~Chapter 1~
The End of Love
“Yoonmi, I’m really sorry, but I’m in a hurry right now.”
“Could you lend me just two million won?”
“I’ll pay you back next month. I promise.”
Love was something that dragged me into a bottomless abyss.
For him, I would have given up everything without regret. My feelings had grown so large that I couldn’t bring myself to refuse any of his requests—so much so that I even forced myself to fulfill demands far beyond what I could handle.
It all started with something small.
He said he’d gotten into an accident and needed money for repairs.
“Of course! You’re basically my family.”
“Where should I send it?”
“I love you. Take care of it.”
I gave him the two million won without hesitation—so foolish that I wanted to beat my past self to death. It was backed by fierce trust and unwavering love.
After receiving the money, he whispered sweet words, telling me there was no woman as lovely as me. And stupidly, I believed those words were love, pushing myself deeper and deeper into the pit.
The second request came much faster.
He said his mother didn’t have enough money for surgery, and once again I opened my banking app without hesitation.
“Mom’s really sick… she needs surgery.”
“We’re going to be family anyway. Please help me.”
“I really love you, Yoonmi. You’re the only one I have.”
It felt like love.
The fullness in my heart, a life that didn’t feel empty, days floating by like I was walking on clouds.
It took a whole year to realize that this wasn’t love—it was me being taken for a fool.
But eventually, I did realize it.
His love wasn’t directed at me.
It was directed at my bank account.
“Oppa, about the money I lent you before… I’m really struggling. When do you think you can pay me back?”
The saying “You lend money standing up and collect it kneeling down” was painfully accurate. Afraid he might get upset and leave me, I agonized endlessly before finally saying it.
Unpaid utility bills piling up, overdue phone fees, my security deposit being eaten away instead of paying rent, loan repayment messages flooding in. No matter how hard I worked, my salary never accumulated—it sank further into the negative. I took out more loans to meet his requests, and then more loans to cover those loans.
Eventually, I reached the point where even paying interest was difficult.
So I told him.
Because it was too hard to endure alone.
Because he was my boyfriend.
Because we were supposed to become family.
I wanted to lean on him. I wanted help. I didn’t expect as much as I had given—just enough space to breathe.
“Lend money? Yoonmi, we’re going to be family. Why would you say that?”
“Do you have any idea what I’m going through? I’m the one who’s struggling more. And you want to talk about money?”
“How can you be so selfish? Is that all you are as a woman?”
The warmth in his eyes vanished, replaced with icy coldness. Looking into those frozen eyes, I felt a deep despair.
That’s when I understood.
Ah… this wasn’t love.
By the time I realized everything, it was far too late.
When he turned his back and left without hesitation, all that remained was a mountain of debt and an empty heart.
In the end, clutching my churning stomach, I climbed the stairs—wanting to end this foolish, stupid life.
Standing on the rooftop, I felt strangely sad.
I had only loved someone.
I had only wanted an ordinary life like everyone else.
Why did my life end like this?
I laughed.
“Where did Kim Yoonmi go—the one who said men were all about looks?”
“What do you mean? My oppa has the face of an actor.”
Just before the end, my friend’s incredulous face from when I first met him flashed through my mind. I was the girl who loved handsome men—yet I had fallen for someone who wasn’t my type in looks or personality at all.
If I die now, then in my next life, please let me be a woman who knows nothing about love.
Let me be someone who puts herself first—who thinks she’s the best, who only cares about herself, selfish and wicked enough not to care about others.
Let me be rich, smart, beautiful, successful, and good at judging men.
Not a stupid, foolish Kim Yoonmi like this time.
“Count, why are you doing this…?”
Her voice barely escaped her lips as she desperately grabbed Count Pyro’s steps as he tried to leave.
Her beige hair once shimmered with halo-like softness, but after long neglect, it now stuck out dry and lifeless. Her once-fresh green eyes had dulled, losing their light.
Tears pooled in her unfocused gaze.
“What did I do wrong?”
Annoyed, Kellen turned back sharply to face her.
His brown hair was slicked back without a single strand out of place. He wasn’t handsome enough to dominate high society, but attractive enough to make a few noble ladies sigh in secret.
