MLTK 01

#1.

The scenery outside the carriage was like another world.

In the distance, purple clouds billowed from the Magic Tower, while along the road to the Imperial Palace, flowers bloomed by magic, showing off their dazzling colors.

“Phew….”

Even while looking at this strange and beautiful scenery, I couldn’t feel particularly moved.

Because the scenery and sunlight I was seeing today might be the last ones I would ever see in my life.

“No, what am I thinking…!”

Die? I was destined to die?

‘I’ll survive no matter what. Just you wait.’

But before I could even steel my resolve, the carriage stopped in front of the Crown Prince’s Palace. I stepped onto the ground and looked toward the main entrance.

Then, brilliant light poured out from inside the entrance.

When I finally managed to open my eyes, I knew who it was without anyone having to tell me.

‘That’s Vincent Arthur Fitzroy… the Crown Prince.’

That light was probably the radiance of the male protagonist. As if that weren’t enough, today he happened to be wearing a white uniform.

Seeing him approach, I quickly lowered my eyes and greeted him politely.

“The Crown Prince of the Empire, Your High—”

“Welcome, Amelia.”

Before I could finish my greeting, Crown Prince Vincent approached, gently took my hand, and kissed the back of it.

Beep— A first warning alarm went off in my head, and my heartbeat sped up.

I couldn’t tell whether it was because of the joy of facing such a handsome man or the fear of taking one step closer to death.

‘He can do this much as a matter of courtesy, right? Courtesy toward a lady.’

I tried my best to run my hopeful imagination, but I couldn’t hide my doubts.

“Your High—?”

Up close, he really was extremely handsome. Smooth skin without a single visible pore, features that looked as if God had carefully sculpted them, and even hair that shimmered beautifully with a silky texture.

‘Hah, get a grip. What if I fall for him here?’

The corners of Vincent’s lips gently curved upward.

“Amelia, seeing you again like this feels like a dream.”

“I heard that you had recovered. Are you feeling well…. I should have come to see you sooner—”

“Amelia.”

Vincent didn’t let me finish speaking this time either. Instead, he took my hand and pulled me toward him.

At a distance where I could almost feel his breath, his beautiful green eyes curved softly.

“I really missed you.”

As I looked at his bashful expression, a second warning alarm went off in my head.

‘No matter how generously I interpret this, I can’t call this mere courtesy.’

There had been nothing like this in Amelia’s memories from the past, but there was such a scene in the novel. That was the problem.

Without appearing too wary, I took a small step backward.

“Your Highness, why are you suddenly acting like this?”

“Ah, I only realized it after I collapsed. Just how important you are to me.”

“…….”

I was gradually finding it impossible to control my expression.

Why? Why did Amelia suddenly become an ‘important’ person only after he collapsed?

“So, Amelia. I think it would be best if you moved into the Crown Prince’s Palace and lived with me.”

“No, Your Highness. How could I dare….”

“No, do it. We’re engaged anyway.”

His gentle tone contained an undeniable firmness. In other words, it was an order from the Crown Prince.

“From now on, I don’t want to let you out of my sight even for a moment.”

‘No. Oh, please, not those words.’

I already thought everything was hopeless, but I desperately prayed to every god I knew, putting all my last hope into it.

But as if rendering my prayers meaningless, he gently kissed my forehead with his softly curved green eyes.

“Amelia, I love you.”

At those sweet words that reached the absolute peak, I finally became certain—and despaired.

‘There’s no doubt. This man… is the Crown Prince who returned to the past.’

My mind suddenly went blank, and my legs wobbled.

Without thinking, I slapped away Vincent’s hand as he reached out to support me.

“Amelia?”

“…Ah.”

He stood there with his hand extended, looking bewildered. Judging only by that expression, it really looked like he had offered his hand out of genuine concern.

“I’m sorry…. I felt a little dizzy.”

“Oh dear, it seems you’re not feeling well.”

“No, I’m fine now.”

“Then that’s a relief. Come.”

I cautiously placed my hand on the arm Vincent offered for me to hold. He looked at me and formed a smile as beautiful as a painting.

But I saw it.

‘His eyes aren’t smiling at all.’

The handsome man beside me hates me.

No, it wasn’t merely that he hated me.

He wanted to kill me.

