I... am an author.
I wrote five novels throughout my life, yet only one of them ever gained recognition. And after that recognition came, life only became harder.
I even signed a contract with a company.
The biggest mistake of my life.
I had started writing as a hobby, but my first successful novel, "Love in Exchange for Life," became a hit. It was your typical romance fantasy novel, featuring a socially reserved and bashful male lead, a lovely and elegant heroine, and a vicious villainess.
I had completed both my B.B.A. and M.B.A., but I never managed to find a job. Since my novel was doing well, I eventually stopped applying.
Then came Company X.
The work was mine. The sleepless nights were mine. The stress was mine.
Yet they took both the credit and most of the income under the name of publication fees.
But...
Today, that miserable fate ends.
I was finally about to complete this novel.
After that, I would find a normal job, one that caused far less stress than writing. I would settle down, perhaps adopt a child someday, and live peacefully.
At least...
That was what I thought.
Inside a tiny one-room apartment, a man sat before the glow of a computer screen.
His beard had grown long and unkempt. His hair was messy.
The lights in the room were off, leaving only his exhausted face illuminated by the monitor.
The spark in his eyes had long since disappeared.
Those eyes were begging for rest.
"Haaaah..." I let out a long sigh.
"After I finish this chapter, I'll go on a trip."
I leaned back in my chair.
"Haaah... I miss my friends."
"I don't know if they feel the same way, but whatever."
"Once this is over, I'll finally be free from that fucking slave contract."
I rubbed my aching eyes.
"I had to write for almost ten hours a day without even eating properly."
Sigh.
"I'll be free tomorrow."
"The first thing I'll do is eat at a convenience store."
As I spoke to myself, my fingers continued moving across the keyboard.
Click.
Click.
Click.
And then...
It was done.
The novel that had consumed ten years of my life.
My health.
My youth.
My mind.
Everything.
Click~
I uploaded the final chapter.
The Crown Prince and the Princess executed the villainess and ruled the Empire into prosperity.
"I feel bad for Navya..."
"Ughhh... I never got the chance to explain her backstory."
"Whatever. I'll cover it during tomorrow's Q&A session."
After uploading the chapter, I watched the views rise.
100.
1,000.
10,000.
They quickly surpassed my average view count.
For the first time in years...
I smiled.
Then I lay down on my soft bed and fell asleep.
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
The next morning, I woke up, got ready, and stepped outside for the first time in an entire month.
I headed straight toward a convenience store.
There were three other customers inside. None of them seemed to mind my barbaric-looking beard or my messy hair.
Then one of them approached me.
"You shouldn't have killed Navya."
I blinked.
"Navya? I haven't killed anyone in my life."
Then realization struck me.
"Wait... you mean Navya, the villainess?"
He nodded.
He was obsessed with her.
I felt uneasy. Still, I forced myself to stay calm.
"She is a fictional character."
"You can't kill someone over a fictional character."
"She isn't real."
"She's just words on paper."
"Just a paragraph."
"That's all her existence amounts to."
The man slowly pulled a gun from his coat.
Bang!
Bang!
Without hesitation, he shot the two girls standing nearby.
Their bodies collapsed onto the floor.
My face turned pale.
"W-What have you done?!"
"For a fictional character?!"
Until that moment, I had believed he was simply trying to scare me.
I was wrong.
Terribly wrong.
He wasn't joking.
He wasn't acting.
He was a lonely man who had fallen in love with a fictional character.
And now...
He had come to kill her creator.
He had come to kill me.
Bang!
Pain exploded through my skull.
The world spun.
I collapsed.
As darkness swallowed my vision, distant sounds reached my ears.
People screaming.
Sirens.
Police officers shouting.
My entire life flashed before my eyes.
How I had gone from a happy child...
To an orphan...
To a slave chained to deadlines and contracts...
And in the end...
I died because of that very same novel.
My entire life had been miserable because of this story.
And after it finally ended...
I died because of it too.
