Chapter : 1
0. What Do You Mean My Clan Has Fallen?!
The brazier, stoked to its fullest, overflowed with heat.
Yet unlike the spring-like warmth filling the room, the atmosphere around me was unbearably heavy.
“…I cannot let you leave us like this.”
The people surrounding the bed where I lay shed thick tears one after another.
Though I struggled for breath, I managed a faint smile.
“Come now, don’t cry. What will become of you if grown adults cry so easily?”
“How can you say something like that?!”
“You know better than anyone what you mean to us!”
As their sobs filled the room, I reflected on the life I had lived.
Being transmigrated into some generic martial arts novel had already been bad enough.
But I had even become someone who lived three hundred years before the novel’s male protagonist was born.
The peerless master blessed by the Eternal Ice Crystal.
The greatest swordswoman under heaven—
Baek Seolryeon.
She was the founder of the Bukhae Binggung (Northern Sea Ice Palace), which practiced the martial arts of winter, and the ancestor of Hyeon Doyul, the future male protagonist of the novel.
She was also the person whose body I had possessed.
Ha… Seriously. Just thinking about all the hardships I went through after becoming Baek Seolryeon…
I followed the original story as faithfully as possible.
After all, Hyeon Doyul was my favorite character.
If I ended up changing the original plot because of me, that would be a disaster.
Driven by that fear, I worked until my bones nearly broke, accomplishing countless feats to establish the foundations of the Bukhae Binggung.
I also made sure to take in the child who would eventually become the male protagonist’s distant ancestor as my disciple and designated successor.
Thankfully, that kid was just as monstrously talented as the protagonist himself.
Without his help, I might not even have managed to hang the Bukhae Binggung’s signboard before I died.
Ahem.
Anyway.
The future of the Bukhae Binggung was now brighter than ever.
The male protagonist would inherit everything I had built and use it as the foundation to spread the Ice Palace’s glory across the world.
My body’s lifespan had finally come to an end.
I had already accepted death.
Everything I needed to accomplish had been completed.
Maybe…
Just maybe…
I could finally return to my original world.
Gathering the last of my strength, I thanked those who had remained by my side.
“Thank you… all of you.”
“Palace Lord!”
“Please!”
Heartbreaking cries echoed through the room, but my entire body felt as heavy as waterlogged cotton.
I felt terribly sorry for those mourning my death.
Yet the final emotion I experienced before closing my eyes was…
At last… I can finally rest.
I felt lighter than air.
Well…
A lot had happened.
But all things considered…
It had been a satisfying life.
Once I returned to my original world, everything would finally be over.
“…Haa.”
With one final breath, I slowly closed my eyes.
Darkness swallowed my vision.
…It would have been wonderful if I had truly been able to leave that world in peace.
Unfortunately, things did not turn out the way I expected.
“…Rin… Miss…”
“…”
“Miss Yerin!”
A sharp shout pierced my ears.
At the same time, searing pain exploded across my scalp.
“Ow!”
I screamed instinctively.
It hurt so much that tears welled up in my eyes.
But the maid tugging on my hair merely glared at me.
“Stop exaggerating. I barely pulled your hair…”
Then she resumed brushing it mercilessly.
“Who told you to sit there spacing out like an idiot?”
Naturally, the scolding came free of charge.
What in the world is going on?
Startled, I hurriedly raised my head.
…Where am I?
I froze.
Because the room before my eyes was unlike anything I had ever seen.
The wallpaper was so old it was practically peeling away.
None of the furniture looked usable.
Even the paper windows were full of holes.
No… wait a second.
The last place where I drew my final breath had been the elegant bedchamber reserved for the Lord of the Bukhae Binggung.
So where had that bedroom gone?
And why was I sitting alone in this gloomy room that looked haunted?
Just then—
Smack!
Sparks flashed before my eyes.
“Urgh!”
The maid holding my hair had swung the wooden comb straight into the top of my head.
That wasn’t all.
She even barked at me.
“Hold still!”
Is she insane?!
Why am I getting beaten up by a maid?!
I’m Baek Seolryeon!
The founder of the Bukhae Binggung!
Its first Palace Lord!
The Ice-White Divine Sword, counted among the greatest swordsmasters in the world!
“What do you think you’re—”
I was about to rebuke her sternly when I suddenly froze.
Only then did I notice the bronze mirror sitting before me.
