Chapter 1

I knew that no one could predict when death would arrive, but I still believed that it was something far off in the future. Because I was just in my early 20s and had countless days ahead of me than the days I had lived.

However, death didn't discriminate by age.

Just on another ordinary day that seemed no different than any other, I suddenly experienced a terrible headache and went to the hospital, only to be diagnosed with less than a year left to live.

My worsening disease was even untreatable. Having received a death sentence, I suffered without even a shred of hope and then shedding tears, crying out in despair that I didn't want to die… I died.

I still remember––the moment my breath stopped, my heart ceased beating, and my family cried out my name, wailing in despair.

I certainly died. But I didn’t really die. More accurately, it was an ordinary Korean woman in her twenties who passed away.

I opened my eyes in a new body.

Sylvia Atlante.

The third child of the exceptionally prestigious Atlante ducal family, but the lady who was always compared to her other family members and labeled as unfit for their family name, Atlante. A woman who craved love her whole life but never received it and eventually drank poison to die.

Sylvia Atlante, I became her.

***

It felt like I had a long dream. I had woken up from sleep, but my mind was still hazy and my body felt heavy.

I wondered how long I had been asleep to have my entire being too numb to even move my fingers.

But it wasn’t so strange to me because my last memory before falling asleep was myself writhing in excruciating pain. I thought I was definitely going to die, but it seemed that I survived.

‘Is this a fortunate thing? Or is it unfortunate since I will have to endure another painful day?’

As I sat up, rambling those thoughts in my mind… My hand felt strange.

‘No, is it my eyes that are not functioning properly?’

My hand was pale as if it had never seen sunlight and was thin and dry like a twig. It wasn’t the one with a chubby arm and plump fingers that would jiggle whenever I moved like this.

And the clothes I was wearing were also strange. Instead of those worn by hospitalized patients, I was dressed in an expensive-looking dress decorated with lace, frills, and jewels.

Feeling suspicious, I looked around. The bed was as large as six beds from a six-person room all combined, and every item in the room appeared to be of great value.

The high ceiling had a chandelier, and the blue wallpaper was adorned with intricate gold patterns.

The room looked like the interior of a castle where European nobles from the movies might live. But why was I in such a place?

‘Am I being punked… No, of course not.’

There was only one answer that could explain this surreal situation.

‘I must be dreaming, right?’

But why, of all the possible dreams, was I experiencing this one?

‘Did I secretly desire to become a noble deep down?’

While I was surprised at the hidden desire I never knew I had, someone spoke to me.

"My lady, are you all right?"

‘My lady?’

It was an awkward title. I had never been called this cringing term of address​​ ‘my lady’ before in my life. Even my brother's wife, my sister-in-law, didn't call me ‘my lady’ either, a polite form of address for me in Korean culture, because I asked her to call me by my name.

‘But then who's calling me ‘my lady?’’

“My lady…?”

It was a girl. Her youthful face made her look young, but it was hard to determine her exact age. Besides, I thought she might be definitely Korean since she spoke in a language I could understand, but the girl who called me turned out to be…

‘She's a foreigner, although I don't know which country she's from.’

I couldn't understand why on earth a foreign teenage girl with pale skin, a prominent nose, and deep double eyelids was calling me ‘my lady.’ But that was not the only surprising thing.

The girl calling me ‘my lady’ was undoubtedly wearing a maid's outfit––a black dress with frilly snow-white apron. And the most eye-catching of all was the white headband barely visible through her curly, dark hair.

‘Is this some kind of cosplay?’

“My lady, would you like some water?”

I instinctively nodded in response to her worried question. The girl in the maid's attire then picked up a kettle, filled a cup with water, and brought it to me.

“Here you go, my lady.”

“Thank you.”

I politely took it with both hands and thanked her. But her facial expression was strange as if she had heard something she shouldn’t have.

‘… What did I just say? I think I just said a simple thank you.’

I carefully retraced my words in case I had made a mistake, but nothing seemed off.

‘Her shocked look, as if she had just seen a ghost, is making me feel uneasy.’

I took a sip of the lukewarm water, avoiding the girl's wide-eyed gaze. As the moisture seeped into my parched throat, my confused mind began to settle down.

‘Good. They say even if you are cornered by a tiger, if you keep your cool you can survive, right? For now, I don't know what's going on, who that girl is, or why she brought me to this place, but I need to put myself together. But first, let's return the cup…’

“Eh?”

‘Wait a moment.’

I brought the cup back that I was about to hand over to the girl. As I held the cup close enough for my nose to touch it, my face gradually became clearer on the silver cup's surface.

A round face, partially obscured by disheveled brown hair. And facial features that were difficult to identify, buried in fat.

‘This isn't my face.’

The moment I realized that fact, a terrible headache hit me.

“Ugh!”

“My lady!”

The startled girl said something beside me, but I couldn't properly hear a single word. Because my mind was overwhelmed trying to grasp the massive influx of information flooding in.

The information pouring in was someone's memories. The memories of a woman from her birth to her death. That woman was the owner of the body I now occupied, Sylvia Atlante.

