Dirty Heart - Chapter 1

Right before she died, meaning the moment she was struck by the oncoming truck and sent flying through the air, Haerin had only one thought in her head.

‘…Did I delete my purchase list?’

It might sound ridiculous to worry about something like that while hovering between life and death, but for Haerin, it wasn’t strange at all.

As a proper collector of 19+ romance fantasies, she had endlessly consumed all kinds of degenerate works featuring ruinous relationships, forbidden dynamics, nonhuman partners, tentacles, and every possible kink.

So if the day she died ever came, she had always planned to first wipe her entire purchase list clean from her favorite web novel platform, then permanently delete her account without a shred of hesitation.

If her remaining family ever discovered the parade of scenes she had highlighted line by line with the highlighter function, nothing would be more humiliating than that.

Of course, she had never imagined she’d face such a sudden death.

“These are the belongings left behind by the deceased Miss Lee Haerin. Her e-book reader.”

“Our Haerin enjoyed reading so much… Could you possibly tell us which books she liked the most?”

“The top 3 books she highlighted the most were The Sexually Unstoppable Male Leads’ Breast Milk Obsession, Subway Tentacle Play Compilation, and The Queen Pinned to the Wall. The most frequently searched keywords were ‘pink areola’, ‘drip-drip’, and ‘I’m about to come’.”

“Wow, she was a real pervert. Mom, I told you we should’ve removed her from the family register ages ago.”

She was about to die a second time from embarrassment, tears almost leaking out, when….

“U-ugh…!”

With a sharp breath, Haerin’s waist jerked upward. For a moment, she wondered if she had somehow survived being hit by that massive truck, but the world around her was entirely unfamiliar.

A crystal chandelier, intricately carved gold molding, rows of medicine bottles lined up on a mahogany desk, an antique wall clock, and even a Bible.

And among all of that was the most out-of-place existence of all….

“Courtney.”

“Hn, ngh…!”

Only then did Haerin realize she was completely naked and in the middle of having sex with a man. A lewd moan she had never once made in her entire life spilled out of her lips on its own.

Her first-ever sexual partner was a mysterious foreign man with jet-black hair and blue eyes, his complexion so pale he looked like a vampire who hadn’t seen sunlight in ages.

“Courtney, focus.”

The man lifted her hips and whispered sweetly into her ear.

“Where, where is this? Hn, ngh!”

“Is it that good, Courtney? Good enough to forget where you are?”

“Why do you keep calling me Courtney? Hn, ngh!”

Smack!

Before Haerin could finish speaking, the man thrust his member into her with not even a sliver of space left between them.

“Ah, ugh!”

Her breath tangled, and strength drained from her arms and legs. Despite his frail, beautiful appearance, his cock was so big and vicious that every time he pumped into her, her stretched entrance overflowed with love juice.

“You’re even wetter than yesterday.”

When his languid breath brushed against her ear, her whole body seemed to boil. Whenever his length pressed deep against her inner walls, sparks flashed in her vision.

“Haah, no, too deep, ugh… ngh!”

Just as her body shuddered in climax, trembling uncontrollably, the man wearing the gentlest expression in the world pressed his lips to her cheek.

“…I love you.”

I love you.

It was a confession from a man she’d never even met, yet strangely enough, tears welled up in her eyes.

***

Splaash.

The filthy water in the basin was dumped over her head in an instant.

As the water ran down her hair and soaked her nape and shoulders, Head Maid Ella set down the empty basin and smirked.

“Oops, my mistake. My hand slipped.”

Haerin, no, Courtney showed no sign of surprise. She simply wiped the dirty water off her face with her hand and replied, “It’s fine, Head Maid. Please don’t worry about it.”

“Right, go wash up quickly. Since it’s shit water, it’ll take more than three days to get the smell out.”

Leaving behind the maids’ jeering laughter, she hurried her steps.

This damned workplace bullying.

Even in the original work, the way Courtney was tormented by her coworkers had been pitiful enough, but experiencing it firsthand in reality was even more miserable.

Dumping all the menial chores on her was only the beginning. At mealtimes, they threw her the leftovers of what they had eaten, and on top of that they even snuck off with her shoes and maid uniform. There wasn’t a single vile act they didn’t commit.

