Chapter 02

“Pay up right now! Hand over the money!”

At seventeen years old, Judith’s situation was grim. She was, quite literally, an orphan left with nothing but debt.

“If you don’t at least pay the interest by this Thursday, you’ll regret it!”

It felt like she had heard the same threat twenty times already.

Judith Ailan let out a sigh and closed her eyes.

Her father, Paul Ailan, had taken his own life, and as his only daughter, she had inherited the title of Baron Ailan.

A baroness in name only, however, because the only thing left to inherit was a mountain of debt.

To make matters worse, her mother had taken everything of value and run away.

She had fled with a servant she had been unusually close to, stealing even Judith’s jewelry.

The only thing she left behind was Judith herself.

“What am I supposed to do now?”

Dressed in a single worn-out gown, Judith sighed deeply.

The death of her gambling-addicted father, who had rarely come home, and the disappearance of her mother, who had always been more interested in a servant than in her daughter, felt strangely distant to her.

Rather than shocking, it felt like something she had always expected would happen eventually.

What she could not face so calmly, however, was the debt that had now become her responsibility.

“What am I going to do…?”

She no longer had any friends.

After her father’s death, she had gone around desperately trying to borrow money from them, and in the process, she had lost every single one.

Yet she could not even bring herself to resent them.

Her debt was simply that enormous.

If she failed to pay the interest, loan sharks would drag her away.

In situations like this, noble ladies usually either took their own lives to preserve their honor or were sold off to wealthy old men willing to settle their debts.

To put it simply, she was completely cornered.

There was, however, one special thing about Judith.

When her father died, she remembered her previous life.

While being driven out without even getting to properly see the face of a friend she had thought was close, she suddenly realized that she had been reincarnated into the world of a novel she had once read.

Hmm… Even if I try to use my knowledge of the original story, it’s still far too early before the plot begins.

The reason she knew exactly how early it was was simple.

The cheap boarding house where she was currently staying after the Ailan estate had been auctioned off was still standing perfectly fine.

In the novel’s prologue, the entire street—including that boarding house—went up in flames and became a wasteland.

The title of the novel she had been reading before she died was Flowers Bloom Amid the Ruins.

It was the story of a resilient flower-shop owner who lost her livelihood when her neighborhood burned down, yet persevered through hardship and eventually found love.

Though she had never considered herself particularly devoted to the book, every detail was vividly etched into her memory.

So as soon as she regained memories of her previous life, she immediately visited the heroine’s flower shop.

The heroine of the story was… twelve years old.

Which meant there were still three years until the great fire.

And eight years until the heroine, after struggling through poverty, began becoming entangled with the male leads.

There has to be… something I can use.

Fortunately, Judith remembered the entire story word for word.

Yet no matter how thoroughly she reviewed the heroine’s and male leads’ storylines, she found no useful opportunity.

Then what about the villain’s side? Well, they’d all still be children at this point too. Hmm… Wait!

Karl Meyus.

The obsessive villain who harbored twisted feelings for the heroine and tormented her throughout the story.

The House of Meyus!

Karl Meyus had a backstory.

The temporary contract daughter-in-law his family brought in had secretly abused him while he was still young.

Already emotionally unstable after the disappearance of his much older brother—the one person who had truly cared for him—Karl suffered in silence, unable to tell his parents what was happening.

The abuse warped his personality, and he eventually grew into the villain of the story.

Couldn’t I become that contract daughter-in-law? The Meyus family didn’t really care who filled the role, did they?

In the original story, the family chose one of their maids as a stand-in and registered her as married to their missing eldest son, claiming she was carrying his child.

Their goal was to delay declaring him legally dead.

And if the news somehow prompted their runaway son to return out of sheer disbelief, all the better.

Of course, the ducal family could have forced someone into the role.

But doing so carried risks.

More importantly, the imperial family dislikes the House of Meyus in the original story. If they tried anything coercive, it would give the palace an excuse to attack them.

So no matter who it was, some woman had to officially register a marriage with the missing heir.

Since the marriage would leave a permanent legal record, the family compensated the woman generously.

The eldest son never comes back anyway. Later they announce that she miscarried and send her away with a fortune…

Judith rolled her eyes thoughtfully.

What if I took that position? I wouldn’t abuse a child. I’d just collect the money and leave. Everyone wins, right?

No matter how terrible he might become in the future, no child deserved abuse.

And if avoiding that abuse prevented him from becoming a villain, that would be even better.

Thinking of the young heroine she had secretly observed in town, Judith steeled herself.

If she approached the ducal family at the right time three years from now, obtaining the position of contract daughter-in-law should not be too difficult.

The family would reward her handsomely, just as they had in the original story.

Her overwhelming debt would disappear overnight.

Of course, unlike the maid in the original story, I won’t be offered the role first. I’ll have to be clever about it, but still…

The problem was the next three years.

She had to survive until then.

At the very least, I need to keep paying the interest. But how?

She could probably support herself through odd jobs.

But earning enough to cover the interest payments was another matter entirely.

Judith buried her face in her hands and thought.

She combed through the story once more.

Information was the only thing she possessed in greater abundance than others.

Granted, it was very limited information, but still…

…Ah! Information! I know things!

Her eyes lit up.

And there’s an information guild in this neighborhood.

When this district burned down in the original story, the headquarters of a thriving intelligence guild in the capital also burned to the ground, killing everyone inside.

The male lead later lamented the loss.

I could sell them information.

There weren’t many flashbacks describing events before the story began, so her knowledge would not be worth a fortune yet.

Still, being able to sell something was better than nothing.

The name was Gray Information Company, right?

Judith sprang to her feet and hurried into the street.

I have to meet the Guild Master. Information isn’t worth much unless the Guild Master personally recognizes its value.

The information guild was not hidden away in some secret location.

It looked like an ordinary shop anyone could find by following the signboard.

Meeting the Guild Master, however, was another matter.

The Gray Information Company was a rapidly growing new guild.

Many people sought out its master, but he rarely showed himself.

According to local rumors, no one had ever seen his face.

“I’m here to sell information.”

Thus, when Judith entered the Gray Information Company, she had already resolved to deal directly with the Guild Master.

“You may tell me instead.”

The receptionist smiled pleasantly.

“I will relay it to the Guild Master.”

“I’d rather tell him personally.”

“That is against company policy. If you provide the information, I will pass it on and arrange your payment.”

“Ah.”

Exactly what she had expected.

Fortunately, Judith had already prepared a way around it.

Smiling, she lifted her chin confidently.

“Surely the Guild Master isn’t refusing to meet me because I’m young?”

She knew perfectly well that her age was not the issue.

She was simply laying the groundwork for what she intended to say next.

“I heard the Guild Master is a minor too.”

The receptionist immediately looked flustered.

He seemed unsure how to respond.

Judith maintained her confident expression through the brief silence.

Then, behind the receptionist, a door slowly opened.

At the same time, a young man wearing a mysterious mask stepped out.

“Well now.”

His expression was hidden by the mask, but the interest in his voice was unmistakable.

“It seems we have an interesting guest.”

It was Judith’s first meeting with the mysterious Guild Master—a man with whom she would continue doing business for the next three years.