Chapter 3
Question: One day, you wake up from a coma only to realize you’ve become a minor villainess in a book you read in a past life. Choose the appropriate course of action.
Answer: Before I could even clear my head and gather my thoughts, I was dragged off to have makeup plastered on my face because my fiancé was coming.
Titania Sol Kite Hamastion, the only princess of the Hamastion Empire, fell from the second-floor balcony of her palace three days ago and slipped into a coma.
And only today did I regain consciousness—along with the vivid memories of my past life.
If I were to describe my current feelings, it would be this: I woke up after nearly dying, and now I feel like I’m dying all over again.
‘Wow, I’m actually going crazy.’
I took a deep breath and looked into the mirror before me. My reflection was even more disastrous than I had imagined. No matter how you looked at it, I was a patient who had just crawled out of bed.
A sallow, pale face, sunken cheeks, and hollow eyes. Splints on limbs as thin as kindling… a newborn fawn would probably look healthier than me.
Dazedly, I lifted my left arm. It was stifling just to look at, wrapped tightly in bandages and splints in the middle of this sweltering summer.
The moment I lightly brushed my forehead with my functioning right hand, a stinging pain flared up. It was obvious my forehead was in the same state as my arm.
‘You’re really telling me to put on makeup and greet my fiancé looking like this? Seriously?’
Right, I knew well enough that Titania’s only significance to the Imperial Family was her status as the ‘fiancée of the Castline family.’
All the staff in the Rose Palace were spies sent by someone or other. I also knew that no one actually cared about Titania.
But this was absurd. Are they out of their minds? Why would someone with a facial injury put on makeup!
“There is no need to worry, Imperial Princess-nim. You are quite lovely!”
Sarah, the maid in charge of makeup, spat out the nonsense without even batting an eye.
Instead of answering, I narrowed my eyes.
Another maid, who had been glancing at me while eyeing the bandages and gauze wrapped around my body, spoke up tentatively.
Was her name Mary? She was the maid who usually handled my hair.
“Shall we call for a Priest?”
Sarah chimed in as if it were a brilliant idea.
“If we ask Imperial Consort Elaine-nim, surely you won’t have to show such an embarrassing sight to the Young Duke of Castline.”
Look at these two.
When I was rolling around in bandages in this heat to the point of getting heat rash, they didn’t even mention the letter ‘P’ in Priest. But now that Young Duke Raymon is coming, they want to call one immediately?
Their intentions were transparent. They didn’t want the Duchy of Castline to catch wind of the fact that Princess Titania was being neglected.
It wasn’t for Titania’s sake; they just didn’t want to give him a reason to find fault.
And on top of that, not the 1st Imperial Consort, but the 2nd? I gritted my teeth, keeping my expression neutral.
You people are truly cruel to Titania.
Imperial Consort Elaine never took Titania’s side. It was a well-known fact. If they asked to call a Priest, she would likely send back a reply saying they should do as they please and not bother her.
And the young Titania would have been hurt all over again.
I stole a glance at Natalie. She was the head maid in charge of the Rose Palace, and her demeanor was crisp and professional.
That was why the previous Titania had trusted her and looked up to her as a reliable adult…
“If you command it, I will send someone immediately.”
Natalie, speaking dryly as if it weren’t her own opinion, was a spy for the 1st Imperial Consort.
They’d send someone, the 2nd Imperial Consort would refuse to send a Priest, and then they’d suggest that since the 1st Imperial Consort is ‘merciful,’ they should ask her instead so the Princess could look presentable for Young Duke Raymon…
That’s how they would play it.
Titania, rejected by her biological mother, would have been easily swayed by Natalie’s whispers that the 1st Imperial Consort was the only one who actually cared about her.
Not to mention the fact that they had all kept her in the dark, making her a fool who didn’t even know a Princess had the authority to call a Priest herself.
I simply flashed a bright, empty-headed smile like the old Princess.
Everyone was waiting for my answer. They expected me to cling to my biological mother, get rejected, and then barely manage to call a Priest through Imperial Consort Cleo’s favor to fix this mess of a body.
Their eyes were filled with absolute certainty.
Haha, did you think I’d do what you wanted?
“Raymon goes to the front lines every winter, right? Then he must see a lot of hurt and sick people?”
The maids answered obediently.
