CH 1

Episode 1

The man on the other side, Eiberg Raphael, stared at me with deep gray eyes.

I slowly took out a transparent crystal from my pocket, feeling the sting in his eyes. Then, the other hand rested silently on his cheek.

Silver hair tickled the back of my hand.

“Temperature… I will measure it.”

After a moment of hesitation, I took his temperature first as a habit.

Not only today, but recently, no matter how low the body temperature was, it seemed that he had never felt abnormally cold before. It was clear that he was clearly showing signs of improvement.

I lifted the corner of my mouth in relief.

“Tell me if you feel hot.”

After my words, a fire began to rise all over Eyberg Raphael’s cheeks and then throughout his body.

It was such a huge fire that anyone who saw it would mistake me for trying to burn someone to death.

That much blue flame wrapped around his body as if it were devouring Eiberg, but he didn’t feel any pain at all.

Rather, he just smiled. Staring at my every move with clear gray eyes.

“You really haven’t changed, knowing that I can’t be hot.”

I thought I was used to it now, but it was still awkward.

Every time I saw the flowers of emotion blooming in the barren land, I felt itchy without even realizing it.

“It’s still a healing process, so someday this treatment may feel hot.”

“That will never happen.”

Before I knew it, a thick hand was overlapping my hand.

“Because it’s always warm.”

I’m thirsty.

Perhaps it was because I was unfamiliar with those gray eyes staring at me like a hungry beast. Even when we first met, I couldn’t even imagine these eyes.

According to the original story, he and I didn’t have much contact. To define it, there is only one.

The ‘male lead’s younger sister’ gave the main characters a chance to meet, and the ‘female lead’s older brother’ siscom, didn’t like the romance of the main characters.

Also known as the female lead’s older brother, Eiberg Raphael.

He had to defend the northern border for four years at the age of 23 after the previous duke’s couple died early from illness, and took the title at the age of 15.

According to the original story, he never visited the capital until the end.

But now!

“Dianta Valerian.”

“… yes?”

“I don’t know what you’re thinking so deeply about, but I want you to fully focus on me at this time.”

His eyes narrowed, and a gray light flashed ferociously between them.

Alas, where did this thread get twisted? Why isn’t Siscom obsessed with female leads as much as he used to, and why am I doing this with my female leads brother?

‘Where did it get twisted? It’s all my fault!’

Yeah, it started when I moved up the ending of the original.

***

“We officially declare the engagement of Heint Valerian and Seren Raphael.”

A priest sprinkled holy water over the heads of the two protagonists.

The thunderous applause of the people resonated throughout the ceremony hall, and I tried to suppress the thrill that boiled over and captured each scene with my eyes.

I’ve been waiting for this!

All of my bloody, sweaty efforts went through my mind.

About a year and a half ago, I fell down the stairs due to my carelessness and realized that this was the world of a novel.

It was a long time since I had lived as ‘Dianta’, so I couldn’t remember everything clearly.

Instead, there was quite a bit of information that came to mind vividly.

I died in an accident at the age of 19, and I was reincarnated in a romance novel.

The title is ‘Catchable but not caught’.

As you can feel from the title, the main content was the shoveling and misunderstanding of the main characters.

In my previous life, I often read these kinds of novels. Is there the sweetness of the thrilling cider that comes after all misunderstandings are resolved?

But the reality was different. A novel is fun only if you enjoy it as a novel!

After I remembered everything, I couldn’t live my life the way I used to.

This is because my brother was the male protagonist who made a sentimental expression every day, and my friend was the female protagonist who expressed the sadness of unrequited love with tears.

Moreover, the two main characters built a friendship through me, so after misunderstanding and getting hurt alone, they called me from both sides every time.

After that, as expected, hundreds of sweet potatoes were forced into my mouth.

In the end, I, who couldn’t stand it for various reasons, decided to hasten the ending.

I’ll have to finish this shoveling for myself!’

In fact, apart from sweet potatoes, I made this decision to keep myself safe.

It was because there was an episode in which the villain approached me, who was their only common denominator, in pursuit of the sluggish progress of the main characters in the original work.

However, as the saying goes, a shrimp’s back explodes in a whale fight, and only my life is in danger.

‘There’s no reason to be falsely accused as the original!’

Why?

As you can see, I’ve succeeded in accelerating the ending by a year!

It was the fruit of my efforts, which served as a messenger of love between the main characters for nearly a year.

While reminiscing about those teary efforts…

“Dianta.”

After finishing all the ceremonies, the female lead, Seren Raphael, sweetly called me and approached me.

Whenever Seren moved, her silver hair gently curled like a wave.

That was not all. Those blue eyes gave peace as a gift to those who faced each other like a calm lakeside.

Externally, she was a person who radiated a clear and clean feeling to everyone to the extent that they were praised as ‘beautiful’, but also internally.

She was also worthy of being called a female lead.

“Serene, congratulations.”

“All of this is thanks to Dianta.”

I didn’t deny that.

Rather, with a hearty smile, I gently nodded my head. It feels like being praised for my hard work, which I thought no one would notice.

“I’m glad to hear you say that. And the dress you’re wearing today also looks good on Serene.”

“Thank you. I think I did well with what Dianta picked out for me.”

It was a white silk dress with glitter sprinkled from the chest to the hem.

Even so, it wasn’t overexposure. All other parts were secretly hidden with white see-through.

Above all, the veil on top of her head made Serene look holy.

Once again, I praised myself for my aesthetic sense and nodded my head in satisfaction.

Then, I saw the shadow cast over Serene’s face, slightly shining through the veil.

