CHAPTER 1
In a world where someone has begun unrequited love, it feels as though the world is on the brink of destruction, and both despair and hopelessness seem to coexist.
Rihana knew that choosing to continue this one-sided love and even swallowing the potion claiming to make someone fall in love with the person who drank it seemed like a crazy act.
“Nevertheless...”
The ‘love potion’ that makes the person who drinks it fall in love with the first person they see after drinking
It turned out to be the identity of the object she couldn’t take her eyes off and was staring at.
“I will drink it.”
No response came. It was because the recipient was not a person but a statue in the park.
Regardless, Rihana sat on the grass as if it were a cushion under the moonlit night and spoke.
“I promised myself not to give my heart to anyone, but I have lost.”
Pop!
The cork in the shape of a cork was pulled out, and a sweet fragrance emanated from the poisonous concoction for the defeated.
She loves the Duke.
However, she no longer wants to love.
Drinking the love potion was the only solution to end this bitter, unrequited love.
“Now, I should love someone else.”
Without hesitation, Rihana brought the bottle to her lips.
Gulp.
The liquid seeped into her mouth, lukewarm and sweet.
At that moment, the park clock struck midnight, ringing its bell.
Dang-
Simultaneously, someone stepped on the grass.
The owner of the silently approaching men’s shoes opened his mouth.
“Rihana.”
He has come.
‘The Someone else.’
***
Rianna slowly turned around.
She saw the person there who would end up becoming her true love.
Rihana wasn’t a strange person who despised unrequited love from the start.
Her journey began eleven years ago, when she discovered the true nature of this world.
Until then, she didn’t realise that she had transmigrated into a romance novel. She simply thought she had been reincarnated.
“Which group do you belong to?”
Eleven-year-old Rihana, a girl with pink hair, handed over an invitation in response to the guard’s question.
“I’m here as a representative from the Ephenor Orphanage.”
The guard cleared the way and whispered.
“Good luck.”
Of course, when you set foot in a noble’s castle with the theme of orphans, you need all the luck you can get.
The reason Rihana was confident that her second life was not a flamboyant transmigration into a romance novel was along the same lines.
Where is the romance novel that transmigrates into such a lowly status?
The person who informed her that this wasn’t Earth was not a faithful maid but one of her fellow orphans from the orphanage.
Instead of the intense social circle of noble young ladies, they fought over beds in cramped rooms on a daily basis.
If Rihana was the winner in the battle for the window seat, everything changed when she saw the noble family sitting in the VIP seats.
Her calm thoughts and her peaceful second life lost all vitality and colour, even on her blushing cheeks.
‘The Duke’s son.’
He looked like someone of the same age.
His vacant, pumpkin-coloured eyes were not just indifferent; they were chilling.
The neat shape of his silver hair covering his forehead looked familiar.
Distinctively, there were mysterious traces of a curse etched around his eyes.
That’s why she couldn’t recognise him.
He was the male lead in the webtoon she saw before the transmigration!
‘So, I was transmigrated into a romance novel?’
A rough summary quickly crossed her mind.
The cursed male lead, the female lead who would break the curse, and Rihana, the pink-haired villainess from the orphanage...
‘Damn, it’s me.’
What would happen to that villainess later on?
Ah, right.
She drank the poison and died.
Gulp.
When she recalled the image of “Rihana” from the webtoon, who vomited blood and died a miserable death, a chill ran down her spine.
‘I’ve already died once, and I don’t want to experience it again!’
Rihana made up her mind quickly.
‘Let’s run away.’
From this territory, from this original novel
There was no lingering attachment, anyway. She had no family or friends.
Rihana grabbed a large napkin as a makeshift bag and packed biscuits and bread. Then she quickly left the banquet hall.
Outside, grand carriages stood sparsely along the street, exuding grandeur.
Rihana rolled her eyes and surveyed her surroundings before approaching a carriage. The coachman was dozing off.
“Excuse me, sorry!”
Rihana swiftly snatched the hat from the coachman’s lap.
