Chapter 303: Transcending Heart (2)

< I quit my job and ended up as a noble young lady in another world >.

“……”

I laid down on my bed and blankly stared at my phone. The pink web novel platform shone brightly before going dark. My face was reflected on the now dark screen. I looked upset. I silently sighed.

I had no idea how many times I had done this already.

– Rustle, rustle.

I squirmed unnecessarily. To be completely honest, I had pulled out my phone after watching Eunseo head off to work, having breakfast with my brother, and brushing my teeth. But I did not have the courage, so I just put it down and started to do the dishes. My hands moved naturally to find where everything belonged, and I wiped down the induction stove. I had not been home for over a year but the habits and movements I had developed for what felt like forever still remained in my mind. Maybe it was because my body was the same. Because of that……

“Getting distracted again,” I suddenly mumbled. I had been doing this since earlier. My heart felt heavy and stuffy when I thought about QNW and the friends I left behind. Too many concerns pushed forward at once, making it hard to even breathe.

Forget telling them about the ‘real’ me, I didn’t even get to say goodbye.

I never expected to come home like that either. I went into the Holy Room hoping to get some clues from the patent and I-

– Puuk!

‘Aaah!’

Flinch. I quickly stood up straight. My eyes opened wide and it felt hard to breathe. A background covered in blood flashed through my mind.

“Huff, huuuu……”

The vivid feeling of fear I had felt at the time uncomfortably swept past me. I urgently fixed my blanket and clenched my teeth. ‘I’m okay. Everything will be okay.’ I had survived, returned to see my family again, and was going to get a good day of rest today. The team leader sent me a honey stick present in the app when I told him I was going to use my PTO. I felt extremely grateful. I should be able to slowly forget that dreadful memory once I started going back to work tomorrow. Going back to my regular routine, working hard, working overtime sometimes, spending some normal days……

‘Don’t shake me as you please.’ A magnificent low voice echoed in my ears. I quickly buried my head onto my pillow.

It was useless.

‘I’ll be waiting for you, your highness.’ This time, I heard Christelle’s last words to me. I clenched my mouth. My eyes started to get warm again and I did my best to not cry, as I didn’t want to be like a faucet. I was not normally someone who cried a lot. So there was no reason to be like this.

However, it was hard to stop the faces of my friends from popping up like bubbles. It seemed like only my soul had escaped from Prince Jesse’s body. Then they all……

“Ha……”

‘They must have seen that gory corpse of the prince. I’m sure they did.’ I clenched my phone so hard that it felt like it might break. My heart hurt and I felt so much pain from feeling sorry to them. How could I let them experience something like that? He wasn’t even at an age where people would accept it if he passed away with his eyes closed, but to show such a grotesque scene…

How painful and hard must it have been?

Although Christelle was righteous, I knew very well that the Imperial Crown Prince was not like that. This was something rude to my teacher and her Majesty as well. Benjamin obviously too……

I felt apologetic to everybody. I really did.

“There are children too.” The sad whisper scattered in the air.

Ganael, whose golden eyes always sparkled as he smiled, would end up crying because of me. Eva, the one who would frown while shaking my arm, would cry too. Gerrit, who would hug me with a cheery look on his face, would cry too.

Thinking about the divine beasts who would look only at me as they trotted along made the ceiling turn blurry. Lovely Demy, Rhea, Perry, and Tithé. Even Chestnut, who would come visit every so often. Thinking about how big of a scar this would leave in the hearts of those children……

“I wonder if Percy is okay.”

No matter what I said, the worst images were filling my mind. My heart felt as if a boulder was on top of it.

“I’m sure Elise saw me too……” I weakly mumbled. She had been the first of us to head into the maze, the ‘Labyrinthus.’ Although we seemed to arrive in the Holy Room at different times, it was only a matter of time before she found me dead.

Then-

“Hold on.”

– Rustle!

I urgently sat up. My blanket fell to the floor and my brain, which was moving faster than my body, tingled. My jaw dropped at this late realization. Being stabbed, dying, and coming back home had all been so shocking that I could not even think about ‘what comes next.’ I was too busy taking care of myself to think about the situation on the other side.

But now that I thought about it, the situation was too dire. Jesse Venetiaan was dead. Elise Venetiaan was there. And the culprit who stabbed me……

‘My poor poor son.’

“Eek.”

I started to shake. I recalled the benevolent look and the extremely long and deep eyes. The chillingly beautiful chocolate colored eyes and the light purple hair that fluttered like flower petals flashed in front of my eyes. The white skin with blood splattered on it… The extremely beautiful face of the man that made it hard to believe he was a homicidal maniac.

I had read about that appearance in the < Biweekly Riester >.

