The beginning was no different from the start of any other possession story.
The only difference was that instead of a reincarnation truck, I was killed by a black sedan driven by some drunk lunatic.
On my way home on a dark night, I died in a traffic accident.
I found myself possessing a character in the novel I had been reading just two hours ago.
If I had known this would happen, I should have prayed before closing my eyes to be possessed by the heroine of a healing parenting story or a sweet romance.
Though, even if I had made a wish, there’s no guarantee it would have come true.
‘At least I’m not a villainess or a supporting character who gets killed off immediately.’
Fortunately, I was reincarnated as a commoner with no name in the original story. A nobody who would never cross paths with the main characters, just a part of the ordinary background.
Still, I was somewhat satisfied with my new life as Katisha Ainsley. Compared to my previous life, where I struggled with poverty, this life was a blessing.
Though I was an orphan, it was better than having parents who couldn’t fulfill their roles. As long as I had someone to care for me, a roof over my head, and enough food to not starve, I could manage.
‘But after today, I might lose all three.’
I wrung out a clean towel as hard as I could, but water still dripped from it.
“Ugh, my arms…”
Taking care of someone was too much for a ten-year-old girl. I was short, weak, and had no stamina.
Holding the neatly folded towel, I carefully climbed onto the bed.
Lying on the creaky bed was an old man on the verge of death. He was the owner of this three-story house where I lived on the second floor.
In a world without advanced medical equipment, I couldn’t tell exactly how much time he had left, but I had a feeling he wouldn’t make it past dawn. It was the intuition of someone who had been caring for him closely for months.
Honestly, in South Korea, someone not even seventy yet wouldn’t be considered old enough to die of natural causes…
‘What will I do if Grandpa Herzen really passes away?’
Just the thought made me choke up, and my vision darkened.
I was born as Katisha Ainsley and regained my memories and intellectual abilities from my past life five years ago, just after turning five.
By then, I was already living under Grandpa Herzen’s roof.
After piecing together the situation, it seemed that a woman who couldn’t afford to raise a child had left me, a newborn, in front of Grandpa Herzen’s house, which was rumored to be wealthy.
Despite his gruff demeanor and sharp tongue, Grandpa Herzen took me in and raised me. It couldn’t have been easy for someone as meticulous and sensitive as him to change diapers and care for a stranger’s baby.
Once I grew older, he gave me a room on the second floor, and in lieu of rent, I came down to the first floor every day to keep him company and clean the house.
Though I grumbled about child labor every time he nagged me to clean thoroughly, Grandpa Herzen was my benefactor and parent who raised me to this age.
‘Until a few months ago, when he fell ill with an unknown disease, he was so strong that he could even take me hiking, carrying me under his arm.’
Death seems to come so suddenly.
“Child…?”
As I diligently wiped the wrinkled face and neck of the old man and rubbed his cold hands and feet, a faint voice reached my ears.
“Grandpa!”
I immediately looked up. Grandpa, whom I thought was asleep, had opened his eyes slightly and was looking at me.
“Are you okay? How are you feeling…?”
“Did you do everything I asked…?”
After barely regaining consciousness for the first time in two days, the first thing he asked about was whether I had completed his errands. I bit my lip hard and nodded.
“I sent the letter to the address you gave me. It must have arrived safely.”
He called it his will. He said he was sending it to his children and grandchildren in the capital. But it had already been a week since I sent that letter, and not a single reply had come from those so-called family members.
I don’t know what their circumstances are, but how could none of them come when their family member is in critical condition!
“How fortunate I am… to have you by my side in my final moments.”
“Ah, what are you talking about! Final moments? Ugh.”
I forced a bright tone, holding back tears. I knew my face, struggling not to cry, must look ridiculous, but I didn’t want to send him off on his final journey with tears.
“Where’s the grumpy old man who always swung his cane and yelled at me to pay the rent…? Why are you talking so weakly now? Ugh.”
Trying so hard to hold back my tears, I started hiccuping instead.
Whether it was because my red face hiccuping looked funny or pitiful, a faint smile appeared on Grandpa’s lips.
“Have you figured out how to live without your grandpa?”
“I’m not going to think about that. Sniff.”
Despite my efforts, tears started falling. My determination to send him off with a smile evaporated.
I hugged Grandpa’s arm and burst into tears.
“You promised to take me to the summer festival next month! Where are you going? You said you’d take me sledding next winter, you definitely said that last year. Sob. If you leave like this, I’m going to take over this house. Hic. I’ll take all the inheritance…!”
“Take it, go ahead.”
“Tch, you always say that…!”
It was Grandpa Herzen’s habit. ‘When I die, this house will be yours, so clean it well.’
