In Wonderland.༄

It was a really bright day. The student’s exams were over and the vacations were officially there. I finished early my workday on a Friday afternoon.

After a few months, with a beer in one hand, I went on my favorite website to read a wonderful novel. I started reading the first novel I picked, with a protagonist completely immersed in her role of main character, with the three most handsome guys at her feet.

The novel’s name was “The Flower of the Beast”.

Well, if one where to consider only the title, it would seem a romance novel about a passionate emperor obsessed with love, or a tyrant that behaves like a beast. Although in reality, it was a really light romance novel.
It was about an exchange student, whom managed the fishery* composed by three of the best and most handsome men of the Empire, while considering at the same time which one she wanted to be with.

It was amusing to read about how those gentlemen fought for love.
She had a bright and innocent smile that never faded, no matter what happened. The young Duke, the Master of the Tower of Magic and even the Crown Prince fell at her feet.

They were basically a drama’s recurrent cliché scenes, but for some strange reason it caught my attention, there wasn’t a Friday in which I would miss a chapter. The author’s narrative capability was good, and the novel’s phrases were nice and easy to read. And on top of everything, I knew that the male characters were men absolutely amazing. I never regretted reading it, I utterly enjoyed the author’s style. And the most important thing was that the characters of the story were…

At the year’s beginning, I found myself simply wanting to eat, read and enjoy the novel. I was about to read the first line, when I noticed the comment’s section. The latest ratings gave it 5 stars, full of anxious comments for the return of the author.

The novel’s beginning went like this:

The Crown Prince reached to the protagonist Ibelin and said: «Ibelin.»

«Your Highness.» answered Ibelin.

“Is it because of the moonlight?”

It was the same face that she always saw and got used to, but this time Ibelin found herself blushing facing Rondemio’s face, slightly shining from the moonlight. His gaze gradually made her heart race more and more.

«I ask of you to let me go, Your Highness.» said Ibelin.

And in that moment the young Duke of the Empire appeared.

«Kenneth.» said Rondemio, a grave tone in his voice revealing his jealousy.

Between the two best gentlemen of the Empire, one could sense an atmosphere as tense as a sword. Kenneth Von Esbande, the family Esbande’s Duke, gave a bitter smile to the Prince.

They were in the dark garden illuminated by the moonlight, and Kenneth didn’t bother with hiding his hostility towards the Prince and the scene that was unfolding in front of his eyes.

«Isn’t it clearly  against the rules?» asked firmly Kenneth to the Prince. 

«Rules?» repeated the Prince. «For all I remember I never agreed to such rules. Therefore, they  can’t restrict my actions.»

«Your Highness, you can’t be sayin…»

«Huh? We’re getting rid of the rules? Then I guess I can do whatever I want.»

«Arwin!» exclaimed everybody.

With a playing face just like one of a kid, Arwin Hebrim suddenly intervened. He was often laughing like a mischievous child, but Ibelin was well aware that in a confrontation between the three, he became a definite man.

Afterwards, I found myself curious of the rest of the contents. I was about to write my third comment with my opinions, and I was angry since the last chapter of the story wasn’t uploaded.

“After all my hardwork today, this definitely wasn’t a reward. But why?”

“Uh”

“What’s  happening…?”

Suddenly, my head began to spin. I wasn’t anemic, I just suffered some migraine every now and then. And that, the eternal enemy of women, wasn’t a problem unless I was on my period. Furthermore, since I wasn’t ill with cinetosis either, such a feeling was something rare to me. Still, that didn’t mean that I hadn’t kept looking at my monitor for about an hour. But I couldn’t help thinking:

“Didn’t I overwork myself these days? Huh?”

Have you ever experienced a total change in the scenery in front of you? When you’re on a roller coaster, for instance? Out of nowhere, suddenly, the world behind me enveloped me. 

In that moment, the 25 years old Hyejung suffered a terrible dizziness and passed out out of exhaustion. She was reading her favorite web-novel when she suddenly died.

In this new world, everything was dark.

«Huh?»

I couldn’t recognize the voice that came out of my vocal cords. First of all, I needed to make sure whether I was delirating or dreaming.

“Is it a dream? Wait, no, if it actually is a dream, where the hell am I?!”

I tried to get my brain to work since apparently it had forgotten how to properly think and therefore lost its function, but I just couldn’t grasp what was happening. While looking in front of me feeling all giddy, I noticed the letters suspended in the air in front of me.

“Damn it! Is it a Poltergeist’s fault or something supernatural?”

My monologue was completed after the appearance of the letters in the air. 

[Welcome in the world of the novel “The Flower of the Beast”].

«Uh… Uh? What? The Flower of the Beast?»

I understood, thanks to the message, that I was transmigrated in a fictional world, even though it was completely absurd and astonishing. Not only I transmigrated from my home in Corea to this fantasy world, but it was in my favorite novel.

It was a successful fantasy romance novel, but why was I brought there? That was the first thing I asked myself. And right after that, I was aware of the fact that the one I was in wasn’t my body.

