Chapter 1

The prologue.

Yes, that was a day with wonderfully clear weather. Beneath a sky so bright it felt like a romance was about to begin, I remember quietly sinking into despair.

I will never forget it. It happened when I was nine years old. Due to certain circumstances, I set foot inside the royal palace—a place I never would have been able to enter under normal conditions.

The exterior looked like a castle, and the interior featured sparkling chandeliers. The crimson carpets were so meticulously maintained from corner to corner that it felt almost a shame to step on them.

I was overcome by an impulse to throw open every single oversized door that towered above my height. They looked overwhelmingly heavy, though, so there was no way my feeble strength could actually open them.

Seeing the royal palace for the first time, my eyes sparkled with excitement. It was so luxurious and dazzling that it couldn’t possibly be compared to my own home. My childish heart was instantly captivated by the fantastical sight, as if I had wandered straight into the pages of a storybook.

Stoking my childlike curiosity to explore the castle, I followed right behind the guide until we were led into a grand room.

“Please wait here,” someone called out, snapping me back to reality.

This was no time to be getting carried away. That was right, I had come to the royal palace today for an arranged marriage meeting with a prince.

I clenched my fists tightly to fire myself up. The reason I was visiting a royal palace I could rarely ever approach was for an arranged marriage with the second prince.

In this country, it was common knowledge—known even to children younger than me—that members of the royal family had arranged marriage meetings at the tender age of ten. In fact, the second prince’s older brother, the crown prince, had already welcomed a fiancée by the time he was ten years old.

Incidentally, I was not the only candidate for the prince’s fiancée. Only one person among the many beautiful young ladies who caught the prince’s eye would be permitted to call herself his fiancée. Aristocrats clamoring that they wanted honor, money, and status competed eagerly to have their daughters become the prince’s fiancée. I truly felt sorry for their daughters. At worst, people would go out of their way to adopt a beautiful child and claim she was their own daughter just to marry her off to the royal family. It was a thoroughly sickening story.

Because of that, I was carrying the name of my family on my back when I came here today. Unlike others, I wouldn’t be cast aside as a failure just for failing to become his fiancée, but expectations were high.

Arranged marriage meetings with royalty were conducted strictly between oneself and the other party. Naturally, attendants and bodyguards were present, but the only person you actually talked to was the prince himself. That meant making a blunder was out of the question, and conversely, it was the only venue where you could truly appeal to yourself.

It would be no exaggeration to say I was wagering my life on this hour. Rather, this was the only place where the prince would actually look at me. This was precisely what they called a once-in-a-lifetime chance. Moreover, only high-ranking, noble aristocrats were permitted to have this meeting. If an invitation arrived, you could have an audience with the prince. In a sense, it was a privilege reserved for us people of high status.

I was put through training—or rather, lessons—that practically screamed, “When else are you going to use this if not now?” Even though a face-to-face meeting only lasted about ten minutes, I had etiquette drilled into me relentlessly for the past six months. Honestly, it was demonic. There were times more than once or twice when I thought, They’re definitely trying to kill me. By the end, I had practically turned into a zombie.

Still, well, I could understand why my parents had high hopes. After all, I was cute. Large violet eyes and soft, curled, glossy ash-gray hair.

“Men all over the world are going to be head over heels for me,” I had chuckled to myself in front of the mirror when I was five years old.

The prince was a boy, too. The beautiful noble girls around wouldn’t hold a candle to me in either status or looks. The prince would surely fall for me as well.

Up until that moment, I had been an utterly clueless, narcissistic idiot.

Guided to the room where the prince was, I stood before the door. While I pressed against my loudly thumping chest, the heavy-looking doors opened, and my field of vision suddenly brightened. Before offering a greeting, so as not to look at the prince directly, I lowered my head, bent my knees, and lifted the hem of my dress slightly.

I guess those six months of lessons weren’t for nothing, I thought for the very first time. My body actually moved on its own.

After offering a sufficient bow, the moment I raised my head and looked at the prince, my brain went numb. It wasn’t something cute and romantic like falling in love—

It was more like a bizarre sensation, as if memories were being dredged up. It felt like something I had forgotten until now was gradually, slowly coming back to the surface—that frustrating feeling where you want to say, It’s right on the tip of my tongue!

Do I… know this prince?

Fair hair and an otherworldly, beautiful face. His silky locks reflected the light, making them shine even more brilliantly. Sapphire eyes that seemed embedded in his pale skin glowed brightly.

This person is—

Just as I tried to remember, I realized I hadn’t even introduced myself.

How could I have done something so rude?!

While I was panicking inwardly, the prince sat quietly on the sofa with an unyielding smile. When our eyes met, the sight of him tilting his head in a little tilt and smiling gently made him look just like an angel. I felt a shock straight through my chest.

Ah, I’ve fallen in love…!

Even when he saw me frozen in place, the prince remained calmly seated out of habit. He probably assumed I was simply mesmerized by him and frozen in place.

I put my brain, which had turned pink in an instant, into overdrive and spun my words.

“I will definitely become the prince’s fiancée!”

“Pleased to make your acquaintance, Your Highness the Second Prince. My name is Bertia, eldest daughter of the Tybus family.”

Bertia…?

Even though it was my own name, it felt strangely out of place.

Without rebuking my discourteous attitude, the prince stood up as well and executed a beautiful bow.

“Pleased to meet you, Lady Bertia. I am Dylan Vermelio, Second Prince of the Kingdom of Vermelio.”

The Kingdom of Vermelio, Second Prince, Dylan.

The moment those three facts registered in my mind, my pink-tinted brain cooled down, and I very nearly went hysterical.

