Chapter 3
I looked at the grandfather clock placed in the corner. Today, Lady Elfriede was supposed to have tea time with Klaus, so if things went well, I would be able to catch him.
I would take Rumi with me. It was time to stop wandering inside a fantasy and return to reality.
How to leave this world was still an unsolved problem, but they say where there is a will, there is a way.
If Rumi and I truly wanted to return to reality, then surely we would be able to find that method.
After a while, the Crown Prince finally rose from his desk. Sensing his movement, I also put down my pen and stood up.
Footsteps echoed from beyond the wall, and then Klaus, the male lead, passed through the wall and appeared with confident strides.
He didn’t leave immediately. He stopped beside my desk, right in front of the office entrance, and fixed his violet eyes straight on me.
“Musel. The tea with the lady will be held in the rear garden. If anything urgent comes up, come there.”
“Yes, understood.”
I bowed and saw him off. Soon, he left the room with his attendants.
Only after he disappeared did I straighten my back.
“His concentration is seriously something.”
I couldn’t help but admire Klaus’s work ethic.
I’m not even exaggerating—he came earlier than me this morning and handled state affairs nonstop without leaving the room even once until tea time.
Officials came and went constantly to report to him, but he never lost focus and stayed in his seat the whole time.
It was impressive. So this is the level you need to be a Crown Prince.
“Alright, admiration ends here!”
I lightly patted my face to snap myself back.
Now I had to hurry. I needed to catch Elfriede after she met the Crown Prince in the rear garden—no, Rumi, who had possessed Elfriede.
Before leaving, I neatly organized my desk and locked all important documents in the drawer.
Since I was serving as the Crown Prince’s direct aide, I had to do my job properly to reduce unexpected variables.
“Phew… let’s go.”
Just you wait, crane. I’m coming to catch you.
In the rear garden of the Crown Prince’s palace, there was a well-kept greenhouse. I peeked toward it, and as expected, the two of them were having tea there.
For now, I decided to wait near the greenhouse. Once tea time ended, the male lead would leave first, so it seemed best to quickly enter and meet Rumi, who had possessed Elfriede.
“……”
With a tense heart, I hid among the shrubs.
Suddenly, I worried about the Crown Prince seeing his office empty while I was gone.
But there was no helping it.
Meeting Rumi was the most important thing right now.
Even if I got on the Crown Prince’s bad side and got fired as his aide right after things started, I didn’t care. To find a way back home, I had to meet Rumi.
After waiting for a while—
“……!”
At last, the attendants began moving busily. As expected, Klaus came out of the greenhouse.
This was my chance!
Lowering my body, I swiftly moved through the shrubs. After quickly confirming that the attendants were following behind Klaus, I slipped into the greenhouse like the wind.
But at that moment, another group heading toward the entrance stopped as soon as they saw me.
“Sir Musel?”
“Oh my, Sir Musel!”
Facing the cat-like beauty with bright red hair head-on, I froze like ice.
Lady Elfriede—the empire’s highest-ranking noble and the villainess of the original story. Just as described in the novel, she was beautiful yet looked arrogant.
As I hesitated, a sharp voice rang out.
“Sir Musel. What is the meaning of suddenly blocking my path?”
Staring straight at her face, I muttered in a very small voice only she could hear.
“Crane.”
“!”
Elfriede’s expression changed so dramatically it was beyond words. Her tightly furrowed brows relaxed, and in an instant her face turned into one of shock.
There was no doubt—it was Rumi.
“Could you have everyone step back for a moment, my… lady?”
The title “lady” felt extremely awkward.
At my words, Rumi, her face pale, spoke:
“Everyone, withdraw.”
“My lady…!”
“Now!”
At her sharp command, the hesitant maids quickly left the greenhouse as if scattering.
At last, we were alone. I pulled up the corners of my lips into a grin.
“It’s really nice to see you here, Rumi. You’ve completely become Lady Elfriede.”
“!”
Elfriede—no, Rumi—widened her eyes.
Relieved that I had finally found her, words started spilling out of me.
“I never thought we’d actually get isekai’d into a web novel. Anyway, it’s a relief. I managed to find you like this.”
“W-who…?”
Rumi, now with red hair, was trembling so badly it was painful to watch.
