Chapter One: A Lewd First Night, Repeated (Part I)

Was this a dream, reincarnation, or possession? That was the question.

I wished for it to be a dream, but perhaps it isn’t-it hurt when I pinched myself, and I slept, woke-up, and got hungry as usual. Then, it’s either reincarnation or possession, but if that’s the case, my life is over.

That’s right. In the usual case, your soul is reincarnated as a child, and during some event, your previous life’s memories will be remembered. You’ll also gain the requisite knowledge for a person living in this world as you grow. Rather, as long as you have the memories and intelligence of the previous life, you can go on. But, if you were to gain your previous memories after coming of age and getting married while losing your current life’s memories, then you were stuck.

That’s me right now; I’m stuck in a precarious position.

The silver lining is that I understand the language of this world, and I’m able to speak it. Perhaps it’s because my Broca’s area is the same.

Then it isn’t possession either.

The first question I asked my trusted maid—who had always been accompanying me—was, “Who are you?” She believed I had amnesia since I couldn’t remember the person that I once was. If I told them the truth, I’d likely be thought of as insane, so I refrained.

Something like: this world is not mine. One day, I woke up in this body and asked “Who are you?” to Era, who had come to wake me.

“Lady Annelier! Miss Annelier! Have you forgotten me?” My trusted maid repeatedly called out to me. “You’re the first-born daughter of the prosperous Busterman family. The consort of His Highness, the Crown Prince Reinhardt!” She explained this without prompting, grasping somehow that I knew nothing. Who knows what could have happened if she didn’t explain this right out of the gate?

I’m sure I was staring at them wide-eyed, but there were a few names that I remembered. I realized I shouldn’t say anything carelessly until they brought the royal physician. They assumed that I had lost my memory. (I accepted the medical examination conducted by the palace physician). Thanks to this, even though I was essentially useless—knowing and being unable to do nothing—my actions (or lack thereof) were overlooked.

I want to escape from this situation as if I had lost my memory.

This character—the Crown Princess of a game-like world—was someone that I was familiar with. She was the villainess of an otome game that I had recently finished.

Since then, I have been discreetly asking Era—who has been looking after me—some questions about life before I ‘lost my memory.’ Listening to her, I was convinced that all my initial assumptions had been correct. I was indeed the villainess from an R-18 otome game that I had finished and not someone who coincidentally had the same name and appearance.

I hadn’t remembered dying. That’s why I had thought this was a dream at first.

Unfortunately, it doesn’t seem to be a mere dream. While I don’t remember dying.

That said, reincarnating into a game world should only be possible within a web novel. Besides, reincarnating after the game had already ended; I was finished.

The reason I’m in a precarious position, as mentioned earlier, is that I have no memories of living in this world. There wasn’t a ‘role’ for me to play either; the role of this body’s original owner—Annelier Busterman—had been completed before I had even reincarnated.

She had faced no condemnation or downfall but instead became the Princess Consort of Crown Prince Reinhardt. He was supposed to have been a capture target too.

I have no idea how to strike up a conversation with him because I don’t know anything about the ‘heroine’ or my roles. For now, I believe that Annelier became the Crown Princess because the heroine hadn’t been on the Crown Prince’s route or she had—for some reason—triggered a [Bad End].

Even worse still, I woke up in the body of Annelier without a single memory of foolish Noblesse Oblige or an understanding of a Princess’ education.

I wouldn’t have even known my name if it weren’t for Era!

That’s why, with all this piled up, it’s impossible for me to behave like the original in the first place. Therefore, I pretended to be weakened due to my memory loss and demanded—strongly—a divorce. I told both the royal physician and Era that I was no longer suited to being the Princess Consort if my memories didn’t come back.

Finally, Prince Reinhardt—who should be my husband—came to visit. It was seven days after I awoke in this new body.

Seven days since the ‘memory loss.’

That alone was enough of an indication of how cold our relationship was. From what I was able to find out (from Era), after their initial wedding night, they’d had no activities together as a couple.

I guess he thought he’d fulfilled all his obligations on the wedding night.

In addition to that, I can’t stop thinking about what the heroine is doing right now. If the relationship with his wife is cold, shouldn’t it be a piece of cake for her to win Prince Reinhardt’s heart right now? As this hasn’t happened, I think she must have settled on a different capture target.

“Annelier, how are you?”

“My body is fine, but…”

I don’t need to always sleep because I’d gotten better since the initial awakening. By the time Prince Reinhardt arrived, I was simply wearing loungewear and reading a book on the sofa. That’s right! I can converse and read the language as well. Perhaps because the brain itself hasn’t changed.

Though I don’t remember any personal matters like Annelier’s memories, they might just be sleeping somewhere in my mind.

“Don’t push yourself. You almost died.” I’d already heard of that, so I just looked at Prince Reinhardt—who was sitting on the opposite sofa—and nodded. I felt like he was observing me.

Apparently, before I awoke, Annelier had been poisoned and was in a state between life and death. Rather, she was poisoned, walked the boundary of life and death, but when she woke up, it wasn’t ‘Annelier’ anymore but me.

Geez, did she really die from poisoning?

Then, did I possess a dead body?