I was in an old Rinascimental room, much different from mine back in Corea. I walked towards the mirror. The one that died was a 25 year old girl with terrible eyebags, and never, even in 10 years, would she have imagined something like this could happen.

Now I was an occidental blondie which looked to be about 7 or 8 years.

“Oh my God!”

Unaware, I kept shaking my head up and down. While flapping my arm to test it, I kept moving my body and the girl in the mirror loyally imitated my gestures. I was still really young so my short arms kept eagerly moving.

“Oh, this is crazy.”

It seemed like the body of this child was trying to greet me. 

“Of course, I remember, she was an extra in the novel. Oh God!”

My role, my career and my age changed transmigrating into a new world. The thing that struck me first was my excessive rejuvenation. A cute and young body. I laughed until I lost my breath.

After that, I cried plenty of tears while looking at my new body, the fact that I was reborn and young was enough to keep me crying and crying. I couldn’t see the positive side of things. An occidental girl, with a servant uniform, immediately ran to me and said that she didn’t know what to do. However, I ignored her and kept on crying. 

After a long time crying I fell asleep, and when I woke up I started crying again. At that point it was quite difficult to utter a sound for how sore my throat felt.

The rumor that a young girl kept crying for days spread, and this not only left her parents confused and restless, but all mansion’s workers too. 

Anyway, after crying to my heart’s content, I suddenly recalled an old saying.

“Knowledge is power, if this isn’t actually some useless dream, then I must write down everything that I know about this novel’s story before I forget about it.”

I don’t know if it was there for learning purposes or something else, but using the paper and pen found on the side of the desk, I began writing down everything that came to my mind, resulting in what follows:

Me: Latte Ectrie (That’s my name, it’s probably correct).

• Characteristics: I don’t know, but it looks like I’m a noble. 

Main female character of this story: Ibelin Dott.

• Characteristics: Beautiful, bright, pure, angelic. Always in danger. Is an exchange student.
• Abilities: Playing the field level 10. Successful, every man falls at her feet. 

Main male character n.1: Iberondemio de Helone.

• Characteristics: Handsome. Crown Prince. Always saves the heroine from perils. 
• Abilities: Swordmanship level 8 and magic level 7, although I’m not sure. 

Main male character n.2: Kenneth von Esbande.

• Characteristics: Handsome. Is the youngest Duke of the Empire, his only problem is that his misogyny makes him unable to touch any woman. He also saves the heroine from perils.
• Abilities: Swordmanship level 10.

Main male character n.3: Arwin Hebrim.

• Characteristics: Handsome. Is the Master of Tower. He doesn’t care for women, he only cares about saving the heroine from perils. 
• Abilities: Magic level 10.

Background of where I live: Helion Empire.

Characteristics of the place I’m currently at: It’s a powerful nation full of magic and fantasy. 

“…”

Once I was done writing, in order to remember it I reread it all. 

Even after reading the novel three, no, four times, I was surprised by the fact that all of my knowledge about it was only this much.

“What is this? Is this the memory level that an ex teacher has?”

I felt that my memory was worse than pathetic.

“Was I really this dumb originally?”

Luckily it was just a temporary memory loss due to the shock, and with the passing of time I started to recall other things as well.

I spent the majority of my time meditating and analyzing the situation, until I felt like my head was about to burst. For example, the author wrote that Latte’s family was not really relevant. She almost didn’t appear in the story, she was a supporting character that in the future would pester and bully the heroine while hiding behind the future villainess. Her purpose was to make Ibelin appear even more fragile and to make her stand out more proudly in front of the others.

I recalled that the heroine would come here at the age of 18 years old, and that would help me find a survival strategy. Furthermore, I recalled a line about when the Male Lead n.2 fell in love with the main character, saying:

«You’re much different from the creatures called “women” that I know of.»

“Well, it’s pretty useless. I don’t even know why this came to my mind.” 

Anyhow, I came to understand my current situation based on my knowledge. Although I was only able to catch a glimpse of the big picture, I gradually started adjusting to my everyday life. 

As I washed my hair, ate and breathed, I gradually familiarized myself with my new house and the people surrounding me. It took me about a month for me to not get startled anymore by my reflection in the mirror, and it took me half a year for me to feel at ease.

In addition, it took me about a year to be able to accept my personal goods and materials as completely mine. Two years later, I completely became “Latte Ectrie”. I’m not saying I forgot about my past, I simply acknowledged this place as a world in which I live and breath. As such, I was reborn in a new world as the daughter of noble family with big ambitions. 

On the side, my ambition was that of amplifying greatly my cleverness and my ways of making money, I had plenty of time to put together my survival strategies anyway. My name is Latte, meaning “coffee with milk”, I was originally a neglected charchater. I didn’t want to dissepear from the scene and to avoid that I ought to be a good girl living in peace in this world.

“I guess being young gives me more vitality. Shouldn’t I meet the three male leads and get acquainted to them just like Ibelin did?”

I found myself thinking of strategies to make it work. 

