Chapter 2

There was a novel I loved as a teen. It was a romantic fantasy novel called The Flower that Blooms from Deadwood, or FBD for short according to its readers. Doesn’t the title just sound tragic? Since the novel was a tragedy, it wasn’t widely popular. However, it was known as a book of sorcery because once you read the first page, you wouldn’t be able to stop until you finished it.

FBD had a strong fandom, which included me. The writer’s eloquent writing was so captivating that I couldn’t help but become one of the countless fans who fell under her spell. It’s been ten years, but I still can't forget what I read. I even left a comment on the novel’s fan page once saying that I couldn’t imagine my life without this novel!

But... that didn’t mean I wanted to live as a character inside the novel.

Sh*t. God, why did you do this to me? From afar, a tragic novel may look like a comedy, but up close it’s awful.

One year ago, I suddenly became Irene Amber. Irene was the eldest of the Amber family, which was riddled with debt. I immediately caught on that I was in the novel since I had read FBD more than twenty times. As soon as I heard I was in an empire called “Roccitante,” I figured out where I was and muttered some expletives.

At the same time, I recalled who Irene was. She only ever appeared once as the female protagonist’s friend and then never showed up again in the novel. You know, one of those extras that exist simply to get killed off. Yep, that’s me. I’m supposed to get caught up in a situation just because I’m the female lead’s friend, and then end up dead. But damn it, I can’t just die like that! As soon as I realized I was doomed, I quickly made my decision.

So what exactly does a “tragedy” entail? By definition, it means “disaster.” In a romance novel, it means that nine out of ten times the female protagonist will get worn down to the point where she’ll break. And if it’s a tragic romance novel, it also includes a reverse harem element with several male leads. It’s almost a hundred percent certain that the female protagonist would be wishy-washy without a mind of her own. You could say she was destined to get tugged in different directions like a rope in a tug of war. The female protagonist is the one who will suffer, but it’s the people around her who will die.

Claudia Chamberlain’s very existence was like the eye of a storm. I had zero interest in hanging around her and getting swept up by that storm just to get killed off. That’s why I tried to avoid her at all costs at first. I already knew how it would end for me if I were to be friends with her, so why would I do that?

Of course, it’d be a lie if I said I didn’t want to watch my favorite novel unfold before my very eyes. However, I knew my place in this world, and I wanted to survive. I didn’t want to die because I got greedy and overreached, so I tried to avoid Claudia as best as I could. That was until Claudia heard my family was about to be crushed by debt and paid everything off for us. We became debt-free overnight!

I was befuddled. I spent all that time avoiding her, and yet she still paid off our debt. And it wasn’t a small amount either. It was an incredibly large sum that was going to push my family into ruin. I felt guilty for running away from her, so I momentarily stopped doing that.

That’s when I told her, “Lady Chamberlain, this is too much. I cannot accept this money.”

In return she said, “But it’s not like we’re strangers. What’s wrong with sparing a bit of change for a friend?”

I could feel her ignorance and naiveté from the expression on her face. Just so you know, she and I were friends at the time, but we weren’t that close. When we saw each other, we’d say hi, but that was it. Even though we weren’t that close, she went ahead and paid off our debt, and then casually called it “a bit of change.”

“A bit of change”? That was a bit of change to her?

My family was in a hurry to marry me off because we didn’t have “a bit of change.” At the same time, I had also been looking for a way out because I didn’t want to get sold off to a rich old pig. But Claudia didn’t say that to piss me off. To her, that money was simply chump change.

“Oh, Irene and I aren’t that close, but we are friends. She’s about to get sold off into marriage because her family is in debt? And that debt is small potatoes? Well then, I should just pay it off for her... because we’re friends!” was what I imagined was probably her train of thought.

Simple as that.

Oh, and I almost forgot there was a diamond mine on the Chamberlain lands. I knew I was missing something. In the novel, when Irene Amber the extra appears for the first and last time, it seemed like she had a really bad inferiority complex. I wondered why Irene was like that since she was a one-scene extra who was supposed to be Claudia’s friend. She probably didn’t like hearing Claudia say those things so nonchalantly. I, too, felt jealous when she said that as an ultra-rich person...

