Chapter 1

My chest hurt.

It was painful and heartbreaking, to the point that I felt like I wanted to die just like this.

Tears streamed down my cheeks and fell.

My hands and feet were trembling.

At last, the strength left my legs, and I collapsed where I stood.

(What is this…? Why did this happen?)

Even though despair filled my heart, I had no idea what I was grieving over.

Even so, I forced strength into my trembling limbs and somehow steadied myself.

(Calm down, let’s think this through slowly.)

I took a deep breath and then looked around.

People dressed beautifully were watching me from a distance.

Their reactions varied; some looked at me with disgust, others with sympathy.

And in front of me, one man stood.

He was a young man with shimmering golden hair and quite handsome features, dressed in formal wear as if attending a soirée.

Judging by appearance alone, he was top-tier.

But he was looking at me with extremely cold eyes.

(Who am I? What is this situation?)

I desperately tried to recall my name.

Then, for some reason, two names surfaced in my mind.

One was Tachibana Misa.

Twenty-eight years old, a local government employee.

A very active person with many hobbies who was always going out on her days off.

The other was Chloe Mertigal.

The daughter of the Marquess Mertigal family, and the fiancée of Kirif, the second prince of the Adanani Kingdom.

Chloe was seventeen years old.

Timid and quiet, she seemed to have always obeyed her father and her fiancé.

(Ah, that’s right…)

As I remembered the name, I gradually began to understand the situation.

My name “now” is Chloe Mertigal.

Pale golden hair, light blue eyes, and white skin.

Her overall coloring was faint, giving her a vague and quiet impression, and she was looked down upon as a plain noble lady by those around her.

Her father, the Marquess Mertigal, was the captain of the knight order, and a textbook example of a man who believed men were superior to women.

The only ones important to him were his sons.

Not only his daughter, but even his wife was nothing more than a tool to him.

The young man standing in front of me, sending me that freezing gaze—he was the one I had been ordered to marry, the second prince Kirif.

I had managed to become his fiancée, but until the marriage actually happened, nothing was certain.

“Win the prince’s heart by any means necessary.”

That was the command my father had given me, but Chloe, who had never spoken to any man other than her father and brothers, had no idea what to do.

She simply followed the prince around, trying desperately to make him acknowledge her existence.

It was only natural that it had the opposite effect—another me, not Chloe, thought in exasperation.

Thinking back carefully through my memories, Tachibana Misa seemed to be Chloe’s previous life.

Misa had lived a completely ordinary life in a country called Japan, and although I couldn’t remember the cause, she had apparently died.

And then, she was reincarnated as this girl named Chloe.

(So reincarnation into another world really does exist, huh?)

Still sitting on the ground, I shifted my gaze to the building.

A beautiful and luxurious European-style royal palace.

Everyone around me was dressed in glamorous gowns.

It seemed Misa had been born into a fantasy-like world as Chloe, the daughter of a marquess.

As for Chloe, something extremely shocking must have happened, and that likely triggered the memories of her previous life.

(Umm… what happened again?)

The moment Misa’s consciousness became clear, the unbearable sadness and despair faded.

Calmly, I tried to recall Chloe’s life up until now.

A soirée held at the royal palace.

Chloe had arrived at the venue escorted not by her fiancé Kirif, but by her older brother.

Not only did Kirif not come to pick her up, he hadn’t even sent her any accessories or a dress.

She waited until the very last moment, but there was no contact from him, and under her father’s harsh scolding, she rushed to the venue in a panic.

What Chloe saw there was Kirif escorting a beautiful baron’s daughter.

He held her hand with a gentle smile he had never once shown to Chloe.

The moment she saw that, the shock made her blood boil, and before she realized it, she had confronted the girl.

“Lord Kirif is my fiancé. Please don’t take him away!”

The fear of being scolded by her father and the fear of being abandoned by Kirif—those were the only two things in Chloe’s heart at that moment.

With a cold expression, Kirif shook off Chloe’s hand as she clung to his arm.

Her hand was struck away with a sharp smack, and despair distorted her vision.

“I do not belong to someone like you. Do not get carried away.”

A cold voice.

A freezing gaze.

Trembling, Chloe collapsed to the ground, and from that shock, she remembered her past life.

(I see. So that’s what happened.)

Right now, having just regained my memories, the memories of living as Tachibana Misa feel stronger, and Chloe’s life feels somewhat like someone else’s story.

Even Chloe’s memories feel a little vague.

And just by looking at Kirif’s expression in front of me, it’s obvious how much he despises Chloe.

To be followed around by a woman like that, and then have the woman he truly cares about criticized—it must have been extremely unpleasant for him.

(But if he hates it that much, why not just break off the engagement already?)

Ignoring his fiancée while keeping the engagement, refusing to escort her without even contacting her, and then brushing her hand away in front of everyone—

Certainly, Chloe was also at fault.

Even if she didn’t know what to do, simply clinging to him must have been nothing but a nuisance.

But I don’t think Chloe alone was to blame.

He maintained his engagement with Chloe for political ties while enjoying a romance with a beautiful young lady.

The hand he wrapped around his lover protectively—

That same hand harshly struck Chloe away.

Did he think that because he was a prince, he was allowed to cheat?

(Now then, what should I do?)

Looking up at Kirif, who was staring down at me with cold eyes, I thought.

A daughter who caused such a disgrace in public, who angered her fiancé instead of winning his favor—my father would never forgive that.

When my hand was struck away, it felt like a familiar pain.

Most likely, my father had raised his hand against his daughter before.

Terrified of such a father, Chloe had simply followed his orders and clung to Kirif.

(Looking at it this way, Chloe wasn’t even in love with him.)

She was just obeying because she was afraid of her father.

Rather, this kind of engagement would only make both of them unhappy.

Even if they married like this, he would surely cheat.

Chloe would be nothing more than a decorative wife.

And even if she didn’t marry him, there was no way she could be happy staying with that kind of family.

Since I’ve been given a second life, I want to enjoy it more.

Besides, it seems Chloe can use magic.

From Chloe’s memories, she had vaguely noticed the magical power residing within her, but was so afraid of it that she desperately hid it.

That’s why neither her fiancé Kirif nor her father knew that she could use magic.

In this country, only a small number of people can use magic.

If those around her had known Chloe could use magic, her evaluation would have been very different.

But with this magic, she could survive even if she stopped being a noble.

(It might be fun to become an adventurer as a commoner.)

Let’s leave this house.

And live freely.

Just as I made that decision, Kirif spoke with irritation in his voice.

“I never thought you were that kind of woman. If you do not correct your attitude, then I will have no choice but to break off the engagement.”