‘Being looked down upon for being a bastard, getting mocked and mistreated…… I’m sure you’ve never experienced true happiness.’

The husband of the Queen. The father of the two daughters. The man who had schemed three times to kill the prince. The man known as the jewel of the Duke’s House of Sneijder.

‘I understand that very well. I lived a similar life.’

……Werner Venetiaan. I stared into the sky with my shaking eyes. A tsunami-like sense of crisis swept over me from a distance.

“That guy killed me, but then the crown prince and Elise show up there…” If that happens… ‘What are the chances things are resolved in a peaceful manner?’

“Absolutely zero……” A gasp-like answer flowed out. The prince was just a prince, but I was also the Marquis of the Empire. It was a title I had gained to earn Empress Frédérique’s protection. If the fact that I was killed by the Prince Consort got out… The conflict between the two nations could not be avoided. That was a fact that would not change regardless of whether the crown prince or Elise found me first. Even if Elise and the Holy Kingdom agreed to let the Empire deal with her father’s punishment-

“No. There’s no way they would do that when he is the Prince Consort of the kingdom. And that guy was injured too.”

They might mistakenly think that there was a fight between that guy and me.

‘Fuck!’ I punched my innocent bed.

I had no idea how things were flowing after I closed my eyes, so there were too many obstacles preventing me from coming up with hypotheses. But one thing I was certain about was the fact that the war I had been trying so hard to avoid was at the cusp of starting.

I urgently put my thumb on the phone. Once I got past my lock screen, the NovelPhoenix app loaded again. I selected the Romfan category without any hesitation. My mouth felt dry and I was feeling antsy.

“Ranking, overall ranking…… Ah here.”

‘1. (-) I quit my job and ended up as a noble young lady in another world’

I immediately touched my title. I had been scared that QNW would not exist and that everything I had experienced would have been a dream. But thankfully, the novel still existed.

I saw an unfamiliar bookmark, but I didn’t have the balls to go through them either. I diligently moved my eyes. There were all sorts of information pages and small presentations. As expected of an unprecedentedly popular bestseller, the number was different from the others.

‘Author: Bridget.’

‘3,276,692 people are reading with you!’

‘Read as webtoon.’

‘Listen as audiobook.’

‘Listen to the OST.’

‘Sponsor.’

‘Read the first episode free.’

“How do I buy all the chapters again?” I decided to buy them all right now. I remember Eunseo saying that there was a cheaper way to read it all based on the date and how I use coupons or what not. But right now was not the time to think about those things. I purchased all of the episodes, including the most recent episode, set it to bulk download and returned to the novel details page.

Next-

‘There are 285,208 comments!’

“Comments……”

My thumb stopped moving. I was curious about what other people thought about the novel. But something weighed on me to just read it based on curiosity. I hesitated for a long time before cautiously pushing the comments button.

A ton of text suddenly filled the screen. I was shocked. I froze for a moment before finally realizing what the comments said.

‘Why is there so much swearing……’

. What a trashy Monday~~!! Here to see our trashy male lead~~~!! (148 replies)

└ Holy shit hahaha but me too~~~!!

└ fr its a routine now. My day is not finished if I don’t swear at Crapdric.

└ Hubby C, c’est si bon~~~

└ Why is it so funny to read the ‘Final Hubby Cedric’ people saying nonsense in the comments hahaha.

└ Monday attendance check

└ Hubby C, are you watching? Big sis doesn’t want to go to work. Can you help big sis quit like Ham Ga did?

└ Ma’am, then you would marry Hubby C instead of Ham Ga?

└ That’s crossing the line. Our company is great. The food is good and there’s even a shuttle.

└ Unexpected flow of loyalty to one’s company f*ck, hahahaha

└ Even the FHC people would say no to that.

. Our cider-like beauty, Ham Ga-in, I love you so much… The way you are so well-spoken, pretty, and know what to say and what not to say while doing everything you want is so great. Don’t fall for Crapdric and just marry me instead… I thought I bought potatoes but I came home and saw it was a fish-shaped pastry… You just have to say it if you are similar to me but lately there have been people handing out cotton candy tissues on the streets haha. I’ll save some for our Ga-in. (232 replies)

└ The number of likes is slowly rising

└ Ah the alcohol smells so good fr…

└ Wait, this still hasn’t been deleted hahahaha

. Ah, today’s lines were so… I’ve been #teamhubbyJ since his first appearance, but the way he has this unrequited love is so funny that I hope it doesn’t work out… Sorry Jesse, grandma is sorry for feeling this way… (200 replies)

└ 22222

└ 3333… Sob sob sob

└ 44444

└ 5555 You deal with the emotional suffering and the sorrow

└ F*ck, why are you making him do everything hahahahahaha

└ Hubby J is going to cry, he finna cry hahahaha

└ Is this the CJH that is said to be even worse than the FHCs?

