"Ack... Althea, what have you done to my hair?" a noblewoman shrieked in front of the mirror.
Althea looked at her wearily, combing her stepsister's hair more gently.
"I apologize," she said, looking straight ahead, directly into the mirror that reflected her own figure.
There, her physique had changed drastically.
There was no longer the beauty of a goddess, but an ugly woman.
Althea's body had become fat, her snow-white skin had turned dark, and her smooth face was now covered with disturbing cystic acne.
Only two things remained the same as she was this morning: her blue hair and her pink eyes.
But that striking combination only added to her ugliness.
"Look at me. The most beautiful woman in this empire. I am certain that at the Crown Princess selection party, the Crown Prince will choose me," Anna's words surprised Althea.
That party was the beginning of her curse.
"The Crown Princess selection party?"
"That's right," Anna answered proudly, then her brown eyes shifted to stare at Althea with suspicion. "Wait, you didn't know?"
"When will it be held?"
"Hah, a stupid bastard like you wouldn't understand anything. It's vastly different from a true princess like me."
"When?"
"Why do you want to know? Hey, ugly one, don't dream of standing beside my future husband."
I'm not interested in your handsome prince. You can have him yourself, Althea thought internally.
Although exasperation burned within her, Gina, who had possessed Althea's body, tried to be patient, digging deeper for that accursed information.
"I apologize. I'm not interested in going there. It's just," Althea's plump hand stopped, her large face leaned toward Anna, and she spoke in a whisper. "I want to make my sister even more beautiful. If the party is held too soon, I'm afraid my preparations won't be enough to make you shine at the party."
"Yes, you're right. As my maid, you really must think of that. If I'm not mistaken, it's about five months from now," Anna said, swayed by her sister's flattery.
Suddenly, however, her slender cheeks turned red, thinking of her romantic scenario with the Crown Prince.
Unlike Anna, Althea merely stared at the mirror with a cold, terrifying expression.
One thought dominated her mind:
To change fate so she wouldn't meet the character who would kill her.
...
As Althea in the novel's life, Gina spent her days as the Baron's illegitimate daughter working as a maid.
A foolish Baron who only inherited his bloodline. He ended up as a nobleman who fell into poverty and had no money.
This situation caused a major change in the Baron's residence. For instance, the servants chose to run away because they weren't paid, then robbed the Baron's assets and sold them.
Gradually, the residence became empty with only a few servants remaining, so few they could be counted on one's fingers. There were only two reasons they stayed: loyalty to the previous Baron and the necessity of having a place to shelter.
For Althea, the second reason was the choice for now.
"Are you finished?" Althea asked coldly.
"Not yet, My Lady."
The middle-aged maid then channeled magic towards her.
Morfida, a witch with shapeshifting abilities. A fact never mentioned in the novel.
A witch blending in as the Baron's maid.
A maid who was actually very close to Althea's birth mother and the only servant who acknowledged the noble status of the ugly Lady before her.
Even until the end of the novel.
Only this character trusted Althea.
"Why?" Althea asked when she looked at the witch before her.
The warm sensation of the magic stopped, but the maid still tightly held her hand.
Her emerald green eyes looked at Althea strangely.
"It's nothing, I just thought My Lady seems a little different," Morfida said, gently stroking Althea's hand, like a mother worrying about her child.
"You're right. Just assume this change is due to my teenage puberty." Morfida frowned, not understanding the foreign vocabulary Althea used.
"Please adapt starting now," Althea said clearly.
But the sentence made the servant even more confused, though her lips remained tightly sealed.
There was no question, only a small nod indicating obedience.
Althea looked at her ugly figure in front of her room mirror again.
"Is the magic really that bad?"
"Yes, My Lady?"
"You enchanted me this morning and again now. Is your magic really weak?"
"No, My Lady, my magic is the same as before. This magic can last for weeks, or maybe a month. But somehow, my magic is unstable." Althea narrowed her eyes, staring at Morfida.
The maid's surprise this morning made Althea understand.
As if realizing Althea understood her meaning, the witch continued her conversation.
"I still don't know the exact reason. But what is clear is that I will accompany the Baroness to the capital. I don't know when I will return, and I fear that when I'm gone, my magic will become unstable again, and your true form will be discovered."
"Okay, I understand," Althea said.
Afterward, the maid took her leave, leaving Althea in the darkness of her room.
...
Inside her dark and stuffy room.
Gina, trapped in Althea's body, tried to process her fate.
Various puzzles with mismatched pieces tried to be fitted together.
The conclusion was, she was not the ugly girl written in the novel. She also had an asset, a witch by her side.
Then her status, was she a witch too?
Then why did Althea cover up her true appearance?
There were no clues at all. Even the novel didn't mention anything about her magic or beauty.
The only clue there was that she was ugly and very stupid until the end of her life.
