The Great Escape
My life was, for the most part, perfect.
I was the Duchess of Valtres, the leader of the Western aristocracy, and the proud Baltrés family of mages. I was also the fiancée of the Empire’s Crown Prince. I had a dazzling background, an unparalleled talent for magic alchemy, and a beauty that might only appear once every thousand years.
That was me. My name is Irenne Valtres.
But in a certain book, ‘I’ was described as:
A greedy, arrogant, and haughty personality. Her specialty is cruelty, and her hobbies are stalking and extravagance. A pitiful and wicked woman who is loved by no one…
‘Perfect life? What a load of crap.’
I finally realized it.
I had been reincarnated into the world of a Rofan (Romance-Fantasy) novel I read in my past life.
I, Irenne Valtres, was the villainess character destined to be ruined by her unrequited love.
Reincarnated into Rofan? Reborn as the villainess? That’s fine.
But why, why did I only remember my past life now?
“I-Irenne Valtres…! Cough, you… Cough!”
I had already done it.
Clang!
I threw down the sword in my grip and looked down at the man collapsed before me. Blood gushed from his pierced left chest, but I felt no pity.
“How… Gasp, how could… Ugh, you… me…”
Chesire Vladis Hilbarcia.
His golden hair was messy, and his blue eyes were bloodshot.
This still-handsome man, even as he lay dying, was the Crown Prince of the Unified Empire, my fiancé, and the male lead of this cursed world.
And just moments ago, he had informed the detestable villainess of their broken engagement, receiving a sword thrust in his chest as a consequence.
“Damn it, Hah, Irenne…!”
Oh, dear.
“Please be quiet, Your Highness. My head hurts already.”
He seemed close to breathing his last, but Chesire wouldn’t die.
‘Probably? The male lead can’t just die so easily.’
My mind, reeling from a world-flipping shock, calmly considered the situation.
How did it come to this?
Well, this is how it started.
Chesire betrayed me. In an excessively humiliating way.
Lately, he had been courting someone passionately, like a man with nothing to lose.
When it was revealed that the object of his affection was not me, his fiancée, but my stepsister—the Saintess who descended once every hundred years—the capital and the social circles buzzed with scandalous excitement.
Naturally, my honor was made to look utterly ridiculous.
The moment I saw even cheap gossip magazines mentioning the Duchess of Valtres, I was so angry I could barely stand—a first in my life. The fury was so great that I committed the insane act of mounting a horse in my indoor dress.
“Let’s end the engagement, Duchess.”
I finally found Chesire, having chased him all the way to his remote northern villa. As soon as I entered the drawing room, he blurted out this nonsense.
I held back once.
“This engagement has lasted for ten long years. To unilaterally break a promise with the Valtres family…”
“Ah, don’t worry about Valtres. I will marry Lissie Valtres instead.”
It was unbelievable nonsense, even hearing it with my own two ears.
‘He’s going to trample on my honor and marry her?’
I knew well that Chesire was stumbling through his late first love.
This cold and irritable man only had eyes for her, a gaze so sweet and warm it looked like it would melt at any moment.
I wasn’t numb enough not to be hurt by this fact, but I was furious at his attitude—a clear indication that my ruined honor and future were of no concern to him.
Still, since he was the Crown Prince, I held back twice.
“Has she agreed to marry Your Highness?”
“Ha! Do you plan to harm Lissie using the broken engagement as an excuse?”
“…”
“You already caused a scene at Lissie’s blessing ceremony, didn’t you? It seems your cruelty now knows no time or place.”
The contempt in Chesire’s icy eyes was undisguised and apparent.
I held back a third time. Thankfully, my voice remained smooth and unmoved.
“I merely asked if she had accepted this marriage proposal herself.”
“She will agree soon. If you accept this breakup quietly.”
In Chesire’s cold, judging face, I couldn’t find the boy I had loved.
“I love Your Highness. Perhaps more than Your Highness loves Lissie.”
Was it truly love?
Maybe it was an obsession, just as he had belittled it once.
