There Is No Graceful Way For A Mad Woman To Go Insane (1)

Before Katarina entered the ‘Battlefield of the Gods,’ her father was a knight famous for two things in the kingdom.

One was his exceptional swordsmanship. His mastery with the sword was so outstanding that it was considered among the best on the entire continent.

That was her father.

The other was his notorious appearance, which was in stark contrast to his swordsmanship skills.

Even after achieving the rank of Sword Master, his appearance did not improve with the ensuing body change. A shabby and disheveled face. That was her father.

People whispered behind his back that the gods had given her father talent with the sword at the expense of his looks.

Perhaps due to this inferiority complex, Katarina’s father sought beautiful women. Especially, the women he took as concubines were young and pretty, unlike Katarina’s mother.

As the number of concubines increased, her father stopped seeking Katarina’s mother.

“Katarina, a woman’s beauty can be her weapon. If a woman takes up the sword and reaches the rank of master, she might gain a title, but if she becomes beautiful, she can have all the men in the world.”

These words from her mother, who was dying day by day, became Katarina’s life goal.

A queen who commands all men. She dreamed of that.

However, her father was the ugliest man in the kingdom, no, the continent, and her mother was an ordinary woman.

Just when Katarina’s obsession with beauty became pathological, the Demon of Sloth came to her.

Naturally, she made a contract and wished for beauty. This is where Katarina’s foolishness came into play.

She didn’t demand a beauty like that of a legendary enchantress, the appearance of a goddess, or the fatal charm that makes every man fall for her.

She simply wished to become the most beautiful woman on the continent.

The Demon of Sloth, true to his name, granted her wish without offering any advice in response to Katarina’s foolish request.

Katarina was satisfied.

The most beautiful woman on the continent. Young men with promising futures from her kingdom, high-ranking nobles, the empire’s great mages, and even the emperor were enamored with her.

They showered her with gifts just for a brief conversation and granted her every desire.

One mage even crafted an artifact that kept her skin clean without washing and gifted it to her.

Receiving such treatment, Katarina realized her mother’s words before her death were true.

And as she prepared to become a representative in the ‘Battlefield of the Gods,’ she thought there was no need for her to fight crudely or ignorantly with her fists.

Half of the world was women, and the other half was men.

And in most dimensions, as in the one she lived in, men mainly took on laborious tasks.

In other words, half the world consisted of convenient slaves.

Moreover, isn’t the ‘Battlefield of the Gods’ a place meant for combat?

It’s obvious that there would be more men than women among the representatives in such a place.

When Katarina’s thoughts reached this point, she eagerly awaited her entry into the ‘Battlefield of the Gods,’ imagining herself leading a horde of excellent slaves to victory.

So she invested all her authority and power into her ‘appearance.’ To ensure there wasn’t a man who wouldn’t fall for her.

Of course, she didn’t know that as she became stronger, her body would automatically become ‘balanced’ and beautiful. She was the kind of woman who had never done anything herself.

Katarina first met Unos and, while moving with him, thought that someone like Unos (?) was worthy of serving her.

So, was she satisfied?

While traveling with Unos, she met four people. Including Unos and herself, they formed a group of six.

Katarina cheered, thinking her assumptions were precisely correct.

The gender ratio of the group they met in the forest was two women and four men.

As expected, when a monster appeared, the men took care of it on their own.

And it wasn’t just any monster but a large one that would require dozens of knights and mages to have a chance of winning.

The men dealt with the monster so easily. And at the center of it was Unos.

His handsome appearance suited her collection of slaves. He also had excellent magical abilities, insight, and leadership.

Katarina decided to appoint Unos as the head of her slaves, managing them.

But Katarina’s happy imagination, dreaming of such a future, was shattered when Unos shared a story by the red-burning campfire on their first night in the Monster Belt.

The tender love story of the God of the Sky and the Goddess of Time (though, to be precise, it was the God of the Sky’s stalking of the Goddess of Time).

As the story of Unos progressed, Katarina realized she could not have this man.

The closer the story came to its end, the more she desired the ‘unattainable man,’ Unos.

And when Unos mentioned that the representative of Aetas, the Goddess of Time, was a woman, she understood. Who the representative of Aetas was.

It wasn’t her; it was Lee Hyo-ju, who looked at her expressionlessly from across the fire, as if looking down on her, though in truth, she was staring at the campfire.

