Life Becomes Amazing After Marriage

Chapter 25: Do You Have Time Tonight?

 

  “What if you found out the Princess’s secret?”

 

  First, I had to figure out how to incorporate the character of ‘Gosomi’ into the novel. It didn’t take me long to decide, because the character was so simple.

 

  She was the kind of character that you might find in any story. I didn’t have any plans to reuse her, so I decided to make her a disposable extra character.

 

  “I should also include Park Seungmin.”

 

  This is where I would take full advantage of the protagonist ‘Ciel’s’ ability to regress.

 

  The protagonist knows who the other person is, but the reverse is not true. That’s the fun of reading a regression story.

 

  “So the situation is…”

 

  A classic plot where the villain learns that the princess has brought a commoner into the palace and tries to use it politically, but is instead counterattacked.

 

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  “Is that really true?”

 

  “Yes, there is a commoner in the palace right now. It’s clear from the circumstances that the Third Princess brought him in.”

 

  “Why on earth would the princess do something like that?”

 

  “He’s the commoner who played an active role in the recent princess assassination incident. I tried to cover it up thoroughly, but I couldn’t fool my eyes.”

 

  ‘Tra’, the eldest daughter of the Count Midcons, smiled coldly as she confirmed the information she had gathered.

 

  Bringing a commoner into the palace for personal reasons was a blunder that the princess, who had made her debut in high society late, could never afford to be caught doing.

 

  “What do you want me to do?”

 

  “Deal with the commoner. I’ll drag the bastard out and put him on trial, and you can crush him thoroughly.”

 

  “Will that be enough?”

 

  “It’s enough. There are rumors that the princess cares deeply for the commoner. If the princess steps forward to save the commoner, she will be executed for the sake of the royal family’s honor. If not, it will be a sight to behold.”

 

  Even if the princess’s expression only falters, it will be enough. If I can achieve that much with the life of a commoner, it will be a very worthwhile use of my time.

 

  “What about the princess’s revenge?”

 

  “You don’t have to worry. I don’t know why a girl who was just staying at home has suddenly become so active, but it’s too late. She’s nothing more than a puppet with her strings cut.”

 

  “I see.”

 

  Of course, that’s only to me.

 

  Tra swallowed her back words.

 

  Unlike herself, the eldest daughter of a wealthy Margrave, the knight who would carry out the mission, ‘X’, was nothing more than a disposable pawn.

 

  This brute, who was only strong, didn’t even know such an obvious fact and was smiling sinisterly. He couldn’t be better as a pawn.

 

  “I understand. Then I’ll take care of the bastard’s neck… Ugh!”

 

  Rustle-!

 

  X grabbed his own neck and staggered back. However, before he could take even a few steps, his neck fell to the ground.

 

  The blood vessels that had not yet recognized death throbbed, and blood gushed out of the headless body like a fountain. Tra’s body froze at the gruesome sight.

 

  “H-how did you get here?”

 

  “It’s a place I come to often.”

 

  “What nonsense are you talking about! This is…”

 

  “A space that a commoner like you should never set foot in. I will tear off your limbs and throw them to the dogs, and make a necklace out of your teeth and present it to the princess. Right?”

 

  “W-what…”

 

  Ciel interrupted her before she could finish her sentence. At that moment, she felt a strange sense of foreboding, and her world began to turn upside down.

 

  “I like that you’re all the same. I don’t have to hesitate when I kill you.”

 

  *Thud-*

 

  Tra’s head fell to the ground. Her eyes and mouth would never close again. At least not in this life.

 

  Ciel finished everything and left the place without a word. This was a secret space created by Tra anyway. No one would be able to find it except for him.

 

  The two bodies would naturally be disposed of. Ciel turned without hesitation, knowing this from the previous time.

 

…

 

…

 

…

 

  “Hmm.”

 

  In the space where everyone had left.

 

  The princess, ‘Mer’, who suddenly appeared, picked up Tra’s head. The princess looked at the face that still held the emotions of the moment of death and let out a sigh of regret.

 

  “It’s not like you to leave traces behind, my dear. Were you trying to give me a gift?”

 

  Whoosh-!

 

  As Mer waved her hand, Tra’s head burst into flames. The entire space began to be dyed black, starting with that.

 

  “I would have preferred it if you had come with me.”

