Chapter 2
Am I going crazy?
Am I insane?
I’m inside another woman’s body. Everyone calls me Kanna. This is crazy.
This doesn’t even seem to be Korea. It’s not the world I know.
It’s been a month since I entered Kanna Addis’s body. I couldn’t believe it at first, but I’m slowly getting used to it.
I actually transmigrated… The kind of transmigration that only happens in novels…
Today I met the most wonderful man in this world. Duke Sylvien Valentino… Ah, how can someone be so beautiful?
Tomorrow, I’m marrying Duke Sylvien Valentino. For the first time since coming to this world, I’m happy. It’s only a contract marriage, but so what? I’ll slowly win his heart.
Marriage first, romance later! Just like in the novels! Thanks to that cliché, I’ve finally captured Duke Sylvien’s heart!
“…”
The diary in Kanna’s hands trembled violently.
It was written in Korean—a language that no one in this world except Kanna could understand.
That settled it.
For the past twelve years…
Lee Joo-hwa and Kanna Addis had exchanged bodies.
“You stupid idiot!”
And that damned fool, Lee Joo-hwa…
…had gotten married using her body.
To Sylvien Valentino.
In other words, the very man whose trouser leg she’d been clinging to moments ago.
She’s insane! Why of all people did it have to be Sylvien Valentino?! That man’s completely unhinged!
So what if he was handsome?
So what if he appeared courteous?
Everyone knew he was like a ticking time bomb that could explode at any moment!
And yet she’d actually tried using romance novel clichés on someone that dangerous?
She even proposed a contract marriage!
“I’ll become your wife, Your Grace.”
“…Pardon?”
“Use me.”
“What exactly do you mean?”
“I’m proposing a contract. If you marry me, you’ll be free from the Imperial Family’s control. You don’t want to marry the Second Princess, do you?”
It was the classic marriage first, love later setup.
“Lee Joo-hwa, you idiot! Real life isn’t a romance novel!”
Kanna wanted to scream and cry.
How could she not?
Everything Joo-hwa had done with her body remained vividly preserved in both the diary and Kanna’s memories.
To win Sylvien’s heart, Joo-hwa had tried absolutely everything.
She’d hung enormous banners across the streets that read:
‘I LOVE YOU ♡ DUKE SYLVIEN!’
She’d sent him a hundred roses while he was in the middle of important meetings.
She’d even stripped naked and climbed into his bed.
Needless to say…
Every single attempt earned her nothing but Sylvien’s contempt.
Duke Sylvien Valentino said, “Had I known Miss Kanna was this kind of woman, I would never have accepted her proposal in the first place.” His words tore my heart apart.
But I have to stay strong. Somehow, I’ll win his heart. I won’t give up!
That was Joo-hwa’s final diary entry.
In the end, she resorted to something she’d never done before—
Crying while clinging desperately to his trouser leg.
And at that exact moment…
She and Kanna switched bodies again.
“Whew…”
Kanna slammed the diary onto the desk.
“Calm down. Calm down and think.”
“Twelve years have passed. This is my real body—Kanna Addis’s—and it’s twenty-six years old now.”
If that was true…
Then Joo-hwa must have returned to her own body as well.
She was probably just as shocked.
One second she’d been desperately throwing herself at Sylvien…
…and the next she’d be right before work.
Can Joo-hwa possibly go to work and treat patients like I did?!
Still…
Since Kanna possessed all twelve years of Joo-hwa’s memories…
Joo-hwa should likewise possess Kanna’s memories.
Which meant…
She remembered everything Kanna had studied while living as Lee Joo-hwa.
At least she should be able to continue working as a doctor of Korean medicine.
“…Wait.”
What about my business?
The Korean medicine clinic I worked at will manage even if I take leave for a while…
But what about my online shop?
Since college, she’d enjoyed making handmade natural soaps, aromatherapy candles, and natural perfumes.
Studying herbal medicine had sparked an interest in plants, leading her to experiment with all kinds of natural products.
Eventually…
Those hobbies had grown into a small online store.
Lee Joo-hwa… If you ruin my shop…
Bitterness and anxiety welled inside her.
Truthfully…
Over the past twelve years, Kanna had genuinely been happy living as Lee Joo-hwa.
The beginning had been terrifying.
She’d nearly suffered a panic attack.
But afterward…
Life with her mother, father, younger brother, and their cat Toto had been wonderful.
Recently…
She’d even started dating someone.
Damn…
I was even thinking about marriage.
In an instant…
She had lost it all.
And now she’d returned to the body she’d believed she’d never inhabit again.
“No.”
She shook her head.
“Get yourself together. This isn’t the time to panic.”
Pull yourself together.