“I wonder if the food suited your taste.”

“I enjoyed it… very much, Your Highness.”

I couldn’t tell whether the food was going into my mouth or my nose, but it was undeniably a perfect full-course meal.

Crown Prince Vincent had paid an excessive amount of attention to me, Amelia, throughout the entire meal.

Sitting in that uncomfortable yet overwhelming position, I kept turning over my absurd situation in my mind.

‘How did I end up in a place like this….’

First of all, this was inside a romance-fantasy novel called I Will Give Up on Revenge.

I hadn’t even figured out how I had possessed this body, and before I could properly adapt to this world, I had been summoned to this place.

But I couldn’t afford to act clueless.

If I was the transmigrator, then he was the regressor.

And not just any regressor—a terrifying regressor filled to the brim with the desire for revenge.

‘Of all people, why did I have to possess Amelia?’

The name of the body I had possessed was ‘Amelia Wentworth.’ She was the Crown Prince’s fiancée. And,

‘The very person who poisoned and killed the Crown Prince before his regression.’

Therefore, to the Crown Prince who had returned to the past, Amelia was naturally his number one target for revenge.

Amelia, a supporting villainess, would be revenged upon by the Crown Prince and disappear from the novel after the middle portion of the story.

He smiled at me constantly and treated me kindly. Yet, from time to time, he looked at me as though he were observing me.

I couldn’t tell what was going through his mind as he held his teacup, his eyes lowered.

‘No, it’s obvious.’

He must be weighing his options, wondering how he could take revenge in a way that would earn him a reputation for doing it perfectly.

My palms grew damp from the tension.

“Haa.”

Vincent reacted to the sigh that escaped me without realizing it.

“Amelia, you seem bored.”

“No, Your Highness.”

“Perhaps it’s because we haven’t seen each other in a long time. You don’t seem like yourself today.”

His words made me feel strangely guilty, and I almost dropped my teacup.

In the original story, Amelia had been hopelessly in love with the Crown Prince the entire time, whether before or after his regression, right up until she eventually poisoned him.

So naturally, a situation like this would have made Amelia quite excited, and she probably would have initiated all sorts of conversations in an attempt to win the Crown Prince’s favor.

But as for me, with my mind this complicated, I couldn’t even imagine having the energy to imitate her.

“That applies to Your Highness as well.”

“Does it?”

Crown Prince Vincent replied quietly to my words and set down his empty teacup. Then he shifted his gaze toward the teapot.

“The tea smells wonderful, so I’ve already finished it. Amelia, would you pour me some more tea from that pot?”

“Ah, yes.”

Vincent, who had been personally attending to me throughout the meal, was asking me to do something for the first time.

I picked up the teapot placed to one side. Then, suddenly, a scene from the novel came to mind.

‘When Amelia poisoned the Crown Prince before his regression… she put poison in his tea.’

Could it be that he was deliberately asking me to do this because he had that in mind?

As soon as I thought that far, the hand holding the teapot suddenly began to tremble.

Sure enough, Vincent was watching me closely, the corners of his lips slightly raised.

“Amelia, you seem excessively nervous.”

“Ahaha, I’m so excited to be with Your Highness that even my hands are trembling.”

At my forced smile and excuse, Vincent tilted his head slightly.

“I see. But Amelia, if you tremble like that, you’ll arouse suspicion. People might think you put poison in the tea.”

He hadn’t shown the slightest hint of suspicion until now, only to suddenly deliver a fatal blow. My heart dropped, and I almost dropped the teapot.

Calm down. The original Amelia doesn’t know anything about what happened before his regression.

I deliberately put on a confused expression and smiled slightly.

“Your Highness, why would you say something so ominous?”

Vincent also curved his lips as though nothing had happened.

“Yes, I went too far with the joke, didn’t I? But give that to me. You’re going to spill it.”

I barely managed to hide my trembling hand as I handed Vincent the teapot by its handle. The moment I saw Vincent’s long fingers grasp the handle and released my hand,

Thud.

Crash—!

Suddenly, the porcelain teapot fell to the floor and shattered into pieces.

As I stared at him blankly, Vincent calmly spoke, his beautiful green eyes curving gently.

“Oh dear, my hand slipped.”

This bastard definitely did that on purpose just now.