Serene used to bite her lower lip whenever she felt anxious…

Her expression was exactly that.

“What’s wrong?”

“… I just told Heint.”

“To my brother?”

I glanced in the direction of my brother, the male lead of this novel.

Heint Valerian, like me, had Valerian’s unique red hair and eyes. On top of that, tanned skin added to the impression that she was a “lazy beauty.” Above all, he was basically a cheerful person. It’s rare to have such a firm expression.

“I guess that’s not a good thing.”

I guess I was right, but Serene couldn’t meet my gaze and dropped her head.

I said it’s quiet these days, so are you shoveling until the day of the engagement?

Even after they got married, I was naturally worried that I would have to act as a messenger for the two of them.

I hurriedly grabbed Serene’s hand.

“What the hell is going on? Did my brother make things difficult for you with actions or words that could be misunderstood?”

“It’s not like that at all.”

A clear answer came to my question.

Serene stared at me with her lower lip still bitten, as if she had made up her mind. As if a large stone had been thrown into a calm blue lake, her blue eyes shook endlessly.

I could feel Serene’s trembling even in the hands that were holding each other

“We…”

We?

For a moment, I felt uneasy.

It didn’t seem like the usual misunderstanding or shoveling. It seemed that the words that would come out of Serene’s mouth would not be simple.

And as if confirming my thoughts, Serene answered right away.

“I think we can break off the engagement if we do well.”

“…”

My head froze.

No matter how much a person’s heart changes, they were absolutely not the ones I’ve seen.

Didn’t I see everything they did as their closest aide? The day before they met, they couldn’t sleep and liked each other, saying they wanted to see each other again.

Could such too suddenly break up without any warning?

“Sorry. It’s all because of me Heint respected my opinion, and even if the engagement broke up, it was entirely my fault, so I will explain everything to people… ”

More than anything, Serene’s expression was telling me that she was speaking as an excuse.

The truth is, she doesn’t want to break up. She says that she still loves Heint and that her heart is about to break.

That sad look told me everything.

“Serene.”

“Huh? Huh?”

“Can you tell me why?”

At my direct question, Serene hesitated for a moment before taking a step forward.

Then, while being as close as possible, they kept a sense of distance so as not to appear whispering. To the point where only I could hear Serene’s low voice.

My brother in the Far North said he couldn’t allow me to be engaged. The first time I introduced someone I was dating and announced that I wanted to be engaged to him… He said he understood that they were serious enough to want to get engaged, and…”

“…”

“He can’t understand that I’m engaged to a man he hasn’t even seen in person. Of course, I’ve already prepared the wedding hall and invited guests, so I can’t back down, but… I woke up this morning and still feel uncomfortable.”

As Serene spoke, she let out several short breaths as if she was nervous.

“Whoo, first of all, I wrote again two days ago, asking for his permission…”

There were quite a few references to him in the original work, so I roughly expected it, but it seemed to be a stronger obstacle than I thought.

An older brother was caught in a siscom.

“But that doesn’t mean I want to break up with Heint…”

Before the words could be finished, Serene’s body fell backward.

However, I did not hold on to the falling Serene. Because, it was her brother, Heint, who was responsible for separating her from me.

“Heint?”

“Dianta, don’t put Serene in trouble.”

“It’s not like that. I think I should tell Dianta… I was bringing that up.”

Ah.”

It was good that he sent a wary look to me, his younger sister, and kept us apart, but for a moment silence passed between the two main characters.

Still, it seemed certain that there was no problem in the love front between the two.

In any case, there was only an awkward silence that made it seem that they were not engaged. At this rate, it was not strange, even if other people looked at her suspiciously.

That moment, I thought about whether I should deliberately say something playful.

“Miss.”

A lady-in-waiting cautiously appeared by our side.

Serene gently took off my back against Heint and nodded her head to the maid. Then the maid whispered something…

Gradually, Serene’s face went white.

“I’ll be out for a while.”

Then, as if being chased somewhere, Serene rushed out of the ceremony hall.

It happened so quickly that my brother and I couldn’t hold on to Serene. However, since my brother was so close, it seemed that he had roughly overheard the whispers and noticed something.

“Follow Serene.”

“I? Isn’t brother going?”

“I want to follow you right away, but… If I even leave the ceremony hall, nobles who like gossip may talk about us as they please.”

It seemed that Duke Raphael’s answer had arrived just now.

If it wasn’t for that, there was no way that the bride-to-be, Serene, would leave the ceremony hall in a hurry when none of the guests had left yet, and there was no way that her brother would ask for something like this.

So I immediately followed Serene.

Just in time, after defeating everyone around the waiting room, I saw Serene entering the room with a knight wearing a black robe.

And not long after that…

“… ugh.”

Serene’s wailing was faintly heard through the door.

Isn’t it obvious that this is the reason for crying so much just after entering the waiting room? I’m sure the Duke of Raphael replied sternly, saying he wouldn’t allow it.

So I opened the door without knocking, with only one thought to appease Serene.

“…”

However, a completely unexpected scene was waiting for me.

Serene was weeping in the arms of a knight in black armor, who had taken off his robe. Her knight even stroked Serene’s back and affectionately caressed her.

“Huh. hoo, hoo.”

T/N: the sound of crying

“Yes, Serene. Exhale slowly as you do now. It’s okay, it’s okay.”

At first, the knight was bowing his head, and all he could see was the dark hair that reminded her of a sack.

But the moment he looked up and looked at me…

“Huh, huh, hoo!”

I couldn’t help but doubt my eyes.

It was also because the man’s eyes were very brightly colored. It’s also like a haze, like a haze that just blooms and then fades quickly, an empty gray color.