“Well, if it goes well I’ll get love from all three men intead of the main character. Yes! This is the golden spoon!”

And almost as if my ambitions could become reality, I got to know the Prince whom got lost in the imperial gardens, where I was taking a nap. And at the drill hall, where I went to have fun, I met the young Duke. I got to know him before his misogyny affected him, therefore becoming his best friend. In addition, on the street I was in to play, I received help from the Master of the Tower. 

The future I imagined, in which some sort of accident would lead me to befriend them. Before the main character’s appearance, I could establish a bond with the three male leads.

Even though I didn’t expect my plans to succeed, even in my wildest dreams, I wished for it with all my might and I had some pretty good strategies. Still, I never thought I would be so unlucky.

I looked for the protagonists for the entirety of Helion, here and there. It wasn’t about the fact that I couldn’t catch a glimpse of either of the three, but the bitter life lesson proving that once a supporting role is forever a supporting role.

An insuperable wall of reality stood in between Latte and main charchaters that were destined to love Ibelin. And it was a tough wall. I realized that even if I passed in front of their residences a thousand times, I would never be able to meet them, as they were protected by an ice fortress.

Although, in the imperial gardens I was actually able to find something. However, it wasn’t the Prince. The first time I visited the garden, I heard a cracking sound from my back, and I thought:

“The Prince?!”

I wanted to gouge my heart out of my chest when I realized that the responsible of the cracking sound was a rabbit; not a man, not a Prince, it was a rabbit. My hopes were withering away. I spent that day walking around the garden, going back after countless dramatic encounters with rabbits.

Note: They weren’t like the rabbits in “Re: Zero”.

And in the drill hall there was, again, no response. The only things to welcome me were the warm air, sweat’s stench, the cries of men between steel and various metals. Yes, that’s it.

That day I went back home exhausted after seeing countless hot muscles of the training empire’s men. Latte was still really young, so my parents didn’t allow me to got out alone and I had no way of thinking new strategies.

And finally, the alley. Ah… I have no idea of why I chose this street. I got lost since I didn’t have a clue of where my home was. Only in novels the protagonist goes out to play —> finds danger —> finds the male lead = gets saved. I did this without giving it much thought. 

Some huge men actually wanted to cause troubles for me with no reason at all, and at that moment it hit me that nobody would come to save me, there was no Galán for me. I was dumb, ignoring the fact that I was a simple extra. 

When I think about it now, it seems to me that I was kinda losing my mind. Surprisingly, I really was involved in an accident, and naturally, I was in danger. But to save me wasn’t the male lead, rather than a knight my father sent after me in secret. 

If it wasn’t for my father, who was worried for me after I disappeared without leaving any trace, I could’ve died like nothing and nothing would’ve changed. In comparison, the heroine could enjoy a cup of tea and relax since she knew there would be always someone to save her. That day I was saved thanks to the knight sent by my father, whom faced those men, and if it wasn’t for them I wouldn’t be here to tell this story.

After that incident, my father scolded me for three days in a row, I was grounded for a month and I had to promise to never go out alone again.

In fact, it would’ve been curious seeing the mystic prince, or the youngest Duke of the Empire, a misogynistic genius in swordsmanship, or even the Master of the Tower of Magic, whom were all recognized and known by others, near some supporting role in their way. It was impossible, and I was silly to think that they’d get acquainted with me when I was simply an extra. It was a false ambition that I couldn’t face until that moment.

10 years went by since I transmigrated in this novel and became Latte. I didn’t get a glimpse of the three male leads, I even forgot their appearances. This doesn’t mean that my past ambitions were pointless. I didn’t spent all this time doing nothing, I actually worked on my strategies to make money for surviving in this world. 

The familiar sound of fluttering wings announced the arrival of what I was waiting for. It was a nice promemoria to keep my window open. While I went through all the pages of the book, which naturally fell in my hands, the contents that I was waiting for were laying in soft letters on wide paper sheets.

I thought to myself that this work would be a success, and Booke could’ve never expected the fame we received. Other than being the first Yaoi of history, I think I could easily aspire on being in first place even in a general classification. And the news came to my ears like warm bread*. My new business partner was really happy with the gains from the first volume of my book.

“Congratulations. Have you already thought about your next work? I would like to talk about it, and I’m curious about when will be the moment.

I’ll be waiting for your reply.”

Booke, my new business partner and the head of the publishing house, held me in good regards, my work gave life to a new genre in the book history and it was sold like hot cakes, and because of it my pockets were full of money. After finishing my speciality, I felt the corners of my mouth rising on their own, and I couldn’t help but to let a laugh out. 

All right, it was clear that this new piece, “The different circumstances of the Imperial Knights”, was a huge success. I lived in “The Flower of the Beast” for a decade, and writing BL novels I hit the jackpot. In some sort of way, I even surpassed my initial ambition. 

｡:•.───────♥───────.•:

“Came to my ears like warm bread”*: I’m not really sure about the accuracy of this, I’ve searched and checked many times but I couldn’t find a more comprehensive way to translate it so I simply left it as it is.