‘Is this life doomed too?’

I screamed internally, clutching my head with both hands. My hair, which the maids had taken extra care to style more than usual, became disheveled.

But I had no leisure time to worry about such things. I had just regained the memories of my past life this morning. Everything was confusing and frightening.

I liked handsome men. Of course, there probably isn’t a woman in the world who dislikes handsome men, but I was particularly serious about it. Whether real people, 3D, or 2D, as long as they were handsome, I liked them unconditionally.

I could be called a philanthropist of love when it came to handsome men, without caring about race, nationality, age, etc.

For me, choosing an ‘Ideal Type World Cup’ was harder than any question in an exam.

It was all fantasy anyway, so why did I have to choose just one? I couldn’t understand it at all.

Was that why? After dying in an accidental accident, I reincarnated in the reverse harem novel I had read in my lifetime.

But I wasn’t the female lead who could manipulate the male leads with a flick of her wrist.

As though I was being punished for judging men solely by their looks in the past, I reincarnated as a supporting character destined to be killed by her handsome fiancé.

‘It’s too early to jump to conclusions. Think positively, positively…’

Fortunately, it wasn’t completely hopeless.

According to the original story, there were still about three months left until I would be killed. It wasn’t long, but it was enough time to change the future.

And for starters, I had a high social status and a lot of money.

Here, I was the only daughter of the Dronay ducal family, the head of the nobles, Lou Dronay. In other words, I was born with a silver spoon in my mouth.

Compared to the female protagonists I had read about in romance novels — an illegitimate child who grew up in a back alley, the successor of a family unjustly accused of treason, a saintess who lost all her powers to the female lead who turned out to be the real villain… I was very lucky.

Besides, the reason I faced death in the original work was because I couldn’t bear my jealousy towards the female lead and tried to kill her first. So as long as I didn’t overstep in front of the protagonists, there was no reason for me to die.

‘Wait, isn’t the situation better than I thought?’

I suddenly felt better.

“Lou.”

While I was busily running my happiness circuit, someone called me.

“Uh… Yes?”

I answered carelessly without thinking and then suddenly remembered that this place was the imperial palace, and I snapped back to reality in shock.

Today was the day I was invited to a tea party hosted by the Empress. I had woken up at dawn, dressed carefully, and entered the palace early. Though I had been led here almost in a daze by the maids.

“What are you thinking so hard about that you didn’t even notice someone coming?”

A man with bright platinum hair was sitting opposite me. It seemed like my dumbfounded face looked silly to him.

The man smiled with his eyes shaped like crescents. It was a smile so beautiful that it made my vision dizzy for a moment.

The man smiling so affectionately in front of me was Pinion Dias Kebrenia, the crown prince of the Kebrenia Empire and my fiancé, whom I had passionately loved, until yesterday.

And he was also the person who killed me in the original work. My heart raced for a different reason than usual.

“It’s just… it’s warm today… I might have dozed off for a moment. What brings you here, Your Highness?”

“I heard you were entering the palace, so I stopped by for a moment. Though I can’t stay long.”

The crown prince suddenly narrowed his eyes and scrutinized my face.

“You really look tired. Did you not sleep well?”

“No! It’s Your Highness who looks more tired–”

Before I could finish my sentence, he reached out his hand towards my face without hesitation.

The moment his long and beautiful fingers gently landed on my cheek.

Slap-!

A loud friction sound splits the air.

The crown prince’s face hardened.

‘Gasp.’

“I’m sorry, Your Highness! It wasn’t intentional at all, this is…”

Before I even realized what I had done wrong, an apology reflexively burst out.

It was because I was too accustomed to watching his mood.

“So, uh……”

I was at a loss for words. I couldn’t think of anything to explain the situation.

If I tried to explain what would happen in the future, I would just be treated like a crazy person.

‘But do I need to make such a pathetic excuse? He won’t care anyway.’

Now that I knew I could never win the crown prince’s heart, there was no need to be swayed by his mood.

After all, what he wanted was not me, but my background.

He came to see me now because he was conscious of other people’s gaze.

The crown prince was always like that. Cold when we were alone, but became kind and gentle in places where there are many eyes on us.

Until now, I had forced a smile, thinking he was just shy when we were alone.

