“I’ve just realized it now!” Aikaterinia says to herself. She feels absolutely embarrassed for taking 3 years to realize it. Being the villainess’s villainess is not something one would wish to be. The villainess from the TV-show wasn’t exactly an antagonist for the main character. To put it correctly, the villainess is the main character of the TV-show.

The villainess, the main character, Cathrina, grew up with her parents who were nobles.

To Cathrina’s parents, she’s always been their little princess. As Cathrina grew up, her parents started to believe that she deserves to become a true princess. They were planning to let their daughter become an actual imperial princess. Her parents didn’t fight for the throne to give their precious daughter everything they thought her worthy of. No, her parents had decided to kill off the imperial family with the use of curses, and trick the people to believe the true princess was their daughter Cathrina, and not Princess Aikaterinia.

Because of this, Cathrina’s parents became curse-bearers to make their daughter look more of a royal relative than the actual princess. To Cathrina’s parents' benefit, Princess Aikaterinia had little to no resemblance to the Imperial family at all; her features had not been seen in the imperial family before.

The Imperial family are awed for their graceful features. Their silver blonde hair that seems to strike a bright light like midnight stars, their alexandrite-like eyes that look like the northern lights, and their fair glowing skin.

The Imperial family are easy to spot because of these traits, but Aikaterinia looked absolutely different. Her hair was a light pink, and her eyes resemble the eye-catching sunsets.

Cathrina’s parents were of course ecstatic of this fact. When their daughter looked more of a princess than the actual princess, it would only be easier to get rid Aikaterinia.

As time went by the imperial family died one by one and in the end Cathrina rose to the throne, for there was no other member of the imperial family who the Six-Seats, better known as the council, could see more fit.

That is the plot of "Is This The Imperial Life?"

Short said, the main character's family kills the imperial family so the main character can become a part of the imperial family.

"Just who wrote this show??" Aikaterinia thought to herself.

"Do I really have to just.. die like that? I don't want to die young! Not again!"

◃◇▹

It’s been a few days, and Aikaterinia looks like she hasn’t slept a wink. The sleep-deprivation has caused her eyes to have dark circles which make her look similar to a.. panda. She hasn’t been able to sleep at all, all she could think about was how she would be able to avoid her death in the future.

“I should’ve listened to Ane.. But it’s not like I could’ve known I actually would be reincarnated as one of the characters from that show..” Aikaterinia thinks to herself, as she walks down the corridor with her hands on leaning on the wall for support. 

All the workers seem to still be going around whispering to each other, but right at this moment Aikaterinia can’t care less. She is way too tired and drowsy to even be able to process what they’re saying.

Around the corner of the corridor, a guard walks by, seems new. Aikaterinia, who’s fully concentrated on not falling over, accidentally walks into his leg as she turns around the corner. She falls backwards and lands right.. On her.. Butt.

“Ouch…”

The guard is silent until they start recognizing the princess. It’s not like she’s easy to miss.

“I apologize, your highness…” The guard says. What? How unusual. The guard’s voice is awfully high. The princess turns up her head and sees this guard.. Is actually a child. Aikaterinia is now confused by this. Can children become guards at such a young age?

“I’m deeply sorry. I’m still in training, I didn’t see you from around the corner, please forgive me.” ah. That explains it.

The guard seems to be a few years older than her brother, perhaps 12 years old? This boy seems to be a squire. And all this formality… what’s with the people in this place and being overly formal to babies?

The young squire helps Aikaterinia to stand up again and she lightly brushes her dress from dust and dirt she might have landed on. 

"Hey!" A familiar voice is heard further down the corridor. Of course, it's Prince Michail. 

Michail saw the two conversing and immediately sped over. "Aika! Are you hurt? Let me see." Michail grabbed Aikaterinia’s small hands and started to look for any small scratches or bruises.

"He's so overdramatic" both Aikaterinia and squire thought to themselves.

"I'm fwine" Aikaterinia reassures her brother. He immediately lets out a relieved sigh and turns to the boy standing behind him.

"Excuse me, who are you? Why are you still here?" Michail asks the boy.

"My name is Damian, your highness. I’m a.. squire."

"Okay.." Michail starts to switch glances between his sister and the boy. The young boy starts to feel rather uncomfortable from these glares. Suddenly Michail lets out a gasp and clings to the princess.

"Are you trying to seduce my sister?!"

…what? What kind of thought was that? How did he even get to that conclusion? 

"N-no.. your highness I would never." Damian proclaims. Aikaterinia is nothing but stunned at her brother's accusation.

The young squire then speaks, “I will take my leave, your highness..” and like that he walks away. Despite Damian having left, Michail does not loosen his hold on Aikaterinia. The princess claps on his arm and he immediately lets go of her.

Michail takes a good look at Aikaterinia and sees the dark circles under her eyes.

“Have you not been sleeping well?” “I’m.. fwine, Mika.” Although she says this, she obviously needs a nap. The prince stands up and takes a hold of the princess’s small hand.

“Let’s go back so you can sleep.” The two of them walk down the corridor and eventually he asks one of the maids to carry his sister back to her room. Now she should be able to get some proper sleep.

Michail is on his way to the library, which was where he was headed before seeing Damian and Aikaterinia. As he walks there, a group of maids are huddled together whispering.

“Don’t you think it’s weird though?”

“What’s weird?”
“Have you never noticed? The princess doesn’t look like his Highness or his Majesty!”

“Of course I’ve noticed. It’s not exactly hard to. That bright pink color is too obvious.”
“Is she even the actual princess? What if someone switched her out and the princess is actually the daughter of some commoner by the border?”

“Now that’s going a little too far, isn’t it? The border is way too far away!”
“But there’s no way she’s actually part of the imperial family. She’s too.. Different.”

Those maids had no idea who was listening around the corner. And it seems our dear little prince has planned a stop before going to the library..

◃◇▹

A knock is heard from outside the door.

“Come in.” a low voice speaks. The door creaks open and the Prince steps into the study. He has a determined look on his face as he faces the man sitting by the desk.

“Father, I would like to talk to you about something.”