Episode 3

‘Here… I have to choose carefully.’

A maid crying from sheer emotion, simply because I hadn’t hit her.

I felt truly sorry for her, but this was…

‘A golden opportunity.’

A golden opportunity to change, even just a little, the terrible impression Rene Blair had built up over the years.

‘If I comfort her properly here, won’t she think I’ve become kind?’

My hesitation was brief.

Taking advantage of the moment, I awkwardly hugged the maid who had burst into tears and tried to soothe her.

And then…

After that, things went smoothly.

The maid, having felt firsthand that I was being kinder than usual, devoted herself to helping me prepare for the morning.

Rene Blair really was awful. How could she have tormented such an innocent person at every turn?

In any case, I could see a little hope.

If merely pretending to comfort her with a light hug was enough to make her lower her guard so quickly, then getting along with others would only be a matter of time.

But…

With only my eyes, I carefully glanced up at the empty air.

Today’s Mission

‘Slap the maid attending you.’

Accept / Decline

I stared uneasily at the translucent window, then flopped down onto the bed. I had sent the maid away quite some time ago, so I was alone in the spacious room.

Thanks to that, I could set aside the worry that someone might think I was acting strange and carefully reached out toward the translucent window.

Before long, a cool sensation touched my fingertips.

“Good grief.”

Amazingly, I could touch the rectangular window fixed in midair.

It felt cool, like glass. Without thinking, I rubbed its surface.

The window definitely existed.

‘As I thought, it seems only I can see and touch it.’

The maid had even passed right through this translucent window, and she had shown no sign of seeing it, so that much was certain.

Then why was this visible only to me?

“No way… right?”

Rene Blair’s repeated, vicious actions—so extreme they could be called deranged.

And this window, where the word “mission” was written quite literally.

‘What if. Just what if…’

What if the reason Rene Blair had committed all those evil deeds until now was because of this window?

What if she had kept doing those nasty things in order to complete the missions written on it?

‘Hmm… No, the window clearly has an option to decline, doesn’t it?’

Unless she took pleasure in tormenting others, there was no way she would have ignored that and kept accepting.

‘Above all, there’s no guarantee this window existed before I possessed this body… And it was never mentioned in the novel, was it?’

I shook off the endless stream of miscellaneous thoughts and raised my hand.

Whether I understood it or not, I intended to press Decline first. It seemed the window would disappear only if I chose either Accept or Decline.

The word “Today’s” in “Today’s Mission” bothered me immensely, as though it implied this window appeared every day… But it wasn’t as if I could just leave it there.

Pressing Decline with a firm tap, my whole body tense, made the window disappear.

“Phew, thank goodness it disappears. If that had kept hovering in front of my eyes, I would’ve collapsed from nervous exhaustion.”

Relief washed over me like a wave. But this was no time to linger in that relief. I had to act kindly toward everyone as soon as possible and change the fixed, wicked impression they had of me.

I returned to square one and was pondering what to do from here when a certain sound rang in my ears again.

Ding.

It was the same sound I had heard just a moment ago…

For some reason, that sound sent a chill down my spine.

Please, please, please let it be an auditory hallucination. Let me have heard wrong!

I cried out desperately inside, took a deep breath, then barely managed to turn my stiff neck and look into the air.

Today’s Second Mission

‘Reden Blair has left the house! Go to his office and tear Reden’s documents to shreds.’

Accept / Decline

Aaaaah, why is it popping up again!

Barely holding on to my stunned mind, I reached out with both hands again and grabbed the window.

And what? Second mission? I doubted my eyes at the word that had suddenly been added.

“Could it be that it keeps appearing until I accept…?”

The words slipped out without thinking, and goosebumps rose all over me. I soon came to my senses and read the mission again. There was a certain name in the text that stood out.

Reden Blair.

If my memory wasn’t wrong, Reden Blair was Rene Blair’s older brother.

‘And a male lead candidate…’

Still unable to remember the contents of the novel clearly, I frowned, then shook my head and glared at the window. I was on full alert, as though I had encountered an enemy.

One thing was certain: every mission was full of nothing but nasty content.

Had Rene Blair really been committing evil deeds all along because of these missions of unknown origin?

At any rate, I had absolutely no intention of going to Reden Blair’s office and doing something so absurd. Without needing to think twice, I pressed Decline hard. The window vanished without a trace.

But I did not withdraw the arm that had pressed the option, and instead glared into the empty air.

It was my own version of a ready stance, filled with the determination to press Decline without even reading the contents if another window appeared.

