Obsession... What's That? I Just Wish Someone Would Help Me Escape - Chapter 0
Life is a series of sh*tty things.
What’s the sh*ttiest of them all?
When you get hit by a truck and reincarnated into a depraved romantic fantasy world?
When the country is suddenly overturned by a revolution started by a religious sect?
And what if, by bad luck, I’m a noble who’s marked for execution?
When trying to escape with my relatives who usually ignored and slandered me, only to be backstabbed instead?
At this moment, when all these things have happened at once… I feel like the world is flipping me off, telling me, “f*ck you.”
“Over here! There’s a noble trying to stow away! The woman with pink hair!”
At someone’s shout, everyone on deck turned to look at me.
I saw the coast guard and priests rushing towards us from a distance.
They were coming to capture me, the pink-haired woman and stowaway noble.
There was nowhere to run on the boat.
And I couldn’t jump into the sea since I’m terrible at swimming.
Just as I tried to blend into the crowd, something cold snapped around my wrist.
The person who handcuffed me was my fiancé, Enoch Mare, with whom I attempted to flee.
I looked at Enoch with bewildered eyes.
“What is this situation?”
He didn’t answer, his face expressionless.
My cousin Viviana, who usually pestered me, came close to Enoch and burst into tears.
“Sister, you never loved the Duke anyway. Do you know how much it hurt me all this time?”
“And why is that?”
As I retorted, she grabbed Enoch’s hand, tears streaming down her face.
“I love this man. In fact, we’ve been in a deep relationship for a long time. You’ve always had everything you needed in life. Can’t you understand?”
Enoch tenderly wrapped his arm around her shoulder and raised her chin.
“Honestly, our engagement was nothing more than a strategic relationship, right? I only got engaged to you to gain the trust of the Farsene family head.”
More bitter reality added, my cousin and fiancé had an affair.
“What’s the correlation between you two sneaking around behind my back and these handcuffs on me?”
As I lifted the handcuffs on my wrist and asked, Enoch, who until just a moment ago was my faithful fiancé, replied with an unapologetic expression.
“We agreed to let the rest of our relatives, including us, escape by handing you and the family head over. It’s a trade, sacrificing a few to save many. Fair, right?”
They colluded with the sect leading the revolution.
Of course, I didn’t think the sect would protect the back of a noble marked for death.
They’ll pretend to let go and soon capture and kill.
“This is why I didn’t care if you died.”
I sighed.
It’s true what they say about dying if you do something out of character.
Enoch looked at me with a pitiful gaze.
“It’s your vicious personality, that’s why I never loved you.”
“Why do you keep talking about pointless love? I knew you were using our engagement to climb socially with no merit of your own. I’m just surprised that until yesterday, you were all about devotion and love, saying you’d choose me even if the world ended.”
At my calm response, Viviana glanced at Enoch.
Enoch became infuriated and raised his voice.
“It was all an act. The situation has changed now, right? There’s no reason to maintain an engagement with someone who’s lost all their prestige, wealth, hasn’t awakened any abilities, and is constantly bedridden like a living corpse.”
He then leaned in with a sneer.
“If the noble living corpse deigns to grant her body, maybe I could take you along as a concubine.”
Is he mad? Daring to mock and deceive me?
I tilted my head expressionlessly.
“I’m not some rutting dog. You really don’t know your place, barking like you’re anything special.”
“Ha, are you really a noble? Such vulgar speech. No wonder you’re called the ‘mad dog of high society.’ Not a hint of kindness, just a filthy mouth.”
Is this really the time to be talking about refinement and dignity?
At this moment, aren’t I just a fool who got slapped after trying to help?
I sighed while looking at Viviana, who continued her pretense.
“You’ve always picked up what I was about to throw away. I thought you had a hoarding disorder, but this time you took the trash out for me in advance. How economical of you.”
At my biting words, Viviana’s expression twisted.
She then pretended to be pitiful again, maintaining her hypocrisy to the end.
“Unnie, you’re weak, and you wouldn’t last long in hiding anyway, right? So sacrifice yourself so we can escape. I’ll live diligently for the sacrifice you’ve made.”
Beneath her hands covering her face, I saw the corners of Viviana’s mouth slowly rising.
Bang!
“Surrender quietly!”
Suddenly, the coast guards appeared and threw me to the ground, overpowering me.
I felt like my back was breaking and my vision blurred.
Flat on the ground, I looked up at Enoch and Viviana.
“You ungrateful bastards. You betrayed me and the family head, who offered his entire fortune as a bribe to secure your asylum? What about uncle?”
Enoch looked down at me with a cold expression.
