Chapter 1

All I had in this life was a sense of smell, a small body, and thick hair that covered my eyes. It was hard to see well. All I could see was a black and white world. Still, as a small child, I was able to talk.

But I couldn’t give up like this.

There was a gentle, familiar scent that penetrated keenly. There was that warm embrace. There were those eyes that suffered all the sadness and pain in the world. As long as I remember those things, I will find them again.

“I’ll save you. I’ll help you.”

We said these words to each other countless times. It seemed I couldn’t keep that promise in this lifetime. Even though it was always broken like that, it was sincere. Even if we can’t protect each other, we can share even a little warmth.

It was, after all, a very windy day. Cars passed by, horns honking sharply and nervously. The world has changed and developed a lot. It’s unfamiliar and far more dangerous. The more it went on, the more worried I was.

A flash of light.

I heard a terrible sound somewhere.

The thin scent was also more distinct. Then, the smell of blood spread all over the place. I ran and ran. And when I finally lost the scent, I could feel my already cold skin cooling down.

Ahhhh. We got mixed up like this again.

No, no.

Even though I was born as a person who can’t protect others, I have taken care of myself. That other life was too short. I diligently wanted to return to you and did not hesitate to live the life of this little, unfair and small creature again.

I will give you all my breath, love, and sorrow.

Because I don’t have a dream. May your wishes come true. May you no longer get sick. I just hope that I don’t have to face such a lonely death.

Please, the Being who controls the energy, principle, and life and death of the world. Please grant all hope to this beautiful and poor one.

It is enough for me to glance at her smiling face once more.

Avriel’s Story

Edmul Actimum. It is a dark green liquid, just like the name of the villain in the dark.

I stared at the vial of terrible liquid that is enormously powerful with just one or two drops.

At most, it was a small bottle about the length of an adult’s little finger, but even a giant elephant will fall asleep for a week after drinking half the bottle.

With just one or two drops, I, Avriel, the current owner of this slender woman’s body, will sleep soundly throughout the night.

I know it is that vicious villain Bylon Dwight, who puts the people around me to sleep and exploits whenever he commits a misdeed.

Because I, Avriel Devucie, have read this novel before.

That’s right.

I’ve been reborn as Avriel Devucie, an extra scapegoat in the hit romance fantasy novel Never Get Married. I don’t know how this happened.

My last memory of my previous life was me walking aimlessly in the rain and sobbing.

It was because that day I was thrown away callously.

“I, I’m sorry… Well, Well my feelings for you all this time… So, that’s… I think that’s only sympathy…”

Those were the last words of the person I had been dating for 6 years, who cowardly denied all our past.

He’s not even sure about the nature of my feelings!

It’s not like I’m putting my finger on it because I’m ‘sympathetic’ to the end.

I felt so weak and miserable that I trusted, depended on, and loved such a child. I struggled to hold back my tears. But as soon as he said what he had to say and disappeared from my sight, a wailing cry escaped my throat.

I walked without direction for a long time while crying in the rain.

I had been abandoned again. I was abandoned as soon as I was born.

Newborn baby number 017, I was abandoned and placed in front of an orphanage. That was me. I was found on Tuesday, and my name became Hwayeon. Then I was handed the most common surname, Kim. Kim Hwayeon.

That’s how I was abandoned. I had been abandoned since birth, but it was never a feeling I could get used to.

It was always bitter.

And he was my first love. I entered the university as a full scholarship student and met him at the first group blind date. He confessed first that he wanted to date me. I was grateful that someone liked me. So for the next six years, we dated from the age of 20 and promised to get married.

But he was always busy with his medical school studies and preparing for national exams. Of course, I was always last on his schedule.

To be honest, I, who lived hard in everything, was also eager to wait for him.

While he was ignoring my attempts to communicate and avoiding me without saying goodbye, I was such a clueless being. It was unfair. I loved him. I was so busy with my studies, I believed his excuse that I couldn’t meet him because of the preparation for the national exam. And so I waited and waited.

I thought he seemed sympathetic. That’s how I crushed my first love for six years since I was 20 years old. It’s not my fault that I grew up as an orphan, but nevertheless, I had been living my life with all my might.

My first love started so chaotically, and I remained honestly in love for a long time.

Even though I felt that his heart had cooled, I sincerely hoped that he would look back between us. I hoped–No, I longed for it.

However, after the national exam, I was not invited to his medical school graduation, which I had been anticipating for some time.

I didn’t know at the time, but later, he became the rising star of the mayor. Right before graduating, he married someone else and invited his family to the medical school graduation ceremony.

I never thought that he would pursue a marriage that quickly, as if he was sold, under conditions that would help his medical life after graduation.

