Prologue
“Hm, Katrin! What do you think of this teacup?”
“It’s pretty, my lady.”
At present, Lynette was touring teahouses with her nanny Katrin, secretly conducting all kinds of investigations. Studying the teacup carefully, she quickly sketched its shape into her notebook and jotted down its features. Then she tasted the tea.
“How’s the taste?”
“Well, it’s all the same to me. To be honest, for someone like me, this tea tastes just like that one, and that one tastes like this one.”
Although Katrin had often seen tea, she had rarely drunk it herself, so she sipped it indifferently.
Lynette noted down Katrin’s reaction too—that it only tasted like grass.
“If they want to sell premium tea here, there has to be demand. But ordinary folks with light purses won’t be drinking expensive tea.”
Most teahouses in Indigo, the capital of Iraine, sold green tea, black tea, and floral blends. The problem was that each tea lacked distinct character. All the leaves seemed to come from the same workshop and tasted nearly identical.
“They’re clearly buying their tea leaves from the same supplier.”
“Hm, then if someone opens a regular teahouse, two out of three will fail, and one might barely get by.”
For the average person, distinguishing subtle tea flavors was difficult. Even with green tea, the season of harvest changes the taste, but very few could tell.
In the end, something unique, fragrant, and stimulating—unlike ordinary tea—was needed.
“But this layout looks nice.”
“Yes, the interior design is pleasant.”
Lynette carefully noted down every detail of the teahouses they visited, recording the good points and discarding the bad.
After surveying all the teahouses in Indigo, she summoned a builder to the building she had already purchased and began fervent discussions about remodeling.
“I want this window widened. Use glass, even if it’s expensive. Also, make it possible to hang curtains. And the counter should be long and narrow…”
As Lynette drew out her ideas, the builder took notes, nodding along.
She was a rare customer in those days. Especially during a slump, it was unusual not only to buy a shop but also to renovate its interior. So the builder promised enthusiastically to make it just as she wanted.
“Then, I’ll leave it to you. Ah! But where should I get the signboard and furniture made?”
“We’ll take care of everything. Just tell us the style you want.”
Seeing the owner clasp his hands earnestly, Lynette wrote down her desired style and even sketched it for him.
“Don’t worry. We’ll start work tomorrow.”
“Please finish as quickly as possible. Here’s the down payment.”
She pressed several gold coins into his hand, bringing a broad smile to his face.
“Thank you. I’ll make sure it’s sturdy and finished swiftly, just as you asked.”
“And if problems arise afterward?”
“Just let me know, and we’ll fix it immediately, hahaha.”
The owner bowed repeatedly as he saw Lynette off.
Soon, several workers arrived at her shop, and—just as she wished—the renovation began swiftly. She had paid a bit more than usual, which spurred things along.
Lynette watched the work from outside. Katrin, standing beside her, handed her a handkerchief to cover her nose from the dust. Smiling gently under the cloth, Lynette murmured,
“This is my first shop.”
Seeing her young mistress beam with dreams at her very first business, Katrin also smiled warmly.
“Let’s go pick out things for the interior. We’ll need to match the teacups.”
“Yes, but what about the other equipment?”
“Hm? Ah! I already spoke to the tea supplier. They said such things aren’t found in Iraine, so they have to be imported from the Sepia Empire.”
As the renovations continued, the list of items Lynette purchased grew as well, filling her home with boxes.
❅
A few weeks later—
“Master, it’s crooked on one side.”
“Like this?”
“A little more to the right!”
Two men on ladders were hanging the sign as Lynette directed them. The sign was the shop’s face—she couldn’t allow it to hang askew.
“Ah! Perfect. Fix it like that.”
Once Lynette approved the symmetry, they secured it firmly.
Attraction.
In elegant script, the sign bore a motif of coffee beans. The more she looked, the more it pleased her, and she couldn’t help but smile.
“‘Attraction’—what a beautiful name.”
It was a name she and Katrin had carefully thought up together.
“I hope people will be drawn in, just like the name.”
“Of course. Katrin came up with it, after all. I really love it.”
They had wracked their brains for hours, going through countless options, before settling on Katrin’s suggestion: Attraction.
What a wonderful word—gentle and inviting, not as blunt as ‘love’ or ‘fondness,’ but carrying warmth.
Once the sign was up, Lynette hugged Katrin and jumped for joy.
