In a panic, Fey kept muttering the same words like a broken music box. She clenched her fists tightly. She couldn’t believe that she now possessed the body of the one who killed her twin sister and was meeting the people who loved and cared for her sister one by one.

What kind of horrible nightmare is this?

No, it would be better if someone just told her it was a nightmare. Being trapped in the body of a ruined woman in a ruined world, she had no way to prove that she wasn’t the real Fey O’Bellie or that she wasn’t the one who killed Luné.

But there was an easier way than trying to prove or convince anyone. To escape. To flee from Altair, from Deneb, and from this country.

Let’s run away. After all, Fey only remained here to receive the love and honor that Luné used to have, and which she no longer needed.

She only needed money to live on.

Whether it was escaping to another country, finding land in a rural area and enjoying a farming life, or simply baking bread to survive, it would be better than the current situation where a sword was at her throat.

A ruined ending. A ruined family. A ruined world. Ruined protagonists.

That was why she had to desperately escape to a place that wasn’t ruined. Whether it was to any place and in any way…

The next day, Fey, ready to face the worst, obediently got into the funeral carriage with Deneb.

‘There’s nothing I can do for now.’

With a sigh, Fey sighed. No matter how many times she promised herself to run away, there was no way she could disappear from the city overnight if she wasn’t a first-class mage.

She needed to make a plan. How much money could she scrape together, which country would be the safest to flee to, whether she could avoid bandits or pirates, and if she couldn’t, she would need to hire mercenary guards, and how much would that cost…

There were so many things to consider, but for now, money and safety were the top priorities. Due to the plague and the corrupt government, the commoners had lost both their homes and their source of income.

That was why many of them turned to banditry or piracy.

As soon as she left the mansion, a single woman like Fey would become an easy target for robbers. That was why she needed to hire mercenary guards to protect herself. But in this day and age, hiring mercenary guards was more expensive than gold…

With a heavy sigh, Fey closed her eyes and slowly organized her chaotic thoughts. She had been so busy preparing to leave early in the morning that she fell asleep in the carriage.

How much time had passed?

“We’re almost there.”

She suddenly heard a voice. When she opened her eyes, she saw Deneb sitting in the front seat, reading a book with his legs crossed.

Fey opened the window on her right side to wake herself up before they arrived. The morning air was damp and cold as it brushed against her cheeks. Fey held her black cocktail hat with its mesh fabric in place with one hand and looked out the window at the scenery.

The carriage was running through a quiet countryside village, as if it were the only one passing by. Despite the fact that the road was not well maintained, there was no discomfort felt inside the carriage and it did not sway or cause any discomfort to the rider. She had been lost in her thoughts for about half of the journey and had not realized how smooth the interior of the carriage was.

There was a soft blue wool carpet on the floor, with brown leather sofas on either side and a two-tier tray for snacks and a beige table in the center.

Fey had not eaten anything since morning and grabbed a muffin from the dessert tray and took a bite. It was delicious. As she munched on the muffin, Fey glanced at Deneb with a sidelong glance.

‘He didn’t act well as a commoner.’

Fey stifled her laughter at the thought. It was a luxury to get such a nice carriage with O’Bellie’s funds. Moreover, the only person who could touch O’Bellie money was the current head, Fey, so Deneb must have obtained the carriage through a different route.

‘With Kaitos’ money, of course.’

The shadow king, Delphis Kaitos.

The ruler of the underworld.

These pompous and somewhat embarrassing titles all referred to a single person, and the man of this name was sitting in front of Fey, reading a boring copy of ‘The Currents of World Politics.’

It was the only word that accurately described the existence of Delphis Kaitos, the invisible, faceless accomplice who performed all sorts of dirty work under the emperor’s orders.

The reason he was called by that title was that no one in this world knew the true identity of Delphis Kaitos. Even the emperor who gave direct orders did not know who Delphis Kaitos was or what face he wore. Especially among the nobles who only heard Kaitos’ name through word of mouth, there were many who doubted the existence of the “faceless accomplice of the emperor.”

However, making all the doubters look like fools, Delphis Kaitos existed right before Fey O’Bellie’s eyes.

The only reason she knew Deneb’s true identity was because she knew the original story. Originally, Luné was the only one who knew Deneb’s secret, but with Luné dead, no one officially knew his secret.

Fey shook her head and blinked, coming back to reality.

‘One is a vampire and one is the hidden accomplice of the emperor. And the others…..?’

She quickly erased the faces of other strategic characters that came to mind. They were all types of people she didn’t want to meet. Looking back at reality, Fey swallowed as she stared at Deneb’s forehead.

‘Anyway, he’s rich, right?’

He was undoubtedly the king of the underworld. It occurred to her that the carriage, rather than being borrowed, was possibly not borrowed, but owned.

‘Should I ask him to lend me money?’

The moment her thinking reached that point, Fey shook her head in exasperation. Deneb glanced up and looked at her while frowning. Fey casually averted her gaze, as she always did, and continued to rummage through the dessert tray.

Borrowing money from Deneb. What a stupid thought.

She was leaving Brimfe because of him, so how could she suddenly say to him, ‘Aren’t you Kaitos? So, lend me some money.’

What should she do?

As Fey’s meaningless worries deepened, the wheels of the carriage stopped with a squeak as they arrived at their destination.

* * *

As she left the carriage, the clear scent of water tickled her nose. When Fey stood in front of the tightly closed black iron gate, a man got out of the small cabin just beyond the gate and quickly opened the door. He was a gravedigger.

“Welcome, sir and lady!”

The man, whose hair and wrinkles were prominent, bent down to the ground and greeted them.

After greeting him lightly, Fey stepped inside the cemetery.

The O’Bellie’s family cemetery, where a small lake converged, was a little southwest of Tighalst, and by continuing south from here, they could reach the O’Bellie territory, Fairy Tail.

The neatly arranged dozens of gravestones that showed the history of O’Bellie were divided into left and right, and around the round lake.

On the left, Fey found the tomb of the Marquis and Marquise of O’Bellie, Dornell O’Bellie. They were buried here at the age of five when they lost their lives in a carriage accident.

But Luné tomb was different. Her tomb was the only one not on the left or right side of the lake. It was in the center. In the center of the lake, a huge thorn tree grew with so many leaves and branches that it covered the sky.

The O’Bellie family members called the thorn tree the sleeping tree of their ancestor, the Fairy King Oberon.

The legend about the thorn tree that had been guarding that place for a very long time was very popular.

‘Bring the one who can inherit the soul of the fairy back to sleep here.’

The legacy of the Marquis of O’Bellie was fulfilled on the day Luné closed her eyes forever.

The heroine Luné had the power of the fairy like her ancestor Oberon, and she saved many people with that power. Until the moment she died, there was not a single person who spoke ill of her buried under the thorn tree. That was her existence.

‘Oh, someone seems to be there?’

Stretching, Fey saw a human shadow in front of the thorn tree. At first, she thought she had seen it wrong, but as she got closer, the shadow that had been vague became clearer and clearer.

A long-haired blonde man in yellowish armor and a purple cape. For some reason, Fey recognized that strange figure.

“That man is… tsk.”

Deneb first recognized the man’s identity and frowned. Later, Fey also remembered who the long-haired man was. The blonde man felt their presence and turned his head.

“Lady Fey. Sir Deneb. It’s been a long time.” His name was Vega Thanatos. He was the second capturable character in the game.

—