Chapter 1. Twelve O'Clock Marionette.

Blink, I lifted my eyelids.

What came into view was unmistakably an unfamiliar ceiling.

Where am I? Who am I?

I raised my hand, thinking it couldn't be.

The calluses were nowhere to be found, and what greeted me was a hand with nothing but skin stretched over bone.

"Again!"

Even my voice was completely unfamiliar.

It was a youthful voice, but that didn't make me feel any better.

I groaned and hung my head.

Then disheveled hair fell down, blocking my vision.

I grabbed a handful and let out a hollow laugh.

"Blonde again this time."

This was somewhat amusing.

Oh wait, this isn't the time for this.

I quickly raised my head and looked around.

The bedroom was spacious but had few furnishings. 

To put it nicely, it was clean; to put it harshly, it was empty space.

There wouldn't be many places to search through.

I sprang up, pushed aside the canopy, and got out of bed.

I opened all the drawers, removed the sofa cushions, lifted the carpet, and pulled back the curtains.

I even looked under the bed, supposedly the most secretive space in a bedroom.

Clean, not a speck of dust.

"They should make diary writing mandatory by law."

How does nobody keep a diary?

Disappointed, I ran my fingers through my hair, and the disheveled hair tangled around my fingers like a trap.

Perhaps it was an ominous sign—soon after, I heard a knock.

"I'm coming in, Miss Siora."

"Just a moment!"

I hurriedly ran to the mirror.

I checked my appearance reflected in the mirror.

"Not bad."

It wasn't just the voice that was good.

Though my hair was fine and disheveled, it was a pretty color like sunlight.

My forehead was round and protruding. The curve down to my nose tip was smooth and...

"Miss Siora?"

At the urging voice, I came to my senses and summarized the information reflected in the mirror.

Blonde hair. Purple eyes. Beautiful. Extremely thin with a poor complexion.

Whether smiling or frowning, my facial muscles didn't move well. A stoic personality.

"Come in."

A girl in her late teens entered.

Red bob cut with freckles. From her attire, she was a maid.

I greeted her with an expressionless face.

"What is it?"

The maid didn't seem particularly puzzled by my words and actions, so I hadn't misread the situation.

She simply brought in a basin of wash water and helped me wash my face.

With someone in front of me, my mouth kept wanting to move constantly, but having a stoic personality was a penalty in itself.

The kind of questions I could ask without arousing suspicion were limited to this extent:

"What was your name again?"

"It's Betty, Miss Siora."

I see. The conversation cut off right there.

It would have been nice if she were a chatty friend, but only I was anxious, fidgeting with my fingertips.

During this time, the face washing was finished and Betty began combing my hair.

If she left without me gaining anything, I'd be the only one in trouble.

Still, she would prove more manageable than the other household members I might encounter, so I should take advantage of her presence and ask her something.

"Mother is..."

I threw out bait by trailing off my words ambiguously.

The fish immediately took the bait.

"Both of them have been laid to rest near the annex. After all, that's how their home ended up."

"Ah."

'Siora's' parents had apparently passed away recently.

"It must be difficult, right? I lost my father when I was young too, so I understand that feeling a little."

"..."

"Still, it's fortunate that you're feeling better. You wouldn't speak at all and only stayed in your bedroom, so we were so worried."

No wonder my throat felt scratchy after just saying a few words.

I was thinking about how to naturally ask about other things when Betty, perhaps loosened up, continued talking.

"It's a shame that tomorrow is the last day."

"Huh...?"

"You'll do well outside too, Miss."

"What?"

"There, all done. You're pretty, Miss."

At the unfortunately timed moment when Betty finished combing my hair, she smiled faintly.

She was smiling, but with an expression that seemed to pity the person in front of her.

That face overlapped with what I'd just heard, and an acute sense of foreboding surged.

What do you mean by "outside"?

"Then I'll be going now. For meals, Rogers will—"

"Betty!"

I grabbed Betty's skirt hem.

Forget about being stoic or whatever.

Now wasn't the time to match this body's personality.

Just 30 minutes after opening my eyes in this new body, my intuition was flashing red.

Crisis, crisis!

And my intuition is quite good.

So.

"Miss?"

"Help me, I can't remember anything!"

I chose the sure-to-fail option.

Memory loss isn't a good card to play.

You might think that claiming illness would make people spoon-feed you unknown information, but absolutely not.

If you're from a wealthy family, you'd waste months meeting all sorts of priests and doctors.

If you're from a poor family? You'd better be prepared to be treated like a crazy person and kicked out.

Both are from personal experience, by the way.

But surprisingly, this time I got decent results.

"Oh my! I thought something felt different today. What should we do, Miss!"

Betty stamped her feet like she was the one in pain and gladly cooperated with me.

She also respected my wish not to tell others about it.

There are plenty of people who are different on the outside and inside, so I'd have to watch this too, but once I'd chosen, I had to go straight ahead!

The intelligence I had gathered through this method, I carefully recorded in a notebook.

