I Seducing the Black-Hearted Duke Wasn't Me - Chapter 1

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Episode 1
“This can’t be real.”
Erna Zaherette. Twenty-two years old.
For the past several years, I could confidently say my life had been remarkably smooth.
Born as the cherished daughter of a prominent ducal house, I’d grown up wanting for nothing.
Though there were some unfortunate moments along the way, I’d overcome them all and now lived each day faithfully as the proper head of my family.
Or at least, until just now.
“Say it again. Lora. What exactly am I supposed to have done?”
“Good heavens, why are you acting like this? You entrusted this to me last night, Your Grace. You said to return it first thing this morning.”
My lady’s maid Lora, whose dark brown hair caught the light, thrust something toward me with an exasperated expression.
A single letter.
And she was looking at me as if I ought to understand perfectly well.
But that was precisely what I wanted to ask her.
‘This doesn’t make sense. A week ago I collapsed from overwork, and I only just woke up.’
A week ago—I’d lost consciousness while working in my study.
The cause was exhaustion.
I’d been clumsy since childhood and threw myself into work without restraint, which finally brought me to this point.
One moment the room was spinning, and the next—I collapsed.
And I only opened my eyes this morning.
“I beg your pardon? You did collapse a week ago, but you came to the very next day, Your Grace.”
“What?”
She was saying I’d regained consciousness in just one day.
And apparently I’d been walking about as if nothing were amiss.
What on earth was happening?
“Your Grace? Are you listening to me?”
“No. Not at all. I’m terribly sorry, but could you give me a moment to think?”
Having called for a brief pause, I pinched my cheek instead of actually thinking.
‘Ow. That hurts.’
Which meant this wasn’t a dream after all.
‘It makes no sense. I have no memory of the past week whatsoever. It’s almost as if—’
“Someone else had inhabited my body and then left….”
“Pardon?”
“Oh, it’s nothing. Just thinking aloud.”
I quickly shook my head, still dazed from my muttering.
‘Perhaps it’s short-term amnesia. Somehow the memories of the past week have simply vanished.’
Yes, that made more sense.
Losing one’s memory was certainly no trivial matter, but having found at least a plausible explanation for it, my anxiety eased considerably.
“Speaking of another person, it does occur to me now—last week Your Grace seemed rather strange in some way.”
“Strange how?”
“Well, exactly as it sounds. Normally you spend the entire day working in your study, but suddenly you declared a strike, claiming you shouldn’t have to work at all. That was certainly….”
“Wait, a strike?”
So I’d regained consciousness and then refused to work? For an entire week, no less?
“That’s hardly the strangest part. You barely ever leave the manor, yet suddenly you were going out nearly every day. Everyone was absolutely shocked.”
“…….”
“And you complained about how drab all the clothes in your dressing room were, then marched straight to the wardrobe and swept away every dress and piece of jewelry. It caused absolute uproar.”
“What?!”
I jumped to my feet and rushed straight to the dressing room.
Since I spent much of my time seated at my desk, I’d always preferred comfortable, practical clothing to elaborate gowns.
And I favored soft, understated colors over anything loud or striking.
“What in the world is all this?”
I stood frozen before the explosion of color that now filled the entire dressing room.
An azure silk gown so heavily embroidered with gold thread that even noble ladies would wear it only on special occasions. A brilliant crimson satin dress with such elaborate flourishes that an opera singer might wear it on stage.
Hats glittering with delicate feathers and tiny pearls, and elegant high-heeled shoes with silver-embroidered ribbons.
It was as though an entire wardrobe had been bodily transported here.
“Did I really purchase all of this myself?”
“That’s what I’ve been telling you. Why have you been acting so strange since earlier? As if you can’t remember anything at all—oh!”
Lora stopped mid-sentence, confusion written across her face.
Her eyes went wide as saucers, and she began to breathe heavily.
“I knew something was off! I thought something seemed odd about you from the start!”
Oh no.
“Lora? I know you’re shocked. Yeah. Honestly, I’m just as bewildered by all this myself. You’re right. I think I might have lost some memories…….”
“You’ve simply overworked yourself and your mind got a bit muddled! That’s it, isn’t it?!”
“Huh?”
I faltered for a moment at Lora’s outburst.
The logic was similar enough, but the conclusion was slightly different.
‘Well, that’s better than actual amnesia, at least.’
