Chapter 1
“I’m late!”
The moment I stepped into the mansion, I hurried up the stairs. The cherry pie I had bought at the shopping street shook in my hands with every step.
“Your Grace, I’m back…!”
I called out in a whisper as soon as I entered the bedroom.
The room was dark.
‘Is he sleeping?’
I softened my footsteps and walked toward the wardrobe.
But on top of it, there was only the tiny bed I had made for him.
“Your Grace?”
I tilted my head after checking the neatly arranged bedding.
‘Where did he go?’
If there was anywhere Lishid would go…
I looked around the large room and searched every narrow space.
Under the shelves, behind the drawers, inside the empty spaces of the bookcase, and even between the cracks in the floor.
Lishid was nowhere to be found.
I lifted the bed skirt that touched the floor and muttered into the darkness, “Knock knock, are you in there?”
That was when—
“Airel Blandiche, why are you only coming now?”
I almost jumped out of my skin.
A low, cool voice fell from behind me.
It was softer than when we first met, but the blunt tone was still the same.
“Your Grace! I’m sorry. Did you wait long? I stopped by the information guild and ended up buying some pie on the way…”
“You’ve been coming home late these days.”
When I turned around, my eyes met his as he sat on the window frame. His red eyes flickered as they looked at me.
“The sun is setting. Do you not think about the person waiting for you?”
Lishid crossed his arms at an angle, clearly displeased. The wind blowing in from the open window gently stirred his black hair.
I blinked as I looked at the orange sunset behind him.
“…Did you go outside, Your Grace?”
The window was open.
I erased the smile from my face and reached toward it. The Grand Duke flinched and avoided my gaze.
With a sigh, I shut the window firmly.
“It’s dangerous outside. I told you not to do that. We promised.”
I forced a smile again as I looked down at him. He glanced at the tightly shut window with a sulky expression.
“Yet the young lady looked very happy with that man, the master of the information guild.”
What? How does he know?
I narrowed my eyes in confusion. Lishid let out a sigh and stood up.
“A gift.”
“…Pardon?”
As if annoyed, Lishid drew his sword and pointed it at a neatly folded handkerchief on the table.
I blinked in confusion.
“A handkerchief? What for?”
Did he buy it outside?
But how, in that body?
Puzzled, I picked it up.
On the white cloth trimmed with pink lace, there were crooked letters stitched in gold thread.
[ Airel Blandiche ]
My name—still unfamiliar to me—was embroidered on it.
…No way.
I quickly looked around the table.
The thread, needle, and fabric basket I had used recently were still there.
“Your Grace, did you make this for me?”
Why?!
My eyes widened.
If Lishid Epenferion had anything to give me, I had thought it would only be death.
But a handkerchief?
‘And one with my name embroidered on it!’
As I stared at him in shock, his indifferent voice followed.
“You have been helping me. It is only proper that I repay you.”
With the tip of his toothpick-like sword, Lishid pointed at the portrait of himself decorating one side of my room.
“So do not misunderstand and think that giving you something like this means I share your feelings.”
Good grief.
I bit the tip of my tongue.
Yes, if someone saw this room, they would think I liked the Grand Duke. It was true that Airel was obsessively in love with Lishid.
‘But that’s not it. It’s not.’
I’m not even the real Ariel!
This is bad. I only kidnapped the male lead and tricked him because I wanted to survive…
“In exchange, if you lift my ‘curse,’ I will allow you to hold my real body and sleep with it for one day.”
The tip of Lishid’s sword traced an arc and pointed at a cushion embroidered with his face.
His ears gradually turned red as he avoided my eyes.
“…Why do you look so disappointed, my lady? Were you not helping me because you desired my body?”
What do I do?
I stared at him blankly.
Because the one who cast that curse he’s talking about—
It’s me. ‘Airel Blandiche.’
“The Grand Duke of Epenferion has already finished subjugating the monsters and is returning. The capital will be in an uproar for a while.”
“Oh my, then the welcoming ceremony will be moved up. I must call a designer and order a new dress.”
