TPHW 02

Chapter 2

I didn’t like the idea of following the original story—
enduring assassination attempts in this palace and waiting for the male lead to come save me.

In the original, the male lead pitied Blanche when he met her.
He felt sorry for her situation… and then fell in love.

“…Sorry, but I refuse.”

Even if that was the route to end up with the male lead,
I hated being looked at with pity the most.

Pitiful Princess Blanche Snow.
Poor princess.
Kind, but powerless princess.

Yes, she was someone to pity.

But did the original Blanche really want that pity?

“Haah…”

I tilted my head back. My neck cracked softly.

The white ceiling filled my vision.

The angels painted on it looked down at me indifferently, golden halos glowing above their heads.
They were beautiful—but their expressions showed no interest in suffering humans.

In my past life, after my parents died in a car accident, I grew up at my aunt’s house.
People naturally pitied me.

But I hated it.

Losing my parents was sad.
But that didn’t mean I became worthless.

Everyone treated me as weak and tried to “protect” me.

I was grateful… but I wasn’t weak.

I didn’t need pity.
I didn’t need protection.

So I lived even more fiercely.

I didn’t want anyone to ever pity me.

I wanted to show them—
that Jeong Yeo-jin could live strong on her own.

“You can do it too, Blanche.”

I lowered my head and opened my palm.

The fine lines on my hand were clear.

I spoke to Blanche Snow—who no longer existed.

Then I stared at my pale hand for a moment… and clenched it into a fist.

My nails dug into my palm.
It hurt, but I could endure it.

Blanche Snow was the only remaining royal of the Snow family, besides the king.

There was no way she should be treated like this.

“How dare they… treat a princess like this.”

Despite repeated assassination attempts,
no nobles made any special effort to protect Blanche.

Even the king—her own father—did nothing.

Blanche was called a princess,
but in reality, she lived a miserable life.

Everyone must have looked down on her.

Not just the nobles—
but the king, the queen, even the palace servants.

To them, she was just a useless princess.

I suddenly stood up.

The chair scraped loudly against the floor.

I deliberately hardened my gaze.

“Good. From now on, anyone who touches me… I’ll kill them all.”

Now that I accepted I had become Blanche,
I decided to use everything I knew to survive.

Where was I in the story right now?

Blanche had faced so many assassination attempts that I couldn’t even remember.

First, I needed to understand the situation.

Blanche’s memories had slowly merged into mine,
but she had lived in depression under the shadow of her dead mother—the former queen.

So she… didn’t know much.

I had to act.

After finishing all the food under Andy’s threat,
I sat at the desk and began writing down everything I remembered about the novel.

The sound of the pen scratching paper echoed in the quiet room.

Ink spread across the page.

<Snow Kingdom>
A northern country where snow falls often.
Beautiful scenery of mountains and lakes attracts many tourists.
Rich in expensive mineral mines.
Famous for strong alcohol.
The royal family is believed to be descendants of the Snow Queen.
Silver hair and purple eyes prove true royal blood.

The new queen, Phetra Snow, ignores this tradition and wants to become the Snow Queen herself.
Her family, the Duke of Ervida, supports her and controls the nobles.

<Riston Empire>
A powerful country south of Snow Kingdom.
The largest territory on the continent.
Surrounded by land in the center, with seas to the west and south—strong in trade and very wealthy.

The current emperor is insane.
The male lead, the crown prince, is trying to overthrow him.

“…Hmm.”

I spun the pen and rested my chin on my hand.

Looking at the messy notes gave me a headache.

I pressed my temples.

This… might be helpful. Or maybe not.

Because that was all I knew.

I skipped most of the background when reading
and focused only on the romance between the male lead and Blanche.

“This is why you shouldn’t read selectively…”

I thought about all the books I skimmed before.

A bitter feeling filled my mouth.

I swallowed it down and dropped the pen.

It made a sharp tap sound on the desk.

If I knew more, things would be easier.

Clicking my tongue, I fell into thought.

First… I needed to check what I had.

Blanche had no talent for magic, swordsmanship, or alchemy.

She didn’t build connections in high society.

Her only “ability” was communicating with animals—sometimes even talking to them.

Which was useless.

So for Blanche, there was only one useful thing.

My eyes lit up as I stood.

“Andy, let’s go.”

Andy, who had just handed the dishes to a maid, turned back.

“Where?”

“To the administrator.”

Ignoring her confused expression, I walked ahead.

I made a circle with my thumb and index finger.

“My money.”

“Pardon?”

“I want to check how much wealth I have.”

Because right now…

Money was my only weapon.

I walked out of the room confidently.

The cold marble floor touched through my shoes.

Sunlight streamed between the columns.
Dust danced in the light.

I felt a little excited.

After all, I was curious—

how much wealth a princess had.

But then—

“Well… nothing much has changed.”

The administrator adjusted his glasses and spoke casually.

He flipped through documents as if they were market records.

“One diamond mine. One villa in Adrang resort. And about 300 million marks from selling jewelry.”

My eyebrow twitched.

“…And?”

“…Yes?”

“That’s it?”

My voice rose.

The administrator leaned back in his chair, startled.

“Th-that’s all, Princess…”

“That’s ALL?!”

I felt suffocated.

Anger surged inside me.

I slammed my fist onto the desk.

BANG!

The ink bottle shook, papers scattered.

“Ah—!”

Of course, my hand was the one that hurt.

It burned. My fingers throbbed.

Tears almost came out.

But my anger only grew.

“This is all my wealth?!”

Even rich kids in Korea had more than this.

Snow Kingdom wasn’t poor—it was a wealthy country.

And I’m the princess?!

While I was fuming, the administrator spoke carefully.

“Th-there used to be more…”

“…Used to be?”

“You donated more than half of it for charity, Princess.”

“…What?”

“And… His Majesty rarely gave you anything. The nobles didn’t give gifts either.”

I slapped my forehead.

It was burning hot.

Blanche… you kind but foolish woman!

Charity is important—but you can’t just give everything away blindly!

And the king gave nothing?
The nobles gave nothing?

“You’re not just any princess… you’re the only heir!”

A hollow laugh escaped me.

Now I understood.

Blanche’s position was extremely weak.

She was twenty years old.

If she had received proper birthday gifts each year,
her financial situation would be much better.

Even her father didn’t love her.

And the nobles didn’t even see her as the future ruler.

All of this pointed to one person—

Queen Phetra Snow.

After Blanche’s mother died,
Phetra married King Felix the next year—fifteen years older than her.

But she never had a child.

She was diagnosed infertile.

People whispered about taking a concubine.

But Phetra suppressed the nobles using her family’s power.

And from then on—

she planned to become queen herself.

Something felt strange.

“At this point… couldn’t she have already kicked Blanche out of the palace?”

Then why was Blanche still here?

I looked at the administrator.

He was nervously asking Andy,
“Why has the princess become so aggressive?”

“Then how did I get the diamond mine? And the villa?”

“Ah… not from His Majesty.”

He shook his head quickly.

“The king only gave you a few pieces of jewelry…”

“…What a stingy father.”

My father is the king,
yet he’s worse than a rich businessman.

Honestly…

It’s so embarrassing I can’t even brag about him.