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Brought to you by Valir Scans! To support our team and enjoy the latest releases, please read directly on our official site: valirscans.org
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‌‌‌
02.

‌‌
Today, my boss ‌showed no mercy, and true to his word, a grueling night of overtime followed instead ‌‌‌of that delicious evening meal.
Thanks to that, I didn't arrive at my sweet home—a mere ten minutes away—until nearly midnight.
'That truly vicious, insane bastard....' ‌‌‌
I'd been defrauded by this job.
Exhausted in both body and spirit from today's excessive workload, I indulged in the warm bath my maid had prepared and a steaming stew, then quickly burrowed beneath the covers.
The blanket draped over me rustled ‌‌‌‌pleasantly, releasing a fragrance as if clear sunlight had melted into the fabric.
'...So the weather was beautiful today.'
To only realize ‌‌the day's weather from ‌‌inside my ‌‌‌‌blanket—wasn't my life truly pathetic?
What's different from my past life?
I felt a bitter sting, both slight and profound.
I'd possessed the protagonist's body, yet the result was nothing but a salaried slave—no different from my previous existence.
"Haaaaaah...."
A breath escaped my lips—whether a sigh or a yawn, I couldn't tell.
Yet at the same time, I felt genuinely grateful.
When I first arrived at the Capital City, I trembled at the thought of never having such ordinary moments.
Had I ‌‌‌ever been ‌‌‌‌as tense in my entire life as when I stepped off the train at the Capital Train Station about a year ago?
It was precisely when the original protagonist Rose arrived in the capital, and her purpose was ‌‌‌‌to meet the Male Lead, Cassian Artez.
Just as the original protagonist Rose had experienced, I too had nightmares and fears, wondering if only miserable incidents awaited me.
'What awaited me wasn't miserable incidents, ‌‌but a cruel boss who ground my days into work.'
It was no ‌coincidence that I'd been the only applicant ‌‌‌for such favorable conditions.

'Miss Salice, if you finish just these documents, you may leave for the day.'

If only he wouldn't speak, he wouldn't seem so hateful.
Just these documents, and I could leave?
In the beginning, I hadn't noticed it beneath the generous salary and the recurring nightmares.
But humans are creatures of adaptation.
As I was ground down by work and grew accustomed to reality, I began to curse the vicious workload Cassian assigned me.
He seemed determined not to allow me even a few seconds of being a salaried parasite, constantly heaping mountains of tasks upon me.

'This should be simple for you, Miss Salice, wouldn't you say?'

And whenever I desperately moved my hands with the sole intention of leaving on time, creating even a sliver of breathing room, it wasn't as if he were teaching me step by step—

"Good work, Rose. Thanks to you, ‌‌‌‌this task is finished quickly. So I need you to handle this one too—before you leave for the day."

He piled on more work the moment I seemed to be adapting, as if he'd been waiting for exactly that moment.
Yet I couldn't bring myself to quit.
'The salary is just too good.'
The base pay alone—500 gold—would translate to roughly 5 million won in my previous life, an amount that was honestly difficult for a fresh graduate with no experience to earn.
Just like in my past life.
But Cassian Artez works people to ‌‌the bone.
And he pays them proportionally.
Over the past year or so, my monthly salary had even exceeded 1,500 gold at times.
Though! That month had almost no days off.
With no food or housing expenses, the money accumulated steadily, and it seemed like I might actually be able to see an end to the family debt I'd once thought would haunt me forever.
Well...
Maybe twenty years or so?
That's certainly not as hopeless as it sounds! In my previous life, I would've had to pay a bank for far longer just to own a house.
'And my ‌‌‌parents are doing well too.'
Since I'd managed ‌‌‌to secure the ‌‌‌Territory, if we had a bumper crop, or if a hot spring suddenly emerged, or if we discovered magic stones by chance, things could move faster.
And if I keep earning steadily like this, I could even start a ‌‌business with ‌‌‌the accumulated funds!
When that time comes, I'll absolutely seize the privileges that come with being a reincarnated protagonist without hesitation!
I can't spend twenty years grinding under Cassian Artez.
At that rate, I'd definitely die from overwork first.
'Still, it's really peaceful.'
I fought against my eyelids growing heavy and continued my thoughts.
Without even a smartphone to hold, it felt wasteful to sleep early—a trait all office workers share, I suppose.
A soft chuckle ‌escaped my lips. ‌‌‌‌
I was grateful I could voice these mundane complaints, that I could curse my boss simply because he was just a superior at work.
After becoming Roselita, I'd avoided getting entangled with Cassian Artez, but I didn't hate him.
He was the male lead from the novel I'd enjoyed reading, and to the heroine, he wasn't a ruthless boss but showed a warm side.
Part of my avoidance stemmed from knowing not only my own suffering but also his ‌‌inevitable hardships. ‌‌
Cassian Artez, the Second Prince of the Empire.
Stunning appearance, top-tier work ability, unmatched with a sword.
He truly possessed the high-spec qualities befitting a male lead.
And like a male lead in a tragic tale, his life was equally arduous.
He lost his mother at birth, and as if that weren't enough, he lacked the blue eyes that should have been his birthright as a direct descendant of the Imperial Family.
Naturally, the Imperial Family was thrown into chaos. ‌‌‌‌Not having blue eyes ‌‌‌was catastrophic enough, but the Second Prince's eyes ‌‌‌were violet.