But I didn’t take her state seriously and rushed straight to the point without even properly introducing myself.
“Let’s go back, Rumi. Do you know how worried your parents are right now?”
“Who are you, I said!”
“!”
At the sudden shout, I shut my mouth.
It was unexpected. I didn’t think she would react this strongly.
Of course, since she chose to possess this world herself, I didn’t expect her to welcome the idea of going back—but this was too much.
First, I needed to calm her down. Raising both hands, I spoke gently.
“It’s me, Jin. Eojin. I’m not a stranger, so calm down.”
“Jin? You’re Jin?”
Rumi looked me up and down with disbelief.
I knew exactly what that look meant.
Almost wanting to cry, I replied:
“I’m not a guy. I’m a woman.”
“What?”
Her already cat-like eyes narrowed even more.
“Musel is a man.”
“So I possessed a male character, but my body is female.”
I lowered my head.
“I followed what you wrote in the email. But something must’ve gone wrong. I never thought I’d end up in a side male lead.”
“Musel became a woman?”
Rumi still looked at me suspiciously.
But that wasn’t what mattered right now. I had to return to the main point.
“Anyway, Rumi. Let’s go back first. While you’re here like this, your parents out there are crying their eyes out.”
At that, Rumi—wearing the face of a stranger—refused immediately.
“No.”
“…What?”
The question slipped out stupidly. What did I just hear?
“I said no. I like it here. This place is the perfect world for me.”
“Hey, Crane!”
My chest felt tight. Why was she being so stubborn?!
But what she said next was even worse.
“Don’t call me Crane!”
“!”
Her sharp, furious voice echoed through the greenhouse.
“I am Lady Elfriede! The one with the noblest blood in this empire! And soon, I’ll be the Crown Princess—!”
“Wait, Rumi.”
I hurriedly cut her off, still stubbornly calling her by her real name.
“Get a grip. This isn’t reality—it’s a novel. You’re Rumi, a citizen of the Republic of Korea—”
“This is my reality now!”
Rumi’s eyes gleamed intensely.
I stared at her blankly.
Was she really out of her mind? Thinking a novel was reality… this level of immersion was a problem.
Rumi continued firmly:
“This place is far happier than that miserable world! Jin, if you’re truly my friend, you should support me being happy!”
I couldn’t say anything for a moment.
To be honest, Rumi hadn’t lived a happy life. It must have been incredibly difficult for her to shake off the depression that had plagued her for years.
Her family and friends, including me, had tried everything to help her feel happiness.
We invited her to group chats, chatted about trivial things, and sometimes even dragged her out to go outside.
Even so, her condition hadn’t improved much. Her depression ran deep.
“Jin… I want to be happy too. I want to live normally like everyone else. I finally feel like I can breathe now…”
Her voice was now mixed with tears.
“You don’t know anything. How hard it was for me… how much I suffered!”
“……”
I stayed silent.
From the moment I got here, I was determined to take Rumi back to reality no matter what. But now, that resolve wavered slightly.
Would it be right to leave Rumi in this world?
If I only thought about her, it almost seemed right.
In her real world, there was only unhappiness—endless despair, discouragement, and the self-loathing she felt seeing others live their lives properly.
Honestly, I couldn’t completely fail to understand why she clung to this world.
But Rumi had parents waiting for her in tears, and her life wasn’t completely ruined yet.
There was still so much left for her. With modern medicine, she could treat her illness, and there were people like me willing to help her.
So my conclusion didn’t change.
“Even so, let’s go back, Rumi.”
“!”
Rumi glared at me with reddened eyes. Her gray eyes felt strangely unfamiliar.
Right now, we needed compromise. I wasn’t going to give up on her, but I didn’t want to drag her out by force either.
So—
“I’m not saying we leave right now. If you come to the conclusion that you can’t find true happiness here, then we’ll leave together. How about that?”
That’s what I said—but I was certain.
The happiness found in a dream that isn’t reality is nothing but fake.
Rumi thought of this fantasy as a utopia, but that was only because she didn’t truly understand the world she was in.
With time, she would realize it.
That a perfectly happy world doesn’t exist anywhere.
And so, if I just waited a little—
Rumi would wake up from this illusion on her own.
