Prologue

On a barren land, a woman dressed in a black beret and military uniform walked through the path between the rows of barracks in the blustery, sandy wind.

Beside her, her colleague Sang-yeop was criticizing her in a whining voice.

“Captain Lee Yoon-ah, please be a bit more gentle. The soldiers are scared of you.”

Sang-yeop’s words, who was her classmate at the Military Academy, mixed with the sandstorm and fluttered away. However, Yoon-ah paid no attention to his words and just hoped that the irritating sand wouldn’t get into her eyes.

“I haven’t even shown them half of the scary stuff yet.”

“Do you even know that you’re called the devil among the other soldiers?”

Yoon-ah nodded her head nonchalantly in response to Sang-yeop’s question. Watching her expressionless face, he let out a small sigh.

Yoon-ah had exceptional military talent and was naturally gifted with a soldier’s constitution, excelling at the Military Academy and becoming the first Captain among her colleagues.

Sang-yeop, who envied Yoon-ah’s achievements, said in a resentful tone.

“I may have been promoted late, but at least I got married earlier than you, Captain Yoon-ah. If you don’t change your personality, you won’t be able to date at all.”

“I’m not interested, whether it’s dating or marriage.”

Yoon-ah’s attitude was as dry as the harsh sandstorm blowing around them, leaving Sang-yeop speechless.

Sang-yeop thought that Yoon-ah’s strong personality was one of the reasons why she couldn’t date, in addition to her attractive yet cold appearance.

‘Is it because she’s still young…?’

However, Sang-yeop was already used to Yun-ah’s cold attitude. Nevertheless, the reason Sang-yeop was friendly towards Yun-ah was because he knew that she pretended to be indifferent but actually took care of her people extremely well, and he liked that about her.

As Yoon-ah and Sang-yeop were walking, a soldier dressed in the same military uniform as them hurriedly approached them and spoke.

“A village suspected to be a rebel’s hideout has been destroyed.”

“What’s the reaction from the US?”

Yoon-ah didn’t hear an answer to her question. 

The next moment, a shell hit the barracks with a loud boom, and the place was thrown into chaos.

Yoon-ah shook her head and quickly drew her rifle as a thick cloud of dust rose, blinding her. 

The aftermath of the exploding shells was deafening. The surrounding sounds seemed to be echoing underwater and were buzzing in her ears.

“Ah…”

Another explosion was heard, and Yoon-ah lost consciousness as she felt her body float through the air.

‘Am I alive…?’

With great effort, Yoon-ah barely lifted her heavy eyelids and saw a ceiling full of magnificent paintings like the ones she saw in European museums. Startled, she quickly got up and assessed the situation.

“First of all,  I don’t feel any pain in my body.”

Yoon-ah looked around. The room was decorated with gorgeous and antique furnishings, like a medieval European mansion, and the bed she was lying on was large and incredibly soft. 

Confused, Yoon-ah got off the bed.

At that moment, she heard the doorknob turn and the door began to creak open. Yoon-ah quickly approached the door, opened it, and grabbed the incoming person’s arm, pressing it against the wall and choking them with her arm.

“Kya…? Miss…!”

The woman, who was subdued in an instant, could barely find her voice due to Yoon-ah’s strong grip on her neck.

“Korean…? Where am I, and who are you? If you don’t speak within three seconds, I’ll snap your neck.”

As Yoon-ah whispered softly, the woman pressed against the wall began to turn pale. At the same time, Yoon-ah felt something strange happen to her body. 

It shouldn’t be difficult for Yoon-ah to subdue a woman who had a similar build to hers, but strangely, she began to feel a strain on her strength.

“What are you talking about…? Wait! Lady Rosalie!”

“What…?”

Yoon-ah felt confused beyond embarrassment at the woman’s words. 

Come to think of it, the voice coming out of her mouth wasn’t her own.

“Lady Rosalie…! I think my arm is going to break. I can’t breathe, please let me go.”

As Yoon-ah looked at the back of the woman’s head, she noticed her pale white wrists pressing the woman down. It was a smooth white skin without a single scar, unlike her own arms.

“Huh…? What…?”

“Cough… cough.”

When Yoon-ah released her arm in confusion, the captured woman gasped for breath and collapsed to the ground. But Yoon-ah didn’t even look at her, continuing to look at her arms.

No matter how much she looked around her arms, her scars, which were like a medal from numerous training, secret missions and battles, had disappeared cleanly.

