Lady Regina Sheridan stared blankly at the very pretty and very shiny blond man frolicking in front of her.

He was wearing seven brooches today. She knew that he was wearing seven brooches because she had counted them, even as she wondered how he managed to keep the one attached to his belt from falling off.

"My dearest heart," he cried, bouncing in excitement. "Are you not excited to see the surprise that I prepared?"

With a movement born of long practice, Regina stepped forward and casually pulled him out of the way of the large falling rock, noting the shadowy figure disappearing on the roof line above them, as the blond man continued to gaze tenderly at her.

It would have been too much, she realized grimly, for her prince to realize that a large rock had landed behind him when he was more interested in her answer to his question.

"Yes, my sweet dove," she finally replied with infinite weariness. "I am... excited to see your performance."

In truth, Regina was not excited to see his performance.

Regina was also not excited to foil the next three murder attempts that would inevitably happen when her sweet dove sang three folk songs while doing a strange dance from his mother's homeland.

Regina's only excitement in life came from trying to keep this goldfish of a fiancé, and thus herself, alive.

Yet as Regina watched her prince dance his self-described “mating ritual" in front of her, Regina wondered if maybe she would have been better off being executed as a villainess.

Authors' Notes:

Hello everyone! We’re Tanya and Emily from Best Laid Plans Productions Inc. and we’re delighted you’re reading “The Villainess Wants Her Prince to Live!” (Credit for our stunning cover goes to KMochi, our cover artist).

This story is our first original villainess novel and it serves as a prequel to Save the Villainess, our in-development villainess isekai mystery videogame that challenges you to control a villainess lost in a bad romance novel she cannot remember… with an assassin who has not forgotten her… and who could be any of her five love interests. 

(You can learn more about Save the Villainess by visiting its Steam page: https://store.steampowered.com/app/2578180/Save_the_Villainess_An_Otome_Isekai_Roleplaying_Game/)

(You can also sign up to play the demo when it drops in a few weeks by signing up to our Kickstarter pre-campaign page or our mailing list: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/565568843/save-the-villainess-an-otome-isekai-roleplaying-game)

Like Save the Villainess, “The Villainess Wants Her Prince to Live!” is a romantic black comedy/murder-mystery that follows a desperate villainess who really wants to live… and whose life is dependent on someone very, very bad at surviving. We promise plenty of murder attempts and mayhem… with a villainess who uses her wits to try to survive and keep her prince safe at the same time. 

Stay tuned for regular releases on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Friday and in the meantime, please check Save the Villainess out on Steam, Itch, and Kickstarter. Our 3-to-5 hour demo will be dropping this summer, along with one puzzle to solve, one bad ending to dodge (or enjoy?), and four fascinating love-interests-turned-murder-suspects to meet. We look forward to showing you more of Carcosa and sharing more villainess-themed mysteries…

See you next week for more!