"Interesting at the start, but gets boring pretty quickly... One-dimensional characters... Pacing is too slow... Not worth reading." I sighed after scrolling through the comments on the novel I had posted online.

I thought I had written a good story this time, but according to the readers, it wasn’t even worth reading unless there was nothing else to read.

I was not a published author. I worked as a programmer at a small company and only wrote novels in my free time. Nonetheless, I had a passion for writing, and it would be a lie to say the comments didn’t bother me.

Well, some of these are actually helpful advice, so I’ll have to learn from this and write better next time, I consoled myself.

I quickly turned off the computer and went to bed. I had to wake up early the next day for work, so it was better to just forget about the comments and go to sleep.

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I felt cold. I tried to grab my blanket and pull it over my body, but my hands touched fur instead.

I opened my eyes to check what I had grabbed and saw an unfamiliar fur blanket. The bed and the room looked completely different, too.

Huh? What the heck?! I was now fully awake. I quickly sat up and looked around. I wasn’t dreaming. I had somehow woken up in a room that was not mine. My clothes were gone. Instead, I was dressed in a black robe embroided in gold.

I got up from the bed and had an odd feeling, as if I were drunk. The feeling disappeared after a moment.

Did I get kidnapped? What is this place? I wondered what had happened while I was asleep. I looked around for any clues that would tell me what kind of strange phenomenon had brought me to this strange room. Then I saw my reflection in the mirror by the wall and realized why I had been getting the weird feeling that something was off.

My face and body had changed. It wasn’t plastic surgery or anything of the sort. I was younger and slightly shorter than before. Huh?

Reincarnation? No… I didn’t die. At least I don't think I did, so should I call it transmigration?

For a moment, my mind completely stopped.

I had read many transmigration novels, but I had never imagined myself experiencing the same situation. What was going to happen to me now?

I carefully observed my new look in the mirror. I was slightly muscular and had brown hair. I looked like I was in my mid-teens.

Wait, am I still on Earth? If it were like most of the transmigration novels I had read before, I might currently be in a completely different world.

The room was filled with expensive-looking furniture and items. I quickly scanned the room once again but couldn’t find any kind of indoor lighting or electrical outlets on the wall. There were no modern appliances or devices anywhere in sight, either.

So was I really in another world?

I could probably get the answer to that question if I opened the door and looked for someone to talk to, but the idea of the unknown waiting outside was scary. I had no idea what kind of life the previous owner of this body had led. What could I expect on the other side of the door? If this world wasn't Earth, would there be magic? Huge monsters roaming the land?

The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement.

Before I could convince myself to open the door, I heard footsteps outside. Then the door opened by itself, as if making fun of my hesitance.

A girl wearing a black dress and a white apron stood there in front of the doorway. It was a maid's uniform, but not the kind that girls in maid cafes wore. The skirt was extremely long, and there were no fancy frills.

I froze like a deer caught in the headlights.

"Oh. You are already awake. Please excuse me, young master," said the maid.

The girl was about to walk away when I stopped her. "Wait!"

"Yes? Um... what is it, young master?" She looked uncomfortable for some reason.

I had stopped her on the spur of the moment, but I didn’t know what to say.

"Err… Can you say my name?"

Now the girl looked confused. "Master Florence? Um… I have to go help Claire with breakfast, if you’ll excuse me."

"Right. Thanks…"

With that, she quickly left.

Wait a second... Florence… Brown hair, a tall teenager... I was familiar with the name and the description. It was one of the characters in my novel. The blood drained from my face.

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Florence Vazquez was the oldest son of Earl Logan Vazquez. He was extremely talented, so he received a lot of praise from the people around him. Due to that, he was arrogant. He was also known for being tyrannical, constantly abusing his position to take advantage of others. He wasn't the type of person anyone would want to be friends with.

I recalled the description of the character in the novel and frowned. I was now in Florence’s body. Florence’s reputation and behavior were already bad enough. The bigger issue was Florence's role in the novel. He was one of the main antagonists who got killed later in the story.

I realized that I had been lost in thought and had forgotten to eat. I scooped one spoonful of the meat dish onto my plate and took a bite. I had expected it to be bland, but it was surprisingly tasty.

As expected of a cook working for a rich and powerful noble, I guess.

I glanced at the man sitting at the other end of the table.

Earl Logan was a man in his fourties who loved to enjoy the delicacies of life. His bulging stomach was proof of that. The Earl was one of the few allies Florence had. He loved his oldest son dearly. Just like Florence, the Earl was also an antagonist in the novel.

Earl Logan seemed to be lost in his thoughts. I wondered what was going on.

"Father? Are you okay?"

"Huh? Oh… yes." The Earl finally started eating but still seemed distracted.

I was curious about his odd behavior, but my own situation took priority. Since I was going to become Florence from now on, I would have to think of a way to improve my reputation. I would also have to make sure that I didn't end up dying like Florence in the novel.

Now that I think of it, Florence in the novel was also a pervert.

That was why the maid had been so uncomfortable around me and had tried to leave quickly before. In the novel, Florence ordered the young and pretty maids working at the castle to wake him up every morning so that he could flirt with them and sometimes even try to touch them.

What was I thinking by adding such a scummy character? I felt like punching my past self. Regretting wouldn’t save me from my predicament, though. I would have to think carefully about what I had to do to survive as Florence.

Before I decided on a course of action, there was one person I wanted to meet. In the novel, he was a kind and honest young man who turned into a vengeance seeking demon after being oppressed by the villains. He was the protagonist.

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(Logan Vazquez)

Earl Logan Vazquez clutched his head. He felt like he had just woken up from a long and painful dream.

When he thought about the past, his head hurt. It felt like someone had been controlling his body his whole life until today. What had he been doing—wasting all his money on luxuries? Why had he neglected the people he had sworn to protect? He had been a terrible lord to his people. When he thought about all the things he had done in his life, he wanted to bury his face in shame.

Logan sighed. He couldn’t do anything about the past, but he could become a good lord starting today.

There were so many things he needed to address as a Lord who was responsible for hundreds of people.

Unbeknownst to Florence, the story had started to shift in a direction he could have never predicted.