Chapter 2

About 10 months left, huh.

I slumped on the sofa, gazing at the ceiling while calculating the time remaining until my debutante ball.

‘I should probably go with romance for my debut work too.’

In my previous life, I was famous for being prolific, writing various genres without discrimination. However, my debut as a writer came from winning first place in a contest with a romance novel, and love stories were universally appealing.

It was the genre with the least risk of failure and the highest chance of success.

Knock knock—

“Miss Katarina, may I enter your room for a moment?”

“Come in.”

As the door opened, my gaze naturally turned in that direction.

‘Only fast when it comes to things like this.’

I watched as the butler carefully placed the typewriter he’d brought onto the desk.

Despite having only mentioned it yesterday evening, a new desk had already appeared in one corner of the room, complete with a typewriter.

A writing environment created in the blink of an eye.

“Miss, I shall take my leave now.”

The butler, having completed his task, promptly disappeared.

Only Chloe, my maid, and I remained in the room.

A familiar silence settled as I continued the contemplation I’d been having earlier.

“I want to write something new, but nothing particularly comes to mind.”

I roughly remembered the content of works I’d written in my previous life, but to rewrite them here, I’d need to fundamentally rewrite and adapt the basic concepts.

It felt like an unappealing choice, so I spent a long time staring blankly into space.

“These are cookies freshly baked this morning. Please try some.”

Chloe, who had been quietly keeping her post beside me, offered me cookies.

Sweet cookies filled with apple jam.

Crunch crunch—with the sound of chewing, they all disappeared in the blink of an eye. Where to? Into my mouth.

“But Miss, isn’t the time too tight if it’s before your debutante?”

“The seasons need to change three more times, so there’s plenty of time left.”

Moreover, with everyone’s attention currently focused on Callard’s upcoming entrance exam, no one would pay much attention to me, who had just started.

I answered nonchalantly while brushing cookie crumbs from my mouth.

But she looked at me with worried eyes and spoke again.

“You’ll probably need to start preparing for your debutante about six months in advance—dress fittings, dance lessons, and attending various tea parties…”

Hearing her continued words, the smile gradually faded from my face.

‘Why are there so many things to prepare for just one debutante ball?’

I openly grimaced at the mention that attendance at gatherings and tea parties would increase exponentially, just like when I met the Leonard Count family.

Chloe poured out information I hadn’t even thought of, from who knows where she’d learned it all.

“They say memorizing nobles’ names is the hardest part. Since there are so many people at balls, I heard you have to be careful not to get them wrong.”

As I listened to her words with a stiff face, imagining my future, I suddenly latched onto one point.

Ballroom.

Memorizing noble names.

Did one really have to memorize all the nobles’ names?

I thought of masked balls where people danced with their faces covered, not knowing each other’s identities, but when I asked Chloe, she seemed to have no idea about such things.

“Thanks for letting me know, Chloe.”

Since novels are based on imagination anyway, it didn’t matter if masked balls didn’t exist in this place.

‘Actually, that’s even better.’

Looking at Chloe with her gentle expression and brown hair neatly braided to one side, I soon sat at the desk with the typewriter.

As I began organizing the ideas I’d conceived around masked balls, my heart felt considerably lighter.

After watching this process for a while, Chloe spoke to me during a moment when I was taking a brief break.

“May I ask what kind of content you’ll be writing your book about?”

Since she was my dedicated maid who shared every moment with me, there was nothing particularly to hide.

After lightly rotating my wrist, I kept my gaze fixed on the paper and whispered to Chloe in a small voice.

“I’m going to write a romance novel.”

With content never before seen in the empire.

---

After deciding what to write, I thought I’d be able to finish it quickly, but that wasn’t the case.

Despite my ambitious first step, a whole week had already passed, and progress was slower than expected.

I’d overlooked that creating a single work requires considerable effort, time, and trial and error.

“Baroness Lawrence wants to invite you to tea time. Keep tomorrow free.”

“…Can’t I not go?”

“You’ll probably be short on dresses soon too, so while you’re out, stop by the dress shop as well.”

To make matters worse, my previously leisurely daily life had become much busier since coming to the capital.

No matter how much I showed my reluctance to go, I couldn’t possibly overcome Marcella’s cool gaze and persistent smile.

‘What’s so important about maintaining dignity?’

Every time I had an outing scheduled, it drained all my energy and I’d return home completely exhausted.