 

  Mer grumbled for a while, then disappeared as suddenly as she had appeared.

 

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  “Hmm… scary?”

 

  I just wrote it down as I felt it, but the princess turned out to be more murderous than I thought. But I didn’t have anything to change.

 

  The scene came out so clean, and the glimpse of Kang Bada that I was able to catch this time was not much different.

 

  ‘Don’t be fooled by the fact that she’s kind to me.’

 

  It’s naive to think that her kind side is all there is to her. There is no group as cold-blooded in human relations as a wealthy family.

 

  Especially for Kang Bada, who is a member of the Daehan Group and has received all sorts of education since childhood, she will never let someone she has judged as an “enemy” go.

 

  “It’s just a matter of degree and method.”

 

  In fact, even the Gosomi couple was half-dead from a modern perspective. When I asked Kang Bada about it a few days later in a subtle way,

 

  “I don’t think we’ll have any business with each other anymore.”

 

  This was the chilling answer I got. I don’t think she killed them, but they probably won’t be able to work in the same industry anymore.

 

  “I need to be careful too.”

 

  I must never forget who she is. I don’t know what kind of weapons she’s hiding behind her smiling face. And I don’t have the ability to regress like Ciel.

 

  “Anyway…”

 

  This cider is not bad as a plot for the readers. Especially as a gift for my favorite reader, the ‘princess’.

 

  The background of my novel is a medieval fantasy. So the biggest advantage is that I can give the readers a hot cider.

 

  “The buildup took longer than I thought.”

 

  The villains of this episode, ‘X’ and ‘Tra’, take up about 3 chapters, which is not a small amount by web novel standards.

 

  If I don’t give them a solid cider, the readers who have eaten a lot of sweet potatoes will leave in droves. In that sense, the actions of ‘Ciel’ and ‘Mer’ were appropriate.

 

  “…Let’s wrap this up cleanly here.”

 

  *Yawn!*

 

  I yawned lightly. When I looked at the clock, it was already 5 hours later. I didn’t even realize how time had passed while I was concentrating.

 

  I reflexively picked up my phone to check my messages, and there was a message I didn’t expect.

 

  – Cover completed! ٩( ᐛ )و

 

  A single line on the notification window.

 

  It seems that the cover I requested a few days ago is already finished. I would have expected to wait at least two weeks to a month, but how did they finish it so quickly?

 

  “…Did they just draw it quickly?”

 

  I was suddenly filled with anxiety.

 

  Perhaps because they are in an artistic profession, some illustrators sometimes behave in ways that are difficult to understand socially.

 

  They may suddenly disappear.

 

  They may draw the picture roughly.

 

  Or they may postpone it indefinitely.

 

    “But she’s not that kind of person, is she?”

 

  She is known in the industry for her “fast hands” and “sure handling of work.” She was also quite busy. And yet, she replied in just a week.

 

  I swallowed my anxiety and carefully checked the message. I saw a long message that the other person had sent in advance.

 

: It was the first time in a long time that I enjoyed drawing a picture. I’m not a professional, but after seeing the photo, I couldn’t do anything else, so I worked on it first. Please keep this a secret from everyone! (>_<;;)

 

: I sent the picture by email. I worked on it day and night for 5 days (｡•́︿•̀｡) I’m going to faint right after sending this message-!!!

 

: And if you need any more illustrations related to this character in the future, please contact me first. Please do. Please! That’s all. (`Д´)ゞ Loyalty!

 

• ··This person is also not sane.

 

  I thought she was a strange person before I even commissioned her, but her character is so strong that I’m curious to see what she’s really like.

 

  “Well, as long as she does the job well.”

 

  I guess if she’s going to express herself like that, it means she really worked hard on it.

 

  I checked the email with a slightly excited heart. And then.

 

  “Huh···.”

 

  I couldn’t take my eyes off the monitor for a while.

 

× × ×

  

  – What the hell did you do?

 

  “Are you talking about the cover?”

 

– Yes, did you pick up a spaceship somewhere? How did you come up with an illustration of that quality in just a week?

 

  “It’s all thanks to the princess.”

 

  I laughed as I answered the call from CEO Choi Jin-cheol. After all, the number of views was going up every time I refreshed the page, and even I, the author, was starting to feel embarrassed.

 

  – Did you see the gallery?

 

  “Yes, I’m looking at it now.”

