NOVEL NEXT Chapter 2
Did she hear it wrong? As soon as Selleana smelled the chicken, she had to think of beer reflexively. The combination was etched into her soul.
“Excuse me, Lady Glen.”
The light green eyes of the girl with pink hair were glued to Selleana. Just a moment ago, she had an innocent face that looked like she had never used the word ‘Chicken and beer.’
“By any chance… What did you just say?”
“Yes?”
“That, I read that there is a place where fried chicken is called chicken…”
Lady Glen’s eyes trembled slightly.
Is it true?
Selleana added quickly. “That place called… Earth.”
“Korea?”
The verification was carried out quickly. After exchanging several words such as
‘lamb skewer,’ ‘Tsingt*o beer,’
[1]
So, when Selleana said ‘lamb skewer’, Lady Glen replied ‘Tsingt*o beer’. Tsingt*o beer is a well-known beer brand often consumed with dishes like lamb skewers
‘Can’t stop my hands, can’t stop them,’ and ‘My hands go to S*eukk*ng,’
[2]
These are part of lyric of advertisement for S*eukk*ang. S*eukk*ng is a shrimp cracker that is considered a popular Korean snack.
the two came to trust each other.
It was when the party was over. “Rosalli, I will get in touch with you soon,” Selleana said to Rosalli, the lady of Glen ducal, who became her best birthday present. There was no reason to speak formally anymore as they were the same age in their previous life.
“I’ll definitely see you again, right?”
* * *
“My goal is to get out of there little by little.”
It was a few days later, at Selleana’s private parlor in Duchy Elard. Rosalli, a lovely girl, let out a great aspiration come out of her mouth.
“Actually, I’m a fake. They thought the real lady was dead, so they adopted me instead. But the real one is going to appear the year we turn twenty.”
There was also a brief surprise that Glen, one of the four ducals in the empire, had a secret of birth.
Selleana asked calmly. “So, you’re the substitute for the female lead?”
“That’s right. In the original story, I cling on, begging not to be abandoned, then get falsely accused and driven out penniless… But I plan to gradually sell all the jewels and dresses as a slush fund, and as soon as the real one appears, I’ll take my slush fund and move out.”
Rosalli smiled brightly. Her smile was so refreshing that she wondered if what she had just heard was a hallucination.
“But, falsely accused? It seems like Glen is treating you well…” Selleana’s amber eyes scanned Rosalli’s clothes. Anyone could see she was wearing a top-quality dress adorned with sparkling jewelry.
“Are they telling you not to lose to me? They brought you a lot of dresses and jewelry. I thought you were a real daughter.”
Rosalli smiled coldly, saying that she had a lot to sell.
“What about you?”
“Yes, I…” Selleana’s amber eyes sank darkly. “I’m in a short story.”
“Short story?”
Selleana swallowed her embarrassment, briefly explaining her situation in a few technical terms.
“The first prince…
Hmm.
I see. Good for you.”
“
Uh,
yes, well.”
“Why? Is there a problem? You don’t look good.”
“Well, the first prince is a little… no, it’s a little frustrating… No, how should I say this?”
It was when Selleana was trying to pick her words.
“Is he also conservative?”
“Yes, that’s right! Conservative!”
Selleana seemed to come to her senses at Rosalli’s words. Is there a better word to describe this worldview than conservative? The class system was so solid that, as someone who had lived in the modern era in the past life, she frequently found herself sighing in frustration. Moreover, the deep-rooted belief in males being superior to females made her being brainwashed to become a virtuous woman. Pavellian also seemed to be asking how dare a female interrupt a male’s conversation.
But there is another modern person in her past life who can understand this hardship. A glimmer of hope welled up in Selleana’s heart, which had been extremely frustrated ever since she remembered her past life. So, what can she do about her future?
“You know, maybe… would you like to find out if there are other people like us?”
“People like us?”
The logic was simple. The two were transmigrated in different original stories. So, there was no guarantee that there wouldn’t be another like them.
“Moreover, if it’s a commoner…”
“Oh my god, no way!”
At Rosalli’s shout, Selleana resolutely nodded her head. In the pre-modern worldview, it’s difficult for people with poor social status to survive.
“And if there’s someone who is transmigrated into a childcare story, wouldn’t it be a win-win solution?”
“Well, we didn’t have the transmigrator’s buff, but our family halo is certain…”
Unless they were from the imperial family or another duke, their status would definitely be helpful. Above all, Selleana also had personal greed.
If only there were a man with black hair who I could communicate well with, like Rosalli…!
If so, wouldn’t she be able to change her future too?
Contract marriage to avoid political marriage, a clever way to deal with it, has appeared in many historical records. It was the same with the romance fantasy books she read in her past life.
Anyone she can communicate well with, but looking at this worldview, it would be difficult to find them unless they were from the same country in their previous life. At least, the blood relatives of the transmigrator person were okay. If they had grown up with the transmigrator character, wouldn’t they have been able to communicate better?
It was when Selleana swallowed her personal desire, and her eyes sparkled with hope.
“…I actually have one question.”
Rosalli narrowed her eyebrows.
“You said you were getting slush funds from things like jewelry and dresses. Did you deliberately make a deal with a guild that didn’t appear in the original work to avoid getting caught by the duke? But that guild is so big now, right? And it’s at the top of the industry.”
“Wow, the best in the industry.”
Was the original work distorted even though no one touched it? It was definitely the work of a transmigrator character.
They must be the guild leader…
Although it wasn’t a major occupation for the male lead, it was within Selleana’s range of taste, which is the brainiac type.
Secret, dark charm…?
Selleana moistened her lips with the tip of her tongue in anticipation…
* * *
“I’m Doloret Benichi. I might be from a baron family, but since I’m two years older than you, I’ll speak informally, okay?”
