Chapter 1
Kael covered his mouth.
Every time he breathed, the disgusting, fishy smell of monster blood pierced his nose.
Could Rosana really still be alive in this hell?
Even though he had returned to this hell to find her, he couldn’t be certain that she had survived.
The ground was a muddy mess, mixed with blood and rainwater. Every time he took a step, foul-smelling muddy water splashed up around him. Meanwhile, the rain continued to grow heavier.
“Rosana!”
Kael shouted her name in a sharp voice.
Even he didn’t know why he was doing this.
The right thing to do was to leave behind anyone who had fallen behind. Moreover, the commander leading the expedition shouldn’t leave the formation alone.
Even now, his reason was warning him to return to the expedition immediately.
Kael’s jaw muscles tightened.
“Answer me, Rosana!”
What hope was he even clinging to?
Even though he had seen a horde of monsters rushing toward her beyond the collapsing bridge, he still wanted to believe that she was alive.
Kael couldn’t understand Rosana.
Since when had she become so selfless?
Seeing her throw herself into danger for others felt completely unfamiliar to him.
Kael cursed through his clenched teeth.
The rain grew stronger and stronger until his vision became blurry.
His wet clothes clung tightly to his body, making every step feel heavier.
“Rosana!”
Even his voice was gradually drowned out by the sound of the pouring rain.
By now, he should have given up.
Yet even as he thought that, Kael took another step forward. He felt as if he would find Rosana if he searched just a little longer.
He could almost imagine Rosana greeting him with her usual bright smile.
‘What? Why did you come back? To save me? Wow, if that’s really true, then I must have successfully turned over a new leaf. Kael, you were worried about me too, weren’t you?’
He could almost hear her chattering away as she followed closely behind him.
‘There will definitely be an end to this. Our expedition will succeed, and we’ll be able to go home. Trust me. Or if you can’t, then trust Kael’s sword.’
Her voice, always talking endlessly about hope, kept returning to his mind.
Her determination and powerful will to live, refusing to fall into despair even in this hell, stirred something deep inside him.
Someone like Rosana couldn’t possibly have given up.
‘I’m absolutely not going to die. Want to hear my life plan? I’m going to make a ridiculous amount of money. Then I’ll become independent with that money, and—ah, I should date someone too. So cheer up, Kael! Let’s become happy together!’
Rosana, who had said such things, couldn’t possibly have left behind all the things she wanted so badly.
Perhaps even Kael’s cold and rational mind had unknowingly softened because of Rosana’s warmth.
The hope that she was still alive refused to let him stop walking.
Kael rubbed his face and wiped away the rainwater.
Then, he spotted a cave.
It wouldn’t be a bad idea to take shelter from the rain for a while. He headed toward it.
Perhaps because it was quite far from the bridge, there were no monster corpses or signs of battle near the cave.
Kael placed a hand against the entrance and listened carefully for any signs of movement inside.
Then he suddenly froze.
“Sniff… It’s okay, Rosana. You’ve done well so far. You can make it back alive. You just have to catch up with them.”
The moment he heard the weak, trembling voice, it felt as though all the strength left his body.
She was alive.
Rosana had actually survived that hell.
Kael closed his eyes and let out a deep breath of relief.
The tension that had kept every nerve in his body on edge finally loosened.
Kael shook off the rainwater and walked deeper inside.
There, he saw Rosana sitting curled up on the ground with her head buried between her knees.
“…Lady Rosana.”
Kael called to her in a hoarse voice.
Rosana slowly lifted her head.
Her blue eyes, visible through her loose black hair, shook violently.
They were eyes he had once despised.
Moisture quickly filled those eyes, and they began to tremble.
“K-Kael…! It really is Kael…!”
Rosana looked as though she didn’t even know what she was saying.
Dark shadows had formed beneath her eyes, and her face was filled with exhaustion.
Kael gave a hollow laugh.
“You said everything would be fine. You said I could leave after trusting only you.”
“…Of course. Look at me. I-I survived like this, didn’t I? I’m trustworthy, right?”
Even with her face pale as death, she still managed to keep talking.
Rosana barely managed to stand up. Her legs trembled violently as she forced herself to stay upright.
“What about Lilia? Is she okay? She wasn’t badly hurt, right?”
She was in that condition, and she was still asking about someone else.
Kael slowly looked Rosana over again.
She was soaked and covered in dirt. Her once-clear face was a complete mess, covered in tears and snot.
It was obvious how much she had cried and how terrified she had been.
And yet, her blue eyes were still filled with light.
“Ha.”
Apparently, the situation had become so insane that he wasn’t in his right mind anymore either.
After all, even while watching her sniffle and wipe away her tears, the first thing he wanted to do was hug her.
I realized that I had transmigrated into only after I died and opened my eyes again.
“You will join the expedition as the representative of our House of Ardena. Consider it an honor that you have been chosen to represent Ardena.”
I was in an old-fashioned room filled with heavy ebony furniture.
An overwhelming pressure weighed down on me so heavily that I could barely breathe.
A middle-aged man sat behind the desk, while several men stood in a line beside him.
Every single one of them was staring at me as if I were a monkey in a cage.
Ardena.
Rosana Ardena.
The memories of this body’s owner crashed into me like waves.
Rosana Ardena’s memories slowly settled inside my mind.
Rosana was a troublesome villainess character from .
She was a woman with a cursed mouth that constantly caused trouble and a strange ability to bring danger upon herself. Because of her, countless innocent people were said to have died.
You know those characters in movies?
The ones who act selfishly, get everyone else killed, and then cry about how they’re the most miserable person in the world?
That was me.
And eventually, she would meet a miserable end as food for monsters.
No, it was already unfair enough that I had transmigrated into the body of a troublesome villainess.
But the bigger problem was that this was the world of .
Was this some kind of joke?
Why couldn’t I transmigrate into a sweet and fluffy romantic comedy, like cotton candy?
Why did it have to be a tearful apocalypse story from the very beginning…?
And after looking through the fragmented memories that remained, I realized something else.
There was a reason Rosana had become a villainess.
Rosana had no other way to live.
As the daughter of the Duke of Ardena, she should have grown up surrounded by love.
But reality was different.
She had always been the unwanted child of the family, the first person to be pushed aside.
She had an older brother, the promising heir, and a charming youngest daughter.
And between them, the one who was always sacrificed was Rosana.
Because she was cold, sensitive, and rebellious, she had fallen out of her father’s favor long ago.
So no one ever tried to protect Rosana.
Whenever something bad happened, it was always Rosana’s responsibility.
And whenever there was someone to blame, the blame always fell on her.
Memories that the original novel had never fully described slowly filled my mind.
In the end, even joining an expedition where she would have to risk her life became Rosana’s responsibility.
This is insane…
The Duke of Ardena clearly valued his own daughter’s life less than a fly’s.
According to the novel, Rosana couldn’t even properly wield a sword.
No, could she even run properly?
I couldn’t feel a single muscle on this body.
It seemed like the only thing holding this thin body together wasn’t muscle, but pure spite and stubbornness.
And they expected someone with a body like this to join an expedition that fought monsters and recovered sacred relics?
If that wasn’t the same as telling me to die, then what was?
