I Transmigrated into the Nameverse, and My Name Came with a Time Limit - Chapter 4

Thanks to the two scuffles, the hair that the maid Hannah had carefully styled for her this morning was ruined. Mina roughly finger-combed her wild locks, then carefully pressed the wavy strands that were sticking out to the side like weeds back into place.

“Phew…!”

When the plan she’d thought would surely work fell apart miserably, her vision started to go dark.

Based on the memories from the novel, Leopold was originally a lecher, so she’d expected that if she just scratched his itch a little, he’d respond to her plan readily enough. But who would’ve thought that idiot would go past ‘responding’ and suddenly turn into a dog in heat!

And on top of that, what was with that pathetic, self-contained theory of his about how she’d fallen for him or whatever.

‘I thought all I had to do was fix being time-limited.’

Mina sighed.

“But even so, what the hell, saying he’ll keep me as a mistress too. Is that guy nuts?”

Mina fumed. She had no idea why Wilhelmina had ever gotten engaged to trash like that. Whether he was her husband or her brother-in-law, a guy like that was obviously beyond saving either way!

But there was no way she could’ve known. The novel she’d possessed, 「I Imprinted on My Sister’s Fiancé」, was told from Rose’s point of view, and it had been too busy describing Rose and Leopold’s heated nights.

‘Wait… something’s off. Why did a Name show up on me of all people? Shouldn’t the two of them have each other’s Names appear? Rose and Leopold are the original leads, after all. But then why did it appear on me, as the nickname ‘Leo’? What’s the reason?’

As Mina replayed the original story in her mind, she tilted her head. No matter how she looked at it, it was suspicious beyond words that things had changed so abruptly. Maybe it had something to do with her possession?’

Mina let out a deep sigh. It was hopeless. But no matter what, now she had to be as flexible as possible and clean up the mess she’d made.

Forcing her reluctant feet to move, Mina slipped back into the ballroom.

* * *

Thankfully, the enormous imperial palace ballroom looked exactly the same as it had before she left.

Lively music, murmured conversation, and boisterous laughter echoed from all around. Everyone was chatting with glasses in hand, and countless couples were dancing on the floor.

While watching the scene she’d only ever seen described in novels with fascinated eyes, Mina looked around as inconspicuously as possible for Rose and Leopold, and soon she found them standing in front of a thick pillar decorated with red roses and white lilies.

‘Phew… thank goodness!’

Fortunately, it seemed no one had noticed that Mina had slipped away for a while.

Rose stood with the Duke and Duchess of Wittgen, looking up at her fiancé with a very happy expression. Wilhelmina’s biological father and stepmother standing beside her looked very satisfied as well. Adorned with a glittering, splendid dress and jewels, Rose was dazzling, to the point it hurt to look at her. She really did look like today’s main character.

Staring blankly at Rose, who was surrounded by her family and smiling brightly, Mina traced back her memories from a few days ago.

When she’d opened her eyes with a terrible headache, Mina had been lying dazed atop a canopy bed with fluttering curtains. While that was happening, someone beside her cried out.

“My goodness! You’ve finally woken up! After you fell into the lake, I thought you would never rise again…!”

Only then did Mina realize she’d transmigrated as a character inside a fictional novel.

And as she wondered what had happened to the real Wilhelmina, she’d been horrified to hear that she’d woken up ten days after losing consciousness from falling into the lake while boating.

“I think my Name manifested.”

“What? Whose name is it?”

“L-Leo. It’s written as Leo.”

And Rose’s uneasy reaction when Mina told her about the Name she’d found while bathing… Rose clearly hadn’t welcomed the fact that she’d gained a Name.

‘Huuu… Damn it…!’

Mina sighed as she mulled over the memory. Then, in that moment, she ended up meeting Leopold’s eyes as he was looking at Rose. The instant he spotted her hiding behind the crowd, his expression twisted frighteningly.

“Eek!”

Startled out of her mind, Mina ducked her head like a turtle behind the heads of the noble ladies in front of her. She couldn’t help it, with what she’d done earlier.

Jumping to conclusions that he might come running over to seize her at any second, Mina quickly hid herself in the crowd. Wriggling desperately like an earthworm, she struggled to get even a little farther away from Leopold’s murderous stare.

Just then, the attendant standing at the front of the ballroom called out loudly.

“Leonhardt Axel von Arenheim, Guardian of the North, His Highness the Grand Duke of Tessen, enters!”

What, there was another noble who hadn’t entered yet? Thinking it was a good thing, since everyone’s attention was being pulled to the event, Mina tried to shift to the side as inconspicuously as possible.

At the same time as the fanfare rang out loudly, the two grand doors on either side of the splendid ballroom swung wide open.