“There’s something important I have to say.”
Louise held her hands together politely.
“I’m listening of course. My fiancée is always so serious about everything.”
She was grateful for his light, joking reply. No matter how long the Crown Prince Ian and Louise were together, their relationship had never been serious.
Louise hesitated for a moment, but as soon as she exhaled her words came spilling out.
“I don’t want us to be tied down with our engagement.”
Did she deliver that properly? When Louise carefully looked up, the prince looked at her in shock,
“…What?”
Louise was willing to explain again.
“I’m saying I hope you don’t mention our childhood engagement.”
His blue eyes trembled briefly.
He seemed to have lost his ability to speak.
She was sorry she must have surprised him, but she had no choice.
Her engagement to the crown prince would be a poison that would ruin her life.
And why was she so sure of that?
‘Because I read the original novel. Before I came to this world, it was already over. ‘
*
*
*
There are things that are even more revealing when everyone wears the same clothes.
Not only can tell one the shape of someone’s body or the appearance of their face, but also their economic standing and family circumstances.
However, Korean school uniforms were the biggest irony; it revealed people’s differences most of all.
In the morning the girl would start by checking her sleeves.
There was a black stain on one of them. Such stains were not found on children who wore blouses cleaned by their parents.
It was fortunate that the jacket covered up the stain, however her sleeves became more visible when she stretched out her arm, and she had become more and more hesitant in class.
It was a good time to pretend to be sick. Not going to school was a time to get away from comparing herself with others.
On a day off, the girl would sit in the multimedia room of the city library and browse through her friends’ social media profiles even though she had vowed to not to.
One after another, beautiful cafes and photo shoots posted online.
If you are not envious, you are lying; if you are not jealous, you are not human. So she sometimes closed her eyes and hoped.
‘If only I had a better environment.’
If she did, she would be happy every day. She would be dressed to perfection with perfectly washed clothes and shoes.
She would go to a private school or have a private tutor to supplement this ordinary brain.
Anyway, like everyone else, she longed for what she did not have, but her longing was more than just simple envy. It was a matter of survival.
The already wide economic gap would continue to grow.
It was a simple matter of reading a newspaper or the title of a new book each time she came to the library.
The more she learned about this world, the more it seemed to become bleaker and bleaker.
All the books in this library seemed to claim that there was no hope for the future of a poor girl like her.
So the girl fell in love with sweet escape in her novels, and she especially loved the setting of the fantasy world.
Not in Korea, but in the setting of the fantasy world, an entire story can happen with just a finger.
The heroines of the novels were loved and protected, and she sometimes closed her eyes while reading and daydreamed about becoming one.
The latest novel she read was a romance fantasy called “The Secret Lovers of the Academy.”
At the Academy, in which only the children of nobility or wealth attended, the female heroine met with the crown prince and won both happiness and success.
‘It was an exciting story. Although it was irritating when the villainess, Louise Sweeney, bullies the main character.’
Of course, enjoying the fantasy while reading novels in the local library was a secret hobby she could tell no one.
Probably no one would ever know. Friends, teachers, God in heaven. It was a hobby that she kept to herself for a long time.
*
*
*
‘Now I’m…’
The girl looked down at her hand, blinking.
She had delicate, doll-like hands that she still had not gotten used to even a few days later.
Those soft hands peeked through the white lace sleeves.
There was not a crease in the lace, so delicate that looked easy to tear but difficult to mend.
It was not just that.
The girl’s clothes were obviously expensive even to anyone who didn’t know much about fashion.
Her body and environment had changed in an instant, and for a while the girl hadn’t understood what was happening to her.
After a brief moment of confusion she had reached a conclusion.
‘I woke up in another child’s body.’
Suddenly, one day, without prelude or omen.
But there was one thing that was the most surprising. That was…
Knock knock.
She heard a careful but urgent knock.
The girl answered in a faint voice and the door, embellished with golden roses, opened.
“Honey!”
A woman in her nightgown ran into her room.
After three days of observation in this strange place, the girl learned that this woman was her mother.
The woman swooped over her and gave her a tight hug.
The body of the girl, which had cooled down during the early morning, melted softly under the warmth of her embrace.
“Oh dear, your nanny told me that you had a fever last night. I don’t know how much to blame her. If I had known earlier I wouldn’t have let you sleep alone…”
She hovered over the girl in concern, her hands fussing over her daughter.
It was the first time the girl had received such a great deal of attention and she was unused to such pampering.
Maybe because of the newness of this environment, but the girl still was adapting to this strange body and was careful about everything.
She couldn’t say “I’m from another world” for fear of something going wrong.
Well, that wasn’t entirely true to be honest. If she said that, she would no longer have the reassuring warmth of something worrying over her.
Even if this life wasn’t really hers. Still, she wanted to experience it for the first time.
“My daughter,”
her mother cooed, looking into her eyes. Though she was a woman who had given birth to a child, she was a breathtaking beauty.
“It’s perfectly normal for me to worry about you.”
“I’m really okay.”
The fever must have been caused by the overload of information from morning to evening in coming to understand this world. When the mother rubbed the girl’s flushed cheeks anxiously, the girl gave a small yawn.
“Are you tired?”
The girl nodded her head.
“Lie down. I will stay with you until you fall asleep.”
The girl quickly lay back and sank into the huge, comfortable bed.
She felt a friendly touch begin to stroke her hair and her heart tingled at the cozy blankets and the sympathetic attention.
However, there was one problem with this life.
“Good night, little Louise Sweeney.”
The fact the she has become this person.
Who is Louise Sweeney, you ask?
She was the villain in the novel “The Fake Lovers of the Academy” that the girl had read in her previous life in Korea.
