It was a bright morning, the sunlight streaming through the window.

The man stared blankly at the mirror hanging on the bedside table, leaving behind the sunny weather that made him feel good just by looking outside.

Yeah, from the moment I woke up, I felt something was strange.

Big calluses on my hands, my crystal clear vision, my weak self-confidence in the morning, and a strangely relaxed mind.

When I pulled off the black hair that was covering my eyes, my blue eyes as clear as a lake were revealed. The facial features, which seemed to have been delicately drawn, were so beautiful that if someone says a God sculpted them, I would believe them in an instant 

But it’s not my face.

Instead of her familiar pretty face, Cordelia stared at the face of a man  she didn’t know. No matter how many times she blinked, the reality remained the same.

Cordelia’s voice, who had been staring at herself, or, someone  in the mirror for a long time, trembled.

“This, this.”

‘How did this happen?!’

***

Beautiful things truly are the best.

“That’s Ms. Cordelia!”

First of all, she’s nice to look at, and she’s also pleasing to the eye, right?

A small exclamation filled the banquet hall. A woman in a sky blue dress was standing where the gaze of a woman who had seen her fell.

A woman with golden hair curled inward, eyes shining  blue as if it contained a lake, long eyelashes and thick red lips had a noble atmosphere reminiscent of a masterpiece.

Some people pass by without seeing her, but no one has ever passed by without looking back after seeing her beautiful face. She wasn’t given the title of the most beautiful woman in the kingdom for nothing.

If her sister, Calia, is called a red rose, Cordelia was an elegant beauty reminiscent of a golden tulip.

“You’re really pretty—”

The woman was looking at Cordelia with ecstasy, one of the crowd secretly gave her a pint glass.

“Why are you so fussy?”

“Why… Jaina also saw her for the first time today… The rumors don’t even give her real beauty justice! I heard that she’s not very social, but it must be my lucky day! I just really hope Calia was here as well!”

The woman, who was staring at her friend who babbled like a sparrow, took a sip of the cider.

In fact, not only them, but most of the people in the banquet hall were spying on Cordelia.They looked at her openly, but she was oblivious of it.

If one stared at her so tenaciously, they might notice it, but Cordelia was just immersed in thought, as if bored. A bracelet with a red jewel hung on her slightly exposed white wrist was a perfect match.

“Well. She’s beautiful, but…  it doesn’t seem like she’s very modest.”

Cordelia’s harem was really popular in social circles. The half-faced men were all joking, perhaps not , that they had dated Cordelia at least once.

However, even if they were all true stories, they only lasted less than three months.

Some of those who broke up claimed that they had initiated it to Cordelia and poured out gossip, but unfortunately not many believed.

That said, Cordelia had never shown any sympathy for her opponent, and she was still the most popular in social circles.

“And by the way, doesn’t that mean there’s something wrong with her because she’s still not married?”

Most of the people in the crowd were surprised by the bold statement. Another woman who seemed older than her quietly glared at her.

“Hey, what are you talking about? Even now, there are several proposals for Duke Weichen!”

“Besides, we don’t know if she’s dating someone right now.”

“What can’t you do with money and power?”

Anyone who has ever seen Cordelia knew that even if she was being forced down, she won’t back up.

Cordelia Weichen. The youngest daughter of the Duke of Weichen, who has captivated people with her elegant beauty from the moment she entered the social world, is still enjoying the popularity of her heyday more than 10 years later.

Men who were far away from the women were also spying on Cordelia for a while, and even her side face, who was holding and gulping a glass of wine, was perfectly sculpted.

She looked so young that they couldn’t believe she was now in her thirties.

“You know what? There were rumors that Count Nelson and the Young Lady had broken up.”

“Is that really true?”

“Perhaps under the circumstances. Count Nelson’s carriage was standing in front of the Young Lady’s house, unable to enter.”

“That—”

Just then, a man approached Cordelia’s silhouette. As soon as they saw her, the men shut their mouths as promised.

It was Edward Nelson, the man who was on the topic a while ago. The man, who had just turned 30, was a handsome man with his hair straight and stylishly dressed.

The two standing side by side got along really well, but the conversation between them wasn’t very pleasant.

“Are you sure you’ve said everything?”

