Who Made Me a Princess?

Chapter 1

Part 1: Who Made Me a Princess

“What must I do for you to love me?” Athanasia asked.

With tears streaming down her face, she looked up at the person before her. Her father, Emperor Claude, stared down at her as she knelt at his feet.

“Shall I be more like Jennette? Would you love me then? Would you say my name with as much affection as you do hers? Or look upon me with as warm a gaze, as you do upon her, if I put in more effort than I do now…?”

The lovely Jennette was her beautiful half-sister. As if taking away Athanasia’s pitiful speck of honor wasn’t enough, she had stolen her father away as well. Athanasia was so far at her wit's end that she had to bring that name to her lips and beg.

“Would you please embrace me rather than casting me away?”

“I will do no such thing until the day I die.”

“But why?”

Emperor Claude didn’t hesitate for a moment. He showed no hint of emotion at the fact that his extremely obedient daughter was expressing such desperation.

“But Father, I’m your daughter too. I’ve been by your side far longer than Jennette.”

Athanasia had mustered all of the courage she possibly could to present this first and last plea. And still her emperor, her father, was heartless to the very end.

“Foolish child.”

Her hand, which been clinging to Claude’s leg, fell weakly to the floor. His fierce contempt crashed over her as an eternally cruel voice penetrated her ears.

“I have never once considered you my daughter.”

Athanasia’s blue eyes glistened with a despair deeper than ever seen before.

<Excerpt From Lovely Princess Chapter 8: Twisted Fate>

***

“Huh?!”

This is crazy.

The scene from that novel, which suddenly popped into my head, shocked me so deeply that I dropped my rattle.

Talk about bad omen. What is that novel suddenly doing in my head?

Some middle school student had left it behind at an internet cafe where I used to work.

Lovely Princess.

A tacky title and cheesy story from what I remembered.

Is it because I have the same name as that good-for-nothing princess who was falsely accused of trying to poison her half-sister? And who was consequently murdered by her biological father on her eighteenth birthday? Talk about a bad omen. Go! Be gone! Get out of my head now!

“Ugh, not again. Why do you keep dropping this, you clumsy thing?” asked a woman who had been dozing in a nearby chair.

It seemed that the sound of the rattle had woken her. And, as if she had been eagerly waiting to do so, she immediately began to chastise me. I, of course, was dumbfounded.

What do you mean I ‘keep’ dropping it?! I didn’t even drop it that much. And by the way, babies drop things all the time!

“Stop crying so much and just play quietly with this, okay?”

Um, that thing was rolling around on the floor. Did you really just give it back to me without wiping it? I can’t tell if the hygiene standards in this country are inherently bad, or if I’m being treated like this because I’m a reject princess. I can’t help but think it’s the latter... though I would love to believe that isn’t true.

“Wah!”

The rattle fell from my hand once again.

I may be a baby who can’t do much more than crawl, but isn’t this a bit unfair?

The evil lady was becoming more overtly irritated with me.

“Why do you keep doing this? I’m up to my ears with things that need to be sewn. Here, I’ll put it back in your hand.”

“Goo, goo.”

I don’t want it! First of all, I dropped it twice now, so it’s filthy. Secondly, it’s not even my style! I may have the body of an infant but do you have any idea how old I am mentally? Of course I wouldn’t find a rattle entertaining!

“Has she gotten sick of it?” the woman asked aloud.

She tilted her head inquisitively, then picked me up and laid me down back in the cradle and left the room. I knew that she had gone to Madam Housekeeper.

If you’re going to bring another rattle or something, just never come back. Please.

“Goo-goo, gaaa.”

I lay calmly in the cradle and looked away from the door. Under the spinning mobile, I saw a pair of soft, white, chubby hands.

Sigh... This is going to take some time getting used to.

I was sure I had fallen asleep after taking a sleeping pill...

But when I woke, I found myself in this body. How was that possible? How had I suddenly turned into a baby, like they do in those fantasy novels?

“Your Highness!”

Ah, why does this lady always do this?! Does she really think it’s okay to burst into a baby’s room unannounced and yell at me all the time?

“Madam Housekeeper says our budget is too tight, so just play with this, hmm?”

The maid lady forced the rattle into my hand, sat back in her chair, and began to sew.

“I won’t be holding you, even if you cry. I’m far too busy for that.”

Her words were truly heartless.

I’m a baby! Do you think a baby is going to understand what you’re saying? Waaah, you’re so mean!

I guess not all princesses are created equal. Being reborn as a rich princess was great after having been an orphan in my previous life, but... why did I have to be a scapegoat princess?

Waaah.

***

I had been an orphan.

Another older girl at the facility told me that I had been wrapped in old, worn clothes and left in front of the orphanage doors.

