CH 3

After that, my stepmother once left a well-prepared meal in my room.

Why is she suddenly acting like she’s looking after me when she usually treats me like I don’t even exist?

I had a strange feeling. When I looked closely, I realized they were spoiled foods.

Naturally, I didn’t even touch it. The following day, my stepmother sighed in the kitchen as she calmly carried it back out.

<Sejin doesn’t seem to have a big appetite. I purposely prepared only the things she like…….>

My father had another fit as he attested that I hadn’t touched the food.

Every day, I sat in a worn-out corner of the house, thinking about how I should leave when I turned 20.

Yoon Jihwan was my only source of support in this miserable life.

My neighborhood Oppa, who was also my first love, later became a boyfriend, and is now either an ex-boyfriend or non-recyclable waste.

I believed he was the only person who truly cared about me in the entire world.

He was a great source of comfort to me whenever I was struggling because he was aware of all the circumstances in my family.

<Sejin, please wait a little bit. I’ll make you happy.>

Every time I heard him say that, I felt a strange overwhelming sensation. I wanted to do everything for him as a result.

Once I reached adulthood, I left my home and moved to Goshiwon and worked a part-time job. However, we were planning to get married, and that felt magical to me. Because it indicated that we would eventually become a family.

I would make more money and gladly give it to him if he said he needed money.

I would drag my worn-out frame to lend a hand whenever I heard that his mother’s shop needed workers.

Even though I didn’t want to, I had to consent if he wanted to sleep with me. He claimed that as his girlfriend, it was my responsibility to do so. I thought dating was all about that because I was only 20 years old and experiencing everything for the first time.

In addition, as time passed, he continued to make unreasonable demands, and the stupid me was powerless to refuse.

Every time he noticed that I was hesitating, he spoke in a sweet voice.

<I have no one else besides you. I’m grateful, Sejin. I love you>

I love you. With that word, I thought I was doing well.

That continued for years, and eventually our relationship deteriorated.

Although I thought he was treating me carelessly, I figured everything would be fine once he got over being bored. But the ominous feeling that it would end soon persisted.

Naturally, his contact had significantly decreased.

Not receiving a call for a week seemed excessive to me. Because I couldn’t get in touch with him for a week, my birthday passed without incident.

But he should at least congratulate me. He was blatantly upset when I groaned a little in disappointment.

<I had a lot on. Why do you complain so much? Obsession is a disease. Normal women don’t act like that, Sejin.>

Am I really the problem? I stopped talking and shifted my gaze.

One day, he didn’t text or answer the phone for nearly a month. Even his mother, who used to call me every day and ask me to assist her with her work, was out of touch. There might have been an accident. I gave it much thought and went to his house. I rang the doorbell nervously, but no one answered.

As I was stamping my feet in agitation, I saw him, his mother, and a woman walking off in the distance.

Their friendly laughter made me feel like we shouldn’t be meeting.

Even though I didn’t do anything wrong, I first went into hiding. I overheard their conversation.

<Where on earth did you find such a lovely girl? You must be occupied with your studies if you are a medical student. Please let me know if Jihwan bothers you too much.>

In a voice full of excitement, his mother, who called me a daughter-in-law and prevented me from relaxing over the holidays, expressed her love for her.

<Mom, we’ve only known each other for 100 days. Don’t put Gahyeon under any pressure.>

It’s been 100 days. Since you betrayed me.

Rather than being angry at the three of them…… I was disappointed.

From the beginning, I didn’t feel like I was a part of their world.

Initially, I thought about going out, crying, shouting, and swearing, but I didn’t have the energy to do that.

I felt as if my whole body was drained. I was so tired that I just wanted to sit there.

Dimples bloomed on his face, which was always full of irritation. I was once the only one to see that bright smile.

Everyone looked happy. I felt strange as if I was watching my father, stepmother, and half-sister. I turned away quietly. It was the first snowy night of the year.

Snowflakes as small as fingernails had disappeared when they touched the ground. I wanted to disappear like that, without anyone knowing. A few days later, I got a message from him.