That’s what I believe, but I haven’t met the God of this world, so I don’t know for sure. Further, I haven’t heard any more details about the attempted poisoning from the people around me. Well, because I was a villainess—without a shred of love from the Prince—it’s not surprising that I was targeted by someone.

“I’ve heard what happened. You almost died, and so you’re being pessimistic, but I don’t think we have to get a divorce. I’m sure your memory will come back once you’ve recuperated.”

No, no. It’s not normal memory loss after all. There’s no way it’s coming back.

If Annelier won’t come back, neither will the memories.

That said, I didn’t expect my divorce petition to be declined. I thought he would approve of it easily since they seemed on bad terms.

What do I do?

“Uhm…” I looked at Prince Reinhardt nervously.

Prince Reinhardt—in the game, at least—is a serious, strict, tsundere character. He’s basically an honor student. Besides being nice to those he trusts, after favorability with him rises a little, he becomes sweet and more lovey-dovey. That said, he’s a total sadist in bed. It’s more realistic, the developers said.

Somehow, he just makes me want to run away. It’s a bit scary to think he’s my husband, especially with that last part.

“I-I don’t think that my memory will come back.”

“Why do you think that?”

I’ll be troubled if you ask me for a reason. “I really don’t remember anything. Even my name is rather vague, let alone what I learned for a Princess’s education or courtesy. I’m not fit to be Crown Princess of this great nation.” I glanced at him from time to time as I carefully made my demand: “Therefore, please reconsider the divorce.”

Prince Reinhardt was still staring at me.

I hadn’t intended to look suspicious, but I feel like he’s suspecting me anyway. Or, is this just my imagination?

“I can’t accept a divorce.”

“Even if I insist?”

“Even if you insist.”

Perhaps there’s another reason for him turning down the divorce so persistently. “Wh-why?”

“In the first place, this is a marriage of convenience. We married because it was necessary. We can’t just divorce because there’s a minor issue.” He’s right.

It was a marriage of convenience. There was a need to get married. Other than the [Bad Ending] of the game, he broke off the engagement with Annelier, so I thought it wasn’t that important. It turns out I was wrong.

That said, Prince Reinhardt didn’t break off the engagement because he wanted to marry the heroine, but because Annelier was kidnapped by bandits. After encountering plenty of solid R-18 like content with dozens of men, she fell into ecstasy and became a sex slave. Even after she was saved, she was half insane.

It’s normal to annul the engagement in that kind of situation.

“Isn’t memory loss quite the issue?” That said, I can’t afford to back down here either.

“Normally, I’d agree with you. Have you forgotten about my concubine as well?”

Ah, he had a concubine. I see. If so, I’m convinced that this couldn’t be called ‘a marriage.’ Anyway, I couldn’t remember and told him that frankly.

“I see, you don’t even remember Mia, even after you were so furious.”

I was alarmed at that name. I’m certain that the heroine’s default name was Mia. She was the concubine, huh? Not the consort.

“Mia was the one who poisoned you.” He just suddenly dropped a bombshell—!

“T-then—”

“We’ve finished eliminating her. I cherished her even before our marriage, but after she was kidnapped by bandits and became their plaything, I could no longer make her my official consort. Therefore, I made her my concubine instead, but I guess she was unsatisfied. If you weren’t here, she might have become my queen.”

Thank you for that succinct explanation!

I see, instead of Annelier, Mia—the heroine—encountered the gangbang sex slave route in the [Bad End]. Even after she was rescued, she had no choice but to become the concubine instead of the consort.

Somehow, nobody was happy in the end.

‘Eliminating?’

It was a matter of poisoning the Crown Princess, so there’s no way it would be overlooked, but I got physically depressed after hearing about her fate. Even though she almost killed me…well, a part of me can’t accept that I’m ‘Annelier’ yet.

“You really don’t remember. I didn’t expect you to react that way about Mia.” Prince Reinhardt looked surprised, squinting at me as if looking at the sun. Even though other men had tainted the heroine, Prince Reinhardt kept her beside him even if he could only do it with her as his concubine. He must have loved her so much.

As for Annelier, he only fulfilled his duties on the wedding night. The heroine should have been satisfied that she was the one he truly loved, and yet…

Hmmm… By chance, does Prince Reinhardt resent Annelier? I’m getting nervous.

“U-uhm…”

“What is it?”

“Is what you said just now the reason that we can’t divorce?”

“Don’t you get it? Now that Mia is gone, if you divorce me as well, then I’ll have no partner. Even if you can’t attend public functions, there’s value in being married to a woman who can have my child.”

Uhm… Is all of this so he can avoid a second marriage? Even I understand that if the adult Prince becomes single, nobles and royalty of other nations alike will feverishly try to hand him their daughters.

“That’s why I won’t accept this divorce. Recover physically and do something to regain your memories. Even if you can’t, it’s not as if intelligence is the problem. You can just relearn everything.”

Are you telling me to study again at this age?!

I still have faint memories of student life.

“I-if it took years to learn, then it’ll take years to relearn.”

“If that’s the case, then just remember the original contents.” Prince Reinhardt smiled as if communicating, ‘That’s the end of this discussion.’ Then, he said: “I’ll also help you remember. I’ve heard that reliving the past is good for regaining lost memories.”

Reliving? What did Annelier do with Prince Reinhardt?

As I tilted my head in confusion, Prince Reinhardt called forth Era and gave her an order.