The candle of my life slowly faded away.
The light grew dimmer.
And dimmer.
Until only darkness remained.
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
"You—"
"Young—"
"Young Master..."
A voice echoed in my ears.
My eyes snapped open.
I sat upright as though waking from a nightmare.
A luxurious room stretched before me.
Even the walls were decorated with gold.
I slowly approached the mirror nearby.
White hair.
Golden eyes.
A handsome face.
Pale yet attractive skin.
A body far healthier than my own had ever been.
"I-Is this me...?"
Then—
A sharp pain pierced my head.
"Arghhhh!"
Memories flooded into my mind.
Not mine.
Someone else's.
The memories of the future Duke of Gujarastra, the ruler of the Duchy of Gujarastra and the trading capital of the mighty Gupta Empire.
And who was Duke Vihir de Gujarastra, you ask?
He was nothing more than a pawn of the villainess, Navya.
Obsessed with her.
Devoted to her.
Willing to dirty his hands for her sake.
Eventually, he would take the blame for burning the Crown Princess's chambers and be executed in her place.
And now...
I was him.
Right now, I was Vihir de Gujarastra, a seventeen-year-old heir to one of the four great ducal houses of the Empire.
To survive...
I only had one choice.
Distance myself from Navya.
As much as possible.
I would use my knowledge of the plot to grow stronger and more influential.
After all...
I was a writer.
I knew how to manipulate emotions, build tension, and stage the perfect plan.
I had been given a second chance.
And this time...
I intended to use it fully.
In my first life, I had lived under endless stress and anxiety.
The hatred I received after killing a fictional character had been unbelievable.
I still remembered it clearly.
When Duke Vihir de Gujarastra was executed in the novel, readers hated both Navya and the author.
He had become one of the most beloved characters because of his "cold to everyone except Navya" personality.
And now...
I was him.
I don't know why, but despite dying, I didn't feel any trauma.
No PTSD.
Nothing.
Did that mean...
Even if I didn't want to...
Would I always act like Vihir?
Was his nature engraved upon this body itself?
Could I never truly separate myself from him?
I clenched my fists.
"I have to survive."
"No..."
"I will survive."
"And not just survive."
"I'll live this life to its fullest."
"Young Master, is something wrong?"
I looked up.
The maid had been watching me for almost five minutes.
She was my maid and my nanny.
Her name was Keira.
"Young Master, do you remember? Your fiancée is arriving today. You should prepare yourself."
"Understood."
"You may leave."
After she left, I frowned.
Fiancée?
Then realization struck me.
Navya.
If I remembered correctly, Vihir and Navya had been engaged for political reasons since childhood.
Not marriage.
A contract.
A treaty signed between two great houses.
House Everguard.
And House Gujarastra.
The four great ducal houses of the Empire each possessed their own role.
House Gujarastra — my house.
The wealthiest house in the Empire.
Merchants through and through.
Money flowed through Gujarastra like blood through veins.
House Evernight.
Masters of magic.
Three of the Empire's Magic Towers stood within their territory.
House Everguard.
The shield of the Empire.
Defenders against monsters and foreign invasions.
And finally...
House Kashira.
Guardians of the northern mountains and protectors of nature itself.
At the center of them all stood the Imperial Family.
"Haaaah..."
I sighed.
"Why did I make this world so complicated?"
Then I shook my head.
"Whatever."
The important thing right now was Navya.
She was coming here.
But why?
Navya had never once visited Vihir in the original story.
Not even once.
It had always been Vihir chasing after her.
After all...
The one she truly loved was Crown Prince Ashok.
And I had reincarnated four years before the story officially began.
Even in the Q&A sessions, I had never mentioned Navya visiting Vihir.
So why now?
Only one possibility remained.
The story had changed.
"You may enter, Lady Navya."
She entered the room.
Black hair.
Ruby-red eyes.
A beauty capable of enchanting anyone who saw her.
Yet to her...
Her appearance meant nothing.