Not only that, one day his mother and sister suddenly barged into my house to berate and humiliate me. The two of them said harsh things to me, pointed fingers at me, pushed my shoulder several times, and then they told me to bear their mistreatment. His older sister groaned, as if wanting to slap me as a thank you for not upsetting the whole household.

“Whose faith are you planning to ruin? You should know where you belong! How dare you look at me like that!”

His mother was determined to verbally abuse me as if to punish me for the unforgivable sin of dreaming to marry him.

“Mom, you have to be patient. There’s nothing we can do about it. He didn’t grow up learning from anything. Let’s be patient, Mom.

“When our Sijoon sees a poor person, or even a stray cat on the street he will feed them right away. He is so kind and you’re so pitiful. That’s what you’re playing at, huh? Hey, you’re not a charity, so don’t cling like that in the future. Are you thinking that act will get Sijoon to marry you? Besides, did you think Sijoon wouldn’t go to the graduation ceremony if you weren’t there?”

Still, I hadn’t heard the breakup notice from him myself, and I thought I should look at his face for the last time.

But all my feelings were denied.

I was drenched while walking in the rain. I just wanted to disappear. I wanted to melt in tears and disappear.

I was drunk with sadness, trembling with a sense of betrayal, and without realizing it, I headed to the orphanage. I don’t know why I went there.

After leaving the orphanage, I swore I would never return. I wanted to blend into society, meet someone, have my own family, and live the life of an orphan who was no longer abandoned.

I pretended to not be from an orphanage. The days when I lived there didn’t seem to exist at all, but the six years of hard and brave life were swept away like bubbles. Suddenly, I was missing the place where I had been abandoned because no one wanted me.

And there I was, standing with the orphanage right in front of me.

I was hit by a car speeding in the rain.

At that moment, I thought that I never wanted to be abandoned by anyone again.

I had thought it wasn’t a very lonely life. No, it was a lonely, lonely life.

All the memories slowly came to mind.

I remembered the people who were kind to me, the nursery school teachers who gave me a warm smile even though there were times when I scolded them.

A warm and soft ray of light wrapped around me, and the love and sorrow, desire and anger that filled my life, the one who made me cry and laugh in my short life.

A tremendous vortex of light at the end of a past life that was so wretchedly mutilated.

Like a collaboration between the rainbow and the Milky Way, at the border of two different worlds that transcends unrealistic time and space, where full colors and dazzling star clusters connect, I struggled with the new sensations in my body.

Then it disappeared. What remained and filled me until the end was a fierce resentment.

I realized that I was dead. After I died, I felt that I was being moved somewhere, leaving my body and breath in the world I lived in.

In the end, I couldn’t let go of the painful and sad things that filled me.

I wondered, If I shake it all off, will I be able to reach heaven? Can I be loved there?

No, such a blessing will not happen to me.

If so, then I will really stop. When everything was over, I didn’t want to suffer anymore.

As all my senses were about to pass out for the last time, a soft, powerful voice pierced my ear and said.

“I’ll grant your wish, I’ll make your best wish come true.”

If so, if only so–

I don’t want to be abandoned.

I don’t want to be abandoned again.

That’s how fervently I repeated it. Then I let go of all my grudges and regrets.

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Chapter 2

When I opened my eyes again, a blue-eyed man looking down at me said in a friendly tone, “Have you come to your senses, my lark?”

‘Lark?’

I couldn’t shake off the haziness even after blinking. My vision, including the man’s figure, was blurred. I fell back asleep and repeated the same pattern several times after that.

When I finally came to my senses, I barely noticed that the world around me had changed completely.

As I lay in the bed of an old-fashioned aristocratic room served by women dressed like maids, “Miss Avriel is still unconscious…” “If Young Lady Devucie regains consciousness call me right away.” “Waaahh, even our Young Lady Avriel…”

Miss Avriel. Young Lady Devucie.

Laying on a soft bed in the midst of confusion, it occurred to me that the room and people felt like the world of a novel. Every sense was confirming that feeling.

However, as I waited until 10 PM nightly for one daily free episode, Avriel Devucie had never been a main character in any romantic fantasy novels I read in my sparse spare time…

As I pondered, the name of the novel [Never Get Married] came to mind.

It was Avriel!

Avriel Devucie.

An unlucky extra.

In the beginning, she was the victim of the novel’s worst villain. She was a character who was abandoned and killed, tricked and gaslighted by the villain who coveted the title and property that she would inherit as the Baron’s only daughter.

As soon as I realized it, I arose from that bed, so soft I could bury myself forever and die, in the Master Bedroom in the Baron’s mansion.

