Episode 1
“Get up. It’s time to wake up.”
A woman’s voice, whom I had never heard before, woke me up.
One thing was for sure, it wasn’t our mother.
Suddenly, a stranger told me to wake up, and I instantly regained my senses. I opened my eyes, feeling more refreshed and less tired than usual, but something felt strange.
“Huh?”
The woman had bleached blonde hair and blue circle lenses in her eyes. She looked like she was over 30, but probably not yet 50.
Who is she? What is she doing here?
As I was racking my brain for clues about the woman’s identity, her name naturally came out of my mouth.
“Co… Coromong…?”
Coromong nodded subtly and skillfully snatched the blanket I was covering myself with. She spoke with a hint of annoyance in her voice.
“Why did you suddenly wake up? Go wash up and get ready. There’s no schedule for today, but you need to get up at the right time.”
“Uh… uh…”
“After waking you up, it feels like I’m rushing you if I stay, so I’ll wait outside. Let me know when you’re done.”
Coromong glanced at me a few times to confirm if I had truly woken up, then left the room. I grabbed my head only after hearing the sound of the door closing. Another person’s memories were in my head.
“Raphael Isaac.”
That was my name. More precisely, it was the name of the original owner of the body I now inhabited, and the antagonist character in my sister’s novel, “Cinderella Rhapsody.”
Until yesterday, I had argued with my sister about why such a character had to exist, but now I had become that character.
Before I could even process the absurdity of the situation, anxiety surged through me. My sister’s words from yesterday resurfaced in my mind.
“Hey, how many of my stories have you read? That’s the point. It’s about how brutally you kill Raphael. That’s what makes it entertaining. That’s what satisfies the readers.”
My sister didn’t just want to kill the owner of this body; she wanted to destroy him. The thought of how to kill Raphael in a satisfying and exhilarating way sent shivers down my spine.
I couldn’t believe what was happening, and whether it made sense or not, it was time to deal with the situation. First things first, I needed to survive, right? I started to carefully explore the details of the original work, hoping to find some clue or solution. Just then, Coromong burst into the room.
With her hands on her hips, Coromong looked down at me and said.
“I knew it would be like this. Did you oversleep again? The sun is already up, so hurry and get up. I’m telling you to at least wash up.”
“Uh… ”
Kwoong!
Coromang closed the door with a stronger force than before. Except for the lord’s bloodline, the mansion had the most influence, so it was natural for him to do that. Moreover, due to the setting that Raphael’s birth mother was respected, even in the original story, Raphael found it difficult to confront Coromang.
I got up from the bed and stepped out of the room. Right after that, I met eyes with a servant. He suddenly bent his waist with a polite gesture.
“Good morning.”
“Uh, hello…? Good morning?”
“Yes, good morning.”
I responded appropriately to the servant’s greeting and shook his hand. The servant nodded with a smile, scratched the back of his head, and then moved on.
In the original story, Raphael, due to his lack of manners, would ignore the servant’s greeting, but at the same time, would mutter harsh words if the servant did not greet him.
Seeing that, I thought to myself, “Shouldn’t I just accept the greetings? What’s the big deal?”
I shook off my hand and pondered for a moment. If people change overnight, wouldn’t it seem strange to everyone?
No, it probably won’t be.
It was a common story to hear that people are more indifferent to others than we think, so it’s best not to worry too much about others’ opinions. The servants here will probably just pass by without thinking much about whether Raphael is in a good mood today.
How would you feel if someone else took over your body?
The servants of this mansion were very afraid of Raphael. They feared Raphael as if they were looking at a 5-year-old child.
I worried that Raphael might make some unreasonable demands and throw a tantrum, and I was anxious about what stupid thing he might do to cause trouble.
Still, Raphael was the lord, and there was no one who wanted him to rule justly.
I felt relieved in the atmosphere that as long as he didn’t cause any trouble or make any annoying demands, it was fortunate. If I had possessed a diligent and capable lord, it would have been a disaster, wouldn’t it?
If I had let that happen, I would have ruined the territory I had. It was lucky that the territory was running well even without my intervention.
I still had to be careful, though.
But I couldn’t just relax completely. It wasn’t okay for Raphael to be incompetent so far, and it wouldn’t be okay for him to be incompetent in the future. At this rate, I wouldn’t have any excuse if my younger siblings took away the territory.
“Hmm.”
