Chapter 1 – It’s Finally Over! 

Translator: Lioness

Being Alice Hamilton was funny enough, but what’s funnier was that she was the Author of this Novel. Yes, she was exactly the Writer of this novel. She didn’t love the world she had created and didn’t want to get involved in it. Therefore, she waited for the character she possessed, Alice, to accomplish the last task.

‘I’ve been waiting for this day.’

The situation was the first day of the Crown Princess’s birthday which would last for five days and Alica just had to play her role well- throwing insults at the Crown Princess and making her cry.

She had prepared a very beautiful dress just for this day and memorized all the lines she needed. Alice straightly stood inside the Banquet Hall as she was readying herself to say her lines, which would automatically come out after a ‘Tuk’ sound. The hem of her skirt fluttered as she moved and swept the floor of the Banquet Hall.

“Oh my, isn’t that the Young Miss Alice of Marquis Hamilton?”

“I supposed so. Those black eyes aren’t common.”

“I heard that she looked different from Marquis Hamilton—”

“Didn’t you know? She’s an adopted child.”

She could hear the noises from the nobles, but Alice didn’t bother to respond. That wasn’t the matter she should deal with. What she did was to find opportunities to face the Crown Princess. Her opportunity comes after the Crown Prince left the Crown Princess in the Banquet Hall.

She clenched her hands in impatience  that she almost broke her nails. She was feeling tense, but she couldn’t even describe it. In a frustrated mood, Alice swept her forehead but there was no sweat.

‘Just when will he go out?’

Alice impatiently asked herself, with her eyes fixed on the Crown Prince. It seemed to others that she adored the Crown Prince enthusiastically, when in fact she doesn’t even know him. Indeed, all people who watched her were puzzled to see that she was staring at the Crown Prince intently.

“She doesn’t seem to be ashamed of herself, does she? A mere noble girl.”

“It’s a bit not correct to refer to her as noble when she’s an adopted child.”

“But her blood is noble so she is a noble, isn’t she?”

It was not proper etiquette for a noblewoman to stare at a man for any length of time. Alice knew exactly the manner she was showing but she forgot it as she was very nervous. She looked around, scanning the situation, and there were eyes on her. She was flustered so she lowered her gaze; not noticing the people staring at her, or the man watching her curiously.

‘When the hell will you go out?’

As she repeated the same thing to herself, Alice paced back and forth impatiently. Even those who initially cared about her because of Hamilton’s wealth drew little attention to her behavior, which was not aristocratic. The fact that she was not the real daughter of Marquis Hamilton, but his adopted daughter. 

The grand Chamberlain hurriedly ran to the Crown Prince and whispered something to his ears. And with his embarrassed face, he left the Crown Princess and the Banquet Hall. The current Crown Princess was from a Baron family. A cliched story where a lady from a lowly family fell in love with the Crown Prince, overcoming hardships together, and finally getting married. Just as expected. As soon as the Crown Prince left the Banquet Hall, Alice’s eyes lit up.

“Oh, look at that brazen face.”

“It is only natural that the Crown Prince would be seduced with that face.”

“She should have a pretty face. She was just from a Baron family anyway, isn’t she?”

People who lost interest in Alice began cursing the Crown Princess, who was left alone. Alice could hear and see those who were insulting the Crown Princess but she was just calm, which Alice noticed, too.

‘Well, she was not usually like that. Nevertheless, that was the only way to be the heroine.’

Stella Eirie, who won the Crown Prince’s love as a baroness. No, the woman who was standing in the middle of the Banquet Hall with her face shining; Stella Eirie. On her neck was the diamond which Alice coveted, or should have coveted, to be precise.

Today, if she finished insulting the Crown Princess with that diamond necklace wrapped on her neck, her role will end.

The Crown Prince disappeared and no one approached her. Following the flow of the original novel, Alice took a careful step by step to her side. She was nervous, but she decided to relax since she’d be finally free when this is over.

‘Good.’

Now, Alice stood before the Crown Princess and spoke to her.

“Greetings, Your Highness.”

“You’re here, Miss Hamilton.”

