CH 3

I was a reporter in my previous life. I managed to join a broadcasting company after working as a reporter for a local newspaper, but then I died arbitrarily. I was really unfortunate.

Anyway, when I was reborn, I was in a novel that I stopped serializing while writing in my previous life. I became the daughter of the “Witch”, who only appeared at the end of the novel. In other words, that extra in the story was my mother, not me. That meant that I could live the life given to me again regardless of this novel.

Speaking of the novel I wrote, its title is “The Prince Loved by a Widow”.

This novel was a story set in a Western fictional world. The Morris Empire had just started its constitutional monarchy, and this was the period where economic growth was rapidly changing. The time when railroads had just been built, cars ran on the streets, and wealthy commoners emerged to threaten the positions of the nobles.

The content of the work went like this. Gloria, who married and became a widow after being sold by her parents to pay their debts, was noticed by the crown prince when she helped those in need and punished the wicked ones. Prince Edmund Eaton, who learned that the heroine was a widow, gradually fell in love with her without knowing that the rain began to make his clothes wet.

And there was a scheme, which was pulled out by the Empress to take control of the empire by making her son a puppet Emperor and change the empire as she wishes.

It was a novel where the two spent time in general to overcome the difficulties in these various situations and affirmed love for each other.

Such an unfortunate novel, which I stopped working on after more than 60 free episodes, because it lacked positive feedback.

She used to relieve the stress of working as a journalist by writing this novel.

For example, when my manager vented his anger on me, “woman should make at least one kimchi by herself! Do you think it makes sense to just buy and eat it?!” It was when he was in a bad mood after getting into a useless couple fight and couldn’t say anything to his wife, so he decided to say bad things about the company.

At that time, I used to relieve my stress by giving a villain similar name to my manager’s name and performing a gruesome revenge scene on him.

After being serialized, even the readers who initially praised it by saying, “I like this because there are many sweet scenes, Author-nim,” decided to leave out of boredom because they also said that there were too many revenge scenes. After that, when she adjusted the intensity between the two scenes, some people wrote nasty comments saying that the writing was too long, and that it would be better to leave because I had no writing ability.

‘This is my hobby anyway.’

I continued writing regardless of those nasty comments. In the end, after more than 60 episodes were written, I was frustrated seeing the number of views of only 1 in the last 24 hours, and finally declared the postponement of the series.

This is the world where I was reborn after suffering such an accident in my previous life.

“Sigh. What happened?”

I wish I was in another perfect novel.

This novel was a world that I could not finish and ended because of my irresponsibility. Perhaps it was a punishment given to the author who stopped writing.

I knew it now. I’ve been possessed by the book that I’ve written and read, and it was also because of my own actions.

‘If I’ve been possessed by the one who lives next door, I could be the prince’s fiancee, or become the daughter of the conglomerate family as a villain. Sigh. Why is my life like this?’

Except for my mother who insisted that I was a witch, I was born an ordinary and a very normal person. The life where I have to start all over again with no money in my possession. This was what upset me the most.

The other children in the novel started their life as the children of the rich noble family, but I started from the bottom. I wanted to be born a second-generation kingpin, but my mother didn’t make any effort to make it real. 

(Of course, I intended to make myself rich with my own efforts later in life).

I felt upset for no reason, but what could I do? Since I was given this life, I should live it properly.

The first time I met the female lead was when I was reborn and aged 13.

“Hey! What’s wrong with your face? Who else did this?”

My brother, Claude, returned home with a distorted face. His mouth was broken and showed the inside which was severely injured, and his fluffy cheeks even had reddened scars all over it.

It was obvious that someone had hit this kid. I can’t believe they’ve ruined my little brother’s face that looked like an angel created by God.

I ruffled my brother’s soft black hair and looked for any injuries other than the one visible on his face. My brother just trained his eyes on the ground the whole time as if he knew he was in trouble.

“You have to tell me who hit you! I’ll deal with them, so tell me quickly!”

When I caressed him, Claude shook his head vigorously. Then, he scribbled a few words on the dirty floor out of frustration.

[I’m fine. Don’t be mad at me.]

“Sigh! This is frustrating. How much longer will you not talk to me? Mother says you can talk. It’s because you don’t talk that the other kids in the neighborhood take you for granted.”

It has been more than two years since I started living with Claude. My mother brought him when he was bleeding and dying on the street, and he was saved thanks to her job as a witch and the only doctor in town.

My mother, Bella, called herself a witch but pretended to be a normal doctor in front of others. She was actually quite good at her job.

I wondered if he was really 11 years old by then? The boy lost all his memories about himself except his name in a mysterious accident. And Claude, who had nowhere to go, settled with us until we became a real family.

“You stay here and wait. I’ll be back quickly.”

I took a dirty cloth and put stones into it, then wrapped it up. By putting a string on the end and attaching it to a stick, a weapon that looked like it would break the head of a normal person was completed.

[Hey, what are you making?]

“Wait for it. Revenge must have a weapon too.”

While holding this terrifying-looking weapon, I tried to blow the tree in front of the house down as a test. The branches and leaves fell with a rustling noise. The center pillar of the tree was scratched with a dull curvature. My brother’s blue eyes widened as if he was surprised to see that. I raised my chin proudly while looking at my brother.

