Chapter 1
To Survive, I'll Disguise Myself and Work for the Dark Power Family
1
Was a funeral always this desolate?
Caw, caw-
Instead of the priest's mass, only the ominous cries of crows filled the empty funeral.
Even the weather was gloomy, making the funeral home seem downright eerie.
Veiled in black, I held a single white lily and stared at the coffin before me.
The owner of that coffin is my father.
'To be precise, my father in this life.'
My father took his own life just a week ago.
Once a moderately successful man, my father was betrayed by a trusted friend and instantly fell into debt. A week ago, he became pessimistic about his life and took his own life.
And the first person to discover my father's lifeless body was me, Livia Plington.
I fainted from the shock of discovering my father's body, and when I opened my eyes again...
'I regained my memories of my past life.'
To explain a bit about myself, in my previous life, I was an orphan with a terminal illness.
I was abandoned in front of a poor orphanage as soon as I was born, and to make matters worse, I was diagnosed with a terminal illness at the same time I entered middle school.
Fortunately, my story became known on the internet, and I received donations that allowed me to live in a hospital bed.
However, I started living in a hospital bed at a young age, and there was no one around me. In the end, I died alone and forlorn at the young age of 24.
But then I was reborn.
As Livia Plington, an extra among extras who doesn't even appear in a single line of the romance fantasy novel <Everyone Only Loves the Saintess> that I read before I died in my previous life.
* * *
Now, to explain Livia Plington's life...
'It can't be called an easy life, even with kind words.'
I grew up with considerable love and support from my father, a self-made businessman with the status of a Baron. However, around the time I entered the Academy, my father went bankrupt, and my life, Livia Plington, began to plummet along with him.
'If only he hadn't guaranteed that debt.'
Count Lever, my father's only close friend, asked for help just once, saying his business was in trouble, and presented a guarantee. My father, Baron Plington, signed it without hesitation.
But all of that was Count Lever's scheme to pass his debt onto my father. In the end, the Plington baronial family, which had been a successful business family, went bankrupt overnight.
My father ran around barefoot every day to borrow even the interest, and I did everything I could.
'And on top of that, I was bullied at the Academy.'
In any case, it remains a bleak life.
'If I was going to be reincarnated as a character in a book, I should have been reincarnated as someone with a little more importance.'
I don't even want to be the female lead. There are so many roles around her that are easy.
Why, out of all the many characters, did it have to be the most insignificant Livia Plington?
'Well.'
It's not like I have nothing at all.
I approached my father's coffin, holding the lily.
The coffin, with not even a single lily placed on it, looked so lonely.
In his lifetime, my father was a simple and unassuming person, which didn't suit his profession as a businessman.
He would take money out of his pocket for anyone who needed it, and he would take off his clothes and give them to anyone who needed them.
Dozens of people received help from my father, but not a single one of them attended the funeral.
All of them were wary of Count Lever, who had become a tycoon by sucking my father's blood.
"See?"
I quietly murmured to the coffin.
"I told you to help people in moderation."
Before I knew it, a resentful tone leaked out.
But I should be understanding to this extent.
Because thanks to that, I've become alone again.
Still...
"Have happy dreams on your final journey."
I put my hand on the coffin and closed my eyes. And then.
Flash-
A silver light spread out from under my hand.
I found out that I had a special ability around the time I graduated from the Academy.
My father, who had been suffering from creditors, was groaning in his sleep. In order to let him sleep comfortably, I put my hand on him to wake him up, and light emanated from under my hand.
The light enveloped my father, and when he woke up, he said that he had a very happy dream that day.
After trying it a few more times, I found out that my ability was to manipulate the dreams of others in the direction I wanted.
I don't know why I, who am just an extra, was given this ability, but I thought it was fortunate that I could give my father a happy dream on his final journey.
"This is my last gift."
The light filled the dark funeral home.
Still.
"I was happy to have a family in this life."
