Chapter 1

Chapter 1

Whether you want it or not, everyone is supposed to be born into the world. I was born that way, and I didn’t live by doing what I wanted to do, but I’ve lived just as normal and happy.

However, life is often unpredictable, and some of them are absurd enough to be broadcasted on radio stories to win prizes or spread around the Internet community as a laughing stock.

I came to this world in the blink of an eye. A world where the Crown Prince still exists, where the warrior walks through this street, where there is faith and magic. To be exact, the world of common romance novels that I read at my friend’s house the day before yesterday.

I opened my eyes as the only villain there, the only daughter of the Marquis, the childhood friend and fiancée of the Crown Prince, Eris Misérian, who is jealous of the female protagonist.

Some women may have dreamt of such a world once, and some women may have decided to live earnestly here since they cannot help it.

However, I have no confidence in loving this world. So, let’s die as soon as possible, and return to my world.

***

“Lady, are you awake?”

Is it because I am an agnostic person looking for God? I earnestly hoped to get myself back at this point, but I still opened my eyes in the novel today.

Instead of hearing my mother’s voice that I wanted to hear, it was the voice of the maid that woke me up. My mouth, which has always been obstinate, is bent gently to me, but it did not impress me. The part-time job I did just to make ends meet was surprisingly useful in these places.

“Huh. Did you say that we would enter the Imperial Palace today?

A polite smile hung awkwardly around my mouth.

Because the main character and narrator of the novel was Helena, the heroine of the novel, I didn’t know Eris’s personality or surroundings.

However, when they see that Eris was not particularly strange, I seem to have managed to imitate the nobleman.

Getting dressed usually took about two hours, but today I had to go to the Imperial Palace, so I had to start preparing an hour earlier than usual. She’s probably trying to do it to look beautiful to her fiancé, the Prince.

It’s all useless. The Crown Prince loves Helena, the mistress. From the moment I first met her until now.

Her desperate devotion continues until the end of the book, finally reaching the end when Helena will be welcomed as the Empress. Eris, who loved the prince, or to be precise, was jealous of Helena, went crazy.

Actually, this novel wasn’t my cup of tea. It was a perfectly decent story to read if one was bored as it contained commonly recurring tropes and characters that reduced the story’s perfection.

There was no twist, no memorable narrative. Just a repetition of sweet excitement with three handsome and talented male lead candidates, and the vicious acts of Eris who interfered with them.

Despite being another villainess who confronted the female lead, there was no such thing as the narrative of Eris.

She was just full of inferiority, a person who unilaterally disliked the good Helena and did not reflect on herself until the end. She was more like a plot device as the heroine’s ordeal instead of a human being.

Eris eventually succeeded in poisoning Helena, but she dramatically returned from death because one of the male protagonists was the High Priest.

Such a cliché story. This is the story that Eris dies and Helena lives happily ever after, but everyone who likes Helena will be satisfied.

“What are you thinking, my lady?”

A woman who arranged Eris’s hair after dressing up asked.

This was exactly what I imagined Snow White to look like when I read it as a child, with black and rich hair, white skin, and bloody lips.

A strange and beautiful woman was reflected in the mirror. It was scary.

“Thinking that time is really slow.”

“My lady, you must be looking forward to your engagement ceremony?”

“Is that so?”

My death is so painful.

***

“A glorious afternoon, Lady Misérian.”

“… Your Majesty, what a glorious afternoon it is, as you have waited for me.”

When I came out after greeting the Emperor, the prince’s attendant and knight were waiting for me.

Since the prince hates Eris so much, he might skip teatime at least once, but he inevitably kept his promise. This is because it was neither a promise to me nor a promise to the Emperor.

“Eris! No, Lady Miserian! Oh my God!”

An innocent and cheerful voice with a lovely smile greeted me. When her silvery hair fluttered lightly as if her sugar was melted and pulled out, the prince smiled and arranged her hair.

It was a pair that matched well with, ‘a glorious afternoon’. The blonde prince warmly watched as Helena tied her hair, then turned a cold gaze to me.

“… It’s later than usual.”

“… It’s a glorious afternoon, Your Highness, Helena.”

“I’m glad the tea hasn’t cooled down yet. Come on, sit down.”

“Stop being so formal to her, Helena. You’re two are friends… right?”

Helena, whose eyes were filled with anticipation, and the Crown Prince, whose gaze looked as if he would slap my cheek if I shook my head, turned towards me at the same time. It was funny.

