Chapter 1

When I opened my eyes, an unfamiliar ceiling entered my field of vision.

It was an opulent ceiling adorned with a crystal chandelier and a snowy white lace canopy.It certainly wasn’t the plain, wallpapered ceiling of my room that I had grown sick of seeing every single morning.

“…This feels like a cliché intro to a romance fantasy novel,” I muttered, scratching my head with a sigh. Maybe I’d read too many of them.

In an instant, a string of common tropes flashed through my mind: a maid rushing into the room screaming “My Lady!”, or the family members of this world racing to see me the moment they heard I’d woken up.

But those things only happen in novels; they wouldn’t happen here. This was reality. Just in case it was a dream, I gave my cheek a sharp pinch.

“Ouch, ouch, ouch…”

My back felt incredibly stiff, as if I had been lying down for a long time. I massaged my aching lower back and pushed myself up.

Anyway, where on earth was I?

As I sat up, the door swung open and an unfamiliar foreign woman entered the room. Her eyes met mine the moment I rose from the bed.

“Gasp!”

In that instant, memories of the woman flooded my mind like a panoramic montage. Her name was Emma; she was my nanny’s daughter and a maid who had grown up with me like a sister.

I unconsciously murmured her name.

“Em…ma?”

“My Lady!”

Emma rushed toward me with an expression of overwhelming emotion. She threw her arms around my neck and began kissing my cheeks frantically.

“You’ve finally woken up!”

“Ye…yes.”

I replied dazed, pinching my cheek once more. The skin still stung, and this absurd situation remained as vivid as a dream.

“Oh, now is not the time for this! I must go call the Count immediately!”

Emma urged me to wait just a moment and hurried out of the room. True to her word, she returned shortly thereafter with a man in his late forties.

“Father?!”

Just as it had been with Emma, memories of the man she brought in flashed before my eyes in the blink of an eye.

He was a man who had raised me alone since he was widowed at a young age: Count Albrecht von Württemberg.

Wait a second… Württemberg…?

“Oh, heavens!”

My father, wearing an expression as moved as Emma’s, rushed over and pulled me into a tight embrace. He looked up at the ceiling and began to offer repeated prayers of gratitude to God.

“Thank you, Lord. Thank you so much!”

While my father prayed, I struggled to organize the chaos in my head.

It was a relief that I could recognize people, but what exactly was going on?

And “Württemberg”… that name was…

“It’s truly a relief, My Lady,” Emma said, dabbing her eyes with a handkerchief. “When you first collapsed, we were so worried you might never wake up… God truly helped us.”

“I must make a thanksgiving offering,” Father said, his eyes reddening as he stroked my hair. “Ariana, for He has returned you to my arms.”

“Wait… a moment,” I asked with a pale face. “Ariana… did you say?”

“Yes, Ariana. Have you forgotten your own name in the meantime?”

“I think the lady may have injured her head slightly when she fell,” Emma added. “But since she recognized the Count and me, her other memories should return soon.”

“That may be so,” Father nodded understandingly and looked at me again. “Ariana von Württemberg. That is your name.”

“…!”

Suddenly, I felt a sharp sting of vertigo.

Ariana von Württemberg. I knew that name all too well. It was the name of a character.

“No way…”

“My Lady?”

“This has to be a dream!”

My mind went blank as if I’d been struck by a hammer. Reeling, I lost my balance and collapsed weakly back onto the bed.

“My child!”

“My Lady!”

I closed my eyes as their voices grew distant within my fading consciousness.

‘Please, let this all be a dream. And when I open my eyes again, let me be back in my own house in my original world.’

***

About three weeks had passed since then.

Thrust into an unbelievable situation, I struggled to deny the reality I faced.

I tried to force myself to sleep even when I wasn’t tired, thinking I’d wake up in my original world. I searched the newspapers desperately, hoping this wasn’t the world of the novel I knew.

But it was all in vain.

The more I struggled, the more evidence piled up that this was indeed the world of the novel I knew.

I gazed out at the garden with a gloomy heart. The garden, having met the spring, was covered in bright, cheerful flowers—but my heart was dark and dismal.

“Sigh…”

As I let out a deep sigh, Emma spoke up chatteringly.

“My Lady, you’ve been sighing quite a lot lately.”

“Really?”

“You haven’t happened to set your heart on a certain gentleman, have you?”

‘I wish that were the case.’

I shook my head and sighed again.

“No, it’s not that.”

“Well, it’s true that most men wouldn’t be good enough for you, My Lady,” Emma said with a hint of pride in her voice. “Unless it were someone like the Grand Duke Bayern, perhaps.”

I flinched.

The moment the name “Grand Duke Bayern” left Emma’s mouth, my body instinctively froze. After all, that was the name of a man I knew all too well.