After paying off the remaining balance, she stepped inside.
Six tables had been set: two for four people and four for pairs. Seeing them in place filled her with pride.
When Katrin found her cleaning the interior herself, she quickly took the rag away and did it instead.
Looking around the sparkling shop, Lynette then stepped outside to view the whole from afar.
The feeling was overwhelming. She still couldn’t quite believe she owned such a place.
Seeing her lost in thought, Katrin said with a soft laugh,
“I hope my lady finds as much happiness ahead as she’s had loneliness and sadness until now.”
“Sorry for always showing you only that side of me. I’ll try to smile more from now on.”
Katrin, who had stayed by her side longer than her own mother, was precious beyond words. Lynette nestled into her arms, smiling, and Katrin kissed the crown of her head.
After watching the shop for a while, Katrin left to prepare dinner. Lynette, still full without eating, remained to caress every corner of the shop.
“Is this truly mine?”
This wasn’t one of those shops leased with loans and deposits, struggling to pay monthly rent.
It was hers. Purely her own. Any profit would be entirely hers.
She walked to the counter, placed beans in the new roaster, and slowly roasted them. The rich aroma began to fill the fresh, wood-scented shop.
Opening a typical teahouse would never stand out. That’s why she had chosen instead to create the first café in the Iraine Empire—selling coffee.
Coffee cherries didn’t grow in Iraine. Beans and machines alike had to be imported from Sepia. Thus, she priced coffee higher than tea. Not that people here knew what coffee should cost.
By contrast, teahouses had little leeway with pricing.
“You always have to match the neighbors’ prices, raising or lowering with them.”
Without collusion, you couldn’t keep prices aligned. Even a small difference made customers complain: “This place is pricier; that one’s cheaper.” She didn’t want to hear that.
Better to sell something new, coffee, where no one could argue over price. And if anyone did complain, she could explain that everything was imported.
“Yes, coffee is the way. Strong and stimulating—nothing beats it. Still, I wonder if it will succeed.”
From her research, coffee was commonplace in Sepia. Families roasted their own beans at home.
But here, it was still unfamiliar. Would people even come in to try it?
“No, I mustn’t doubt before I’ve even begun. Attraction will succeed. It’ll do so well I’ll need to hire staff!”
Resolute, Lynette ground the freshly roasted beans and brewed the first coffee in Attraction.
The cup she had specially ordered, modeled after the designs she’d studied in teahouses, now held a pitch-black liquid.
She cupped the warm vessel reverently in both hands, took a sip, and smiled brightly.
“Yes, this is it.”
First-timers might say it was bitter, even burnt. But Lynette tasted coffee’s richness, its slight acidity, and the lingering chocolatey finish.
The clean sensation down her throat made her exclaim. After countless trials, she had finally perfected the flavor. Of course, she would refine it further after opening.
“Even if not all of Iraine, I’ll at least get everyone in Indigo addicted to coffee!”
With that ambitious vow, Lynette sipped her first cup at leisure.
Though the café wasn’t open yet, the aroma wafted out the open door, drawing curious glances from passersby. Seeing their reaction, Lynette smiled in relief and finished the last of her coffee.
‘When was the last time I felt this kind of peace?’
She looked up at the blue sky.
Today it seemed especially high and clear, with no clouds at all—as if wishing success to Attraction. Among the countless people living under that sky, Lynette smiled faintly.
“Feels strange, relaxing while everyone else is busy working.”
It was like strolling through empty streets while the world was at work.
Relishing the rare leisure, she tilted her cup—only to find it empty. With a sigh, she set down the cooled vessel.
Breathing in the familiar aroma, Lynette folded her arms and thought back on the journey that had brought her here.
“I wasn’t originally from this world… Or maybe I can say I am?”
Speaking words no one else could understand, she narrowed her eyes at the fine cup.
“The people of this world will never know—that this café is run by the villainess who killed her sister and husband.”
She chuckled dryly, memories she had long sealed away resurfacing.
Chapter 1
“Why on earth did you do such a thing! Why!”
Even at her father’s furious roar, Lynette raised her chin as though she were proud. Her hands and the hem of her skirt were still stained with dried blood.
Seeing her father’s face collapse in despair as if the world had ended, Lynette bit her lip.
Just a few days ago, Lynette had been happy—so happy others envied her. Her beloved husband, Fernando, would do anything for her.
