Chapter 1
She had a talent for business.
She instinctively knew how to calculate profit and loss, and how to act in a way that maximized what she could gain. She also knew how to persuade people and make them move in the direction that benefited her.
Thinking back on her childhood, her mother often said things like this.
Whenever she opened a math workbook, she would fall asleep while solving it. But if her mother explained the problems by comparing them to coins, she would solve them amazingly well, making her mother speechless.
Not only that, she was so good with words that when her mother heard she had persuaded her younger sibling into going out to buy ice cream, she was so dumbfounded that she could not even get angry.
Her mother used to joke that perhaps she had been destined to live by doing business from the very beginning.
That talent would probably be the same when making a deal to save her own life.
‘He really is ridiculously handsome.’
Eliana thought while looking at the man sitting across from her.
The man was, quite literally, extremely handsome.
His deep navy hair, resembling the night sky, scattered transparently under the spring sunlight coming through the window.
Because the blue color stood out more than black, it gave her the strange feeling that she was looking at a dark blue night sky in the middle of the day.
His sharp, refreshing eyes, his amethyst-colored eyes that had a mysterious glow resembling his mother’s, and his smooth features—she could honestly say that the greatest beauty in the world had been concentrated into his face.
However, even such a perfect handsome man had a flaw.
‘The problem is that he has terrible manners.’
His personality was slightly problematic.
Eliana sighed inwardly.
She was lamenting her situation—having to maintain a fiancé relationship with this rude and unpleasant man, and possibly even having to marry him.
‘That must be why someone with a face like that and such a noble status ended up falling completely into my hands.’
Ah, could it be that?
The thing about not picking up what older sisters threw away.
But then again, the man in front of her was too handsome and too wealthy for that.
Of course, as a duchess, Eliana herself was not poor either.
However, in high society, where people were extremely sensitive about beauty, titles, and wealth, the fact that a man with such looks and status had never once been mentioned as a desirable husband candidate meant there was a reason the noble ladies avoided him.
‘If I had to guess, it’s probably because of his personality and his mother’s background.’
Eliana gave a rather harsh evaluation while watching her fiancé—and soon-to-be business partner—review the documents.
“Let us finish the contract with this.”
The man spoke as he placed the papers down after finishing his careful review.
“That is exactly what I wanted.”
Eliana answered with a bright smile.
Although she liked his careful way of handling things, she had been waiting for quite a long time while staring at that smooth face, and she had started to get a little bored.
It also slightly hurt her pride because it felt like he did not trust her ability to handle things.
‘This is all because the original Eliana was sick.’
That was what she thought.
Because Eliana had spent such a long time bedridden that she had practically given up most of her rights as heir.
It was not her fault.
The original ‘Eliana’ had truly been sick. If things had continued like that, she would have handed the position of successor to her cousin.
But she was different.
Eliana quietly calmed her trembling heart.
She had finally taken the first step.
The first step toward her survival.
And toward the peaceful life of ‘Eliana’s’ family.
Her heart trembled, but this was only the beginning. The things she had to do in the future appeared endlessly in her mind like clouds.
The path toward life would never be easy.
“Then I shall leave.”
When Eliana stood from the sofa, the man also stood.
“Do not forget. This is a contract. A contract between the duchess and me.”
The man emphasized the word ‘contract’ strongly.
Eliana gave him another bright smile.
Her smile looked as if it had been perfectly drawn.
Yet the man did not blush or show any surprise.
She liked the calm gaze of someone who did not see people as anything more than tools.
Even though her smile was enough to make many people lose their minds—she was called the greatest beauty of the Empire—he showed no such reaction.
It seemed he had no interest in anything except making his impossible revenge come true.
He was treating her with the expression of a perfect business partner or ally.
‘That is why I like him.’
From his past actions, she knew he was not someone who chased after women.
If he had been the kind of person who would drool over her appearance or hold impure intentions because of her beauty, she would never have suggested this contract in the first place.
‘If he were that kind of person, he would not have silently allowed Eliana to die.’
Thinking that, Eliana slowly walked toward the door.
But just as she placed her hand on the doorknob—
“Duchess, there is something I would like to ask.”
At the sudden question, she stopped and turned around.
The man’s violet eyes were looking at her.
“What is it?”
“Why are you going this far?”
“If you mean…”
“The reason you offered a deal to a man who watched your death approach and remained silent, all for the sake of his younger siblings.”
It was not exactly because of those children.
But it was not completely unrelated either.
Still, she had no intention of explaining every feeling she had experienced after coming here.
He would not understand.
And she did not need him to.
“Is the reason behind my decision necessary for this deal?”
It could have sounded like she was asking why he needed to know.
But the actual meaning was closer to:
‘What are you going to do with that information?’
Kalis’s violet eyes shone strangely.
She could not tell how he interpreted her words.
He simply stared at her as if demanding an answer.