She repeatedly glanced affectionately at Unos and then glared at Lee Hyo-ju sitting across from her.

‘Why that vulgar woman…?’

The protagonist of this bard’s story should be her. Because she possessed the beauty befitting such a role.

Only she had the status to become the protagonist of such a legendary tale.

Unlike those commoners wielding axes clumsily, or carrying spears, or always scratching their heads awkwardly, she was a noble!

Finally, Unos’s beautiful story came to an end.

Katarina closed her eyes tightly, thinking she had to accept the unpleasant truth. Moreover, she felt the expectant gazes of others upon her.

‘Sorry. You want me, but it’s not me. It’s that vulgar woman.’

Of course, that was Katarina’s delusion. In a party with only two women, wasn’t it natural to look back and forth between Katarina and Lee Hyo-ju?

Then, Lee Hyo-ju’s voice broke the expectant silence.

‘Damn! Filthy woman! Vulgar woman! Clinging to a man to flaunt her power! A woman to be killed!’

She had already forgotten what she intended to do or what she had done so far.

No, what Katarina intended to do was the obvious action for a daughter of a noble family, while what that girl from the commoners was trying to do seemed like clinging to a man to escape her lot in life.

“No, it’s not me.”

‘What…?!’

At first, Katarina thought her mouth had spoken the words that Lee Hyo-ju wanted to say without her realizing it.

The realization that it wasn’t the case brought a sense of curiosity. But soon, joy followed.

Yes, I should be the protagonist! Not some vulgar commoner girl, but me!

‘Yes. You know your place, don’t you, commoner.’

“Oh! Then?”

“Is it Katarina?”

“Oh…”

It was then that Katarina heard the voices of anticipation from the others in the group.

And Katarina, as if embarrassed, narrowed her eyes and opened her mouth.

“Yes? Ah… Hohohoho. Yes, it’s me.”

Thus, she spent the first day basking in everyone’s admiration.

And the next morning, she woke up wondering if the previous day’s events had been a dream.

However, when she got up in the morning, Unos took even more care of her.

Only then did Katarina realize that the previous day’s events were not a dream and sighed in relief.

The following day, as always, the group was in a cheerful mood as if they were on an outing. In the midst of slowly moving along, Katarina occasionally made eye contact with Lee Hyo-ju.

Katarina thought she wasn’t paying attention to Lee Hyo-ju’s reaction at all. She just thought she was curious.

Around lunchtime, she followed Lee Hyo-ju, who went into the forest for a moment.

In the forest, when she encountered Lee Hyo-ju, Katarina asked.

While asking Lee Hyo-ju for a reason, she reassured herself that she was merely a curious lady from a generous noble family, seeking to resolve her academic (?) curiosity, and not asking out of a guilty conscience like a thief caught in the act.

“Commoner, why did you lie?”

“What did I lie about?”

“You’re not the representative of the Goddess of Time?”

“Well, I’m not. Suddenly, the Goddess of Time? Then is there a God of Space, too? Hmm… Anyway, I’m the representative of another god… Wait a minute. Didn’t you say it was you? The representative of the Goddess of Time. From yesterday to today, consistently.”

“Of course, that’s…!”

At that moment, Katarina saw it: Lee Hyo-ju’s gaze.

She could easily understand what that gaze meant. It was the same look she always gave other commoners.

Contempt, disgust, pity, filth, ugliness.

‘Th-this woman! This filthy commoner!’

In the moment she met Lee Hyo-ju’s gaze, she fully realized one fact.

That all the happiness she was enjoying now was just a piece of illusion.

Even Katarina’s limited mind understood that this happy dream was a futile illusion that would disappear once she woke up.

What if, at any moment, Lee Hyo-ju, whose mind had changed, revealed herself to be the representative of the Goddess of Time?

No matter how much she insisted otherwise, the power wouldn’t lie. Katarina didn’t know, but what would happen if the power that only the representative of the Goddess of Time could possess manifested?

A castle built on sand. This queen-like status, which could collapse at any moment, was not the image she desired.

A true queen with countless slaves. That was the situation she desired.

‘I must do something… I must do something!’

After pondering for a day, her eyes sparkled on the evening of the third day.

‘Yes, I just need to ruin her. If I turn her into something utterly unacceptable, then even Unos won’t be able to do anything. I just need to make her filthy!’