"I want to break off the engagement"

In the famous novel "I'll be the Villainess," Arabella Catherine Spencer, the first daughter of House Spencer (a princess) and the heroine, was supposed to be the next Queen of Ilya. But Andrea, the second and adopted daughter of House Spencer, stole everything away from her.

Andrea became the Queen, and Ara left the Kingdom to investigate the monster attacks in Ugrus territory. Ara was a powerful swordswoman and mage.

Marrying into the royal family doesn't satisfy Andrea's greediness, so she abused her power to kill Ara in Ugrus.

But during the assassination, Ara fell into the sea and lost consciousness for weeks. The assassins hired by Andrea thought that she won't survive as the sea is rumored to be haunted and killed lots of people because of the monsters living underneath it.

Luckily, Ara was seen by a traveler and treated her. When she regained consciousness, she lost her memories.

Soon, when she remembered her memories, she decided to become the Villainess and was blinded by revenge which caused her death by the end of the story.

'And now I'm here...' Y/n thought.

"I became that heroine," Y/n said as she blankly stares at the ceiling.

Someone knocks at the door.

"Oh, you're awake, your highness?" Joana, Ara's maid, said.

"Oh hey," she answered, tired.

*She forgot to sleep because she was busy thinking about the novel for the whole night.*

"We must prepare now, your highness. The Crown Prince will arrive soon." Joana said.

"Why do I have to dress up for that guy?" She asked without thinking.

"What do you mean, your highness? Isn't his highness your lover and fiance? It's only normal for ladies to dress-"

"I mean, isn't he a family? My maternal cousin, to be exact? Just thinking about marrying him makes me sick." She said.

"What are you saying, your highness?! Didn't you love his highness?" Joana asked.

"After thinking about it, it looks like I only admire his looks. It's not too late to cancel the engagement, right?" Y/n asked.

'Well, that was a lie. It was the real Princess Arabella who likes that guy, not me.' Y/n thought.

"Your highness, what happened to you? Are you sick? Just two days ago, you were so excited to get married and become the Crown Princess. You even went on a date with his highness, and you look so in love with him. Besides, if you break your engagement with someone, it'll be harder for you to find a new partner!"

"Who cares about marriage? Not all women were born to get married and have a family. Didn't I have an older brother? Continuing the bloodline doesn't look like a problem to us. I'm also a 16-year old girl, aren't I too young for those things? Oh right, it's not like I was in the 21st century. Even 12 years old kids get married at this time."

'What is happening to our Princess? Did she hit her head that hard?' Joana thought as Y/n continues to mumble things.

*From now on, I will start referring to Y/n as Ara :)*

*Dining room*

Everyone was enjoying their breakfast. Prince Aeneas, Ara's older brother, is currently talking with Duke Alexander, their father, about the monsters and condition of the soldiers at the border, while Andrea and Duchess Louisa were also having a fun conversation.

Ara started to get bored, so she purposely hit the wine glass with her spoon, which caught everybody's attention.

"I didn't mean to be rude and interrupt everyone. But I couldn't keep this to myself anymore, father. So I want to talk about this now. May I?" Ara spoke.

"Sure, what is it, Ara?" The Duke asked.

"I want to stop the act and break my engagement with the Crown Prince," Ara said and quickly covered her ears.

"WHAT?!" Everyone said.

She knew that they were going to yell.

She removes her hand from covering her ears and calmly continues talking.

"As what I've said, I want to break my engagement with the Crown Prince-"

"Wait, wait, wait. What I mean is, why did you suddenly want to break off your engagement? Ara, you know that this engagement isn't a joke." The Duke said.

"Do you perhaps have a reason for it, Ara?" Her brother, Aeneas, asked.

"After thinking about it last night, I'm sure that I won't become a good Crown Princess for the Kingdom, not to mention being a Queen."

"Why do you think so?" The Duchess asked, worried.

"It started at the day after my date with his highness. I started to feel less attractive to him and thought if I truly love him. Then, I also realized that I can't handle the responsibilities of being part of the royal family. As you can see, I was the very first woman in this Kingdom who had an interest in swords and other things meant for men."

"Hmm..." The Duke hummed.

"If I'm going to be the future Queen of the Kingdom, I had to give up on the things that I wanted and enjoy. I had to be more lady-like. I need to watch my every move to avoid tarnishing the royal family's image. In short, I must avoid marrying the Crown Prince as I don't want to become the Crown Princess and to avoid future disasters." Ara said and ended it with an insincere smile.

"Um..."

"Ara, just like starting this engagement, it is also hard to break it. If the King heard about this, he's going to be extremely angry." The Duke said, worried.

"I know, father. And I am ready to face any consequences. Since we're a family, even if this engagement doesn't proceed as planned, I believe that his highness, the King, wouldn't ask for my life in exchange." Ara said.

"E-Eonni, do you know what you're saying? Aren't you at least scared?" Andrea asked.

"Of course, I know what I am saying, and I am a bit scared. But it is my fault, so I had to take responsibility even if I have to face exile-"

"ARABELLA! THIS SHOULDN'T BE TAKEN LIGHTLY! YOUR LIFE MIGHT BE ON THE LINE! DID YOU KNOW HOW SCARY BANISHMENT IS?!" Aeneas yelled.

"Aeneas, calm down!" The Duke and Duchess said.

They thought Ara would get scared or even cry, but they were surprised to see her cold expression.

"Of course, I do. I had to live alone and protect myself from any danger without your help if that happens. But that is my fault for choosing a path that I'm not certain of! I was immature and let my emotions run wild. I thought that being royalty is easy when it's not. I already sent a letter to the King, and I have to face this alone, brother. I assure you that I won't let anything happen to our family and the Duchy."