The fallen Countess, who was a close friend of the Empress, accepted the position of the Crown Prince’s nanny, and her daughter turned out to be Helena.

Although she has the blood of a prestigious family, she is considered a commoner now.

She hadn’t even dreamed of drinking tea together in the original story, and she would use the prince’s favor for her in order to be a nobleman.

Originally, if we were following the development in the novel, Eris would attempt to catch the fault and then be expelled by the angry prince, but it was also tiring to cause such a disturbance.

Regardless of whether I give Helena a verbal rebuke now or later, the Crown Prince would hate Eris, but I didn’t have to lose my strength. So I gently turned to Helena.

“Cold tea tastes bitter. Will you fill my cup?”

“Oh, sure Eris.”

“… Has the young lady not learned how to pour tea at home? Or maybe she has discomfort in her hands?”

Seriously?

The Prince opened his sharp eyes and glared at me because I asked his woman to work, but it is unfortunate that a person who has no regrets in life is not afraid to respond.

Although the Marquis couple wasn’t my real mom and dad, I was annoyed by the man in front of me who was immediately talking about family education.

“As I said, Your Majesty, we’re friends… is it against the law to ask a friend for a cup of tea?”

“… You.”

When considering the law, he was at a disadvantage. The Crown Prince, who was about to yell at me with a wrinkled brow, shut up because of Helena’s sudden intervention.

“Yes, Alex. I went along because we are friends. If you keep grunting like that, would you like to pour the tea instead?”

The Prince’s lips were pouting with discontent when his words were lightly greeted with disdain.

Then Helena patted his lips lightly with her index finger and middle finger. This was a sign of her own anger.

It was very rude, but she was as lovely as a famous painting. Maybe that’s why everyone loves Helena.

According to the book’s description, Helena was not hated for anything because of her unique innocence and straight personality.

Even those who hated her would fall in love with Helena, reflecting on themselves and betraying Eris. At that point, it was not attractive but more like magic.

“Are you guys drinking without me?”

“Jason! Are you back already?”

“Yes, I’ll stay in the capital for a while, it’s a glorious afternoon, Your Majesty.”

With a cheerful voice, Jason appeared, hugging the Prince and Helena at the same time.

The eldest son of Duke, Jason was more famously known as a warrior. They are childhood friends, and Jason was one of the pitiful men who falls in love with Helena.

In fact, Eris should have been kicked out after acting stupid. The scene of the three quietly unraveling the story is the content of the novel, but the two male protagonists hated me anyway, so I was going to stretch out a little more.

“Oh, my God, I’ve been rude. Lady Misérian, you’re still beautiful.”

Laughing and chuckling while he treated people as if they were invisible. But then Jason raised his head and greeted me as well.

He did not forget the wink, befitting the nickname of “the Empire’s best playboy”. He is handsome, but it wasn’t funny.

“A glorious afternoon, Sir Kazar.”

“I don’t have any contribution to the Duke of Kazar, and the title is not suited me. Jason is enough.”

“As the Prince’s fiancée, how dare I?”

When she gave strength to the word fiancée, Jason’s eyebrows were raised.

He peeked at the Crown Prince’s expression. The Crown Prince was a man who could not hide his feelings. At least in front of both Eris and Helena.

One because this blunt person openly loves Helena, and he doesn’t like her.

“I see many things. Your Highness.”

“I don’t need that. The attention of others does not affect me.”

Actually, I didn’t want to deal with him. Even if I got angry at children being childish than me, I could only lose my energy.

However, it was unbearable to see the Crown Prince raising his lips as if he had won. So I smiled more calmly on purpose and said it like a fling.

“There is only one person under the sky who can do that… And he also looks for comfort in silence.” (T/N: Eris talks about the emperor).

“Eris!”

Helena called her name in surprise. The Prince held back his anger and clenched his fist.

Jason stood beside the Crown Prince and focused on me, in case of emergency.

Indeed, it could have been upsetting to say that he was not an Emperor.

If you scratched my stomach, I should have felt relieved, but somehow I felt bitter. Strange, I’m sure Eris was their childhood friend.

Eris was perfectly treated as an uninvited guest in this room, or almost a foreign object. If you were the real Eris, you might have been hurt.

I slowly got up from my seat while looking at them. With a subtle smile to Helena, who looked at me with her eyes wide open, I added-

“Thank you for the tea, Lady Antebellum, but you shouldn’t talk down to me and His Highness in crowded places. There is social status to be considered.”

“Ah… Yes.”