"Haa… haa…"

After the act. On Francesca's snow-white skin, several beads of sweat were forming. Yet the feeling of climax was lingering, she stared at the ceiling blankly, her breathing was rough.

"I did it…"

I did it with Leonhart.

I intended to put a distance between us. I intended to let go. Although this relations.h.i.+p will someday collapse—I gave my body to Leonhart.

He hugged her tightly and she couldn't bear the words of affection whispered into her ear. Rather than regretting it, a warm satisfaction gently spread throughout her lower belly.

Because if felt so comfortable, Francesca held hope for the future.

Perhaps it won't turn out like the original…

Because in the game, Francesca and Leonhart never even held hands. It was a very, very pure relations.h.i.+p. But now it was different. Ah, well… we did it, something like that.

Since the events completely differed from the original, the end might be different as well. Maybe the original could be thrown away.

I want to stay with Leon forever. I gave you my first time, so is it alright to expect something more…?

No, I shouldn't.

It's useless expecting anything. Any expectations will only end up being betrayed.

No, don't look back on your dreams. Even if dreams and reality were different, it would still end up breaking my heart.

It's useless hoping for the future. Trying to change it will only end up in vain.

Effort doesn't always bear fruit. It doesn't matter how hard I try. No matter how much I struggle, the result is the same.

The world was made tremendously st.u.r.dy. And I was made aware of it in an extremely cruel way.

Francesca di Rosenthal received memories of her previous life during autumn, when she was eight years old. She was visiting the Royal medicinal herb garden along with her mother.

"Waaa, so nice!… I feel sick—It smells delicious!"

Young Francesca was a curious child. She took a look at every single herb and yelled out her impressions on their scent. Her mother, Marianne, and the medicinal herb gardeners enjoyed watching the innocent Francesca.

Eventually, Francesca reached a certain flower. The petals were a mysterious light blue and its shape was like a closed parasol.

"Hey, what flower is this!?"

Francesca shouted out her question, a slender female worker answered calmly.

"This plant came from the East, it's called Morning Glory. It has a nice scent."

"Oh! Thank you!"

Francesca lowered her head in thanks. Then brought her nose up to the pale blue petals.

It had a rather refres.h.i.+ng scent. Even though this was her first time smelling something like this… it felt somewhat nostalgic.

"Ah…!"

Something stirred in the back of Francesca's head. It was as if a secret treasure box was opened and the things inside spilled out.

Memories that she could not recall entered her mind.

A world without magic. A country called j.a.pan. Living there was a tall woman. She worked for a trading company and returned home everyday after midnight. There were no encounters with the opposite s.e.x, everyday was work and then home. As a result, she started to use herbs and aromatherapy for stress relief. Originally, she was already interested in it, but now she was addicted. She even tried to come up with some original formulas.

That winter, when she was 30 years old. On the way home, she was. .h.i.t by a car… the memories stopped there.

Francesca somehow understood that she had been reborn. That person in the previous world, was her in this world. There wasn't any confusion about the two 'hers'. The previous life was the previous life. This world is this world. These things were naturally distinguishable, the knowledge of the previous life was privy only to Francesca. So, Francesca's personality remained the same.

Eventually the flood of memories ceased and Francesca noticed. Being born again, this world. It was still a mystery to remember.

Speaking of the previous life, she also liked to play Otome games. Since real life was lacking in excitement, she sought comfort in fiction instead. Going from one clear to the next. Clearing that and then there was more.

It had the air of adults, she could hop through several Otome games privately. It was the complete opposite of her reality, an unfortunate way of life… in any case.

This world was exactly the same as one of the worlds in a game she played before. Though she forgot the t.i.tle, the setting was that of medieval Europe. It turned out that the heroine who was raised as a commoner had the blood of an Earl, and then she was transferred to the Royal aristocratic school. The intellectual First Prince Christopher, the free-wheeling Second Prince Leonhart, in addition, there was also a haughty uppercla.s.sman and a puppy-like undercla.s.sman with love stories to unfold.

Francesca was also a major character, she was the rival character disturbing the heroine's road to love. As a result of bullying the heroine, she was confronted with the annulment of her engagement with Leonhart, and then expelled from the school. She was confined in a distant monastery in the far north.

Now. Francesca had also read web novels in her previous life, there were some that involved being reincarnated into the rival character of an Otome game world.

In these stories, the protagonist would change their miserable fate as a rival character—in short, they would start planning to save themselves.

But Francesca was different.

"I have to save my mother!"

According to the original world, Francesca's mother, Marianne, will eventually fall ill and leave the world. Knowing about what would happen in the future, her first thought was not of herself, but her mother.

From that day on, Francesca began studying potion making. She would use her own hands to save her beloved mother.