Resetting Lady Chapter 1: A 17-year-old girl

00. A 17-year-old girl

The beginning was always the sa.

The gray sky, the drizzling rain, the muddy, barren garden. The chill in the air, the mud-stained nightgown. The gash on her throat that stung. If she didnt go back to the mansion soon, the gardener would find her. She kicked the rope near her feet and headed to the passage used by maidsshe failed again this ti. Its cold. This ti, once again. She gritted her teeth. What went wrong this ti.

Unlike the damp hallway, the room inside was warm. The temperature was better due to the thick fur quilts that blocked out the cold and the fire that burned in the fireplace.

She took off her dirty clothes and threw them into the fireplace, at which, the fire died because her clothes were wet.

Cursing to herself as she turned on the lamp at the foot of her bed, she poured oil into the fireplace so that the fire would burn once more. She stared at the woman in the mirror. She failed again this ti.

She sat on a wooden chair, and on the table was a piece of paper and a small tub of ink. After staring at those for a long ti, she grabbed a pen. Dipping it into the inkwell, she wrote on the piece of paper.

117. My na is

She lost her grip over the pen and stopped writing. Whats the point? Even her na was aningless. She felt empty. This ti, this ti! She thought the sa thing for ten years. For the next thirty years, she tried to adapt. The next twenty years, she only thought about how she could make herself die. Then, the next five years were spent doing nothing. And And.

Carynne Hare.

She fell into a book.

And for 117 years, she couldnt get out.

* * *

The book she transmigrated into was a typical romance novel. Carynne, the daughter of a minor fief lord, was to be wed to her relative, Dullan Roid, so that her family could keep the territory. But just like any other female protagonist, Carynne was a girl who dread of true love, and so she broke off her engagent.

She couldnt possibly love a slly, skinny, hateful-looking man. After that, Carynnes family fell into ruin, so she started working as a lady-in-waiting for a young noblewoman, and there, she fell in love with Raymond, the fianc of the young noblewoman. Following many trials and adversities, Carynne and Raymond got married.

The novels tiline was roughly over a year, and she also succeeded in marrying Raymond by using the sa thod. Happy ending. Happy ending.

After this chapter ended, Carynne was murdered the very next page. It was through poison. After collapsing because of the burning pain, she woke up at dawn, in the middle of the garden. She had trembled with fear.

Then, she fell in love with Raymond once again. She fell asleep in his embrace. Yet, when she opened her eyes, she was back in the sa garden. This was the second ti she died, and she didnt even know why.

The third loop was spent staying away from Raymond, who then married another woman, and Carynne applauded as she attended the wedding as a guest. After the ceremony, she died after being trampled by a horse during the wedding procession. Her whole body was mangled.

The sa was true after this round. The reason was different every ti, but the end was always the saher death.

Just in case it would work, she pushed through with her engagent a few years ago. Her engagent with Dullan hadnt been broken, and she had wedded him without any problems. But when she woke up once more, she was back in the sa garden. She didnt know which it was that sent her back, whether it was when she had died or whether it was when a year had passed.

It wasnt until a considerate amount of ti that she figured out the chanics of the loop.

1. The duration is one year. It always starts in the garden while its raining.

2. After one year, Carynne dies for whatever reason and will return to the sa ti and place.

3. She would start anew while bringing back with her the things in her hands that she was holding as she died.

Thanks to the third law, she was able to have faith that she wasn't dreaming. The number 116 was engraved onto the flat gold coin in her hand. After changing the number 6 to 7, she looked up at the ceiling. She couldnt even rember her original face anymore.

She had lived as Carynne for more than a century. As her mind grew more than twice as old as her body, she had lost any hope of being able to leave this novel.

Id rather die, really.

Youre not supposed to say that, Milady. I cant imagine a world without you here.

Nancy, a dark-skinned maid, berated Carynne lightly as she brushed her hair. She could still rember a ti where the worlds most important Missus was a woman who had the sa dark skin. It was more than a hundred years ago. It was too vague of a mory to even call it a mory.

