☣ Chapter 1 ☣
Three months ago, the Emperor died.
His head was cleanly cut off by the Third Prince, who had been born to a concubine.
The original story was moving wildly toward its ending, but Penelope didn’t care much about it.
She was too busy trying to survive.
When she had to worry about food for the coming week, there was no room for “romance” or “fantasy.”
“Lady Penelope, the price of turnips has dropped again.”
The steward of the lord’s castle reported with a troubled voice.
“The price of turnips has dropped again.”
“Again?”
Hearing that the turnip market had failed once more, Penelope felt everything go dark before her eyes.
“What about the herbs?”
“The farmers harvested the last of the Green Herbs yesterday. If we sell them, we’ll be able to secure enough emergency food for about three days.”
“Only three days?”
The Green Herbs, the basic ingredient for healing potions, had become almost worthless.
Penelope’s breathing trembled.
As if he didn’t understand how desperate she felt, the steward added,
“At this rate, we may not survive this winter.”
“At this rate, we may not survive this winter.”
“That can’t be…”
“What are we supposed to do?”
The retainers sighed with worried expressions.
Penelope buried her face in both hands.
Damn that heroine.
It was truly the worst kind of bad fate.
No, it was even worse than that.
It was enough to drive anyone crazy.
Unfortunately, the world Penelope lived in was the setting of the romance fantasy novel “This Life, I’ll Choose the Second Male Lead!”
It was a story about regression, revenge, and sweet revenge.
The heroine traveled back in time after being used and brutally killed by the Emperor. To take revenge, she won over the second male lead and destroyed everyone standing in her way.
While the heroine eventually killed the final villain—the Emperor—and placed the Third Prince on the throne, Penelope was busy marrying a country lord in the northern countryside.
Only one month after getting married, her husband died.
The shock of losing him brought back the memories of her previous life in South Korea.
“I must have been so shocked by becoming a widow right after getting married that I remembered my previous life.”
Even now, Penelope remembered that day clearly.
It was late at night.
She was sewing her husband’s clothes under the dim light of a candle.
The estate was so poor that they couldn’t even afford a single magic tool for lighting.
She rubbed her tired eyes and carefully threaded the needle.
Suddenly, loud noises came from outside the castle.
A knight rushed into the room.
Fresh red blood dripped from the armor shining under the pale moonlight.
“Baroness… Please stay calm as you hear this…”
Of course, Penelope couldn’t stay calm.
She was told that a monster had torn away nearly half of her husband’s body.
If anyone could hear that without being shocked, she wanted to meet them.
A sharp sting made her lower her head.
Blood flowed from the finger she had pricked with the needle.
“Am I going to die like this?”
That was the only thought in her mind.
The estate was so poor that even the Baroness had to sew her husband’s clothes herself.
If there were rankings for poor noble families, theirs would be at the very bottom.
Even if she returned to her parents’ home, it wouldn’t be much better.
Only the daughter of a poor noble family would marry a poor country lord.
Meanwhile, herb prices continued falling without end.
Soon, the retainers and the people of the estate would look only to her.
“I can’t do this.”
An endless fear tightened around her heart.
She wasn’t capable of carrying the lives of so many people.
“Baroness!”
Penelope collapsed on the spot.
And that day…
She remembered her previous life.
Memories of an advanced civilization flooded her mind.
Semiconductors.
Space technology.
Computers.
Artificial intelligence.
New materials.
They were all incredible achievements of science.
Then the life of one insignificant woman drifted through her mind.
Sadly, her previous life could be summed up in just three lines.
Lee Sunjeong
Oldest of three siblings.
Graduated from a top university. Joined a major company.
Died at the age of twenty-seven… from overwork.
She had studied desperately to become independent and finally entered a large company.
Yet, in the end, she died from working too much.
To make things even stranger, she had reincarnated into the romance fantasy novel she used to read little by little during her commute.
