Chapter 1

I grabbed the sturdiest belt by the washbasin, tied it into a silly bow, and hung myself from the clothesline.

Fearing my first attempt wasn’t lethal enough, I added another knot for good measure.

The System promised that if I died in this body within seven days, I’d be granted three months back in my original world to be with my family.

With zero attachment to this world, I kicked the stool under my feet.

The noose cinched tight, cutting the air off my lungs.

In my hazy, bloodshot vision, memories of this world played before my eyes like scenes from a movie.

I was a transmigrator from another world. By conquering any of the four male targets, I could get my life back, where I had died in a car crash.

The targets assigned to me by the System were great catches, all heroes in their own right. However, thanks to the heroine, they hated my guts and saw me as a sworn enemy.

Now that I’d failed the mission, the only way out was death. At least, these men would be free of me, too.

As I closed my eyes, someone screamed my name.

After a violent coughing fit, a hand grabbed my chin.

A devastatingly gorgeous face loomed over me, complete with the familiar teardrop mole at the corner of his eye.

“Lucian?”

Remorse washed over me the moment the name left my lips.

Lucian Baler was no longer my fragile crybaby of a protégé.

Sure enough, Lucian recoiled in disgust when I spoke his name.

“Watch your tongue. My name isn’t yours to speak.”

The man in a red robe was the youngest High Chancellor in the kingdom and one of my four targets.

Back then, I had been living on the streets before House Thornfield came for me.

On a rainy day, I stumbled upon a boy on the brink of starvation.

The only food I had was half a piece of bread, and I gave it to him. Since then, the boy clung to me like a shadow, and I couldn’t get rid of him.

He was once a sheltered young heir of a noble lineage until his family was slaughtered under false charges.

Sure, I was down on my luck. At least, I’d had proper modern-day education and read my fair share of history books.

I took Lucian as my protégé, teaching him to lie low and practice patience.

On nights he stirred awake from nightmares, I’d simply make him a nice hot pie.

Under my guidance, Lucian grew into an extraordinary young man. Step by step, he climbed the ranks and eventually cleared his family’s name.

I was his teacher and family.

Back then, I believed we’d look out for one another like a real family.

That all changed a year ago, in early summer, on the very night I was to be betrothed to the then Crown Prince.

Tara Thornfield—the adopted daughter of House Thornfield who had stolen my life for sixteen years—was kidnapped by bandits and never seen again.

With her dying breath, her maid swore that it had been my doing—that I had led her into the wild and abandoned her there.

Everyone was convinced that I had killed her.

My own brother crippled my hands and cast me out.

The Crown Prince, my supposed soulmate, broke our engagement and threw me into the laundress quarters to serve as his secret, disgraced chambermaid.

Lucian, the protégé I raised to be a High Chancellor, paid the servants to make my life hell every day.

Now that Tara was back, the King was making her Queen. The System declared that I’d lost my last target and blown the mission. I needed to get out of the world right away.

As I hung my head low in silence, Lucian somehow became annoyed.

“Are you trying to kill yourself?

“His Majesty’s heart has always belonged to Tara. They are celebrated as a perfect pair. Do you think they care whether you live or die?

“Save me the act. You make me sick!”

I thought my heart would break at the same old insult.

However, the mission was over, and I was going home. For once, I cut the tongue-lashing and nodded in agreement.

“You’re right.

“No one cares about my life, so leave me alone. I’m pressed for time.”

Before Lucian could do anything, I slammed headfirst into a nearby bronze basin.