Whenever she saw this maid who was closest to her, Carynne would be reminded again that she wasnt from this world. When she saw for the first ti how the maid bowed towards her, Carynne shuddered in reluctance.

But then again, if this maid did not keep her head down as she left the room, she would be punished and beaten. This was how colored people were treated here, even the elderly. She had witnessed it for 117 years. Only ti could change such values of humanity.

Does Milady not like Lord Dullan to that extent?

Theres no way she would like him. All the people here were like ink on paper to her. It was all aningless, fleeting, and yet ink inherently wasnt harmless. Anyone could die if they drank ink. Should she say that the ink was poison? Whats left would be but an epheral mont of joy. It was a short pleasure spanning for even less than a page.

She chuckled inwardly. As disfigured as Dullan looked, he was worse in bed. The last ti she slept with him was a few years ago. And he had always been a stuttering, clumsy, ugly young man who lacked vigor.

Hes ugly.

Oh my goodness.

If we swap his lower parts with your lovers, Ill consider him again.

Where did Milady hear such words? Which maid said that?

Dont be so uptight. Its just a harmless joke from a 17-year-old girl who doesnt even know what a mans genitals look like.

Ive been taking care of you since you were a baby, but what are you talking about now? I didnt raise you like this In any case, after ten years of marriage, sothing like this would be nothing.

Thats not it.

Do you think it would last ten years with Dullan?

Then will it end after only a year? Youll have more ti. Lets hurry up and tighten your corset first. You should see if you can have at it with a better man than Dullan with a thin waist.

Mmh!

If it werent for this bloody corset, she could have had more fun. The whalebone corset, which squeezed her dry even of her swearwords, would more likely chew and bite at her waist than to just make it thin. It was suffocating. She hated this era.

Nancy, I co from a ti period where voluptuous won are popular.

If you live in that ti period, then youd be the slimst of them all, what with you being such a picky eater.

No, Nancy. Truthfully, she was quite the glutton.

Greasy at, sweet snacks, all the kinds of food that would lt in her mouth. She liked all of these things, but the food in this world didnt suit her palate. The bread was too hard and the at slled and tasted fishy. Salt was so expensive that she could only eat salty food once a week before she married Raymond.

That was the biggest reason why she liked Raymond. He provided her with good food. He was a man who could give both good food and good sex. Carynne swallowed the words that she couldnt utter.

Are you not going to attend the worship service today as well?

Ill listen to such prayers five tis a day after I get married anyway, so whats the point?

Dullan was a priest. Along with the local parish, he would also receive the land of the Hare family. As she thought of Dullan, who recited the na of God from their first night as a wedded couple and for all the days to co, Carynne felt like throwing up.

How blas. Ive been with Milady since you were young, but youre a little different today. Everyone says its like this before getting married, but youll be fine.

No, Im not fine, Nancy.

She had not been fine for 117 years.

* * *

It was a young ladys 17th birthday, but they were far from the capital, so it wasnt a grand event. All the more so for Carynne, whose marriage was already halfway confird.

The roads surrounding the fief werent in good condition either, and the nearest estate to the fiefdom was at a distance that would take one entire day of a carriage ride. And so, the hall was inevitably quiet.

Relatives and people who were connected to the fief in terms of business, who only vaguely exchanged letters with the family, wandered into the hall. And the clumsy musicians, who were forced to play for this event, were out of sync. They all had the expression I want to get this over with and just get paid already stamped across their faces.

Even in such a place, Carynne was the center of attention. It wasnt just because she was the star of this event, but because her beauty made her shine.

Her red hair, which was skillfully styled by Nancy, was naturally wavy, and the tight corset she was wearing emphasized both her bust and the thin waist that it was around.

Even though she was only seventeen years old, she was breathtakingly alluring. Those who killed ti while prattling on with perfunctory conversation would grow lively when conversing with her.

Carynne could tell what they were thinking even if they wouldnt say it aloud. She was a woman who was in a tentative engagent, so they couldnt approach her openly.

