‘You son of a b*tch, I could tear you apart.’

At the center of a glamorous social party held in the imperial palace, Catherine glared at Edwin as if she could rip him to shreds.

“What did you just say?”

Savoring the fury laced in Catherine’s voice, Edwin leisurely stroked his chin.

“Did I say something wrong?”

“Yes. You said something very wrong.”

The fist gripping her dress skirt trembled violently.

In the middle of the banquet hall where everyone could see, he suddenly said, “We are quite close now, aren’t we?” And what was with that sticky, suggestive nuance?

It was practically tossing a delicious morsel to the nobles, who spent all 365 days of the year hunting for gossip. Write “nobles,” read “hyenas.”

The problem was that the morsel in question wouldn’t be both Edwin and Catherine. It would just be Catherine alone.

Catherine tensed. She felt like she might be done for.

She wanted to punch that b*stard’s face right then and there.

If only that slimy wretch weren’t the Emperor of the Switzelia Empire, she would have done it long ago.

The sound of nobles whispering and murmuring rose around them.

Gossip in high society travels faster than snow, so by tomorrow, no, before today was even over, this would reach everyone’s ears.

Tears welled up in her eyes.

She swore on her heart that Catherine had done nothing wrong.

If there was anything, it was only that she had kept ignoring that damned Emperor’s courtship.

“Ha, honestly.”

Edwin ran a hand through his hair as if he couldn’t believe it.

Catherine’s eyes went wide.

Just what nonsense was he revving up to spout?

Unlike Catherine, Edwin was perfectly at ease.

He slowly savored Catherine’s crimson eyes, which were trembling with anxiety. Even when she was frightened, even when she was glaring, she was pretty. No, beautiful. The fact that this heavenly, sculpted woman was being swayed by him excited him.

He began to perform.

“I had only heard about such things in rumors. To think it would happen to me.”

Catherine was confused.

Such things?

She had no idea what Edwin was talking about, from beginning to end.

But by the time she realized what he meant, it was already far too late.

Edwin opened his mouth.

“I had heard there were people who enjoy a single night and then throw the other person away like trash.”

“……!!”

“To think you would be one of them.”

“What kind of nonsense are you spouting!!!”

Her outburst drew even more attention from the nobles.

* * *

Clop, clop.

The sound of hoofbeats echoed along a quiet forest path.

Sitting in the carriage and gazing out the window, Catherine let out a low sigh.

How had things come to this?

She was currently on her way to the countryside, fleeing like a fugitive.

This was all because of that wretched Edwin Gistaf.

Because of what had happened at that social party that day, for a while… no, going forward as well, high society was set to be abuzz with “The Flamboyant Private Life of Catherine Rochelin.”

It was so unfair.

It would have been less unfair if she had actually slept with him.

“I’m innocent!”

No matter how much she screamed that in her heart, it was obvious no one would believe her.

In fact, she had tried to explain that what Edwin said was not true, but no one believed her.

Why would the Emperor tell such a lie in front of everyone? That was their reasoning.

“Because he’s the trash!”

He was the trash, and yet he called me trash?

It was so absurd she was utterly speechless.

But regrettably, people took Edwin’s side. Why? Because it was more entertaining that way.

Rather than “She really was pure after all!” it was far more interesting to think “So she was actually indulging herself behind the scenes all along!” about Catherine Rochelin, who always exuded grace like honey, overflowed with refinement like the sea, and had managed to survive the countless scandals of high society completely spotless and alone.

She understood it rationally, but it was still hard to accept the situation.

“Well, it worked out fine anyway. At least I’ve escaped my fate of dying because of this.”

Lady Catherine Rochelin, daughter of an Earl.

A woman with a heavenly beauty said to have been sculpted by God himself, who made everyone who saw her drop their jaw and turn their head.

A woman praised by all for that beauty alone.

Brilliant golden hair as if she held the sun within her, and bewitching crimson eyes as if all the jewels of the world had been melted into them.

