Chapter 1

Chapter 1

“Cough, cough!”

My chest tickled, and a cough came out. I felt dizzy.

I’m doomed.

This was my first thought since I was possessed into a novel.

‘I have to play this role…’

I’m playing the role of ‘Laria Rose Rostry’ in the novel, 『The Empire’s Greatest Deal.』

She has light pink hair, sparkling purple eyes, and innocent features.

She is a little short, but her round eyes and gentle expression makes her look like a puppy.

But all I liked was the appearance.

I am a supporting character who had a time limit and will die at the age of twenty-one.

“I died at the age of twenty-one in my previous life, and I’m doomed again here when I turn twenty-one.”’

“Cough, cough!”

I had to cover my mouth with a towel since I coughed up blood.

“What the heck, so I’m the only one left to do Rostry’s line of work?”

I am fourteen-years-old, and right now, I am attending Count Rostry and his wife’s funeral, my so-called parents.

After possessing this body, memories from the past naturally flooded into my head.

Her father, a hard worker, and her mother had many debts due to her lavish spendings, died in a car accident, leaving only enormous debts for me.

“Doesn’t she have any money in the County? I have to search for it!”

I was never happy living in Rosty County.

My parents were the worst, and the house was always noisy. My father sent me to the East to study abroad because I was stubborn.

“It’s a funeral, but where did all my relatives go?”

“My money! Only this ugly little girl is getting all the money?”

I was being mobbed by debtors at a funeral in which all my relatives and friends were absent.

I kept glancing at the entrance, spilling the debtors’ words. Because by now, there is a person who will absolutely burn me.

In the original book, Laria did not know she had a time limit until the day she died, and only two people in the world knew that.

One is my mother, Count Rostry’s wife, and the other is…

“Huh? That, he’s…?”

“Why is the Duke of Acard here…?”

There she saw a man with a tall silhouette, dark hair, and ghastly red eyes strode into a mess.

‘The villain’s walk is cool…’

Just walking quietly was enough. His overwhelming presence was unbearable.

‘The Duke of Acard.’

The Duke of Karoudin, Ivan Acard.

He lived quietly with his own honor but suddenly became powerfully mad after his wife died.

He was also the villain in the original book, who had no choice but to take control of the nobility and the Imperial family.

Although he doesn’t have an overwhelming amount of power yet due to his belated entry into politics. He worked hard in the background and eventually became the leader of the aristocrats a few years later.

‘He even succeeded in marrying her.’

Of course, he thought he’d get hold of the aristocrats and the Imperial family and achieve his desired goal…

As the heroine, Princess Elaine, falls in love with the male lead and not his son, his dream becomes nothing.

‘It was never mentioned in the original book about what his greatest goal is…’

The author said he would solve foreign currency exchange issues, but I didn’t get the chance to read the end, before getting possessed into this body.

With his presence, the noisy funeral became quiet instantly.

The debtors chatted and soon lined up nicely in front of the Duke of Acard.

‘This is the power of money and authority!’

I was amazed yet again.

‘My role isn’t to be the villain, but it’s so cool…I wish I were a villain too.’

Not everyone can do the villain role. If he claimed to be the villain without anyone as a substitute, then he is just a delusional man in the room.

Then, the Duke of Acard came before me without hesitation. Then asked in a dreary voice.

“Do you have a place to go?”

All my relatives didn’t come to the funeral, leaving me in charge. The County had been mortgaged and handed over, and all the servants fled.

“I-I don’t have… cough!”

His eyes narrowed as I coughed.

I already knew what he was going to say.

“Then will you be my daughter, as Evan’s wife?”

It is a very surprising development, even though I knew this was going to happen. It’s shocking that he came to see me so suddenly.

So he is proposing a premature marriage among the political expeditions of the nobility.

Early marriage is not that rare in aristocratic society. By convention, a young child of my age could not stay in a noble family for a long time, because taking a young child and taking responsibility would require family members to give him or her the right to inheritances.

“Matilda is very close to your mother.”

‘Matilda…’

It was the name of this Duchess of Acard, who died while giving birth to her son.

“If Matilda were alive, she would have wanted to bring you for sure. That’s why I have come to get you.”

‘Lies.’

I blinked and thought to myself.

