Chapter 1
Contrary to its antique exterior, the inside of the mansion was bleak and shabby without a single decoration. The excited voice of a woman rang out.
“Just try taking one more step! If I go down, I’m taking everyone with me!”
Helene splashed the kerosene she was holding. In her other hand, she gripped a lit lantern.
The loan sharks who had been chasing Helene flinched when they saw the lit flame.
There was not a trace of reason in the red-eyed madness of the woman, her crimson hair flying wild.
The title “Red Witch” had never fit anyone more perfectly.
Would she really set the house on fire?
Yes. If it was her, she absolutely would.
Helene was that kind of woman.
Addicted to gambling and luxury, she feared nothing.
Just last week, after losing her bet, she had not only flipped the gambling table but also punched the noble who won her money.
As a result, she was blacklisted and banned from every gambling house.
That outcome was perhaps inevitable.
Once her debt had exceeded 300,000 gold, there was no one left willing to lend her money.
Naturally, the loan sharks from the underworld showed up, demanding repayment and threatening to seize her mansion. Helene countered by threatening to burn the place down.
It was a threat that the loan sharks, who had the mansion as collateral, wouldn’t take lightly.
Not only that—if the mansion burned down, everyone inside, including Helene, would be in danger.
Not just the scary-looking loan sharks, but also the three daughters of the Emeldia family—who lived in the mansion and were innocent victims of having Helene as a stepmother.
Then it happened.
“…This crazy woman!!”
Before anyone noticed, the second daughter of the Emeldia family, Jaina, dashed through the hallway from the attic window. With lightning speed, she kicked the lantern far away.
Thud!
“Uh… ugh…”
Startled, Helene tried to flee but tripped over her own feet and tumbled down the stairs.
***
“If you don’t settle, Dad goes straight to jail! Is two million won really that important to you?”
“You can just earn more money later, right?”
“You owe us for raising you, don’t you?”
Han Yena finally sent her entire life savings—20 million won—to her adoptive mother with trembling hands.
That cursed ‘debt for raising me.’
Whenever her adoptive parents brought that up, Han Yena could never refuse.
After losing both parents in an accident, she had been adopted by distant relatives. She endured their neglect and coldness throughout her childhood.
Eight years ago, after becoming independent, Yena had saved her college tuition through intense effort. From that point on, her adoptive parents shamelessly demanded money as if they had it on deposit.
Her adoptive father, claiming to have started a business, was scammed and then fined after a fight with his business partners. Once again, they reached out to their adoptive daughter for help.
“…Hahahahahaha!”
She felt like she was going insane.
No, maybe she was already insane.
Standing in the middle of the street, Yena began laughing like a madwoman. The tears she’d held back poured out.
Life was miserable—unbearably miserable.
She had tried so hard to be loved, to become their real daughter.
But the more effort she put in, the more they used her.
On her birthday last week, she didn’t even get a single text. But the moment they needed money, they came running.
Her adoptive parents never loved her.
To them, she was just a means to an end.
“I will never live like this again.”
Yena roughly wiped away her tears.
That’s when she heard the blaring of a horn. A dump truck’s headlights bore down on her—but her feet wouldn’t move.
In an instant, the truck hit her, and her body was flung into the air.
And just like that, Han Yena, a poor 26-year-old job-seeker, met her end.
***
Helene’s eyes snapped open.
Her head was splitting with pain.
And yet, memories of Han Yena’s life vividly surfaced in her mind—as if it all happened yesterday.
“What…? Are these past-life memories?”
Perhaps it was the result of tumbling down the stairs, but Helene had begun to remember her life as Han Yena.
“Helene Emeldia… from The Perfect Lady Angelina?”
To make things worse—or stranger—she realized she was now a character in her favorite romance fantasy novel.
Reincarnated into the world of a novel she’d read so often in her past life? It was unbelievable.
Helene looked around.
She was now tied to a chair in the center of the mansion. It seemed the loan sharks had bound her after she was knocked out by Jaina’s kick.
Then she heard footsteps approaching.
Helene quickly closed her eyes again.
The footsteps stopped in front of her.
SPLASH!
A bucket of cold water was thrown in her face.
“Oh my, Countess? You’re finally awake?”
Helene had no choice but to open her eyes.
The one who had just doused her with water was now speaking with mock concern.
But knowing who he was, she couldn’t argue. Helene just glared weakly, coughing.
The man before her—with long blue hair tied like a horse’s tail and squinty eyes always laughing—was Shakia, a mafia boss and the loan shark to whom Helene owed 300,000 gold.
By the way, Helene originally borrowed only 200,000. It had ballooned into 300,000 in just a month.
Helene began recalling the plot of The Perfect Lady Angelina.
“If villains had ranks, Helene would be the lowest of the low—a pathetic villainess who caused her own downfall.”
She had lived a disgraceful life until she met Count Raul of the Emeldia family—a widower raising three daughters—and successfully married him.
But within a year, Count Raul died of illness. Helene then indulged in luxury, pleasure, and gambling until she squandered the family’s massive fortune in just two years.
Her end was tragic. Although she was invited to the Imperial Ball due to her status, she drunkenly insulted Angelina, the crown prince’s fiancée, and was executed for it.
Even in death, her sins weren’t forgiven.