No!

‘I will never be abandoned nor killed!’

I desperately wanted to live.

Even in a novel, I wanted to live a good life. I wanted to feel the happiness I had never experienced properly.

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Even if I entered the world of a novel, of all things, why did it have to be as Avriel Devucie?

The Young Lady of a noble family, with wavy golden hair like spun thread and clear emerald green eyes.

It was the worst of luck.

In my life not long ago (I think I should call it my past life now), I lived in a sad and upsetting world.

Ultimately, even in the novel, I was just an unlucky supporting role, no—I was just an extra fated to disappear soon. Even though I didn’t read the novel to its end, I was aware of Avriel’s insignificant fate.

Death.

She even died ridiculously poisoned, and no one questioned the cause of her suspicious death.

So, this reincarnation will just be an extension of the trouble in my past, proving that my life was utter crap. Unfortunately, I couldn’t even read the ending of this novel, since I only read one free episode every night.

tl-n: I can’t with this Naver advertising lmao

I didn’t know the ending, so I didn’t even know who the final boss would be, or whose side I should join to save or extend my life.

I never intended to read [Never Get Married] in the first place. But since everyone said it was an authentic devastating romance fantasy novel that was so entertaining you couldn’t put it down once you started reading, I decided to give it a try.

It was fun. But I couldn’t read through. One of the reasons I didn’t drop it even if I couldn’t keep reading till the end was that no matter how devastating the plot was, it was simply too much.

In the villain’s plots at the beginning, sleeping pills like Edmul Actinum always appeared. And after they were fed a spoonful of an aphrodisiac drug, the main characters spent a hot night together, changing the succession plan!

Tags like tragedy, memory loss, kidnapping, imprisonment, birth secrets, and more crazy names that might be interesting and thrilling but honestly, it wasn’t to my taste. No, I was interested enough to accommodate my tastes, but I couldn’t read the ending.

Nonetheless, it seems that I was unconsciously immersed in it too deeply while reading. Otherwise, how could I explain being resurrected as a supporting character, more like a mere extra, and an early victim?

Anyway, among the countless victims in this rollercoaster novel, I had become Avriel, by far the most pitiful, and I had no role before me but to die.

I hated it.

I didn’t want to die again like this.

I didn’t want to be thrown away; I didn’t want to be sacrificed.

In my past life, I tried my best in everything I did, even though my body and mind were broken by the endless trials that befell me. I learned to live hard, but as a result, I wasn’t happy. And in the end, I was abandoned and died alone.

Avriel Devucie’s second life.

It was destined to also fall apart, but I didn’t want to let it happen.

Avriel Devucie was born the only child of Baron Daryl Bondi. When she grew up, she and her spouse would inherit the Baron’s entire fortune and title. However, as soon as she came of age, her mother died in a carriage accident. And her weak father, unable to overcome his sorrow, became bedridden.

Avriel was timid, and her parents were also the only children of their respective families. Thus, unluckily, she had no reliable relatives or acquaintances around her.

She called for a doctor for her ill father, but unfortunately, the man who showed up was a scammer, a swindler, the worst villain in the world. Bylon Dwight pretended to be a doctor and insinuated himself into Baron Devucie’s manor.

Avriel had only grown up sheltered and reached adulthood without knowing anything about the world, and so she was fooled by him.

She believed absolutely in Bylon, the youngest member of a gang of lowlifes who had never received a proper education let alone that of a doctor, and she clung to the hope of saving her father, who seemed unlikely to recover.

Absent proper diagnosis and treatment by a real doctor, the Baron’s health deteriorated rapidly, and he died. Sadly, Avriel never knew about her father’s death.

This was because the villain prohibited Avriel from visiting her dying father from the moment he stepped inside the mansion, saying she shouldn’t strain her father’s weakened heart. He isolated and controlled her while promising to surely heal her father.

Meanwhile, Bylon drugged her with sleeping poison he fed her and she ended up infected unaware.

Bylon manipulated and gaslighted pure and innocent Avriel with nice words and even duped her into an engagement before killing her.

Ending up in such a dreary engagement, Avriel was ultimately destroyed and killed by Bylon. He sent all the servants away, leisurely buried her body in the backyard, and continued managing documents as if Avriel was still alive and married.

He took over the Baron’s estate as Daryl’s son-in-law after his funeral. Then, even though Avriel was already dead, he enjoyed the status of Young Baron as if he was truly the late Baron’s son-in-law — and one day, Avriel’s death was announced as if from disease.

His clever and vicious plan was to stimulate women’s sympathy by pretending to be filled with grief, wounded by his tragic fate.

