0. 

To Think That My Household Is Doomed, What in the World Is This?

Heat overflowed from the brazier where the flames were raised to the fullest.

However, unlike the warm spring air, the atmosphere around me was gloomy.

“…We can not send you like this.”

Every single person surrounding my bed was dripping with tears.

Although I was out of breath, I still smiled lightly.

“Don’t cry, everyone. What should I do if all the big adults are full of tears like this?”

“How can you say that!?”

“Knowing what you mean to us!”

At their sobbing, I reflected on my past life.

It was sad to abruptly transmigrate into a mass-produced martial arts novel, but what was worse was that I possessed a character who was alive 300 years before the male lead was even born.

The absolute one who had received the blessing of the Aged Ice Crystal, the Best Sword in the World, Baek Seolryeon.

She was the founder of the North Sea Ice Palace, which dealt with winter martial arts, and the ancestor of Hyun Doyul, who would become the male lead of the novel in the future.

She is also the person whom I possessed.

‘Ha, really. When I think about the hardships I had to suffer after I became Baek Seolryeon…’

I faithfully followed and did everything in the original work.

That was also because Hyun Doyul, the male lead, was my favorite.

‘If the original work is twisted because of me, it would be a big problem, wouldn’t it?’

In the face of such a crisis, I worked my bones off, established numerous accomplishments, and hardened the foundation of the North Sea Ice Palace.

I also didn’t forget to put the child who would be the distant ancestor of the male lead as my disciple in advance, and make him my heir.

‘Well, it surely is a relief that that guy was as talented as the male lead.’

Without that child’s help, maybe we couldn’t even hang the sign board of the North Sea Ice Palace until before I died.

Ahem, anyway.

Now, the future of the North Sea Ice Palace was truly solid.

Since the male lead, who inherited everything I had built up, will widely spread the prestige of the North Sea Ice Palace based on him.

Now that my body’s lifespan is over, I was already ready to accept death.

I’ve finished all the things I have to do, so by all means, wouldn’t I be able to return to my original world?

I used the last of my strength and thanked the people who stood by me.

“Everyone, thank you so much.”

“Palace Owner!”

“Please!”

Desperate screams rang out, but my whole body was so heavy as if it was wet cotton.

I was very sorry to those who were sad about my death, but the last emotion I felt before closing my eyes was…

‘Finally I can rest.’

It was a lighthearted feeling that made me feel like I was going to literally fly away.

Well, although a lot of things happened…

It seemed like it was a satisfying life in its own way, right?

Now, if I just return to my original world, then everything will be over.

“Haa.”

Letting out my last breath, I slowly closed my eyes.

Soon after, my view darkened.

***

…It would’ve been truly great if I could leave this world satisfactorily like that.

I didn’t think that everything would go contrary to my expectations.

“…Iss …Rin.”

“….”

“Young Miss Yerin!”

A sharp shout entered my ears.

At the same time, intense pain surged in from my scalp.

“Ack!”

I screamed reflexively.

It hurt so much that tears almost came out.

However, the servant girl who pulled my hair, glared with both eyes as she was only scolding me.

“Please do not exaggerate the pain you’re feeling. It’s only that your hair was pulled a little…”

And then, she started brushing my hair without mercy.

“Right. Who told you to lose your mind like an idiot?”

The harassment that naturally followed was a bonus.

No, I mean, just what kind of situation is this?

The bewildered me urgently raised her head.

‘…This is?’

For a moment, I ended up a little dazed.

It was no wonder since the scenery which was reflected in my view was a shabby room that I had never seen even once before up until now.

Wallpaper that was worn out and tattered, and furniture that did not even have any unscathed corners.

And even a weather strip with holes in it.

‘No, no. Wait.’

The place where I let out my last breath, was the elegant bedroom where the owner of the North Sea Ice Palace lived.

But where did that bedroom go, and why am I sitting alone in a secluded room that looks as if a ghost would come out at any moment?

Tak!

At that moment, there was a spark in front of my eyes.

“Ugh!”

It was because the servant girl who was holding my hair swung the wooden comb and struck the top of my head hard.

