I Tried To Escape Through Death

“Rena…”

 

A handsome man was crying while looking at me.
The outstretched hand was shaking pitifully, and the black eyes shook helplessly.

 

“Rena, it’s you, isn’t it? Or have I finally gone mad?”

 

“…”

 

“Say something, please.”

 

I was frozen, speechless until a man approached me and rubbed my cheek.

 

‘I’m doomed.’

 

It wasn’t part of my plans to meet Calix here.
How did this happen? I bit my lip in frustration.
As if he didn’t care about my silence, the man continued to say what he wanted to say.

 

“I knew you were alive.
Even if everyone else told me that there was no possible chance… I knew you were alive.” 

 

The trembling voice was filled with anxiety and joy to meet me again.
The man raised my hand and kissed it.

 

While listening to his desperate words, I was occupied with different thoughts in my mind.
How can I deal with this situation? 

 

What should I say to a man who met his first love again after five years, whose disappearance was disguised as death?

 

When I didn’t answer, the hand of the man who held my arm slowly became tense.
There was only one thing to say to him, who was anxious that I would disappear again at any time.

 

“Rena, I really…”

 

“I’m sorry, but who are you?”

 

“What?”

 

The man’s voice snapped.

 

“I don’t know you.
I think you’ve got the wrong person.”

 

“Are you kidding?”

 

“I’m not kidding.
Today’s the first time I’ve ever seen you.”

 

‘Just pretend you don’t know.
The man wouldn’t believe it, but I thought I could buy some time with this.’

 

I thought I could pull it off.

 

“Rena, have you forgotten me?”

 

“I’m sorry, but I don’t remember you.”

 

But I was naïve, and he was more clever than I thought.

 

As soon as he let go of his initial shock, Calix, the male lead of this novel, spoke with his eyes drooping sadly.

 

“…Rena, we were married.”

 

‘When did we ever?!’

 

This was all because I failed to escape this novel five years ago.
If I were to choose a more fundamental reason, I could point out that I suddenly transmigrated into this novel one day seven years ago.

 

I recalled the first time I transmigrated into this novel, seven years ago, while in the carriage I was forced to ride in after being caught by Calix.

 

***

 

It was the day after I fell asleep after reading a romance novel, which was my usual hobby.
When I opened my eyes, the ceiling in front of me was strange.
As soon as I recognized the abnormality, the hand I lifted and looked at wasn’t even my hand.

 

‘It’s small, like a child’s hand.’

 

Immediately after, a loud voice was heard from somewhere.

 

“Regina! Didn’t you say that today is the day the son of the Hertrio family is coming?”

 

‘The Hertrio family?’

 

As soon as I recognized the name, a strange feeling of déjà vu came over me.

 

“If it’s Hertrio, it’s the family of the male lead in the novel I read yesterday…”

 

At that moment, the door burst open.
Suddenly, I looked up and saw a man appearing.

 

“Regina, how long are you going to stay asleep? I’ve told you many times that you should wake up early today to get ready.”

 

The red-haired woman looked at me with a scolding expression.
I looked down at my little hands again, still confused about the situation.

 

My head was spinning due to the overflow of information.
A thunderbolt of realization struck me.

 

“The romance novel I was reading yesterday…”

I groaned and closed my eyes tightly.
I could feel the woman in front of me getting confused when she saw me not even thinking about getting up, but she had no time to care.
It was my top priority to understand this absurd situation.

 

Regina Rohelo Troxia.
A supporting character in a romance novel I was reading until yesterday, and the first love of the male lead, who dies before the story begins in earnest.

 

I possessed that body.

 

The male protagonist of the novel is Calix Axel Hertrio.

 

When he turned 14, he lost his first love, a childhood friend.
It was because Regina’s family, the Troxia family, was falsely accused of treason and therefore, destroyed.
Afterwards, the main plot of the novel was Calix, who had lived with his heart closed to others, meeting Frenia, the heroine of the original novel, and together finding out who was behind the false accusations against the Troxia family and uncovering the truth.
In the process, the budding affection between Frenia and Calix was a familiar and natural development.

 

And I possessed the first love of the male lead, Calix.
Who died at 14!

 

I was 12 years old at the time of my possession.
As planned, I was destined to die two years later and leave the novel.

 

But I wasn’t too worried.
Wouldn’t it be possible to return to my original world if I exited the novel by dying? That idea came to me all of a sudden.

 

It seemed like such a good idea to me that there was no reason not to give it a try.
The role of ‘the male lead’s first love’ was given to me, and if I finished this role well, I’ll be able to leave the story.

 

If successful, it was an ideal way to return home safely without twisting the development of the original work in order to survive.

 

It bothered me a little that I possessed right before the first meeting with the male lead, but it wasn’t too much of an annoyance.
After that, I lived steadily as Regina for two years.

 

After an impressive first meeting with Calix, the male protagonist, I became friends with him for a year while Calix was living with Count Troxia’s family.

 

The following year, Calix stayed with Count Troxia for only three months.
As he boarded the carriage back to the Duchy of Hertrio, he regretted our short meeting and parted ways after promising our next meeting.

 

I thought to myself as I watched the carriage with Calix ride away.

 

‘The next time you see me will be when I die.’

 

On that day, Calix would be heading to the Troxia Mansion the day the Troxia family was massacred, with only one single thought: to save Regina. 

 

And in the following year, I could see the burning Troxia Mansion in the back and a sheer cliff