard to recall the details of Cecilia’s character.
However.
“I was worried because even though it was a stress-induced fainting spell, you were unconscious for so long.”
“So, Cecil, don’t be too saddened by your memory loss. You can learn anything you don’t know again. Okay?”
The gentleness of this couple, who surrounded and comforted their daughter for simply fainting from stress. The look in their eyes, which made her want to scratch her skin as if she had a terrible allergy, was difficult to bear.
“…Yes, thank you.”
Juyeon held back and answered just like the Cecilia she had read about in the book.
The Cissil couple’s gaze softened even more. Juyeon couldn’t hold back and averted her eyes.
Their affection felt more fictional than being possessed by someone else’s body.
‘…I feel a little sorry for them.’
The person they were looking at wasn’t Juyeon but the real protagonist of this novel, Cecilia. The Cissil couple probably had no idea that their daughter had suddenly vanished.
But her guilt was only momentary. To survive, she had to know how to ignore such flimsy emotions. That was the way Juyeon lived.
Besides, although unexpected, the situation was quite to her liking.
‘Loving parents, a wealthy background, and the status of a noble lady… there’s no reason to refuse it.’
If this was a deal, it was a very profitable one, and if someone had planned this, she should be grateful.
‘…Except for the fact that this woman’s ending is tragic.’
The original Cecilia loses everyone she loves, despairs, and then jumps off a cliff, meeting a tragic end.
‘But that’s not going to happen now.’
Juyeon’s eyes flashed.
Just what kind of crazy things would a killer orphan, picked up and raised by an organization boss, do to kill that boss and take her position?
So, everything the weak Cecilia couldn’t do, Juyeon could.
Whether it was betrayal, lies, or even something more.
“Mother, Father. How old am I, by the way?”
Juyeon made the most innocent expression she could. Her mother, whose face instantly looked sorry, held Juyeon’s hand tightly.
“Did you even forget that? You’re nineteen. You’ll turn twenty after your birthday, and you’ll soon have your debutante ball.”
All the tragedies begin at the debutante ball, at the age of twenty. It was a tight schedule, but thankfully, not too late.
“I want to get married right after my debutante ball.”
“What?”
“So… can I go and rest at Violet House until my debutante ball?”
“You mean the villa on the Erdel Estate? To recuperate?”
“Yes, I feel like everything will go well if I go there.”
Juyeon, no, Cecilia, looked at the two of them straight on.
“You’ll grant my wish, won’t you? Mother, Father.”
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