But the mont Carynne would say, I dont want to get married like this, they would cry out with joy. They would be so excited to rip her clothes and pounce on her.

She spent about seven years rolling around the sheets with n, but she got tired of that faster than she thought she would. Most of them slled horrible and didnt even manage their pubic hair properly, so the experience was quite revolting.

This ti, Carynne was set on doing sothing. She was too lazy to marry Raymond, too lazy to spend ti taking care of the fiefdom. Shes already read almost all the books she could get her hands on, and the food here wasnt delicious at all.

C-Carynne Hare. Y-Your h-husband has co to you, yet y-you make that face?

Not yet.

F-Fianc.

Either way, not yet.

Dullan, Carynnes fianc.

It was strange how he wore his black priests robe while attending his fiances birthday banquet. She was already used to it, but her brows would still furrow at the unpleasant sight of him being unbearably self-conscious. What she couldnt stand wasnt really how whispers followed them while they were together, but rather his attitude of being so conscious of the eyes on him.

It was embarrassing. He arrived a while ago, yet he didnt even change his clothes. What he wore right now didnt match the occasion, and there were mud stains clinging onto the edges of his pants.

He slled disgustingly of dicine, wine and acrid rain. His wide eyes looked like a dead fishs, and the black shadows underneath them made it so that children would cry at just the sight of him. Even maids would sotis get surprised after seeing him. And those eyes were looking at Carynne right now.

Of course, Carynne had gotten used to them for over a hundred years, so she wasnt particularly affected by that ghastly gaze.

W-What are you thinking about?

Nothing much.

He was very tall, but he was skinny, had no money, and didnt know how to use his d*ck. He was a man who didnt love Carynne and instead lusted for her. Apart from that, he was arrogant and rude.

Carynne loathed him, yet at the sa ti, she hated herself for feeling so strongly towards re ink on paper.

If he was even the least bit attractive, none of the conflict in the novel would have happened!

It was a laughable thought. Just what the hell was this man. She had tried getting married to him, but that didnt work. When she returned after spending a year with Dullan, her frustration had reached its peak.

Everything was aningless. She had lived compassionately back then, like a nun, but it was all for nothing.

Life is aningless.

B-But After getting m-married

All won who are about to get married feel the sa way and the sa frustration, but most of these concerns disappear after you get married. Stop thinking youre so sort of fairytale princess, Lady Hare, is what you were about to say, right?

S-Similar.

Yes, it was exactly the sashe wanted to reply like this, but she complained inwardly instead. What he said to her several tis back then while stuttering was Youll marry anyway, so wake up.

Its not like that.

If only her complaints were only that much.

She just wanted to grow old. Or die. No she just didnt want to be in this place anymore. She was tired of it all. The sa conversations, the sa responses even after 100 tis! Even the stuttering.

Swallowing a desperate scream, Carynne mimicked a 17-year-old girl who was moderately pouty. As he admired her beauty a little, the 25-year-old Dullan stopped being sarcastic. Dullan thought that Carynne was being immature, and he was right.

About a century ago. Maybe even now. Carynne was already 117 years old, but there was no one who treated her as such, so she didnt find the need to act according to her age either.

Carynne, the redheaded beauty with purple eyes who lived forever.

The orchestra began playing.

t/n: hello there~ im yonnee, the translator for this series. just want to say how much i absolutely adore this novel because its so different from the usual shoujo/josei transmigration and regression novels out there, and all the blood and murder in this one is really up my alley~

resetting lady is officially tagged as R15 on kakaopage, but ive read so comnts and reviews online saying that it may as well have been tagged as R19 because of the heavy subject matters it deals with. nothing too explicit, but it could get too rough later on, so consider yourself warned!

i hope you enjoy reading about carynnes journey as much as i do!

side note: our protagonists na is canonically carron (based on an arc/chapter title in the novel) or karen (based on the second cover by laphet on kkp) but i personally like the look of carynne on the page more, so i went with that.