[Let’s call it quits. Come to think of it, I don’t think I ever felt you were a woman. We were both young back then. To be honest, I felt sorry for your situation.… I came to you just because of that. I’ll tell my mom well. You’ll meet a good person, too.]

I don’t remember how I spent the next few months.

What is certain is that I have more time alone after I broke up with my boyfriend.

Sometimes I felt so lonely that I wanted to cry out loud, but I was also lonely when he was next to me too.

Above all, I felt comfortable because I didn’t have to go to his mother every day to do free labor.

As I had some free time, I developed a hobby of reading web novels.

I suddenly remembered an older sister who worked with me at the same place. She recommended some things to read because it was fun. Having a hobby was a luxury for poor people, but it was okay because it didn’t cost much to use a free serial site.

In times of depression, I clung to it more in order to forget the reality. Then, the novel I happened to read was “When the Empress’s maid falls in love with the Emperor.”

It was a deep-sea work. There were not many comments, and most of them didn’t like the novel.

└ The story is really weird.

└ This isn’t how you write. Quit now.

How terrible is it? If it had been usual, I wouldn’t have seen a lot of harsh comments, but the last comment drew my attention.

└ It seems that Lethenia is a villain, but if you look closely, it’s all fake.

What does that mean? I clicked on the first episode as if I was possessed by something.

In the novel, which I began to read out of curiosity, the supporting character Queen Lethenia’s story took up a huge portion.

She had no choice but to become a villain, but she was a sad character with a tragic life history in the background.

I intended to read just the first chapter. But as time went on, I began to feel sorry for her—a fictional character—for some reason.

She has a husband who doesn’t behave like a husband and a family that doesn’t act like a family. She was also accused of being a witch.

She was a good, normal girl up until she lost her terminally ill mother, which made me feel bitter.

Her tragedy started when she was mistreated by her psychotic father and despised by her haughty stepmother.

Later, the Empress’ maid, Rosetine, and her husband Ian Hart fall in love.

As a result of her intense feelings of resentment and jealousy, Lethenia went insane and committed numerous crimes.

Eventually, Ian burns Lethenia to make Rosetine an empress. It was by far the worst ending for Lethenia.

“It ends like this?”

Hidden readers who had followed silently were increasingly splattered curses, as if enraged by the conclusion of Lethenia.

Did she fail to remember that she wrote this book? The series was abruptly discontinued, leaving a short message.

Even though there is still much to do, reader response hasn’t been as positive as anticipated. I must, regrettably, end this work here. I appreciate all that you’ve done for me.]

I made my first comment because I was feeling emotional.

└ How could you leave it in such a state? Please save her, Lethenia. It’s totally unjust.

But the author did not return, and the novel vanished into oblivion.

Soon after, I was in a car accident on a rainy day that wasn’t enough to make the news.

I was using a crosswalk in the middle of the night. A text from an unknown number forced me to stop in the middle of the road.

[How are you, Sejin? It’s Jihwan.]

For a brief moment, my mind went blank. Because he knew I had blocked him, I believe he sent it to a number I didn’t recognize.

An unpleasant and uneasy sensation reappeared. At that time. A large truck rushed in from a distance.

A truck moving this quickly on a public road is something I’ve never seen before. There was no chance to escape it. My body felt as though it were floating in the air after being struck by a large vehicle.

Chack—Hot blood from my body poured out onto the pavement, mixed with rain, and wandered across the ground. The perpetrator got out of the car and checked if I was alive.

Help me.

My body was immobile and stiff, and I was voiceless.

The perpetrator called somewhere. Then he spoke briefly with someone outside of his cell phone in an unintelligible language.

It just so happened to be the same language as my stepmother’s native tongue.

The perpetrator’s hurried back as he or she hung up the phone was my last memory.

Lethenia, the antagonist of the strange novel, strangely crossed my mind at that precise moment.

What if this is how it all goes? Help me. It’s totally unfair.

With a force that would rip a skin apart, the rain was coming down hard. That’s how my insignificant life came to an end.