Allendorf von Bayern.

The youngest Grand Duke of the Alpensia Empire and a Great Mage—a man ranked as the continent’s top bachelor. He was the embodiment of “Young & Rich, Tall & Handsome,” possessing both martial and literary prowess, good looks, and immense wealth.

…And he was the male lead of the romance fantasy novel I used to read in the real world: <How to Captivate the Male Lead.>

I forced a smile at Emma and replied, “Doesn’t the Grand Duke already have marriage talks ongoing?”

“You mean Lady Martinez? But nothing is set in stone yet, is it? If you capture his heart first, it’s entirely possible. Entirely!”

“Hahaha…”

‘Must be nice to be you, Emma. So carefree.’

Emma went on and on about how we should tailor the most beautiful dress for my debutante ball, claiming the Grand Duke Bayern wouldn’t be able to help but fall in love at first sight.

It was one thing for Emma to indulge in her own fantasies, but listening to it constantly was starting to wear me out.

“By the way, Emma…” I started, cautiously glancing at her. “I’m a bit thirsty. Could you bring me some water?”

“Oh! Of course, My Lady. I’ll bring it right away!”

Emma left the room with an eager face. Finally alone, I let out a sigh and peered into the mirror.

“Phew…”

My reflection was exactly as described in the novel.

Long ash-brown hair, skin as white and smooth as milk, and delicate features that looked as if they had been meticulously crafted like a doll’s. Mystical eyes of a bluish-purple hue.

Ariana von Württemberg, the “original female lead” of <How to Captivate the Male Lead> and the only daughter of Count Württemberg.

And the woman destined to have the Grand Duke Bayern stolen by the “true protagonist”—the possessed Lady Martinez.

“Oh, seriously…”

I reflexively grabbed my hair and let out a muffled scream.

“Can’t I just go back to my original world?!”

***

I had entered the world of the novel <How to Captivate the Male Lead>.

The work in question was a romance fantasy novel I had enjoyed in my original world—a massive hit on the web novel site involving the “reincarnated into a book” trope.

I was one of its hardcore fans. Every day, I’d wait anxiously for the stroke of midnight when a new chapter was posted, refreshing the page and writing long comments lamenting the wait if the update was even slightly delayed.

In the story, the protagonist possesses the body of Rosette, the eldest daughter of Duke Martinez, one of the top five nobles in the Alpensia Empire. Due to family interests, she becomes engaged to the male lead, the Grand Duke Bayern.

As a character who possessed a body within a book, the female lead, Rosette, knew the future developments in advance.

She knew that the Grand Duke Bayern would eventually end up with the empire’s greatest beauty, Ariana, and that the character she possessed, Rosette, would exit the stage miserably as a villainess used to highlight Ariana’s virtues.

The protagonist-as-Rosette didn’t want a miserable ending. So, based on her knowledge of the original plot, she interfered with the meetings between Ariana and the male lead, building her own “flags” (romance triggers) with him instead.

…To be honest, back when I was a fan of the novel, I felt an immense sense of catharsis from Rosette’s actions. I immersed myself in her character and squealed whenever she and the male lead bonded.

I was so obsessed that I once even dreamt of entering the book and becoming Rosette.

But…

“Then shouldn’t I have become Rosette?!”

Out of nowhere, I had been possessed by Ariana—the one whose fated lover was stolen by Rosette.

Ariana von Württemberg. The Daffodil of the Alpensia Empire. A beauty so lovely that no one could help but fall for her. The original female lead who was supposed to end up with the Grand Duke.

But in this version, she dies. All because she was the rival of the protagonist, Rosette.

“Ah, seriously! Why Ariana of all people?!”

Was this karma for looking down on poor Ariana back then?

I regretted it too late. If I had known this would happen, I would have at least left a comment saying, “Please take care of Ariana too, Author-nim ㅠㅠ.”

Who knows? Maybe the author would have shown mercy by pairing me off with the second male lead, Crown Prince Lydis.

However, in the novel, Crown Prince Lydis kills Ariana to win Rosette’s favor. So, the possibility of a “flag” with Lydis was already out the window.

“This must be a dream…”

I tried desperately to deny reality. I hoped that when I woke up, I’d be back in my own body, laughing at what a bizarre dream I’d had.

If that happened, the first thing I’d do is go to the web novel site. I’d delete <How to Captivate the Male Lead> from my library and never look at it again.

…Of course, that’s assuming I can go back.

Just then, there was a knock on the door, and Emma’s familiar voice drifted in.

“My Lady, I’ve brought the water.”

“Ah.”

Snapping out of it, I quickly smoothed my disheveled hair with my fingers. Thanks to its silky texture, it became neat again as if I’d used a brush.

“Come in, Emma.”

