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Chapter 1
Young lady, Rosemary Feriel, who is scheduled to marry Count Rober.
Right before I possessed this body, I had been reading the novel <Don’t Regret It, Your Highness>. In that story, I was a crazy extra villainess who kidnapped the holy knight Adriel, a character who appears as a villain, and left him traumatized.
And then, in the end, I get my head cleanly chopped off by that very holy knight.
No. Wait. Thinking about it again… what’s there to worry about?
I just have to not kidnap the holy knight, right?
I glanced at the maid who was fixing my hair.
“Excuse me, could you tell me my schedule for today?”
“Oh my, what’s wrong, my lady? You’re supposed to meet Count Rober today! You said you would prepare for the wedding planned for this winter…!”
Ah, that shameless old man?
“I wonder what will come first—his hair completely falling out, or winter arriving. His scalp looks so bare, it might get cold.”
“M-My lady! How can you say that about Count Rober…!”
“How can I say what?”
“W-Well… the Count is tall and well-built… and he leads a large merchant group… and, and…”
“He’s over sixty?”
“W-What are you saying! He’s 59 this year and still very healthy!”
“…Ha.”
I let out a deep sigh.
It seemed like this was right before Rosemary kidnapped the holy knight.
“Milady… are you alright?”
“No. I’m not feeling well today. Could you leave for a bit? I think I’ll feel better if I rest alone.”
The maid hesitated but eventually said she would return shortly and left the room.
After confirming she was gone, I slowly looked around.
“First, let’s put out the urgent fire.”
Whether this is a dream or reality, even if it’s a dream, I have no intention of being sold off to an old man.
“Rosemary! My beloved daughter!”
As soon as I stepped out the front gate of the mansion, Count Feriel, with his flashy golden hair, pulled me into an embrace.
“Off you go. Count Rober is eagerly waiting for you.”
Beside him, Countess Feriel, who had the same pink hair as Rosemary, smiled warmly at me.
While being held by Count Feriel, I cautiously asked,
“Um…”
“Yes? What is it?”
“Does it have to be Count Rober?”
And right then, I decided to never have any hope for this couple again.
Their bright smiles instantly turned cold.
“Why are you acting like a child again?”
“Honestly, what’s gotten into her this time?”
Well, I already expected it the moment they tried to sell their daughter to an old count.
But Rosemary’s parents were even worse than I thought.
“Stop thinking nonsense and behave properly. If Count Rober decides to withdraw his investment because he’s displeased, it will be a disaster.”
Watching Countess Feriel gently stroke my head while smiling ominously, I made a decision.
There’s no saving this family.
“You are the hope of the Feriel family!”
I saw Count Feriel waving brightly outside the carriage window.
Is he bipolar or something? How does his expression change so quickly?
Clatter—
Before long, the carriage started moving.
Once my parents were out of sight, I called the coachman through the small window.
“You called, milady?”
“Take me to the central district.”
“…Pardon? Aren’t you heading to Count Rober’s estate?”
“I am, but I suddenly thought of a gift I want to give him.”
The confused coachman soon smiled as if he understood.
“Alright then…”
After finishing the conversation, I poured out the jewels hidden in my hat and small bag onto the seat.
If I sell all of this, I could probably open a small shop, right?
Smiling in satisfaction, I counted them, then took off the necklace wrapped around my wrist.
I had secretly taken it from a statue in the mansion hallway when no one was around.
“This elegance is no joke.”
The blue gem embedded in the center looked far more expensive than the others.
“Good. I’ll save this as a last resort.”
I put the necklace aside and packed the rest back into the bag.
I’ll go to the central district, sell these, and leave this city immediately.
I had no attachment or fear of leaving.
To someone who just possessed this body, both this city and some rural village are equally unfamiliar.
Well, if there’s one regret…
It’s that I won’t get to see the count couple collapse after hearing the news.
I turned my head and looked at the clear sky.
Since it’ll take some time to reach the central district, maybe I should recall the novel.
The protagonists of <Don’t Regret It, Your Highness> are Deus, the son of a powerless concubine, and Violet, a maid of the Empress.
The story is your typical impossible romance.
Predictable, but well-written enough to be immersive.
So what about Rosemary?
As I said before, she’s just a minor extra who briefly appears in Adriel’s past.
Rosemary falls in love with Adriel at first sight after seeing him in a temple.
Normally, people would try to win over someone they like in a reasonable way.
But Rosemary, true to her reputation as a notorious villainess, does something unthinkable.
She kidnaps him.
After that, she tortures him, demanding that he love her.
Until he eventually loses his mind.
“…Adriel is pitiful too. If it weren’t for Rosemary, he wouldn’t have gone insane.”
In the end, Adriel becomes a blood-crazed killer and tries to kill the protagonists, only to be executed.
Thinking about how he joined the holy knights to avenge his family, only to be kidnapped by a lunatic…
He really is a tragic character.
“Yeah, he’s pitiful. But I’m not in a position to worry about others.”
The heroine, the hero, the villain—
None of that matters.
What matters is me.
My ending.
What kind of ending would a villainess who kidnapped and destroyed an innocent holy knight have?
Being brutally murdered by him after he becomes a killer.
That was Rosemary’s fate.
“…But I just have to make sure things don’t follow the original story, right?”
Fate doesn’t matter. Now that I’m here, that won’t happen.
“Forget Adriel. I need to figure out how to survive.”
That’s what I thought.
Just a moment ago.
“Heehee. As you ordered, I brought the holy knight Adriel, Master.”
…What?
“Now if you make him drink this potion, he’ll become your slave. Heehee.”
I blinked blankly.
The carriage had stopped. The coachman and escort knights were thrown far away by some unknown force.
“Hehe… why aren’t you taking it, Master?”
A small, adorable blonde fairy hovered before me.
Even when I rubbed my eyes, she didn’t disappear.
She kept trying to hand me a bottle filled with pink liquid.
“…Rosemary Feriel.”
And behind the fairy—
“What is the meaning of this?”
A silver-haired angel—
No.
A disheveled holy knight, kneeling on the ground, glaring at me with hatred.
Adriel.
Under his messy silver hair, his sharp nose and jawline stood out.
And those eyes burning red like the sun—
He didn’t look human.
My brain froze, overwhelmed first by his appearance, and then by the absurd reality.
“Hehe. Master, you’re acting weird today. Did you eat something strange?”
The fairy giggled, covering her mouth.
Slowly, stiffly, I looked between the fairy and Adriel.
I know this scene.
In the original novel, Rosemary makes a contract with a love fairy and kidnaps Adriel.
Which means—
Before I possessed this body, the original Rosemary had already…
“What do you think you’re doing?”