Eliana sighed.
Her red lips slowly opened.
“Because they are my siblings.”
“Sibling?”
The man repeated her words quietly, as if he had heard the word for the first time.
“Yes. Siblings. People who share the same blood, the same parents, the same ancestors, and grew up together as family.”
“Blood relatives…”
“I do not mind if you do not understand. The prince and I are different people.”
Eliana shrugged and smiled.
She did not need his understanding or sympathy.
They had only made a contract for their own purposes.
They would complete their agreement and part ways cleanly.
“Then I shall see you at the banquet. Goodbye.”
Eliana nodded once.
The reception room door opened, and her maid, who had followed her all the way to the Imperial Capital to assist her, was standing there.
“Let us return to the estate.”
“Yes, my lady.”
Eliana slowly walked through the hallway covered with bright marble floors.
She tightly clenched her fist.
Yes.
Because they were her siblings.
That was why she was going this far.
She was deceiving the children who firmly believed she was their real sister.
They did not know that the person wearing this beautiful shell was not their true sister, but an entirely different person.
Yet they followed her, respected her, and loved her.
She found those children so pitiful and so precious.
They loved her simply because she was their sister.
Even though she had done nothing.
Even though she was nothing.
She loved those precious children because she knew that a path full of sharp thorns awaited them.
She wanted to make sure they did not have to suffer through that pain.
She believed it was her atonement.
It was her role and duty while receiving all kinds of precious treatment here in place of ‘her.’
After leaving the long hallway, Eliana climbed into the carriage with the help of a servant.
With the sound of the carriage door closing and the horses’ cries, the carriage carrying her slowly began to move.
Eliana leaned her head back against the seat, not caring whether her hairstyle became ruined, and turned her gaze toward the window.
Even though she had spent quite a long time in the Imperial Palace, the sun was still bright.
After some time passed and the carriage left the palace, the streets appeared.
Her eyes caught sight of two young sisters who looked like commoners.
The older girl seemed to have bought some food from a nearby shop and was giving part of it to her younger sister.
Watching the scene silently, Eliana remembered what she had said in the Imperial Palace.
Family.
Siblings.
Blood relatives.
Yes.
That was why she was doing this.
They were not her family.
But they were ‘Eliana’s’ family.
They were her siblings.
She believed it was right to continue the wishes of the person whose place she had taken—the wish for her beloved family and the people living on the land she loved to have even a little more peace.
They were so precious and she was so desperate that she was willing to find the man who had allowed her enemy to try to kill her, threaten him, persuade him, and even make a deal with him.
Because there was something she wanted to protect.
Eliana tightly clenched her fist.
The veins on her thin and delicate fingertips stood out.
‘You have to do well. So the children can live.’
‘So I can live.’
Eliana’s gaze remained fixed on the young sisters for a long time.
The eldest daughter of the Winter Grand Duke Family.
Eliana La Winter was living her second life.
Before she became ‘Eliana,’ she had been an ordinary office worker in South Korea.
If she had to mention something special about herself, it was that she was the eldest daughter of her family.
Because there was a seven-year age gap between her and her younger sibling, she had shared the roles of parent and caretaker from a young age.
Other than that, there was truly nothing special about her life.
She had lived without any major ups and downs.
Even her death was not particularly special.
There was no reason death had to be special.
But that was simply how it happened.
The cause of death was a traffic accident.
She was returning home after buying a cake to celebrate her younger sibling getting accepted into university.
It was past midnight.
A car rushing toward her.
A loud horn.
White headlights shining as if they would pierce through her body.
Everything approached in slow motion.
The moment she realized her body would be destroyed and that she was about to die, she closed her eyes.
And when she opened them again, she was already in a place she had never seen before.
‘Where is this?’
Startled, she fell from the bed as if rolling down and looked into the mirror.
The mirror, framed with high-quality wood, reflected someone else’s face.
‘Ah.’
Having enjoyed reading web novels since her school days, she quickly understood her situation.
‘It seems I entered someone else’s body.’
She immediately realized and accepted that she had entered another person’s body.
It was not much different from the beginning of the web novels she had read from her school days until right before her death.
There was no reason to panic.
She was only a little dumbfounded.
Could something like this really happen?
She touched her body with both hands once again.
Her fingertips felt a body so thin and weak that she wondered whether it was even functioning properly as a human body.
She slowly closed her eyes.
Now she really had to accept it.
‘Well, it is better than dying completely.’
There was a saying that even rolling around in a field of dog feces was better than leaving this world.
Was she lucky?
Although it was someone else’s body, her consciousness was still her own.
Other than changing bodies, nothing had really changed.
‘I should try living like this. There is nothing else I can do.’
With an almost indifferent and calm attitude, she accepted both her death and her new life.
No.
She had tried to accept it.
If only she had known who the owner of the skin she was wearing actually was.