Of course, that was just a threat from Grandpa, who had a mild case of obsessive-compulsive disorder, to make me clean the house spotlessly. But…
“Seems like… you haven’t thought about how to live at all. Tsk tsk… Don’t worry, Kat. I’ve made all the arrangements.”
“Sniff, that doesn’t matter!”
I didn’t need any inheritance. I needed Grandpa.
Even though I had been preparing myself for this every day for the past few months, reality was much heavier and scarier than I had imagined.
I wasn’t ready at all to accept the fact that I no longer had Grandpa in this world.
“Well, it’s not much, just my share… but who else would be more deserving than you?”
Was he delirious? Grandpa muttered a few incomprehensible words in a fading voice. Then, as if annoyed by my sobbing, he closed his eyes.
“Don’t cry too much, child. We’ll meet again soon…”
No. I’m going to live a full life, so it’ll be 90 years before I see you again.
‘So stay with me just a little longer.’
I couldn’t say it properly because I was too busy crying.
The time granted to us wasn’t long. Just a few hours later, Grandpa Herzen closed his eyes peacefully and exhaled his last breath. With that single breath, I could feel his soul leaving his body.
Sobs kept rising in my throat.
“Go to a good place, Grandpa…”
I prayed fervently that this world had an afterlife.
Though he was a bit stubborn, he was kind enough to raise an orphaned child for ten years. I hoped he would surely go to heaven.
‘We’ll definitely meet again in 90 years.’
I held the old man’s hand, which was growing colder, and prayed earnestly.
* * *
With the help of the neighbors, we held a modest funeral.
Well… that was the plan.
Before Grandpa’s coffin could even cross the threshold of the house, a group of knights and a young man with a sharp 2:8 parted hairstyle arrived. He had strikingly bright red hair.
“Are you Miss Katisha Ainsley?”
I nodded with a face swollen from crying.
“Yes, that’s me. Who are you…?”
“Nice to meet you. I’m Jemian Parker, the tax officer of the Blasco Ducal Family.”
The what?
I blinked my puffy eyes, struggling to keep them open.
‘Blasco?’
Blasco was the only ducal family in the Astroka Empire where I lived. It was also the family that adopted the heroine, Niela, in the novel *[Like Magic, Now Us]*, which I had reincarnated into.
In the novel, Blasco played the role of the antagonist. They were the villains who opposed the heroine and hero, the masterminds, and the final bosses.
A family of psychopaths long devoid of humanity and morality—why were they suddenly here?
My question was answered in less than a minute.
“‘Dress my coffin lavishly and enshrine it in the Blasco family cemetery in Artem.'”
“Huh?”
“…Following the will of the late Duke, we have come to take the coffin.”
What did I just hear?
This time, I actually dug my finger into my ear. Maybe I have too much earwax. The late Duke? Who? Grandpa Herzen?
“The spirit of the late Duke is quite insistent that we bring the coffin immediately, so we’ll take it with us now.”
At the nod of the man who claimed to be the tax officer of Blasco, the knights swiftly moved to drape a black flag embroidered with swords and butterflies over the coffin.
Wait, that emblem… it looked familiar. It was the emblem of the Blasco Ducal Family, something no citizen of the empire could fail to recognize.
‘For real?’
He was the late Duke? Of that family, said to be cursed by demons?
‘Grandpa, you never mentioned anything like that while you were alive!’
But that shock was nothing. Before I could even process it, an even more staggering truth awaited me.
“The late Duke Blasco has left his entire estate to you, Miss Katisha.”
“Huh?”
Even as I exclaimed in shock, the man didn’t bat an eye.
The red-haired youth flipped through the documents in his hand and showed them to me. They were filled with an endless list of items.
“After deducting inheritance taxes, you will receive cash, personal vaults in the Astroka Central Bank, net profits from the territories of Artem, Riden, and Gelphor, ownership of the intelligence guild the late Duke operated during his lifetime, his collection of artworks and ancient relics, and everything else under the name of the late Duke Herzen Blasco.”
It… it was a list of the inheritance.
I was so stunned that I stumbled over my words.
“So… roughly how much are we talking about…?”
“Ah, I should have explained it more simply. To put it plainly, it’s about two-thirds of the total assets tied to the Blasco family. Essentially, it’s everything except the profits from the family business.”
“Excuse me?”
“If we were to rank personal wealth outside of the family’s assets, Miss Katisha, you would be the second richest person in Astroka, right after the imperial family!”
I was so shocked I couldn’t speak.
Only then did the words Grandpa had muttered right before his death flash through my mind. Yes, he did say he had made some arrangements.
But Grandpa, I had no idea you were leaving me an inheritance… and you said it wasn’t much…!
“Um, are there any other heirs…?”
“No.”
“…”
“The gist of the will is to designate Katisha Ainsley as the sole heir.”
His answer was so firm that I was left speechless.
At the age of 10, it seems I’ve become a millionaire.
Oh.
