Chapter 1: Prologue

When you think of reincarnating as a noble lady, there are certain clichés that come to mind.

Frilly lace that flutters transparently in the breeze, a life of extravagant luxury.

Even if it’s a fantasy world completely detached from reality, anyone could relate to the inherent privilege that comes with such a birthright.

That… was now me.

Waist-length platinum blonde hair.

Waves that gently curled like ripples on a pond lent an elegant nobility to a face that barely looked older than an elementary schooler.

And my emerald-green eyes—like a clear lake in a forest—made it obvious I hailed from extraordinary blood.

“Not to brag, but I really do look like a doll….”

So… what the hell?

Why do I look like a noble girl who would say something like,

“Ufufu, Father. I had a delightful tea time with Lady Françoise, the daughter of the neighbouring earl today.”

Is this… that reincarnation thing I’ve heard so much about?

No matter how hard I tried to recall my last memory, all I could picture was the image of a slob lying at home sucking on an ice cream bar.

Wait.

Don’t tell me I actually died while eating ice cream?

No way.

That can’t be it.

I probably just lost my memory.

I was definitely hit by a truck or died in some other common way.

You know how it goes—people on the verge of death wake up and say stuff like,

“Why am I in such a shabby place? Doctor, what happened to me?”

They always respawn with amnesia in a hospital, right?

I mean, we humans can’t even remember what we did after blacking out drunk and opening a pizza shop on the living room floor.

So is it really surprising if we lose a few memories when facing death?

Totally normal.

Acceptable.

Yes.

For the sake of my dignity as a human being.

I mean, come on.

Who the hell dies eating ice cream?

“But still….”

This room.

Now that I’m really looking at it, something feels off.

It’s a little too rustic to be a noble lady’s room.

More precisely, it looked like a plain room that someone had tried to make look girly.

And failed.

What the hell is this?

A bottle ship?

Why is there something you’d see in a ship cabin here in a noble’s room?

For reference, a bottle ship is one of those miniature ships built inside a glass bottle.

Okay, fine.

Maybe it’s just decoration.

But the really weird part was the window.

It was absurdly small.

Shouldn’t a noble girl’s mansion have huge windows with flowing curtains?

This didn’t feel like a mansion room at all.

Oh, there’s a doll.

A cute one in a black-and-white maid outfit.

But aside from the curtained bed and that maid doll, there was nothing that screamed “young lady.”

The place looked more like a ship’s cabin than a noble girl’s room.

But if I were on a ship, shouldn’t the floor be rocking with the waves?

Yet the floor was perfectly still—comfortable, even.

…I don’t get it.

Guess I’ll have to go outside to figure it out.

“Hmm?”

As I moved toward the doorknob,
I felt a tug on the end of my sleeve.

…There’s no one else here, though?

Turning my head, I was stunned to see the maid doll I’d noticed earlier tugging on my pajama sleeve—as if telling me not to leave.

……Hold on.

What the hell?

Why is it floating in the air!?

My eyes widened at the impossible sight.

And at the same time, I realized this world was definitely not reality as I knew it.

Could that strange sensation I’ve been feeling in my body be… mana?

( TL NOTE: Mana is the life force or magical energy that permeates living beings and magical constructs.)

I focused, ears perking up like I was tuning into a faint sound—

And sure enough, I could sense the mana flowing from the doll.

Ah.

So this is what it feels like?

Games and novels always gloss over it with, “Just feel the mana,” so I never really got it.

But now that I’ve felt it myself… it’s kinda cool.

It’s hard to describe, but… it’s sort of like a sixth sense?

Like how we don’t consciously think, Now I shall see! when we look at things.

It’s the same with mana—you don’t try to feel it.

You just do.

But wow, I really did just say “you just feel it,” like they do in stories….

“You don’t want me to go out?”

But I need to go out if I want to find out who I am and which character I’ve become.

What?

I should just sit quietly in the room?

Forget that.

I’m not about to play ring-around-the-rosy with a floating maid doll.

…I mean, sure, I look like a little girl right now. But still.

When I asked, the doll nodded furiously.

Oh?

It understands human speech?

Truly a marvel of magical engineering.

Investing cutting-edge tech into a child’s toy, huh.

From that alone, I had a decent idea of what kind of world I’d ended up in.

Even if I didn’t know exactly who I was yet.

It was a series I liked quite a bit, so the fact I couldn’t immediately recall meant I probably wasn’t a main character.

“I don’t care. I’m going.”

“…!”