As expected, before long, that ding sounded again, enough to give me neurosis, and I immediately stretched out my finger.

But the situation unfolded differently from before.

‘This is the final mission. Are you sure you wish to decline?’

Yes / No

Far from disappearing, a new window popped up at once. On top of that, its contents were nothing if not ominous.

What is this… Why is something like this appearing?

For an instant, I was afraid, as though it was warning me that something would happen if I declined this time too. But even if I was scared, choosing an evil mission was absolutely out of the question.

Without hesitating again, I pressed the new option, “Yes.”

The window disappeared completely.

‘Finally!’

Only then could I stretch with a much lighter heart. Perhaps because I felt so relieved, I found myself humming and got off the bed.

When should I go meet Anastasia? Since I’m thinking of it, should I go see her today?

That was the sort of carefree thought I was having.

Ding.

When the alarm sound, now nothing but tiresome, burrowed into my ears again, my body stiffened on its own.

‘What? Didn’t it say that was the last one?’

Startled, I looked into the air, and the window that had become familiar after seeing it a few times was there to greet me.

If there was one difference… it was a little larger and redder? As if it were giving me a warning.

Sensing instinctively that something was different, I slowly read the text with trembling eyes.

A penalty will be given for declining all of today’s missions.

-Penalty: Fever-

-Duration: One week (6 days, 23 hours, 59 minutes)-

-No missions will occur while under penalty-

“…What? A penalty?”

Just as I was stupidly repeating the same words at the unbelievable contents, a sudden headache struck my head.

That wasn’t all.

My skin grew hot, as though heat were rising all over my body, and I began to tremble violently. I was cold.

“Why, why is this happening all of a sudden…….”

I muttered as my teeth chattered together, then looked down at my hands. They, too, were shaking uncontrollably.

W-why am I suddenly like this? Am I really getting some kind of penalty or what?

As if my thought processes had gone dull, I couldn’t think for long. It felt like blood had rushed to my head, like my eyes might pop out. My joints throbbed, too, as if someone had beaten me.

“It huuurts…….”

My vision warped, as though being sucked into a single point like a whirlpool. The pain, whose origin I couldn’t even tell, suddenly made me feel miserable.

Then my body lurched and collapsed helplessly onto the bed. Even in the midst of it, the red window was still flickering before my eyes.

‘That’s why I’m hurting.’

At the thought that flashed through my mind, I tried to reach for the window, but I couldn’t move in the slightest.

As my vision flipped this way and that and grew distant, and the ridiculous thought occurred to me that this was just like when I’d been hit by a car and died, I murmured inwardly.

‘Still, thank goodness there’s a bed.’

If there hadn’t been one, I would’ve gone face-first onto the floor.

With that whisper as my last thought, I blacked out.

* * *

Anastasia Solen.

Unlike usual, she had stopped working in the palace office and was lost in thought with a grave expression.

The hand holding a pen above the documents did not move, so at a glance, she looked as though she had spaced out. No, she certainly had spaced out.

And yet, the sight of her like that, lost in a daze, was like a painting.

There was someone watching that painting-like figure of hers.

It was Aiden Birdwords, who had been working with her at the desk right beside hers. He stared at her for a moment, then turned his gaze back and fixed his eyes on the documents.

His lips parted.

“Asha, your hand isn’t moving.”

“You were looking at me until just now, too.”

If only she were at least wrong.

Aiden clicked his tongue and pushed the completed documents aside. Then he looked at her again.

Even after his remark, Anastasia still wore the face of someone sunk deep in thought.

Her unfocused golden eyes felt a little unfamiliar. No, to be honest, it had been a long time since he’d seen them like that, so he openly observed her.

“What are you worrying about that you can’t focus all day?”

“I can finish everything by today, so don’t worry.”

“That’s not what I meant. I’m asking what you’re worried about.”

The way he spoke to her was more unreserved and familiar than usual. The same was true of Anastasia.

“…….”

Anastasia remained silent, as if she hadn’t heard him. Aiden shrugged, fiddling with the shaft of his pen.

“You don’t want to tell even me?”

Only then did Anastasia’s eyes land on Aiden.

Aiden did not avoid her gaze and gestured with his hand as if telling her to speak. If anyone else had seen this friendly action, they would have been so shocked they would have doubted their own eyes.

Hoo, she let out a sigh.

Quickly realizing that sigh was the first sign she was about to speak, Aiden stopped fiddling with his pen.

However, the first word that flowed from her mouth instantly put him in a foul mood.