But thinking about it again, it seemed like he just wanted to show off that the only daughter of Dronay was head over heels for him.

I looked at the back of his hand, which was red with marks.

It was the very beautiful hand that I always wanted to hold.

But now that I knew the future, it looked horribly ominous, as if he had already done something terrible to me with that hand.

My head cooled down remarkably fast.

Right now I am blinded by love, but originally, I was quite a rational and logical noble.

“I was surprised when you suddenly reached out your hand. Please forgive my rudeness.”

I offered a straightforward apology.

The crown prince, looking back and forth between me and his hand, shrugged his shoulders lightly and smirked.

He didn’t care at all about what happened just now.

There was no way he didn’t notice my different reaction than usual. He just didn’t feel the need to ask why. To him, I was just that much.

I wasn’t a fool enough to keep loving someone who would betray and ruthlessly kill me, but it still left a bad taste in my mouth.

“It was rude of me to reach out my hand like that, so I should be the one apologizing. Will you forgive me, Lou?”

“Of course. Your Highness has done nothing wrong to me.”

“My fiancée is really generous. Oh right, where is the tea party held?”

“In the back garden of the Empress’s Palace.”

“I’ll take you there as a sign of apology. I hope you’ll hold on this time.”

The crown prince extended his hand again with an exaggeratedly polite gesture.

‘…Just for a moment.’

I smiled shyly and took his hand willingly. It was still unpleasant.

“Shall we go then, Lady?”

To those unaware of the situation, we must look like a couple playfully in love.

But a quick glance at the crown prince’s purple eyes revealed his undisguised boredom and contempt.

‘He would have been successful as an actor.’

Everything was so clear that it was surprising how I didn’t realize it just until yesterday.

I had no doubt that he loved me as much as I loved him.

I felt my affection for him dropping in real-time, at a surprisingly fast rate.

‘I just want to break off the engagement…’

If I honestly opened up about it, I wondered how he would react.

The answer came easily.

Even if the imperial family’s influence wasn’t what it used to be, they were still the imperial family. Not to mention political retaliation, they would demand several times the humiliation I caused by daring to toy with the imperial family in alimony.

‘Then he’ll find another woman without looking back.’

Even after regaining my memories from my previous life, I was still a member of the Dronay family.

I couldn’t let my family suffer losses because of me.

Anyway, in a year’s time, the crown prince would meet the female lead and fall in love with her. He would ask for a breakup himself, so there was no need to bring it up first and suffer losses.

‘But his face is such a waste.’

In my previous life and this one, I had never seen a man as handsome as him.

That’s why I liked him consistently from when I first met him at age 10 until now at 20.

The other male leads were said to be just as handsome as the crown prince, but since they had nothing to do with me, I left them out of consideration.

I coldly shifted my gaze away from the crown prince.

After all, he was someone else’s man as well.

***

The novel I transmigrated to is called <The Cage of Savagery.>

As you can guess from the title, it was an R-19 reverse harem novel.

It was popular more for its explicit content than its story, so the setting and plot were simple.

The main storyline was about heroes saving the world from demons that invaded from another world.

The female protagonist, Lina, was an ordinary college student in modern times who becomes revered as a saintess after being transported to another world.

And there were four male leads who loved her.

As befitting romance novel male leads, they were all exceptionally handsome and extraordinary.

Pinion, the crown prince of the Kebrenia Empire; Gined, the commander of the Holy Knight Order of Sephiroth; Iscallion, the Duke of Pontos; and lastly, Enril, the Storm Dragon.

Throughout endless battles, the male leads’ bodies and spirits were worn down, and Lina gladly healed them with her holy power. In exactly the way everyone imagines.

Despite the shoddy story, the author puts a lot of effort into the scenes where Lina heals the male leads. The descriptions, direction, dialogue—nothing was lacking.

What’s especially noteworthy was the scene where Lina heals all the injured male leads at once.

The content continued like this until well into the second half of the novel, but since I died in an accident before finishing it, I don’t know how it ended.

‘Well, they probably lived happily ever after.’

Now that the protagonists have their own paths to follow, and so do I.

I had long discarded my ambition of becoming an empress loved by the emperor and citizens in the future. For the sake of the world, the crown prince must inevitably belong to the female lead.