Contrary to the gentle smile on his face, Edward said in a soft voice in response to the cold wave that seemed to have hit him.

“Codi, I’m sorry about that day.”

“You know what you’re sorry for?”

“Not respecting your opinion properly. But you’re in the wrong as well, aren’t you?”

Cordelia’s eyebrows twitched slightly. It seemed that he had forgotten the rude speculations he had listed before me. Surely he asked for an apology and correction, but the words didn’t make sense, so why was he still saying it? He was the first to start it, and when it came to this, it was ridiculous for him to act as if it was the fault of both parties. Do you know that everything makes sense when you say it politely? Not noticing her uneasy heart, the man spoke softly,

“You know what… you’re too tight. You need to loosen up a little bit.”

“Count.”

Annoyed to hear any more, I interrupted him, and the man looked at Cordelia in amazement.

If it had been before, she would have kneeled in front of him, but as she got older, Cordelia knew a way to keep her opponent down even more than that.

“Everything you sent me was sent back to your home. I didn’t miss anything, so check it out.”

There was no emotion in Cordelia’s face, who was courteous and professional instead of the sweet and affectionate lover.

Without giving the time for Edward to be embarrassed by the watchful eyes of strangers, Cordelia immediately followed suit,

“Oh, you can take all the presents I gave you. Or throw it away.”

Then, the woman’s footsteps were extremely light as she left the man with a sense of humor, turned around with a light greeting and left the banquet hall.

The weather outside the window was very sunny.

The sun shone down on the red-roofed mansion.

A luxurious carriage stopped near the building used as a publishing house, and the woman’s footsteps were nervous as she lightly brushed her hair. There was a living space on the third floor of the building, which she gladly disregarded.

“Ah, love and novels, let’s just beat them all!”

Cordelia, who quickly entered the room and entered the drawing room on the second floor, spit angrily and sat down on the sofa.

A gentle-looking man with neatly-cut brown hair placed a steaming teacup in front of Cordelia.

“Calm down, writer. You know that readers are eagerly waiting for the author’s new book.”

“Shut it, Luther! I’m going to retire now!”

“Yes, yes. My heart understands, but you can’t.”

Whatever Cordelia said, Luther heard with one ear and shed with the other. It was one of Cordelia’s habits, to cry out for retirement whenever she hit a deadline.

The youngest member of the kingdom’s most powerful family, an elegant beauty who dominates the social world. Aside from this, Cordelia had one more name.

Lawrence Blanc. The most popular romance novelist in the kingdom.

She appeared like a comet 10 years ago and wrote all kinds of masterpieces including <Night on Frey>, gaining popularity with wealthy women including nobles, and now even commoners are recruiting readers.

That was the other face of Cordelia Weichen.

As Cordelia began to drink tea and seemed to have calmed down a bit, Luther cautiously asked the question.

“Has the manuscript made any progress?”

“No. I’m writing this and that, but I’m not progressing at all.”

Originally, the book was written by hand, but it has undergone upheaval since the temple applied magic to invent a printing machine that made it possible to mass-produce it.

Since it became possible to print books by entrusting them to the shrine, the number of bookstores as well as small publishers in charge of publishing gradually increased.

However, in the early days, the market was not large because the people who could read were mainly nobles, wealthy commoners, and monks.

As the price of books became much cheaper than before and the number of commoners who could read increased, it was inevitable that the market would expand.

The number of writers also gradually increased, and Cordelia was the next generation of writers in the early days.

When Cordelia first wrote anonymously and sent it to publishers, the only positive contact was Mason Luther. Luther went so far as to say that that decision changed my publishing life.

Contrary to the prejudice about who reads romance novels, Cordelia’s romance was a huge hit, contributing to making Cordelia’s pseudonym Lawrence Blanc,one of the most popular writers in the kingdom.

From innocent and fresh love to sensual descriptions, Cordelia, who can easily digest any story, was definitely a talented writer.

… Of course, it was no different from other writers in making people suffer when the deadline came. Cordelia laid herself flat on the table.

“But seriously, the subject doesn’t come to mind. What about this?”

“Would it be okay if I bring some of the works you’ve written in the past?”

“No! What’s the fun of seeing something you’ve already seen again? Most of all, I can’t think of a great male protagonist.”