I tugged my arm free and the doll panicked, trying to tug me back mid-air.

But it was only about the size of a soda bottle.

No match for the mighty human.

Then again… I was pretty small now too.

Still, I managed to grab the doll, lock it in a headlock, and thus ended the tiny war.

Creaaak—

Opening the door revealed a sea of clouds rushing past.

And then—shadows sprawled wide across the deck.

A massive airship balloon loomed above like a ceiling, explaining why the deck didn’t sway like a normal ship.

“What the….”

So that’s why the floor wasn’t rocking with waves.

It wasn’t a ship on the sea—it was a ship in the sky.

Fwoooosh!

Steam hissed beside me.

As the airship expelled light-blue vapor, the steam scattered like a drifting tail and soon vanished into the sky.

And in that moment, I knew.

Despite the medieval aesthetic, this was a world with steam-powered magic, alchemy, and magi-tech—

A world I once loved reading about.

The world of The Four Guardian Gods Obsess Over Me, a romance fantasy.

And within it, I was—

“Milady…!”

In the empire’s western colony, known as the Great West—

There existed a family that had inherited the governorship for generations.

They bore the crest of a rose and a lion.

Each generation was born with snow-white hair and emerald eyes.

Their wealth was said to rival even the emperor’s.

And they were infamous as the villains who would be utterly crushed by the heroine, repaying every last sin before meeting ruin.

“What are you all doing? Hurry and escort Lady Lin back to her room!”

“Yes, ma’am!”

The Rosegarden family.

Apparently… that was my bloodline.

“Lady Lin. If you were awake, you should have informed us. What are you doing out here in your nightgown…?”

Still reeling from the shocking truth of my birth,
I was hastily dragged back into my room by a battalion of maids, led by what appeared to be the head maid.

Right.

This is a romance fantasy world.

Go out in a negligee, and everyone freaks out.

I used to wonder why they made such a fuss,

But remembering what I looked like earlier… yeah, they had every right.

In this genre, negligees are basically sheer nightgowns.

The richer the noble, the more see-through the fabric—because that’s what counts as high class.

And as the daughter of the ultra-rich Rosegarden family…

Yeah.

I deserved to get scolded.

Good thing I was still a kid.

“Sorry… I mean, my bad….”

“You’re admitting your mistake for once?”

Oh.

So the Rosegarden family are villains who oppose the protagonist.

That makes me the villainess?

“Actually, now that I think about it, I’m not that sorry.”

Wait a minute.

Didn’t the Rosegarden family only have two sons in the original?

This didn’t match what I remembered.

As I puzzled over it, the maid battalion had already dressed me in a proper outfit.

They even put a necklace on me with a jewel that matched my emerald eyes.

Total romance fantasy aesthetic.

“You may go outside now, milady.”

…Aren’t I supposed to be the villainess?

Why do I need permission from a maid to go outside?

Still, it was probably because the head maid was like a nanny—a nursery maid with a special rank.

As I stepped out in my day clothes, a soft breeze blew.

Despite being high in the sky, the air felt like a warm spring day, likely thanks to various spells.

I didn’t know the details. I hadn’t even been in this world for half a day.

What I did know was that the existence of a Rosegarden daughter was never mentioned in the original story.

“Mm, your tea’s good.”

“Lady Lin? You’re speaking rather rudely today.”

“You brew a fine cup of tea. I award you one Maid Point.”

But no matter how much I dwelled on it, nothing would change.

So I simply enjoyed my villainess tea time.

“Hey. What do you think you’re doing?”

Just then, the maid doll snatched the dessert I was about to pick up.

Why is it eating? I flicked its forehead and took it back—

Only to get scolded again.

“Milady?”

“But I was saving that for later….”

“You must share with your friends, remember?”

Under pressure from the nursery maid, I reluctantly handed the dessert back.

The doll happily munched away.

Wait… some magical dolls can convert food into mana, right?

“Minus one Maid Point for you.”

“…?”

But I still couldn’t forgive her for stealing my dessert.
When she tilted her head in confusion, I deducted another point.

“Also… doesn’t it feel like the wind’s getting stronger?”

My platinum blonde hair fluttered higher than before.

The cheerful tea time suddenly took a dark turn—

“……Is this why the Rosegarden family had no daughter in the original?”

“Get Lady Lin inside immediately!!”

A massive thundercloud loomed overhead.

The reason my character never appeared in the novel?

Simple.

She was aboard an airship.

That got struck by lightning.

And was obliterated—without a trace.