“Yes, he likely does.”
“But he’s never seen anyone this pretty while being sick, right? Don’t you think?”
The maids’ pupils dilated. Yeah, even I knew that was bullshit.
Princess Titania was a beauty, but looking like a turtle wrapped in bandages and gauze without even having been properly washed, she wasn’t exactly a striking beauty at the moment.
I fluttered my white, loose-fitting nightgown and spoke refreshingly.
“So I’ll just go like this!”
“P-Princess-nim.”
Mary’s voice wavered. Even the eyes of Head Maid Natalie, who usually maintained a poker face, flickered slightly.
“Why?”
I tilted my head. My hair, which would normally shine brilliantly like sunlight reflecting off a crystal glass, hung limp and frizzy.
“You said Raymon wouldn’t dislike me because I’m pretty no matter what I do.”
“…….”
Taste even a little bit of the karma from all the nonsense you’ve been feeding Titania.
The young Titania had been a complete nightmare. She hadn’t been properly educated and lacked any adult to set her straight, and the servants around her were all like this.
Recalling that, I beamed.
From now on, I am a young, unreasonable brat who won’t listen to reason. Young and a member of the imperial family to boot. The only one who could outdo me in being a nuisance is that 1st Prince!
Sarah hurriedly cut in.
“That—that may be true, Princess-nim. But didn’t you always say you wanted to show him a version of yourself you wouldn’t be ashamed of?”
“Are you saying you’re ashamed of how I look?”
When I narrowed my eyes into triangles and asked, Sarah realized her mistake and shut her mouth.
At the very least, they had spent years engraving the words ‘you are pretty’ into the Princess’s ears. It was true, after all.
They wanted her to be satisfied with her beauty, not read a single extra book, and realize her place and situation so she wouldn’t say anything stupid to the Young Duke.
“Or are you saying Raymon doesn’t like me?!”
At this point, I screamed as if my Achilles’ heel had been stepped on.
Realizing it was a lost cause, Natalie signaled to Mary. Mary, though her eyes were cursing me, forced a smile onto her lips as she approached to tidy my hair.
In truth, there wasn’t much time left. They probably already had a Priest waiting at the 1st Imperial Consort’s palace. They likely intended to pretend to send someone to the 2nd Imperial Consort’s palace, then say, ‘Your biological mother refused, but the merciful 1st Imperial Consort sent a Priest instead!’
That seemed to be the plan…
But what does it matter? The Princess says she doesn’t need a Priest. Sarah barely managed to steady her voice.
“Oh, my, hoho… Princess-nim, really. Of course not! He will surely love seeing such a candid side of you. It’s just that you’re so beautiful with even a little grooming that it’s a shame, that’s all.”
She’s probably thinking that if a brat who was at least decent-looking goes out looking like a complete mess, she’ll definitely be dumped by Raymon.
But well, that’s fine. It’s okay to be dumped now. No, I’d actually be grateful if he dumped me.
As I received the bare minimum of grooming from the reluctant maids, I made a vow to myself.
‘Break up! I am absolutely breaking off the engagement!’
The goal is to end the engagement.
The previous Titania was pathetic.
I don’t know where she got it, but she tried to secretly feed him some love potion or something mixed with her own blood and hair.
Whenever she heard even a rumor that he had met a lady from another noble family, she would fly into a rage, screaming that she would kill the woman.
She sent countless letters, and when they actually met, she would throw tantrums, demanding to know why he was treating her so poorly.
Following his every move, obsessing over him, and all the other things that are too embarrassing to put into words…
She was a perfect, nuisance stalker.
It didn’t feel like much when I read a couple of lines in a book, but now that it’s my own life, I feel like I’m going to die of embarrassment.
‘…If it were me, I would have just asked to break off the engagement, Imperial Family be damned.’
With a devastated heart as I dwelled on my dark past, I wrapped a bulky shawl over my loose nightgown—choosing one that looked like a blanket on purpose, despite the maids’ protests.
I marched forward with confidence.
“The Young Duke of Castline has arrived.”
And I gave a bright smile.
“Welcome, Young Duke Raymon.”
To my fiancé, who had been walking with a perfect, expressionless gait as if carved from stone… only to flinch and come to a dead halt as if he were seeing something that shouldn’t exist.
