I stare quietly at the full person mirror in front of me and nod quietly. It took me several hours of internal debate and a lot of confusion, but I've more or less grasped the situation I am in.

Before anything else, I died. I am no longer Rei, but Lily.

After I woke up again, my head filled with the memories of the life of this current body, Lily Celeste. Lily Celeste is apparently the daughter of Marquess Adam Celeste, a noble, basically almost the same as a samurai, with the duty of protecting the eastern borders of the Ristaze Kingdom.

Lily is a beauty, by the standards of this place. With silky hair and soft eyes dyed the colors of the southern oceans, she stands out among the crowd. Her porcelain white skin is free of blemishes and her figure slender. However... Her pale pink pouty lips were curled into a sullen look. My sullen look...

This girl is destined to be executed.

At first I thought the name of Lily and the country were just coincidences, but after hearing the conversations of the hei- maids... I understood the situation very quickly.

I have reincarnated into a foolish love novel, which I had bought in my former life from a foreigner out of sheer curiosity. A book that I didn't even bother to finish reading.

Lily Celeste was the 'villainess' that harassed and schemed against the 'heroine'. The book even used these words to describe the characters, even if neither of them truly acted the part. Lily was condemned and executed at the end of the story by the crown prince for 'bullying', while the Heroine ended up with the affection of multiple high status men, including said prince. I had thought she would pick one at the end, but skipping to the last page merely left you hanging with all of them holding their hands out to her with loving gazes.

Either way...

The point is, the future queen laid hand on the future King's lover and got executed, probably so the lover could replace her.

With a personality like that, I have no interest in being engaged, but unfortunately it's already too late. She, and thus I, was engaged to him 3 years ago, on her 5th birthday.

Ever since then, the engagement has been the only thing Lily has been working hard on, and frankly she is failing at the main issue, as the crown prince strongly dislikes her. Other than the things she must learn as a queen, Lily doesn't appear to have had any hobbies, other than fawning over said prince and gaining political favor to secure her position. It's an unhealthy obsession.

By the standards of my former clan, Lily would be considered a disgrace and thus useless, for while her manners are flawless, she is scheming and cruel... much like the filthy clan of that woman.

Furthermore, Lily both has and had no abilities other than intrigue and being an economic burden in the story, even though there were indeed options for women here to help out with running the household, which in Lily's case should be running a mansion, castle or palace.

Socially Lily is a menace. Bad events in the book had ended up being caused by Lily in one way or another... and not only events in the future. Lily's selfish behavior has already caused a lot of trouble. By the age of 8 she has already become the image of what every little boy does not want in a woman.

This is probably where you wonder why was is the fiancé of the crown prince in the first place.

Her body is strongly blessed with the element of water. She has pure water mana and a lot of it. This is also why her hair color is an unnatural light blue color. This on top of her status as a high noble meant she was going to be considered one of the five most powerful people in Ristaze in the future, where she is the only girl, and the female water mage with the strongest potential. A truly fortunate child in that aspect. If she had just been a decent girl, then she likely could have been the most politically powerful woman in the country, if not for the heroine.

I let out a deep sigh and turn away from the mirror with gritted teeth.

I can somewhat accept all of this. We do believe in reincarnation, and there has also been cases where people have memories from their past lives. It was an exceedingly rare thing, of course, but it makes it easier to deal with the current situation of waking up as a disgraceful child hated by just about everyone.

Oddly, the memories that seem vague and distant are the memories of this life. I remember what I need, but they don't really feel like they belong to me.

Ironically, it seems as though the trigger that awaked my memories was Lily being poisoned at dinner where she had been drinking tea...

While on the topic, the lady from last time I woke up was the Heroine of the novel's mother, not Lily's... I'll have to scold her for touching me so intimately, to make sure it doesn't happen again. The thought of being touched so casually makes my skin crawl.

