This Villainess Wants a Divorce!

Chapter 1

Carnelia Easter.

She was the daughter of a baron who had nothing but his meaningless title and debt. She wasn’t even pretty. Even so, she’d become the imperial princess because of the empress. This was the gist of what had occurred.

The imperial palace had two princes—a second prince born to the empress and a first prince born to a maid.

According to imperial law, the first prince was always the successor to the throne, and even though he was the son of a maid, he was still the eldest. However, the empress wanted to keep him in check. Her greatest fear was that the first prince would form a marriage alliance with a high-ranking family. This was why Carnelia had been selected to marry him.

Up until that point, Carnelia had still had the potential to live out a decent life. Unfortunately, she was quite a fool, and she behaved as if the empress would always support her. She didn’t seem to realize that she was the empress’s disposable pawn.

Carnelia trusted that the empress would eventually oust her husband, the first prince. She believed that once he was overthrown, she would be able to get a divorce and remarry a man—perhaps even someone the empress would introduce her to.

But Carnelia was a fool.

She took any opportunity to scorn the first prince’s mother for being a maid. She insulted people to their faces as if it were her daily pastime. Not only did she spend the entire budget allotted to the prince’s palace on luxury goods, but she also took advantage of her status to commit all sorts of wickedness.

So, you might ask, what happened to Carnelia Easter?

She died. By her husband’s hand, no less.

To elaborate, she was executed for a crime she did not commit. The empress had used her as a pawn for years, and when Carnelia’s usefulness waned, the empress framed her.

What a fitting end for the evil side character.

“Haah...”

The biggest problem was that I had become Carnelia Easter.

But there was another problem: the boy sitting on my bridal bed right now was the protagonist of this romance fantasy novel and my husband.

Yes. I had somehow transmigrated into this commercial romance fantasy novel! And what was more, I was an evil side character—the villainess who’d been killed by the protagonist!

“Um... hi? We’re the same age, right? Can I... uh, drop honorifics?”

The bridal room was furnished with red cloth and flowers. What’s wrong with these people? I wondered if they’d known how old the bride and groom were when they’d decorated this room. The prince and I were only twelve! I had no idea what they expected when they pushed two twelve-year-olds into a bright red bridal room.

I glanced uneasily at the boy sitting atop the red bed sheets. He had black hair and black eyes, and he looked exactly as the novel had described him. Obviously, he didn’t appear to be in a good mood. Why would he, when he had just gotten married to the empress’s pawn?

“Probably... not, huh? I’m just a baroness’s daughter and you’re the prince... Erm... Yeah, I suppose not... sir.”

I didn’t like the idea of using honorifics with this twelve-year-old child. I carefully racked my brain for other ways around it. But then, the protagonist sighed.

“Do whatever you want.”

“Ah, of course! How generous you are. Fitting of a prince!”

I scrambled into bed, worried that he would change his mind. I noticed him flinch, but I didn’t have the slightest interest in a half-grown boy.

The mattress felt like pudding under my back. Oh! That’s nice. I felt my exhaustion, which had accumulated throughout the wedding day, melt away. I shifted against the mattress and buried myself deeper under the sheets.

Suddenly, I had a strange feeling of being watched. I looked up. Obviously, there was only one other person in this room.

The person watching me was none other than the protagonist, Caesar.

“Aren’t you going to sleep?” I asked.

He didn’t reply.

Oh, is he nervous because this is the first night? I guess that makes sense. He’s only twelve. He hasn’t even gone through puberty yet. What a baby.

“Want me to sing you a lullaby?”

Caesar scowled. He pulled the covers over his body, turned his back to me, and flopped down onto the mattress. His body language was clearly saying, “I hate you.”

This treatment... kinda stung. At the same time, I could understand why he felt this way, considering everything Caesar had endured because of the empress.

The empress had tormented Caesar and his mother, the maid-turned-queen, in her lust for power. And after the birth of her son, her bullying had only doubled.

There was no end in sight to her wicked behavior, especially with the emperor’s lack of attention. She’d insulted them openly; she’d halved their budget. But that much was nothing. She’d even made Caesar’s mother expose her thighs so that they could be lashed.