...NOT! That was the moment I pledged to become her personal doormat forever. After all, isn’t the eye of the storm supposed to be the safest place? Instead of being casual friends, if I stuck to her side like glue, nobody would be able to kill me off, right? We’d be besties, but I’d do my best to be nonexistent like a ghost to stay out of the spotlight. Luckily for me, my looks and social status (or lack thereof) were perfect for being forgotten and ignored.

What do I need right now? I need to make decisions quickly and take action fast.

My smile was capitalistic as I said, “I’m very thankful. I would like to repay you in some way.”

Ah, my dear female protagonist. Use me in whatever way you wish. Ring that bell, and I will come running.

* * *

I’d like to talk a little bit about my previous life. Truthfully, I had an interesting ability where I could attract anyone I wanted.

No, wait. Don’t go. Before you hit the back button, just read one more line.

What I’m trying to say is that I could only attract women.

Unfortunately, my ability didn’t work on men. By the time I turned 25, I could still count on one hand the number of times I’d actually talked to guys my own age. Of course, it didn’t help that I attended girls-only schools from kindergarten to university. So...

“If I were a guy, I would do everything I could to marry you, Heesoo.”

Things like that were often said to me by my friends. I wasn’t overly charismatic and charming. I wasn’t an extrovert or a social butterfly either. I did, however, have a knack for knowing what people wanted, and for knowing exactly what they wanted to hear. I was affectionate, attentive, and thoughtful. All my friends wanted to become my best friend.

I planned on using this ability to its fullest extent. But how was I supposed to make myself look appealing to her? I told her I’d repay her, but I couldn’t think of anything. That was because Claudia Chamberlain was perfect in every way.

Her looks? They were out of this world. She was frequently referred to as a goddess or a fairy.

Her social status? She was the youngest daughter of House Chamberlain, a family with longstanding history and traditions.

Her wealth? Her family owned a diamond mine and was the majority shareholder of a mining company.

Her abilities? When it came to elemental magic, her affinity had no ceiling. Her abilities were through the roof.

Yep. Game, set, match. I think this is what people mean when they say someone has cracked the code to life. So since Claudia already had everything, it’d probably be faster to look for the things she actually didn’t have.

She just... had to have it all, didn’t she? She’d probably scoff if I tried to offer her anything of material wealth, so I mentally ripped up my plan to work like a dog to pay her back. And since I was no longer riddled with debt, there was no need to tighten any purse strings, so I took that time to relax and enjoy myself. Of course, since the servants had all run away, I, alongside the spawn of my parents, also known as my younger brother, had to do all the household chores.

But still, I was glad I could remain a noblewoman. I saw how the lords in the vicinity were eyeing our land. She saved us in the nick of time. Any later, and our land would have been sold off or raided. If our family’s title had been taken away from us and we had gotten demoted from nobles to commoners on top of that, the situation would have been so much worse.

Wait... Now that I think about it... Why did Claudia choose to pay for my family’s debt this time? This isn’t one of those “no good deed goes unpunished” sort of things. I’m merely wondering about the timing of it all. My family’s financial situation did take a turn for the worst recently. However, we were saddled with debt way before Claudia and I became acquainted.

She was so rich, she thought our debt was just a bit of change and paid it off for us even though she doesn’t have any connection to our House. So why did she choose to pay it off for us all of a sudden? That’s when it hit me. Wasn’t it because she only just found out?

Claudia had everything, but she lacked two things. She was slow-witted and lacked information. I suppose you could say she was slow because she never had to worry about anything. However, she was rich and she ranked high in social standing, so why was she lacking information? Because she remained to be the novel’s female lead.

The female protagonist typically has no interest in the world. She was often the one to ask, “Who are you?” to the crown prince of her own country. Of course, Claudia wasn’t that bad, but she was pretty close.

Wait, I think I just found a way to stay close to her at all times!

I was going to become the person who gave her the information she needed to help her avoid the landmines in her path! That was when I decided my dream was to become the explainer of everything.