Chapter 0.1

Chapter 0 (Part 1)  –

"I'm screwed." Juliana Auburn, who remembered her past life in a dream last night, muttered as she gazed blankly at a sparrow sitting on the window sill, preening its feathers.

"What can I do?'

I'm Juliana Auburn.

No, the one who remembered her past life is "Lee Sian."

The sparrow seemed to be listening and cried "tweet tweet" as though it was laughing at Juliana and asking "What do you mean you're screwed?"

"Yes, I think I'm definitely screwed," muttered Juliana, shaking her head as though in answer to the sparrow who obviously wasn't really paying attention to her at all.

It was just yesterday that Juliana heard the news that her husband, who had been fighting barbarians at the border, was returning. She hadn't been particularly interested in this since, in the past year, Juliana had almost forgotten about her husband's existence.

Yesterday, Juliana was in a petulant mood, complaining that the sun was too bright and dazzled her eyes. Finally, she drove away the servant who had delivered the news, then rested alone, ate delicious food, and fell asleep early.

If you sleep deeply, do you dream of your past life? But, unfortunately, Juliana Auburn slept fitfully and had a very vivid dream.

A dream of her past life.

It was a past that Juliana Auburn could never have imagined.

Lee Sian was an orphan who, after leaving the orphanage as an adult, had a hard life. She lived on mere hopes and dreams until, in the end, she…

"I was hit by a car and my body was all smashed up."

Juliana/Lee Sian's body was still wracked by that terrible pain.

She could still feel it vividly.

In the morning when she had just finished her shift at a convenience store and everyone else was going to their workplace, she had been hit by a car as she was crossing a street on her way home. Although she died on the spot, it was inevitable that she felt a great deal of pain.

She remembered that the pedestrian crossing light was properly lit up. She was not at fault. Remembering the crooked way that the car was moving, it was clear that the driver must have been drunk.

"You son of a bitch, why were you drinking so early in the morning?!"

She rubbed her swollen eyes and cried again. When she thought of her miserable past life, goosebumps grew all over her body.

Fortunately, she had been reborn. Not only that, she was reborn as a noble lady whose lifestyle couldn't be compared with her past life.

"…Alright. I'm Juliana Auburn, the only daughter of the Marquis of Auburn. Although my body is frail, I was born with a silver spoon in my mouth."

She glanced at the sparrow that was still perched on the windowsill. The fat little sparrow was drinking the rain from the window frame. Seeing its leisurely manner made her feel disgusted and Juliana covered her mouth with her hand.

Why was I reincarnated in a romantic fantasy novel?

"And… that! What's with that spoiler?" she cried as though seeking advice from the sparrow.

The sparrow stretched its neck up and seemed to chortle "That's your destiny."

"Argh!"

Juliana had just woken up and her eyes were still bleary. Rubbing her face on her pillow, a thought inexplicably crossed her mind and made her feel dejected, "I didn't eat dessert yesterday."

When she used to work part-time, she would read romance novels. It seemed as though it was just yesterday that she read some spoilers about the novel "String of Fate."

Juliana Auburn was a selfish villainess in the novel. She thought only of herself and was a cruel woman who, in her boredom, would trample on her despised husband's self-esteem. Her usual routine was to criticize her husband and the people around him and to curse her father who had married her to an illegitimate son of a ducal house.

To be fair, from Juliana's point of view, she had a lot to complain about. Originally, she was betrothed to Duke Hilchen's eldest son, Kelton.

Juliana wasn't quite convinced that Kelton was good enough but her father was convinced that the Hichen family who had served the empire since its founding, was a good match. Thus, from the time she was 10 years old, Juliana, who was always a proud young girl, would visit the Hilchen family.

She had never known that the Duke of Hichen had a second son, an illegitimate child who was considered quite inferior in the eyes of the nobility of the Ariakne Empire.

When Kelton died in the war with the barbarians, Juliana and her father felt it was quite unfortunate but they were preparing to find a new political and marriage partner for Juliana.

However, the Duke of Hilchen announced that he had a younger son and begged Julian's father to marry him to her. When the Marquis of Auburn found out about the existence of a hidden child, he agreed to engage him to Juliana, thinking that it would be wasteful to end his relationship with the Duke of Hilchen. Juliana didn't think it was suspicious that the duke had a son who had a very weak body and was thus hidden away for his own protection, but…

"He's illegitimate!"

The mere memory of that discovery made Juliana scream into her pillow. That wasn't enough to vent her anger so she also punched it then lifted her face and glared at the ceiling.

"If only I hadn't been tricked! That's why all these bad things happened…"

As had been said a moment ago, Juliana Auburn has been prideful since childhood.

If one were to put it in a positive light, she was a very self-confident person. If one were to put it in a negative light, she was a narcissist. However, she had enough common sense as a noble to accept the marriage negotiations between their two houses.

However, it was unacceptable to her to conceal the fact that "Evan Hilchen" wasn't a sickly young man who had been hidden away by his family but was, instead, an illegitimate child from who-knows-where.

In addition, her father was bewildered by the Duke of Hilchen's cunning arguments and said to Juliana, "Nowadays, it's common for illegitimate children to be accepted into their family and the Duke of Hilchen is a very distinguished noble." And other such bullshit words were spouted.

Juliana, who had hitherto lived a flawless life, felt that her pride was smashed but the marriage negotiations were simply too far along to be stopped.

Thus, the unyielding Juliana who wasn't afraid of anyone or anything, slapped her bridegroom's face on their wedding day…

"Argh!" Juliana Auburn/ Lee Sian screamed in agony as she recalled the memories from her past life. Why? Why now? Why after I've already done all of those things to the male lead…?

"Oh no…"

On the other side of the door, the maids who didn't know what language the duchess was speaking, could only listen to her howling.

Time flowed on, uncaring.

Today was the day that Juliana Auburn/ Lee Sian remembered her past life. Today was also the day when her husband was returning from the battlefield after a year of absence.