Chapter 2
“Even in the novel, something about you bothered me, but meeting you in person—you really are an infuriating brat.”
Her perfectly curved lips, once beautiful, stiffened into a hard line. The gentle tone—whether fake or genuine—had turned rough.
But what caught my attention wasn’t her expression or her words.
Only one word echoed in my ears.
“Original… work?”
“The novel you appear in.”
She crossed her arms, her eyes never leaving mine.
“Well, fine. Since the deception is already ruined, I’ll tell you.”
“……”
“Why your life is in the gutter, who you’re dealing with, why you could die and wake up a hundred times and still never beat me. I think watching your face as you hear this and despair will be fun.”
As if discarding her angelic mask, she twisted her lips into a smirk and continued.
What followed was an unbelievable story.
This world was from a novel called The Damned Empire, one Grace had read back in South Korea.
Grace had been in an accident in Korea, and in a dream, she met a dimension-traveling spirit who let her possess an extra in the novel.
Using her knowledge of the novel, she predicted floods and monster attacks in her territory, saving lives and surviving.
Not wanting to be the protagonist, she planned to succeed in business and live comfortably—so she modeled herself after one of the novel’s smartest characters.
And then, everyone she met praised her, confessed their love, the emperor thanked her—her life turned out incredibly well.
“That character was you. The one I modeled myself after.”
Grace spoke plainly.
“When I got confused about the details, I just watched your moves. Which abandoned mine to pick, when to capture Canus… And then, at the last moment, I was just a little faster.”
The corner of her lips twitched again. Her pupils darted around, as if gauging my reaction.
She seemed proud of how well she had used her knowledge.
“Understand now? The nickname ‘Eyes That Read All Things’ isn’t wrong. I knew the past and future through the novel. Well, now we’re past the ending point, but…”
Grace looked at me triumphantly.
“Don’t you resent the heavens? They gave me the ability to stay just one step ahead of you.”
“……”
“How does it feel? You never stood a chance against me. Especially not in this isolated state. So—”
She reached out, gripping my chin and forcing me to look up. Her voice turned icy.
“Fix that arrogant attitude and tone. Bow your head to me now, admit that I’m superior, Iris Apelremion.”
With an elegant smile, she commanded:
“If you listen to me from now on, you’ll—”
“—Then.”
I cut her off with a low voice.
“What?”
Grace stared at me in confusion. She must have expected despair, but that wasn’t what I felt.
“If I hadn’t existed, you wouldn’t have even thought of those business ventures, would you? From the start, only I could have come up with them?”
An uncontrollable rage surged.
“Well, yes, but—”
“Forming the guild, recognizing the painting—those were all my judgments?”
“Using them at the right time was my quick thinking—”
“You—”
A scorching emotion boiled up like lava.
“You goddamn thief!”
Summoning all my strength, I lashed out at Grace’s head. My fingers dug in, and I yanked hard.
“You stole my future?”
“KYAAAAAH! MY HAIR!”
A sharp scream echoed through the hut as a clump of silver hair tore free in my grip.
“KYAAAAAH! IT HURTS!”
Grace thrashed and shrieked, but I just stared at her coldly.
“What the hell are you doing?! That hurts! Let go! You won’t? You damn bitch!”
Half-sobbing, she clutched her scalp.
“That’s my line.”
I held the silvery strands in my hand. Grace, finally breaking free, was flushed red.
“My plans, my ideas… What you stole was my life.”
“What nonsense!”
“Just how greedy were you to take everything? If you’d left me even one opportunity, I wouldn’t be like this now.”
“Stop spouting crap!”
Panting, I glared at her. Grace sneered.
“If you’d been luckier, maybe that future would’ve been yours. But I was the one lucky enough to read the novel first.”
“Luck?”
I couldn’t help but scoff.
“It wasn’t luck. It was effort.”
My cold tone made Grace flinch.
“What?”
“Do you know how many books I read to understand magestone currents?”
“That’s—”
“Do you know how many sleepless nights I spent scouting mines before picking one? Did you think I just stumbled upon it on a trip?”
“I—I didn’t know that—”
“Think it was easy turning street thugs who’d never held a bow into a guild? I got my head cracked open by rival gangs while sorting through the trash to find the usable ones! And you—you didn’t even take care of them properly afterward, did you?”
“Why should I?!”
My pale fists trembled. Grace looked at me, genuinely aggrieved and furious.
It was absurd. The woman who had achieved everything I wanted was just… this.
“If you hadn’t redirected the imperial curse to me, I might have forgiven you.”
“Like I said, it was for Karsiel—”
“If I were you, I would’ve purified the curse first and then found a way to cure the first prince! If you’d just told the emperor the diagnosis, he would’ve scoured the five continents for a cure! Even if it was incurable, imperial magestones could’ve slowed the disease by thirty years! Don’t make excuses—you just wanted all the credit for yourself!”
Grace’s face paled. Instead of answering, she bit her lip hard.
“I—I suffered because of you. I didn’t just lose my family… Cough!”
A suppressed cough burst out, and I spat blood into the blanket. Seeing the blood, Grace paled slightly.
“This is the curse’s aftermath…?”
“Yes.”