“Yes.”

Emma entered with a beaming smile, carrying a tray. She poured water into a glass and handed it to me as I stood awkwardly in front of the mirror.

“Did something happen while I was gone? I thought I heard a scream…”

“Oh, no? You probably misheard.”

I gave a fake smile and slowly drained the glass. My mind wanted to gulp it down, but because this was Ariana’s body, my physical actions sometimes differed from my thoughts.

Though my mind belonged to the “me” from the original world, the vessel I occupied was Ariana’s. Perhaps because she had lived in this body for 17 years, I tended to act more calm and demure than my original self.

Living as the original female lead in a possession story really is inconvenient. I sighed inwardly and handed the empty glass back to Emma.

“Thank you, Emma.”

“You’re welcome, My Lady.” Emma smiled, then added as an afterthought, “Oh, by the way, your friend has come to see you.”

“Oh, really?”

It was surely Josephine, the daughter of Count Dresden. She was Ariana’s childhood friend who visited almost every day.

“Tell her I’ll be down in a moment.”

“Yes, My Lady.”

I tidied my clothes and headed to the drawing room where Josephine was waiting.

Sure enough, Josephine was sitting back leisurely on a sofa by the window.

“You’re here, Phin.”

“Rina!”

When I appeared, Josephine brightened and her eyes sparkled.

“I have good news!”

“Good news?”

“Hehe.” Josephine checked to make sure no one else was in the room, then lowered her voice significantly. “The Grand Duke Bayern… they say he’ll be attending the Flower Festival parade next month!”

“What?”

When I accidentally raised my voice, Josephine looked even more excited and pumped her fist.

“See? Isn’t that great news? If things go well, you won’t even have to wait for the debutante ball!”

“Wait, wait a second, Phin,” I stammered, trying to restrain her. “What are you talking about all of a sudden?”

“What do you mean ‘what am I talking about’? Why are you reacting so strangely?”

Josephine’s green eyes blinked as she peered at me. I swallowed hard and looked her straight in the eye.

“Rina, you like the Grand Duke.”

“…!”

“I came all this way just to tell you because I was thinking of you.”

I felt cold sweat running down my back.

Emma didn’t know, but Ariana’s best friend Josephine knew very well. She knew that Ariana secretly harbored a crush on the Grand Duke Bayern.

“Umm…”

I felt sorry for the real Ariana and Josephine, but I had no intention of dating the Grand Duke. Sure, if I tried to seduce him, he’d probably fall for me… but that would also be my death flag.

I began to calmly recall the information I knew.

In three months, the debutante ball—Ariana’s formal entrance into society—would take place. There, she would dance with the male lead…

I wished I had more detailed info, but the novel glossed over the “original plot” in vague terms, so I wasn’t sure. Regardless, seeing the Grand Duke and Ariana dance together is what makes Rosette feel threatened. From then on, she begins to intervene in the plot, using every means necessary to claim the Grand Duke for herself.

‘To survive, I must not get involved with the Grand Duke…’

I set my survival policy as Ariana. My life was on the line here—was romance with the male lead really important?!

If Ariana weren’t destined to die, I might have idly thought, ‘Maybe I should try to take the male lead back?’ But the future laid out for Ariana was not so forgiving.

It didn’t matter that Ariana was the “original” female lead or his “true” lover. The most important thing was not to provoke Rosette and to stay alive.

Furthermore, Allendorf was supposed to be Ariana’s lover in the original, yet in the novel I read, he eventually “transferred” his affections to Rosette. Even if that was due to the possession-protagonist buff, I had no interest in a guy who wasn’t faithful to his original path.

Anyway, I thought I just had to get through the debutante ball somehow, but I hadn’t accounted for the variable that was Josephine. I felt like I’d been tripped up by an unexpected obstacle.

Seeing my lukewarm reaction, Josephine widened her eyes in surprise.

“Don’t tell me you’ve changed your mind?”

“Uh… well, it’s not that, but…” I spoke carefully to avoid raising suspicion. “I guess I just lack confidence… He has other marriage candidates who suit him much better than I do.”

“Hmm. Well, you have a point.”

‘Wait, you’re agreeing that easily?’

As if she had heard my inner thought, Josephine puckered her brow. I felt a pang of guilt and quickly lowered my gaze.

Fortunately, instead of interrogating me, Josephine continued.

“Still, think about it again, Rina. I think you have a great chance.”

“The Grand Duke’s family and ours are of different status.”

“That’s true, but…”

Of course, in the original story, they end up together anyway, but since Rosette will appear soon, that’s meaningless now.

Josephine asked again, looking quite disappointed.

“Is it just that your feelings have changed?”

“No. I’m just being realistic. I believe everyone has a match that suits them. It hurts, but I don’t think I’m the right person for him.”

