Chapter 02
“Your Highness, would you like to cough now?”
A woman who looked like she had walked straight out of a Marie Antoinette movie asked me that as I stared blankly. Maybe thinking I was still half-asleep, she brought over a basin of water for me to wash my face.
Thinking it was just an incredibly vivid dream, I moved my body without resistance.
But the moment I looked in the mirror and saw a doll-like stranger staring back at me, my eyes widened in shock.
‘She called me Your Highness just now…’
It took me about a week to fully understand the situation. By the end of that week, I was actually happy.
It was like winning the lottery—no, better than winning the lottery. I had become a princess. And after the former emperor and empress died in an accident, I was serving as regent in place of my young nephew, who had taken the throne.
In my past life, I had worked like crazy to rise through the ranks and gain power—so I could have more people under my command.
I had tasted power early on and craved more of it.
‘Your Highness, Grand Duke Dierik has arrived. Shall I escort him in?’
Axion Velveta Dierik. From what I had learned over the past week, he was supposed to be my fiancé. But since I had been too busy trying to understand my new reality, I avoided him with all sorts of excuses. Still, he came to see me every single day without fail.
Was he really so determined to marry me? At that point, he must have realized I was purposely avoiding him. I figured he at least deserved to have me look him in the face, so I finally agreed to meet him.
When the maid returned with him in tow, I was screaming on the inside.
‘Why is he so good-looking?’
So this was the kind of man a royal princess got as a fiancé? Did they handpick the most handsome guy on the continent?
His green eyes shone brightly under the sunlight, framed by jet-black hair. Even the bit of skin showing from under his uniform was sun-kissed and strong.
I had a powerful feeling that I’d be able to enjoy life in this world just like I did in my last one.
Our engagement happened quickly. He was the head of a powerful noble family. I had no reason to reject him.
Even with all his status and power, Axion was endlessly gentle with me. And not just gentle—he was sweet, too. Which meant… I got bored of him pretty fast.
About six months into our engagement, I started seeing other men. I didn’t even try to hide it. And he never said a word about it. Maybe he didn’t care about love—maybe all he wanted was my political power.
Still, he was unnecessarily kind to me.
“I told you, I don’t need it.”
“But Your Highness might catch a cold if you go out dressed so lightly…”
I didn’t even answer. I just coldly slapped his hand away.
His sincere expression only irritated me more.
That was when it happened.
“Brother…?”
It was during a banquet. I had stepped out onto the terrace for some fresh air, and it was supposed to be just the two of us.
A soft voice suddenly called out from somewhere.
“…Cheryl.”
She looked about twelve years old. I had never seen her before, but somehow she felt familiar.
Cheryl was his one and only little sister. I had known her name, of course.
So I figured that was why she felt familiar and didn’t think much of it. That was my mistake.
Cheryl stared up at me with wide, shocked eyes—she had seen me slap her brother’s hand away. Axion gently took her hand and led her away from the terrace.
My stomach turned.
Such a small moment had unexpectedly triggered something. I felt a sudden wave of exhaustion and pushed away the hands reaching toward me. I returned to my room and fell asleep.
And that’s when I dreamed. That dream made me realize this wasn’t just a fantasy world—it was a novel.
Cheryl was the female lead of the book. The genre? Revenge.
And her revenge target…
It was me.
****
I found the book thanks to my friends.
“Hey. This princess character? She’s basically you.”
“What are you talking about?”
They laughed it off, just teasing me like usual. I ignored them. At first, I thought it was just drunk talk and didn’t care.
Then one night, after missing the last train and waiting for the first one, their words came back to me.
‘How similar could she be?’
But it didn’t take long for me to understand why they said that.
And that was as far as my interest went.
“Ugh, what a stupid death.”
The princess—who looked and acted like me—was the final boss in the book. A classic villain. And, as expected, she died in the end.
After reading that, I dropped the book with zero regrets.
‘But I never imagined I’d become that princess…’
The book’s title was: I’ll Give You the Throne, Just Give Me Revenge.
The heroine, Cheryl, had lost her parents at a young age and lived with her much older brother, Axion.
