“Pay up right now! Give me the money!”
At seventeen, Judith’s situation was dire. She was, quite literally, an orphan left with nothing but debt.
“If you don’t pay at least the interest by this Thursday, I won’t let you off easy!”
It felt like the twentieth time she had heard that same threat.
Judith Aylan sighed, her shoulders slumped, and she closed her eyes. Since her father, Paul Aylan, had taken his own life, she—the only daughter—was now the Baroness in name only.
It was a hollow title; she possessed nothing but a mountain of debt.
Everything of value had been stripped away by her mother before she fled. She had stolen every piece of Judith’s jewelry, along with the servant to whom she had been closest.
The only thing left behind was Judith.
“What am I really supposed to do?”
Draped in a single, worn-out dress, Judith let out a ragged sigh. The fact that her father, a man so addicted to gambling he rarely came home, had died, and her mother—who had been too occupied with a servant to notice her daughter—had run away, felt oddly detached. It was as if she were mourning a stranger.
It felt like something she had vaguely feared for a long time had finally bled into reality.
However, the one thing she couldn’t view with such detachment was the debt that had become her anchor.
“What do I do…”
She no longer had any friends. After her father’s death, she had gone around begging for help, only to lose every connection she had in the process.
But the debt was so colossal that she didn’t even have the heart to resent them for turning her away.
If she couldn’t pay the interest, she would be dragged off by loan sharks. In situations like this, noble ladies usually took their own lives to preserve their honor, or were sold to wealthy old men to settle their family’s accounts.
To put it frankly, she was cornered. There was no room left to move.
But there was one thing. One singular, strange advantage: Judith had recalled her past life the moment her father died.
While she was being evicted, before she could even see the faces of the friends she had once called close, the realization struck her: she had been reincarnated into a book she had read in her previous life.
‘Ugh, even if I try to leverage the original story, the timing is way too early.’
She knew the starting point of the plot because the cheap boarding house where she currently resided was in the exact neighborhood that would soon be reduced to ash.
The prologue of the novel, *Flower Of Ruins*, began with that very street erupting into flames.
In short, it was a story about a plucky florist who loses her home, survives the ensuing hardship, and finds love.
She hadn’t read the book particularly carefully, but every detail remained sharp in her mind.
As soon as she remembered her past life, Judith had checked on the neighborhood florist—the original female lead. The girl was only twelve years old.
That meant there were three years until the fire, and eight years until the protagonist began to entangle herself with the male leads.
‘Isn’t there… isn’t there something I can use?’
Fortunately, Judith could recall the contents of the narrative down to the last word. But no matter how much she scoured the lives of the protagonists, no viable solution appeared.
‘Then, what about the villain’s side? Well, the villain must still be a child, too. Hmm, wait!’
Karl Mayous, the man who would eventually harbor twisted obsessions and torment the female lead, had a tragic backstory.
‘Mayous Ducal Mansion!’
Karl’s transformation into a villain was triggered by his childhood. A temporary, contract daughter-in-law brought into the house had secretly abused him while he was young. Emotionally volatile because his beloved older brother had gone missing, the boy couldn’t even tell his parents and suffered in silence.
Because of this, his personality curdled, and he eventually grew into a monster…
‘That contract daughter-in-law, couldn’t I be her? The Mayous Ducal House just needed someone, didn’t they?’
In reality, they intended to pick a maid and register the marriage, claiming she was carrying the child of the missing eldest son. Their goal was to delay the official report of the eldest son’s death. If the runaway returned unexpectedly, that would be a bonus.
They could have forced the issue using the power of the Ducal House, but the risks were too high.
‘Above all, in the original story, the Imperial Family hates the Mayous Ducal House. If they forced a marriage and then canceled it, it would give the Emperor an excuse to attack.’
So, they needed a woman to legally register the marriage. The Ducal House would pay handsomely for the trouble.
‘In the end, the eldest son never returns. They just claim the baby was miscarried and send the woman packing with a hefty sum…’
Judith rolled her eyes as she sank into thought.
‘What if I step into that spot? I won’t abuse the young villain; I’ll just take the money and leave. Isn’t that good for everyone?’
Even if he were a villain, no child deserved that kind of cruelty. And if she prevented his descent, that was a bonus.
Judith steeled her resolve. Three years later, if she approached the Mayous Ducal House at the right time, it wouldn’t be difficult to snatch that position.
The Ducal House would provide a large sum, and her massive debt would be resolved in one stroke.
‘Of course, I won’t be offered the deal as easily as that maid in the original, so I’ll have to use my head, but anyway…’
The problem was the three years until then.
‘I have to survive. How do I pay the interest in the meantime?’
Odd jobs wouldn’t be enough. Judith clutched her head. She meticulously combed through her memory, searching for any scrap of information she could monetize.
‘…Ah! Information! I know the information.’
Her eyes sparkled.
‘There’s an information guild in this alley.’
The book mentioned that when this street burned down, the headquarters of the *Gray Information Guild*—which was flourishing in the capital—also burned, and everyone inside died. That was why the male lead had felt such regret later.
‘Couldn’t I sell them the information I have?’
It wouldn’t be a fortune, but it was better than nothing.
‘The *Gray Information Guild*, right?’
Judith stood up and stepped out onto the street.
‘I have to meet the Master no matter what. If the information isn’t recognized by the Master, it won’t be worth a copper.’
* * *
The information guild wasn’t in a secret location. It was tucked away like any other neighborhood shop, marked by a plain sign. However, meeting the Master was a different matter.
The *Gray Information Guild* was an emerging force in the city, growing rapidly.
Many sought an audience with the Master, but he remained elusive. According to local gossip, no one had ever seen his face.
“I’m here to sell information.”
When she arrived at the building, Judith was determined to deal only with the Master.
“Please tell me,” the receptionist at the entrance said with a faint, professional smile. “I will deliver it to the Master.”
“I want to tell him directly.”
“That is impossible by policy. If you tell me the information, I will relay it, and then we will discuss payment.”
“Ah.”
It was the response she expected. Judith smiled, lifted her chin, and dropped her voice.
“Don’t tell me the Master is refusing to see me just because I’m young?”
She knew her age wasn’t the reason, but she had to set the stage for what followed.
“I happen to know the Master is a minor as well.”
The receptionist froze, his professional mask slipping into a look of genuine agitation. As Judith maintained her confident expression, the door behind the reception desk swung open.
A young man wearing a mysterious mask stepped out.
“This.”
His expression was hidden, but the flicker of amusement in his voice was clear.
“You are an interesting guest.”
It was the first meeting with the mysterious Master, the man with whom Judith would be tied for the next three years.