When the Villainess is in Love

Chapter 2

“Your illness is curable.”

These were the first words Princess Libertia said to me. I stared at her in awe for a moment before realizing what was happening.

“Whoa! Are you… Libertia?”

Oh my god! My favorite character was gracing me with her presence in my dream.

She raised an eyebrow at my response. “You dropped the title, I see.”

“Because I feel like I know you already!” I exclaimed gleefully.

For some reason, she shot me a skeptical look. However, it only lasted a moment before she continued, her expression still wary, “Never mind. That is unimportant right now. Listen closely.”

Only bright light suffused around us in the dream. Libertia looked stunning, floating before me like a goddess. I straightened my back at the sound of her beautiful voice and stared up at her with glimmering eyes.

“I’m listening. Go ahead, girl.”

“I came here to tell you the solution for the illness. The disease I suffered from cannot be cured. All I could do was endure the pain with the aid of medicine. Even at this very moment, it is worsening.”

I hung on to every word with wide eyes. Though she was speaking about her painful illness, her gaze remained cold and aloof.

“Huh? But I…”

“You’re not in any pain,” she cut in.

“Yeah…”

“Because that body does not belong to you.”

It was a rather abstract explanation. Then again, the fact that I had been transported into a novel was already outside the bounds of normal—which was why I simply nodded, immediately convinced.

“I see. So, how can I get better?” That was the most important part, after all.

The princess, who was eyeing me dubiously, continued to explain, “Ultimately, that illness is tethered to the soul. That is why it is terminal.”

I blinked at her. She looked fiercely into my eyes. “And that is also why I summoned your soul into my body.”

Whoa. I met her intense expression with admiration and said, “Uh… Oh! So you brought me here yourself? That’s amazing! But how? And why me?”

“I have my ways. To answer your other question: It was because you had read that book and because that was the moment you happened to die.”

“I see,” I said, nodding. “So you picked me because I happened to fulfill all the requirements.”

She paused for a moment before replying, “I suppose so.”

“Wow, so I was really lucky!” Not only did I get to have a second life, but I even got to meet my favorite character in the flesh!

At this point, she looked at me with clear concern for my sanity and responded coldly, “You are fortunate, yes. Unlike me, you will not have to die.”

“Oh…”

Libertia looked annoyed as she continued, eyebrows furrowed. “A disease tied to the soul will peter out when the soul has been replaced. As soon as that body and your soul merge completely, the illness will disappear.”

What fantastic customer service. “Wow. I see.”

But just as I let out a sigh of relief, she added nonchalantly, “You’ll be coughing up blood for a while, though.”

Excuse me? “I’ll be coughing up blood?!”

Libertia’s lips curled into a smirk as she explained, “You must retrieve the memories contained in that body within one year. But whenever a memory returns to you, the dissonance with your soul will cause you to cough up blood.”

“Well then…”

“I’ve left exactly one hundred memories behind and sorted them in chronological order, so you should be able to remember them all if you retrieve one every three days.”

“Wait, doesn’t that mean I’ll be coughing up blood every few days?”

“It does.”

“You seem very flippant about something so serious,” I commented. She was so cool. That being said, I felt compelled to ask another question. “Umm… But it’ll be fine, right?”

“Who’s to say?” she replied. “You’ll only need to endure it for a year.”

I blinked. “Pardon?”

“I suppose you won’t really be fine, as your body will be ravaged by the illness. Plus, you’ll be coughing up blood.”

My jaw dropped as I stared at her tremulously, unable to speak. What if I die from blood loss, then?

The princess grinned sharply at my obvious panic, but then she added as if to placate me, “I was kind enough to set things up so that you will automatically recall a memory of mine every third day, just in case you aren’t able to do so yourself.”

“I-I see…”

Princess Libertia’s smirk seemed to indicate she expected my thanks. Though she was as beautiful as ever, fear rose in my throat. So no matter what I do, I’ll be throwing up blood every three days? Ahahahaha! Haha. Ha.

“But you most likely won’t feel any pain until you retrieve the last memory.”

