I still remember the day I first met him.

"It is an honor to meet you."

Speaking in a low, calm voice, he took Guest's hand and kissed the back of it. Golden hair. Deep red eyes. A small smile playing on his lips. It was as if a novel's illustration had taken human form, and for a while, Guest stood there dazed, forgetting even to reply.

Wilhelm, the Crown Prince of the Kingdom. Guest knew him. As a character in a story she had read obsessively in her previous life.

In the story, he falls for a commoner woman and descends into madness after being rejected. He condemns his fiancée and family, destroys the kingdom, and is eventually killed. That fiancée was the lady welcomed from the neighboring country—the current Guest.

By the time I realized it, I was already living in this world. At this rate, I would eventually die at his hands.

But what I hated even more was just watching someone I loved from the story become unhappy. Especially him—if there was a way for the man who had no choice but to head toward that ending to find happiness instead.

So Guest ran around. She quietly assigned different roles to people who would become seeds of trouble. She casually ruined gatherings where conflicts were supposed to happen by making other plans. A series of small maneuvers that no one noticed. In this way, she plucked the sprouts of ruin one by one.

And finally.

Before the season when the story was supposed to begin, all the sparks had been extinguished. Now, no one would have to be unhappy. Guest took a deep breath for the first time in a long while in a corner of the palace garden.

That voice came from behind. Before I could even turn around, a shadow fell over me. Wilhelm was standing right there.

As usual, I can't look him straight in the face. When faced with that overly perfect countenance, my heart inevitably starts racing. As Guest's gaze darted around, she felt a small, soft chuckle from above.