Chapter 1: A Ridiculous Death and A New Beginning

The last thing Emily remembered was slipping on a stray banana peel. Yes, a banana peel. Classic, right? Who even leaves those lying around anymore? Unfortunately, it was just her luck to trip on one and fall down the stairs in front of a subway station. And that was how she died—at 19 years old, no less. Emily always knew she was a klutz, but this? This was just embarrassing.

When she woke up, she found herself lying in a lush green field, the kind you only see in historical western otome games. Her favorite kind, where dashing lords and princes vie for the heroine's love.

She groaned, sitting up with her long limbs awkwardly sprawled out. "Oh great," she muttered, looking around. "Am I dreaming? Is this some kind of weird, post-death hallucination?"

But as she looked at her reflection in a nearby pond, her stomach dropped. She looked just like herself—same mess of brown hair, same freckled face, and, unfortunately, the same height. Emily was tall, way taller than the average girl in her country, always standing at 5'11", which made her clumsiness even more noticeable.

"What the—" she muttered, poking at her reflection. "Why do I look the same? Isn't this supposed to be an isekai? Where's my cool new body?"

As if answering her question, a sharp pain shot through her head, followed by a flood of memories. She had been reborn into the world of her favorite game, *Dukes & Roses*, the most popular historical western otome game she'd played religiously. Except... she wasn't the heroine. She was—the random background extra who gets knocked over by a horse in the first chapter.

"Are you kidding me?!" Emily shouted, standing up so fast that she almost tripped on her dress. "I'm not even a side character? Just some random NPC?!"

A few nearby birds scattered at her outburst, but otherwise, the world remained peaceful. Emily flailed her arms in frustration before catching sight of a village in the distance.

"Okay, Emily, you can do this. You've played this game a hundred times. You know all the routes, all the characters. You just have to survive and—" She paused, realizing something. "Wait, I don't even know how this girl dies! She's an extra! I could die at any moment!"