「Name: Siora Velvet. 20 years old. Adopted child. Parents died in a fire. The culprit was a servant of the mansion」

It was a case where a servant, who had been worked like a slave without proper pay, took revenge on his evil employer.

Siora probably died together with them at that time.

Since I can't enter living bodies.

It could be called just desserts, but the problem was:

「Remaining assets: 0g.」

The inheritance Siora was supposed to receive had also been cleanly burned away.

When she was about to end up on the streets without even a funeral, her uncle, the Count, extended a helping hand.

The place where I opened my eyes was the Count's mansion.

Although the uncle and my parents had been on poor terms, with no other relatives available to handle such matters, he had assumed the duty of gathering their remains and organizing the funeral proceedings.

That was already two weeks ago.

Here's the question!

So what will happen now to the adult Siora, who had parents with a bad relationship with her uncle, and who isn't even blood-related but adopted?

「Scheduled to be kicked out in 3 days.」

"Are you serious?"

I flopped face-down onto the bed mattress.

No wonder the bedroom was spacious but empty—it must be a guest room.

Of course there was no diary.

I just laughed hollowly.

"What should I do?"

I've done this three times now, but it's the first time I'm being kicked out with nowhere to live.

The situation was so incomprehensible that I grabbed Betty to ask more.

"Betty, am I engaged to anyone by any chance?"

"No, as far as I know, you're not engaged to anyone."

"Then was I selected to be a maid for some ducal family?"

"That's... unlikely?"

Betty looked puzzled at my strange questions, but I found this situation even stranger.

Then what? Why did I wake up in this body?

There's no context whatsoever!

Fury welling up, I pounded the pillow frantically.

Perhaps someone might question my feelings.

Why am I so upset when I wasn't even given a good environment?

Then I can confidently answer.

"Who was it that sent me here!"

Some years ago, at a time I can't pinpoint exactly by going back in time.

A book fell into the place where I was living.

Brown leather binding decorated with golden patterns. On the cover was written 《Destiny》 in divine script.

「That day was Minuet Bonetti's wedding day.」

The first sentence that vividly came to mind was like that.

The book proceeded from the perspective of a character named 'Minuet' and the content was simple.

Minuet's husband destroyed the world!

Honestly, it was boring.

The mysterious circumstances of its arrival compelled me to read through to the bitter end, but if I were forced to rate it, I'd grudgingly award it a single star.

The problem was that it wasn't just a boring book.

When I turned the last page:

「This is what is actually happening in the outside world.」

「Ancient god O Phebula, please work a miracle.」

「Have mercy on the arrogant humanity that has forgotten you and save them.」

「Please do not abandon humanity.」

Letters written in blood greeted me.

I froze right there and belatedly realized that this book was an offering dedicated to the god Phebula.

The moment I realized this, a duty was imposed upon me.

Because I was the only remaining believer in the temple.

How was this possible? It was possible because Phebula was an ancient god who was being forgotten by people.

Priest, holy knight, pope, saint. All positions were mine, and as such I could display various abilities, but I couldn't leave the temple.

If even the only believer disappeared, the god would vanish. Knowing this better than anyone, why did Phebula show me such a thing?

The moment I felt doubt, a path opened.

Golden light poured into my vision, and when I opened my eyes again, I was inside some kid's body.

"Huh, what? Why is my eye level like this? Why are my hands so small? Eh? Phebula?"

"What are you spacing out for, Amy? The young master is waiting, so hurry—"

"...Who are you, mister?"

That was Amy Royalsand.

The childhood fiancée of the villain who would destroy the world.

My god had stuffed me into someone else's body without even asking my opinion.

With no good points and penalties piled on top of each other!

Anyway, I couldn't go against the god, so I tried to reform the villain. But I failed.

Next, I became the villain's maid. I failed again.

And now, for the third time, here I am opening my eyes in yet another person's body.

With no connection to the villain whatsoever.

"And soon to be begging on the streets, in this body."

Hehehe, does this make sense?

The situation was so absurd that I laughed, but even so, my mind was working quickly.

I needed to earn money.

Since maid work was something I had experience with, I was confident I could do it better than anyone.

The problem was how to create a connection with that villain while being a maid—was it even possible?

Wouldn't I just die from overwork again?

If only there were some way to make money...

"There is, a way to make money!"

I quickly raised my head and frantically rang the bell beside the bed.

Soon someone entered the bedroom.

I expected Betty to come, but it was someone else who looked displeased.

It didn't matter anyway.

"I'm going out for a bit."

After acting pitifully in every way possible, I finally managed to borrow a carriage and came out.

The place I headed to was Coltish Bank, located on the outskirts of the capital.

This bank, which kept all customer information completely secret, had surprisingly maintained its lineage for over a thousand years.

Originally founded by an ancient temple and later passed down to the modern religious authorities, its original purpose was to discreetly fund private ventures that the state had deemed illegal.

Therefore, all of the Phebula Order's assets were in this bank!

I confidently stated the account name, and the employee replied:

"There is no account opened under that name."