Chapter 1

In a spacious, white room, I stepped into a space that contained only a simple bed and a small desk.

The bed and desk were white, and when I opened the only other door, another completely white, empty room appeared.

"People say that a room with nothing but white can drive you crazy."

When I muttered this in the place where I was alone, it echoed slightly.

Yeah, I can understand why people who are put in this room go crazy.

I laughed and dived onto the bed, placing the "book" I was holding gently beside me.

"Total success, you know."

Thinking about the life that was about to begin, a smile slipped out.

Suddenly, memories from my birth until I was put in this room came to mind.

---

What came to mind was the time before I was reborn, when I was working like a corporate slave at a so-called black company.

It was either the third or fourth all-nighter in a row.

I was finally allowed to go home, but despite being incredibly sleepy, I made a detour and bought a lottery ticket on a whim.

I returned to work and forgot about the lottery results until a few weeks later, when I found out I had won several million yen.

However, in my high state from working all-nighters, I used that money to buy more lottery tickets.

I won both the first and second prizes.

The sleepiness from the all-nighters vanished, and I checked the numbers hundreds of times before fainting.

I thought, "So, fainting from a mental shock really does happen," as I waited for the collection day.

Back in my empty room, I cried my heart out when I saw the bankbook filled with zeros.

I no longer had to endure sexual harassment or power harassment.

I no longer had to lament my body deteriorating from lack of sleep.

I no longer had to stay up all night, and I could do what I liked during the day.

Tears wouldn't stop flowing.

Looking back, I must have been quite desperate.

The next day, I ran out of the house, clutching the resignation letter I had been too afraid to submit due to threats and intimidation.

When was the last time I felt this relieved?

I was determined to quit my job no matter what anyone said.

After all, I had enough money to live the rest of my life without doing anything.

What would I do after quitting my job? First, I'd fix up my dusty laptop and connect my game console to the TV.

I'd enjoy my hobbies, which I had been mocked for at work.

Right, the latest installment of the otome game series I was obsessed with had just come out.

In the previous game, my favorite character, who appeared in the first game, didn't reappear, but would he in this one?

Ah, I wanted to quit that job so badly...

My memories of my previous life end with a car crashing into me.

What was my last thought?

I remember hating God during the strangely slow time it took for the car to hit me.

When I realized I had been reborn, I was being held by a woman who must have been my mother, and I cried my heart out again.

I still remember how my mother comforted me when I suddenly started crying.

Being reborn with the memories of my previous life might have been a form of sympathy from God, who had pity on my miserable end.

If that was the case, I was sorry for hating God at the end.

The world I was reborn into seemed to be a world of a Japanese-style RPG.

The clothes were like kimonos, the streets resembled old Japan, and the culture was similar to the Sengoku period, except for the monsters called "beasts" that roamed outside the town.

I thought it was a good thing that this world was similar to the one I was familiar with, despite the neglect I experienced from my parents in both lives.

In a simple, stone room, the only furniture was a Japanese-style chair and table.

Sitting in the chair, I stroked the "book" on my lap.

The chain around my wrist jingled unpleasantly.

...The kind mother who comforted me when I cried had passed away from illness when I was three.

The father who was left behind doted on my sister, who was the spitting image of my mother.

It goes without saying that my father prioritized my sister.

I was used to being neglected by my parents, and since my family in this life was quite wealthy and had many servants, I wasn't as uncomfortable as I could have been.

My sister, who was raised with my father's doting, seemed incredibly spoiled to me.

What made it worse was that my sister was found to have the power to maintain the barrier that protected the country.

The barrier, which had lost its function decades ago, was apparently revived thanks to my sister.

Maintaining the barrier was one of the top priorities for the people of the country.

As a result, my sister's whims were usually indulged unless they were extremely unreasonable.

When she found someone she didn't like, she would cry to my father, and then laugh behind his back.

I can't count how many times the servants who took care of me were almost fired.

I managed to save a few by pleading with my father, but my sister's outbursts didn't stop.

My father's indulgence of my sister, which fueled her behavior, was probably due to his grief over losing the mother he loved.

After my mother's death, my father was unbearable to look at, and the servants, who had liked him when my mother was alive, couldn't bring themselves to dislike him.

What is my father thinking now, as one of his daughters is sentenced to eternal confinement?

The chain around my wrist jingles.

As I lift my arm and look at the chain, the door to the room opens, and a girl enters.

Her large eyes are filled with tears, and her tightly pursed lips are trembling.

She is a flawless beauty.

"Oh, I'm sorry. I asked you to do something unpleasant."

"Fujiko-sama, why..."

"Well, it's the decision of the next lord."

"But, Fujiko-sama, you did nothing wrong! Everyone says that you would never sell information to another country!"

Fujiko is my name in this life.

I'm grateful that I don't live up to my name, thanks to the good looks I inherited from my parents, but it still feels a bit itchy when I'm called.

The girl in front of me, who is trying to hold back her tears, is the daughter of a servant who has taken care of me since I was little... She was the one who made me realize I was in this world.

The new installment of the otome game I wanted to play in my previous life, the girl depicted on the package as the protagonist.

I didn't realize it when I was little, but as I spent more time with her, I finally remembered.

The town's layout was the same as in the game, and the man I was dating at the time was one of the characters I could pursue in the game.