Just like I was abandoned after being played by my stupid first love in my past life, Avriel was callously used and killed.

Taking advantage of the disconcerting circumstance of having her father ill and her mother long gone, he poured sugar-coated words into her ears.

“Avriel, my Lovely. Come, lie down on the bed. Have a sip of this and go to bed first. Even now, my body is burning with desire to hold you in my arms, but I will fulfill my duty as a gentleman to protect your purity until our wedding. Come, get a good night’s sleep, my love.”

Gentleman’s duty, right. Maybe he didn’t need to feel disappointed since he had a girlfriend. And perhaps it was uncomfortable to get involved with the woman he soon would kill secretly.

Good night’s sleep? Whose Lovely person? He tricked Avriel, who had no dating experience, with those cheesy third-rate phrases, and if that wasn’t enough, he used strong drugs to put her to sleep so he could crawl somewhere else, and do all kinds of things with other women.

Then, not long after, he would feed her a lethal dose that put Avriel to sleep forever.

‘What? You think I don’t know you will try to monopolize the station, fortune, and mansion you gained thanks to Avriel?’

He would spout nonsense like announcing he would attend an interview with the Emperor’s doctor at the Imperial Palace the next day, all the while knowing he was lying. Of course — he wasn’t a doctor, he couldn’t attend.

He just left and did vile illegal things.

The slight aroma of Chamomile tea, used to induce a good night’s sleep, was only meant to obscure the subtle but unique scent of Edmul Actinum.

Even if I swallow half a sip instead, I — this slender Avriel — will remain motionless and sleep until noon the next day.

‘I refuse to be beaten like that!’

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Chapter 3

“Okay, my dear Bylon. You too, go to bed. Don’t worry, I’ll drink this right away.”

In the novel, Avriel was weak-hearted and shy. She didn’t spit out bold nicknames that were full of cuteness to Bylon, her lover.

But somehow, seeing the disgusting acting of that villain, I wanted to go further and give an exaggerated response.

Bylon had looked startled at my fussiness remarks, matching his inner thoughts, and now he calmly looked into my eyes again and continued.

“Fine, go ahead and drink it, Avriel. I’ll clean the teacup and head to bed. My cute lark!”

He insisted and offered to do with his own hands what a maid would do just in case I wouldn’t drink.

‘What? Lark? Will you shut that mouth when you get hit with a lark’s beak?’

He continued making a fuss and cajoling to make me drink the tea.

“Aak! It’s a little hot! Actually, since yesterday, my front teeth felt like they’re burning, and it hurts. The onion soup at dinner earlier was also a little hot, so just touching the tip of the tooth makes my gums tingle. Becky! Becky! Bring me some cold water!”

I called out to Becky the maid loudly. The menu I ate the previous day and the maid’s name came to mind unbidden, so I was able to turn the situation to my advantage with the added memory that was automatically inserted to my quickness. The series of actions that went against the original was thrilling.

The villain, Bylon, didn’t expect me to behave like this, so he was startled and hurriedly took the teacup from me and started blowing on the hot liquid.

“It’s time for the maid to go to bed to recover from the exhaustion of the day. I’ll blow on it for you, my Love. Please wait a minute.”

This rightly crazy guy had already given my maids, including Becky, and all the Baron’s servants, a good spoonful of Edmul Actinum and knocked them out. I knew I was the last one left.

He was a really persistent, terrible man. Maybe this guy’s plan to kill me will be put into action tomorrow or the day after tomorrow. I felt a sense of impending crisis.

Perhaps Baron Devucie, Avriel’s father, was already long gone from this world. Because that madman planned to kill Avriel first. He would hold a funeral for the Baron to achieve his goal, which was to eliminate Avriel somehow and take away everything she owned.

With Avriel’s current situation—no friends, no relatives, no one she could turn to for help—, there was no chance of winning the battle with that bastard. Rather than being killed by this maddog, I should just run away with all my might…

“Oh, right, I forgot that Becky left this behind earlier. Just in time, I don’t have a toothache, and it’s lukewarm enough to drink.”

He lifted the glass full of green tangerine juice on the bedside table as if he had just remembered it, and then gulped it down without hesitation.

“No, drinking a lot of fruit juice with high acidity before bedtime is bad for you, my Love.”

Bylon, who was frantically blowing on a preparation of Edmul Actinum disguised as chamomile tea, suddenly drank green tangerine juice and couldn’t stop swallowing.

‘Hey, Villain, did you even notice my plan?’

No. That couldn’t be. Because I was the only one who knew the true nature of this green tangerine juice.

