Chapter 1 (1/141) of "The Lady of the Asher Dukedom"

My name is Leticia Asher.

I remember my previous life.

Some might question whether it is logically possible.

Or if it was just a dream.

When I first started to recall my previous life, I thought it was a dream too.

I thought it was all a dream, an extension of the terrible nightmare that began with my grandfather's death and the news of my father's death on the battlefield.

But unfortunately, on the night I was expelled from the dukedom, as I lay in the carriage accident, the thoughts that suddenly came to my mind were not a dream.

They were small things, like the fact that in my previous life, I was born in a place called Korea, and that the world I now live in is the world from the novel I read in my previous life.

And the big things, like the fact that I, Leticia Asher, was a supporting character in that novel.

And the future of the family, which would soon fall into ruin, was so vivid and real.

‘The Asher family will fall?’

To be honest, I found it harder to believe that the Asher dukedom would fall than the fact that I was a supporting character in a novel.

After all, the Asher dukedom was one of the five dukedoms that supported the Teparoa Empire and the Somovet Royal Family.

Moreover, unlike the other three dukedoms, which were passed down through the granting of titles to absorbed kingdoms during the process of conquest, the Asher dukedom was a founding member of the empire, alongside the emperor.

Yet, such a dukedom was to fall.

Who could easily believe that?

But while I was struggling alone with this nightmare, the cruel fate of the Ashers had already begun.

‘Eradicate the entire Asher family. Do not leave a single one alive.’

My despicable uncle, Andrea Asher, who expelled me, was impeached for tax evasion as soon as he became the 11th head of the family.

But tax evasion was not his only crime. From embezzlement to assault and bribery, he committed all sorts of dirty deeds, which were used as reasons to push the Asher family towards ruin—

And in the end, he committed treason.

He was accused of killing the protagonist, Prince Kallian, and attempting to install the second prince, whom he supported.

This final incident seemed to break the royal family's patience, and they issued a bounty to kill all members of the Asher family, including their retainers.

The events unfolding were exactly as described in the novel, making it hard to dismiss them as a dream.

And the moment I realized this, the only thought that came to my mind was—

‘I have to run away.’

I had to run away.

Even though I was expelled from the Asher family, as long as there were people who knew my face, the capital was not safe.

So I quickly changed my name and left the capital.

But no matter what I did, I couldn't escape my fate.

A few years after I fled, a massive earthquake struck the entire empire, and the walls and ceiling collapsed on me as I slept.

And then, darkness.

My memory ended there.

I was only twenty years old at the time.

‘It hurts.’

The pain in my body was not pleasant.

I could feel the pain throughout my body, indicating that I was still alive, but it was agonizing.

Honestly, I had run away because I wanted to live, but since the moment I realized my previous life, I had always thought I would die like this eventually.

Of course, I didn't expect to be crushed by a rock.

Was it really necessary to kill a minor supporting character who had no impact on the story and was far from the center of events?

‘If only I could have been spared.’

In my previous life, I died in a car accident at the age of twenty-one.

My life as an orphan was not easy.

But thanks to those memories, I managed to survive after being expelled from the family.

The memories of Isia, who had worked various part-time jobs, the mental toughness to smile even while being scolded and mistreated, the skill to get ten things for the price of one, and the cleverness to reduce ten tasks to one.

‘Lisha is really smart!’

‘How can she think so deeply and considerately?’

‘Indeed, Lisha is the best!’

The fact that Isia's memories surfaced when I was expelled from the family was truly a stroke of luck.

If I had only the memories of Leticia, the noble lady, I honestly can't imagine what would have happened.

‘I might have starved to death right after leaving the capital.’

Of course, even with the past memories, life was not easy. But I wanted to live a little longer.

There were good people around me, and I was somewhat happy.

If I had stayed in the capital? Or if I had still been the lady of the dukedom.

‘I might have survived, right?’

In the novel, the capital was protected by a magic circle activated by the protagonist.

‘If that had happened.’

But the vivid pain and the will to live made me laugh bitterly.