└ What is CJH? The creature known as Jesse hops onto a train?

└ It’s ‘Clearly Jesse is the Hubby’ you crazy f*ck, hahahaa why tf is he hopping on a train hahaha

. I’m a dude and I’m wondering if I talk like Cédric to the friend I like, would my confession succeed? The way he talks sounds cool (55 replies)

└ Absolutely not.

└ Yes, thank you very much.

└ Ah, I drooled while reading this hahahaha that convo is going to be so short hahaha

“……”

My lips formed an ‘O’ as I left the comments window. I had swiped past half of them because there were words I did not understand. But it felt odd to see the passionate affections of people I didn’t know. Some made me laugh while others made me scowl. I knew that the Miss Ga-in and crown prince Cédric that the QNW readers were talking about were not the ones I knew. But thinking about it that way made me feel even weirder. Although most parts had changed compared to the original, their true nature was that of the friends I cherished. They were ‘real’ to me.

“……No, no.” I quickly shook my head. This was prejudice. These people were talking like this because they truly liked them too. I couldn’t get upset because of that. I also could not laugh as I pleased because it was funny.

I usually didn’t read comments or use any social media, so it was hard for me to adjust. I did my best to calm myself down. Maybe people would speak more carefully if they knew that these were real people. ‘Mm.’

“This is so hard.”

It really was. I blankly stared at the novel page. The download was at about 75%. I never thought that I got scared easily, but I had to admit it at this point. I was so scared my hands and feet were going cold and my lips were shaking.

The question of ‘what if’ continued to eat away inside me. What if something really bad happened to one of my friends? What if, because I came back like this……

‘Novel introduction.’

“Ah.”

I touched the button as if I was bewitched. Short and to the point statements showed up.

‘This shitty company.

‘In a world where you can choose… Between thirty one flavors of ice cream… Reaching the age of thirty one… And being tied down to a company like this felt extremely shitty.

‘So I submitted my resignation.

‘On my last day leaving work… It felt so good to kick the Benz belonging to that f*cker of a team leader.

‘Then I ended up in a headache of a world.’

“……Hahaha.” This introduction seemed very much like Christelle, Miss Ga-in. My lips were curling up, but it felt so painful in my heart.

It was at that moment.

‘The download has completed.’

My heart sank at the pop up that I would have clicked without any issue one year ago. I slowly touched the message. The purchased chapters popped up. I looked for chapter 302, which came out yesterday, as planned. I should be able to know right away if I read this.

Did the Prince die on the battlefield like Eunseo had read, or…… Did things change?

“Eeeek!”

“Ah, that scared me!” I gasped, dropped my phone, and raised my head. That was my brother screaming. I jumped off the bed and ran out thinking something had happened. ‘Jung Hyunseo!’

“Bro, what is it?! Did you stub a toe or something?!” Knock knock knock! I knocked on my brother’s open room door and ran in.

“No, no……” He was seated in front of his work computer, quickly closing a window. ‘What is it?’

“Did a ghost pop up or something?”

“That trend was so long ago. Huuuuuu.” My brother wiped his face with both hands and became quiet.

I quietly looked at him. My brother was the type to always follow his routine and his health had never had any issues despite sitting long hours to write. He seemed fine mentally as well. But that was one year ago for me.

‘Maybe the stress he had been suppressing suddenly exploded or……’

“Do you want me to boil you some yuzu tea? Is it very hard?”

“It’s nothing like that. There was just something surprising.”

“Why? Did you lose a file? I thought you had it synced consistently.”

“Losing a file would have been better.”

“What terrible things to say.” I gasped.

My brother laughed and raised his head. I was concerned because his cheeks looked extremely pale. He read my gaze and chuckled.

“Yuzu tea sounds good…… Thanks. You should have a cup too. How are you feeling?”

“I was never sick to begin with.” I waved him off and headed out to the kitchen.

I had no idea what happened, but I decided not to ask, because there should be a reason if my brother chose not to tell me. I was sure he would tell me when the time was right. The tea came first right now. I placed water into our electric pot and pulled out the yuzu that my aunt gave us in the past. I put some into my brother and my mugs and waited for the water to boil.

I used that time to look at my phone again.

‘Ch 302: The Beginning of the Month’

‘Mm.’

I can’t tell what it is about by just the title.

—

Translator’s Comments

Will it have changed? What will happen to Yeseo? Stay tuned for the next episode of Dragon Ball Z, I mean TWSB!