It wasn’t just juice. It was diluted with a guarania fruit concentrate, which had a very high level of waking up effect, and the Limonelle condensate, a legendary fruit with excellent sterilizing and disinfecting properties.

If I drank this special guarania limonelle juice in advance and took a sip of the Edmul Actinum that that jerk gave me, and spit it out quickly, I would be able to prevent myself from falling asleep helplessly.

“Ah, I must have been thirsty. It’s so refreshing. Well, if the tea is cold, drink it quickly.”

I took the teacup from Bylon’s restless hands. He was staring at me as if he would twist my neck if I didn’t drink it, so I took a quick sip.

However, to prove the truth of the lie of a sore tooth, I exaggeratedly moved my body to the point of pouring out all the tea from the teacup and screamed. I spit out almost everything in my mouth at him!

“Uuuhhg! The temperature is still so hot! I’d rather have a sip of warm fruit juice than anything, and I can’t even take a sip of anything a bit warm. I’m sorry, Bylon!”

If it was Avriel in the original story, she would have passed out after swallowing the tea containing Edmul Actinum. But knowing the subject, I pretended to drink it then spat it on his face.

Maybe it was because I didn’t practice enough, but I didn’t succeed in a spit take like in the movies, although I did my best to drench his face completely.

Almost everything that went into my mouth spewed at him, and at least six or seven drops splashed on Bylon’s lips.

Ridiculous jerk. This is terrible for you, too.

“No, my Lark drank the orange juice well, but it must have cooled down quite a bit… Anyway, I’m sorry if the tea I prepared made you suffer.”

Bylon managed to suppress his internal rage and wiped the area around his mouth meticulously and hastily with a handkerchief. And as I thought he would eventually try to trick me into taking more Edmul Actinum again, I quickly played my part.

“Uh… Strangely… Ummm… I didn’t do anything special today… I just spit out that chamomile tea but half just passed down my throat… I did… Still, I feel dizzy and hazy, and I’m slee… unng…”

I tried hard to push it out of my mouth with my tongue so that I would never swallow even a single drop. But from his point of view, half of what I had taken wholeheartedly was swallowed.

Of course, I had no choice but to ingest some, even the smallest amount, and I prayed in my heart that it wouldn’t have any effect thanks to the defense of my Guarania Limonelle special cocktail disguised as green tangerine juice.

After that, rather than being sleepy, my nerves were pushing adrenaline. My mind was at the peak of tension, but I rubbed my eyes pretending to be sleepy and fell onto my bed.

“Go to sleep, my sweet Lark.”

I closed my eyes tight, but I knew what kind of expression what wretched bastard was wearing. He didn’t even try to cover me with a blanket, and perhaps worried by the small amount of Edmul Actinum, Bylon hurriedly left my bedroom.

He firmly believed that I fell into a deep slumber, and I wouldn’t wake up after drinking the tea, as usual.

As soon as he left my room, I ran to the en suite bathroom and vomited as if I was pouring out gastric juice.

Guarania or Edmul Actinum, I was going to expel everything I had passed through my throat a while ago. Fortunately, I gulped the Guarania Limonelle Concentrate, and my stomach successfully cleansed itself at once.

Immediately after that, I took out a bag of belongings, including a set of valuables hidden under the bed. By now, Bylon would normally come to the bedroom and wash my face thoroughly several times before heading to his secret room, but that won’t happen today.

Knowing what kind of atrocities Bylon had committed, I devised one more way to save myself besides guarania juice.

An eye for an eye, tooth for a tooth.

Edmul Actinum for an Edmul Actinum.

I mixed five or six drops of Edmul Actinum into his canteen. He always carried it inside his jacket.

I remember reading that he had the habit of adding alcohol instead of water and taking a few sips when he was nervous or right before doing something very bad. Like any madman, he was an alcoholic, so he took frequent sips from it.

So, since once again he succeeded in putting me to sleep, and was about to go to meet a woman in his hideout, of course, he would take out the canteen and gulp it without hesitation.

Rattle! Crash!!

The sound I was waiting for!

The sound of a fall in the gigantic mansion reverberated like a beautiful lark. It was as if a heavy log had fallen. No, it was more like a crash. Did he lose consciousness on the stairs and roll down?

Anyway, it was sweet.

Success! No, this is just the beginning!

My second life.

If no one saves me, I will save myself.

I refuse any further injustice. Even though I’m not the heroine of the novel, I am the main character of the second life granted to me!

I’m inside a novel where I haven’t even read the ending anyway. From now on, I will write this character’s actions.

It was short but dirty, and let’s not see each other again, Bylon. You evil bastard. It would be better if you just die, rather than live like that.

I will follow my own path!

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