I’d learned this truth in February before I started elementary school. That girl was nineteen years old at the time, making her due to leave the orphanage. The mother who abandoned me hadn’t even given me a full name, so the director of the orphanage had searched through the phonebook and chose the name “Lee Ji-hye”.

Upon hearing this for the first time, I brushed it off. There’d been plenty of kids just like me in the orphanage. And besides, by that point, it was too late for me to feel the absence of my mother.

In an orphanage, an eight-year-old is not a child.

In that crammed facility, I’d had to butt heads with children who were in my same circumstances every day.

So when I turned eighteen myself—as naive as it was—I’d been a little excited to finally break free from that godforsaken place.

As it turned out, reality had been much tougher than I’d thought. Even more so for an orphan girl like me, who had no money, no support, and no education.

After leaving the orphanage, there was nothing I didn’t try in order to make a living.

I did dishes at a restaurant until I got blisters on my hands, and worked at an internet cafe that reeked of cigarettes.

I worked at a convenience store and ate expired kimbap (rice wrapped in seaweed and often filled with meat or fish).

I polished cars at the car wash under the scorching sun until I got sunstroke, a cruel reminder of my pitiful reality.

Oh, how I’d wished that I could’ve just studied, gone on dates, and had a normal life like everyone else, but my circumstances didn’t allow that. Paying monthly rent for a musty single room had already been more than I could handle, so I worked to the death without the luxury of a single moment to catch my breath.

Wow, I really have no dreams or aspirations, I’d thought to myself one winter’s day, shivering in my freezing room with no heating.

I’d been scheduled to go to work early the next morning, but it had been so darn cold that I hadn’t been able to fall asleep for the life of me. Summer had been better in that sense. I’d often worried about the possibility of death if I fell asleep in that state, but that night had marked several days since the biting cold had kept me from sleeping properly.

So eventually, I ended up reaching for sleeping pills, which I had requested from the owner at my restaurant job. The drowsiness that slowly began washing over me had been so incredibly sweet. I had imagined that it could wash away all the problems and worries I had in life.

And when I opened my eyes, I was a princess.

***

“Ooh, goo, gaa.”

Another day of cooing and babbling in the cradle. It was impossible to know how much time had passed, since all I did was eat, poop, and sleep all day.

In fact, I still got confused sometimes as to whether this was a dream or real life.

“Our pretty little Princess Athanasia.”

The only consolation I had was the fact that not all the maids were as eager to treat me as brashly as the one annoyed by my rattle-dropping.

I smiled brightly at the woman currently rocking my cradle. She was a young lady with brown hair and blue eyes—a maid newly assigned to my quarters.

Why do I, a princess, only have maids and no nanny? *Sniffle* Just another perk of being a scapegoat princess.

“You’re going to grow up to be big and healthy, Princess, aren’t you now?”

The first time I saw her, I had been so stunned by her beauty that I began to drool.

Her name was Lilian. It was the perfect name for someone whose looks went far beyond pure elegance and loveliness, resembling a gorgeous bouquet of delicate flowers. I decided to call her Lily, for short (in my head, at least).

I couldn’t believe that such a delicate beauty could be my maid.

Ha, I’m glad I was reborn.

“Wua, baaa.”

But a subtle sadness and a look of longing slowly came over Lily’s face when she looked at me.

Oh dear. It breaks my heart to see such a beautiful lady look so sad.

Every time Lily looked at me, which was quite often, something crossed her mind that would cause her to make this face.

Oh, don’t look at me like that, Lily. You’re prettiest when you smile.

“Oh my. It’s time for you to sleep, Princess.”

I began to flail my limbs in protest over Lily’s utterance.

The sun is still high up in the sky. What do you mean it’s time to sleep?! Play with me a while longer, hmm? It’s so boring here.

“No, Your Highness. You need to eat well and sleep well so you can hurry up and become a lady.”

My rebellious efforts proved futile. Comforted by her soft touch, I began to coo, and Lily smiled sweetly at me once again.

Just then, someone called for Lily from outside the room.

“Lilian!”

That woman always yells like that. I’m a small, fragile baby. I get startled easily, you hear?!

Even Lily was so startled by the senseless behavior that she flinched for a second. But still, she continued to gently stroke my chest, just in case I might have been scared. I was a bit moved by the gesture.

“I’ll be right back, Princess.”

I waved my hand at her to signal that I’d see her later.

Once I was alone, I lay idly on my back, looking up at the ceiling and all around. The fancy chandelier and the intricate patterns on the ceiling came into view, per usual. But as I turned my gaze a little more to one side, some shiny furniture and decor caught my eye.

Every time I saw them, I wondered whether they were real gold.

I’ll have to try biting it when my teeth grow in. That is, if I’m still alive by then.

All of a sudden, my body trembled at a recurring thought of the rumors surrounding the man said to be my father. The only things I knew about him were what I overheard whenever the maids came to clean my room.

He certainly seemed to be a terrifying fellow.