Chapter – 01
Prologue
Lilian Tillard was useless.
And yet, she was like a safety net for everyone’s hearts.
You know, the kind of person who exists so others can think, “Well, my life isn’t as bad as theirs.”
“The only incompetent in the Tillard family…”
“A useless person who can’t stop a runaway esper…”
“A woman even her fiancé can’t stand…”
No matter which bad nickname you looked at, it usually belonged to Lilian.
She was born into an exceptionally noble family, yet it seemed she had a hobby for gathering only trash.
But today, when the Fernes Empire’s Crown Prince Competition was being held—
“Lady Lilian! Lady Lilian!”
“Your Highness Evren!”
“Lady Lilian is the best!”
Waaaah…!
The spectators in the arena erupted in cheers.
Amazingly, all for Lilian—the supposed “trash” of nicknames.
A noblewoman watching nearby clenched her fists in excitement.
“I saw it with my own eyes… I can’t believe it…!”
“Her awakening is miraculous enough, but to purify the minds of so many people at once…!”
“I’m so glad I came to see this!”
The ticket was totally worth it!
The excited woman glanced at her companion with a hint of envy.
“Oh… I see you’re wearing the ‘Mariposa’ earrings.”
“Ahem. You recognized them?”
“How could I not? It’s an artifact praised even in the capital—and it even cures the ‘esper disease.’”
“I’ll make sure to buy them next time… Lady Lilian, you have to give them to me again.”
“Hehe, they sell out fast, so you have to be quick. These days, it’s better than buying from the Tillards themselves—”
As the crowd chatted excitedly, they glanced toward the Tillard family, seated quietly in the arena.
The Tillard estate looked like a funeral home.
Even the faces of the once-perfect Tillard siblings were darkened.
“…So Iris’s business was actually run by Lady Lilian—”
“Shh, shh.”
“Well, everyone already knows that story, right?”
“That’s true, but…”
They looked again at the Tillard family.
Who would have guessed?
That the abandoned, incompetent Lilian would rise as the brightest star of the empire.
And even more shocking—returning as the fiancée of the notoriously infamous First Prince.
The fated love of two people from rival families!
Today’s event… was opened by the power of that fated love.
“By the way, where have Lady Lilian and His Highness gone?”
“They’re still in the competition…”
But the people everyone was looking for were trapped in the arena’s waiting room.
…Bang, bang.
Bang!
A huge hole appeared in a wall as hard as diamond.
Lilian, with pink hair and green eyes flecked with gold, thought:
We’re doomed.
“Your Highness.”
She whispered to the man tearing at his chest.
“Your Highness, snap out of it.”
“Haah… ugh.”
When Lilian placed her hand on his pain-bent back, the First Prince Evren winced in agony.
First Prince Evren.
An S-rank esper and the villain in the original story.
The man the empire called the “mad dog of the royal family,” despite the country being free of rabies.
Once, Lilian jokingly gave him nicknames like “warm iced Americano” or “Silver…”
Because facing a terrifying person sometimes called for silly nicknames.
Now, however, his face under his shining silver hair was slick with cold sweat.
A red spiderweb pattern was spreading across his left cheek.
Was the real rampage about to happen here…?
“Ren!”
“…Lilian. That’s why I’m leaving.”
The man gave a faint, faintly alluring smile. Normally, he looked dangerously beautiful.
But the symptoms just before a “rampage” made him look even more threatening.
“Ren, get a grip! We have to go back out there!”
“You made me dependent on you, didn’t you?”
“Wait—where did you learn to say something so absurd—”
“Where are you even going?”
He reached out and grabbed Lilian’s hand.
His lips on the back of their interlaced hands were so hot it hurt a little.
He laughed at the flustered Lilian.
“My life’s ruined, so yours will be ruined with me.”
“Ha…!”
Lilian thought again.
Those who try to twist the original story always end up getting hit hard.
But this can’t happen now.
Why did this even happen?
It’s probably because of that damned phytoncide…
And then his face drew closer.
Chapter 1: Great Plans Are Needed to Be Abandoned
Something was off with Lilian.
Her fiancé, Minor Duke Karkin Pavil, was annoyed.
For about a month, Lilian had ignored all of his messages!
How dare she, expecting him to marry a useless person?
“It’s time to correct her behavior.”
Karkin grinned slyly and pulled out the “breakoff letter” from his jacket pocket.
This was the “divorce game.”
A method used when you want to see Lilian panic and cling desperately!
“I’ll throw it at the party today.”
Karkin chuckled as he entered the Tillard estate garden.
Several nobles were already waiting for the tea party.
But everyone’s gazes…?
“Oh my, the Minor Duke—”
“I can’t believe it…”
“Crikey, such a painful kind of love…”
What?
Then he saw the familiar pink-haired woman.
Lilian Tillard.
His useless fiancée.
“Karkin. I had no idea.”
“What?”
“That you’re so painfully involved with my cousin?”
Thud!
A newspaper article dropped at Karkin’s feet.
“Minor Duke Karkin Pavil’s Affairs Don’t Change His ‘Taste’?”
“The most respected of the empire’s ‘Sacred Five Houses,’ Karkin Pavil! Why would he date Lady Iris Tillard while being engaged for ten years to Lady Lilian Tillard?”
“Our love is too painful to end.”
…Who leaked this?
Lilian chuckled inside.
It was me, you filthy idiot.
Anonymous reports to the newspapers are nothing to me.
Silently, she approached the still-flustered Karkin.
Slap! Slap!
She gave him a proper, sharp smack on both cheeks.
He had come to mock her, but how about getting humiliated in front of everyone instead?
“You’re very prepared, Karkin Pavil. You even brought a breakoff letter for your new love.”
“You… you…!?”
“Yes, I’ll sign it for you just as you want.”
Lilian neatly signed the paper meant to threaten her.
A sheet fluttered down over her former fiancé, now sitting dumbfounded.
She then turned to another culprit.
Her cousin, with platinum hair and wide green eyes trembling in apparent distress.
“Iris. Congratulations.”
“Uh, sister?”
“I’ll give you the future duchess position.”
“……!”
“Well, Iris, you’re better suited to Minor Duke Karkin than to Prince Kyle.”
“I-I’m not interested in the Minor Duke!”
Iris’s face broke as Lilian blessed her.
Karkin had only played with his fiancée because she was his fiancée!
He looked flustered.
“What? Iris, that’s not what you said before! You only—?”
“Minor Duke, please be quiet—!”
Those watching began whispering among themselves.
“My goodness, what is happening…!”
“Is she really breaking off the engagement and going with Lady Iris?”
“Looks like Lady Lilian lost out.”
Clap!
When Lilian clapped her hands, everyone’s attention went to her.
The formerly gloomy, insignificant villainess of the original story was smiling gracefully.
“The Minor Duke is leaving. Escort him out immediately.”
Let the trash be thrown out the front gate.
“Now, will everyone just disappear one by one?”
In my new life.
