IBFLS 03

“Haah…”

I didn’t even have the strength to lift my gaze from where it hung limply in midair.

At the moment, I was sitting alone inside a carriage belonging to the imperial family, staring blankly ahead.

—Take the young lady to the baron’s estate at once.

Baron had spoken so calmly, as though nothing had happened, that it was hard to believe he had just pressed down on my shoulders with such terrifying force.

As if the whole incident had never taken place.

‘What if I heard him wrong? Maybe I was so shocked that I started hallucinating.’

In the five years I had spent possessing Bianca’s body, I had never seen him act like that.

‘Even if I’m not Bianca, that’s still an excessive reaction.’

The murderous intent I had sensed from Baron earlier had been so vicious that it sent chills crawling all over my body.

At this rate, if I brought up something only the two of us knew, he might accuse me of being a cunning young lady who dared to impersonate the deceased duke’s daughter—and have me killed for it.

Before possessing this body, I had played the game and experienced every ending. Yet there wasn’t a single route in which anything like that ever came out of Baron’s mouth.

‘Even when he lost his mind after the female protagonist, Roselina, ran away, he only brought about his own destruction.’

Then, suddenly, the scenery outside the window began to bother me.

The changing landscape had crept into the edge of my vision, which had been staring blankly into space.

I irritably reached out and yanked the curtains shut.

That was when I noticed the small, pale hands in front of me—whiter and daintier than the duke’s daughter’s hands had been.

‘I’m seriously going to lose my mind.’

I had finally escaped that suffocating scene, yet nothing had become any clearer!

Why had *I—Bianca Barddensia—*died? Why had I become Roselina Mush? And why were my older brother and Baron treating *me—Roselina Mush—*like an enemy?

I clutched my throbbing head with both hands and curled in on myself.

‘There’s only one reason my older brother dislikes Roselina.’

He had often asked me why I kept bringing around a young lady from such an insignificant family.

And that wasn’t a question only he had raised. My father, the other nobles, and even Baron himself had all wondered the same thing.

‘But could something as trivial as that really make them this angry?’

Baron’s reaction, in particular, had been far too extreme.

I had taken Roselina around with me countless times and encountered Baron on many of those occasions.

Yet every single time, neither Baron nor Roselina had said a word to the other.

Rather than seeming to dislike each other, they had simply appeared completely indifferent to one another.

I had assumed that even though Baron was the main romanceable character the developers were pushing, nothing had happened yet because the game itself hadn’t started.

‘But what did he mean when he said he’d come looking for me once things settled down?’

I wildly tousled my fluffy hair with my now-adorably small hands.

“Damn it! Damn it! Damn it!”

I was so frustrated I could have burst into tears.

I had avoided everything! The engagement to the crown prince, which could only end in disaster; the cruel behavior I had indulged in since childhood; and all the conflicts with the people around me!

‘I was finally going to quit pretending to be a thoughtless idiot and spend the rest of my life doing nothing but enjoying myself! Why?!’

This was the future I had worked so hard to create over five years.

My future.

It wasn’t some default setting handed to the villainous duke’s daughter for free.

‘But wait a second.’

Come to think of it, I had forgotten the most important thing of all.

‘If I’ve become Roselina, then what about that person?’

Suddenly, I remembered the person who had left this place two weeks ago.

It was two years ago, in the third year after I possessed this body.

Everything had been going smoothly.

I was successfully training the people around me to behave as I wanted, playing the role of a proud daughter, a loving younger sister, and a dependable friend.

Even so, deep down, I couldn’t shake my uneasiness.

‘In most possession stories, the protagonist usually makes a move on the female lead, too.’

Besides, in this game, the female protagonist was involved in every single death ending for the villainous duke’s daughter.

Sometimes through the crown prince, sometimes through other nobles, and sometimes through large-scale accusations, among other things.

Of course, all I really had to do was avoid behaving like a spoiled, vicious brat the way the character did in the game.

But back then, my life was going so smoothly that I had grown arrogant. I believed I could control every situation.

Then, a year after I had discovered Roselina, who lived alone in a grand mansion deep in an isolated forest, and taken her under my wing, the day finally came when she began speaking to me first.

Until then, Roselina had been an exceptionally quiet girl.

The subtle sense of accomplishment I felt at having finally befriended the female protagonist—someone who could pose a genuine threat to my life—was sweeter than I could have imagined.

That day, too, I smiled and offered her some tea.

“You’re possessed, too, aren’t you?”

The teacup in my hand promptly slipped free and crashed to the floor.

Crash!

Only then did I properly notice Roselina, sitting with her legs spread wide apart.

