Chapter 1 - North Korean rabbit

Chapter 1

"Please abduct me."

The lovely, pink-haired girl spoke provocatively.

She had clearly come to make a request.

But no one could have anticipated such an absurd demand would spring forth.

No, this couldn't be called a request or a demand. It was outright blackmail.

Directed at a sturdy man a head and a half taller than herself.

Thanks to this, the party who heard this preposterous statement voiced the thought that had risen in his mind.

"Are my ears malfunctioning right now?"

"I'll even specify the time and place for you. Tomorrow, just before noon, when the carriage carrying me passes through the plaza in front of the Imperial Palace, that is where you will carry out the marriage of abduction."

"You want me to abduct you in a marriage of abduction in that crowded plaza?"

"Yes! Exactly! You've understood it perfectly!"

The girl nodded, her mysterious violet eyes sparkling. Her gestures seemed utterly delighted.

She absolutely did not look like a madwoman who would make such nonsensical threats.

The man being blackmailed pressed his temples as if he had a headache.

"Do you, right now, know what you are saying?"

"It mustn't end with just the abduction. You mustn't forget to immediately sign the marriage contract and even get it notarized by the temple!"

The conversation was not progressing.

"...You truly are not in your right mind."

"And! The most important thing! It must be known that I had absolutely no say in the entire process!"

The owner of this hideout and the victim of the blackmail, the Mercenary King Gerald, sighed.

Then he tried to ring a bell to summon his subordinate waiting outside.

"Drag this madwoman out right no—!"

*Snatch!*

But surprisingly, the woman was a beat faster.

She practically lunged and clung to Gerald, stopping him from ringing the bell.

She was an unfathomable woman.

"You have no choice but to listen to me."

"Not unless I've gone mad."

At that, the woman retorted with a confident smile.

"Then you will soon go mad. No, you *must* go mad."

This voice sounded like a prophecy.

This petite woman, her cotton-candy sweet hair swaying, smiled a most innocent and wicked smile.

She commanded once more.

"Abduct me."

And in a whispering voice, she dropped a bombshell.

"If you don't, you will die."

"...!"

The Mercenary King even missed his chance to get angry.

The touch of the woman's hand holding his was lighter than a feather, her skin as smooth as milk, seeming as if it would be injured just by brushing against the coarse fabric of his clothes.

It was ill-suited for the perpetrator of such a threat.

The Mercenary King scoffed at her.

"You don't seem to have the ability to kill me."

And just as he was about to shake off that slender, delicate hand.

A voice sharper than any blade pierced the man's lungs.

"If you do not accept the proposal, everyone will learn that the true identity of the Mercenary King Gerald is His Highness Crown Prince Arpad."

The sneer that had risen on the man's face vanished completely. Tension rose in its place.

The woman grinned.

"Especially if His Majesty the Emperor finds out, it would be quite amusing, wouldn't it?"

'This is no mere blackmail.'

This woman was a tangible threat.

A sharp blade poised at Arpad's neck.

So, the man decided to drop the mask.

For reasons unknown, this woman already knew his identity.

Denying or arguing otherwise here was meaningless.

There were only two paths to choose.

Accept this woman's blackmail, or...

"Even if you kill me here and now, you cannot silence me."

"...What?"

The woman smiled her sharp smile again.

"If I do not return by the appointed time, a letter containing your secret will be sent to the Imperial Palace."

"...Hah."

It was so absurd he felt like laughing. Though it was hardly a pleasant laugh.

Arpad let out a brief, hollow laugh, then grabbed the back of the woman's neck.

Even without using much force, her toes lifted off the ground.

"Ah!"

The woman, who had made such brazen, insane threats, was pulled in too easily, too insignificantly.

To the point where Arpad was the more flustered one.

"You're serious."

"That's right. I am sincerely making a request."

"A request masquerading as blackmail, you mean."

Even with the back of her neck seized and subdued, the woman showed no agitation whatsoever.

Even his Imperial Father could not maintain such composure before him.

Arpad pulled the woman's face close to his own and asked in a tone like a growling beast.

"So, what exactly is the reason I should be listening to a demand to abduct the bride of my cousin, who is to be married tomorrow?"

The woman's violet eyes trembled.

"You... know me?"

"Of course. The Princess of Delphin, Hilia, who is scheduled to become my cousin's sister-in-law tomorrow."

At that, the girl called Hilia beamed a broad smile.

"That's a relief. It saves us the wasted time of explaining my personal details."

"Then I need to hear another explanation."

"Another explanation?"

"Aside from the threat of revealing my secret to the Emperor, what is the reasonable benefit I can gain?"

"Benefit?"

"Yes. If not for that, there would be no need to use the word 'request.'"

The woman smiled a triumphant smile. Her choice had been correct.

The Crown Prince with those madness-tinged, flashing crimson eyes possessed a keen mind, contrary to public rumor.

Keen enough to immediately discern the hidden meaning behind a single word.

Hilia declared boldly.

"In return, I can ensure Your Highness ascends the throne safely, without going mad."

And Crown Prince Arpad realized he had been caught in an inescapable trap.

Because that 'price' was something Arpad could absolutely not refuse.

Chapter 1. Actually, I Was the Original Heroine

"Farewell, Miss Original Heroine. Now everything of yours is all mine. Don't worry. I'll cherish it all very dearly."

"...What?"

"So, die in peace."

It was an utterly shocking statement.

'Besides, she's speaking Korean right now? How...?'

But before the content could fully register in my mind.

*Thud!*

The guillotine's blade fell upon my neck.

The shock shook the world, and soon my consciousness faded.

"So *this* is why I possessed such a mediocre body... it was all for this moment..."

Amidst it all, I could hear one final remark.

"Ahaha! Now *I'm* the real heroine!"

And then, darkness.

* * *

"!"

When I opened my eyes again, only one phrase rose to my lips.

"XX!"

I spewed out a stream of harsh curses I couldn't have imagined in my first life.

Once more.

"XXX!"

The first curse was for the situation itself.

But the second was different. It was directed at a very specific target.

At the person who had uttered the shocking statement I heard just before my third death.

The woman who had taken everything from me over my past three lives.

The one who pretended to be kind and close, always becoming my husband's mistress.

Who finally framed me for adultery and treason and had me executed.

Foolishly, I only now realized that woman's true identity.

'That woman, she was a possessor?!'

All my questions were resolved belatedly.

The reason she obsessively tormented me and tried to take everything I had.

"Farewell, Miss Original Heroine."

It was because I was the true heroine of 'this world.'

Romance, fantasy,