I realized this world was a novel, and a revenge story, because of my nephew Luca. Luca Maibaum. Later, he would become Luca Winterwald, the hero of Master of the Winter Forest.

I always liked revenge stories best. I loved the hero’s rough-and-tumble dedication of mind and body, and the thrilling shiver of catharsis at the moment of revenge. My favorite classic was The Count of Monte Cristo, my favorite movies were Park Chan-wook’s Vengeance trilogy, and my favorite genre novel was Master of the Winter Forest.

The story goes something like this: One day, a little boy named Luca, an illegitimate child who doesn’t know his father, meets a man who claims to be his uncle. He explains that Luca is of Duke Winterwald’s bloodline and takes him to Winterwald as the heir to the dukedom. Of course, many people are jockeying for the Duke of Winterwald’s position and they refuse to accept Luca’s illegitimacy.

Cue the plots and schemes of relatives who want to become Duke. Still only a small child, Luca is powerless against them. Ultimately, Luca loses everything to the Duke’s relatives. Not only his status, honor, and title, but also his only blood relatives and pillars of support.

In short, everyone around him dies, including the uncle who took him in and the original owner of my current body, Judith Maibaum. To make matters worse, Luca is almost killed in an assassination attempt. He hides his identity and lives under a different name, biding time until he can get revenge. It’s the kind of story where he ultimately triumphs and seizes the dukedom.

My favorite scene is when he returns valiantly to Winterwald in military uniform, grown into a war hero while everyone thought he was dead, and exacts retribution on those who usurped the dukedom. It was exactly my kind of story—down to the empty feeling you’re left with at the end.

Now severed from all ties of grace and spite, Luca Winterwald hauled his weary body into the castle step by step. Winterwald Castle greeted him, unchanged from his youth, but not a single person from those times remained.

His body sank deep into his grandfather’s throne, and he gently closed his eyes. Just as winter was over, so was his revenge. Gone were the gleaming eyes of the wolf pack waiting to tear his life to pieces.

In the end, no one else but him, Luca Winterwald, would take possession of the coveted Winter Forest. Soon it would be spring. Spring, when all things bloom, new life sprouts and happiness fills the air. Could spring really come to the frozen Winter Forest?

Luca didn’t know.

What an ending. It never gets old. However, I’m not about to sacrifice myself just to see my favorite scene play out! Not a chance! No matter what, better alive than dead. Even in a different world, even in a stranger’s body, I’d like to live a little longer, thank you.

Why did it have to be this novel? Is it because I enjoyed it so much? I should’ve listened to my friend when she said I had weird taste and offered me some healing and slice-of-life novels. Maybe if I’d changed my tastes I could’ve been reincarnated in a more pleasant world. No. I’ll just count myself lucky it’s not a tragedy or survival story. What if I were into zombies? It gives me a chill just thinking about it.

Still, why’d it have to be Judith Maibaum? There are so many other supporting characters. I could’ve been the princess that helps Luca when he’s nearly assassinated. To be honest, I don’t really like Judith. Actually, no reader would like Judith. How could they? Judith is Luca’s only family on his mother’s side, but she abuses him as a child. Then, when his uncle comes, she sells him for money.

As if that wasn’t enough, when the duke’s relatives threaten Luca and come up with plots against him, she’s their very first pawn. She’s the epitome of the foolish, selfish antagonist. The type of character that only gets in the hero’s way. Surely, it’s not because I have something in common with her deep down, right? Even the thought makes me hate myself. Regardless, I wanted to live. I wasn’t about to just walk into an obvious trap.

I wish I could just nip it in the bud, but there was no way to prevent Luca’s fated trip to Winterwald. Once the Duke’s family recognized Luca as their blood, refusing to send him away would be like trying to stop the tide.

Even if I couldn’t change the entire novel, I had to at least change Judith’s plotline. The very first step was to change how she treated Luca. Honestly, how could she be so cruel to a sickly child that doesn’t even come up to her waist? It’s inhuman.

She should’ve at least cooked him a decent meal. Judith must’ve nearly starved him to death because Luca was well used to working for his food. He ran all sorts of errands, earning a potato here and an apple there to hold him over. He must’ve just barely survived that way. A nine-year-old! How could she look at such a cute child and not feel sorrow toward him?

She was insecure about her own appearance, so she didn’t approve of Luca’s good looks. Judith was a beautiful woman—so beautiful that, the first time I looked in the mirror, I was excited to be so pretty, even in a dream. But Judith hated her appearance. She always said that she looked like she fell into some water and got soggy.

In my eyes, she looked just as pretty as a watercolor painting, but she didn’t think so. In her memory, the rest of her family were all exceptionally beautiful. Beauty is subjective of course, but there are always objective trends. Judith’s family didn’t just satisfy those objective beauty standards, they soared over them.

Especially her sister Lalisa, three years older than her, who was so beautiful she turned heads. Because of this, young Judith was filled with insecurities and a sense of inferiority about her own appearance.

“Tsk. The quickest path to happiness is to be content with what one has.”

I gave the absent Judith a trite lecture. Still, she was very sensitive about her appearance. She was obviously sad about her family’s deaths, but lurking deep in a corner of her heart was the secret joy that she was finally the most beautiful person in the village.

Then Luca started to grow up to be the most eye-catching young man for miles around. Judith’s pale blonde hair was no match for his sparkling golden locks. Then there were his dazzling blue eyes. You’d be forgiven for thinking he had been photoshopped while the rest of the world remained unchanged.

He didn’t take after his mother Lalisa, but it was all just the same to Judith because she couldn’t compare to his angelic beauty. His budding appearance poured gasoline on the dying flame of Judith’s inferiority complex. Burn on, insecurities! That’s right. Just like that.

Still, why compare yourself to a child? As a full-grown adult? Come on, Judith, act your age. I cursed my body’s previous owner.

Whatever. Now I could set my mind on being nice to Luca. Regardless of what the future might bring, pity alone was enough to make me want to treat him better. He’d be off to Winterwald soon enough anyway.

I was determined to act on my decision. It must have seemed pretty jarring from Luca’s perspective. The aunt who’d mistreated him for nine years was suddenly doing the exact opposite, completely out of the blue.

I’d be suspicious that she was up to something too. I found out the hard way the first time I tried to cook him dinner. That day, I did my best to make a meat stew for a proper meal, then called Luca in for dinner. It was my first attempt to cook in this world, and it didn’t taste bad at all, so I was rather pleased with myself.

But Luca just stared at me like I was being ridiculous. His voice was accusatory.

“Have you lost your mind? Just be your usual self.”

With those stinging words, he turned around before I could answer and ran right back into his tiny closet of a room.