…Wh-What is this?
I shoved the maid’s hand away.
Then I crawled across the floor toward the mirror.
The Baek Seolryeon I remembered was a mature beauty in her early thirties.
Having reached the realm beyond mortality, her body had ceased aging.
But the person reflected in the mirror now…
“…I’m a kid?!”
I muttered in disbelief.
A pale little girl who looked no older than twelve.
Her natural features were beautiful enough that she would one day become a peerless beauty.
But that was all.
Her sickly complexion and thin frame looked so fragile that she might collapse from the slightest touch.
And on top of that…
“…Why am I wearing wedding robes?”
As though…
I were getting married today.
Wrapped in layer upon layer of luxurious bridal garments, the child looked as though the sheer weight of the clothes might crush her to death.
At that moment, the maid shot me an irritated glare.
“Miss Yerin! Why have you been so difficult all morning?!”
“…Miss Yerin?”
“What, have you suddenly gone deaf? If you’re not Dang Yerin, then who are you supposed to be?”
Dang Yerin.
…Why is that name coming up here?
My heart nearly stopped.
Because I already knew exactly who Dang Yerin was.
The disgrace of the Sacheon Dang Clan.
A troublesome child.
The neglected youngest illegitimate daughter.
And the insignificant villainess who constantly got in the way of the romance between the male and female leads.
Why did I call her “insignificant”?
Because the male protagonist had never been interested in Dang Yerin in the slightest.
His heart belonged entirely to the heroine.
The problem was…
Dang Yerin, twisted by resentment, eventually tried to harm the heroine—
Only to be killed by the male protagonist himself.
Don’t tell me… I’m Dang Yerin? Seriously?
As though reading the confusion on my face, the maid smugly asked,
“You’re not going to start throwing another tantrum about canceling the marriage now, are you?”
“W-What?”
“For the sake of the Sacheon Dang Clan, this is about the only thing you’re useful for, isn’t it?”
A sneer spread across her lips.
It was thick with contempt.
“You’ll at least be able to humiliate that lowly country bumpkin from the Northern Sea.”
Hold on.
A lowly Northerner?
In this world, there was only one place associated with the Northern Sea.
The Bukhae Binggung…
The very clan I had worked myself to the bone to build.
An ominous feeling washed over me.
With a trembling voice, I asked,
“What… exactly do you mean by that?”
“Huh?”
“The Bukhae Binggung rules the Northern Sea. It’s not a place people can insult so casually…”
The maid looked at me as if I were an idiot.
“Seriously? That’s the dumbest thing I’ve ever heard.”
She snorted.
“Rules the Northern Sea? The Bukhae Binggung has been on the verge of destruction for ages.”
“…What?”
The Bukhae Binggung…
On the verge of annihilation?
The clan where the future male protagonist would be born.
The clan I had spent my entire life building.
…You’re telling me it was about to collapse completely?
Just then—
An unbearable pain split my head.
“Agh!”
Clutching my head with both hands, I gasped for breath.
Memories related to the Bukhae Binggung flooded into my mind.
About ten years ago…
The Bukhae Binggung had suffered catastrophic losses after clashing with the Blood Cult, the final antagonist of this world.
During the conflict, the Palace Lord had been murdered.
His young son had been forced to inherit the position far too early.
And…
That young son…
Was none other than the male protagonist of this world—
Hyeon Doyul.
“…Th-That’s impossible.”
I stared blankly, my mouth hanging open.
“Miss…?”
“No… How can this happen?!”
The maid looked at me as if I had lost my mind.
But I had no attention to spare for her.
As the ancestor of the male protagonist, I had worked until my bones nearly broke to establish the Bukhae Binggung for the sake of the hero who would one day be born.
The ruler of the Northern Sea.
An unrivaled clan of the martial world that even the Central Plains could never afford to ignore.
That…
Was the Bukhae Binggung I had devoted my entire life to building.
And now what?
It had fallen?
Impossible.
In the original story, the Bukhae Binggung prospered all the way to the end!
“That’s a lie! It’s all a lie!!”
“W-Why are you yelling…? Miss? Miss!!”
The maid, who had been watching me suspiciously, suddenly cried out in alarm and reached toward me.
Because I collapsed where I stood.
Dang Yerin’s young, frail body was simply too weak to withstand the sudden headache and overwhelming shock.
What frustrated me the most, however, was—
