Ohanabatake No Maousama

She declared. And then she gritted her teeth as if she were crushing her own past. Then she leaned back into her chair and glared at the ceiling as she began.

Her cursed past that was so famous that everyone knew about it.

"I was originally the daughter of a duke. And I was engaged to be married to the crown prince of this country.

And so I was brought up strictly and given the education necessary for becoming the future queen.

I had no freedom. My whole purpose for existing was to be the prince's partner. I had no value outside of that… But one day, as I was studying at the academy in order to accept the burden of this country's future…that country b.u.mpkin appeared!"

She said this as if she were spitting out blood. She was referring to the current lover of the crown prince. A daughter of a baron.

The girl had been raised among commoners and had no idea how to act around n.o.bles. And she used her ignorance to disregard their customs. When she was told about how a proper member of high society should behave, she rejected them bluntly and said things like, 'that's just wrong' and 'people are all equal.'

It was not something that you should say when you were the daughter of a baron who was enrolled at the academy.

They were the kind of words that would sound good to the general public. And these vulgar ideas had rotted away in her mind.

Not only that, but this country b.u.mpkin would also use her sly words to entrap the handsome male students of the academy. She would act friendly to them and treat them as her entourage.

Of course, the Crown Prince was among this entourage. The female students became furious.

Adelia began to think of something to do about all of this.

And then it happened… The Crown Prince who was supposed to be her fiance had fallen in love with the country b.u.mpkin. This girl, who was an enemy to the government and the aristocracy.

According to him, 'she was the only one who saw me as a person, and not a prince.' That alone was not too bad.

This was because Adelia was magnanimous enough to allow him to take a lover.

Yes, it was insulting and embarra.s.sing… But he was weak and she had been taught that such things were a possibility. And so she was able to accept it as long as he fulfilled his role as part of the royal family.

However, the Crown Prince began to keep Adelia at a distance. And then one day…he said something in a place where she could hear him.

—I want you to be my wife, not Adelia.

It was on that day that h.e.l.l was born in her heart.