Chapter 2
“…Hmm? This plot feels awfully familiar. It sounds like something straight out of a romance novel!”
“I figured you’d like it.”
Max smirked as he met my sparkling eyes.
Somehow, my heart was racing.
My eyes widened with interest at the cliché romance-novel development, and Max continued explaining.
“The newspapers said Blake Leblanc discovered that the young lady he secretly loved had fallen for another man, so he left alone for the battlefield in order not to interfere with them.”
Though honestly, I have no idea why a witch newspaper is reporting human gossip.
I lightly ignored that last muttered complaint from Max.
“S-So what happened after that?”
“How would I know? I’m not interested. The newspaper didn’t explain that part either.”
“…Max.”
At my low voice, Max’s shoulders trembled.
“Do you know what annoys people the most?”
“What?”
“Stopping halfway through a story. No, seriously, what happened after that?! This is driving me crazy.”
I pounded my chest dramatically before collapsing against the chair in disappointment and throwing my head back.
My soft hair—a mysterious mix of pink and red—fluttered through the air and dragged across the floor.
“Your hair is sweeping the floor like a broom. I didn’t clean this room today.”
“Blake Leblanc… why does that name sound so familiar?”
“You probably became interested because you just heard he’s the protagonist of some dramatic romance story.”
“No. I really think I’ve heard it somewhere before.”
Although a long time had passed, I was sure I had heard that name before.
A name I had likely seen in one of the countless romance fantasy novels I devoured in my previous life.
“Hmmm…”
While I clutched my head and desperately searched through my memories—
Boom!
Colorful fireworks exploded beautifully across the pitch-black night sky.
Seeing them, Max ran toward the window.
“Oh, looks like that little witch who lives nearby came to visit. She fired a doorbell firework.”
“…Ah, who was it again?”
“The little witch Annie. Don’t tell me you don’t remember Annie, one of the few witches living in the west?”
“Ugh…”
“You’re disqualified as the representative witch of the West, Lady Vivian. How can one of the four great witches representing the cardinal directions not know the witches living in her own territory?”
As Max started nagging again, I quickly stood up.
Covering one ear with one hand and clutching the newspaper with the other, I teleported straight into the garden.
I could hear Max shouting, asking where I was running off to this time, but I ignored him.
“He really has gotten old.”
It had already been 250 years since I rescued and raised that baby dragon abandoned by its mother because its wings were torn.
Though I certainly never expected him to become such a nagging old man.
“Open sesame.”
With the meaningless chant, I snapped my fingers.
The fountain in the garden split apart to either side.
Then I slowly walked down the staircase revealed beneath it.
No matter how many times I tried retracing my memories, I still couldn’t figure out which original story I had transmigrated into.
That was why I always checked the newspaper whenever it carried special reports about the human world.
Flopping dramatically onto the sofa inside my secret room, I unfolded the newspaper again.
Blake Leblanc.
Just as Max said, he really was an impressive young man.
“I knew I’d find you here.”
Creak—
Max entered through the basement door holding the hand of a small child.
Annie, a little girl with orange hair and freckles, quickly removed her pointed witch hat and bowed politely.
“Hello, Lady Vivian! I’m Annie! You said last time that you’d show me the basement, so I came!”
“Hello, Annie. Feel free to look around.”
“W-Wowww… this is the basement of the great witch of the West, Lady Vivian!”
Golden treasures glittered so brightly they nearly hurt the eyes.
Around them were countless sinister magical tools.
Of course, everything was mixed together in complete chaos with absolutely no organization whatsoever.
“There are so many fascinating things here!”
I chuckled at her adorable reaction and proudly shrugged my shoulders.
“These are treasures I’ve gathered over the course of 300 years. Be careful. Honestly, some of them were things I picked up randomly, so even I don’t know what they do.”
“Yes, ma’am!”
Replying sharply with a salute, Annie quickly became absorbed in the basement junk.
Meanwhile, I buried my face in the newspaper again and stared so closely at Blake’s portrait that it almost seemed like I would crawl into the page.
Clear and transparent silver hair, dazzling like stars spread across the night sky.
Violet eyes.
A young man so handsome he would never be easily forgotten.
He really is handsome.
Even after looking again, his appearance was absurdly perfect.
Perhaps saying even the beautiful dragon race would pale beside him explained it best.
“You’re still staring at that human man? Apparently, even though he’s extraordinary, rumors say his personality is filthier than a black dragon’s.”
“Filthier than a black dragon’s? How is that possible? Those bastards are unbelievably rotten!”