I entered the shower booth after taking off my clothes. It was set up with a magical convenience, so I felt reassured that everything was well-equipped. Even if there were no phones or televisions, there had to be a shower. After turning on the water from the hose, I looked at the mirror.
A face that looked awkward greeted me.
An impression that seemed dirty at first glance. It was the kind of face that made you feel like you had to glare for no reason when your eyes met while walking down the street. I raised my finger to it timidly.
Raphael Isaac.
A side character from the romance fantasy novel written by my sister, “Cinderella Rhapsody.”
A shadow to highlight the main male lead.
A device to advance the story.
A plan to be sacrificed to the main male lead in the end.
That was me.
I had read up to the fourth volume of the original work.
The foolish Raphael lost his position as the head of the family in an unexpected duel with his younger brother. The younger brother had diligently practiced swordsmanship from a young age to take over the territory, and foolishly, Raphael didn’t even know and was struck dumbfounded.
It was because Raphael was so stupid that the people of the family turned their backs on him. If he had at least one subordinate who understood him, they would have advised him, but he was just incompetent.
After losing his position as the head of the family, Raphael seemed to have lost his mind and tried to kidnap the heroine, but was caught by a certain male lead, whose identity was not revealed due to my sister’s clever writing.
What would happen next? What would be Raphael’s fate?
It depended on who discovered Raphael’s kidnapping scene.
He could be killed by the prince, explode from a magic shot by the Matapju, be torn apart by the demon’s power while being held by the Northern Duke, or have his throat cut by Zephyrine’s sword.
It goes without saying, but I wanted to live.
Preferably, in abundance.
If possible, I wanted to avoid dangerous and risky places. I didn’t want to draw attention to myself in places like the Northern region, where demons roamed, or the Academy, which was a major stage in the novel.
How much would it hurt if I got hurt?
I wanted to hide in my safe and comfortable territory and enjoy the hospitality.
The possession itself was fine. I could play and eat with my servants in a luxurious environment. I didn’t have to work.
So if I could, I wanted to continue this life.
But what if the heroine, who later enrolled in the Academy and became involved with a certain male lead, revealed what happened between me and her?
A dreadful ending awaited me.
Raphael didn’t truly love the heroine. He approached her pretending to be in love, but his real motive was the background behind her. Given his different abilities, he wanted to engulf her household and expand his own power. He emotionally manipulated her.
As a long-time reader of my sister’s novel, I can tell you that this was a death sentence.
If the heroine asked me to die after getting involved with the male lead, I would have no choice but to give up my life. I would have to plead for a clean death, offering my neck obediently.
To avoid this ending, I had to go to the Academy.
Staying here, I might starve to death before the male lead came to kill me. After my younger brother took over the lordship, what would he do to me?
In the original work, Raphael was driven out of the family. Considering that in most cases, the one who takes over the lordship would kill to erase any remnants of the past, it was a lenient treatment. But I wanted to live well. I wanted to break free from the shackles of labor. To do that, I had to keep the lordship.
For this, I had to go to the Academy. Leaving the territory vulnerable while the lordship was in a precarious situation seemed foolish, but there was nothing I could do by staying here.
It was all about the knowledge from the original work that I knew. Most of what I could use was inside the Academy.
I just had to go to the Academy. It was the backdrop of the original work. There, I could make use of so many things. I could amass wealth, build up the power to protect myself, and most importantly, pioneer a path to survival.
The most dangerous thing was the male leads from the original work.
I definitely wanted to avoid the situation where one of them, after getting involved with the heroine, would come to kill me. To prevent this, I had to block the heroine from getting involved with any other male leads. Was it possible? Was there a chance?
The possibility of the heroine not getting involved with the male leads?
I shook my head as I recalled the male leads tailored for the original heroine. It seemed more plausible for a world with polyandry to change into a monogamous one.
The setting of the original heroine being inevitably connected to the male leads was an excessively powerful weapon. Realistically, it seemed difficult for the heroine not to get entangled with the male leads no matter what I did.
“But I can’t just give up.”
There was another way, but it was also incredibly difficult. I could meet the heroine and reconcile with her, asking for forgiveness for the wrongs I had committed in the past. Then, even if the heroine got involved with the male leads, I could survive.
Was it possible?
Even if I were the heroine, I didn’t think I would be friends with someone like Raphael. How could I be friends with someone who had done what he did in the past?
In any case, the conclusion was that it was difficult for me to survive.
But I couldn’t just sit and wait to die, so I had to try something.
Either the heroine wouldn’t get involved with the male leads, or I would be friends with the heroine.
