Chapter 2
Idette had been weak since childhood.
She was always sickly, often fainting for no reason. Because of this, her family never let her do anything on her own.
The Lushe family was a prestigious noble house, with plenty of wealth.
For Idette’s sake, there was nothing they wouldn’t provide.
Every week they hired a priest to perform healing, and they tried every remedy that was said to help.
But even with all of that, Idette’s health never improved.
Then one day, she suddenly came down with a terrible fever.
No matter how many priests were called to heal her, nothing worked.
Their expressions grew heavy, and eventually they told her family to “prepare themselves.”
Prepare themselves…?
The Count and Countess of Lushe felt like their hearts were being torn apart. They begged and cried, offering as much money as needed if only their daughter could be saved. But in the end, the priests simply left.
“Idette!”
And yet, after an entire month bedridden, Idette suddenly recovered on her own and woke up.
She cried so much that day, desperately calling for God.
“Mother, Father.”
“Yes, yes… do you know how worried we were?”
Her parents hugged her, tears streaming down their faces, as they stroked her hair and whispered thanks.
But Idette… looked strangely blank.
“What’s wrong, dear?”
“……”
Because at that moment, she had remembered her past life.
***
Idette was twelve years old then. From the moment she regained her past-life memories, her life changed.
In her memories, she saw that “Idette Lushe, daughter of a count,” was a side character in a novel. Worse still—she wouldn’t live long.
She was destined to be a sickly wife, who eventually died while giving birth to a child.
“…Ha.”
At first, Idette thought it was just a dream and tried to deny it. But the more she denied it, the worse her body ached, until she was burning with fever again. Her parents panicked each time.
In short, she was fated to marry the male lead, Brinnen Sheyard, and die in childbirth. Accepting that wasn’t easy.
Though she had always been sick since birth, she had been loved and cared for by her parents. To realize they were just characters in a story… and that she was too… was devastating.
Is this really it?
Am I alive just to die?
Idette’s role wasn’t even that important.
She was merely the male lead’s ex-wife, who died and became nothing more than a source of trauma for him.
…She would die.
She had always lived expecting death, but knowing the exact cause and time was another matter entirely.
Her eyes filled with despair.
***
The very first thought Idette had when she learned this was—I don’t want to die.
A lifetime of sickness, only to die in childbirth? The worst fate possible. She desperately wanted to live.
Before recovering her memories, Idette had been the perfect obedient daughter. If told to rest, she rested. If told to accept healing, she quietly accepted.
But now she knew. None of it worked.
In this world, there were no hospitals. All treatment came from the temple priests, and all healing was holy power.
For nobles, that was common sense.
Since birth, Idette had been treated with holy power again and again.
But with her past-life knowledge, she realized—her illness was from an actual disease. Maybe there was another way to cure it.
So her first thought was: I need to find the cause. If she could treat her illness, then even if she did marry Brinnen, she might at least avoid death.
Of course, the best option was both: get healthy and avoid marrying him altogether. After all, in the original story she died, Brinnen married Hanes, and they became the true leads.
But for now, survival came first. Everything else could be decided later.
Is there no other way? Think, Idette.
At that moment, voices drifted in from outside her room.
“Did you hear?”
“Hear what?”
“They say Vivi suddenly collapsed.”
“Vivi? You mean the maid from the kitchen?”
“Yeah. Sounds like it’s serious. But for commoners like us, getting healed with holy power is nearly impossible.”
A maid suddenly collapsed?
Idette moved closer to the door and listened carefully.
“I heard the head maid suggested taking Vivi to one of those potion makers in the slums, but Vivi flat-out refused.”
“…Ugh, even I wouldn’t go to a slum potion maker.”
“Right?”
Potion maker?
Idette’s eyes widened. Why didn’t I think of that?
While nobles relied on priests, most people never received holy healing. Holy power was practically a privilege reserved for the nobility. The poor had no choice but to come up with their own remedies.
That was how “medicine” was born.
Potion makers weren’t that important in the novel itself. Usually, it was the reincarnated heroine Hanes who first introduced the idea: If you’re sick, you go to the hospital and take medicine. She brought potion makers into the light and gained huge support from the people.
That popularity helped her become known as a “saintess.”
Of course, the temple branded her a heretic and tried to destroy her for creating something absurd like a “hospital.” But they failed, because she had the full support of both the Imperial Family and the Sheyard Dukedom.
“…Potion makers.”
That could work.
They might be able to diagnose her illness. Maybe even cure her.
But unlike Hanes, Idette couldn’t openly support them.
The Lushe family was noble, yes, but nowhere near powerful enough to withstand the temple’s wrath. If discovered, they could be crushed instantly.
She would have to do it in secret.
But there was another problem: this novel’s timeline. The real story didn’t begin until eight years later, after Idette’s death—when Hanes’s body was possessed by the true heroine.
“Hanes Erbion…”
What was her current reputation?
Terrible.
Everyone thought Hanes was a spoiled, arrogant villainess who grew up privileged. But the truth was different—she had always been treated like unwanted baggage in the Erbion Dukedom.
Just like many romance fantasy stories, she was pushed aside and mistreated. In the end, unable to endure it, she took her own life.
And then a soul from another world possessed her body.
That soul quickly adapted, gathered allies, and eventually made everyone in the Erbion family regret their cruelty.
It was a story of second chances—of regrets that came too late.
Along the way, she also healed the wounded male lead, Brinnen Sheyard, with her warmth, and the two fell in love.
“Mmm.”
But there was no place for Idette in that story.
By the time the true heroine appeared, Idette was already gone.