Even though their parents were gone, Cheryl’s life was peaceful—because she had her big brother.
That same brother was engaged to the royal princess. Little Cheryl believed that since her brother loved his fiancée, she could love her too.
But her innocent heart was soon shattered.
Their relationship was terrible—worse than she ever imagined.
The princess was the worst possible fiancé.
Cheryl couldn’t understand why her brother was still trying to marry someone who treated him like garbage.
But then she saw his eyes whenever he talked about the princess—and she understood. Her brother truly loved her.
If she had known that love would lead to his death, Cheryl could never have been the heroine.
The princess accused Axion of being a demon and sentenced him to death. And since he had mysterious powers, it was easy for her to paint him as a monster.
He was executed, and his family—House Dierik—was destroyed. Cheryl barely escaped with her life and was reduced to a commoner overnight.
Burning with revenge, she joined the palace as a maid to the young emperor—my nephew.
With her brother gone and the people backing her, the princess soon took full control of the throne.
Cheryl helped the emperor in secret and worked to make him the true ruler.
In the end, Cheryl succeeded in her revenge by killing the princess and placing the male lead, Lexin, on the throne.
So yeah…
In that story, I—Geneia—was the worst villain ever.
The main enemy of the heroine. The one she personally killed.
‘No way. I can’t let that happen.’
I was lucky to know all this in advance. As long as I didn’t put Axion on that execution platform, none of the rest of the story would happen.
That’s how it should have been.
“I’ll secure your position even further.”
Axion’s voice was calm. As if he always knew this day would come.
“So don’t cry.”
It was strange. He spoke like I was crying—but I didn’t think I was.
He sounded so cold, like he was handling someone else’s business.
“…Punish the demon.”
Axion climbed the steps to the execution platform on his own.
All I had done was speak a single sentence. But those few words killed him—like he’d never been in my life to begin with.
And just as the story predicted, I died not long after. As I closed my eyes, I thought, At least the pain is finally over.
I thought I had died for sure.
But I opened my eyes again—and I was back.
Somehow, I had returned to eight years ago. Back to when I had just gotten engaged to Axion. Back to when I started cheating on him.
****
“Is something going on, Your Highness?”
My sudden appearance at the Royal Library—despite never going there before—caused quite a stir.
I quietly sat and watched the librarians scurry around, carrying books.
My head maid, Mileta, looked puzzled.
“Why?”
“You never come to places like this.”
“I’m looking for something.”
I shrugged. I didn’t feel like explaining it to her.
Once the librarians brought the books, they stepped back.
I was now surrounded by dozens of books stacked around me.
I picked up the one on top and read the title.
****
32 Ways to Be the Perfect Lover
[…Are you bad at romance? Don’t worry! This guide, filled with real-life experience from the continent’s top love expert, Lord Shubelta, will…]
****
Satisfied, I opened the book.
All of the books in front of me had one goal: to teach me how to be a better partner.
Across two lifetimes—one in the modern world and one here—I had dated a lot.
And in every one of those relationships, I was basically the worst girlfriend ever.
I cheated. I never paid attention. I didn’t care about anniversaries. I never remembered birthdays.
I had received countless gifts, but never gave any.
‘Wow… I really was a terrible person.’
I opened a book at random. Every page I read was the complete opposite of how I had acted in the past.
When I first met Axion again after coming back in time, I wanted to cry in his arms. If I had broken down, I probably would’ve confessed everything and begged for forgiveness.
‘He would’ve thought I lost my mind.’
But I couldn’t apologize for things that hadn’t happened yet. And I couldn’t be forgiven for them either.
I couldn’t guarantee that the future would be different.
So I kept thinking—what could I do for him?
‘What do you do when you want to apologize but can’t say the words?’
That’s when Mileta said something to me:
“If you can’t apologize with words… can’t you do it through actions?”
She must have been worried, seeing me locked in my room for days.
She didn’t even know who I wanted to apologize to—but she still tried to give advice.
“…Through actions?”
“Yes. Even if it’s difficult or painful.”
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