Prologue

[system: 00:00:30 until channel connection.]

My mind, heavy and sunken, jolted awake.

“What… Cough! *Cough, cough!*”

A violent cough erupted from me. My throat was so parched I couldn’t even speak.

‘What’s wrong with my body?’

I forced myself to swallow dryly. A series of messages popped up before my eyes.

[system: 00:00:10 until channel connection.]

[Countdown initiated. 5, 4, 3, 2, 1, 0.]

[Channel connection successful.]

[The broadcast will now begin.]

Following that, a small window appeared in the bottom right corner.

Words began to fill the empty space.

— Anonymous Constellation: It’s open!!!

— Anonymous Constellation: …But she looks incredibly weak.

— Anonymous Constellation: Crap, did I pick the wrong channel?

— Anonymous Constellation: The main game hasn’t even started. Don’t be so hasty.

“What is all this…”

I was staring blankly at the text when a crimson sentence flashed.

[system: Warning! Prepare for an unexpected situation.]

[system: Warning! Prepare for an unexpected situation.]

[system: Warning! Prepare for an unexpected situation.]

My body reacted before my mind could.

I instinctively spun to the side, creating distance, and my eyes widened.

A hairy torso, arms so long they dragged on the ground, a D-rank monster resembling a monkey.

“What the hell are you doing here?”

How could a monster that had vanished completely when the apocalypse ended reappear?

“…Is this a dream?”

The moment I muttered it aloud.

Five claws, each easily over a foot long, grazed past me and sank deep into the marble floor.

*Kiiiek! Kraaaak!*

The monster, having missed its prey, let out a screech.

It thrashed its body, as if desperate to tear me to shreds that very instant.

But with its claws firmly embedded in the hard floor, it would be difficult for it to move for a while.

I used that opening to survey my surroundings.

“Where am I?”

I was in a place surrounded by a forest, with a well-trodden dirt path running through it.

I thought I might be on a mountain, but I saw a two-story building behind me.

There was another building on the other side of the path, one boasting an antique facade and an immense scale.

Compared to that, the building behind me was little more than a shed.

The problem was the architectural style.

I stared at the building, which looked like a medieval mansion, with disbelief.

Did I somehow end up on a trip to Europe?

‘No? I don’t remember anything like that.’

Looking back, my memories felt strangely incomplete.

As I tried to piece together fragmented scenes, screams erupted from all around.

“Aaaah! He-help me!”

“Gah! Get away! Get away…!”

People in medieval European-style clothing were screaming and fleeing from the monsters.

It wasn’t an unfamiliar sight. I’d seen it countless times when the apocalypse ruled the world.

‘But… the apocalypse is over.’

I was certain of it. After all, I was the one who ended it.

Yet here were monsters again. What on earth was going on? My head was about to explode.

I tried to ignore my throbbing head and scanned the ground.

Fortunately, a long sword was lying on the nearby dirt, apparently dropped by someone as they fled.

‘Score!’

As I quickly lifted the longsword, a notification window popped up.

[system: The tutorial will now begin.]

[Success: Acquire Memory Fragment (0/7)]

[Failure: Death]

“A tutorial? The apocalypse ended ages ago, what kind of bullshit is this…”

Before I could finish, the monster pulled its claws from the floor.

Instantly, a hot, foul-smelling breath washed over my back.

‘If I turn, I’ll be too late!’

Moving only my arm, I swung the sword behind me.

*Slice.*

Its flank, composed of thick bone and tough muscle, was cut halfway through.

At the same time, the monster, its core destroyed, froze mid-roar.

I kicked the statue-like body to dislodge my sword.

Then, as the blade slid free, I swung it again, slashing the monster’s neck.

*Thud.* The monster’s head detached from its body, rolled across the ground, and stopped.

“*Whew!*”

I pursed my lips and let out a sharp whistle.

At the sound, another monster, which had been on top of someone and screeching, pricked up its ears and looked around.

“Over here, you bastard.”

