I’m the Only One Who Knows the Male Lead Is the Villain

The place Ivan had shown me was Marine Palace, located not far from Ruby Palace, where he stayed. Since it was originally a residence granted only to the official crown princess, it was a rather excessive place for me to stay.

‘But it was way too nice to refuse…’

When I saw the research materials—no, winter medicinal herbs—growing abundantly in one corner of the Marine Palace garden, my eyes practically lit up, and I decided to be a little shameless.

‘If they’re offering it to me, refusing would be rude, right? Mm-hmm.’

The bedroom, which received plenty of sunlight and was decorated overall in an elegant and clean white tone, was absolutely perfect. Ivan had said that he would personally choose and send trustworthy people to serve as my personal guard and maid.

Knock, knock.

Just as I thought it was about time for them to arrive, I heard someone knocking on the door. When I told them to come in, two people with rather striking appearances entered.

They both had red hair as bright as the sun and pitch-black eyes that looked almost scorched. They resembled each other so much that anyone could tell at a glance that they were siblings.

“We, the blood descendants of the Villoze family, respectfully greet Her Highness, the Crown Princess-to-be.”

“It is an honor to serve the one who will become the moon of the Empire.”

The two introduced themselves as Kan and Sis. They were children of the Villoze family, a household renowned for serving the imperial family for generations.

I had expected Ivan to simply pick a couple of suitable people from among the servants of the Crown Prince’s Palace and send them over, so the appearance of these two unexpected figures made my eyes widen involuntarily.

‘They’re both the guards Ivan assigns to Shana, the heroine, in the original story…!’

Kan, whose long red hair was tightly tied up, was assigned as my personal knight and guard. Sis, whose short hair was neatly cut around her jawline, was assigned as my personal maid.

“Wow, I feel really reassured. It’s nice to meet you both.”

“I will do everything in my power to ensure Young Lady’s safety.”

Kan placed his right hand over his chest and swore his loyalty with impeccable etiquette. There was no denying that having members of the Villoze family by my side was a bit excessive…

‘But they’re way too reassuring to refuse…’

I knew full well that they hadn’t earned the imperial family’s trust for no reason. They were simply too competent to turn away.

“Lady Rine, I will serve you with all my heart!”

Sis also gently lowered her sharp eyes and bowed her head. Since the Villoze family was a knightly household whose members were trained primarily in swordsmanship, Sis was exceptionally skilled with a sword despite being a maid.

Whatever happened, it seemed unlikely that I would be assassinated.

Honestly, I liked that.

“Yeah! It’ll only be for a little while, but I’m counting on you two.”

“Only… for a little while?”

At my words, Kan and Sis exchanged glances. Though it lasted only a moment, they clearly seemed to sense that something was strange.

‘Were they not told that I would leave the palace once I resolved the issue of trust?’

I tilted my head.

Honestly, proving that I could be trusted wasn’t difficult.

Why else would magic be called magic? There were plenty of spells that could impose penalties on someone who revealed a secret. Once I learned the formula, I could perform it fairly quickly. It would probably take two weeks at most, or a month if things took longer than expected.

In any case, the two immediately got to work.

“I will do my very best while you are staying here.”

Kan immediately left the room to begin his duties as my guard, while Sis excused herself to prepare my bathwater. I heard that several other maids had also been assigned to me, so I probably wouldn’t have any inconveniences during my stay.

“It finally feels like I’ve actually been possessed…”

After living completely detached from the original story for so long, suddenly becoming involved with the major characters felt rather strange.

‘I wonder roughly where we are in the story right now?’

Even though I would only be staying beside Ivan temporarily, I needed to familiarize myself with the original story’s progression. After all, knowing the future and preparing for it was a privilege unique to someone who had been reincarnated into the story.

“Sis, could you bring me today’s newspaper?”

“Yes, of course! I’ll bring it right away!”

After my bath, I asked Sis for the newspaper and began reading it. As expected, most of the articles were still about the ‘Massacre.’

[Who Is the Unprecedented ‘Massacrer’?!]

[66 Victims in the Past Month Alone… Imperial Police Once Again Fail to Find Any Clues.]

[How Long Will the Headless Corpses Continue to Terrorize the Citizens of the Empire?]

The front page was also filled with the victorious news that the conquest army, led by the Emperor himself, had secured a strategic location in the war against the Kingdom of Tarant, bringing the war to an end.

“Wow…”

After thoroughly going through the newspaper and organizing the major events of the current timeline one by one, I finally realized something.

“I have absolutely no idea…!”

I realized that I didn’t know anything at all.

I had suspected as much, but even for someone who had been reincarnated, it was impossible to remember every detail of an original story after reading it only once.

‘Even the author probably couldn’t do that!’

‘Besides, I’ve already been living in this world for more than ten years. How do other reincarnators even remember everything?’

Everyone seemed to immediately recognize what was happening just by looking at the situation, so I had assumed that reincarnators had some kind of special memory privilege that readers didn’t know about.

But nope.

I couldn’t remember a single thing.

