Capitulo 01

Arc 1. Strange World

Episode 1

Wilhelm, sitting across the table, looked anxious.

It was a rather uncomfortable expression for him, who had just gotten engaged last week.

“Thank you for coming all this way today, Karina.”

“Yes.”

At Wilhelm’s words, he spoke as if it was no big deal.

He was speechless. A cup of tea was placed in front of us, and the silence continued until the people at the surrounding table changed.

Finally, impatient, I asked.

“Why did you call me here?”.

Wilhelm raised his head at my question. Even the determination was young in the red eyes that looked at me.

“Actually, I called because I have something to confess to you.”

“Confess?”

Now, all of a sudden?

We’ve been dating for more than two years. And recently, after a long love affair, the promise of engagement was concluded.

If it’s important, shouldn’t I have said it before the engagement?

I had an ominous feeling.

“No matter how hard I tried, there was something I couldn’t do.”

“What does that mean?”

“I tried to forget her, but it wasn’t easy.”

Her.

I opened and closed my mouth at the words that came out of my fiancé’s mouth.

He didn’t say the name of the woman he was referring to, but I seemed to know who it was.

The leading lady of this world and his first love.

“Are you talking about the Grand Duchess of Gloucester?”

“What about Tatiana…?”

“You have to be precise, Wilhelm. She outranks you, since she married the Duke of Gloucester and became a duchess.”

Wilhelm’s face hardened as he heard me. But he didn’t care.

I was more concerned about his name suddenly coming up.

Wasn’t the ominous premonition still wrong?

“After all, you can’t replace Titi.”

A nonsense came out of Wilhelm’s mouth. Who replaces whom?

I have never, ever tried to replace Tatiana.

I clenched my hands to contain my anger. I wondered what the cheeky man would say.

“I still love Titi.”

“Yes, and?”

Wilhelm’s face contorted at my indifferent reaction.

What did he want me to do?

To my fiancé, who suddenly summoned me and confessed that he had never forgotten his first love, I spoke with an anger disguised as coldness.

“What do you mean by telling that story only after the commitment ceremony? If you had told it a few weeks ago, it would have been much easier for me to end the relationship.”

“I want to get married.

What kind of nonsense…

You love Tatiana, but you want to marry me? Read only to pm tl.

What?

“Anyway, it won’t be easy to go looking for another man. I’m sure I’ll give you everything you want. Except one thing, my heart.”

“I’m sorry, but I don’t want that.”

“Think about it, Karina.”

At this point, there was no reason to listen to such low-level stories.

“For me to marry like this? So you’re talking about becoming Tatiana’s lover? With my family’s name?”

Wilhelm was the second son of Marquis Hunt.

Our engagement was arranged by my father, who appreciated his excellent sword skills.

He was to join our family as his son-in-law.

But brazenly, he confessed to me that he would become Tatiana’s lover under my family name.

“I will not disappoint you in any other way. After all, aren’t we in an arranged marriage? I think you will understand this. I wouldn’t mind if you let the man in yourself…”

Was he such a man?

I said with as wicked a laugh as I could manage.

“I’m sorry, but I can’t tolerate such absurd behavior. I’m sure Duke Gloucester would have the same idea.”

It meant that if he did anything stupid, I would immediately confess his desire to the Duke of Gloucester.

Wilhelm’s face crumpled in an instant, as if he understood what I meant.

“You had better not threaten Titi.”

“Does she even know about this? The woman I know is not so prodigal or so stupid as to have a lover.”

“I don’t know anything about Titi. It’s just something I personally want…”

“So, you want to get married now and become paramour without the other person’s consent?”

Wilhelm shut his mouth at my sarcasm.

Alas, you’re the same way.

I stood up without saying anything. I picked up the cup of tea, now cold, in front of me.

And poured it over his well-kept blue hair.

The beautiful face belatedly realized the situation and distorted horribly.

“Karina!”

“Let’s pretend we never got engaged. I’ll send the information regarding alimony to the Marquis de Hunt.”

She recoiled at my cold words. I opened the door without hesitation and left.

It was not very difficult.

Because it wasn’t the first time I had been with a man like Wilhelm.

“Tsk.”

Still, I thought this time would be different.

That belief came back.

Thinking about Tatiana gave me a headache.

The culprit in all of this, and the heroine of this world.

I thought this might happen again and again until she died.

~*~

[Her men].

A reverse harem game set in an academy in a fantasy world.

It was a fairly popular dating simulation game that targets several male protagonists.

Pick an option, build up your taste for each, and see the end.

There, the Karina Pioneer I owned was friends with the female protagonist, Tatiana. In the character description it was written that she was richer and prettier than the self-proclaimed average-looking Tatiana, but the reality was not that.

Tatiana, who received the buff of heroine, was as beautiful as a fairy. First of all, if a girl with silver hair and blue eyes was normal, she would be funny.

Anyway, while the original play was going on, and I had nothing to do because my role was only as a bridesmaid to make Titi stand out, nothing more, nothing less.

I studied moderately at the academy, and I had a good time acting. The problem was love.

My love affairs were terrible.

The first boyfriend was Daniel, the Duke of Malphyrion, to whom I was engaged.

Handsome, well-educated and good-natured. He was, as expected, one of the male lead candidates.

‘It seems hard to marry you at this rate.’

So when he told me that, I knew more or less what had happened.

The game will revolve around Daniel’s choice. With no deep affection for Daniel and no willingness to change the original, I willingly agreed to break up with him.

‘Karina, I don’t want our friendship to falter over this.’

The story of the original ended with me holding his hand, comforting Tatiana, who was crying, and wishing them both a blessing.

I just knew that the ties with the original play would come to an end.

Left alone, my father wanted to introduce me to a new person.

“Pleased to meet you, Miss Karina.”

My second fiancé was Raymond Cassel, who was introduced to me by his mother. This handsome man with gorgeous pink hair was one of the original male leads.

I did not pay too much attention to this fact because Tatiana chose Daniel, my former fiancé, to support her happiness.

Thus began our meeting and, surprisingly, this relationship also broke up thanks to Tatiana.

‘The owner of my heart is Tatiana’.

I was a little tired of Raymond’s passionate confession. I pointed out that Tatiana had a boyfriend, but he said he didn’t care.

The next day, Tatiana showed up, smiling innocently, and looked at me as she talked about how prissy Raymond had been with her.

‘I didn’t get you in trouble, did I?’

Again, I agreed to understand her.

Since Tatiana is the heroine of the original story, she had a destiny where the male protagonists kept squirming towards her even when she was standing still.

‘I know it’s not your fault. Don’t worry, Titi.’

With her relieved, I sent her back and had a different take. At the end of the original story, Tatiana would have stood by her men for her entire life.

And all the handsome, successful men in this world were candidates for the male lead.

I wrote a letter and sent it home.

[I will go out freely as long as I am at the academy. You don’t have to introduce me to men anymore].

Fortunately, my father respected my opinion.

And as much as possible, I dated extra-level guys. I pretended not to be, but it was also because I got tired of the things going on around Tatiana.

Then I fell in love with the eldest son of an ordinary nobleman.

He was a straight man who didn’t even care about the weight of my family or the fact that I was Tatiana’s best friend.

We had a real love affair.

He dragged me down to the ground, which had not been able to settle in this world, floating as if waiting.

I was happy.

I seemed able to overcome the opposition of my family.

Then one day he confessed to me.

‘I’m sorry, Karina, I’m actually being influenced by Tatiana.’

That was the day I realized that this world was strange.