I kicked the head that had rolled to my feet.

It flew in a long arc and struck the back of the other monster’s head.

*Kiiieeek?*

As the monster paused, I charged forward, split its head open, and plunged my sword beneath its ribs.

The person pinned underneath, who had been awaiting nothing but death, stared with wide eyes.

“P-Princess…? B-blech!”

“Princess?”

‘Was he talking to me?’

I was curious, but there was no time for idle questions.

I leaped over the man, who was now vomiting, covered in monster blood.

Using the momentum, I drove my sword into the back of my next target.

*Stab!* The monster stopped like a broken machine, then slowly slumped forward.

Next, I jumped onto the shoulders of a monster charging from behind, grabbed its head, and twisted.

*Crack!* I cleaved its grotesquely twisted neck in two with my sword and landed on the ground.

“Hoo…”

My body was slowly returning to its original condition.

My dulled senses sharpened, and the awkward feeling of being in someone else’s body vanished. My movements became fluid as a result.

The sword, which had felt strangely sluggish, could now slice through anything with ease.

By the time I dealt with the remaining monsters, one swing of my sword was enough to take down two or three at a time.

*Thud.* The last monster fell, stiff as a log.

Only then did I stop and stand motionless.

*Drip, drip.*

Blood dripped slowly from the tip of the sword I held pointed toward the ground.

The surroundings, once chaotic with screams and groans, fell silent.

The terrified gazes of the survivors focused on me. They all looked as if they had witnessed something unbelievable.

‘Why are they looking at me like that?’

Just then, the sound of urgent hoofbeats filled the air as someone appeared on horseback.

He was a handsome middle-aged man in a perfect suit, his silver hair slightly disheveled from his haste.

His green eyes, reminiscent of the forest, took in me, the sword in my hand, and then the surrounding area.

“Haa…”

The man let out a soft sigh and leaped from his horse.

“What on earth happened here?”

“I know, right? I’d like to know that myself.”

“…Your way of speaking has changed. You sound like a different person.”

I tilted my head.

‘Like a different person? Does he know me?’

Come to think of it, didn’t someone call me ‘Princess’ earlier?

The middle-aged man asked again, his expression heavy.

“Astell, what happened?”

“…”

“Did you defeat those monsters?”

“…”

“Astell! Answer me!”

The man raised his voice. It was a sound that carried considerable authority.

But my mind was too much of a mess to reply.

‘I’m the one with questions! Why do you keep calling me Astell—!’

*Shudder!* A sudden chill ran down my arm.

At the same time, scenes both strange and familiar flooded my mind.

I knew without anyone telling me. These were the memories of a woman named Astell Ruthius.

In the next moment, several unbelievable facts surfaced in my mind.

This wasn’t the world I had lived in, but a completely new one.

And this handsome middle-aged man was Astell Ruthius’s father, Duke Axion Ruthius.

‘Wh-what is this situation?’

I unknowingly raised my hand.

A slender arm and a white hand. It was completely different from my own, which was rough and calloused from training.

I wasn’t even wearing my usual workout clothes.

‘Oh my god…’

Absurdly, I was wearing a dress I had never seen before in my life.

Waking up in a strange body in a strange world? Didn’t this feel just like I’d been possessed?

‘No way, this can’t be real. This has to be a dream, just a crazy dream.’

With conviction, I slapped my own cheek as hard as I could.

It was a classic, but there was no better way to wake up from a dream.

*Smack!*

“Hah!”

Everyone watching me gasped.

Duke Ruthius was just as shocked.

“Astell! What is the meaning of this, in front of your father! Is this some kind of protest?!”

“Uh…?”

Even as Duke Ruthius yelled, I just stood there, stunned.

The stinging pain on my cheek could never be a dream.

‘I-I was really possessed? For real?’

As the reality of the situation sank in, a wave of dizziness washed over me.

A single fact hit me like a blow to the back of the head. And that was…

‘I’m so screwed.’