Althea also had no intention of asking the maid earlier.
Her change in behavior had already been noticed by the maid, and she didn't want to add any more risk just to ask about her own identity.
What would the loyal maid think when she realized her true mistress had been replaced by her?
Would that trust still last until the end?
No one knew.
For that, instead of dwelling on it.
Althea only focused on her main goal: avoiding her death.
Should she just run away?
That was also risky because she didn't know this foreign world.
Slowly, her thoughts, like tangled threads, failed to find an answer.
And in the middle of a night that held various stories, the ugly Lady began to fall asleep in her dreams.
"Althea, are you here?" a gentle voice from the handsome man before her. His striking golden hair surpassed the beauty of the sun, and his blue eyes looked at Althea tenderly.
"My Lady, what are you thinking about?" His large, muscular hand held Althea's plump hand. Slowly, a hot sensation crept there.
Leaving a trace from the kiss of the Crown Prince, Caspian Rhys Oberon von Faerie.
"I... I..." Althea stammered, a shy, pink blush now controlling her consciousness.
"Are you thinking of me? Your future husband?"
"I... I, yes. I'm thinking of you," Althea said softly and slowly.
Caspian stroked her blue hair, showing an affection that blinded the Lady before him.
But, a thought surfaced, spreading doubt in Althea.
"Caspian," Althea said very quietly.
"Yes, My Lady."
"Do you truly love me?" Caspian's hand movement stopped.
His blue eyes stared at Althea sharply, looking full of restrained hatred. But in a few seconds, his innocent and beautiful smile appeared.
Erasing Althea's fear of the previous figure.
"Of course, I love you, My Lady. Do you doubt me?" Caspian said, his sexy lips kissing Althea's hand again, trying to give reassurance to the woman beside him.
"It's... I... I don't doubt you. I'm just not confident. Do you like my current appearance? Do you really like a Lady who is fat, short, and ugly like me?"
Caspian fell silent, but the corner of his lips turned upwards.
His hand returned to hold Althea's blue hair, stroking it carefully.
As if afraid to hurt the girl before him.
"Of course, My Lady. I like everything about you."
"Including my stupidity?" Caspian's eyeballs looked upwards, holding back his locked-in emotions.
The hand that was stroking Althea's hair unconsciously pulled it down. Making Althea wince, but her lips were tightly sealed.
Holding back the pain.
"Of course, you don't need to think about that. Isn't studying very difficult for you? I don't want my future wife to have difficulties. Then why are you asking like this? Did those stupid nobles bother you again?"
"No, no. No one bothered me."
"That's good then. My Lady, no matter what you are. I will always love you," Caspian said with his beautiful smile.
"Then, may I hug you?" Althea asked shyly, staring at the grass she was standing on.
Caspian just stood still, his golden eyes already like a wolf that couldn't wait to pounce on its prey.
But, the wolf tried to hold himself back.
The wolf realized it wasn't time to pounce on the prey before him.
"Please, My Lady," he said coldly.
But Althea didn't notice it. Her large hands already wrapped around Caspian's slender waist, burying her body in the Crown Prince's muscular frame.
Feelings of sincere love were repeated over and over.
"Caspian, I love you, I love you so much. My Crown Prince," Althea said with tears welling up, full of emotion and happiness.
In the midst of that sweet moment, the world slowly and forcefully pulled away its beauty.
The gigantic garden filled with blooming flowers turned into flying sparks of fire.
The beautiful figure of the Crown Prince in Althea's arms also disappeared. Replaced by hands twisted behind her back and tied tightly.
Her healthy body and the luxurious gown covering her were gone. All that remained was a fat body full of wounds and thin, torn clothes.
The tranquility of the gigantic garden also completely changed into screams full of emotion and harsh curses against her.
"Die."
"Kill the Crown Princess."
"Kill herrrr."
"Kill the ugly and stupid one."
Althea, the Crown Princess, was executed.
Fire consumed her, exceeding the fury of the people who cursed her life. But all that meant nothing to Althea.
There was one thing that tormented her more than all that.
The Crown Prince who was far away before her. Sitting side by side with a very beautiful woman. The beautiful flower of this empire, Lysandra Perenelle von Kaelen.
The female protagonist.
As if celebrating victory after getting rid of the parasite attached to him. The Crown Prince looked at Althea with arrogance and full of disgust.
"Castian... argghhh Castian. My love... I... I will always love you," Althea said in the remainder of her life, smiling bitterly at the Crown Prince.
There, the male protagonist kissed the hand of the woman beside him, very long, and smiled widely watching the death of his Crown Princess.
"ARGGHHHH," Althea screamed, filling her narrow room.
The end of the nightmare left cold sweat soaking her nightgown. The fat Baron's daughter hugged her trembling body tightly.
"Castian... I... I hate you. My killer."