Chapter 7
A puppy running around.
A raccoon rolling on the grass with its belly exposed.
A dog enjoying a swim.
A cat circling around my feet, acting cute.
This place was no different from the paradise I had built. And sitting across the table was the one who shattered that peace.
“I heard my dog is here, Agatha.”
It only took a moment for heaven to turn into hell. The destroyer of peace fixed his gaze on me. Behind his glasses, his cold red eyes were staring me down.
“Did you kidnap my dog just to get my attention?”
That he was a famous dog lover was something everyone in the empire—and every reader of the novel—knew.
Kidnap? Me? I’m the kind of person who could live my whole life without ever breaking the law.
“I received a report that my dog was seen here. You’d better not pretend otherwise.”
“Cough!”
A report? A report?!
What kind of awful person falsely reports an innocent person like this? Bring them here right now. Let’s face each other!
The man frowned, turned his head away, and avoided looking at me.
His name was Nael Milan Brules—the male lead of the novel Don’t Become Obsessed with Saint Lucia, the story I had ended up in.
And at the same time, someone who did not end well with Agatha Lucy Stadion.
In the novel, Agatha was a villainess who liked the male lead, stalked him, and harassed the female lead. She believed Nael would end up with her, not the low-born heroine—because of a verbal promise their parents had made long ago.
Trusting that promise, Agatha tormented the two leads, only to have all her wealth and title stripped away, ultimately being branded a traitor and meeting a miserable end.
That happened around the middle of the novel, and I had stopped reading there, planning to continue once it was completed.
But now, I had become that very Agatha.
And it had already been six months since I woke up in her body after the carriage accident. That meant there were about six months left until the female lead awakened as a saint and the story truly began.
“Why would that dog even be here? Or rather… would it?”
“Exactly. That’s what I should be asking. You’ve been quiet for half a year—has your illness flared up again?”
Nael glared at me coldly.
His silver hair swayed neatly with every movement. Behind his glasses, his red eyes were as beautiful as finely cut rubies. His firm lips, slightly reddish, balanced his sharp features.
But all of that was overshadowed by the intense disgust directed at me.
Well… if I were him, I’d probably feel the same after being harassed like that.
Unwanted affection is no different from violence—I knew that all too well from my ex-boyfriend.
After we broke up, he kept clinging to me, following me around, forcing me to move houses, change my number, even switch jobs.
What Agatha had done to Nael before was truly terrible. It wasn’t my doing, but if I suddenly claimed I was a different soul who’d taken over, I’d just be treated like a lunatic.
Ahem. He looks like he could kill me with his eyes. I averted my gaze and denied it.
“That’s not possible.”
“Not possible? Is this your new way of getting attention? Not a single quiet day. I must’ve been insane to think you’d finally given up on me.”
I told you, that wasn’t me.
I just ended up speaking politely without thinking.
More importantly, ever since I came into this body, I hadn’t even crossed paths with Nael once. All my efforts to avoid the protagonists had gone to waste because he came looking for me.
Now that I think about it, this is ridiculous. He came here himself—why is he taking it out on me? This is so unfair.
“…Sigh. Let’s stop this pointless argument. Hisha is my dog. I’ll be taking him.”
Hisha?
I knew about Hisha. He was Nael’s divine beast. Up to the part I had read, Hisha hadn’t awakened his powers yet.
That divine beast was what eventually tied Nael and the female lead together… If I wasn’t careful, I could get entangled with both of them.
That’s basically a death flag.
I quickly nodded. He had lost his dog, and if finding it meant he’d leave, there was no reason to refuse.
As if he had been waiting for my permission, Nael stood up abruptly and strode off.
Which dog in the world dragged the male lead here? Please just find it quickly and leave.
Contrary to my expectations, Nael returned after about two hours.
As if he had fought a fierce battle, his clothes were disheveled, and Hisha was baring his teeth and growling. Held by the scruff of his neck, Hisha looked even smaller next to the tall Nael.
“Now that you’ve found Hisha, you won’t be coming back here again, right?”
“…Ha. You really are something. Do you actually think I came here to see you?”
As if.
I’d rather we never see each other again.
“No. I just wanted to say—I hope something like this doesn’t happen again. We’re better off not seeing each other.”
Even if he scared me, I had to say what needed to be said.
That stubborn part of me that couldn’t hold back spoke up again. Facing a man who clearly despised me wasn’t exactly pleasant.
Seriously, how did the original Agatha chase after someone like him? His gaze alone could suffocate a person.
In that sense, I hoped this would be the last time we met. Nael was a major obstacle to the paradise I dreamed of.
“Sigh. That’s exactly what I wanted to say.”
With a final glance, as if he didn’t want to deal with me anymore, Nael left my paradise.
Yes. Don’t ever come back. Please.
“Your Grace, are you alright?”
Emma asked with concern. I definitely saw her run away the moment Nael arrived.
I shot her a look and said,
“Throw salt.”
“…Pardon?”
“Buy a ton of coarse salt and scatter it everywhere! So he never comes back!”
“Yes, Your Grace!”
Emma replied energetically.
Ever since I lost my memories, Emma had said the best thing was that I stopped chasing after the crown prince. She even cried when she threw away all of Nael’s portraits from my bedroom.
“Our lady… our lady…!”
Watching Emma enthusiastically scatter salt, I clapped my hands lightly.
Let’s cut ties. Completely.
Outside the mansion, Nael sighed and glared at Hisha. If not for him, he would never have come all the way here.
Hisha was no ordinary dog. If he had wanted, there was no way he could have been “kidnapped.”
“What a nuisance. Why did you come all the way here?”
“Woof?”
“Don’t give me that nonsense.”
[That’s insulting.]
At Nael’s words, Hisha stopped acting cute and spoke solemnly. Perched on Nael’s shoulder was a small dark-blue wolf cub with golden eyes. He might look like a cute puppy, but his true nature was that of a wolf.
“Did that woman kidnap you? You had the strength to resist. You could’ve run away.”
No matter how he thought about it, there was no reason for Hisha—who had been quietly staying at Nael’s residence—to end up here.
Hisha tilted his head.
[I don’t know either. I just remember coming to my senses here.]
So it must have been her trick.
Over the past six months, Agatha had changed strangely. She used to love luxury and parties, but suddenly stopped leaving the mansion.
At first, rumors spread that she was ill, but she proved otherwise by causing trouble in the streets and even snatching a dog from another noble lady.
Even after divine beasts lost their status, many nobles still raised animals, clinging to hope. While more people were abandoning them, some still cared for them.
And yet, she had taken one.
The noble lady who lost her dog cried and gave an interview to a gossip magazine, spreading the story throughout high society.
But Agatha didn’t seem to care and continued her strange behavior—collecting even more animals.
“She’s always been selfish.”
Agatha had always been that kind of woman. Someone who considered herself the most important above all else. Since childhood, she forced her feelings onto Nael, as if his didn’t matter.
You’ll probably live like that forever.
He had always thought so.
But today’s Agatha felt… different.
And to him, of all people, she said:
“We’re better off not seeing each other.”
Had she really changed?
“…What does it matter?”
After a brief pause, Nael continued walking. The knight waiting for him brought his horse forward.
He sincerely hoped that today would be the last time he ever saw Agatha.