Being depressed won’t solve anything.
First…
Figure out this insane situation.
Sort everything out somehow.
“Sylvien Valentino.”
Pushing down her sadness, she quietly spoke his name.
“So… you treated my body like garbage.”
Her thoughts were a tangled mess, but one thing was perfectly clear.
First things first.
“I need a divorce.”
When the duke returned that evening…
She would bring it up.
Sylvien Valentino would probably welcome the idea with open arms.
The real problem…
…is whether my father will allow it.
In this world, women’s rights were incomparably worse than in Korea.
Without her biological father’s approval…
A woman couldn’t even divorce.
Will Father ever agree?
If Joo-hwa’s father had learned his daughter was being treated like this…
He would’ve exploded with rage and insisted on the divorce himself.
But my father isn’t like that.
Kanna Addis’s father was different.
He considered her the family’s disgrace.
He would oppose a divorce to the bitter end.
He was the kind of man who would say:
“If you’re going to die, die as a member of House Valentino.”
“…I don’t know.”
“I’ll sleep first.”
“I’ll think about it tomorrow.”
Maybe…
Just maybe…
This was all a dream.
Kanna Addis
Kanna Addis.
The eldest daughter of House Addis, one of the two great guardian ducal families protecting the Western Continent.
And…
An illegitimate child.
Kanna never knew who her biological mother was.
When she was around six years old, unable to contain her curiosity, she timidly asked her father.
“Father… what kind of person was my mother?”
The instant the words left her mouth…
His face twisted into something monstrous.
For a fleeting moment…
She genuinely thought he might kill her.
Fortunately…
He didn’t.
Nor did he hit her.
Instead, with murderous eyes, he spat out each word as though tearing her apart.
“Kanna Addis.”
“…”
“Never again.”
“…”
“Never speak of that woman in my presence again.”
Only then did Kanna understand.
Her father—
Duke Alessandro Addis—
Hated both her…
And her mother.
Perhaps…
It was more than hatred.
Perhaps it was loathing.
The contempt she’d lived with since childhood…
She finally understood where it came from.
I see…
Father hates my mother.
That’s why he hates me too.
But her father wasn’t the only one.
“Sister, why don’t you just shave your head? Black hair and black eyes… Do you know how much people gossip?”
“Isabel, what a rude thing to say to your sister.”
“B-But, Mother…”
“Still… she’s not wrong. Kanna, you know black is considered an ill omen in our family. Please conduct yourself carefully so you don’t attract attention.”
Her half-sister Isabel.
Her stepmother Chloe.
Both despised her.
“Hey, trash! Didn’t I tell you to keep your face hidden behind your bangs?”
Her half-brother Orsini would slap her mercilessly across the face.
“Big Sister, my hat fell out the window. Hurry up and go fetch it.”
And her second younger half-brother, Kallen—
Always pretending to be polite while tormenting her with razor-sharp words.
Every one of them.
Without exception.
Her entire family hated her.
Nor was her family the only source of contempt.
“My goodness… That’s the eldest daughter of House Addis?”
“Heavens! Her hair is black! Even her eyes…”
Black hair.
Black eyes.
Anyone born with both was regarded as a symbol of misfortune.
People avoided her.
Despised her.
“Hey, trash! Who told you to show your face outside?!”
Once…
She happened to run into Orsini on the street.
Apparently his friends had mocked him because of her.
“You filthy piece of trash! If you’re garbage, stay hidden where you belong!”
That day…
Orsini slapped her five times until the inside of her mouth split open.
And their father watched everything.
No…
Perhaps he’d encouraged it.
After all…
Without his own neglect and contempt…
None of that abuse would ever have begun.
Day after day…
Kanna was torn apart like a flower whose petals were slowly ripped away.
Until the day she turned fourteen—
The day she entered the body of seventeen-year-old Lee Joo-hwa—
Her life had been nothing but misery.
She had become so broken…
She could barely look another person in the eye.
But living as Joo-hwa changed her.
“Our Joo-hwa… No matter what you choose to do, Mom will always support you.”
Her wise mother.
A renowned doctor of Korean medicine.
“Joo-hwa! Want to go for a walk with Dad? Hm? Please?”
Her father.
A successful CEO.
And a hopeless daughter fanatic.
“Noona! I saved you some chicken!”
Her younger brother.
Mischievous…
Yet affectionate.
“Meow.”
And adorable Toto.
Everyone treated her warmly.
They taught her what love was.
Twelve years passed.
During those twelve years…
Kanna completely changed.
She became a woman who knew how to cherish herself.
Who understood her own worth.
She was no longer the timid, broken girl she once had been.
She had become someone entirely different.