“My husband dying is already enough to drive me insane… and now you’re telling me this is a novel? And it’s already near the ending?”
The old Emperor was dead, and a new Emperor had already taken the throne.
The story had already reached its final stage.
Of course, Penelope hadn’t believed it at first.
Who would suddenly believe they were living inside a novel?
Besides, there wasn’t even a character named Penelope in the original story.
She wasn’t even a supporting character.
Only after seeing that the names of the dead Emperor, the current Emperor, the Empress, and even the historical events all matched the novel did she finally accept the truth.
“Out of all the rich families and noble houses… I ended up as the wife of a poor lord in the northern countryside. At this point, even the heroine’s pillow probably has a bigger role than I do.”
Honestly, that shocked her even more.
She wasn’t even an extra close to the main story.
She lived fifteen days away from the capital by carriage.
Compared to the original story…
She was nothing more than dust.
“Ha… what a life.”
If only she had remembered her previous life three months earlier…
She never would have married a husband destined to die young.
If only it had been one year earlier…
No, two years…
No… ten years…
Penelope sniffled and forced herself to stop thinking about it.
There was no point regretting something she couldn’t change.
When her husband died, the estate had only enough emergency food for two months.
It was practically a death sentence.
The only miracle was that the estate wasn’t drowning in debt.
“First… I have to survive.”
That became her first goal.
Once her goal became simple, so did her thoughts.
“I’ll use everything I can to live like a proper human being.”
Knowing the original story was a huge advantage.
On top of that, she had modern knowledge.
Those were powerful passive skills for survival.
In other words…
This was a fight she could actually win.
And if she could become rich while surviving…
That would be even better.
There was nothing wrong with being wealthy.
She had already lived a life struggling because of money.
Being the eldest of three children raised by a single mother had been enough hardship.
“I’ll make this estate prosperous, leave behind a wealthy territory, and retire while I’m still young.”
If she adopted someone from Baron Hale’s distant family line, passing down the estate wouldn’t be difficult.
“This time, I’ll finally become the young, rich, unemployed person I always dreamed of being in my previous life.”
In an instant, her entire life plan was complete.
For the first time ever, Penelope realized she was actually quite ambitious.
That was exactly why she couldn’t help blaming the heroine for ruining her plans.
The impatient administrator suddenly shouted,
“Didn’t I tell everyone long ago that we needed another way to survive besides selling herbs?”
The finance officer immediately shouted back,
“How is that my fault? How was I supposed to know trade with the Eastern Continent would suddenly open overnight?”
“Ha… Of course. Life was never going to be that easy.”
According to the original story, it was the heroine who had formed a new trade alliance and opened trade with the Eastern Continent.
Merchant ships from the East arrived carrying huge amounts of cheap, high-quality herbs.
As a result, herb prices across the North collapsed.
The people of the Empire praised the heroine because potions had become affordable.
But the small northern estates that depended on selling herbs were pushed to the edge of bankruptcy.
Just like this one.
“How long are we going to argue about whose fault it is? We should be worrying about how we’re going to survive!”
“So now you’re calling this pathetic? Then why don’t you give us a better solution?”
“Are you finished talking?”
“Not yet!”
The retainers, unable to see any hope for tomorrow, began shouting and arguing with one another.
Penelope’s head started aching.
She raised a hand and pressed her forehead.
Finally, the steward slammed his hand down and shouted,
“Enough! How can respectable retainers behave like this in front of Lady Penelope, who is acting as the lord?”
“I-I wasn’t trying to…”
“Have some dignity! Watch your words!”
“Ahem…”
The retainers looked at Penelope awkwardly.
To everyone in the estate, Penelope was a calm and sensible woman.
Even after losing her husband to a monster attack two months ago, she hadn’t returned to her parents’ home.
Instead, she stayed behind and personally took care of the estate.
She was responsible and devoted.
Seeing themselves behave so disgracefully in front of her made the retainers feel deeply ashamed.
At last…
Penelope opened her mouth.
