I Wasn't Trying to Seduce with the Male Lead - Episode 2

Five Years Ago

Lady Eleanor Mariche was the editor of a women’s fashion magazine named “Hana Hyun.”

One morning, she suddenly woke up inside a romance-fantasy novel she loved and had read several times.

It took her a considerable amount of time to figure out who she was.

“What happened to the vicious baron arrested in the Mariche territory?”

“He was put in jail and died of syphilis, they say.”

“A fitting end for such a villain.”

“That’s true, but I feel sorry for his wife. She’s still so young, and they had just gotten married.”

In the original story, that was all the information there was about Eleanor. Her husband was an extra who died off-screen, and she was simply “the poor wife” whose name was never even mentioned.

She wished that if she was going to be an extra with no presence, she could have at least had a choice in her husband. As the daughter of a poor commoner, she was sold to the Mariche Baron under his threatening demands, completely helpless. At the time of their marriage, he was already imprisoned for numerous crimes, but he insisted he would soon be released and forced a wedding from behind bars.

‘To marry a man like that.’

At first, she was in despair. Countless cases of assault, harassment, coercion, extortion, theft, embezzlement, and habitual violence. Baron Mariche was the epitome of human garbage. Many of his victims were very young girls. When she married him, Eleanor was just fifteen years old.

But did fate intervene?

The Baron died in prison before she even turned sixteen. His death became the very strength that allowed Eleanor to stand up again.

‘It could have been so much worse.’

How fortunate it was that Baron Mariche was locked up. People around her whispered that she couldn’t even have her hair put up due to the prison wedding, but for Eleanor, it was a stroke of luck. She was still young and, like many wives forced to marry corrupt nobles, was a great beauty. As soon as the Baron died, marriage proposals poured in from all directions.

But Eleanor rejected them all.

‘If I remarry as a commoner, my future is obvious.’

All the proposals she received were predictable, given that she had already married into an unremarkable family. But she didn’t want to give up her position as a baroness and return to being a commoner either. Commoners in the empire had no privileges. To even gather firewood from a temple-owned forest, you had to offer an entire cart of wood to the temple. They were trapped in a cycle of poverty, forced to labor without ever being able to move.

However, if she refused to remarry and remained a baroness, she would still be a noble and the head of the Mariche Barony. This was despite the fact that the Baron’s trashy mother and sister were still alive. She decided to live as Lady Eleanor Mariche.

“Let’s see how long this vulgar patience lasts.”

Those were the first words her mother-in-law said when Eleanor took full control of the household. Since the title of the Mariche Barony had passed to her after the death of her son, Eleanor had no official title by imperial law unless she gave it up. However, she had an unconditional duty to support her in-laws. Her mother-in-law used this to torment Eleanor in every way, trying to drive her out.

The terrible treatment from her in-laws was hard, but the surrounding circumstances were equally harsh. Although Eleanor was innocent, the victims of Baron Mariche and those around him saw things differently. Just having the name Mariche meant she was hounded by demands for high-priced compensation and was frequently pointed at wherever she went.

Cornered, Eleanor didn’t cry and resent the world. Instead, she started working to raise money. She began writing sensational novels and relationship guides. Despite her in-laws’ objections to her working outside the home, she quickly found success. She had more than enough ability. She had worked at a famous magazine for a long time, covering countless feature articles and columns.

Countless topics that people in this world couldn’t even imagine—like “How to find a great guy at a summer resort” or “The slightly risqué secrets of cool girls”—were stored in her mind. They were adapted to fit her new reality, transforming into books authored by Lady Eleanor Mariche, and every single one sold astonishingly well.

Once the money started flowing in, it was easy to silence her in-laws. Ignoring their opposition, Eleanor began a social project to support the victims of Baron Mariche. Taking a loss, she opened printing and bookbinding shops in her territory and hired the victims. She also provided them with living assistance and created welfare facilities.

Her consistent charity work over the years gradually turned the initial criticism into sympathy. And once the public’s perception changed, she quickly became an object of admiration.

A young and beautiful baroness with a tragic history.

Many people wanted to meet her in person. She was invited to parties every night and held countless book readings to meet her readers. In high society, not only her writing but also her unique hairstyles, makeup techniques, and beautifully designed dresses became a topic of conversation. Noblewomen all copied Eleanor’s makeup style, which emphasized the skin and eyelashes and featured distinct eyebrows.

Five years later, at the age of twenty, she was no longer at the bottom of society. She had become one of the empire’s greatest celebrities.

“Hmm.”

Eleanor sat in a comfortable armchair, lost in deep thought. In her hands was a letter from the Calabria family. She mulled over its contents, which she had read so many times she could almost recite them from memory.

‘Lian Floyd Calabria. He’s definitely…’

The male protagonist of this novel.

The female protagonist, Princess Eileen Haskator, is beautiful, refreshing, and direct. She harbors a one-sided love for Lian, but he remains unmoved. In the original story, the Duke, desperate, brought in experts from all over to spark his son’s interest in romance, but it was all for naught.

‘It seems I’ve become one of those experts.’

In truth, the Duke didn’t need to do any of this. Soon, Eileen would devise a scheme to make it seem as though they spent the night together, and Lian, being a man of strong responsibility, would propose to her.

Eleanor was about to decline, but a different thought suddenly came to her.

‘If I play this right, it could be a significant advantage.’

He was going to propose to the princess anyway. Eleanor could just pretend to teach him dating techniques, bide her time until they got together, and then collect the benefits. When the job was done, she would become a love matchmaker who brought together the princess and the empire’s highest-ranking noble. It would be the most powerful title of her career.

‘There aren’t many opportunities this good for making money.’

Despite her huge income, her fortune was modest due to her compensation obligations and her in-laws’ extravagance. If she subtly changed their names and wrote a book, it could become the greatest bestseller in the history of the continent. She could already hear the sound of her books flying off the shelves.

‘And it might be nice to meet the male lead just once.’

She had transmigrated into a novel, and she wanted to see the main character that the author had praised so highly in the flesh. No matter how successful she was, a baroness was a lower-ranking noble. The two protagonists were part of the most privileged class in the empire. She was invited to many parties, but it was difficult to meet the true power brokers who moved the empire. If she didn’t seize this chance, she might never have the opportunity to meet them.

‘I’ve already decided that love isn’t for me…’

Ever since she chose to live alone, she had kept men at a distance. If she were to remarry now with some fringe noble with a less-than-ideal status, everything she had painstakingly built would crumble. She would go from being a tragic baroness to a pathetic married woman with an incompetent husband, and no one would listen to her love stories.

Even though she had realistically given up on love, she wasn’t completely without a longing for a beautiful romance, like any woman her age. Watching the protagonists’ love story unfold might be a nice change of pace from her dry, everyday life.

Having made up her mind, Eleanor took out her personal stationery, which had a subtle scent of perfume. With her graceful handwriting, she quickly completed a sentence.

It is an honor to be called upon. Please specify a date and I will visit. – E. Mariche

And so, Eleanor sent a reply that would change her destiny.

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