I finished my quick mental calculation and nodded readily.
“You’re right. Now that you mention it, I have been feeling tired lately. I suppose my mind did slip for a moment there.”
“See? That’s exactly what I was saying. I told you proper rest was important, didn’t I? It’s not like just anyone goes mad from overwork!”
“You’re absolutely right, Lora. From now on, I’ll make sure to get adequate rest whenever I can.”
Once I made that promise, Lora finally nodded, satisfied.
I let out a silent breath of relief.
Now then.
“Speaking of which, I’m sorry to ask, but Lora—I think I really do need more rest, so……?”
At my hint that she should leave, Lora’s eyes remained clouded with concern even as she turned to go.
“If you’re not feeling well, you’ll call for me right away, won’t you?”
After she left, I found myself alone in the room.
I took a deep breath and unfolded the paper in my hand.
It was a letter—one that the me I couldn’t remember had supposedly wanted to pass on to tomorrow’s me.
[To Erna Zaherette.]
All right. Already suspicious from the start.
Writing a letter to myself and stuffing my full name in it like that.
“It’s practically broadcasting that a third party wrote this.”
Something felt off, but I pushed the doubt down and kept reading.
[If you’re reading this letter, it means you’ve come back, doesn’t it?
Everything must feel sudden and ridiculous. It did for me too.
I know it’s hard to believe, but…… I’m from a different world.
A place called Korea on Earth. There, my name is Park Su-min and I’m twenty-two years old. A college student.]
Earth? Korea? What kind of place is that?
[One day I was preparing a report and dozed off for a moment. When I opened my eyes, I was inside your body.
Erna Zaherette. Your body, to be exact.
And it wasn’t long before I realized something.]
What? Inside my body?
More than that—realized what, exactly?
[That this world is identical to the contents of a novel I’d read back there.]
“The same as a novel? What is this supposed to mean?”
The stream of incomprehensible words made my head spin.
[If I sum up the novel’s plot briefly, it’s an explicit fantasy harem where the heroine possesses the body of a saintess in this Regression Fantasy Novel and seduces the cast one by one…… but I’ll skip the details.
Thanks to that, the past week felt like a dream. I stayed in this elegant mansion, visited cafes in town and sipped tea with all the refinement I could muster. I shopped to my heart’s content.
I’m sorry for the extravagant spending. I’d always wanted to experience the life of a noblewoman at least once♥]
The boundless cheerfulness that radiated from the sentence made me sigh quietly.
Already reeling from everything, and now there was this scatterbrained woman who seemed to have flowers blooming in her head. I felt like I was losing my mind even faster.
Perhaps sensing my distress.
[Don’t worry too much. I really tried not to cause any incidents. I’m sure there won’t be any major problems.
Still, I thought I should report to you, so I’ve compiled a brief summary of my activities over the past week.
― Tea time at a café in Shelport
― Viewing masterpieces at a gallery in Mirde
― Attending plays in Liber, three times
.
.
.
Sorry. This is all I can remember off the top of my head.
I wish I’d kept a detailed record. Unfortunately, my memory isn’t very good.]
“Yeah. Figures.”
I thought it might have been better if she’d written nothing at all.
It wasn’t as if she was trying to mock me.
[Oh, I just remembered something! And there’s one more thing.
This is something I’m really…… I really…… feel sorry about, and it’s just that…….]
What else could there be?
The hesitation was evident in every word, with an unusual number of ellipses scattered throughout.
My gaze descended slowly along the dots, tracing the creeping unease, and I froze solid.
[……You slept with Leon Obsidian.]
“Insane.”
What kind of nonsense is this? What? Who did I sleep with?
Leon Obsidian?
‘Surely you don’t mean *the* Leon Obsidian?!’
Shock seized me, and I remained frozen for a long moment.
Leon Obsidian. Who was he?
Well, he was nothing less than the former Emperor’s illegitimate son and the current master of the House of Bernstein.
Beyond that, he was the man said to be the most beautiful in all the Orden Empire, and the Empire’s wealthiest aristocrat.
Hearing only this much, one might think him utterly perfect.
‘But there’s an enormous problem.’
Namely, he was the Commander of the Holy Knights Order, who had sworn the Chastity Oath.
Because of this, high society in Orden had a name for him.
The greatest marriage fraud of the century!!!!
“So what in the world am I supposed to have done with a Grand Duke like that?!”

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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