Nila was the Duchess of Evant’s one and only daughter.
Rodi, on the other hand, was the bastard child the Duke had brought in from the outside.
Because of that, Rodi had grown up suffering discrimination her entire life.
The only things she was ever allowed to have were the jewels Nila grew sick of and the dresses that had fallen out of fashion.
“A lowborn bastard like you ought to know she’s living in luxury entirely thanks to me!”
Even while lording it over her, Nila never stopped tormenting Rodi.
When they were young, she would drag Rodi around by the hair or shove her into the lake. As they grew older, she ordered the servants to feed Rodi spoiled food or meals tainted with trace amounts of poison.
That was not all. In high society, she played the doting, adoring elder sister cherishing a wicked and vicious younger sister, soaking up everyone’s sympathy.
At least half of what had twisted the ‘real Rodi’ into a villainess was undoubtedly Nila’s doing.
‘She was a character I couldn't stand even while playing the game.’
Dream or reality, slapping her across the cheek felt intensely cathartic.
Nila kept on blubbering.
“You… I won’t let you get away with this, not this time…!”
Normally, no one could treat Duke Evant’s treasured daughter so roughly.
Yet Rodi was destined to be thrown out of this household forever in five minutes.
At this point, why should she give a damn about Nila?
“It is time to depart.”
Just then, two knights stepped in.
“…”
At the sight inside the room, their expressions flickered with brief fluster before they dragged Rodi out with uncompromising resolve.
She was loaded straight into a cramped, battered carriage reeking of horse dung.
…Even though this was his last chance to see his daughter, Duke Evant never showed his face.
The coachman set the carriage in motion without delay.
The wooden seat was stiff, and the entire carriage rattled so violently it felt ready to fall apart at any second.
It was the perfect conveyance for a villainess banished to the boondocks after daring to torment the heroine.
The carriage rolled on without rest.
By the time the sun began to dip, it arrived in a small rural village.
“You have been cast out of the Evant family. From this moment on, you are forbidden to use the name ‘Evant’ anywhere.”
The coachman handed her a rolled-up scroll of thick paper, adding,
“However, through His Grace the Duke’s benevolence, this villa alone has been granted as your property. From now on, this is where you will reside.”
Having delivered his orders, the coachman left without looking back.
Clutching her single bag tightly to her chest, Rodi watched the carriage recede into the distance before turning her gaze.
Standing before her was an old-looking mansion built of red brick.
Rodi knew full well why this manor had fallen into her hands.
Regardless of her birth, Rodi was a lady of the ducal house. Kicking her out completely empty-handed would stain his noble dignity and breed unwanted gossip.
For that reason, the Duke had pawned off the oldest and most dilapidated villa in the Evant estate like clearance stock, just to keep up appearances.
‘The original Rodi didn't know how to do a single thing.’
Bastard or not, she had lived a life of luxury.
Naturally, cleaning and cooking were entirely beyond her.
‘In the game, Rodi barely scraped by in this rundown manor doing odd jobs.’
And even those were menial tasks she could only secure thanks to the basic embroidery and needlework she had learned as part of her lady’s education.
‘I have no desire to live like that.’
What should she do from here?
Staring blankly at the desolate manor, Rodi slowly took a step inside.
✦ ✦ ✦
Once inside the mansion, Rodi took stock of her present circumstances.
‘The fact that I was exiled to a border village means the plot is currently following the True Ending route.’
She looked around.
Befitting a property once owned by the Duke of Evant, the interior was spacious. Yet, left unattended for so long, it was caked in dust.
The ceiling left the joists and beams supporting the upper floor completely exposed, along with flamboyant corbels that had gone out of style long ago.
Beyond that were lattice windows designed to spare precious glass and a cavernous, empty fireplace.
Only the elderly would find charm in such an antiquated design nowadays.
For now, Rodi sat down on the dusty floor and gingerly emptied the contents of her bag.
Necklaces, earrings, rings, and brooches set with gems…
Reselling these would fetch a tidy sum.
She would not have to worry about starving for a while.
‘Even so, it’s not enough to live on for the rest of my life.’
That was the crux of the problem.
Once the money from the jewels ran out, she would eventually have to find work.
‘What can I even do in this world?’
All the credentials and academic degrees she had piled up to get hired at a major corporation were entirely useless here.
Nor was Rodi’s body blessed with a talent for magic or swordsmanship like some dashing protagonist in a novel.
Which meant that once the money ran out, she would be forced to eke out a miserable living on piecework sewing and odd errands.
Rodi had no intention of living that kind of life.
‘My parents aren't here.’
Until now, the sole reason she had pushed herself so hard was to earn her parents’ approval.
Yet possessing Rodi’s body had obliterated that reason in an instant.
‘Now…’
Rodi’s eyes twinkled like stars.
‘I can do whatever I want, all on my own!’
She clenched both fists tight.
Her spirits soared.
It was freedom, the likes of which she had never felt in her entire life.
‘Isn't there a way to enjoy a happy life in this world without grinding myself to the bone?’
Rodi sank into delightful contemplation.
The joy of slipping free from her parents’ grasp far outweighed any sorrow over dropping into an unfamiliar world.
‘Right now, I have the capital in hand to raise a lump sum.’
Instead of squandering this simply to stretch out her survival, investing it somewhere could net her vastly more wealth.
‘What good investments are there in the world of Utopia?’
As she mulled it over, a word flashed through her mind.
‘Real estate…?’
It was an idea the original Rodi could never have conceived, having had zero interest in the very concept of ‘investing.’