It was a common occurrence for a woman like her to receive courtship from men. Even if that man happened to be the Emperor.

The gazes directed at her often contained envy and jealousy, but because of the support of her distinguished family, Catherine’s own impeccable conduct, and the interest Edwin showed in her, no one dared to treat Catherine carelessly.

On the contrary, they were desperate to exchange even a single extra word with her.

Not a single person doubted the fact that Catherine had been chosen as the next Empress.

Except for one person.

Catherine herself.

“Either way, I was fated to get entangled with Edwin and die alongside him.”

She recalled the book she had once read.

This world she had come to inhabit was the world inside a novel she had read in her previous life. She had been on her way home from a cram school during her final year of high school, reading a book as she walked, when she was hit by a car.

It wasn’t even a crosswalk; she had been hit by a car that drove up onto the sidewalk, which made it all the more unfair. No, at the time, she hadn’t even registered that she had been hit by a car. Within her fading consciousness, she had only felt her body lift into the air, then felt herself fall back down onto the cold ground. Darkness came quickly.

And then she had entered the novel she had been reading at that moment.

Lady Catherine Rochelin had been famous from a young age for her gracious beauty. People who marveled at her doll-like appearance eagerly counted down the days until she would make her debut in high society.

And living up to their expectations, Catherine swept through high society the moment she appeared. Again, with that beauty alone.

Catherine, who had grown up receiving all manner of love simply for being born beautiful, always smiled beautifully. In high society, conversations praising her beauty were constant, and women exchanged hopeful jokes about wishing they could live as Catherine for even a single day.

Her life in the original story was perfect.

Except for one thing.

Her relationships with men.

She dated men easily and discarded them just as easily.

It was not particularly her fault. It was always the men who begged first to be with her, and Catherine had simply refused or accepted as she pleased.

When she grew tired of someone, she ended things immediately without dragging it out.

Men never ceased to come.

And the final destination of her love life was Edwin.

Edwin Franc Dalfne Gistaf. Emperor of the Switzelia Empire.

Once she met the man who stood at the pinnacle of the world, all other men became trivial. The problem came after the two joined together.

Edwin was not exactly a great person, but he carried out his duties as Emperor reasonably well. However, as he became increasingly infatuated with Catherine, he began to neglect his responsibilities.

Catherine, immersed in the sweetness of power where her every word could make anything happen, demanded more and more from Edwin, and Edwin, who was prepared to give up his liver and gallbladder for the sake of his beautiful Catherine, exploited the people to build countless lavish villas solely for Catherine and held extravagant banquets day after day.

Occasionally there were loyal subjects who spoke the truth, but Catherine would whisper in Edwin’s ear and have every last one of them sent to the guillotine.

In short, Catherine Rochelin was a villainess.

The union of Catherine and Edwin was a meeting of a villainess and a tyrant.

Their end comes at the hands of Duke Rowell, the male protagonist of the novel. Unaware that a rebellion had broken out, they were lying n*ked in bed until the sun was high in the sky when they were killed by Rowell’s sword.

What a truly wretched end.

The current Catherine had no desire to accept such a fate.

So she decided to cut out the root cause of the death flags first.

Specifically, by keeping her relationships with men clean.

By living a life with a truly zero male presence.

Honestly, since she had died in her previous life doing nothing but studying, she thought it was a waste of a face like this to not have a romance…

But dying was scarier.

Even if she had to die, she did not want to die like that.

“Right. This is my chance to distance myself even further from that fate.”

Just then, the carriage stopped.

Before she knew it, the forest path had ended and they had arrived at a small village.

“We have arrived, my lady.”

“Thank you.”

She picked up her simply packed bag and stepped out of the carriage.

Looking at the quiet, peaceful scenery, she actually felt a sense of lightness wash over her.

The social gossip that had been tormenting her seemed to drift away along with the fresh air.

“Ahhhh.”

She stretched.

A light smile rose to Catherine’s lips.

All right.

Now, the full-fledged countryside life begins!