Judging from the number of victims, it seemed like we were somewhere near the beginning of the story, but that was about all I could deduce.

‘Well, it’s not like there isn’t a way.’

It wasn’t completely hopeless.

After all, I was a mage.

If something couldn’t be done, then magic was precisely what made it possible. It was worth trying.

‘I think I saw somewhere that there was a recipe for a magical potion that could restore forgotten memories…’

I slowly stood up from the sofa.

If I wanted to live properly as someone who had been reincarnated into this world, I needed to restore my fading memories.

Something like this should be possible right away.

“Sis, I’m going to the Imperial Palace library.”

“Yes, Young Lady. I’ll escort you to the library!”

There was something Ivan had given me when we parted earlier. It had to be somewhere around here.

I rummaged through the inside of my sleeve and found a small ruby ring.

Ivan had told me that I could enter the library if I showed this ring to the librarian, so I figured I should wear it.

After quickly changing clothes, I immediately headed toward the library with Sis guiding me.

Since Sis didn’t have a ring and therefore lacked the necessary authority, only I was able to enter.

“Wow, it’s huge. As expected of the Imperial Palace library…”

It was such a fantastic place that, if I had the time, I would have wanted to spend the entire day there.

From forbidden books to books of every imaginable genre, everything was neatly organized by category.

“Ugh…”

While searching for a book on memory-related magic, I suddenly heard a faint groan coming from somewhere.

Huh?

I thought I was the only one here. Was there someone else?

‘The Emperor is on the battlefield, so it can’t be him. And Ivan is busy handling affairs as the Emperor’s representative, so apparently he’s been working day and night…’

Curious, I followed the source of the sound. That’s when I spotted someone standing on a small silver ladder, reaching out toward a book.

Jet-black hair.

Eyes as blue as water.

A small stature befitting a child, and a body far too thin for his age.

‘…Gasp. I know that child.’

Ate Fel Erzet!

In the original story, he was the unfortunate prince who suffered from an unknown illness and ultimately died at a young age.

The heroine, Shana, had tried to save him with her holy power, but she had already arrived too late, and he eventually died.

‘Because of that, Shana’s qualifications as a Saint were called into question… and then the male lead rescued Shana when she was in danger.’

Ate was a pitiful character who was used as a one-time plot device to advance the romance between Shana and the male lead.

Even though my memories were hazy, Ate was the only prince, so I could remember him to some extent.

‘Is he trying to get that book? Should I help him…?’

It was too high for me to reach either way, so I simply used magic to pull the book from the top shelf and handed it to Ate.

But then…

“What are you?”

After I had gone out of my way to help him, the little brat began glaring at me with an extremely sullen expression.

Rather than simply being wary of a stranger, he was very clearly showing hostility.

“Ahaha. I’m…”

“Why are you smiling so softly? It’s annoying.”

I had only smiled because I wanted to make a good first impression on Ivan’s younger brother…

Apparently, it hadn’t worked.

What a shame.

“You must have managed to sweet-talk either Father or Brother into letting you come this far. Once you’ve finished whatever you came here to do, get out.”

On top of that, Ate continued lecturing me, telling me not to wander around needlessly and interfere in things that didn’t concern me. With his face full of hostility, he waved his hand impatiently as if ordering me to leave immediately.

‘…Is this kid a little devil?’

The way he talked was exactly like that of a mischievous little demon.

And, no, seriously!

“That book is really interesting, isn’t it?”

I simply ignored Ate’s nagging and smiled brightly as I pointed at the book he was clutching tightly.

Honestly, I hadn’t expected this to work, but Ate’s blue eyes widened.

“You know this book?”

“Yes. Every chapter is incredibly fascinating, but I found the story about the curse of the ancient sacred artifact introduced in Chapter Three the most memorable.”

“The part describing how Goddess Arnosil restored the corrupted sacred artifact?”

When I casually mentioned something from the book, Ate responded excitedly.

Could it be… had he really read the whole thing?

That was an extremely difficult magical tome that even adults had trouble reading.

“Yes, that’s right. The fact that a sacred artifact could contain demonic power was the part that really challenged conventional assumptions.”

“Exactly. Holy power and magical power are forces that only become complete when they exist together, but those idiots at the temple don’t know that… Ah.”

Ate had been happily answering my questions and even talking about other books he had read, but suddenly he clamped his mouth shut.

His ears turned red, and he looked as though he couldn’t believe he had just gotten so excited and talked so much.

“You, you… who are you?”

Apparently, he was finally curious about me.

Just as I was about to happily answer, Ate’s delicate brows suddenly drew together fiercely.

“Wait, wait! Your face… It’s familiar somehow. It’s like I’ve seen you somewhere before…!”

For a moment, several of Ate’s chubby little fingers folded down one after another.

Then his large eyes, which were staring straight at me, suddenly gleamed blue.

“Gasp! I remember! You’re the heartless, cold-blooded woman who had the audacity to brutally leave an angelic Crown Prince on read when he proposed to you!”

…

I think I need to work on my public image soon, don’t I?