Alice’s conscience was slightly irritated by Stella’s bright smile as if she was very happy to have her here. But for a while, she was able to pull herself together. She had a task to complete to perfect the original novel.

“You have a beautiful necklace.”

“His Highness, the Crown Prince, gave it to me as a gift.”

“But, Your Highness, do you know that it was originally mine?”

“Pardon?”

“It was originally my necklace. It was something I liked.”

I never liked it. Alice already had a necklace around her neck which was her favorite for the past four years. She would say that she liked such a flashy, tacky necklace. Stella, who cast a glance at Alice with embarrassed eyes, couldn’t speak and hesitated.

“Why are you not saying a thing?”

Alice’s voice echoed sharply through the banquet hall. The crown prince disappeared, and the nobles who were watching Stella gathered one by one by Alice’s words. Stella couldn’t answer and looked at Alice.

“Well, it doesn’t matter if you take someone else’s necklace – since you also stole someone else’s man.”

Her words startled the astonished people, but Alice raised her chin triumphantly. Tears dripped from Stella’s eyes, and Alice turned and ran away. 

Of course, it was a bad word to say that she ran away quickly. Alice walked gently out of the banquet hall, looking around her. If Marquis Hamilton was here, she would have been immediately seized by the wrist and ordered to apologize to Stella.

Alice, who had to leave the Imperial Palace without being detected by the Marquis, decided to escape through the garden without going out from the banquet hall’s exit.

‘I didn’t mean to say nonsense. She didn’t steal the necklace, but she did steal the man.’

Tearing down her tingling chest, Alice hurried to the depths of the garden.

“Finally, it’s over!”

When she came out to the garden, she cried excitedly. What she felt right now was something she nothing could compare. Alice, who became the happiest person in the world, jumped excitedly on the spot.

She possessed the character Alice Hamilton for four years. She had no intention of changing the original novel, no, no. No, she didn’t want to change it. After confirming that the male and female characters were formed somehow, she wanted to quietly disappear from the scene.

Her last role was to insult the Crown Princess. Then as Crown Princes returned to the banquet Hall and saw his beloved was crying, he immediately calmed her down and inquired what happened, yet the Crown Princess did not respond. Rather, she whispered how much she loved him.

<There was nothing left to interfere with their relationship.>

The original story ends with those words which decorates the ending of the novel. Because of Alice’s words, Stella, the Crown Princess, vows to do better for the Crown Prince. Why? Stella is a good heroine who stole the love of others.

“Great! Let’s go home now!”

Alice didn’t know that there was a man watching her walk back excitedly.

“This is making me laugh.”

Lawrence Littenverk, the man who was watching Alice’s one-man play, could not help but laugh. It was absurd for Miss Hamilton to insult the Crown Princess, and came out excited about it somehow. Her common sense didn’t make sense. It was impossible for a nobleman to insult the royal family in her empire, Nakran.

Lawrence was a member of the Nakran Empire, who had a close relationship with the Erha Empire. Therefore, he did not want to intervene in the affairs of the nobles in the Erha Empire. Furthermore, he had a task to find the Crown Prince’s sister, a special mission given by the Crown Prince of the Nakran Empire. In order to fulfill that mission, no problems must arise during his stay in the Erha Empire.

As he watched Alice move away, he suddenly had a strange idea.

‘What could be the reason?’

The daughter of the Marquis, Miss Hamilton, insulted one of the Royal Family yet she had no guilt over it. It was impossible. Alice’s attitude was something that added why he couldn’t forget her face- her expression of no regrets. If someone else saw that refreshing expression on her face, she would ponder what bad the Crown Princess did to her.

“Your Excellency.”

Baron Flender, Lawrence’s aide, called him from behind.

“What happened to the search?”

“I have compiled a list of young children with the same age.”

Lawrence grinned as he read the papers that Flender had handed over. The face of the person whom he had seen a while ago was written on the paper.

“Alice Hamilton?”

“She was one of the candidates for the Crown Prince’s lost sister.”

“Really?”

“That kind of girl?”

Lawrence looked back at his aide, wondering if he was mistaken with Alice, whom he had seen earlier.

“Indeed.”

Lawrence nodded at Flender’s remark. He thought something was going to be interesting.