Was that all?

She even pulled me roughly!

“Please stay still!”

No, I mean, isn’t she crazy?

Why should I be beaten up like this by a servant girl!?

I’m Baek Seolryeon, the founder of North Sea Ice Palace, the first owner of the Ice Palace, and the White Ice God Sword, one of the best swordsmen in the world!

“What are you doing…!”

I, who was trying to scold the servant girl sternly, suddenly ended up stiffly frozen on my seat.

It was because only the did the small looking glass which was placed in front of me came into view.

‘…W-what the hell is this?’

I shook off the hands of the servant girl at once.

I crawled toward the small looking glass on my knees.

The appearance of Baek Seolryeon that I remembered was a mature beauty in her early 30s.

It was because the aging of her body stopped as it reached the level of a transcendent.

But, the appearance that was reflected in my eyes was….

“It’s a kid?!”

I muttered in a dumbfounded voice.

A pale-faced girl who looked about twelve years old at most.

Her natural beauty itself was worth aiming for the world’s unsurpassed beauty in the future, but it was just that.

The pale complexion and slender build made her look fragile as if she would collapse if, tuk, touched.

Moreover, this attire is…

“…Why am I wearing wedding clothes?”

It’s almost as if I’m having a wedding today…

Surrounded by layers of glamorous wedding clothes, the child’s figure couldn’t even bear the weight of the clothes, and seemed to be crushed to death.

At that moment, the servant girl narrowed her glaring eyes and called me.

“Young Miss Yerin, why haven’t you been listening to me like since earlier?!”

“Young Mis… Yerin?”

“Is this Young Miss a little hard of hearing? If Young Miss isn’t Dang Yerin, then who else is she?”

Dang Yerin.

…Why does that name appear here?

Thud.

I felt my heart sink.

Because I knew who Dang Yerin was.

The youngest daughter who was a coldly treated illegitimate child,  a nuisance, and the disgrace of the Sacheon Dang Clan.

(t/n: 사천당문 [sacheondangmun] is a clan/family which appears in oriental fantasy/martial arts stories. It can be translated into ‘Sacheon Dang Clan’ which is more Korean, or ‘Sichuan Tang Clan’ which is more Chinese. But I chose the Korean one.)

And also the little villainess who interfered with the male lead and the female lead’s love in every way.

Ah, why is she called ‘little’ on purpose, you ask?

This was because the male lead wasn’t even interested in Dang Yerin, and dedicated his pure love only to the female lead.

The problem is that Dang Yerin, who was perverse to the fullest, tried to harm the female lead, and as a result was killed by the male lead. However…

‘Don’t tell me, I’m that Dang Yerin? Really?’

Just as I was looking into my confused mind, the servant girl asked a question as she acted arrogantly.

“‘I’m going to back out from the marriage now’, you’re not going to say such an unreasonable demand, right?”

“What, what did you say?”

“The thing that the Young Miss can do for Sacheon Dang Clan, isn’t that the only thing you can do best?”

A smile showed on the servant girl’s lips.

It was a deep scorn.

“I’m talking about being a use to insult that lowly North Sea Moron.”

Wait, ‘lowly North Sea Moron’, she says?

There was only one place in this world that was related to the ‘North Sea’.

It was only the North Sea Ice Palace which I built lightly and consistently with my body, though..?

Somehow I had an ominous hunch.

I asked the servant girl in a weak trembling voice.

“Just what in the world are you talking about?”

“Yes?”

“The North Sea Ice Palace is the supreme ruler of the North Sea. I don’t think it’s a place you can carelessly insult like that…”

“Seriously, even for nonsense, if it’s this much, it’s not even funny.”

The servant girl looked down at me with deplorable eyes.

“What do you mean the supreme ruler of the North Sea? It has already been a while since the North Sea Ice Palace was denounced and placed on the verge of the extermination of its whole family, you know?”

“What?”

The North Sea Ice Palace is on the verge of the extermination of its whole family?

The family in which the male lead would be born into in the distinct future, and my family that I devoted my whole life to.