“See? Your sister is very strong!”

[No, don’t do that. You’ll get hurt.]

My younger brother wrote quickly on the dirty floor, but I left it there and we stepped towards the entrance of the village.

“Then, should we go and break his head? Hm.”

I walked around the neighborhood to get my revenge while dragging my younger brother who was holding my arm with the intention of stopping me from initiating my revenge plan. I walked around for a while with sharp eyes and seething with the need for revenge.

Then, near the river where the stream flows, I saw the local boys gathered around. They were forming a circle and seemed to be harassing someone.

“Hey, did you move a few days ago? You look pretty.”

While walking around and whistling randomly, she saw the orange-haired Charon grab the girl’s arm and spoke again.

“Do you want to play with us? You just have to be quiet.”

The eyes of the silver-haired girl were red as if she was frightened, it was obvious that she was worn out.

The girl replied in a hoarse voice.

“I’m sorry. I have to go home now.”

“Hey, we’ll take you home when it gets dark. There’s a place we used to use as a hideout, so let’s go there together. It’ll be fun for you too.”

The girl shook off Charon’s hand that grasped her arm.

“No, thank you.”

Charon, who looked grumpy, must have been furious at the continuous rejection. He grabbed the girl’s silver hair and pulled it forcefully.

“I treat you well because you’re pretty, but you decide to ignore me?”

“O-Oh. What’s wrong with you? Let me go. Please.”

“Then, you should have been quiet and obeyed me. If you did, you wouldn’t have suffered like this. You just moved in and played hard to get as a new girl in town! I also like that.”

The faces of the children gathering around them were blurry. They used to bully the weakling for fun. I took a deep breath and gathered strength within me.

“Hey! You, Charon Siebel!”

When I called out to Charon who was acting like a bully, I deliberately made fun of his name. If I called him that way, it would sound like a profanity in my previous life. Charon’s full name that I made comical was stuck in my mouth, and every time I mentioned it, I felt very happy.

Charon probably felt that the meaning of this word was not good out of instinct. Because I used to feel really bad when I called others that.

“Oi, Haley, don’t call me that!”

Charon, who removed his hand from the girl’s hair, glared at me. He turned his head toward the weapon in my hand and stepped back in surprise.

What again? What’s wrong with you this time?”

His face, which had freckles, turned slightly red as I approached and frowned at him. I said while still glaring at Charon.

“Did you hit my little brother?”

“What do you mean?”

Charon looked at Claude’s injured face, raising one of his eyebrows.

“It wasn’t me.”

“You’re lying. Who else would hit my brother around here other than you? You hit my brother last time and fought with me by pulling on my hair!”

It was about 2 years ago. Charon was bothering the sickly child.

‘I’m sure he was attracted to Claude because Claude looked pretty back then. Or he was jealous of the child.’

Originally, when the boys were younger, they would play pranks on girls they have a crush on.

At that moment, I stopped Charon and told him that Claude was actually a boy.

Charon seemed really disappointed back then. Maybe he didn’t realize it, but perhaps Charon’s first love was Claude, whom he thought was a girl.

Charon folded his hands on his chest and let out a long sigh.

“I’m not doing it anymore. Why would I bother a child who might become a member of my family someday?”

“What? Family?”

What kind of bark is this dog letting out? I stared at him with a stiff expression. Charon’s face was flushed like a ripe raspberry.

‘Family? There’s no way!’

I deliberately looked at Claude’s face and Charon’s in turn. then, pretended to be surprised.

“Do you like my little brother?”

In the end, did he decide to confess the feelings he felt when they were younger?

‘I hope it’s not about me.’

Even though I had been open-minded all this time, my younger brother was still considered young! Charon, he was still a minor as well.

‘As long as it’s not me.’

Of course, if his appearance was as beautiful as Claude’s, it was understandable for both genders, whether it was men and women, to have a crush on him.

If I were to describe my brother like in the novel, I would say that he was a gentle boy with attractive black hair, which was reminiscent of the dark night sky and blue eyes shining like an amber.

Claude has a face as if a statue of angel, to the point that it was ridiculous to think that he was a character who didn’t make appearances in the novel like me.

Two years ago, when I saw him severely injured, I thought that he looked like the protagonist in a famous movie.

‘Since this is the world inside a novel, I thought that even the characters who didn’t have names were equally handsome.’

However, I met a lot of people and knew that I was wrong later on.

However, how dare he chase after my brother who looked like this? No matter how open-minded I am, this was not right.

I knew the truth but pretended not to know it.

“No way! I’ll give my little brother to the right person! You will never stand a chance!”

Hearing my words, the faces of the children gathered around me darkened. Some were seen shaking their heads and let out a long sigh. Charon’s face began to get even more flushed.

“Hey! No matter how stupid you are, how can you say that to me?!”

Did he just say I have no common sense?

Oi, did he think he understood what he was just saying? Would someone who had been a reporter in her previous life not realize the person who had a crush on her? I was just desperately acting like I didn’t know it.

And it was because I didn’t want to get involved with you, Charon.