If she followed her heart, she wanted to rebel right this instant, but when she thought of her less than stellar finances, she once again carved the word “endure” into herself and held back.

Dragging her grimy body along to the washroom, the first thing that caught her eye was Courtney Balkan’s face reflected in the mirror.

A plain maid with long, curly brown hair and amber eyes.

The only halfway decent feature she had was skin as white as milk, but thanks to that, the freckles on her cheeks stood out even more, so it could hardly be called a strength.

“Ha.”

A rough curse slipped out of her mouth on its own.

It had already been half a month since she possessed the tragic maid Courtney from the romance fantasy novel I’ll Give You My Heart.

In the first few days, she’d cried and wailed that this was impossible, but now she’d more or less resigned herself and accepted her fate.

Humans creatures of adaptation. Aside from the vicious workplace bullying, she thought being a maid was fairly manageable.

“But why did it have to be Courtney Balkan of all people.”

I’ll Give You My Heart was a romance fantasy novel she’d read a very long time ago, back when she was still pure, as her entry point into the genre.

But after finishing that work, she’d opened her eyes to the brave new world of the Sexual category, and her brain, marinated in dopamine, could no longer be satisfied with mild, ordinary flavors.

To be honest, she hadn’t so much as glanced at it afterward, but maybe because it had been her introductory romance fantasy, she remembered the settings and situations relatively clearly.

First of all, to briefly explain Courtney Balkan, the one she’d possessed: she was truly a tragic extra.

In the story, Courtney received the Young Duke Lionel Erhardt’s overflowing favor. More than simple favor, she was practically at the level of a mistress, being called to the young lord’s bedroom at all hours.

Naturally, among the other maids, jealousy and vigilance never ceased, and the malice directed at Courtney grew more blatant by the day.

“What on earth is so attractive about that bag of bones that the Young Duke falls head over heels for her?”

“Hmph, it’ll only be for a while. Like that thing is going to stay in the Young Duke’s eyes forever.”

“She’s so full of herself over the Young Duke playing with her for a bit.”

“This is exactly what prostitution is. What Courtney’s doing right now is straight-up prostitution.”

Of course, even the original Courtney had doubted Lionel’s feelings at every moment in the beginning. Because as a lowly maid without a single particularly pretty feature, she couldn’t easily understand the intentions of a noble lord who kept flirting with her.

Even as she was summoned to the Young Duke’s bedroom every single day, Courtney constantly repeated to herself like a vow.

“The Young Duke isn’t doing this because he loves me. It’s just a bit of fooling around. Get a grip, Courtney… you must never give him your heart.”

But the more time passed, the kinder the Young Duke became to her, the gentler, and at times he behaved with an affection so earnest it was hard to believe.

The hands that caressed her thin, unimpressive body were always careful, and his way of speaking to her was soaked through with affection.

“Courtney, you’re really special. My heart only reacts to you.”

For all the countless resolutions she’d made, every time Lionel whispered words of love in that fervent tone, Courtney’s heart kept turning soft.

Because she’d grown up an orphan and had never once been truly loved in her life, words as sweet as candy, a warm touch, the peace of falling asleep under the same blanket every night, all of those things broke her down.

As the price for that, Courtney in the end….

“Ugh… It’s horrible just to even put it into words.”

After roughly wiping the filth from her hair and clothes, she gripped the edge of the washbasin, her shoulders trembling faintly.

It was right then. From beyond the washroom door came a chilling voice.

“Courtney. I’ve been looking all over for you.”

“…Gasp!”

“Are you feeling any better?”

Lionel walked straight into the washroom reserved for maids without a hint of hesitation and looked down at Courtney with worried eyes.

Lately, Courtney had been deliberately avoiding him under the excuse that she wasn’t feeling well.

She’d even meticulously memorized all of Lionel’s movements to avoid running into him by chance, yet he appeared at the most unexpected moment, as if to sneer at all that calculation.

“I was really worried about you, Courtney.”

Worried, my ass. That devil-possessed bastard.

If it had been the original Courtney, she would have blushed shyly, but there was no way that was happening now.

Because she was by no means unaware that this fox-like man trying to charm her right in front of her was actually an organ thief aiming for Courtney’s heart.