 

  Originally, Munpia is not a place where illustrations or covers are that important compared to other web novel platforms.

 

  But now, the reaction was so hot that I wondered if someone was manipulating it behind the scenes. That must be why Choi Jin-cheol contacted me so urgently.

 

[Title: <Life Becomes Amazing After Marriage> Illustration?]

 

  : This is really amazing. I heard that ‘Sunae-jjang’, who is popular these days, worked on it, but the quality of the illustration is really crazy. I read the part where the princess appears twice after seeing this.

 

  └ What is that, you jerk?

 

  └ You still don’t know?

  

  └ [Link]

 

  └ Woah, damn.

 

 The illustration depicts the first time the princess met the protagonist. The scene where she looks down at the protagonist who saved her without any emotion.

 

  Of course, the model was ‘Kang Bada’. I asked her permission and requested her to draw a picture based on the photo I got last time.

 

  ‘I did a good job putting it on the cover.’

 

  It was a quality that was too good to be used as an illustration, so it was a stroke of genius to put it on the cover boldly, even though it could be misunderstood as a ‘female protagonist’.

 

  Even without me promoting it, people spread the illustration around here and there, and it naturally had a huge promotional effect.

 

  [Title: Illustration of the Princess!

 

  : Honestly, I dropped out because I didn’t think there was a 1% chance that the protagonist would save the princess. But I saw the illustration and I’m convinced, so I’m back to reading it ㅋㅋㅋ

 

  : [Princess.jpg]

 

  └ Good

 

  └ I knew that Sunae-jjang was a good artist, but was she this good? The quality is completely different from her other drawings.

 

  └ Maybe the model is really good?

 

  └ Huh? Now that I look at it, it’s a face I’ve seen somewhere.

 

  └ I found the princess’s account. [Link]

  

  └ Wow···. The illustration is legendary, but the real person is even prettier. Is this real?

 

  Kang Bada’s Instagram also became a hot topic. There was some controversy about whether it was okay to use someone else’s photo like this.

 

  – I gave her my permission.

 

  That one sentence settled everything. The power of 1 million followers was more than I thought, and the number of views skyrocketed.

 

  ‘Most of them are fake though···.’

 

  Some of them actually read my writing, and some of them became my real readers. The result is what you see before you.

 

──────────

 

Today’s Best 1st Place.

 

<Life Becomes Amazing After Marriage>

 

──────────

 

  ‘This is crazy.’

 

  I said it without thinking.

 

  Even if I pinch my cheek, it’s not a dream.

 

  I had been on a steady rise, but I never expected to reach number one in just one day after changing the cover.

 

  ‘···Life is really a one-time thing.’

 

  The notification window was filled with messages.

 

  I didn’t dare to check it and just stared at the screen blankly. This kind of sudden rise at a time when only a week is left before the end of the contest.

 

  – Oh my God, congratulations on the Grand Prize.

 

  “That’s too much kimchi stew, isn’t it?”

 

  – No, it’s not. At this rate, you’ll catch up to the current number one entry today. The number of subscribers and recommendations are also overwhelming. And anyone who sees that picture will···.

 

  “You’d want to make it into a webtoon.”

 

  – You’re really Kim Ha-neul. You’re good at this. You’re so good.

 

  The top winners of this contest are guaranteed to have their work turned into a webtoon. That’s not just a matter of how much the prize money is, it guarantees a huge influx of readers for the author.

 

  ‘Of course, it would be difficult to make a webtoon with that quality.’

 

  Even if the quality of the artwork is downgraded a bit, it proves that a work that has attracted so much attention has enough market potential.

 

  Especially for companies that operate based on the logic of money, there is no reason to drop it.

 

  – Hahaha! I told you. I told you you would succeed someday. Come out now! Let’s have a big dinner together!

 

  “I have an appointment.”

 

  – You’re lying. You never keep your promises.

 

  “If you have nothing else to say, I’ll hang up.”

 

  – Hey! You ungrateful···.

 

  Click-

 

  I hung up the phone without a second thought. And then I immediately pressed 1 and called someone else.

 

  It wasn’t a calculated move. I just thought that if I had to share my joy with someone, it should be that person first.

 

  “Bada-ssi, are you free tonight?”

 

  Maybe it was because I was too excited.

 

  My hands were shaking as I held my phone.