…It’s on the verge of being completely ruined. Is this what you’re trying to say?

However, at that moment, my head that had been hurting, felt like it would explode.

“Aaackk.”

I gasped heavily, holding my head with both hands.

Memories related to the North Sea Ice Palace were constantly flooding in.

Memories about how 10 years ago, the North Sea Ice Palace was greatly damaged by a collision with Hyeolgyo, this world’s final villain.

Memories about how in the process, the owner of the Ice Palace was murdered, and the owner’s still young son hurriedly ascended to the position of the Palace Owner.

And….

That ‘young son’ was the male lead of this world, ‘Hyun Doyul’!

I was surprised enough that I felt as if I was going to faint. My mouth opened wide.

“I-Impossible.”

“Young Miss?”

“No, how can this happen?!”

The servant girl looked at me as if she were looking at a crazy person, but I couldn’t afford to pay attention to her gaze.

As the male lead’s ancestor, I built the North Sea Ice Palace by working my bones off for the male lead who will be born someday.

The supreme ruler of the North Sea, the absolute family of the foreign lands outside the Central Districts, which absolutely couldn’t be ignored even in the Central Districts.

That was the North Sea Ice Palace that I devoted my whole life to.

But, what?

The North Sea Ice Palace is doomed?

That’s impossible. What I am saying is that, in the original work, the North Sea Ice Palace was on a roll until the end!

“Lies. This is all a lie!!!”

“No, I mean, why are you screaming… Young Miss? Young Miss!”

The servant girl, who looked at me with a doubtful look, soon reached out her hand to me as she was taken aback.

It was because I collapsed.

Dang Yerin’s young and thin body was too fragile to overcome the sudden headache and shock.

In the process, what was so unfair was,

‘Ah, if it was Baek Seolryeon’s body, this kind of fainting from shock would have never happened!’

Bring my body back!

After the end of that desperate inner scream, I stopped losing my reason for a moment and lost consciousness.

 1.

The Villainess, Dang Yerin

‘…This family is truly screwed.’

That was the first thought that came across Yerin’s mind, who had come to her senses.

How can they continue preparing for the wedding even though their daughter collapsed?

With common sense, isn’t it right to postpone the wedding?

“Haaaah….”

Phew, this is surely the reason why the original Dang Yerin became crooked.

Yerin let out a long sigh.

Then, as if she had heard, the servant girl who was standing behind her back sarcastically said.

“At your place as an illegitimate daughter, you surely have to be very grateful for being the Lady of the North Sea Ice Palace. What’s with the sigh?”

…Life.

This damn family was relentless whether the still young Young Miss collapsed or not.

If you asked how things proceeded after Yerin fainted earlier…

Splaaash!

[Gasp!]

First of all, the servant girl poured cold water on Yerin’s face to get her to come to herself.

And then, she started the half-done grooming again.

[Ah, really. Why did you collapse? Making such a hassle for people!]

The servant girl’s ill-treatment was a bonus.

The result of that.

Yerin was currently, standing like a cat in a strange garret in a glamorously decorated wedding hall to the point it made eyes hurt.

From the hanging pearl beaded curtains, red silk, and even the food table of luxurious food.

All of that was like fiercely self-asserting that ‘I have a lot of money!’

And Yerin, who was observing all of that.

‘Petty. It’s petty.’

Tsk tsk. I was clicking my tongue inside.

Since there must definitely be a purpose in decorating the wedding hall excessively like this.

Through her guess, maybe…

‘It must be to kill the North Sea Ice Palace Owner, Hyun Doyul’s spirit, right.’

So to explain it bluntly, it would be like, ‘You don’t have this kind of thing in your house, right?’

Currently, the relationship between the North Sea Ice Palace and the Sacheon Dang Clan was literally the worst.

‘To be exact… the North Sea Ice Palace was unilaterally suffering by the Sacheon Dang Clan.’

The North Sea Castle, had winter that continued all year round. It was a place where the existence of food itself was in absolute shortage.

Therefore, the North Sea Ice Palace used to purchase food after selling rare and precious resources only from the North Sea Castle.