The days she spent with him had felt like heaven. In his eyes, filled only with her, she found the sweetest joy. She had been overjoyed knowing she was the sole object of his gaze.
But that happiness shattered far too quickly—like a fragile leaf clinging desperately until a winter gust knocked it down, only to be trampled and crushed.
“Father, Fernando and Sister… they had a secret affair behind my back…”
Clutching the rusty cold bars, Lynette gritted her teeth and forced the words out.
“Even so! No matter what, how could you kill them!”
“If Sister and my husband hadn’t betrayed me, I wouldn’t have killed anyone!”
When Fernando sent her on a trip, she had been delighted to enjoy the freedom. But when she returned early, missing him dearly, what she witnessed was their adultery.
Seeing her sister and her husband committing the unforgivable, Lynette didn’t ask for reasons—she killed them both on the spot. Instantly, she was imprisoned for murder.
Yet she never regretted it. Not once.
Her father, seeing this, covered his face with his hands and sobbed.
“Oh, heavens… Esther, what are we to do now? Ah…”
“Father, even now, you think of my cheating sister? Of course—you only ever cared for her. Fine, then. Leave. I no longer have a father.”
“And I no longer have a daughter like you. I will erase your name from the House of Pruina.”
As her father turned and left coldly, tears finally spilled down Lynette’s cheeks.
Her father had always loved Esther, who resembled their mother, more than her. No matter how hard Lynette tried to wedge herself into that affection, it was useless. That’s why she had married her childhood friend, Fernando, so early—to leave that house.
But now, Esther had stolen not only their father’s love but Fernando as well. Thinking of her sister, Lynette clenched her teeth.
Even when her father-in-law, Count Phyllis, came, Lynette never once apologized for the murder.
“Father-in-law, your son had an affair with my sister. I saw it with my own eyes!”
“Silence! How dare you utter such filth!”
“Then are you saying I killed them and fabricated the whole story? No matter how desperate, who could imagine an affair with one’s own sister-in-law? Yet I saw it!”
“How dare you, after killing my son, speak such things!”
Count Phyllis harshly condemned her. No matter how true the affair was, no one believed her.
“Even if it were true—does that justify murder? At most, your sister was merely Fernando’s mistress. If you had not been so lacking, would he have needed her at all?”
“Father-in-law! How can you say that to me! I loved Fernando with my whole life!”
“Our son never loved you! You clung to him so desperately that even other marriage offers stopped coming, so we had no choice but to wed you to him!”
Spitting on the floor, Count Phyllis hurled curses before storming out. At the trial, he demanded her execution, insisting she be punished as a wicked woman.
Her father said nothing. He only averted his eyes.
“We hereby erase Lynette Pruina’s name from the noble register and sentence her to death.”
After the trial, Lynette was immediately taken to the execution grounds. Since she had confessed, the proceedings ended swiftly.
“Why, why did you do it?”
As she was dragged away, her older brother, Edgar, appeared and stuck a hairpin into her hair.
“A birthday gift. I’m sorry it’s late.”
Though they usually quarreled whenever they met eyes, that hairpin allowed her to see the world one last time. All she had done was kill adulterers, yet the whole world cursed her.
“I am not guilty! I simply could not stand watching the one I loved betray me! Why must I stay silent even after witnessing such treachery?”
With that final cry, Lynette—branded history’s greatest villainess—was beheaded.
The cold touch at her nape was the last thing she ever felt.
“Ugh… ah…”
When she could think nothing, she felt someone shaking her.
“M… iss… ah…”
Was this hell? It was unusually noisy. Annoyed that she could not even rest in death, Lynette shouted:
“Ugh, shut up already!”
“Young Lady? You’re awake? Oh, my lady! Hic…”
“What… what?”
Hearing a voice calling to her so desperately, Lynette instinctively opened her eyes—and froze.
“Where am I? Who am I?”
“Young Lady? Don’t you remember me? Oh dear, perhaps the injuries made you lose your memory. What shall we do…”
A middle-aged woman buried her head on Lynette’s bed and sobbed. Looking around, Lynette covered her face with her hands. She needed a moment to think.
“This is… a room…”
“Yes, that’s right. This is your room, Lady Lynette. Do you remember now?”
“Ah… sorry, but could you leave me alone for a moment?”
She needed time alone. After sending the woman out, Lynette clutched her bandaged head.
