3 Neither a Protagonist nor an Antagonist

"Oops, I'm dead!" the words that left my mouth did not fail to reach the ears of the girl in my room.

"Your Highness, are you ok?" she stepped forward worriedly, once again trying to touch my forehead.

"I'm fine," I stepped back. "Where can I find my 'love interest'?" I asked. The one before me looked at me as if I have a screw loose. So I had to speak in the language she could understand.

"Where is Prince Edward?"

For me, it was like wandering the estate of my favourite celebrity. So naturally, Edward was the one I wanted to see the most. 

"His Highness is doing the morning meditation, Your Highness," she replied.

"Can you bring me there?" I asked her. She bowed and then brought me a modest gown which I should wear to go out of the room. I hastily wore everything she brought and tied my golden blonde hair into a bun. I turned my head here and there and showed her the bun and raised my brows as if to ask whether it looked nice on me.

"Let me do it, Your Highness," she politely replied. The reply once again proved my incapability of preparing myself.

"Is it bad?" I asked her with a frown.

"It's awfully messy, Your Highness," she replied in the politest way possible.

"Ok. You may do it," I told her then sat down on that gold-plated dressing table stool. She opened one of the drawers on my right side and grabbed a comb. Then started to slowly comb my hair.

"Can we hurry?" I asked.

"Yes, Your Highness," she replied. I thought if she cut off 'Your Highness' from every sentence, we could save a lot of time. As I was thinking about this, she hurriedly combed my hair. She was indeed skilful. When I was alive in the real world I usually struggle a lot to brush my hair every morning. My wavy hair always gets tangled when I sleep. At last, I had to cut it short and straighten it to avoid waking up with messy hair. In this world, they probably don't have a straightener. My hair still looked wavy. This girl was handling it very well. She effortlessly braided my hair into a nice french braid. In the meantime, I observed myself more carefully.

My usually chubby cheeks seemed a lot leaner. Also, I could see my pointed chin as well. With french braids, I could notice my jawlines. I smiled once. When I noticed my smiley reflection carefully, I was indeed taken aback. In my world, I used to eat a lot of pizzas and burgers and ended up with chubby cheeks. No exercises could help me with this face fat. But the transmigration seemed to have gotten rid of my face fats. Maybe I fell for a long time into the abyss, resulting in some calorie loss. Whatever the reason was, finally I could see my long-lost dimples in the mirror. It has been years since I have seen them for the last time.

"Finally you are here. I love you both," I smiled, slightly touching one of my dimples. The one behind me indeed looked confused and unsettled. I didn't want to make her confused anymore. So I chose to go out of the room. Before that, I need to put on some perfume. Of course, I hadn't bathed yet, still, I didn't want to spend my first few hours in this world inside a bathroom.

"Do you have any fragrance?"

"You have a collection of every fragrance in the world, Your Highness. Don't you remember, Your Highness?" she asked. I frowned and made a serious face.

"Of course, how could I forget something like this? I checked your memory," I playfully smiled again. "Bring one of them to me."

"What is the fragrance you want, Your Highness?"

"Jasmine, Rose?" I randomly asked. She nodded and then took two bottles from the cupboard. I took the red bottle from her hand and rubbed it all over my dress. After that, I stepped out of the room. Although there were so many picturesque golden sculptures, colourful paintings and elegant carvings on my way, I couldn't slow down since I was in a hurry.

Of course, I was going to see Edward. I'm his fan. I'm one of those girls who fell for his charming charisma and manliness. I forgot to mention his intriguing jealousy. I'm here now as the protagonist. I would be enjoying all these luxuries including his love. I just couldn't believe the amount of luck I got to witness that day.

"Your Highness, this way," the voice of the girl stopped me from entering the wrong chamber. She guided me from there onwards. I just followed in her footsteps. She halted before a large shut door.

"Open it!" I said.

"Your Highness... the prince... he will be angry."

"Angry?" I frowned. He wouldn't probably get angry with the female protagonist if the story is complete. At the end of 'Romance, please' Edward was a doting lover. If he is going to get angry, then am I here earlier? If so, that meant a lot of trouble.

"Athena, what are you doing at Edward's door early in the morning?" I heard a majestic female voice right behind me.

"Your Majesty!" the girl beside me immediately bowed then stepped back a few meters away from us. I could say that the woman standing behind me was the queen. Although I didn't have much respect for her, I should pay my respects since I had to play my character flawlessly. Although the real me was a bit outrageous, this character I'm playing was a super sweet, super naive girl. Now that I think of her nature, I immediately remembered the name of this character.

