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Chapter 1
“Your Highness, the Princess?”
The woman buried in the bed gave no reply.
A man with a tense expression brought his ear close to her nose.
He held his breath, straining to catch the faintest sign of life. Soon after, he straightened up.
Then he covered his mouth, pressing his face into his palm. His shoulders trembled as though he were crying.
“How is she?”
Another man watching anxiously from the other side asked in haste.
“Wahahahaha!”
The man who seemed to be silently weeping suddenly leapt up and began bouncing around like a child.
The sight of a grown man jumping up and down, dancing in glee, was not only bizarre but unsettling.
Yet, instead of recoiling, the other man’s face lit up with joy.
“She’s dead? At last…!”
The dancing man dropped to his knees beside the dead woman’s head and whispered into her ear:
“If you were going to croak anyway, you should’ve done it faster. Why drag it out so long, Your Highness?”
She was the youngest daughter of Emperor Nicholas and the granddaughter-in-law of Duke Calyps.
Princess Belladis Calyps was finally dead.
“No more of that dumb wench with her fancy bloodline. Today’s the last time we see that face.”
His companion stifled a laugh.
“For having His Majesty’s blood in her veins, her breath sure clung on stubbornly. You’ve prepared the setup well, right?”
“I’ve been waiting for this moment. Once we raid the ducal manor’s kitchens and ‘find’ the hidden murder evidence, we’ll use it as leverage to torture a confession out of them.
Soon enough, someone will swear the Duke ordered the Princess’s death. A week at most.”
“So the House of Calyps finally falls.”
Next to the Princess’s cooling corpse, the two men reviewed their scheme to frame the Duke’s family with ‘the crime of regicide.’
“Feed her poison, kill the Princess. Then pin it on Duke Calyps. His Majesty will seize the excuse to annihilate the Calyps line.”
Once their plan was confirmed, the men left the room. In the hallway, white-cloaked knights turned their eyes on them.
“Doctor.”
The captain of the Imperial Guard, standing at their center, addressed the man who had danced.
The Princess’s physician gave a meaningful nod.
“At last.”
The captain cried out, his booming voice echoing through the castle as though it were a celebration:
“Princess Belladis has passed away! We march on the ducal manor immediately and seize the murderer of Her Highness!”
“Yes, sir!”
What was strange was that not a soul mourned the Princess’s death.
Not her physician, who should have fought to save her.
Not the captain of the guard, sworn to protect her.
Not even her father, the Emperor himself.
The synchronized shout of the knights and the thunder of their boots shook the castle.
That ominous sound carried to Duke Calyps and his heir.
It reached the loyal retainers who had pledged their lives to the house.
And also…
Twitch. Twitch.
From the commotion outside, long silver lashes quivered faintly.
Eyes that were supposed to remain forever shut fluttered open.
The pink irises, pierced with black pupils, narrowed to a point.
“Haa…”
Just minutes ago, the Princess had drawn her last breath.
Now the dead rose again, creaking as she sat up.
“Kyaaaaa!”
“Release me! Wait—just a moment!”
Outside, chaos erupted with screams from the Calyps household. But inside, the chamber was unnervingly calm.
The Princess touched her cheeks, ran her hands over her body, and frowned.
“What the… something’s off.”
Grumbling, she stopped short, staring down at her arms.
She examined them as if they belonged to someone else.
“What the hell, you said you’d give me a sturdy body!”
Mirror. Where’s a mirror?!
Forcing her feeble body forward, she staggered to a mirror.
When she finally glimpsed her reflection—
[Bella! How’s the body?]
A childlike voice, no older than five, lisped in her mind.
The Princess—no, Bella, who had taken over the Princess’s body—snapped.
“You said I’d be in a body strong enough to swing a broadsword with one hand! You swore the arms would be thicker than my thighs! Remember?!”
Honestly, she’d been looking forward to it just a little.
But this?
[Couldn’t be helped. That body was the best option.]
In the mirror was a fragile young woman who looked like she would shatter with a touch.
And worse—
Long silver hair falling to her waist. Pink irises.
[She even kinda looks like you, doesn’t she? The hair, the eyes.]
Bella glared at the face in the mirror that so resembled her own, then collapsed, clutching her throbbing head.
“Ugh… can’t we delay this mission? Fighting in this body is impossible.”
[No.]
The childish tone vanished, replaced by a stern, commanding voice.
Its owner was Ophanie l, Bella’s superior, administrator of the Celestial Realm.
He was the one who stationed her in this body.
He was the one who issued her mission.
In this world, celestials, humans, and demons coexisted.
Demons sought ceaselessly to corrupt the human realm.
The celestials fought a long war to resist them.
Bella—now in the Princess’s form—was one of the Celestial Realm’s strongest warriors.
She had carried out countless missions at Ophanie l’s command.
But this mission was exceptional—horrific, even.
“The human realm is on the brink of falling to demons. Save it. Alone.”
A solo mission. In the human world.
Normally, the Celestial and human realms were closed off, interaction impossible.
Crossing into the human realm wasn’t unheard of, but the toll was near-obliteration. Few dared attempt it.
That was why Bella now lived in a borrowed human body.
The catch was that she could only wield the strength that body possessed.
Which was why she had begged for a body with arms thicker than her thighs!
[Start by accessing the body’s memories.]
At Ophanie l’s words, a flood of visions rushed through her mind.
This body belonged to Princess Belladis.
Daughter of the Emperor.
Married just a year ago to the Duke’s heir, making her the young Duchess.
But in truth, she was nothing more than a cancer planted in the ducal house by the Emperor, who sought their destruction.
In the palace, her lot was no better. If she was a tumor in the Duke’s household, then in the Imperial family she was a puppet.
Abused since childhood, and now killed by her own father’s command.
She had never once disobeyed him.
She summoned the imperial physician and guards to the ducal house on his order.
She even drank poison when told.
“…What an idiot.”
How could anyone be so utterly powerless, dying without even once fighting back?
[Now, I’ll show you this world’s future.]
An overwhelming torrent of information crashed into her mind.
From the storm of knowledge, Bella’s anger blazed.
Every possible future favored the demons.
“Tell me honestly—what are the odds this world falls to demons?”
[Hm… 99.9%.]
So this was it? She was expected to fight a 0.1% survival mission—in this flimsy body?
