The softness of my skin, a plushness like I’d never felt before, and a delightfully fresh scent in place of a filthy stench... Ah, it all felt so heavenly. I felt like melting into a puddle right then and there. I knew I had to get going and start my morning, but the sheer coziness was too irresistible. For a second, an all-too-valid question raced through my mind.

Why do I have a bed? My eyes shot open and I sprang to my feet.

This is... The room was larger than my entire studio apartment with a spacious bed in the middle, a lavish chandelier hailing from the ceiling, as well as other luxurious furniture. Everything felt somewhat familiar, but it most certainly wasn’t my home. That was when I remembered the dream-like events from the previous day.

I had met Anastasia and jumped with joy, then returned home after I finally found my steward.

“Oh, right. I became a character in a novel yesterday,” I mumbled under my breath as I looked around the room. I relaxed my whole body and fell back on the bed, which was so wide that I could roll over three whole times without tumbling off.

Whoa, I don’t even remember the last time I had a lazy morning. I hadn’t had a single relaxing start due to all that debt. I always had to wake up to a piercing alarm and immediately get out of bed to shower and go to work. But not anymore.

Why? Because I was in a novel! I cheered quietly and threw a nearby pillow into the air. It fell straight back onto my face, but that didn’t faze me. Honestly, I didn’t even remember the title of the story. I read too many and was never the type to remember a single one.

Not only that, but I didn’t even remember the plot. I always read myself to sleep, so the story was as vague as a dream. I just remembered that the female protagonist was Anastasia and that she had a lot of love interests. Also, that Renee Blair, the character I’d become, was crazy beyond words.

Renee Blair... She was the biggest maniac in the entire Kingdom of Conia. The woman had the worst descriptions, such as “the craziest b*tch.” No matter what, she incessantly bullied whoever got in her way. It was always a given that she’d dish out a smack if anyone ticked her off. Whenever she was in a public space with a guaranteed audience, she never failed to make a scene.

She’s totally out of her mind. Crazy Renee Blair ended up dying pitifully at the hands of someone at a party.

Why did she die again? Because she slapped someone’s face? She had slapped so many people that I couldn’t remember who they were. Anyhow, since I knew that her death was predetermined, I should have felt miserable or at least have been on guard. But on the contrary, impending death felt like nothing...

Because Renee Blair was one of the richest people in the Kingdom of Conia! She was so rich that she faced no consequences for any of her shenanigans. Even the king of Conia kept an eye on her because of her inheritance.

I’m wealthy... Just the thought was enough to make me feel butterflies in my stomach. Before I was sucked into this novel, I had worked like a dog to pay off my debt, but I was now filthy rich! God must have taken pity on me.

Ah, so how should I spend my time now? I let out a satisfied sigh and started mulling over this happy problem. First off, I should stop being so evil. I should stop beating up maids, stop going to parties I’m not invited to and making a scene, and...

As I made my resolutions, I thought of Anastasia again. Her radiant, long silver hair that danced like ocean waves, her honey golden eyes, her quiet and careful demeanor, and her swollen cheek that made her face even more delicate... I admired and empathized with Anastasia to the point where it felt almost weird.

I want to be friends with her no matter what... Even if we didn’t become friends, the least I could hope for was to change her bad impression of me.

Hmm... Okay. No more of this villain stuff. I should be nice to everyone. Maybe I could impress someone by becoming so nice that some of the male protagonist candidates fell in love with me like in all those “I became the villainess of a novel” books!

I was dreaming up all kinds of scenarios when I was interrupted by short, quiet knocks. I sprang up and looked at the big door. The maid must have arrived since it was morning. I took a short moment to decide what tone I should take with her. I decided not to be too polite right off the bat. I couldn’t act so differently all of a sudden.

“Ahem, come in!”

I was a little nervous. I was about to meet someone who had known the real Renee Blair as soon as I had resolved to stop being the villain.

The door flung open, and the maid entered. She was young and her black hair was tied up in a neat ponytail. She came up to me in quick steps with her head hung low as if she meant to hide her face from me completely.

Hmm, what do I do? I noticed that she was trembling. It was easy to imagine what kind of presence Renee Blair had held. It wouldn’t be easy to change my bad image. I could hear the faint, long ringing of bells from outside. It sounded like a clock. I ignored it and turned my attention back to the maid, but...

Ding.

================================

TODAY’S MISSION

Slap a working maid.

Accept / Decline

================================

A random translucent window popped up in front of my face.

What is this? I forgot that I was even going to talk to the maid and stared blankly at the clear window. It was written in an unfamiliar writing system, but I could read it like it was my native language.

Slap a maid? I tried rubbing my eyes. I even tried blinking, but the thing didn’t go away. I glanced past the window to see that the maid still had her head down, frozen in place.

Okay, I should ask her what this is. I let out a dry cough to get her attention.

“Ahem!” It sounded so raspy like I had been a heavy smoker for decades.

How embarrassing... But how else do I make her look up? The maid held firm. She kept her head down as if the ground were the most interesting thing in the world.

“Ahem, ahem!” I cleared my throat so hard that I almost coughed up blood and finally got the maid’s attention.

It seemed like she was checking to see if the sound actually came from a human being, but I didn’t care. All that mattered was the outcome. I pointed at the translucent window as if to ask, What’s this? But no matter how much I pointed at the screen, the maid’s quavering eyes just kept darting from the end of my finger to my face. I frowned.

Was the window only visible to me?

Immediately, the maid’s face washed over with shock. With a loud thud, she knelt suddenly like someone had pushed her from behind. But that wasn’t all. She went so far as to plant her face on the ground. I was so startled that I just kept staring.

The maid’s shuddering voice leaked out of her lips. “A-apologies, my lady! Please forgive me for being too dull to understand what you mean.”

At a loss of words, I looked down at her dumbly, then hastily climbed out of bed. I pulled at her arm. “F-forgive you? For what? First off, get up. Don’t do this. Get up!”

“I’m sorry. I apologize, my lady! Please calm down...”

“I am calm! It’s okay, just get up!”

“I’m sorry, my lady! Please calm down and...”

“Oh, for goodness sake, I am calm!” I yelled in frustration at her parroting.

The maid flinched and started trembling again. It was only then that I realized that I was not actually calm. But what else could I do? She cowered at anything I said, and she even bowed all the way to the ground!

Calm down. I was so frustrated that I felt like a whale was sitting on my chest, but yelling and blowing up like this would make it impossible to change my image. I did a one-eighty and put on a smile.

The maid’s hands immediately shot up to cover her face. She was crying. There was no mistaking it. Seeing her reaction, I froze, and all I could do was stare. It was always tough to comfort someone who was crying.

“M-my apologies. My apologies for crying.” Her sudden apology made me even more frustrated.

“Uh... Why are you crying? Are you afraid of me?” I asked bluntly. The task of changing my image seemed more and more daunting. To my surprise, the maid lowered her hands and shook her head.

“Then why are you crying?”

“It’s just...”

“Just what?”

She hesitated, fidgeting with her hands and gauging my reaction. “I just thought about it, a-and it’s the first time that y-you didn’t hit me as soon as you w-woke up.”

I was absolutely stunned.

“I-I can’t believe it,” she mumbled cautiously in such a tiny, thin voice.

Finally, I understood. Oh... This is going to be a long, long road...