Chapter 01
0. The Beginning
Except for the fact that I was abandoned, I was an ordinary citizen of South Korea.
Ah… maybe that already makes me far from ordinary?
My parents never once felt something called “love,” even as their child grew up. In the end, when I turned five, they left me at an orphanage.
I practically raised younger children there myself, and somehow managed to land a job.
That day too, after being harshly chewed out by my boss, I was only leaving work close to 11 p.m.
“As if he doesn’t have his own hands and feet.”
Maybe he’d had a fight with his wife that morning, because he was especially irritable that day.
Not only did he dump paperwork and errands on me, he even forced me to pick up his son from academy classes. Because of that abuse of power, my work piled up and overtime became unavoidable.
“Ugh, screw you!”
I flipped the finger uselessly at the night sky—since it would never reach my boss anyway.
Honk—! Hooonk!
A horn blared—something that should never echo through a quiet alley like that.
When I turned my head toward the sound, I saw a motorcycle racing toward me—without a visible driver.
“Uh… huh?”
It didn’t slow down. In an instant, my body was lifted into the air.
And in that moment, I thought:
“My life seriously sucks…”
And then—
1. Becoming Roxina Tanzerick
“Ugh…”
I shivered from a chill that a dead person shouldn’t even be able to feel.
Even though my body was wrapped in soft fabric, cold air slipped through tiny gaps and made me open my eyes.
The lavish sight before me left me speechless.
“Where… am I?”
Gasp!
The childish lisp in my own voice made me clamp a hand over my mouth.
‘Is this a side effect of the accident?’
That seemed like the most plausible explanation. I tried speaking again—but the slurred pronunciation didn’t improve.
“What is this, seriously…”
Knock, knock—
“Miss, may I come in?”
A young woman’s voice came from outside the door.
At the unfamiliar voice, I instinctively shrank back. But not knowing this, she knocked again when I didn’t answer.
“Miss, are you still asleep?”
‘What should I do?’
I didn’t even know how I was alive—meeting a stranger felt dangerous.
‘If I just stay quiet, she’ll leave.’
Thinking that, I pulled the blanket over my head.
Click.
The door opened.
‘Gasp.’
Her voice grew closer. I remained frozen under the covers.
“You can’t oversleep today. It’s the day you’ve been counting down to. You must get up.”
‘A day I’ve been waiting for?’
I never had days like that. I didn’t celebrate my birthday—it marked the beginning of my misfortune. And Christmas without Santa wasn’t worth celebrating.
So what was she talking about?
Curiosity got the better of me, and I peeked my face out from under the blanket.
“Miss! You’re finally awake!”
The first thing I saw was a foreign-looking woman with brown hair neatly braided into two pigtails.
Her unusual appearance and fluent Korean startled me so much I stammered.
“W-who…?”
“Miss, there’s no time for jokes. The Duke will be arriving soon!”
‘Miss…? Duke…?’
She said things I couldn’t understand and helped me sit up.
“Please get up. Even if we start preparing now, we’re short on time.”
She smiled brightly and pulled a cord by the bed.
Three women in identical outfits entered the room.
“There’s no time. Hurry!”
Under the direction of the first woman I met, the three began changing my clothes.
I was so stunned I could only gape.
“All done!”
The women withdrew their hands from my face, looking immensely satisfied.
“Miss, you look just like a doll!”
The youngest-looking one held up a square mirror.
I widened my eyes at the reflection.
‘This… is me?’
The child in the mirror widened her eyes too.
Round white cheeks. Jet-black hair. And bright blue eyes no Korean could naturally have.
She was more delicate than the doll my elementary school desk mate once proudly showed off as a gift from her parents.
‘What happened…? I definitely got hit by a motorcycle and died.’
In confusion, I touched my face as if possessed.
Perhaps thinking I was still half-asleep, the maid lowered the mirror.
“Ah—!”
“You can’t stay in your room today! The Duke just passed through the front gates of the estate!”
She rushed me so urgently that I couldn’t admire this incredible appearance any longer.
“Wow…”
Following the anxious maid out, I saw high ceilings, glittering chandeliers, and burgundy wallpaper lining the corridor.
Staircases sparkled as if dusted with gold. Classical portraits and landscapes blended seamlessly into the walls.
“Miss, this way!”
In a large hall, rows of people dressed like the maids stood in formation.
Some nervously bit their lips. Others wore polite smiles with lowered heads.
They stood on either side of a carpet laid across marble floors—like a chairman’s inauguration ceremony from a drama.
“M-Miss, what brings you—”
The man standing near me widened his eyes in surprise—
And then the grand doors opened.
Backlight poured in through the gap, and everyone bowed.
“We greet the head of the House of Tanzerick, Duke Heinox Tanzerick.”
‘What?’
Heinox Tanzerick.
The name sent chills down my spine.
He was the hidden antagonist from the last novel I read before dying—Please Don’t Pluck That Flower.
A hero of the Empire, powerful enough to be checked by the imperial family. Tanzerick used every means to block the First Prince—the male lead—from ascending the throne, supposedly to maintain imperial authority.
Probably because if the First Prince became emperor, the Duke’s influence would shrink.
‘So the man in front of me is Heinox Tanzerick? Then this is the world of that novel?’
As I pieced things together, the woman beside me whispered:
“Miss, you must bow!”
Her hand pushed my back, and I bonked my forehead against her leg.
Squinting up at the large shadow approaching, I craned my short neck—
And met an icy gaze.
“What is that?”
…That?
Even if he’s the villainous Duke, how can he say that to someone he just met?
Memories of being ignored unless I raised my voice surfaced, and I shouted without thinking:
“That’s really rude!”
The air instantly turned cold.
“Did you just say I was rude?”
The maid beside me trembled and hurriedly spoke.
“T-the young lady is still very young… Please forgive her.”
What? What did I do wrong?!
I’d just died hours ago. Even if he was terrifying in the novel, I wasn’t scared.
In fact, his arrogant attitude overlapped with my boss’s face, and I stepped forward.
“I’m not young!”
Despite my awful pronunciation.
“Not young…?”
The corner of the Duke’s lips twisted upward.
“Yes! I’m not! You look perfectly fine but you’re incredibly rude!”
I may have mixed in some personal resentment, but I’d always wanted to unleash words like that on my boss—so they flowed freely.
“Rude…”
Was that the cold sneer described in the book? His lowered voice made cold sweat trickle down my back.
Ah. I’m dead.
The maid beside me looked like she might collapse.
“I don’t know who’s truly being rude.”
At his voice above me, I wondered if I was about to die again.
I squeezed my eyes shut.
“To her father, whom she hasn’t seen in a long time.”
…Father?
At the unfamiliar word, I snapped my eyes open.
Blue eyes. Jet-black hair.
Features nearly identical to this body.
And the maid had called me “young lady” earlier—meaning noble daughter.
“Gasp!”
As I stumbled back, the Duke slowly curled his lips.
“Seems you finally remember.”
‘No way.’
“Your father.”
‘Don’t tell me…’
‘Did I just become Roxina Tanzerick?’
