Episode 1
What happens to the characters in a novel when it’s finished?
Does a happy ending mean that all the wounds that have been inflicted can be completely healed?
The world we live in is…….
“Huh……!”
Maybe it’s just someone’s imagination.
“No way……!”
Laughter and disbelief alternated between the two men.
It was too good to be true.
The endings of romance and fantasy novels were always the same.
One way or another, the main characters got their happy ending.
It had to be.
That’s why people read them, after all.
So I, too, had a happy ending to my novel.
The hero, Phyllis, and the heroine, Odette, get married in a wedding that could not have been more glorious and beautiful.
So I believed it like a stone.
That there would be no hardships for me in the finalized world.
That I would live happily ever after in this world.
But five years after their wedding, Odette’s hero said,
“I love you.”
“I love you, too, Phyllis.”
There is another woman.
❖ ❖ ❖ ❖
“How could you……!”
Spitefully, she lunged at the two of them.
But all that came back were the strong hands of the knights restraining her, Phyllis, whom she loved more than anyone else in the world, and the cold gaze of the woman who had once been as close to me as a sister.
“Take her now.”
A harsh voice, no longer kind to me, turned to Odette.
She gasped harshly and shook her head.
“This is where the murderer who went crazy on an affair and killed a child……! Put that bitch in jail right now!”
“Get off me!”
Suddenly, Odelt realized.
“You people……! made me this miserable on purpose.
That everything that had happened to me from the beginning had been their plan.
“I can’t forgive you, I can’t forgive you……!”
But the voice that flowed from my lips was no longer as fine as a squeak, and the face that had once been as beautiful as a ray of sunshine had become so wretched that one might have believed it to be a demon.
Suddenly, someone struck her in the back of the head with a blunt object.
“Ow!”
Hot blood trickled through her hair.
Her vision blurred, and through her reddened vision, she saw two people holding hands and kissing each other.
“This…….
She swallowed the expletive she couldn’t bring herself to spit out,
‘X assholes…….’
And that was that.
❖ ❖ ❖ ❖
‘I do hereby declare that I will love Odeltmann for the rest of my life.
At the sound of Phyllis’s voice, wistful and distant, the corners of Odette’s mouth curled into a gentle smile.
But the sweet dream faded like a mirage, and the scene changed from a lavish wedding to a shabby single room.
“In order for a character to be three-dimensional, they must have a weakness, right?
Someone muttered in a low voice with a ballpoint pen in their mouth.
‘Yeah, yeah. Give the female protagonist claustrophobia, and the male protagonist a trauma he can never get over.’
Funnily enough, it was my former self.
Odelt’s eyes widened at the sight of that image.
A cold sweat broke out all over his body, even though it was just a dream.
“Ha, it was a dream.”
She breathed slowly as she swept back her sweaty navy blue hair.
On my wedding day, five years ago, Odette’s memories of her past life returned.
And then I realized.
This world he loved, and everything around him, was actually a lie,
“he’d worked really hard to write.
That it was all fiction.
A heroine who shines like a ray of sunshine in the midst of hardship, a romantic love story between Odette and the war-traumatized Duke of Elements, Phyllis, a former slave.
I thought, ‘If only my claustrophobia or……. Phyllis’s jinx, I wish I’d remembered before it happened.’
Smiling wanly, Odette stroked the back of his head.
‘When I first remembered, I couldn’t sleep because I felt guilty that I had caused my beloved Phyllix’s pain.
My hero, Phyllix.
As a child, he faced a series of unfortunate events in his life as a slave, so much so that he couldn’t even go out in the rain.
I’ve seen his suffering up close.
As a result, Odette was forced to endure the sweetest of honeymoons in pain and guilt.
But soon she changed her mind.
She decided to make Phyllis happier than anyone else, through the medium of the guilt that had settled in my heart.
“Yes. I may have made them with my own hands, but I did it all myself.
She clenched her fists, remembering the past.
Just because this was a fictional world and she was the one who created it didn’t make the feelings I’d been experiencing false.
Clearly, I was Odette.
I just remembered my previous life.
Five years had passed since then, a long time for some, a short time for others.