“Benichi, Benichi Company… The guild that has risen rapidly through aggressive management!”
“I’ve heard it too! I was looking into investing when I saved some slush funds…!”
A few days later, the two ladies wrote down a few verses of song lyrics that they shouldn’t listen to before
CSAT
[3]
CSAT (College Scholastic Ability Test) in Korea is a critical standardized test for Korean students. It’s akin to the SAT in the United States. The importance of the CSAT stems from its role in university admissions. Success in this test can determine entrance to prestigious universities, which are highly regarded in Korean society. This test is not only a measure of academic prowess but is also seen as a key factor in securing future career opportunities and social status. Hence, the CSAT holds significant weight in a student’s educational journey and future prospects in Korea.
to the guild. They received a reply asking to meet, so they visited the guild, and the girl in front of them appeared.
Doloret Benichi is a fourteen-year-old girl with curly ginger-colored hair. The girl guessed the lyrics written by the princesses perfectly.
The best guild leader in the industry is a transmigrator too…!
In the intense joy of seeing another transmigrator, Selleana quickly forgot all the regrets that the guild leader wasn’t a male.
“My original work is a childcare story. It was about me being abused in an orphanage and being healed by the love of my family… But I didn’t really get hurt.”
The girl shrugged her shoulders. The argument was that she was an adult inside and that she wasn’t helplessly subjected to abuse.
“Now, it’s kind of a childcare story. Using my memories, my family has become a little richer than before.”
“A little richer?!”
“Benichi Company is the best these days!”
Doloret smiled triumphantly at the girls’ fuss.
“So, you’re the secret power of the Benichi Company?”
“Something like that.”
“Ah, as expected from the childcare story.”
The two ladies continued to praise Doloret and glanced at each other. Isn’t a childcare story like a cheat key? Will their transmigration lives unfold this way?
At that moment, Doloret’s eyes shone sharply. “By the way, will the first prince become the crown prince? After 8 years later, a the real lady appears in the Glen family?”
“Yes, was there anything like this in your original story?”
“I heard there are as many as 300 chapters. And you said you read it three times.”
“My original story ends when I got married when I was 2. Until then, there was no talk about the successor to the throne.”
So please elaborate. The desire for information shone in Doloret’s eyes.
Ah, as expected.
It was really a win-win solution.
Selleana exchanged a look with Rosalli and spoke calmly. “How about joining hands with us? I will tell you clearly about the imperial family’s and the two dukes’ futures. It’s a bonus to add Elard and Glen’s halo to everything you do in the future.”
“So what do you want from me…?”
“I want to find out if there are more people like us. The more, the better because you’re the most resourceful among us.”
It was only natural that Doloret agreed with her. The girls placed advertisements in various newspapers.
[Hey, you can speak Latin too.]
[Having a wife is good, having magic stone is go
od too.]
With this phrase, they were instructed to inquire at the Benichi Company, which has branches in each city of Nepelsian.
Indeed, someone really contacted them. The contact was coming from the Orot Great Temple.
If it’s the Great Temple… A silver-haired paladin? The ascetic high priest is also attractive. Platinum hair would be okay if they were dazzlingly handsome like an angel.
It was when Selleana swallowed her own expectations and headed to the temple with her friends.
“That, Sisters…”
What appeared was an eleven-year-old girl with neatly braided light brown hair. She’s a trainee who converted to the religious order at a young age. Her name is Agnesia.
“I… got transmigrated into a regretful story.”
A sorrowful female lead in a story of regret? Briefly familiar with the disappointment, Selleana pondered her character based on the girl’s soft-spoken voice.
“My future husband is a b*stard who got shot in the war and spent our entire marriage looking for his first love.”
Sparks flew in the girl’s sky-blue eyes like a calm lake. For your information, Nepelsian didn’t even develop a firearm.
“His first love accepted that b*stard despite him being ruined. They even showed off their thousand-year love in front of me. XX. Even in the midst of this, he dutifully fulfilled our marital duties, and it wasn’t until I got pregnant and ran away that b*stard came to his senses.”
In a sudden twist, the eyes of the three girls lost their way.
“…
Ah.
I’ve gotten excited again.”
Agnesia quickly offered a short prayer. She said forgiveness is easier than permission, and confessing to God was also on a pay-later basis.
“My father is desperate to sell me off in a political marriage, but most men in this empire are such b*stards. I thought it would be the same no matter which b*stard I got married, so I just gave up.”
“Really, all the men here are hopeless?”
“At least that’s the case with the b*sards who appeared in my original work.”
With Agnesia’s words, Selleana felt lost. Even if they weren’t transmigrators, she had hoped for someone with a sane mindset. She wondered if there was a handsome man of her taste with whom she could communicate better than Pavellian. But everyone here is really b*stards!
Rosalli and Doloret, who knew the situation, looked at her with pity.
“Why?”
“That’s… her male lead is the first prince. But…” Rosalli briefly explained the situation to Agnesia.
“
Aah…
The b*stards in my original work are like that, but wouldn’t there be a decent one other than them?”
Well, those weren’t particularly comforting words.
Soon, all packaging food ingredients distributed by the Benichi Company were changed to the girls’ advertisements. It was for people who had difficulty accessing newspapers. They even wrote ‘kimchi’ in Korean as if it were a logo so that people could recognize it even if they didn’t know the world’s characters.
It was an instant before the familiar advertising phrases were spread throughout Nepelsian. And again a few months later.
[I’m a poor person.]
The friends who read the beginning of the letter with trembling hearts were immediately shocked.
[Help me.]
The moment when a scene of childhood abuse, a common setting for any romantic drama novel, flashed through Selleana’s mind. The following was written in Korean.
“Oh gosh…”
“What is this?”