Even among them, the most important item was a rare medicinal herb called ‘Seollucho’.

Although Seollucho could be made into a deadly poison depending on the refinement method, it could also be used as a cure for when one is subjected to a flame ball.

Moreover, it has the advantage of increasing the history if it’s consumed by a person who has ripened ice balls, so it has been treated as a very valuable medicinal herb from old times. However….

‘Since the family that needs Seollucho the most is Sacheon Dang Clan.’

Sacheon Dang Clan, the head family of poison.

Using poison from generation to generation, they made the family’s unique deadly poison, but the essential ingredient for that deadly poison was Seollucho.

From the Dang Family’s standpoint, there was no way the North Sea Ice Palace, which held the upper hand by monopolizing a valuable herb called Seollucho, was seen in a good light.

‘What’s worse is that through Seollucho, the North Sea Ice Palace has even prepared an antidote to counter the Dang Clan’s deadly poison.’

It must’ve had been terribly hateful.

Well, Yerin, too, it wasn’t that she couldn’t understand that feeling.

Although there were also a tremendous amount of secret stories related to that antidote…

Since that secret story was not the important thing in the story now, we’ll return to the original story.

From that starting point, the former North Sea Ice Palace Owner’s murder was caused by blood ties.

Because of the very sudden death, the former Palace Owner couldn’t tell his son about the location of the Seollucho plantation beforehand.

It was because that location was a top secret that’s passed down only to the Palace Owners, and when the former Palace Owner died, he couldn’t even meet his son.

‘At that time, they said that not only the North Sea Ice Palace but also the Sacheon Dang Clan were shocked.’

Since the Seollucho’s loss was, namely, the very same as losing the future of the Sacheon Dang Clan.

However, Sacheon Dang Clan relieved that anger in the wrong place.

Using food as a weapon, they began to control and target the North Sea Ice Palace, which lost their card ‘Seollucho’.

‘This is really too much, you know. And it’s also not that they intentionally hid Seollucho at the North Sea Ice Palace!’

Yerin fumed inside.

Even though they lost the family’s future, the Sacheon Dang Clan were still enjoying power.

It was thanks to the plains with tremendous grains.

However, on the other hand, the North Sea Ice Palace was driving out at a difficult situation day by day….

‘That’s why Doyul, in the end… even had to accept the marriage with the Sacheon Dang Clan’s illegitimate daughter.’

That illegitimate daughter was Dang Yerin.

It means it was this body that she possessed now.

The original work’s Hyun Doyul was on a roll, as he monopolized opportunity and talented people, but how come he was now in that condition and state…?

At her pitying heart, Yerin clicked her tongue.

However, right at that time.

Drrrrrk—

Without a notice, the door was opened.

“….”

One boy entered the wedding hall with sluggish steps.

Yerin even briefly forgot about her sad situation, and admired the boy’s appearance.

‘Wow, amazing.’

Turns out if you become the main character level of this world, you get that much beauty.

Dressed perfectly in wedding clothes, the boy literally looked like a beautiful woman drawn by an artisan who threw its heart and soul.

Jet black hair, blemish-free skin, and lips that were firmly closed like red flower buds.

Even the lacrimal point that was imprinted around his right eye was incredibly captivating.

Approaching Yerin’s front with a big stride, the boy lifted his long eyelashes that he had cast down finely.

‘Gasp.’

At that moment, without realizing it herself, Yerin flinched and her shoulders hardened.

Since the boy’s eyes that were staring the hell out of her, were brutal as if he was going to tear her to death right away.

“I am Hyun Doyul.”

After a bit.

Doyul, who precisely clearly said his name, shut his mouth just like that.

Yerin stopped being too sad.

‘No, I mean, I’m your ancestor, though! What kind of rude act is this now?!’

…She desperately wanted to shout like that, however.

Yerin tried to suppress the protest that was about to pop out of her mouth with much effort.

‘Calm down, that guy is the male lead of this world.’

Since the future of the North Sea Ice Palace depends on that guy, first of all, it was the wisest way to not show hatred.

Moreover.

