“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.”

TN: For clarification, Louise Sweeney comes from a wealthy, but not noble, family.

Louise fumed at his words.

‘My dear fiancée.’

How dare he have the nerve to put those words in his mouth?

“Your Highness–“

He was still pinching her cheek when she opened her mouth to speak. He interrupted her and said,

“Ian.”

“What?”

“Just call me Ian. “

“You don’t mind?”

“I thought you were already a little familiar with the rules. “

He took his hand off her cheek as he calmly explained it to her.

“The status of the households has no meaning beyond these school gates.”

Right. So she had heard. But she never thought she could ever call the crown prince freely by his first name.

Louise was suddenly aware how deeply integrated in the caste system she had become. The fact that one’s status had no effect in this school was awkward to her. Ian pressed her again to make sure she understood.

“So, what should you call me?”

“Your Highness,”

Louise answered stubbornly. She didn’t think so.

“To my regret, I haven’t attended had the entrance ceremony yet, so I am not yet bound by the school rules.”

“…I insist.”

“It’s best to pay attention to the rules.”

Louise smiled at him challengingly. She wouldn’t become so familiar with him. She had to protect her heart and life.

“Yes, the rule-abiding Louise. Since we’re being so obedient, the infirmary is over there. “

He pointed to a white building diagonally from them.

“What?”

Louise didn’t understand why he was pointing there.

“That’s the infirmary.”

“Yes, I see that.”

“…don’t you have to go? “

“Who would go there?”

“Your future self.”

“…did you put a curse on me in your hex class? “

“There is no such class.”

Ian swept his palm between Louise’s bangs as if to take her temperature.

“You feel cold.”

He leaned down and looked at Louise eye-to-eye with an expression of concern on his face.

“The careful Louise always got motion sickness after riding in a carriage for a long time.”

That was true. A carriage was a very inconvenient, uncomfortable way to travel. The hard wheels carried up the sensation of the rough ground to the inside of the carriage. While she would try to keep her body steady, she often found herself feeling sick.

“I didn’t expect you to remember my condition.”

Louise took a step back with a wary look and arranged her messy bangs back into place.

“Well.”

He straightened up and brushed his hand that had been touching her forehead like he had touched something disgusting.

“I couldn’t forget about it even if I wanted to.”

He wanted to forget, but couldn’t?

Louise blushed in embarrassment as she realized what he meant.

Once, at the age of thirteen, she had such severe motion sickness from riding in the carriage she hadn’t been able to hold back her lunch.

She was ashamed of herself. Ian was there that time. She couldn’t believe she had given her enemy a weak spot to target!

“You know, that’s–!”

“I know, force majeure. It was inevitable. I didn’t mean to make fun of you for it.”

He gave Louise a playful grin and patted her head.

“I was just worried.”

Was that what worry looked like? He looked as happy as a cat with cream.

He’s a real pain in the neck anyway. What did the original Louise see in this guy? She had kicked up such a fuss about him.

The current Louise looked up at the man in front of her, blinking again.

‘He’s handsome though.’

It didn’t matter in the end. He was a dangerous man who could drag Louise away from her flower path in one stroke. She wouldn’t encourage the situation.

“You don’t have to worry.”

Louise looked around for a moment. All the other students for the entrance ceremony were entering a large building. She spotted someone who appeared to be a faculty member waving high in the distance, signaling that it was time to enter.

“Well, I’ll be going now. Thank you for telling me where to go.”

“It’s no problem.”

Louise bowed slightly and walked past him.

“Louise.”

Just as she reached his shoulder he said her name again. The wind blew through her long blonde hair, causing her to turn her head away.

“If you really are sick, you don’t have to go to the entrance ceremony. “

“You worry too much. “

“Really?”

He reached out and tucked a stray lock of her long blonde hair behind her ear.

“I just–“

He paused, then replied with an uncharacteristically serious face.

“I just want to prevent your tragic, embarrassing condition from happening again in front of the whole school.”