I was surprised, but I accepted that everything wouldn't go exactly as in the game and continued my daily life.

However, I didn't expect it to go wrong in a different way.

My boyfriend, the next lord of this land, apparently fell in love with my sister.

After being fed lies by my sister, he insulted me and broke off our engagement, but my mind was filled with thoughts like, "How could you choose her over me..."

Why are you okay with that? This girl is cuter and has a better personality than my sister, and it turns out she's a princess from another country, which is a win-win situation.

I was more shocked by this than by being dumped.

My sister, who wasn't satisfied with just taking him from me, yelled at me, saying, "I didn't like how you protected the servants I wanted to fire, and you always got in my way."

My sister, who decided to ask the next lord for help when my father wouldn't listen, fed him lies about me, and before I knew it, I was sentenced to eternal confinement.

Eternal confinement is a form of punishment in this world.

It involves being locked in a white room in a space where time is stopped by magic, and the room is left to wander in a subspace.

There are many such rooms, but all of them are white, and it is said that all the prisoners go insane.

It's essentially a death sentence.

It seems that I am accused of selling information to an enemy country.

The fact that I had access to the information suggests that the source was the next lord, but does he know that?

I thought he was a bit dim, but I didn't expect him to be that bad.

If I had been told I was going to be executed, I might have resisted, but when I heard it was eternal confinement, I saw it as an opportunity.

Even though I was born into a good family, the workload was immense.

Although I wasn't worked to the bone like in my previous life, the thought of having time to relax before I died made me excited, and the idea of working was very painful.

I worked hard for the servants who helped me, but if I was going to be eternally confined, I wouldn't have to work anymore.

That was incredibly appealing.

As a result, a chain was placed on my wrist, and she came to take me to the place of confinement.

Because of my status, I could choose my escort, so I chose her because there was something I wanted to tell her.

I was allowed to bring one book to the place of confinement, so I stood up with the "book" in my hand.

"Shall we go, then?"

When we opened the door, we entered a space where various colors swirled like marble.

It would be beautiful if it looked like an aurora, but unfortunately, it's not a sight I want to see.

Several large spheres floated in the space, and one of them, as if waiting for me, descended in front of me, and a hole that seemed to lead inside opened on its surface.

"Fujiko-sama..."

She sniffled, and I had been helped a lot by her cheerful personality.

Talking with her when I was stuck in my work was fun, and the sweets she made were warm and kind.

Before entering the room, I spoke to her in a place where no one could hear.

"Listen, once I go in, leave this country as soon as possible."

"Eh?"

"Go to the western country. Take this with you."

I took out a piece of paper I had tucked between the pages of the book and handed it to her.

The western country is where she becomes a princess in the game.

The game starts when it is revealed that she, who was working as a servant in this country for various reasons, is actually a princess from the western country.

I realized that a friend I had made in the western country in the game was her friend, so I wrote a letter of introduction to her family.

"My sister won't like you because you were close to me. I've arranged for you to be my friend, so take this letter and leave the country as soon as possible. I've also included a map."

She started crying, and I felt a lump in my throat.

Life in this country wasn't all bad.

"Don't worry, I'll have fun in this space. I have a way to do it, and I can guarantee I won't go crazy, so you should escape to the western country and be happy as soon as possible."

We held hands tightly.

"I'm confident I can have fun, but I'll miss your homemade snacks."

---

And now, after saying goodbye to her, I am here.

I feel a bit lonely, but I'm so excited that I can't stop laughing.

I rolled over and pulled the "book" I brought closer, opening it.

This "book" is what will help me have fun.

When I noticed it, it was by my side, and it didn't look like a book to me.

It seemed to look like a book to the people around me, but it was clearly the laptop I used in my previous life.

I laughed and turned it on.

For some reason, it had a signal, a connection to the internet of my original world, and a sticker that said it would never break.

I could play online games and watch videos.

The shopping site I could use was the only one I had never seen before, but it sold everything.

It even said I could install furniture and a bathtub, and when I tried it, it worked.

I returned the items I bought because there were people around, but in this space, I can use it as much as I want.

The shopping site uses points, and the number of points I had was familiar.

It was the exact amount of money I won in the lottery in my previous life.

Maybe the memories of my previous life and this laptop were given to me out of sympathy by God.

The hermit life I had wished for in my previous life has finally come true.

I couldn't stop laughing and bought a bathtub for the other room.

I bought a large one with a jacuzzi, and when I went to the next room, the same item was installed, and the water was running properly.

I was in such a strange mood that I couldn't stop laughing.

"Let's get a sofa, a TV, and a game console. Oh, and a kitchen. What else—"

I bought things one by one in the large, white room.

This space is enchanted for confinement, so as long as there is a human inside, food will appear automatically.

I don't know if the ingredients will stop appearing or rot if I go crazy, but I'm confident I won't go crazy for at least a few decades.

And since there are no rent or utility bills, I don't have to worry about saving money, which is a relief.

"Alright, let's be lazy."

I lay down on the fluffy futon I had bought, watched my favorite anime on a video site, and stuffed my mouth with snacks.

I'm the type who doesn't mind being a hermit, and my new life began with a happy feeling.

I didn't realize that the final boss of the series, who was my favorite character, would visit this room, which no one else was supposed to enter.