After class, I went straight to Chase. I wanted to thank him for having Lady Isabella as my teacher, and I also wanted to share my thoughts about the first class. I asked the maids and went to the office where Chase was.
Knock, knock.
“It’s Roella.”
As soon as I finished speaking, the office door opened slightly. The person who opened the door was Angel, Chase’s secretary and butler. His dark-brown haired, black-eyed, neat face looked down at me kindly.
“Miss.”
His hair and eye color were so ordinary that if we were to find a person who seemed different in this world, we could probably say it was Angel. Of course he was thin and tall, so he wore his suit like a model, but compared to the men of Clemente, his face was rather handsome. Maybe that’s why I felt most comfortable with Angel. First of all, since he was unlikable, I could treat him more freely.
“What are you doing here?”
Angel asked me. I peeked at Chase inside his office and quietly asked him:
“I’d like to say thank you, but is he busy?”
“Oh, that’s…”
“Come in.”
Looking at Angel’s troubled expression, it seemed like he was busy with work, but I smiled brightly at Chase’s willing permission. Angel smiled when he saw my face and reluctantly opened the door wide. I took brisk steps and approached Chase.
“What’s going on?”
“Today’s class was great. I just wanted to say thank you!”
I sat across from my father and chattered about my admiration for Isabella’s elegant behavior and the history of the Ruman Empire and the status of the Clement family. When I added that I was proud to be the daughter of the Clemend family, a big smile appeared on Chase’s face.
“It looks like you enjoyed the class. Thank god.”
“Yes! I was surprised that it wasn’t boring at all. The princess explained things very well.”
“Lady Twilly once wanted to join the church. The Duke of Twilly was very worried because of that.”
“Oh really?”
No wonder. She was very good at explaining things. But why was that something to worry about?
“The Lady of Twilly fits in well with the church, but why is the Duke of Twilly so worried?”
“Of course, she would have done a good job teaching children, but Lady Twilly is also very skilled in medicine. I heard she’s currently majoring in medicine at Lu Imperial University.”
‘Hmm…?’
I tilted my head, caught by something in Chase’s words.
“Why are you doing that?”
“Does Lady Twilly enjoy medicine?”
Chase answered with a thoughtful expression.
“I’m not sure about that.”
“I see. I hope Lady Twilly enjoys medicine.”
“Is that so?”
“Yes! Lady Twilly looked happy when she was teaching me!”
I smiled, remembering Isabella’s bright smile as she taught me. Then Chase asked.
“Then I’d like to ask. If you had to choose between something you are good at and something you enjoy doing, Roella, which would you choose?”
I answered Chase’s question without hesitation.
“Of course, something I like!”
“Okay? The reason is?”
“Doing something well may not be enjoyable, but doing something enjoyable will soon make you good at it.”
Chase and Angel’s eyes widened at my answer. When Chase remained silent as if speechless, Angel spoke first.
“You’ve grown a lot, young lady.”
Chase also nodded his head in agreement with Angel’s words. I suddenly saw the documents scattered in front of them and looked at the clock. Before I knew it, an hour had passed since I entered the office. Feeling that I had taken up too much of Chase’s time, I quickly prepared to leave.
“Then I’ll go! Dad, do your best!”
“Okay, thank you.”
When I showed Chase the polite greeting I had learned earlier, Chase and Angel burst out laughing at the same time. I left the office with a proud expression on my face.
‘I was going to take the opportunity and ask for permission to go out… Not yet, right?’
A journey of a thousand miles begins with one step! I let go of my impatience and headed to my room.
* * *
On the first day, I passed out quickly, probably because I was tired, but today I had a particularly hard time sleeping. Late at night, I thoroughly reviewed what I learned today and walked towards the balcony. When I went outside, I saw the full moon floating brightly under the clear sky. Between the full moon, long clouds lay like shadows, and the scene was like a painting. My room was on the third floor of the innermost building of the Duke’s residence. Thanks to this, the balcony was located directly opposite the main gate of the mansion, and all that could be seen from the balcony was the large backyard. After listening to the maids, they said that even during the day, no one comes in and out of this place other than the employee who manages the backyard, so you can enjoy your alone time on the balcony. In short, this was a space just for me.
‘I can’t believe a day like this would come.’
It’s unbelievable, but this… Can I think of it as a gift for myself who has worked hard all this time?
“Okay. What if this is a novel?”
The body starved to death anyway. For me, who had no place to return to, living here was not a choice but a necessity. How did I get this new life?
‘First of all, what should I do with what the system tells me to do…?’
The system told me to find the male lead within a year. If I had to live here, that was the first problem I had to solve. I didn’t remember much about the male lead, who formed the backbone of the web novel, but the image of him as a protagonist loved by several people remained. When I heard that Isabella had a character named ‘Kai’, I thought about it, and there was no way that the male leads would only be my brothers, Evan and Louise. In that case, I needed to look for other candidates as soon as possible. As of now, ‘Kai’ was the strong candidate for the male lead.