This jerk!

Louise clenched her first. Her parents had taught her “If anyone insults you, don’t hold back.” It seemed like good advice to take today.

She debated whether or not to hold back the crown prince. Oh, didn’t he say that status didn’t apply?

“Your Highness, over the years you have become more vicious.”

“And my elegant fiancée has become more violent,”

Ian added with a grin.

“You’ll be arrested for insulting the royal family.”

“Just for that? I could have said something worse like ‘I’m annoyed,’ ‘I’m turned off,’ or ‘the record of earthworms surviving in the desert will be longer than the record of the kindness of the king.’”

“Alright, that was insulting.”

Louise raised her chin at him and retorted,

“Didn’t you say that status does not matter beyond the school gates?”

“Is that what you’re going to say, Louise Sweeney, who didn’t even go to the entrance ceremony yet?”

“Ugh…”

She forgot that she had said that.

In any case, nothing good could come from mingling with him so closely.

If someone mistook the two of them for being close, it could lead to unnecessary situations. Gossip had power.

“Now, please excuse me. It was a pleasure to see you. May we not meet often in the future. “

They had to go their separate ways, away from each other. Ian will fall in love with the female lead, and Louise will try to get good grades and graduate with the honor of being the top student.

“We may meet each other more often than you think.”

“I don’t think so. “

Louise shrugged, and he gave an unworried smile in reply.

“Anyway, after the entrance ceremony, I expect you to call me by my first name.”

“Of course, only if we cross paths.”

“Yes, I expect we shall.”

After their verbal spat they turned and began to walk in opposite directions. Louise didn’t understand why he was headed for the school gate, but she was glad not to accompany him anyway.

‘Will I run into him?’

Louise smiled to herself.

In the original novel, soon after the entrance ceremony, Ian would start avoiding the annoying, clingy Louise in order to have a sweet relationship with the main character.

This time Louise will also avoid him, and the two of them will have a wonderful relationship of mutual reluctance.

The childhood engagement would soon be over now.

Completely over.

It was at a church funeral that Louise first met Ian. She was six years old, not long after she had crossed into this story.

To her the funeral was a strange affair, and for one reason.

‘Why is no one crying?’

While all the mourners were all dressed in black clothes bowing their heads, they shed no tears. Considering that the deceased was the queen, it seemed even more unusual. There was only one person who cried.

Louise’s mother.

The queen was born as a commoner, and Louise’s mother herself was married to a commoner businessman. The two of them were well-suited to adapting to their circumstances, and before that they were classmates at the Academy. From there to the present they had been best friends.

Even before Louise was born, the queen had said to Mrs. Sweeney, “How wonderful it would be if you had a daughter and she married into the family!”

The funeral guests looked at her mother with sharp eyes. Louise understood the meaning of their glares having read the original novel.

The commoner-turned-queen was said to have not been welcomed in the palace by anyone. She spent her time instead doting on her cherished son and took pleasure writing to her only friend.

Her death was seen as an opportunity for other women to emerge and take their place beside the king. The funeral was the culmination of that joy, but Madam Sweeney, who wept tears in such a place, would have been disgusted.

Her mother did not leave the church for a long time even after the funeral had ended. Even when the priests cleared the hall and blew out the candles, she sat on a bench and wept endlessly.

Louise sat silently beside her mother. She wanted to wipe away her mother’s tears with a handkerchief, but she didn’t have one with her.

“Madam Sweeney.”

From a darkened corner of the church came the soft voice of another child. Louise blinked and moved her eyes to the source of the voice. Finally, a child stepped into light of the stained-glass windows.

His soft, silvery hair reflected the brilliant light streaming into the church. It was an inappropriate time to think this right after a funeral, but Louise thought the boy was exceedingly beautiful.

“Your Highness,”

her mother said in surprise. There was only one little boy in this country that could be called by that title.

Ian Audmonial Crond.

Her mother stood up respectfully, but Louise was so frozen that she forgot to even blink.