However, I knew for certain that I could not back down—for the sake of the things I had to give up to stand by his side, and for the sake of my honor.
“Therefore, I cannot accept.”
“I am sick of your love stories, Irenne Valtres.”
Chesire retorted, openly showing his murderous intent.
“Can’t you accept the breakup? Why don’t you look at yourself for once? It seems even the Valtres family is tired of defending your outrageous actions.”
“I have done nothing to disgrace my name.”
“How shameless. Lissie is worried about you.”
Ah, the angelic Lissie.
My surroundings began to crumble the moment she was adopted into the Valtres family.
Chesire, who had maintained civility toward me despite our loveless political marriage, transformed into an arrogant man who refused even to enter a ballroom as my partner.
My brother, who was not exactly affectionate but respected me as family, suddenly harbored impure thoughts toward his stepsister and treated me like a pest.
‘Why? Because she is the Saintess, beloved by God?’
Whether I did something or not, I was always suspected of tormenting the Saintess out of jealousy.
“His Majesty the Emperor has approved the betrothal between Lissie and me.”
Chesire declared as if passing a sentence.
“…I never had the right to refuse, did I?”
“Lissie simply wanted to respect your position. Your contract with me is terminated.”
It was an extremely unfair treatment, but it no longer surprised me. I bit my lip to calm the tremor and exhaled the breath I had been holding.
“…The Valtres family will not stand by and watch this happen.”
“It seems you haven’t been informed yet. The Duke of Valtres has also accepted it.”
Thud.
The Valtres family’s clear seal was stamped on the document of dissolution that Chesire threw before me.
Red ink imbued with magic.
The crest of a two-headed snake embracing a tree.
“I told you not to worry about Valtres.”
‘…Father chose to cut me off.’
If Lissie, the Saintess, were to form a new marriage with the Imperial Family, it would efficiently resolve the messy imperial scandal involving the two Valtres duchesses, as well as the young duke’s indecent desires for his stepsister.
What did Father gain from the Imperial Family in exchange for abandoning me?
A territory? A mine? No. Permission to rebuild the Magic Tower?
Whatever it was, this was a death sentence. I could no longer hold back.
“You broke your promise not to betray me…”
“Are you trying to threaten me now?”
Chesire sneered coolly.
My cold fingers unnecessarily fiddled with the corner of the table. He hadn’t offered me even a cup of tea.
This northern villa, built for Lissie, who was said to have never seen the snow. Their cozy space and time alone.
Here, I was nothing but an unwelcome guest.
“It seems I am the only one who can protect my honor. So, forgive me, Your Highness, but I…”
Even at this moment, I still loved Chesire.
And that’s why…
“I have to kill you.”
I felt surging, torrential magic and a painful heat concentrating in my heart.
Crash!
It happened in the blink of an eye.
The table disintegrated, and in its place, a white rapier made of magic appeared in my hand.
I had once briefly learned the sword, wanting to share something in common with Chesire. The sword in my hand was identical to that one.
The feeling of a typhoon raging in the magic circuit of my heart. The sharp, piercing pain continued.
Chesire, aghast, seemed to be shouting something, but I couldn’t hear it. Even the pain was slowly becoming distant.
There was no hesitation.
“Farewell, Your Highness. I will follow you soon, so don’t feel too wronged.”
Stab!
Having completed the magic calculation, I plunged the white blade straight in. He was a well-trained knight, but his Aura Core was paralyzed, allowing him to accept the attack without resistance.
And in that moment.
“Wow, I guess I’m reading this crazy messed-up novel again.”
Memories of my ‘other self’ flooded my mind.
<The Saintess Does Not Wish to Be Loved> is a trashy love triangle novel with tags like 19+, misery, and reverse harem, telling the story of the female lead, the Saintess, suffering among crazy male leads, just as the title suggests.
As expected, the female lead is Lissie, and the male lead who proudly claimed the main spot among the many male leads is none other than Chesire…
What good is it to remember this now?
Staring at the unconscious, bloody Crown Prince, I let out a deep sigh.
“Hah… I’m going crazy.”