The three daughters—beautiful and virtuous thanks to their real mother—lost their titles and wealth and were separated.
The eldest died of illness at 22, the second became a hunter in the mountains, and the youngest disappeared without a trace.
Helene was the worst kind of parent.
“I used to wonder what great sin I committed in my past life to deserve such a miserable fate. Turns out, it was this.”
It didn’t matter if the chicken came before the egg—Yena’s wretched life felt like karma for the sins she was now paying for as Helene.
Currently, the Emeldia family was bankrupt, on the verge of losing the mansion.
And of all people, Helene had borrowed from the worst possible loan shark—Shakia.
She hated the old Helene with a passion.
“You borrow money, you pay it back. Isn’t that right?”
At Shakia’s signal, his men forced Helene down and held out her hand.
If she didn’t repay, the first warning was cutting off a finger.
“If I remember correctly, Helene loses her ring finger here…”
Did she stop gambling after that? No. Helene figured she had nine more fingers to spare and tried gambling again.
But with Han Yena’s memories intact, the very thought of gambling made her tremble with disgust.
“…This is your last chance. Pay up.”
Shakia’s polite tone dropped, and his shark-like eyes sharpened.
“I heard your eldest is marrying a powerful noble. Said you’d be rolling in money soon?”
“Yeah… I did say something like that.”
Last week, broke and desperate, Helene had lied—claiming her eldest daughter was about to marry a wealthy noble and would receive extravagant wedding gifts. That’s how she’d convinced Shakia to lend her more money.
“Son of a… You were bluffing again.”
Seeing Helene’s rolling eyes, Shakia cursed under his breath.
He already had the mansion as collateral. If he cut off her finger, that’d teach her a lesson.
He pulled out a sharp knife.
“Wa-wait! Cutting off a finger won’t magically make money appear, right?!”
“Countess, you’re too late~”
“I’ll pay! I’ll pay the 300,000 gold!!!”
It didn’t matter how loudly she screamed or how much she squirmed. Loan sharks like these had seen desperate debtors countless times.
Shakia adjusted the knife over Helene’s ring finger.
She couldn’t let this happen.
She had to say something—anything.
Panicking, Helene shouted the first thing that came to mind.
“Double or nothing—make it 600,000 gold!!!”
She couldn’t pay back 300,000, so how could she pay 600,000?
Still, it seemed to catch Shakia’s interest. He raised a hand, signaling his men to release her.
Helene sighed in relief.
But the hardest part—convincing him—was yet to come.
“Countess, if you lie again, next time it won’t be your finger—it’ll be your teeth.”
Even while warning her, Shakia was curious what kind of nonsense she’d come up with next.
The lie about her daughter marrying a noble? False.
Recently, she even pretended to start a fake jewelry business using the name of the girls’ rich godfather and barely escaped prison by paying bail.
The Emeldia mansion no longer had anything valuable left. Even the silverware had long been sold.
Helene looked around.
Thankfully, only Shakia’s men were present.
The three sisters seemed to be hiding in their rooms after throwing her to the wolves.
“Well, I did put them at risk of losing their home. They probably want me dead.”
Even if they did, she couldn’t blame them.
Helene opened her mouth again after a quick glance around.
“I-it’s true that my eldest is marrying a powerful noble. The announcement’s just been delayed because of some issues on their side.”
“…What?”
Shakia frowned.
Was she really going to push this already debunked lie?
Helene was flustered too, but there was no turning back.
If she stayed silent, she’d lose a finger.
She had to sell this lie.
“You know how nobles are—always entangled in complicated affairs. I didn’t think the announcement would be this delayed!”
Shakia decided to keep listening.
“Oh? So who is this amazing noble?”
Helene sighed dramatically.
“Didn’t you hear me? He’s very particular. If word gets out and the engagement falls apart because of you thugs, what then?!”
She continued confidently.
“What do you think he’ll say if he sees this finger missing?!”
She shook her head solemnly.
“I’m doing this for your sake too. He’s practically family now! If he finds out you did this, do you think he’ll let it slide…?”
Helene’s serious tone began to sway some of the goons.
“If you really want your money, start by putting that ugly knife away.”
Shakia narrowed his already-thin eyes.
His expression was skeptical, but his will wavered like the knife in his hand.
What had started as a desperate lie… was starting to sound quite believable.
The nobles of the Herssen Empire did love to show off. Their wedding gifts and dowries were extravagant.
At least, the top 1% were.
If one of the Emeldia girls really married into such a family, then Helene—as the mother-in-law—would get some benefits too.
But such nobles were rare.
In most cases, brides brought dowries, not the other way around.
That’s why the eldest daughter, Lilliana, still wasn’t married at 22—the family had gone bankrupt.
“A rich, powerful, attractive noble… Isn’t that exactly like the male leads from The Perfect Lady Angelina?”
Suddenly, an idea struck Helene like lightning.
“Wait… this is genius.”
The Perfect Lady Angelina was a reverse harem novel. It had no shortage of male leads.
“I’ll steal the male leads and marry them off to the Emeldia sisters!”
Thanks to Yena’s past life as a fan of the novel, Helene knew everything—about the male leads’ personalities, preferences, and what made them fall in love.
Helene lifted her chin with a victorious smile.
This is just pitch perfect irony