“My condolences…It must be difficult…for you to…”

She could not bear to speak to the end.

Young Ian nodded, taking a handkerchief out of his sleeve and handing it to her.

His handkerchief was dry. He hadn’t shed a tear like everyone else.

Louise was six years old, and Ian was only eight. He barely reached an adult’s waist.

“Thank you, Madam Sweeney,”

he replied with a serene face.

He held out his handkerchief again, but her mother shook her head. Who in the world could take the handkerchief of a boy who had just lost his mother?

“…It’s alright with me.”

So he said, but Louise saw countless bite marks on the boy’s lower lip. Maybe he decided he couldn’t cry in front of other people.

She imagined a little boy shedding tears alone in a room without anyone to comfort him. It had nothing to do with his status as the male lead or the crown prince. Everyone gets sick when they lose their family.

“Please accept my condolences, Your Highness.”

Louise quickly stood up and bowed her head towards him.

His tearless blue eyes turned towards her.

“Thank you, Louise Sweeney.”

The moment he answered, red drops of blood from his bite marks trickled over his lips.

Louise automatically took a step towards him without realizing it. It was rude for Louise to approach the royal family without asking for permission, but she had no idea about such etiquette.

She gently touched the little boy’s lips with her fingers. He had chewed on them so much that they were ragged.

“Your handkerchief…please use it for yourself.”

Louise looked at the folded white handkerchief in his hand. Ian seemed to be a bit clumsy, but he had a tender heart. She thought that he must’ve inherited his kindness from his mother.

“The handkerchief will comfort you.”

“…”

His hand slowly returned to his bosom.

Louise realized she had been rude to the crown prince after seeing his servant standing behind him looking like he was going to faint. But Louise, even if she had known the etiquette rules, would probably have acted the same way.

Not just her. Anyone would have. There was probably no one who wants a little boy to grieve the death of his mother alone.

*

*

*

After that day the king declared Ian the heir to the throne, against all noble objections.

Louise’s mother and father were amazed, but Louise herself was unsurprised. In the novel he was described as the ‘crown prince’, so she had guessed it would happen.

Anyway, it didn’t matter to Louise whether Ian became the crown prince. The only thing that mattered to her was to survive safely and comfortably as Louise Sweeney. Money was necessary to survive, and knowledge was necessary to earn and protect that money.

She paid close attention to the horticulture business between her father and mother. They were both proud of their lovely daughter’s curiosity in growing plants in the greenhouse. Her mother in particular sat next to her and told her stories of seasonal flowers and fruits. However, there were days when her horticulture study was unproductive.

“Your Highness.”

Louise watched suspiciously as Ian started making regular visits to the greenhouse.

After the queen’s death he would sometimes go to Madam Sweeney’s and listen to her talk. Louise’s mother would force her to join in reading a book, saying, “Your Highness needs a friend of his age.”

“Madam Sweeney, your daughter looks at me with great disrespect.”

“Anyone would do that if they are dragged into reading. Your Highness,”

Louise added with a grumble. Her words were out of line again. The servant standing behind the prince had another cross expression on his face.

“It’s not good if you only read when you’re young.”

“Your Highness is still young.”

“That’s why I came to the greenhouse.”

The servant’s face wrinkled again when the two children starting bickering. Louise’s mother smiled. It seemed that she was the only one was truly pleased at scene of the two of them arguing.

“Somehow, I think I understand why the queen promised me a childhood engagement between you two.”

Louise jumped to her feet at that terrifying word. It was the word that was going to drop Louise Sweeney right into hell.

“Engage…ment?”

Ian, who seemed to have heard the word for the first time, began to show interest.

He hadn’t heard of it before? Then Mother! Stop talking right now! Putting that information in that demon’s ear will haunt your daughter in the future.

“Yes, didn’t she tell you?”

“That sounds interesting. I’d like to hear more about it.”

Ian dragged his chair beside her. Louise felt one step closer to hell.