Flora... It was Flora! I was sure that the name of the protagonist is Flora. It was never Athena!

My heart started to beat at an alarming speed as I clench my hands into a fist. My sleeping brain cells woke up immediately and tried to sort out my confusion. I turned towards the queen who was now glaring at me.

The queen was intimidating in many ways. She was much taller than me. Her knitted arched eyebrows were questioning me. Her eyes which were deep ocean blue in colour were bright and possessed power. It showed how shrewd she was. She had pinned her golden hair behind into a classic low chignon. Above her head shone a crown made of emerald and gold. Her emerald green satin gown added to her nobility.

She was an awe-inspiring woman. Despite her slightly old appearance, she was majestic and beautiful. Her appearance made me nervously bow down.

"Greetings, Your Majesty," I said. The queen seemed a bit confused. I was confused too. In elementary school, I was taught that I should ask doubts immediately as they appear. So I followed that and asked."Can you please call me by my name again?" 

"What are you playing today?" I got a furious question instead of an answer.

'Well, seems like we are playing poker, and I'm the joker. I originally thought that I was the Ace, but now I don't even know which card I'm replacing,' I thought but didn't utter a word. It was indeed embarrassing for me.

Suddenly the queen went like, "Know your manners. Behave properly, blah blah blah..." To escape her ramblings, I chose to leave that area first.

"Your majesty, I don't feel well," I hid my face under the curtain of sickness. I usually do that. Whenever I didn't do homework and was about to be punished, I'd play sick. I'd play sick whenever I wanted to be left alone and all my life, it worked. So, I put my right hand on my stomach and the other on my head and acted as if I'm extremely sick.

"Where does it hurt, dear?" there was a change in the queen's voice as stepped forward.

"Everywhere!" I lied.

"Flora, what are you doing there? Carry her back to her room," the queen ordered.

"F..F...Fl...Flora?" I turned toward the girl who had been accompanying me all this time. She was still standing a few feet away from us. She was worried for me, I could see. She was scared because of the queen, that was also visible.

I remembered... Venus had described her face as a mirror-like face. 

'So, this what is called a mirror-like face?' I titled my head, like a crow, in amazement. Her doe eyes spoke so many words instead of her thin, rosy lips. 'Talkative eyes? Is that it?' my eyes widened in more amazement. Still, she looked extremely beautiful and shone brightly. It was too bright for my eyes. Was it my hallucination or was she really in the spotlight then? I could sense the blinding brightness arising from her sides. I closed my eyes and turned my face away.

It was an absolute first-hand embarrassment that I have never faced in my life. I wanted to facepalm, but I couldn't, so I just clenched my teeth. I could hear Flora running towards me. At that moment, I was so done with my second life as well. I stood straight and looked at these two women once, "Just tell me who the hell am I?" I finally let out my angst.

"Athena, what's wrong with you?" just like how I switched from sickness to madness within seconds, the queen too switched, but from worry to anger. "Behave like a princess!" the queen continued.

'Princess?' I lift my head to see the woman in front of me. 'Yes, PRINCESS! That's the clue,' There were only three princesses that I have read about in the novel.

The first one is the future wife of the prince, the protagonist, Flora.

That was not me.

The second one was the princess from a distant country who had been betrothed to the prince but never got married to him. She was one of the villains in the novel. But her name was Evelyn. If I was her, that would have been better. She had been doing all the misdeeds throughout the story and enjoying her life to the fullest. She only got banished at the end of the story. If I should make it clear, in my point of view, even Flora was pitiful compared to her. She was the one who lived to her fullest and then got away with a banishment. I believe that it could be that Venus personally liked her. Or else, why would she still get away after killing the male lead's precious sister?

I'm neither Flora nor Evelyn.

The queen called me by my name. That could only mean that I'm the third and the most unfortunate one of these three princesses. She was of no importance. She was just there for the sake of plot and character development. She didn't even have a personality. I highly doubt whether she had a brain to start with. Moreover, she never had a name. Edward always called her 'sister'. Her friends called her 'princess' and the maids called her 'Your Highness.' Even her parents used to call her 'daughter'.

My heart ached because of this 'plot twist'. My heart broke into pieces when I thought about Edward.

Sorry, that was an overstatement. I just felt a little disappointed when I came to know that my dream boy had turned into my brother. 'First comes survival then comes romance,' I made up my mind. I had so many more important things to worry about at that moment.

Should I tell you the worst of all?

That princess without a name would die in chapter twenty-five!