When I was in the baronial territory, there was rarely any reason to go out.

As meetings with nobles became frequent, my mental state became equally worn down.

‘My stamina is trash.’

When I dragged my exhausted body to write until late into the night, I’d have to endure complaints about my poor complexion the next day.

Thinking about my manuscript where only one of three male protagonists had appeared so far made me dizzy.

“Chloe, if I start preparing for my debutante, I’ll be even busier than now, right?”

“Of course. Just the day before yesterday, I heard that the Baroness was looking into a dance instructor for Miss Katarina.”

Unlike me, who was shut up in my room with dull ears, Chloe was well-informed about all the mansion’s news.

Soon, I could clearly envision my future self groaning with muscle pain from dance practice.

‘This won’t do.’

If fatigue accumulated and the shadows under my eyes grew darker, I could clearly predict the scolding my mother would deliver.

“…Should I run away for a bit?”

I’ll just write and return successfully.

I blurted this out with an empty tone along with the impulsive thought, but since it was too unrealistic a world to actually carry out, I rested my chin on my hand and quickly fell into other thoughts.

“Miss Katarina.”

“…Hm?”

How unusual for Chloe to call my name.

When I looked up at her, I saw Chloe with a more serious face than ever before.

“Absolutely not—you must never think such dangerous thoughts. The outside world is so harsh and difficult, Miss, people could just bump into you while passing by and you’d collapse!”

So that’s the image I have in your mind.

Speaking rapidly while trying to persuade me somehow, I gave Chloe the answer she wanted with a bewildered expression.

I hadn’t seriously been thinking of running away anyway.

“I was just saying. I couldn’t survive in the jungle either.”

“Jungle?”

“Oh, that’s a thing. Anyway, I won’t run away, so don’t worry.”

Only then did she calm down, though she still looked at me with suspicious eyes, but I had no intention of actually following through.

I already knew that security wasn’t good in this world where personal status and individual force took priority.

‘And with this face, it would be difficult to go out alone and live quietly.’

Being sufficiently self-aware, I didn’t want to leave the mansion—no, even leave my room now.

“You should start getting ready to go out soon.”

“Oh, already?”

Why do I need three hours to prepare for going out?

I made it obvious that I didn’t want to go, but guided by Chloe’s skilled hands, I had my skin cared for and changed into an outdoor dress.

The tea time with Baroness Lawrence that my mother Marcella had talked about until her mouth was dry the day before.

By experiencing the unchanging social culture once more, I keenly felt that social circles really didn’t suit me.

‘This absolutely won’t do.’

With all my energy completely drained, I staggered back to the mansion and crawled into bed.

Even if I couldn’t run away, couldn’t I at least try a hunger strike?

To break the vicious cycle and focus purely on my ‘challenge,’ I declared my disconnection from society.

“I won’t eat dinner.”

Bringing a moment of tension to the previously relaxed dinner table.

---

Katarina is free.

I had planned to try a hunger strike for about two days, but fortunately, I got what I wanted in just one day.

‘Hey, you’ll collapse if you keep that up.’

Callard, who usually criticized my eating habits of always leaving food unfinished, was helpful for once.

My mother looked at me with murderous eyes, but fortunately, father intervened, allowing me to focus solely on writing for a while.

“Miss, I’ve warmed your bath water.”

After that, a life where I didn’t step foot outside my room except for dinner time.

What could have become a rather trashy pattern was rescued by Chloe’s care from the sidelines.

Crack—

As I raised my stiff body that hadn’t moved for a long time, a sound came from somewhere in my body.

“I’ll bring you lemon tea once you’re in the bathtub.”

An existence I’d become so accustomed to now, indispensable to me.

Being together all day, her presence truly shone.

But can I actually do this?

Spending all day refining my writing alone gradually weakened my confidence.

This place originally only read educational books, so even the genre of romance novels was ambiguous.

Just as Chloe returned, I impulsively opened my mouth while looking up at her.

“Would you like to read something I wrote?”

It’s writing that needs to be shown to others anyway.

I thought it would be good to show it to her first, observe her reaction, and make revisions accordingly.

I had expected that given Chloe’s personality, she wouldn’t refuse, but…

“…Yes! I sincerely want to read what you’ve written, Miss.”

The moment her eyes changed and the atmosphere seemed to shift—was that just my imagination?

It didn’t seem like there would be any problems, so I brushed it off lightly.