The novel as she knew it was over, but their lives were not.
Much had changed between them in the intervening years.
Rosemia was born, an adorable little girl who wouldn’t hurt to put in your eyes…….
‘Forget it, let’s not think about it. We have to see him off today.
Things had gotten too busy for him.
Odette sat up stiffly and rubbed the sleep from her eyes.
As if she had made up her mind, she threw on a robe and headed for the kitchen.
“Have you come, my lady!”
“Yes. I’ll get something ready myself.”
“Yes, ma’am.”
As Odette entered the kitchen, the bustle of users quickly dissipated.
She had already agreed in advance that she would prepare Phyllis’s breakfast herself.
She rolled up her sleeves and picked up the prepped ingredients one by one.
French toast with cinnamon sugar and cream, sizzling bacon and glistening sausage, tender scrambled eggs, and steaming hot potato soup.
Soon enough, a rustic breakfast was ready.
It was all he needed for breakfast, since he wasn’t a big eater anyway.
“That’s it.”
Odelt clapped his hands in unison and raised his mouth to the bash.
In fact, some time ago, the Duke of Elements, Phyllix, had declared his resignation, claiming that he was overworked.
Not wanting to interfere with his work, she had accepted his request, figuring they could reunite soon enough.
Last month, maybe.
Aside from a night they’d spent together, almost semi-forced by a tired Phyllis and the power of alcohol, there hadn’t been much in the way of intimacy between them over the past year.
“I’m sure he’s upset, too. Who knew it would take so much work?
Despite the fact that they live in separate rooms and don’t see each other much, Odelt knew all too well how much he loved me.
The events they went through together aside, it’s basically a formula that in any novel, the male protagonist is supposed to be a sunflower who only loves the female protagonist.
So as upset as I was, it was only natural that Phyllis would be as well.
With a slight nod, Odelt led the trolley of meals to his room.
At that moment, my stomach rumbled loudly.
“Ugh…….”
Her brow furrowed slightly as she covered my mouth.
Even though it was a delicious meal that I had prepared with my own hands, I felt my stomach turn.
“What’s wrong, why are you suddenly……. spicy?
Even though my stomach was turning over, my mouth was searching for a familiar taste.
In fact, just before I wrote the letter, Phyllis had served me a stew that resembled the food from my previous life.
Despite not being a spicy eater, the nostalgic aroma and flavor had caused Odelt to empty his plate.
Yes, he knew me so well, as if he could see into my heart.
“Let’s not worry about it.
She took a deep breath and flung the door open with excitement.
“……What is it?”
Phyllis’s shirtless shoulders shivered.
He hurriedly buttoned his shirt, then turned his cold gaze to the trolley Odelt had brought in.
Despite the appetizing-looking food, Filix’s brow furrowed slightly as he picked up the kravat that lay on his desk.
It was golden cloth, embroidered with silver thread.
Her head tilted slightly at the unfamiliar kravat.
“I brought you some breakfast, Phyllis.”
Odelt waved it off and smiled, though he was puzzled, since it was his job to order suits and clothing.
Then he set the meal on the table and spoke.
“Well, we haven’t seen each other in days, so I thought we’d grab a bite to eat…….”
“Hah. Don’t mind me, mind Rosdiana.”
“What……?”
At the unexpectedly cold response, her head slowly turned toward him from her meal.
Phyllis spoke again, still not looking in his direction.
“Aren’t you old enough to be attending the Academy, and all you want to do is flirt with the ladies at tea?”
His tone was very strange.
She twitched her lips in embarrassment.
Odette smiled awkwardly and stepped closer to him.
“I thought you were enjoying your tea time, Phyllis. You know, all the ladies I’ve been meeting with have been looking for something that would benefit our estate…….”
“I don’t want to hear excuses, I’m tired.”
Phyllis wrapped her cravat around my neck, blatantly rejecting her.
She wore her usual heavy perfume, a sense of entitlement about where she came from, but it wasn’t the same scent she wore every day.
Turning quickly, she saw Phyllis recede from her vision.
Odette felt her heart drop, and a vague sense of unease coursed through her body like goosebumps on her toes.