Even if it was just for a moment, like a midsummer night's dream.
After the funeral was over, I packed my meager belongings and crossed the gate of the mansion that had been the Plington baronial residence.
It was because I had barely managed to pay off my debts by selling the mansion.
Now, it's the beginning of a new life, I thought, the moment.
Drip, drip-
"...Huh?"
I blankly stared at the drops of blood dripping down my chin.
I thought that the graph of my life had reached its worst peak on the day my father died, but an even worse one was waiting for me.
* * *
"It's Magic Deviation Disease."
I immediately ran to a doctor.
Honestly, until then, I hadn't thought much of it. I just thought it was because I was tired and stressed from my father's death and preparing for the funeral.
...But.
"Magic Deviation Disease?"
I asked back with a bewildered face at the unfamiliar disease name.
The doctor nodded with a serious face and continued to explain.
"It's a disease in which the flow of magic power in the body is distorted. Along with that, spots appear on some parts of the body, and the nickname was given because the spots resemble flowers."
The doctor explained at length, but I didn't hear it.
I immediately asked back urgently.
"Can it be cured?"
Then the doctor looked at me with a pitiful expression and shook his head.
"There is currently no way to cure it. Medication can slow the progression, but at most 3 years..."
Thump!
It was a story that wasn't even worth listening to.
'Another terminal illness?'
Not only am I an orphan again, but I'm also terminally ill again?
This can't be happening.
'Something's wrong.'
I need to go find another place.
With that thought, I strode out without hesitation. But my feet stopped before crossing the threshold.
"......"
And when I came out of the doctor's office again, I had a white medicine bottle in my hand.
* * *
Sitting on a bench in a nearby park, I stared at the white medicine bottle with troubled eyes.
'You must take one pill every day without fail.'
"Haa..."
A sigh escaped me at the unbelievable reality.
"A disease caused by the distorted flow of magic power in the body, I've never heard of such a disease..."
'Wait a minute.'
I stopped at the thought that suddenly flashed through my mind as I unconsciously muttered while lamenting.
In short, the problem with this disease is that it is caused by the distorted flow of magic power in the body.
'Then shouldn't I just restore the flow to its original state?'
Of course, if someone heard that, they would laugh and say what a ridiculous thing to say.
Because magic power is a natural energy itself that cannot be grasped by hand or changed in flow. But...
'There is something that can be changed!'
That which was briefly mentioned in the original work of this world, <Everyone Only Loves the Saintess>.
'The Mercedes Ducal Family's heirloom.'
The only family in the empire that worships the Goddess who does not believe in the Goddess and has received the blessing of the Demon God.
The Mercedes Ducal Family, also known as the Family of the Moon, has the power to control all the magic power in this world.
Of course, it will also be able to control the magic power in the body.
'With that, I can cure the disease!'
Unlike my previous life, when I couldn't do anything, the fact that there was a way to live filled me with hope.
But the joy of hope was only temporary, and I soon encountered a big problem.
The Mercedes Ducal Family's heirloom can only be used by the current Duke Mercedes.
That Duke Mercedes, who is the only one who can save me...
'He's the Dark Power Family sub-male lead in this world...'
...Am I going to be okay?
* * *
Cadienne Mercedes,
The final Dark Power and one of the sub-male leads in <Everyone Only Loves the Saintess>.
A character who ends up ruined by being greedy in order to covet the female lead, Celestina.
It is known to the world that he has Insanity, but the reality is a little different.
Khadien suffers from Magical Overload, and he has to directly smoke Sedation Herb every day due to a splitting headache.
His life is pain itself, and he was really living because he couldn't die.
It was the female lead, 'Saintess Celestina', who freed him from the pain for a while.
Like a brief taste of sweetness, he felt freedom from pain and gradually became obsessed with Celestina, and in the end, his madness and obsession led him to the worst ending.
Anyway, what is clear now is.
'I need him.'
I need Khadien to cure my disease.
But how do I approach him?
