Chapter 2
2
Nina was born in the countryside.
It was a poor village without a proper name. Thinking about it now, it was like a Slash-and-burn village.
The memories of 'another world' came to her when she was five years old.
To a five-year-old child, it was no different from a robber trying to steal her ego.
Groping through the memories with the mind of a young child, Nina cried out.
"I'm not Nina!"
"This is not my home!"
"You are not my family!"
People thought Nina had gone crazy after witnessing her parents' accident.
Nina was a late child. Her remaining family members were her older brother Allen and her older sister Berry, both of whom were at least ten years older than her.
They took care of their youngest sibling, who was delirious and talking nonsense, with great care.
Nevertheless, Nina was confused.
Nina would scream and run out of the house. The villagers who saw this clicked their tongues.
"There she goes again, having another fit, isn't she?"
"That girl has gone crazy."
Her sister would always glare at those villagers, and her brother would always go looking for Nina.
Even after toiling in the fields from sunrise to sunset during the farming season, he would always come out to find Nina.
"Nina, let's go back."
"Nina, where are you?"
"Nina, it's okay."
Our youngest, the prettiest in the world.
Nina, the cutest in the world.
Nina, Nina, Nina, Nina, Nina.
That affectionate call.
Even in the chaos that swept through Nina's mind, her family held her hand and didn't let go, and Nina triumphed.
It might be a little funny to say that she fought and won against the memories, but a victory is still a victory.
The memories of another world became a part of Nina and became completely one as she grew up.
One piece of the mosaic that made up Nina was the memory of another world.
Memories cannot overcome reality, and the dead cannot overcome the living.
Overcoming the pain, Nina became a smarter child than anyone else thanks to the memories of another world.
She learned arithmetic and letters much faster. Allen and Berry were proud of Nina.
Berry always neatly braided Nina's brown hair into pigtails. The children in this village had unkempt hair, so Nina looked like a child who was taken care of at home just by looking at her hair.
The ribbon that tied her hair was specially dyed red by Allen.
Nina would flutter her bright red ribbon, holding her sister and brother's hands and chattering away.
She was happy.
Until Bellac appeared and took everything away.
The memory pops.
Nina knew she was dreaming.
'Or is it a dying vision?'
The first to arrive at the village that Bellac had destroyed were bandits. The living Nina was dragged away by them and sold to a human trafficker.
Dream.
That's right, I had a dream back then.
A voice that gently stroked my hair and whispered.
-It's okay. What you say sincerely will be heard sincerely by everyone. And everyone will easily discover your loveliness and sparkle. Because in your soul...
I had such a dream.
I don't remember it anymore, but when I woke up the next day, I felt energized. I thought my sister or brother had appeared in my dream...
Wasn't it?
The place that bought her was The Roubaenue Dukedom.
The word The Roubaenue Dukedom was familiar.
Only after her sister and brother died did Nina realize that this place overlapped with the world of a book she had read in another world.
So, when Nina was sold as a kitchen maid, she had only one question.
Will Adrian, the second male lead, be here? Or not?
Is it the same timeline as the book she read? Or not?
Surprisingly, Adrian was there.
The only difference was that the Adrian in the book was in his twenties, while the Adrian here was only nine years old, one year older than her.
Adrian, who came to the Dukedom at the age of five, turned eight normally.
In the year he turned eight, the Duke married, and the new Duchess began to ostracize Adrian.
It was exactly at that point.
When he turned nine, the Duchess's first son Gerald was born, and the Duchess began to plan to eliminate Adrian in earnest.
The Duke supported the Duchess's plan with indifference.
The maids, servants, and nannies who had been Adrian's attendants all disappeared.
Only Nina, who had newly arrived, called Adrian "Young Master."
When she found Adrian, she was happy. She thought all the light in her life had gone out, but she discovered new hope.
The time had finally come for this memory that had tormented her so much to be of help.
She wanted to be someone who could help someone, not a poor and pitiful girl who had lost her entire family, and she could be.
Nina willingly decided to be on his side.
No one called Adrian 'Young Master.'
Young Master was only Gerald Young Master.
The contents of the book she knew were roughly like this.
The villain summons a Corrupted Spirit Lord to the world to destroy it, and the Saintess heroine, the Archmage hero, and the knight, who is the second male lead, defeat it together.
Yes, my Young Master is in charge of that second male lead there.
'Well, it's good that he's the second male lead.'
Does love always have to be successful?
Sometimes people get rejected in life.
The problem is not that, but Young Master's growth process and future.
Abused and covered in bruises.
Appointed as the commander of the Knights Order at the forefront of the battle against Bellac by the Duchess's scheme.
Attempted poisoning by the Duchess. + His health deteriorates because of it.
The Knights Order is annihilated due to the villain's plan. + He suffers an irreparable emotional wound.
Kills all his family and ascends to the Duke.
Neglects the increasingly devastated territory and only hunts Bellac.
Now, look.
The heroine hasn't even appeared yet, but isn't it too much?
Still, it gets a little better when the heroine appears. The original heroine appears, takes care of the territory, and finds local specialties to revive the territory. Thus, it rises rapidly from the poorest territory to the richest territory!
Wow, you can't help but applaud.
But, you see.
The second male lead, whose health has deteriorated due to the poison given by his stepmother, dies not long after the final battle ends.
Leaving all his assets to the Saintess heroine.
'Wow.'
Isn't this an amazing story?
Do they have to extract all the sweetness from the sub like this?
Nina had no intention of letting her Young Master live like that, and she had even less intention of getting caught up in it.
He's about to die right now, original protection? What a joke.
'This life I'm living is the original.'
First, she had to get close to Adrian.
Nina called him 'Young Master' and acted affectionately, but Adrian didn't even look at her.
He ignored her when she called him and acted as if she didn't exist.
In the end, Nina used the last resort.
'Let's seduce him with food!'
In fact, that was all she could do. Nina took advantage of her position as a kitchen maid and scraped together food.
She hid it well in the garden and opened the window of Adrian's bedroom.
Like a thief, she quietly climbed over the window and called him "Adrian."
It's strange to call him "Young Master" while climbing over the bedroom window in the middle of the night.
A maid must fulfill her duty as a maid. Then who is shouting 'Let's play!' over the window in the middle of the night?
A friend.
A friend doesn't call the other person 'Young Master.' Nina was very nervous inside, but she tried to look natural on the outside.
He wasn't sleeping.
The boy just stared at her indifferently, and Nina squeezed the hem of her skirt tightly with tension, but she smiled brightly.
"Let's go on a picnic!"
She thought she would be rejected, but Adrian obediently got up from his seat and followed her, and the two shared the food.