Instead of paying the fare, she left biscuits as compensation and quickly fled.
In reality, she didn’t resemble the villain in the webtoon that much.
‘But appearance can be changed.’
Rihana wrapped her curly, long hair tightly into the hat, transforming herself into the unremarkable appearance of a boy.
The raggedy patchwork pants provided by the director of the orphanage to make her look as poor as possible played a role.
Cross-dressing, food to sustain her for a few days—the preparations for escaping the original novel were complete!
Now, where would she escape?
‘I heard the neighbouring kingdom, Welzen, has good welfare for the commoners.’
She could live in their poorhouse until she became an adult.
With her destination set, Rihana began scanning the carriages with her sharp eyes.
‘Which one belongs to someone from Welzen?’
For the gathering that the Viscount was hosting, people came from all around. There was no shortage of carriages.
The problem was how to find out. She couldn’t figure it out with just her eyes.
So Rihana picked up a few pebbles.
Then she threw one towards the back of the coachman’s head, who was waiting beside the largest carriage.
“What was that?”
The coachman looked surprised and looked around, muttering to himself.
It was the language of Diarese, the country where Rihana was living.
That’s not the carriage.
Rihanna turned her attention to another carriage.
“Oh my, who’s there?”
No, not that one.
“Ouch! What was that just now?”
No, not that one either.
“Damn it, get lost!”
‘There it is.’
With her experience of crawling through the crowded and noisy orphanage, Rihana easily slipped into the baggage compartment without the coachman noticing.
‘Whew. That was close.’
Rihana relaxed after a while, only releasing her tension when the carriage began to move.
Thump... Thump...
As expected, the carriage crossed the border. Rihana decided it was time to get off at a suitable city centre.
‘This should be the right time to get off.’
It wasn’t a city bus, and there probably wouldn’t be a button to press to request a stop.
There were alternatives, though.
‘Ah!’
Jump out.
Unfortunately, the result was dismal.
Rihana tumbled and rolled off the running carriage, grasping her shoulders.
Damn it, my arm!
Tears flowed down her face from the pain. In the midst of that, she barely managed to crawl and hide her body in a corner of a bustling market.
Damn it, my dislocated shoulder!
As her vision blurred, her heightened hearing caught the noise of the market.
“Infinite eggs for 30 crots!”
“Fresh vegetables were brought in this morning!”
“Is this bread made of rye? Is there no whole wheat?”
“Come this way, sir!”
Since the language was the same, albeit with a rough accent, it wasn’t difficult to understand.
Rihana huddled with a bundle of food in her arms, keeping her body crouched. The body of an eleven-year-old girl was terribly weak.
Sleep began to overwhelm her.
Just before her consciousness faded, a soft and cheerful voice reached her.
“Hey, are you okay? Oh my... Dad, let’s take him with us!”
Vaguely, it seemed like she caught a glimpse of a girl.
Thud.
And then Rihana fainted.
When she opened her eyes, the place she was in was no longer a street. She felt a soft bed supporting her back.
As with the beginning of any typical transmigration novel, a “strange and magnificent ceiling” came into view.
“Are you awake?”
Ah, that gentle voice from earlier.
When she turned her head, a child stood by her bedside.
She was a girl who looked remarkably pretty and was dressed in splendid clothes, resembling a doll.
“You were passed out, so we brought you to our mansion. Are you hurt?”
Rihana tried to move her arm slightly. It was neatly bandaged, as if someone had treated it.
While the girl babbled on, Rihana simply nodded her head, not paying much attention.
But the conversation unexpectedly took a strange turn.
“Hey, I like you!”
Startled, Rihana widened her eyes.
Wait, what did she say?
The girl even added that her cheeks were reddening.
“I’ll talk to my father about taking you in. We’ll become a happy family!”
What was that about? Is this little kid in love?
“I’ll be your fiance, and you will like me too, because an engagement means we have to like each other.”
Kid, are you in love?
‘Oh my, this is too much!’
‘I have to leave from here!’
Who knows if this place is a human trafficking organisation or a den of thieves?