“I… I was definitely…”
Her memories were a mess. She remembered being an ordinary woman in modern-day Korea. She had fallen down the stairs during an argument with her boyfriend—that was her first memory.
Her second memory was being reborn here as Lynette, living as the infamous villainess, and dying.
“So the conclusion is—my past life memories didn’t surface until now?”
In other words, when she was reincarnated, she had no memory of Korea. Only now, after returning, did they resurface.
“So I died falling down stairs, reincarnated here… but wait—this world is from a novel!”
Yes—this world was the free serialized novel that Lee Seoyul (her Korean self) had once read. She had heard of reincarnating into books before, but never into a free web novel.
And of all roles—she had become a side villainess in an unfinished serial.
Still, one thing was certain: this wasn’t just a transmigration. She had reincarnated, lived as Lynette, died, and now returned with all her memories.
“Which means… this is my third life. Ha… but wait—what time is it now? Ah!”
She quickly recalled the novel she had loved, though unpopular, written by her favorite author.
“Lynette Pruina fell down the stairs and was injured in January of her twentieth year. So that’s now.”
This was the perfect timing to change everything. In this third life, she had no intention of dying early.
“What was my nanny’s name again? Katrin!”
When she called, the middle-aged woman quickly rushed in.
“My lady! Have you regained your memory?”
“More or less. Anyway, I want to meet Father.”
In a few months, she was supposed to marry Fernando. She had to break that engagement as soon as possible. First, she needed to speak with her father.
“Young Lady, while you were unconscious, the Lord, Young Master, and Eldest Lady were gathered discussing matters.”
Katrin helped her change clothes. She couldn’t appear outside in her nightgown.
Left alone briefly, Lynette looked toward the window.
Chirp, chirp—
Unknown birds were crying outside. It was winter, and food was scarce. She gently opened the window and sprinkled some feed.
She had always fed them before fainting, so they must have been waiting.
“Hungry? Sorry…”
After they ate, one bird looked at her briefly before flying away.
“Just like my grandmother said when naming me—I want to live freely.”
Smiling faintly, Lynette walked out.
Servants gasped and bowed as she passed, shocked to see someone awake and walking after days in a coma.
When the study doors opened, she saw her father, Kenneth Count Pruina, Edgar, and Esther chatting over tea.
“L-Lynette… you’ve awakened?” Kenneth asked, surprised.
“Yes, somehow I did.”
“Lynette! Do you know what kind of meeting this is? Watch your words.”
Kenneth glared, but Lynette only shrugged with a smile.
“What kind of meeting? A discussion about me not waking up, wasn’t it? I suppose I should thank you—I woke up just in time.”
Smiling sweetly, she turned to Esther. Perfectly resembling their mother, Esther smiled kindly and said she was glad Lynette had awakened.
But Lynette couldn’t feel any sincerity. Esther must have preferred her absence—more time with Fernando that way.
Recalling the novel’s events, Lynette sat down.
“Author, please help me… I even tipped you coins!”
Since free novels earned no money, she had donated coins to support the author.
After a breath, she looked at Kenneth and spoke firmly:
“I’m not getting married.”
“What? What nonsense is this! Weren’t you always saying you couldn’t live without him?” Edgar frowned. He had warned her before, but she had always refused to listen.
“Indeed—you swore you’d rather die than not marry him. You begged for this marriage every day!” Kenneth shook his head. The family arrangement had already been made—it wasn’t something to be canceled on a whim.
“You claimed you loved Fernando. Are you just confused after waking?”
Esther gently held Lynette’s hand as if to comfort her.
But Lynette shook her off, laughing bitterly at her sister’s false concern.
“Lynette! How dare you treat your sister so—”
“Fernando and Sister had a secret tryst.”
“…What?”
“They did things they should never have done. Do you understand now, Father?”
The air froze. Kenneth and Edgar’s eyes turned toward Esther.
“F-Father, Brother! Do you think I would ever… with my future brother-in-law…”
Shaking her head desperately, Esther pleaded innocence. Kenneth seemed relieved.
But Edgar frowned—he had glimpsed how different Esther acted when their father wasn’t around.
Esther glared at Lynette viciously. Lynette chuckled coldly.
“Shall I describe what you and that man did in my room? Shall I make it PG? Rated 15? Or adults-only 18+? Pick a rating—I’ll explain in detail accordingly.”
