Chapter 2
“Should I say I’m sick?”
If my schedule could be canceled with such an excuse, the maid wouldn’t have come all the way to my bedroom. In the end, I had no choice in front of the overwhelming power of the imperial palace.
“Come in.”
As soon as the words left my mouth, the maids entered through the door.
One poured warm water into a basin, two prepared my change of clothes, three carried over dress racks, and four stood beside the bed holding jewelry boxes.
All the maids bowed deeply, never looking directly at me. None of them ever spoke first. They moved swiftly and precisely, leaving no room for criticism. They were almost too skilled to be mere maids.
As they washed my hands and face with warm water and brushed out the tangles in my hair from the night, I glanced at the dresses and jewelry box out of the corner of my eye.
Everything sparkled so brightly it was almost blinding. If I wore it all, I might sink into the ground from the weight.
I chose the most modest-looking dress and refused the jewelry. Of course, “modest” was relative—by Lilith’s standards. Objectively, they were all equally extravagant.
You’d think the maids, who knew Lilith’s personality, would be surprised at my change in behavior, but they didn’t speak or show a single change in expression.
“Still the same as ever.”
Not a thing had changed in the past month.
The mansion I was in was more like a detached villa of the ducal house. In other words, apart from me and the maids, there was no one else here.
Right after I reincarnated, the oppressive atmosphere of the mansion nearly made me faint.
The maids were like emotionless machines, and the knights only offered the bare minimum of protection. It wasn’t out of indifference—they were clearly afraid of her.
If there were such a thing as a tyrant’s palace, it would look like this: a place completely devoid of humanity and warmth. That was Lilith’s mansion.
“So that apology I gave before didn’t really work, huh.”
Lilith was the one who had caused all the trouble, but I was the one who had to live here now. So I had gathered everyone in the mansion and apologized.
I can’t say it was a deeply heartfelt apology, but I had sincerely declared: “I’ll change.” I’d behaved perfectly for an entire month to prove it…
“Not that I expected them to change their attitudes so easily.”
After all, they’d suffered a lot. It was disappointing, sure—but I couldn’t resent them for it.
Once I was dressed, I boarded the carriage headed for the imperial palace. It was my first outing in a long time.
When I first fell into this world, it had been the dead of winter. But now spring blossoms were blooming in the gardens. Trees full of early blossoms passed slowly by outside the window.
“So this is what it feels like to be a cow dragged to the slaughterhouse.”
The beauty of spring held no interest for me. What mattered was that I was being dragged to the imperial palace—crawling with main characters.
And the carriage wasn’t even the duke’s—it was the imperial family’s. That meant I wasn’t going of my own accord. They were summoning me.
“That damned god…”
It was all the god’s fault.
In this world, the existence of a god was real. The empire was the only nation blessed by this god, and its faith in him was sky-high.
Then, one day, that all-knowing, all-powerful, one-and-only god issued his first and last oracle:
“The blood of House Crescent must marry the blood of the imperial family for the empire to prosper.”
Seriously?
The empire was thrown into chaos, but no one dared oppose it. The oracle was sacred and untouchable, and the emperor, a devout believer, was too powerful to defy.
“But nothing ever came of that for a long time.”
As if cursed, both the imperial and ducal families only gave birth to sons. And as succession issues became more complicated, having more children became taboo. The prophecy seemed increasingly unlikely to be fulfilled.
“…Until Lilith was born.”
She was, quite literally, a miracle. A cursed miracle born to House Crescent.
Thanks to that, Lilith had been locked up in the imperial palace since childhood, receiving the education required of a future crown princess or empress.
Then, for some unknown reason, she returned to the ducal villa a year ago.
There was no mention in the original story of Lilith ever returning to the palace, so this visit was not a return—it was a departure. Which meant only one thing:
“Reschel Robrant…”
The only person I might be going to meet was him.
The second prince of the empire and Lilith’s long-time friend. He was also her most likely marriage candidate, so this kind of forced meeting made sense.
“The problem is, he’s the villain in the original story.”
Reschel was Lilith’s powerful backer. No matter what trouble she caused, he covered it up. No matter what scheme she devised, he supported it.
It sounds simple when you say it like that, but Lilith, blinded by jealousy, was far from ordinary. Her actions grew more extreme as the story neared its climax.
Bullying the heroine was just the start—murder was child’s play. She tried to burn down the entire nation, shattered the temple’s blessings, destroyed a piece of the god, stole imperial treasures, leaked key national intel to the underworld, and more…
And Reschel had covered it all up and backed her.
“Ugh… Is this really okay?”
The protagonist isn’t the only main character. The villain is one, too.
In other words, he was someone I needed to avoid.
And even beyond that, I had plenty of reasons to stay away from Reschel.
“For example, when the princes inevitably fight for power.”
There were two princes in the empire. And the first prince was no pushover either, so conflict between the two was guaranteed.
If Reschel, the second prince, lost the power struggle, I—as his closest ally—would die too. Talk about a shrimp getting caught between fighting whales.
The first prince might marry me just to fulfill the prophecy and then kill me right after!
Knowing his personality from the original story only made me more nervous.
“No. Absolutely not!”
I screamed internally.
I had to put an end to this today. I had to throw a tantrum, cry if I had to, and insist I didn’t want to see Reschel anymore.
“Is it because you’re ugly and I don’t want to see your face? Or maybe because I’m just too sick of this empire to go on living?”
Those were some excuses I came up with, though they were ridiculous. Still, if I wanted to survive, I had to try something.
Meanwhile, a regular meeting with the nobles was taking place in the imperial palace. With the emperor bedridden from illness, Second Prince Reschel was filling in as regent.
His composed demeanor and the sharp gaze beneath his golden hair made it hard to believe he was merely a prince.
Suddenly, the door to the council chamber burst open. A flustered attendant ran inside. The nobles all frowned or let out pointed coughs at the breach of etiquette.
“Your Highness. The Lady of House Crescent has arrived at the palace.”
Despite the glares, the attendant approached Reschel and reported.
“It’s that time already, is it?”
Reschel paused his quill mid-writing. He signaled to his aides to wrap up the meeting.
Though the meeting was abruptly cut short, not a single noble voiced complaint. They merely sighed quietly in disapproval.
“However…”
The attendant hesitated, clearly reluctant to say more.
“Yes? What is it?”
Urged by Reschel, the attendant glanced around nervously before speaking.
“…The lady said she would wait until the meeting was over.”
At those words, the atmosphere in the chamber turned icy. Everyone froze in place.
“Why?”
Reschel asked reflexively, surprised. The attendant bowed his head, sweating—he didn’t know either.
Reschel’s golden eyes widened before slowly narrowing.
“That’s nonsense. You must have misheard.”
“Did… did she say that? What on earth are you talking about?”
Confused murmurs erupted around the chamber. Though Reschel’s face was calm, he was just as startled as the others.
Lilith always burst into the chamber and dragged Reschel out by force as soon as she arrived.
But now she said she’d wait?
He couldn’t understand her behavior. No one in the room could.
“…”
Reschel concluded that there could be only one reason for this change.
Something had angered her. That had to be it.
“Surely no one here has offended the Lady?”
At his chilling voice, the murmuring stopped immediately. The golden eyes that had remained calm throughout the meeting now gleamed with icy fury.
“I certainly hope not.”
His barely restrained voice and piercing glare silenced everyone. The nobles frantically reviewed their recent actions, wondering if any could have upset the lady.
But none could come up with anything. Everyone knew she had been holed up in her estate for over a month.