'He has been cursed by the gods!'

The moment the First Empress, who was the First Prince's mother, learned of this fact, she cried out in horror and denounced him.
The Emperor, too, found it difficult to embrace his son. Beautiful golden hair and violet eyes—neither of which he had inherited from the Emperor.
'Well, because of that, Cassian Artez suffered tremendously. As a child, he nearly died from starvation, assassins, and poison. As he grew older, he was sent only ‌‌‌to brutal battlefields.'
In the original story, his entanglement with Roselita was one of those ‌‌‌‌life-or-death crises.
Cassian Artez, who had always overcome everything alone, received another person's touch for the first time ‌‌‌and cherished it with affection, beginning to live for Roselita—or so the story went.
'Is it because Roselita deserted him?'
Now Cassian Artez had escaped many threats, but in ‌‌doing so, he had become truly cold-blooded and merciless.
Having become obsessed with work and taken on so much responsibility, even the Emperor could no longer touch him carelessly—or so one might say.
As a result, I, his subordinate, am being worn down as well. Ha.
I silently cursed Cassian Artez thoroughly, then closed my eyes.
I needed to sleep soon.
To survive tomorrow's overwork that ‌‌my boss would inflict upon me.

*

'I shouldn't say this from the position of someone hiring you, but why does a noblewoman wish to ‌‌‌‌work?'

Cassian Artez, who had been remarkably kind and gentle throughout the interview, asked me near its end in a tone as soft as down feathers.

'Moreover, by rights, you should have been attending your debutante ball.'

His expression was deeply sympathetic.
That sympathy was so welcome to me at the time.
So I answered far too honestly.

'My family circumstances don't allow for such concerns.'

I should never have mistaken the subtle shift in his expression for pity.
Why didn't I realize then that it was the joy of someone who had obtained a subordinate who could hardly escape?

*

"...I can't sign this...."
I snapped my eyes open with a groan that sounded like I was in pain, then let out a heavy sigh.
It was ‌just a dream.
'I need to go ‌‌back in time....'
Not possession of the protagonist.
To see my boss's face in my dreams when fourteen hours a day of seeing it while awake was already unbearable....
This was undoubtedly a premonition that today would be grueling and unlucky.
That intuition became certainty when I glanced at the ‌‌‌clock on my desk.
'I lost five minutes of my morning sleep....'
This wretched Cassian Artez—useful for nothing but a paycheck.
I wanted to sleep a bit ‌‌longer, but perhaps because of the distressing dream, sleep had already fled entirely.
I grabbed my head and began preparing for work.
Today's first appointment was an outside engagement, so it would be an exceptionally busy day. Year-end rushes were the same in my previous life as they were here.
After asking a maid to brew strong coffee and drinking it to sharpen my mind, I headed to the office and found Cassian looking much the same as when ‌‌he'd told me yesterday to go ‌‌‌in ahead of him.
'Did he even leave work, this workaholic?'
Of course, his clothes were different from yesterday, and his impeccable appearance suggested he'd at least been to his quarters.
"Feeling leisurely, Rose? You have time to ‌‌‌observe me first thing in the morning."
The brief concern I'd felt vanished ‌‌‌at his irritating voice.
"That couldn't be, Your Highness. Since there's an external engagement today, I was merely checking whether your shirt collar might have flipped inside out."
"Neither you ‌‌‌‌nor I would make such a mistake, Rose."
Cassian said this with a ‌‌‌‌low chuckle.
Normally, when someone says such a thing, they'd at least touch their collar to check, but he didn't even glance down, simply organizing the documents he'd been reviewing as if he had no doubt whatsoever.
I, too, managed to gather the materials needed for today's outside work before he finished what he was doing.
If I was even slightly late, I'd have to endure his irritated sarcasm.
Holding the bag containing the precious materials, I opened the office door wide just as he approached.
Not to boast, but the timing was truly perfect.
And yet.
"Hmm."
Cassian Artez didn't leave as usual; instead, he ‌‌stopped and stared directly at me.
"What is it, Your Highness?"
He lifted the corner of his mouth ‌‌‌wickedly and reached his hand toward my ear.
"Your Highness?"
As I called out in ‌‌‌confusion, his smile deepened.
He shushed me ‌‌as if coaxing a child, then his fingers traced upward along the space between my earlobe and jaw, tickling ‌‌‌‌gently.
"A strand of your hair was sticking out. How pitiful."
He spoke teasingly, tucking the wayward strand behind my ear.
"I'll wait graciously, so ‌‌do tidy yourself up before coming out. Of course, there will be no deduction from your salary."
"...."
"After all, I can't have my perfect assistant looking forlorn over nothing but a stray hair."
With that, Cassian closed the office door with a decisive click, not forgetting his courtesy.
I stared blankly at that door, brimming with such pointless consideration, and silently writhed within myself.
'This ‌‌is truly infuriating, Cassian Artez!' ‌

---------------
Brought to you by Valir Scans! To ‌‌support our team and enjoy the latest releases, please read directly ‌‌‌‌on our official site: valirscans.org
---------------