“Exactly. They say it’s because of the curse preventing him from sleeping properly. Still, how awful must his personality be?”
“Max. Where did you learn words like ‘rotten bastard’?”
“From you.”
“Sorry.”
A human whose personality was worse than a black dragon’s.
As I clicked my tongue, a sudden thought struck me.
‘Wait.’
The strongest existence when it came to having a terrible personality.
A man whose mouth spewed venom every time he spoke.
The heir of the most powerful family in the Empire, feared by everyone.
Yet also known as a hopeless romantic who cared for nothing except his first love.
And…
‘The man who spent his entire life trapped in hell because of a curse that prevented him from sleeping!’
The newspaper slipped from my hands and fell to the floor.
My trembling eyes widened slowly, and I shouted loudly.
“My Lovely Savior! That was the title of the novel!”
<My Lovely Savior>
The story of the kind and gentle heroine, Lea, who becomes childhood friends with Ian—the abandoned imperial prince—and ultimately saves him.
And Blake, the heroine’s childhood friend and second male lead, also appeared in that novel!
“That’s right, Blake Leblanc was the villain in the story!”
If I remembered correctly—
Blake, who wandered lost between love and friendship, eventually made a terrible choice one day.
‘Hmm… was it because he wanted to possess the heroine?’
The exact reason didn’t matter.
In the end, unable to abandon the friendship he treasured as much as love—
He sacrificed himself to save the two protagonists and met his death.
It had been such a tragic ending that readers flooded the comment section in outrage.
“The poor second male lead who suffered because of his curse… why did it take me this long to remember?”
“Huh? What are you suddenly talking about— Annie, don’t touch that!”
Max frowned as if I were speaking nonsense, then immediately panicked when objects began crashing from the shelves.
Apparently Annie had touched something, because the basement shelves tipped forward and everything inside spilled out chaotically.
“Achoo! Cough cough!”
“Oh my goodness, Annie! Put that down! That’s a potion that turns people into frogs!”
The basement, already a complete disaster, became even more chaotic.
“I finally remembered the original story! I’m so moved I could cry. Sob.”
“That’s not emotion, it’s dust! Achoo! Annie, stop that!”
“Wow! What’s this old papyrus scroll?”
Annie hopped around excitedly while holding a worn-out papyrus scroll she had somehow found.
“Uh… even I don’t know. I’ve never seen it before. It does look like something I shoved away ages ago…”
“Then open it!”
Even at the crucial moment Annie unrolled the papyrus—
I was still overwhelmed with emotion.
After all, the lingering discomfort that had bothered me for 300 years had finally been resolved.
Then suddenly—
‘Wait, were there witches in that novel?’
It was surprising the worldbuilding was even larger than I remembered, but honestly, that wasn’t important right now.
More importantly—
‘I wish the portal still existed so I could immediately go watch the original story unfold in person!’
Since there was currently no way to travel to the human world, I decided I should visit Laura later and ask her to include more human-world news in the papers.
And just as I thought that—
“Whoa!”
A brilliant white light suddenly flashed beside me.
I saw Annie dropping the violently trembling papyrus scroll from her hands in slow motion.
“…Huh?”
A strange purple magic circle burst out from the scroll and flew directly toward me.
A magic circle?
Everything happened far too quickly for me to understand the situation.
A blinding flash swallowed my vision.
“Aaaah, Lady Vivian!”
“Oh no! What do we do?!”
Max’s green eyes filled with horror.
But the last thing I saw was him desperately reaching toward me as if trying to grab hold of me—
Then the world turned black.
And when I opened my eyes again…
“Hahaha, I heard Blake Leblanc is attending tonight’s banquet.”
“That Blake Leblanc? Why would he come here?”
“Why else? This banquet is for Lady Lea Everett’s birthday celebration. Everyone knows about Lord Leblanc’s unrequited love.”
“Still, it’s unsettling. People from the Leblanc family give me chills.”
“Shh! Are you trying to get yourself killed?! If someone hears you, Lord Leblanc might make you disappear without a trace.”
…What?
A banquet? Blake Leblanc?
Thump, step, step—
An elegant waltz echoed in a steady rhythm.
Beyond the giant glass doors, people dressed in glittering gowns and tuxedos moved gracefully.
“W-Wait?”
My frozen brain slowly began functioning again as I rapidly grasped the situation.
Dong, dong.
As the bells announcing the New Year rang out on January 1st, I screamed in shock.
Don’t tell me…
“This is the human world?!”