In addition, Yoon-ah had spent most of her time in the Middle East and Africa, which had given her a tanned, firm skin, but now it was so white and thin that it felt like it could break at any moment.

“Mirror!”

“If you’re looking for a mirror, it’s over there…”

The woman who had collapsed pointed to the mirror on the wall, and Yoon-ah quickly ran to stand in front of it.

“You! What did you say my name was earlier?”

“Is there something wrong…? You’re Lady Rosalie Judeheart…”

Yoon-ah grabbed her cheek with a shocked expression. The searing pain radiating from her right cheek reminded her that this was no dream.

“F*ck…”

Yoon-ah muttered quietly. 

Her reflection in the mirror was that of a woman she’d never seen before, with light platinum hair and deep khaki eyes. And the name that came out of the mouth of the woman in maid attire was familiar.

It was the name of the friend of the female protagonist in the novel “Lady Countess and the Crown Prince” that her friend, Chaerin, was serializing. 

It was the extra named Rosalie Judeheart, whom Yoon-ah had criticized just 5 days ago.

Five days before Yoon-ah muttered profanities to a face she had never seen before in the mirror, she had been reading a book in a packed cafe in front of Exit 11 of Gangnam Station.

⊱⊱⊱────── {.⋅ ✧✧✧ ⋅.} ──────⊰⊰⊰

The warm coffee that Yoon-ah ordered had lost its warmth long ago due to her not taking her eyes off her book.

“How is it? What do you think?”

Chaerin, who was sitting across from Yoon-ah, eagerly awaited her response. 

However, Yoon-ah’s response was not what Chaerin expected.

“This female protagonist’s friend is pathetic. Was her name Rosalie?  She needs mental education. She’s so complacent and so frustrating.”

“That’s not the point! The point is the kindness of the female lead who helps that friend and her thrilling love story with the male lead!”

“Hmm… but it’s frustrating to watch. The female lead is kind and lovely, but it’s over the top. And what kind of male lead is a crazy person?”

Chaerin let out a long sigh, overwhelmed with frustration, and asked for an iced drink to soothe her feelings. Even after filling the cup with ice, her frustration didn’t subside, and she let out another sigh.

“Ugh, why did I even bother sharing a romantic fantasy novel with a soldier who is as stiff as a board in her bones?”

Chaerin tried to grab the book that was in Yoon-ah’s hand, but Yoon-ah playfully raised the book high so Chaerin couldn’t snatch it away.

Taking advantage of the situation, Yoon-ah quickly put the book in her bag.

“Park Chaerin, show me the next volume as soon as it’s out.”

“Whether I want to show it to you or not, you have to be in Korea for me to do that. I might forget your face at this rate, Captain Yoon-ah.”

Due to frequent overseas deployments, Chaerin had complained that she couldn’t see Yoon-ah’s face often. But it was an unavoidable situation, so Yoon-ah just avoided eye contact and sipped on her lukewarm coffee.

“So you’re leaving the day after tomorrow? Where are you going this time?”

“It’s the Middle East again.”

“I heard the situation in the Middle East is unstable these days.”

When Chaerin gave her a worried look, Yoon-ah only gave a small shrug. Contrary to her friend’s concerns, she appeared indifferent due to her long military life experience.

“I’m so proud that my friend is a special soldier, but… I’m also so worried, so please don’t get hurt this time.”

“Okay, thanks for your concern.”

“Anyway, I can’t believe I have to worry about my friend’s life and death at the age of thirty-two.”

“Don’t worry. It will be okay this time, too. By the way, this novel is going to be a hit.”

“Don’t worry about me either. I’ll give you the second book too, so take it.”

Yoon-ah took the book that Chaerin handed her from her bag and flipped through it. It was the third book she had received since Chaerin became a romance fantasy novel writer.

However, Yoon-ah, who had no interest in romance, always felt unsettled even after reading the books. Nevertheless, Chaerin worried about Yoon-ah, who didn’t date, and forced the books on her. 

“I’m leaving.”

Yoon-ah grabbed the book and got up. Chaerin just nodded her head as if she was used to Yoon-ah leaving without hesitation.

As Yoon-ah returned her coffee cup, she unconsciously smiled at Chaerin’s baby face. 

She wanted to say something nice, but she couldn’t bring herself to lie.

‘When you get into the story, the characters you dislike tend to stand out more. I’d never do that if I were them.’

Five days later, Yoon-ah regretted those words.