If she hadn’t become the villain, she wouldn’t have been so upset.
When the story was serialized there was even a section of the fandom who called themselves “Louise Sweeney’s Sacking Unit.”
Tens of thousands of readers would pray for this terrible woman’s downfall.
Even the author’s notes read: ‘Louise Sweeney is finally killed next Tuesday. Pop the cider! Cheers!’
The girl–no, Louise–buried her face in the pillow.
‘This is so bad. I’m so unlucky.’
There is no god in this world.
If there was, he wouldn’t punish her so unfairly.
In Korea she had been a poor girl who loved novels, and now she was repaid to become the most evil villain in one?
‘How did I end up like this character? Normally you would enter the protagonist’s body!’
If there was a god in charge of all this, she would go and point her finger at him right away and say:
‘It would’ve been great if you made me the main character! Kind, smart…loved by all.’
She had been been longing for that life, only to be loved by no one!
‘Ah…’
Louise suddenly remembered the friendly touch on her hair.
That was love, right?
She remembered the fine clothes and the fancy room.
Louise Sweeney, though a villain in the novel, was a very rich girl unlike the poor heroine.
What wealth! She’d always longed for this in Korea!
Louise admired her golden blonde hair just in her field of view.
Even considering this body was just five years old, she was very pretty.
Of course, even in the novel Louise was often described as a beautiful young lady.
“There’s nothing to worry about, Louise,”
her mother’s voice whispered.
“You are our precious daughter, heir, and light. Your father and I will always support you.”
Her mother’s sweet words of “heir” and”support” almost brought her to tears.
Louise quickly reconsidered pointing her finger at God.
She was grateful to not be a poor heroine.
Who cared about the male characters?
Louise Sweeney had a family that loved her and she had a beautiful face.
This moment could only be a dream, and she wanted to stay much longer than she expected.
If someone woke her up, she would be left poor and powerless again in Korea.
*
*
*
‘If living in a novel is a dream, please don’t let me wake up.’
Perhaps her earnest prayer worked. Or was she destined to live in this world without prayer?
She never opened her eyes again as a Korean girl with a spoon and chopsticks.
As time went by, the girl became accustomed to becoming Louise and no longer became surprised every time she looked in the mirror.
The life of a wealthy girl was the smoothest and most comfortable life she had ever lived.
Above all, Louise was loved by her father and mother.
“Louise, our proud treasure.”
“We are so blessed to have such a wonderful daughter.”
Even the servants and maids in the large mansion loved her.
“She is such a mature girl. She is always kind to everyone.”
“How cute is it for her to always use polite language!”
“Other young ladies are stubborn to their maids, but she is considerate to all of the servants.”
The was also the first time she was loved not only in the household, but outside of it as well.
She was esteemed as a precious person wherever she went. A perfect life.
But she had to be careful not to get too upset.
Louise Sweeney was a villain.
If she does something wrong, all the happiness will disappear and she would fall onto the path of destruction.
She always tried to stay humble and sincere so she could enjoy this life for a long time.
Instead of the predestined road of misery, she would walk on a flower path.
Time passed. It was spring when Louise Sweeney turned seventeen.
She stared at herself at the mirror.
Soft blonde hair that fell to her waist, rare amethyst eyes, and meticulously kept perfect skin.
She made an effort to give a beautiful smile.
‘It’s okay. It won’t be like the original.’
Louise had been giving herself encouragement lately.
She was about to enter the Academy, the starting point of the original novel.
*
*
*
*
Cientia Academy. Louise paused for a moment to appreciate the magnificent-looking building looming over her.
‘So this was the setting of the novel…’
This was the place where the crown prince and the heroine of a poor aristocratic family met and promised the rest of their lives to each other.
‘In the original novel, Louise was engaged to the prince and was abandoned by him when he fell in love with the heroine. In her fury she eventually went on a road of destruction.’
Louise had become so unhappy she couldn’t carry on her family business.
Oh, I don’t want this to happen! I was finally born into wealth after suffering for a long time. It would be a waste.’
Of course the crown prince was endowed with stunning looks, as expected of a male lead.
But that was all.
She had already met him, and he was just a mean person who teased her.
His kindness towards Louise was rarer than the number of times an earthworm would take a walk in drought.
‘Well, when you think about it, he doesn’t have to be friendly to me since I’m not even the heroine. ‘
It would be much better than being unnecessarily tangled in a relationship.
Either way, there were plenty of other men who she could walk with on this flower path.
There was only one thing Louise had to be steadfast about while attending this academy.
‘I won’t love the crown prince!’
Of course, she wouldn’t bother the female lead unnecessarily either.
Louise, who was a true reader of the original novel, could not help but enjoy their romance.
She was even a little excited thinking about it.
She was happy whenever it happened in her favorite novel or webcomic or drama, but soon it would become a reality in front of her!
Louise was filled with anticipation in seeing the longing and love between the couple.
“I guess you still haven’t fixed your empty head yet?”
Someone behind her spoke suddenly and tapped her on her back.
Louise turned around quickly in a panic, coming face to face with blue eyes that looked so clear in the sunlight.
“…”
The person had well-groomed silver hair and was much taller than Louise.
Perhaps he was the only one who could stand out in the crowd.
Ian Audmonial Crond.
The crown prince, the one person she shouldn’t care about.
In the original novel, he was a heartless man who had cast aside Louise.
She struggled to draw a smile.
Even if she wanted to break the formal engagement, she would still have to maintain friendly relations with the successor of the kingdom.
“It’s been a while…”
When she was about to bow he smiled and pinched her cheek with his long fingers.
“I’m looking forward to seeing my dear fiancée enter school.”