‘What does it matter now?’

I was already dead.

The weak laughter made the darkness in front of my eyes grow distant.

Maybe the next life would be better.

After experiencing reincarnation, the thought that there might be another life seemed absurd.

If there is a next life—

‘Make it a little happier, please.’

I closed my eyes and let out my last breath—

“Miss!”

Someone started shaking my body to wake me up.

“How long do you plan to sleep! It's time to get up!”

The familiar, irritated voice of a maid.

‘Huh?’

Miss?

That was the last title I heard from the servants of the dukedom in my childhood.

‘Is this a deathbed vision?’

But if it's a deathbed vision, why is it the maid who hated and tormented me?

‘Life is truly strange.’

It would have been better if it was my father.

But this is my last memory, right?

Of course, my relationship with my father in my childhood was not good.

My father, who spent most of the year on the battlefield.

And the young daughter who felt distant from such a father.

The physical distance was hard to bridge.

My father, a knight, was cold and unfeeling, and I, starved for affection and love, thought he hated me.

My cousins also encouraged this belief.

‘Who would recognize a useless cripple like you as a daughter?’

‘Would they?’

So my relationship with my father was never smooth, even in my childhood.

But now, looking back, I think my father tried his best to bridge that distance.

He would always look for Leticia first when he returned from the battlefield, and he would stroke her head with his rough, calloused hands.

‘How are you, Leticia?’

That simple question, repeated every time.

As a child, it always made me feel disappointed, as if my heart, which had been inflated with anticipation, deflated like a punctured balloon.

But now I understand.

That was my father's way of showing love.

‘How are you, Leticia?’

I missed him.

The hidden meaning in those words.

‘Father.’

I swallowed the name lingering in my mouth and exhaled a deep breath through my chest.

It's a bit disappointing that my last vision wasn't of my father, but at least it's a last memory.

So I slowly opened my eyes.

“Ugh.”

As I lifted my heavy eyelids, the first thing I saw was the familiar ceiling.

The golden ceiling I saw every morning before being expelled from the family. It looked impressive from a distance, but up close, the cheap patterns and the thin spider webs in the corners were obvious.

“It's the same.”

But before I could savor the moment of nostalgia, a sharp pain shot through my arm as it was twisted roughly.

“How long do you plan to pretend to be sick and lie in bed! Get up quickly!”

The maid's grip, pulling me up forcefully, made me feel a sharp pain, and I gradually regained consciousness.

“It hurts.”

“What hurts! Stop pretending! Without a nanny, if you keep pretending to be sick, our work will increase!”

The maid's voice, raised to a level that made my ears ring, made me turn my head slowly.

“...Arina?”

‘Arina died a few years ago, didn’t she?’

‘Is this not a deathbed vision, but the afterlife?’

‘Do I have to suffer at Arina's hands again here?’

The moment I confirmed Arina's face, a wave of confusion made me bow my head, and my arm, held by Arina, seemed unusually short and painful.

‘Can a deathbed vision be this vivid?’

‘And aren’t deathbed visions supposed to be past memories?’

‘I don’t remember having such a moment with Arina in my memories.’

Then.

‘What is this?’

I blinked a few times, shook my head, and then shook off Arina's grip, quickly getting out of bed.

“Miss, what are you doing! That's disrespectful!”

Ignoring Arina's angry voice from behind, I approached the mirror.

The reflection in the mirror was that of a small, young Leticia.

“What is this?”

I blinked at the unbelievable scene before me and, after a while, lifted my skirt.

“Not there.”

The scars on my knees from a big fall when I was six years old were not there.

“No way.”

I lifted my head in a daze, touching the reflection in the mirror, and raised my hand as if in a trance.

Slap.

I slapped my cheek hard.

But—

“It hurts.”

It hurt.

“Miss!”

“It hurts.”

The pain was so sharp that it didn't feel like a dream or a deathbed vision.

Could it be?

“Did I come back?”

Really.

Did I regress to the age of six, Leticia?

No way!