“Count Claude Farsene? He’s probably been executed by now. The heads of great noble families are the first targets. Why bother about a head who’d give succession rights to a defective product like you?”
I must be an idiot for trying to help these damned people flee abroad.
“Daring to attempt an escape as a sinner. You’ll never die easily.”
The guard’s rough hand grabbed my hair.
I shivered at the sensation of a gun barrel pressed against my head.
As he was sure to pull the trigger without hesitation, I didn’t even try to resist.
I addressed one of the men dragging me away, who seemed to be a high-ranking priest.
“I’ll offer you a much better deal than them. Take those bastards instead of me. Whatever you want, I promise a most satisfying reward…”
“Shut your mouth, you filthy devil worshiper, as you’ve sold your soul to the devil.”
The cold-hearted man. He wouldn’t even listen to my terms and shut down negotiation.
“Sigh.”
I was genuinely happy when I was first born here.
Even though I was as weak as a jellyfish and never awakened any powers, I led a prosperous life as a noble of the great Farsene bloodline in the Arcadian Empire.
That was until the religious and military colluded revolution turned the world upside down overnight.
“If I had known earlier, this damned world…”
The biggest problem is that I lived unaware that this place was a depraved R-rated romantic fantasy world and realized it too late.
Am I not entitled to the benefits of an original work’s reincarnator or possessor?
I felt like I could never close my eyes before taking revenge on those demonic bastards.
Dragged to the port, I glared at the departing ship as if I could sink it.
I didn’t want to be executed and die like this.
I was consumed by intense regret and despair.
I forgot that stories of conversion and peace through kindness and tears are as rare as legends.
Knowing that the answer is subjugation through greater force and power, why did I make such a choice?
I should’ve ignored and thrown away all the pleas and persuasions from my uncle.
“Cough.”
Blood gushed from my mouth.
My vision blurred and darkness slowly descended like a curtain falling.
“If there’s a next life, never again…”
I won’t bestow unreciprocated kindness; I’ll live as an extreme individualist.
***
“Gasp!”
As I lifted my heavy eyelids, an unfamiliar ceiling came into view.
“I’ve regressed.”
Yes, if I reincarnated into a novel’s world, of course, regression should follow.
I decided to skip the time for understanding and acceptance.
I curled my hand, stretched towards the ceiling, into a tight fist.
Maybe this is the chance given to me.
Bloody vengeance against the traitorous defectors, a miserable end for the adulterous couple, a chance for a successful escape…
Or, what if I preemptively eliminate the root of all evil, Saint Justina, and prevent the revolution?
“Have you awakened?”
With a cold voice, a dull greenish uniform flutters in.
I narrowed my eyes, then opened them wide.
“49?”
A sense of foreboding began to creep up as I saw the number written on the clothes.
“Prisoner 49, wake up quickly.”
*Clang!*
Only after hearing the metallic sound of a stick striking the bars did I come to my senses.
“What’s all this…”
I coughed violently, rubbing around my mouth.
Dried blood was caked around my lips.
Due to my frail constitution, coughing up blood was a standard passive, and I often fainted with just a little exertion.
It wasn’t that I died and regressed; I had just fainted from severe stress and woke up.
I looked around the dim, chilly space.
A rusted iron bed and chair, a man in a black uniform beyond the bars.
“Prisoner 49, do you not understand your current situation?”
The voice that came again grated on my nerves.
I glared at him, furrowing my brows.
“Who are you to call me like that?”
The man adjusted the uniform cap on his head and tilted it slightly.
His impassive blue eyes narrowed slightly.
“Me? A prison guard.”
The guard pointed at me with the finger he had used to indicate himself and added.
“You’re a prisoner.”
I muttered dumbfoundedly with a still vacant face.
“…Prisoner? This place is a prison?”
Even after observing the jail-like surroundings, I couldn’t grasp reality.
It was closer to an inability to accept the truth.
“Answer quickly, you asshole. Are you in cahoots with those bastards?”
The guard didn’t reply but instead issued a ruthless command.
“Prisoner number 49, move to the punishment cell immediately.”
I stared blankly at the guard then slowly opened my lips.
“…What if I refuse?”
“You can just die.”
He began to load his magic-engineered pistol from inside his uniform with a click-clack.
Why are the options so extreme?
I quickly shifted gears and flashed a smile suited for social interactions.
“Just kidding. I’m eager to go.”
So much for regression, vengeance, and early suppression of revolutionary sparks.
Among the sh*tty scenarios laid out like courses in a meal, the main course of misery was waiting.
I was trapped in the worst prison, known only to hold the irredeemable, the most vicious criminals.