The Heroine's mother has been working here as a maid under my mother for several years now, but stands to die within a year. You can probably guess whose fault that was going to be as well, from how the story has gone till now.

For what I know, the heroine's mother is incredibly caring, and really just wanted to check up on Lily's recovery. Lily's own mother on the other hand has yet to make any sign of her interest in Lily's wellbeing.

While on the subject of that woman: The one driving Lily to have that manipulative and spoiled personality was her mother, Adela. Adela's rotten personality had been shaped by Adela's rotten mother, and she by her mother and so on... and by Adela's advice and suggestions on seducing the prince, Lily had taken upon herself, and her room, a gaudy and clearly expensive taste, all in the color of cherry blossoms... no, a much more intense and sharp version of it.

The amount is sickening.

At this point you are probably wonder why Lily's father hasn't interfered in this, but apparently Adam Celeste has left Lily under Adela's care and tutelage, while he takes care of Lily's older brother, Eric. Eric receives none of the spoiling behavior, and acts as a well mannered son. Though, is not much of an older brother to, Lily as the two of them never got along.

Adam and Adela don't talk. Lily doesn't know why, but apparently they've split the kids and the mansion in two, with only meals being shared together... somewhat.

For now, my biggest issue is with Adela. Nearly all of my memories of Adela consists of her encouraging Lily to interact or flirt with the crown prince.

Lily in the book was executed by the crown prince after he fell in love with the heroine. I honestly don't want to go down this path. If he is willing to kill Lily because she is in the way, then I'd rather not be in the way, than try to get on the good side of someone like that.

I want to get out of the engagement.

Adela only really started paying Lily a lot of attention after the engagement was made, so getting her to accept this will likely be impossible.

I end up gritting my teeth in thought again, as I start pacing the room. I might have to attempt to get into father's good graces to get out of this... For now, let's go for creating contact with father. Appealing to his sense of logic might make him take action if I ask him to.

Father is more subdued and has a reasonable taste in clothes as well, so he might be a help in the matter of decent clothing as well. I have shallow hopes with Adela, but I might as well try with her too.

Secondly, since Adela doesn't take care of the household at all, then I likely need to talk to father about more classes as well outside queen's training, including commerce.

By the standards of my former life, the one that stayed at home took care of the economy. I would learn enough to manage a household for my future husband, as should be expected of an honorable wife. I can accept this too-

"Ojou-sama, dinner is almost served..."

The maid watching me pace about speaks up meekly. She'd been standing there from the start, but as you would expect, she was trying to blend in with the pink tapestry. I had left her alone till now.

"I will go like this," I insist.

Of course the maid turns pallid at my words.

"...Ojou-sama, a night gown is not proper..." She warns me while glancing to the side.

"Between improper and humiliating, I prefer improper," I retort, and from her expression I know that she understands me perfectly. Both of us look between the simple cotton nightgown and what appears to be a ball gown with more frills and laces than I can keep up with. She looks a bit confused at my behavior but with a small breath tries to persuade me again while turning her fists to little anxious balls.

"Ojou-sama, please get dressed!"

She is probably worried I will try to get her fired for insisting, but she would likely also get fired if she didn't get me dressed.

"Force me into one of those dresses, and I will slit my stomach." I snap at her, this time giving her enough of an excuse to make her leave the matter alone. I admit, I have too much pride to wear one of those things. I stare at her fleeting expressions as she fidgets in thought at my words. Her relief is painfully obvious. In other words, she didn't actually care as long as I set up an impossible ultimatum. She sighs and then steps away from the door just enough for me to slip out.

She presses her lips together and then looks away... but you can sense her content. She's likely looking forward to me being scolded.

She might do for my personal maid. If she carries no real interest in me then she won't get in the way of my plans either.

I take a deep breath before leaving the room, ignoring the maid as she walks behind me.

Of course, convincing father to break off the engagement is still a far way off, so I'll worry about the causes of my future destruction afterwards, starting with my older brother and Adela.