[I will give you missions based on your abilities! If you feel like your favorability performance is not good, a huge amount of missions will pour in, so be prepared!]
What it meant was that if I couldn’t find the male lead and was struggling, a mission would appear. If I wanted to save time by even a day, wouldn’t it be better to take on missions now that I was trapped in the mansion? After thinking that, I immediately shook my head.
‘I don’t know what kind of mission the system will give me if I can’t find the male lead, I will be killed.’
My goal was to live comfortably here in good health until I die. There was no need to rush and take risks.
“…”
‘Hmm. Still, I’m at a loss, so should I try an experiment?’
“System.”
I tried to mutter something in my mind, wondering if anything would happen, but the system didn’t appear in front of me.
‘I can’t call up the system when I want.’
Just when I thought there was a mountain of things I had to figure out in the future, a system alarm popped up like a lie along with a welcome sound.
[Mission!]
Mission? Could this be the mission I was waiting for?!
[Leave the building right now and go to the backyard, towards the fence! Time limit is 10 minutes!]
What? As I froze in fascination for a moment, the system continued to deliver the message as if it were talking to me.
[If you succeed, you will have the opportunity to choose a golden key! If you get the golden key, you will be given hints about the real male protagonist and the rewards you need at that moment. Isn’t it too much?]
“Golden Key?”
‘Oh! Are there rewards for missions? Like a game?’
If I got hints about the male protagonist through missions and receive rewards, I would kill two birds with one stone…!
[Instead. There is a penalty if you fail to complete the mission, so be prepared for this!]
Yes? Wait for a sec.
[Penalties are revealed in case of failure! Maybe it would be better to not know for the rest of your life?]
‘…Are you saying that success is unconditional?’
It was a system that adhered to a conversational style but was still in a notification format. After finishing what it had to say, the system just picked it up and disappeared. I was lost in thought for a moment. The reason the system gave me a year was to hope that I could increase my likeability rating and find the real male lead. The mission itself was given when favorability and performance were poor, and rewards were also provided. Even though it threatened me with my life, there was a possibility that the system was on my side…
Tiring!
[Time limit 10:00]
[Time limit 09:59]
[Time limit 09:58]
“…!!”
My eyes widened as I saw red letters floating in front of me. That’s right, time limit! It said there was a time limit, right? The time limit began to count down fearfully, as if it were a time bomb. The moment I saw those letters, my body reacted first.
‘There is no time to think!’
Bang!
I roughly opened the door and ran blindly. Perhaps because it was time for everyone to be asleep, there were no occupants left in the hallway. When I arrived at the first floor, 46 seconds had already passed.
‘Back door! Where’s the back door?!’
I searched for the back door for a while, but couldn’t find a door leading to the backyard near the stairs. I had no choice but to run blindly down the first floor hallway. I ran from the left end to the right, but I couldn’t see the door anywhere. The building inside the mansion. The only building connected to the backyard is this building where Loella’s room is located. Then there must be a door somewhere here…! I didn’t give up and went back and forth down the first floor hallway four times. When I raised my eyes and checked the time limit again, five minutes had already passed.
[Time limit 05:10]
[Time limit 05:09]
[Time limit 05:08]
“Omg… omg…”
It’s crazy, really! Not long after I woke up, I felt out of breath after running a little, probably because my stamina had not yet fully recovered. Seeing how dizzy I was, I didn’t know if I was going to pass out if I wasted my stamina like this. As I was stamping my feet in the dark, I caught sight of Angel patrolling with a lamp. I ran back towards the light.
“Miss! At this time, the outfit was…!”
Angel quickly turned his head away, as if he saw something he couldn’t see. I didn’t care, I grabbed Angel’s arm and shook it.
“Backyard! Where’s the door to the backyard?”
“Eh, eh. Um, there’s a wooden door at the end…”
“Thank you!”
Without even having time to catch my breath, I ran with all my might in the direction Angel had pointed out.
“Miss! Put something on the outside…!”
It felt like a nagging voice was coming from behind, but I wasn’t in the mood to listen. Half of the time limit has already passed because I couldn’t find a single door.
It was a situation that blew me away. There was a wooden side door at the far right end of the building. It was so dark, it wasn’t a proper door, and it wasn’t big, so it seemed like they couldn’t find it. They say it’s dark under the lamp! I’ve passed by here 4 times!
Good! As I violently stretched out my hand, the old door opened with a groaning sound. Thankful that the side door was unlocked, I visually assessed the size of the backyard before me. however.
[Time limit 04:29]
[Time limit 04:28]
[Time limit 04:27]
Why was the backyard so big?!
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Translator Note:
Hello there! This is RJR. I hope you liked it <3
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