In Sickness and in Health—
The memories of my past life returned during the wedding ceremony.
It was then I realized that this was the world of a pseudo-aristocratic academy otome game, and I was the villainess. I had mercilessly harassed the heroine, only to end up being forcibly married off to a middle-aged man—who already had a son older than me—after my disgraceful downfall.
Why did I ever do something so foolish?
Regret? Too little, too late. Those days of relentlessly tormenting the future Crown Princess were already behind me.
To begin with, she was just a baron's daughter, daring to act chummy with the prince while ignoring the fact that I, a marquis’s daughter and his fiancée, outranked her. Even now, with my memories restored, I can’t help but think she was in the wrong.
The prince? He was nothing more than a stepping stone to elevate my social status—a particularly high-quality one at that. There was no way I could just stand idly by and let someone snatch him away from under my nose.
So I tripped her, poured water on her head, spread nasty rumors, and hid her belongings—the most cliché of petty pranks. And the more I did, the worse the consequences for me.
The tragic heroine was comforted by the academy’s most popular men, basking in the limelight of her manufactured drama. Looking back now, I must have been an exceptional stagehand, crafting one “delicious” scene after another for her.
Thinking about those ridiculously obvious and childish schemes now makes me cringe. Even a child would have come up with something more subtle. But back then, I was just a silly young lady who acted impulsively and thoughtlessly.
As a result, my engagement to the Crown Prince was coldly annulled, and I was expelled from the academy. When I returned home in disgrace, another marriage was already arranged for me.
My new partner? The Prime Minister of this kingdom—a balding, overweight old man with a reputation for lechery, despite already having an adult son.
This was all orchestrated by the Crown Prince.
If he hated the engagement so much, he should have just broken it off earlier. Instead, he subjected me to this humiliating fate as if it were some kind of revenge. How cruel, to send an innocent maiden to the lair of an ogre-like old man as retribution.
The prince was a truly vile person.
…But to be fair, I wasn’t much better.
I was jealous of the heroine’s fairy-like grace compared to my own sharp, garish appearance. I lashed out at her boldness, unable to tolerate a lower-ranked rival’s audacity.
Still… Still!
0 Comments