Yunseo, who now inhabited her body, was different.
She had meticulously cleared every single route in Utopia. She had a rough idea of which properties would skyrocket and which would crater.
The one problem was that she did not have enough funds on hand yet to purchase land.
Rodi took another look around the mansion that was now hers.
Neglected by human hands for so long, it was undeniably weathered, but it wasn't worthless.
If she cleaned it up, remodeled the interior, and flipped it for a high price, she would have more than enough money to invest in other plots.
‘Besides, I just remembered who to sell this mansion to for top dollar.’
Her plan was roughly mapped out.
Rodi opened room after room until she found a blanket lying on the floor.
When she lifted it, clouds of white dust drifted up, and a musty stench pricked her nose.
Right now, even this was something to be grateful for.
Shaking it out roughly, she wrapped herself up like a bagworm.
“…”
The faint chirping of insects drifted in from outside.
Curled into a ball, Rodi slowly drifted off to sleep.
Thus passed her first day inhabiting a new body.
Deep in the dead of night.
A quiet voice chimed in the ears of the softly sleeping Rodi.
[Synchronization complete.]
Unaware, Rodi remained deep in slumber.
✦ ✦ ✦
The second day dawned.
Waking from her sleep, Rodi roughly raked her fingers through her fine purple hair and stepped outside.
Closing the front door, she froze.
—Get out, you wicked witch!
The words were scrawled in crooked strokes of blood-red paint.
‘Looks like the rumors about me have already spread to the village.’
In high society at present, Rodi was rumored to be an evil mage who practiced curse magic.
The reason was simple.
Lady Simone Gretia, whom Rodi had constantly bullied, had remained bedridden and unable to recover for a long time.
Her father, Count Gretia, had brought in all manner of renowned physicians in an attempt to cure her, but nothing had worked.
Because of that, a rumor began circulating through society.
That Rodi Evant had cast a curse on the angelic Lady Simone.
In truth, that rumor was the very reason Rodi had been banished from House Evant.
Hearing that his daughter had used curse magic against the lady favored by the Crown Prince, the Duke had grown terrified of the blowback on his house and promptly driven her out.
‘Well, it’s all a total misunderstanding, though.’
While Rodi had certainly exuded the aura of a wicked witch in society, she possessed zero magical talent whatsoever.
‘Simone shook it off completely after a while anyway, thanks to all that devoted care from the people around her.’
She remembered clearly because the event CGs had been quite pretty.
Rodi walked along with these idle thoughts until she reached the entrance of the village’s commercial district.
Instantly, every gaze converged on her.
“Is that woman… the noble lady who got exiled from the capital for using curse magic?”
“Shh, don't meet her eyes. You might get cursed!”
Rodi’s eyes met those of the whispering villagers.
‘Huh…?’
Suddenly, white windows hovered beside each person.
She hurriedly rubbed her eyes.
‘What is this?’
No matter how hard she rubbed, the translucent system windows refused to vanish.
Bewildered, she stared at the words written on one man’s system window.
[Weakness: Drinks at night behind his wife’s back, ??, ??, ??]
‘There definitely wasn't anything here yesterday, was there?’
Rodi was flabbergasted.
The windows floating next to each villager displayed their name, age, and weaknesses.
‘These are the system windows from the game.’
They were the hint windows that appeared whenever a player spent real cash to progress through the story.
‘Did I gain access to part of the game system…?’
Rodi tilted her head, sinking deep into thought.
‘Standing here pondering it won’t do me any good.’
First, she needed to verify whether the information on the system windows was true.
‘Is there a good target around here?’
Looking around, she spotted a middle-aged man sitting inside a jewelry shop beyond the glass window.
[Weakness: Coward, ??, ??, ??]
‘He’ll do.’
A fine plan occurred to her.
She had to sell the jewelry she took from home anyway.
Keeping her face as deadpan as possible, Rodi entered the shop.
Tinkle…
“Welcome!”
She opened the door hung with a small bell.
Having called out a greeting without looking up, the shopkeeper raised his head a beat too late.
“Gasp…!”
At his startled reaction, Rodi hardened her eyes to look all the more menacing.
‘Looks like the weakness is accurate.’
The shopkeeper, Denvers, looked at the woman before him with a mind ready to weep.
His morning had started off completely normal, just like any other day.
Why of all people did his very first customer have to be the evil mage exiled from the capital…!
What was worse, her appearance matched the description of ‘wicked’ to perfection.
A dark crimson dress the color of fresh blood, towering heels, cascading waves of deep violet hair, and cold eyes framed by long eyelashes heavily coated in black mascara.
Denvers fell into silent despair.
‘She’s terrifying…!’
He wanted to send this horrifying customer away as fast as humanly possible.
“T-Today, we are…”
Click.
Denvers spoke in a voice trembling with fear.
“N-Not open…”
Click.
As the expressionless Rodi drew closer, the shopkeeper’s pupils shook.
“F-F-For business…”
Click.
Denvers barely managed to squeeze out the end of his sentence in a voice no louder than a mosquito.
“Hmm.”
The woman tilted the corner of her lips into a chilling smile.
As if she might whisper a curse at any moment.
“Are you really not open for—”
“…”
“Eek!”
Did she realize he had just lied about being closed?
Denvers ducked his head low and confessed.
“N-No, no, I’m sorry, we actually are!”
“…”
Rodi, for her part, felt somewhat awkward at the shopkeeper’s sheer terror.
She was honestly just going to ask if he really wasn't open today.