My illness wasn’t like a cold or pneumonia. It was the delayed manifestation of exposure to dangerous magic, something doctors couldn’t treat.
“The only cure is the fruit of the hyacinth tree, which only grows in Yulcan.”
Right now, Yulcan and the empire were at war. It had started when Yulcan’s crown prince, hailed as the God of War, attacked the empire’s southern territories.
Grace avoided my gaze again. Not just because she was afraid of blood.
So that’s how it was.
Realizing why she couldn’t meet my eyes, I felt my rationality snap.
“How did you get that painting—‘The Woman with the Golden Bow’?”
“I—I bought it, of course! Paid a fortune!”
“Lie again, and I’ll rip out every last strand of your hair. That artist doesn’t move for money.”
“No!”
Grace shrieked before finally answering.
“She refused even when I offered money… I said it was fine, but one of my subordinates drugged her and dragged her back—”
“So you kidnapped and threatened her. ‘Sign the painting over, or you’ll never go home.’”
“W-Well, she was going to sell it anyway! I just… convinced her faster!”
A hollow laugh escaped me. That woman—who did this fool think she was?
“So what you’re saying is—”
I glared at Grace like I wanted to kill her.
“You kidnapped and threatened the princess of Yulcan, the twin sister of the ‘God of War,’ the kingdom’s once-in-a-generation artistic genius.”
“……”
“All for one painting, just to make more money. You’re the one who insulted Yulcan’s royalty.”
“I—I didn’t know she was a princess! I thought she was just some talented nobody!”
“Then you should’ve learned! Or stayed the hell out of it!”
I grabbed Grace’s collar with my bony hand.
“Ghk!”
“You started this war! You stupidly provoked them and couldn’t clean up your mess! Do you know how many people have died because of you?”
“L-Let go!”
“Cough! Wheeze—”
My coughing wouldn’t stop, likely from overexertion. The already filthy bed was soon stained with blood.
“Let go!”
Seizing the chance, Grace shoved me hard. My body slammed into the wall before collapsing limply. Her face, which had gone pale, regained its color as I struggled to breathe.
“Hah, are you insane?”
“……”
“What do you think cursing at me now will do? I’m still Grace Serbel, the Empire’s Wisdom, the heroic daughter of House Serbel. And you? You’re just a dying beggar.”
“……”
“If the Empire’s Wisdom offers you a hand, you should grovel and take it.”
She huffed arrogantly.
I laughed coldly.
“You’re the one who wants to grovel.”
“What?”
“You didn’t come here to help me. You came to beg for my help.”
“You—!”
Even as I gasped for breath, I sneered at her.
“The novel didn’t tell you how to end the war, did it? So you thought, ‘Everything worked out when I followed Iris’s ideas before, so she can end this war too.’”
“Sh-Shut up!”
“You can’t do anything on your own. No will to learn, no natural talent—just leeching off others.”
“I said shut up! Without you, I found the highest-grade spirit stones, made Karsiel fall in love with me—”
“The crown prince only held your hand for political reasons. If you mistook that for love, you’re even more pathetic than I thought.”
“You—!”
Grace grabbed my collar just as I had done earlier, shaking my frail body violently.
“Do as I say while I’m being nice. Think of a way to end the war. I have hyacinth fruit frozen in my mansion in the capital. Without it, you’ll die.”
She growled.
“If you fail, it’ll tarnish your reputation, won’t it?”
“Think of a way to win!”
Growing impatient, she ignored my taunts and barked orders.
“Cough!”
When I didn’t answer due to coughing, Grace finally released me. But I immediately reached for her hair again—this time grabbing an even larger handful.
“KYAAAAAH!”
“I’d rather die than be your stepping stone again.”
I whispered each word with deadly sincerity.
“Let go! LET GOOO!”
As she thrashed, something hard brushed against my fingers. It must’ve been a magestone accessory, still clinging to her clothes after our earlier struggle.
“G-Give that back!”
Grace screeched, clawing at my hand. Ignoring the blood, I tightened my grip and pulled it free.
“You don’t like having things stolen from you, do you?”
“T-That’s a first-class magestone! A reward from Marquis Dikan for slaying a monster—”
“Good.”
With cracked lips and a fading voice, I spoke.
“At least I can take something from you before I die.”
Clutching my dwindling consciousness, I raised my arm high.
“Stop! Don’t you dare—!”
“Cough!”
Even as I coughed, I didn’t stop.
My last act in life would be destroying some nameless magestone. Pathetic, but better than dying helplessly. This was the best revenge I could manage.
Whoosh—
“No! That stone reverses spacetime—!”
CRASH—
The golden-glowing magestone shattered against the cold stone wall.
“You crazy…!”
Grace’s curses faded into the ringing in my ears. My vision blurred. Everything before me seemed to disappear.
Is this what death feels like?
It’s unfair.
I wanted to see at least one of my plans succeed. No—I wanted to succeed at all of them.
I wanted to make so much money.
Truthfully… there was a time I wanted to do well, even as an Apelremion.
Clutching all my regrets, I closed my eyes.
And when I opened them again—
“Young lady, it’s morning.”
I had returned to being eighteen years old. With all my memories intact.
“I’ve… come back.”
Even the memories of my first life—the one without Grace, the one that matched The Damned Empire novel—were all there.