***

Sylvia Atlante. In her childhood, she was an ordinary noble girl. If she had been born into another family, she might have grown up without any issues or difficulties, just as she did during that time.

The problem was that she was the eldest daughter of Duke Atlante.

Who was Duke Atlante? He was one of the founding contributors to the empire and the leader of an exceptionally prestigious ducal family that maintained its wealth, honor, and power for a long time.

He was intelligent, skillfully navigating the chaotic political landscape with impressive abilities, and had a handsome appearance that matched his high intellect. Even now, as a middle-aged man, there were countless women who blushed at the sight of his face.

On the day the Duke announced his marriage, many women who had secretly loved him shed tears. However, they couldn't criticize the new Duchess for being unsuitable for the Duke.

Although the Duchess was the youngest daughter of a Marquis, whose influence was weaker in the capital region, she was as beautiful and kind to be called as an angel. Those who were envious of her eventually grew to like her after conversing with her, as she was such an attractive woman.

With such a couple marrying, people couldn't say one was lacking or undeserving of the other. Instead, they anticipated.

“What will be the level of perfection of the child born from this couple?”

If the child inherited both parents' traits, they would undoubtedly be dazzlingly beautiful, intelligent, talented in swordsmanship, and possess a good nature. Everyone thought so. And their expectations were partially correct.

Among the four children of the Duke and Duchess, three grew up to be perfect boys and girls, exactly as described.

However, there was one child among them who was utterly run-of-the-mill, without any exceptional qualities. That was Sylvia Atlante.

Born with a plain appearance, unlike her strikingly handsome brothers, Sylvia disappointed people. She couldn't speak in proper sentences until she was two years old. Although it wasn't too late, her case was compared to the firstborn son of the Atlante family, who began speaking unusually at just 10 months old.

The comparisons became more severe after her younger sister was born. Her sister Eileen was a completely different girl, one who truly suited the ‘Atlante’ name. With a lovable appearance, a kind and considerate disposition, and exceptional intelligence to have a very perceptive mind, people adored Eileen.

They were delighted by everything Eileen did and couldn't praise her enough. And as that happened, Sylvia, her older sister, was increasingly ignored. Whenever Sylvia and Eileen were together, nobody paid attention to Sylvia.

All the compliments and praises of being pretty, kind, and lovely belonged to Eileen. The only thing people said to Sylvia was…

“Lady Sylvia is like an ugly duckling. It is most unfortunate… She doesn't fit the Atlante family.”

Things like that were all they said. Behind her back, people even called her the ‘Duke’s ugly daughter.’ They whispered in secret, but there were no eternal secrets in the world. Sylvia later found out that people called her the ‘ugly duckling’ of the ducal family.

As she experienced these things, Sylvia's self-esteem gradually shrank, opposite to her growing height.

Feeling depressed and futile, she sought comfort in food, finding solace in sweet and greasy dishes. Hence, when she turned ten years old, she earned another nickname—the ‘Duke’s fat daughter.’ It was due to her being twice as big as her sister, Eileen.

As she grew up, Sylvia's body grew larger, and she maintained that size into adulthood. Her face, buried in fat, showed no trace of the beauty characteristic of the Atlante family. Instead of attractiveness, her face was filled with greed. Gluttony and jealousy!

Growing up being compared to her other family members, she was tightly wound up in feelings of inferiority, and as she grew older, those feelings grew enormous, as vast as her expanding figure. No, perhaps even more so.

When she saw people who were prettier, slimmer, kinder, and more capable than her, she tried her best to humiliate them by any means, which made her reputation abysmal.

People avoided her, and there was nobody around her who cared for her. Even her own family shunned her.

On the day of Eileen's engagement to the Crown Prince, Sylvia slapped her sister's face. Everyone present at the engagement ceremony gaped in astonishment. How dare she slap the face of the future Crown Princess!

Although Eileen was Sylvia's little sister, she was also the Crown Prince's fiancée and the future Crown Princess. Slapping her was tantamount to slapping the Crown Prince himself and could even be considered an insult to the royal family.

Having committed such a serious crime, especially on the day of the Crown Prince's engagement ceremony… Sylvia was dragged out of the venue by the knights and incarcerated.

In the cold dungeon, Sylvia threw a tantrum.

“How dare you imprison Duke Atlante’s daughter? Don't you fear the consequences? Release me right now!”

Sylvia had faith in one thing. Even though she was unloved by anyone and practically an outcast, she was the daughter of the Atlante ducal family.

Her father, Duke Atlante, was cold and emotionless, never showing any bit of affection toward her. However, he had never severely punished her for her countless misdeeds.

Thus, Sylvia thought, ‘Maybe this time, he will just order me again to be confined to the mansion for a few months.’

Valuing his dignity, Duke Atlante had despised Sylvia for always causing trouble, but he never completely cast her out anyway, who was the member of the Atlante ducal family.

However, contrary to Sylvia's expectations, the Duke issued a completely different command this time.