I was sitting in front of my monitor when I froze mid-bite of my bibimbap.
‘Huh…?’
Wait, why does it taste like potato soup in my mouth?
What about the tteokgalbi I spent three hours making?
The fried egg I just cooked?
It was even soft-boiled!
“…My bibimbap!”
Has anyone ever transmigrated in the middle of a meal?
I didn’t get hit by a truck of transmigration. There wasn’t even any warning blackout.
I simply blinked—
And suddenly, I had transmigrated.
Without getting to eat even a single proper bite of the bibimbap I had poured my heart into making.
‘Are you kidding me?’
“Airel Blandiche.”
Just then, an elegant voice rang beside my ear as I stood up in panic.
A woman with golden hair pinned up tightly put down her knife and frowned.
“What is this commotion during a meal? I clearly told you not to tarnish the honor of the Blandiche ducal house.”
Clicking her tongue, she looked me up and down.
“It seems you need to be reeducated in etiquette. Ever since you began shamelessly chasing after the Grand Duke of Epenferion…”
Wait. Airel Blandiche?
The Grand Duke of Epenferion?
‘No way.’
While the woman’s scolding continued, I hurriedly tried to grasp the situation.
I quickly touched my hair. When I pulled at the tightly tied ribbon, my hair spilled over my shoulders.
And—
‘…I’m doomed.’
I stared at the long, dazzling silver strands.
Airel Blandiche.
The main villainess from the web novel My Boss Baby.
In that novel, the male lead, Lishid Epenferion, is the Grand Duke of the North who guards a mountain range where monsters appear.
And Airel, the beautiful silver-haired girl, is the villainess who casts the “Doll’s Curse” on Lishid because she has an unrequited crush on him—a curse that makes him small.
In the novel, it was mockingly called the “Pocket Man Project.”
Thankfully, that ridiculous plan quickly fails.
On his way back from monster subjugation, the cursed male lead ends up climbing into the carriage of the female lead, Seria, who was on her way to the Grand Temple after being appointed a saintess.
As expected of a saintess, Seria purifies Lishid’s curse, and the two naturally fall in love.
Their sweet romance while purifying monsters fills the middle of the story.
‘But in that story, I—meaning Airel Blandiche—’
Not only did she cast the curse on Lishid, but she also bullied Seria and eventually evolved into a full-fledged villain who used dark magic to control monsters and threaten the world.
And what happens to her?
‘She gets expelled from her family and dies at Lishid’s hands!’
Abandoned by everyone, falling lower and lower, she meets a miserable, gruesome end.
In short, she reaps what she sows.
‘Why did I have to read that before eating my bibimbap…?’
I clutched my pounding heart.
More than the fact that I had transmigrated into someone else’s body—into a romance fantasy—I was terrified of the future, where I might soon die.
I wanted to live.
It was the moment I realized that human survival instinct can overpower even the shock of transmigration.
‘Has the original story already started?’
A voice answered my question.
“The saintess newly appointed by the High Priest is someone you know, Edwin?”
Saintess.
‘That’s the original female lead.’
I snapped my head up.
The Duke, who had been chatting warmly with everyone except me, was now looking at the young man sitting beside me.
“Yes, Father. We have a small connection, so I will be escorting Lady Seria on the day she enters the Grand Temple.”
“To receive an escort from our house—what an honor for that saintess. Do well.”
The man smiled and nodded.
He had a gentle expression and, unlike Airel, golden hair.
Edwin Blandiche.
In other words… the original second male lead who will expel me from the family.
“What are you staring at?”
He frowned as if I had committed a crime just by looking at him.
‘This is insane.’
I let out a bitter sigh and lowered my eyes.
To be cast out by my brother and killed by the man I supposedly love.
No matter how I think about it, I cannot let that happen.
First, I resolved to eliminate the reason this body is supposed to die.
‘The first reason Airel dies is because she cast the curse on Lishid, right?’
I stayed quiet until the meal ended. As soon as I returned to my room, I summoned Airel’s maid, Jenis.
The very first thing I had to do—
Was cancel the curse.