His cruel lips twisted upward.
“Serna, if you want my love, bring me what I want.”
The merciless words tightened around Serna’s throat.
“But…”
“That prestigious family of yours can’t even give me one trade ship?”
“That’s not something I can decide on my own…”
Her voice shrank until it was barely audible.
Her emaciated body and hollowed face made her look like someone who hadn’t eaten properly in ages. Her fervent love for Kellen had drained her completely.
“Until you give me the trade ship, you won’t even see my face, Lady Serna.”
He turned away coldly, and she could no longer stop him.
Serna had already given him everything—her body, her heart, countless jewels, money, buildings, shops—almost everything she owned now belonged to Kellen.
He had whispered sweet promises, saying they’d hold an engagement ceremony once his business stabilized. And like a fool, Serna believed it was love.
She offered things she could never afford to lose, and she loved the way Kellen smiled as he took them. His smile was like a drug—so intoxicating she never even realized she was being robbed.
Her mother had died before she could remember her face. Her father was sick. Though the Troide Count family lived comfortably on paper, Serna’s foolish love slowly devoured it all.
Now, aside from one trade ship and the castle they lived in, everything of value was gone.
‘But if I lose the trade ship too…’
She thought of her father, Count Troide, bedridden in a small countryside villa.
She tried to steady herself. Several servants had already left because she couldn’t pay their wages. Her father’s medicine cost a fortune each month. The trade ship was her last lifeline.
Yet even now, the fear of never seeing Kellen again made her tremble. She covered her face with her thin fingers and collapsed.
Among nobles, she had earned the miserable nickname “the Skeleton Lady.”
‘My lady, may I have the honor of this dance?’
Serna Troide, who had once been beautiful, was simply innocent—ignorant of men and the ways of the world.
When she first debuted in high society, clutching her champagne glass nervously, she caught the hearts of many noblemen.
Beige hair in soft waves, fresh green eyes, porcelain skin, and a violet dress.
She blushed as she stared at the hand Kellen offered her.
That was the beginning of her first love.
She waited endlessly for his messages, day after day. The thirst she felt was far worse than physical hunger.
Memories flooded back like a panorama.
If only she hadn’t taken his hand that day.
If only she hadn’t been a woman desperate for love.
Regret surged, even though she knew it was too late.
Then a sudden headache struck.
“Aaah!!”
Through her fading vision, Anna—the maid who had served her since childhood—burst into the room.
“My lady!”
Serna’s eyes closed as her consciousness sank into darkness.
Reincarnation?
A soothing aroma and warm sunlight brushed over my eyes. I opened them lightly, as if waking from a refreshing sleep.
Above me was an old but luxurious canopy bed. Ivory curtains fluttered in the breeze from an open window.
The white blanket was embroidered with unfamiliar gold-thread patterns.
Everything felt strange.
A tea table I’d never seen in Kim Yoonmi’s room. A beige rug. A white room—elegant, but poorly maintained.
I touched my face.
I had wished for reincarnation, but not like this—not as a grown adult in an unfamiliar place.
I dragged my weak body to the vanity by the window and looked into the mirror.
“…Wow.”
A woman in pitiful condition stared back at me.
Not black hair and eyes anymore. Dry beige hair like a broom. Dull green eyes without life. Sunken cheeks.
“Is this a person or a skeleton?”
A bad feeling wrapped around me.
Just before dying, a vast light had surrounded me.
It spoke.
“How foolish. Taking one’s own life is a grave sin.”
“I will punish you.”
“You will not be able to end your life again.”
“Find true life within loneliness and aching solitude.”
And then—
Serna.
Memories poured in.
Her foolish love.
A ruined count family.
The Skeleton Lady.
I survived one miserable life just to live another?
The door burst open.
“My lady!”
Anna ran in, crying.
“It’s okay,” I said.
“…Pardon?”
“You don’t need to apologize.”
From now on, Serna would be a woman who loved money more than love.
“Isn’t it obvious?”
“That bastard?”
“What?!”
“I’m the one rejecting him now.”