Every woman in this world would surely fall head over heels for a prince greeting them with such a radiant smile.

As a young noble lady, I should have let my white cheeks blush and cast my gaze down bashfully, but I couldn’t do it.

Because I had remembered.

Along with my past life, I remembered everything about this world—

Wearing a single smile to mask my aching head, I floated a grin.

I somehow managed to finish the marriage meeting and returned to the mansion. I didn’t remember much of the conversation. I surely hadn’t become a bobblehead doll just nodding along to the prince’s words. In any case, keeping myself under control took everything I had.

The moment I returned, my parents greeted me with expectant faces, but seeing my gloomy expression, they quietly led me to my room.

I fell into a deep sleep that lasted a full day.

In my past life, I had been a woman living in Japan. Around twenty years old. Probably a student. I didn’t seem to have had a large circle of friends, but there was one person with whom I had shared my brief existence.

No matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t remember her name, but she was a cute girl with a straightforward, refreshing personality, and I felt like we had been like close childhood friends who got along since we were little.

No, that wasn’t it. She and I weren’t childhood friends. If I had to describe it, it was more like an inescapable bad karma. Our houses happened to be next door, and we just happened to attend the same schools all the way from kindergarten to university. Our relationship resembled frenemies more than best friends.

I didn’t like her… but I didn’t hate her, either. I figured she was a good person, but she was just too harsh on me. Far too harsh.

Thanks to that, I had acquired a bulletproof glass heart that remained unfazed by anything.

Still, even so, the two of us were always together. Having her by my side was just how things were. It was true that I always looked out for her whenever her stubbornness and high pride caused her to become isolated from those around her. Looking back now, I suppose I might have held a special attachment to her. Though I did wish she had been a bit nicer to me.

I decided not to pay attention to the faint twinge of loneliness I felt.

Anyway, this—the maiden game she had recommended to me as a consolation for my broken heart—was that very thing.

The Symphony Weaving with You.

Abbreviated as Kimikanta.

Incidentally, the two of us had fallen head over heels for it. To the extent that we hunted down and bought all the merchandise.

The setting was the Kingdom of Vermelio. A major power ruled by the Vermelio family as the sole lineage capable of wielding magic.

In that Kingdom of Vermelio, there was a large academy in the royal capital. Its name was St. Polhymnia Academy.

Normally, aristocrats attended St. Polhymnia Academy for their education, but on rare occasions, commoners were permitted to enroll.

Those were individuals who excelled in something special. Being good at cooking, or good at singing. The level of this proficiency was high enough to serve in the royal palace. It was no joke.

The heroine possessed musical talent rumored to charm everyone she met.

The head of the Plata family, having caught sight of the heroine’s talent, adopted the commoner girl as his daughter and enrolled her in the academy… and that was where the story began.

Now, I was terribly sorry, but I only knew two of the capture targets.

It was a game I had fallen deeply in love with, but what I fell for wasn’t the game itself—it was Ashwad Crillver, the knight who was the heroine’s childhood friend and one of the capture targets. In fact, I only ever pursued Ashwad.

Ashwad was a fine young man (a total bishounen) with glossy, bluish-black hair and teal-green eyes. He excelled in swordsmanship and was an older-brother figure who always looked out for the heroine, his childhood friend.

Aside from his looks, Ashwad had no flaws. It might be wishful thinking on my part, but he was steadfast, kind, and a true gentleman. His devoted stance toward the heroine pierced my heart right through. I had so many things I wanted to talk about, but time was short, so I would skip the rest.

In short, he was purely my exact type.

Meanwhile, my frenemy’s favorite was the second prince.

Because of that, I didn’t know the details of who the other capture targets were. All I knew was that my frenemy had ranted and raved to me about how wonderful the second prince was.

There was no helping what I didn’t know at this point, but the problem wasn’t there.

The problem was that the heroine’s rival—or rather, the person who got in the way of her romance—was me, Bertia Tybus.

The one who bullied the heroine to no end and was a lump of conceit—the so-called villainess. That was me.

Despair. Why on earth did I have to play assistant to the heroine? Besides, if reincarnation was a thing, shouldn’t they have placed me as the heroine instead? It made no sense.

On top of that, me—Bertia—disappeared and met her end regardless of whether it was a happy ending, a normal ending, or a bad ending.

Or rather, my end wasn’t described in much detail. It met some incomprehensible conclusion like, “And from that day on, no one ever saw Bertia again…”

You’ve got to be kidding me.

According to my frenemy, Bertia really shone when she tried to capture the second prince, who was her fiancé. Since she merely stood in the way like a simple bully during my knight’s route, I had no idea what she was up to in the prince’s route.

However, to be honest, I didn’t hate Bertia. That was because any event featuring Bertia allowed you to boost Ashwad’s affection points twofold.

Bertia fell in love with the prince at first sight the moment she saw him, and she supposedly used her full force of money and power to forcefully make herself the prince’s fiancée… or so I heard.

Since I barely listened to even half of what my frenemy talked about, I didn’t remember much.

Remembering it now gave me a chill. After all, I had fallen in love at first sight. This was dangerous.

Apparently, Bertia had carved out her own engagement herself, meaning if I did nothing, I wouldn’t be chosen as the prince’s fiancée.

If that happened, the story would change, too.

Oh, so there was nothing to be scared of. In that case, maybe I could just go enjoy my youth with the knight using this beauty of mine.

I thought I had been grinning to myself about that just recently. God, what did I do wrong? I couldn’t help but think that in my current situation.

Right in front of me was a beautiful person with golden hair and blue eyes.

“Hello, it’s been three days, Bertia.”