Caesar made a name for himself after going to war. It was a predictable way for a slighted prince to earn a positive reputation. The novel followed that the invulnerable prince returned a war hero, and received the emperor’s affection. He then punished the empress and Carnelia, who’d both tormented him, and remarried the daughter of Duke Lancaster.

Thus, my only objective was to avoid any situation in which the prince returned from war and cut off my head.

Erm, I mean, maybe he’ll let me off easy with a divorce if I start being nice to him now. I feel like it’ll be easy to win over a twelve-year-old—especially one who’s a prince leading a tumultuous life in the imperial palace.

Won’t he be grateful toward someone who’s nice to him amidst all that? He won’t forget later, will he? I couldn’t help but laugh as I thought of my perfect plan. I imagined receiving a massive divorce settlement and living out the rest of my life in some rural cottage.

I hoped that, as a prince, Caesar wouldn’t be stingy with remuneration.

And so, I gradually fell asleep, thinking of my future happy life in the cottage. Thus ended the first night.

* * *

I opened my eyes when I felt movement beside me. It was still dark, which meant the sun had not yet risen.

Who could it be? Is it my nanny? I was annoyed because I liked to sleep in. I frowned and sat up.

“Erm... who is that—Huh?”

I found a black-haired boy changing his clothes beside me in bed.

What? A boy in a young noblewoman’s bedroom? But as I was thinking this, I remembered that I had gotten married.

“Oh. Right. I’m married now.”

And this was the bridal room. I peered around the room that was furnished entirely in red. I was once more astounded by the senseless act of putting two twelve-year-olds in a room like this.

“What time is it?” I asked. “Why are you already up?”

“It’s already eight o’clock. But the curtains are thick. That’s why the sun isn’t coming in.”

“Eight?”

I was pretty sure that, excluding exceptional circumstances, the imperial family’s waking hour was always six o’clock. Oh, are they being lenient since I’m still a child?

Caesar seemed to read the thoughts on my face. He sighed. “It’s because we’re newlyweds. They want us to rest on our first day.”

“Oh...”

This entire time, I’d thought the red room was just for show, but they had actually expected us to go through the motions. It was all incomprehensible to me.

“I slept a lot if it’s eight already,” I murmured.

But why does my head hurt? Even my body felt limp. Oh... I want to lie down... It had only been five minutes since I’d sat up, but I already missed the feeling of the mattress beneath me.

Pfft, should I just go back to sleep? I lay back down. Oh, how comfortable. This is heaven.

“Get up. You slept nine hours.”

“But I’m tired... I’m a new bride who just got married yesterday. They’ll understand if I sleep in.”

“J-just get up!” Caesar turned bright red. “If you keep sleeping like this, they’ll think we’ve actually done it!”

“Oh, but they say the great king Alexandro took his first concubine at age thirteen. An imperial family member is old enough to know how it works at age twelve. I know you got your sex education waaay back when.”

“That’s not the issue, is it?! You and I didn’t do anything!”

“So just let them think what they want! It’s not like there will be many future opportunities to sleep in!”

My teeth chattered when I remembered everything I’d gone through for the wedding. They’d starved me so that my figure would look good in my dress. I’d been forced to wear that heavy crown for hours! And also, I’d had to smile and smile while wearing a thin dress during the entire wedding ceremony!

And why in the world was there so much to learn? I’d even received lessons on Taoist sexual practices, which is something I’d never experienced during the twenty-five years of my past life! What kind of country teaches Taoist sexual practices to a twelve-year-old girl?!

“Hey, you better get up right now!”

Yet, this boy seemed to hate the idea of any misunderstandings about us. He was intent on getting me out of bed. I tried to hold on to the bed sheets, but only in vain. It was totally possible for a twelve-year-old girl to be stronger than a twelve-year-old boy, but he was the invulnerable protagonist after all.

The bed sheets were snatched from my hands.

“Ugh, whatever! I’m going to sleep more! Give me the blanket!” I demanded.

“If you want to sleep more, you can do that in your palace!” Caesar slapped my hand away.

You wicked thing! Your wife just wants to sleep more! I was about to say this out loud when he suddenly grabbed the hand he had slapped away.

“Are you going to give me the blanket back?”

“You’re...”

Caesar looked serious. My face reflected his. What’s with him all of a sudden? He felt around my hand, then put his hand on my forehead.

“I think you have a fever.”

“Huh?”

A fever?