And she was wearing the spring collection dress from Miss Mary’s—the very one I had given her as a present.

“Don’t ask me how I figured it out. From the way you act, it’d be weirder if I didn’t realize you were someone who’d possessed a character.”

Even though Roselina had started talking more, this was the first time she had ever spoken such a long sentence.

I remained frozen in the exact position I’d been in when I dropped the teacup, staring at her like an idiot.

Then, suddenly, I registered what she had said.

You, too?

Had she said you, too?

“Roselina, no—are you possessed, too?!”

What had that moment felt like?

Right. I’d been so happy I could have flown into the air, as if I’d found an ally in enemy territory.

The problem was that the happiness didn’t last long.

“What? Fuck! I’m supposed to end up with that red-eyed bastard?”

“But it seems like we can change the story. If we keep—”

“Ah! This is pissing me the fuck off! Hey, do you know how to get back to our original bodies?”

“I’ve been looking into that, too, but—”

“Of course you don’t fucking know! That’s why we’re stuck here! Goddamn it!”

Roselina—or rather, the person who had possessed her—had never let me finish a single sentence since revealing her true nature.

She told me she had never played this game before. She had simply discovered it installed by her younger sister and hadn’t even logged into it once.

So I diligently explained the world of the game to her.

Naturally, I was extremely careful to conceal the fact that I was the villainous duke’s daughter.

“Hmmm.”

After listening to me in silence, she casually propped one leg up on the table.

“And the game hasn’t even started yet.”

“So you don’t know what’s going to happen when it does, either?”

She glanced sharply around the room, then began shaking the leg she had propped up on the table.

Her frivolous movements made the desserts and teacups on the table wobble along with it.

“Everything you know about happens after the game starts, doesn’t it?”

“That’s true.”

“So, basically, you’re fucking useless to me right now. How do we get back?”

“To be honest, when I first got here, I tried all sorts of things without ruling anything out. But as you can see, I failed. There’s also a spiritual ritual called Ritoll, something similar to a shamanistic rite, and I tried that, too.”

“Wow, you actually believe in that shit? You’re not just stupid—you’re really stupid!”

She even pointed a finger at me as she burst into loud laughter.

She laughed for quite a while, until she started coughing after choking on her own breath.

Then she picked up her now-cold black tea and gulped it down as though it were makgeolli, Korean rice wine.

Afterward, she spoke with a grim, determined expression.

“But you.”

Her voice was much lower than it had been moments before.

I raised my left eyebrow, barely managing to suppress my rising anger.

She raised her left eyebrow in response and smiled.

“You’re the villain, aren’t you?”

“……Huh?”

“Do you even look in a mirror? The moment you open your mouth, you look like the kind of person who’d say, ‘Shall I have you killed this instant?’”

With that, she rose from her seat.

A sly, malicious smile spread across her face, completely at odds with her adorable appearance.

“Up until now, you’ve paid off the baron’s family debts, tracked down the tiny bit of inheritance I was supposed to get from that bastard uncle of mine, and even provided me with living expenses. And yet, for some strange reason, you’ve always seemed desperate to keep me happy. You’re constantly bringing me presents, too.”

Accompanying her exaggerated gestures, she looked me straight in the eyes and emphasized her next words.

“You’ve got one hell of a vested interest in me, don’t you?”

Grammatically, it was a question, but she wasn’t asking because she needed an answer.

She was certain of it.

“Now I get it. I finally understand why you’ve been trying so damn hard. If I’m the female protagonist and you’re the villain, then everything fits perfectly, doesn’t it?”

“……”

“I tried to write it off as you just being a meddlesome busybody, but something about it felt way off. There’s a limit to how much good you can do while pretending to be a saint before it starts looking suspicious.”

She kept rambling, seemingly enjoying herself, and my head began to throb.

‘What kind of delinquent is this woman?’

I was certainly taken aback.

For five years, not a single person had failed to act according to my expectations.

But I had even managed to repair my relationship with my father—the very same duke who, when the villainous duke’s daughter was executed in the game, had said he felt relieved despite her being his own child.

“So what?”

I deliberately replied in a mocking tone.

A distinct crease formed between her brows.

“I don’t even appear in the game unless I get into a fight with you. Besides, the worst punishment I could possibly receive is a fine. That’s all.”

Everything she said was a lie, despite how boldly she pretended to be unafraid.

Even if we were in the same predicament, there was no reason to reveal my weaknesses to someone as volatile as her.

“Oh, then how about this?”

The problem was that her eyes continued to sparkle brightly, undimmed by my attitude.