I intentionally put on a pained expression and squeezed Josephine’s hand.

“It stings right now… but I’ll be okay soon. There are plenty of other men besides him.”

“Rina…”

“Still, you’re the only one who thinks of me like this, Phin.”

“Of course.”

Josephine was now sniffing and nodding.

“Whenever you find someone new you like, tell me. I’ll give you a big push.”

“Thanks.”

“And tell me if you change your mind later. After all, the Grand Duke is your first love.”

‘Could you please stop talking about the Grand Duke? Every time I hear it, I feel like my heart is going to explode from stress!’

I suppressed the urge to say that and gave Josephine a sorrowful smile.

“Okay.”

Once the topic of the Grand Duke was settled, Josephine returned to her usual self and started chatting away.

“I’m going on a picnic to the outskirts with my aunt next week. Do you want to come along, Rina?”

“A picnic?”

“Yeah. The weather has gotten so warm lately. The flowers are blooming by the river. we’ll go boating and have fun.”

Josephine didn’t forget to add one more thing.

“My aunt said she hasn’t seen you in a while and misses you.”

Josephine’s aunt was Marchioness Pommern, and she was also set to be the chaperone for both Josephine and me. Since Ariana didn’t have any relatives as influential in society as the Marchioness, I was essentially hitching a ride with Josephine.

Well, I’d been cooped up in the mansion ever since I became Ariana, so a picnic for a change of pace wouldn’t be bad. Since it was a ladies’ outing, there was no chance of running into the Grand Duke by accident.

I quickly made up my mind and nodded.

“I’d love to.”

“I knew you’d say that!”

Josephine beamed and held my hands.

“I’ll tell my aunt. She’ll definitely be happy.”

“Yeah. I should get my father’s permission first, though…”

“Of course I’ll permit it.”

At the sudden voice from the doorway, Josephine and I both jumped and turned our heads.

“Father!”

At my cry, Father approached the sofa where we were sitting, as if he had been waiting. Of course, the “Father” here was Count Württemberg, not my father from the original world.

Since Ariana’s mother passed away ten years ago, Count Württemberg had raised his only daughter, Ariana, without ever remarrying. Consequently, the bond between the father and daughter was quite deep.

At first, I felt a bit awkward because he wasn’t my real family… but they say humans are creatures of habit.

Moreover, because Ariana’s body felt so happy whenever she was with him, I eventually found myself genuinely enjoying his company.

And since I was Ariana for the time being… it only made sense for me to treat him well while I was here.

Josephine, sitting across from me, blushed and covered her mouth with her hand the moment she saw him. It was a bit unexpected, but it seemed Josephine had a thing for significantly older men…

Then again, it wasn’t hard to understand.

Ariana’s beauty, known as the “Daffodil of the Empire,” was actually inherited from her father.

I pretended not to notice Josephine’s flushed face and smiled at my father.

“When did you arrive?”

“Just a moment ago. I heard you talking about a picnic as I was coming in.”

He spoke while carefully observing my expression.

“Did I interrupt you two?”

“No! You came in at the perfect time!”

Father wasn’t a good liar. If he had overheard the conversation about the Grand Duke, he certainly wouldn’t have such a peaceful expression.

“I’m glad to hear that.”

Father sat down next to me with a smile.

“I’m just worried it might be a burden to the Marchioness.”

“N-n-no, not at all! My aunt adores Ariana!”

Josephine shouted, her face turning bright red. I don’t know why I was the one feeling embarrassed for her…

“I’ll take responsibility for looking after Ariana!”

“Thank you.”

Based on the current situation, it seemed like I was the one who would need to look after Josephine. I grumbled inwardly but kept my eyes downcast to avoid any unnecessary trouble.

Father and Josephine continued to chat pleasantly about the upcoming picnic. To an outsider, it might have looked like Father was the one attending the picnic instead of me.

I’m sure Father was aware of Josephine’s feelings… but he likely just viewed it as a passing phase and was being polite.

Josephine chatted with Father until sunset before finally getting up to leave with a reluctant expression. Father and I walked her to the front door and saw her off as she boarded her carriage.

“See you next week, Rina.”

“Yeah. Get home safely, Phin.”

I kept waving until the Dresden carriage was out of sight. Then, I turned to Father, who was looking at me with a soft smile.

“Let’s go back inside.”

“Yes, Father.”

After having dinner with Father and taking a bath, I returned to my room feeling relaxed. I’d been terrified when Josephine brought up the Grand Duke, but I was relieved that it had been settled smoothly.

However, at that moment, I had no idea.

I had no clue what kind of entanglement I would have with that man at the picnic—the very event I thought would have absolutely nothing to do with the Grand Duke Bayern.