The Duke of Acard is a man who is just attracted to power. There is no way he would take me for such an empathetic reason.

According to the original book, he happened to know my illness and was trying to get me to marry his son to take advantage of my scheduled death.

‘I know how the original story flows! I am aware of all the dark events that would be happening, and I know full well of your ulterior motives…’

“I will repay all your parents’ debts and promise you a decent living.”

“I look forward to your kindness, Father.”

I answered quickly.

I was that ‘person.’ Though, knowing how it went in the original story, I still didn’t try to change the ending.

Wouldn’t it be better to die early, while living in luxury like the original version, than die among debtors?

“…Father?”

The Duchess of Acard’s eyes gazed at me with a piercing look.

A minor supporting actor like me is afraid to stand in front of such a huge villain.

I answered in an intimidated manner.

“Sorry, I’m sorry. I-I thought now that we’re a family…”

There was a moment of silence.

“It’s all right.”

He said in a low and cold voice that made everyone nervous.

“Let’s go.”

That’s how I got to follow Duke Acard.

On his way to the duchy, Duke Acard stopped at the Imperial Palace to submit our marriage declaration. And with that one document, my name became Laria Rose Acard.

‘As expected—There isn’t a wedding or anything.’

My husband, Evan, who is a year younger than me, is in the academy, so I couldn’t even see him.

Evan had a minor role in “The Empire’s Greatest Deal,” there were only a few lines to describe him. His role was so small that he couldn’t be called a sub-male lead.

And I am the former wife of that supporting character.

“In my soul’s capacity, I’m supposed to take the role of the villainess’ character…but instead I got this body instead.”

With my bad luck, the villainess lost a talent like me.

Usually, the villainess would have a lot of money. The reason is that even bad things could happen to people with money. But there’s nothing that can be done about supporting roles with no money, a healthy body, or significant characteristics.

‘I should have possessed a rich and strong villain.’

I was immediately assigned a large room with a maid in the duchy.

Sadly for me, who is already going to die, the flow of the original is the best route.

Of course, it wasn’t like I didn’t know the cure.

‘Oclasia tree’s fruit.’

I have a five-year-old brother, Fred.

He has the same pink hair and purple eyes as me. Though he is now far away, studying abroad in the Eastern Land, where exchanges had been blocked for years due to the habitats of mana.

He only came back only after I died, where there was a scene of him sobbing in front of my graveyard, mumbling the cure.

“Barbaric lung disease is a common disease in the East… It can be cured if you eat ten oak berries every day for five years…”

So my disease is classified as incurable in the Empire because they don’t know how to treat it.

It is possible since it is already a disease that originated in the East.

However, the issue is…

The Oclasian tree is rare. And even if the fruit is strabismus, it is difficult to preserve it.

‘It’s even harder to find

It was challenging to get the Ocrasia fruit from the market because it would fall off the tree in an instant.

‘No matter if you get one or two…it’s not possible to get ten of them consistently.’

I’ve already practically finished my plans.

It is the best ending to die after idling comfortably in another’s house.

‘Let’s aim for the next life. You can do better. Please, rich villainess, please…’

But what changed my mind was when I took a walk alone in the greenhouse near the room assigned for me.

‘Oh? This is…?’

I stopped walking.

The Duke’s guest room had a lot of Ocrasia trees planted. I couldn’t believe if it was reality or an illusion.

“Hey, does this make sense? Is this a possession buff?”

As if someone had arranged it.

Is that God’s sign for me to live, or is it a gift by the Devil to cheer up?

Ha… I’m not sure if the author is joking with me by placing the cure right in front of me… and putting me in this unfortunate character.

“Thank you for the meal.”

If this isn’t a prank, it is the most appreciated and gracious gift I have ever received.

Whether it was the God of possession or the demon in the original story, I took a moment to put my hands together and pray to express my gratitude.

“Even so…”

Still, it is a mistake to see me as an easy person to eat in this kind of situation.

“You can’t eat it all, just because you’re dying.”

I’m an easy kid, but I carefully picked ten ripe fruits from the tree.

‘Now then.’

This chubby fruit is as small as a thumbnail, so it only took a bite, but it was very soft.

I thought with shining eyes.

‘Good. Let’s live longer than twenty-one!’