There was some good news, at least. I weakly nodded, then took a deep breath to soothe myself and looked up at my favorite character once more. “All right. By the way, Libertia, how do you manage to look so sexy and aloof whenever you speak? You’re so cool.”

Libertia grimaced as she glared down at me with disgust. “How did I get stuck with someone like you?”

Hehe… “Well, it’s your fault for being so stunning.”

She was even more amazing in person. I felt incredibly blessed to be talking to a living, breathing Princess Libertia. It only made my adoration for her deepen. But my timid admiration didn’t seem to sway her because the princess gritted her teeth and glared at me.

Yikes. I cleared my throat and spoke up again. “By the way, is there anything I should do with this body? I could, perhaps, serve up all kinds of revenge in exchange for this second chance at life! Or something like that.”

Princess Libertia was a villainess, and she had met a pitiable end. She must’ve had plenty of people she was itching to retaliate against. But I wasn’t entirely confident that I was capable of it. After all, there were plenty of characters in the novel besides her that I had liked. Actually, I liked pretty much everyone besides the two main characters. So I wasn’t so sure I would be able to avenge Libertia very well, but since she had given me this gift of life, I suppose…

“I’ll do whatever I can!” I said.

But to my surprise, she shook her head. “There’s nothing I need. Just…”

“Just what?”

“Be free. That life is now yours to live. I will return your complete memories of the novel now. After that, the memories of that body will return to you one by one. I wish you the best of luck.”

My vision began to blur before I could question her further. And with that, I woke up.

* * *

After my encounter with Libertia, I put an end to my week-long breakdown. I finally decided to accept reality. The fact that my death was no longer inevitable was enough to make me come to my senses.

“This is all thanks to you,” I whispered, hoping that Princess Libertia was watching me from somewhere.

“All right.” I sat at my desk and looked over the future plans I had written up over the past few days based on what I knew from the novel. I had no intention of involving myself in the main story that centered on the two main characters, which would begin in three months. Once the villainess was out of the picture, events were bound to progress differently. Most of all, I wanted to avoid getting mixed up with those two as much as possible.

“I don’t want to get anywhere near that lunatic of a crown prince.” Catching the attention of the obsessive, scheming crown prince was sure to derail me before I could even become a villainess.

That meant that there was just one thing on my agenda. I cackled to myself. “I’ll meet all my favorite characters before the story even begins.”

The main plot would begin on National Foundation Day. After counting the days, I figured out that it was exactly three months away.

“Libertia’s reputation as a villainess originated with her mother, so there’s nothing I can do about it. There’s no use worrying. I’ll hightail it out of here as soon as the main story begins anyway.”

It was best for me to give up my rights to the throne. I didn’t want to make the crown prince antsy about his succession. After all, he was self-obsessed and very protective of his possessions.

“Once that’s done, I’ll just spend the next three months meeting my favorite characters!”

Meeting them wasn’t my only objective, of course—after all, the villainess, the secondary male leads, and the minor characters I liked were treated pretty terribly in the novel.

“This is my chance to change the things I didn’t like about the story. Mwahaha.”

The story would begin with Ariel, the female lead, arriving at the capital. The male lead was the most obsessive and overprotective man who ever brooded, and the female lead also happened to be an incredibly naive airhead. Between the two of them, countless people’s lives would be left destroyed thanks to their ignorance.

“But I actually liked all those characters who became casualties of their love story. They all ended up dying or sad because of those two.”

Let’s recap. First, there was secondary male lead number one: Eugene de Volton. He fell in love with Ariel and volunteered to spy on Libertia for her. He ultimately fell into a trap set by the jealous crown prince and bit the dust.

Second, secondary male lead number two: Duke Kain de Eirik. He also fell in love with Ariel and protected her for that reason. He also ended up as a victim of the crown prince’s jealousy, losing an arm and his honor in the process.

Lastly, secondary male lead number three: Herrace, guildmaster of the Information Guild. He fell for Ariel and gave up his life in order to protect her, even though he knew it was a trap set by the crown prince.

There are also others. Lady Yvien, Ariel’s best friend, was ultimately forced to give up on both love and her dreams. Then there was Jane, a maid who was saved by Ariel but died for her in the end.

“Even the final boss, Daniel, was a victim!”