‘I mean, in the original work, Dang Yerin is killed by Hyun Doyul!’

If considering that point, it’s surely right to must play it safe even more.

Shouldn’t I have to save starting from my life first?

Ah, absolutely.

“I am Dang Yerin.”

Yerin, who replied with a rather modest voice, quietly bowed her head as she avoided Doyul’s gaze.

‘Dude, stop glaring at me. There will be a hole in my face!’

Just in time, the servant girl who was attending and standing behind Yerin’s back quick-wittedly came forward.

“Palace Owner, please propose an engagement.”

Doyul gently clenched his teeth as he closed his two eyes tightly.

It was to suppress the anger boiling inside somehow.

‘Isn’t this  situation as if the North Sea Ice Palace is imploring, begging to have an engagement?’

In fact, the marriage this time was accomplished even though it’s based on solely the Head of Dang Family’s unilateral notification.

[I have one daughter. And I want her to be the Lady of the North Sea Ice Palace.]

If he was a sole body, he would have rejected that insulting order or such, of course.

However, he was the Palace Owner of the North Sea Ice Palace.

There was an obligation for him to be responsible for the people of North Sea Castle and the family members of the Ice Palace.

[…All right.]

Even until there, it was disgraceful enough, but the Head of the Dang Family crossed the line once again.

[If so, let’s hold the wedding at the Sacheon Dang Clan.]

According to the custom, the groom’s family and the bride’s family would consult with each other to designate the place to hold the wedding.

However, the Head of the Dang Family arbitrarily omitted even that consultation.

Above all, the Palace Owner was the North Sea Ice Palace, and furthermore, the North Sea Castle’s Head.

Even knowing that he wasn’t in a position to empty the North Sea for a long time, the meticulous malice of deliberately calling him out to the Sacheon Castle stood out.

Of course, the North Sea Ice Palace was turned upside down in a fit of rage.

[You cannot, Palace Owner!]

[How can the Palace Owner have this disgraceful wedding…!]

However, there was no way that he could reject the Heaf of the Dang Family’s proposal to hold firmly tight on food.

So then, the present.

Opening again, Doyul’s eyes were sharp clear blue like a blade made of ice.

“…Hyun Doyul, the Head of the North Sea Ice Palace, proposes an engagement to Young Lady Yerin of the Sacheon Dang Clan.”

…Excuse me, does it heat you up if you propose an engagement only by words?

Perhaps because his voice was covered in his very dark blue wrathy, it seemed like he’d pull out a sword right away in desperation.

Yerin sighed deeply inside.

“Dang Yerin of the Sacheon Dang Clan, accepts the Palace Owner’s proposal.”

As soon as Yerin’s words went away, the servant girl horridly opened her mouth right away.

“The two of you, please bow to each other.”

“….”

“….”

The boy and girl, who were looking at each other still, bent their waist forward deeply toward their opponents.

“Lastly, if you drink by sharing the wedding drink, the wedding will be over.”

At those words, Yerin paused and looked back at the servant girl.

Did she say ‘wedding drink’?

Currently, Yerin was only 12 years old, and Doyul was only 15 years old as well.

Although usually there were not many cases of marriage at such a young age like this, if by any chance this kind of case happens, they used to replace the wedding drink with tea.

It’s because no matter how it was, alcohol placed incredible pressure on a young body.

However, the servant girl only opened her glaring eyes as her lips moved slightly.

‘What are you doing? Not drinking it immediately.’

…Is it fortunate that she didn’t curse loudly because she was in front of Doyul?

‘I will not consider offering tea to the merely existing illegitimate daughter, and to the fallen North Sea Ice Palace’s Palace Owner’, surely it was this.

Yerin, who sighed deeply, looked down at the glass.

‘Well, about one glass of drink would be okay, right?’

Her of the previous life, Baek Seolryeon was a considerable heavy drinker.

In other words, it means that she knew from experience about the fact that this level of alcohol wouldn’t even reach the liver.

Yerin, who snorted, gulped down the wedding drink.

Through that one glass of wedding drink, she didn’t know how tremendous of a dark history she would build.