Chapter 1

The scent of flowers tickled the tip of my nose, and beautiful music echoed softly in the air on this peaceful afternoon.

Among the many gardens of the Dioretta Empire’s imperial palace, a tea party was underway in the Butterfly Garden, the one the Empress cherished the most.

Listening to the young ladies chatting at the same table, I quickly raised my fan to cover my face.

I hadn’t been able to control my expression from a moment ago.

A tea party?

Wearing a pretty, expensive dress and being invited to a party hosted by Her Imperial Majesty the Empress, able to giggle along with everyone here… and this life is mine?

Long live possession!

I barely held myself back from climbing onto the table and laughing with deep, dramatic breaths, when the young lady sitting next to me spoke to me.

“My lady, are you alright?”

Rene Zellweger, the marquess’ daughter with worried green eyes, was looking at me in surprise.

I hurried to compose my face, lowered the fan, and pretended nothing was wrong.

“Yes? What do you mean, my lady?”

“Oh, I must have misunderstood. I thought you were crying.”

She must have mistaken my shoulders trembling from holding back laughter.

I shook my head with a graceful smile.

“Oh my, not at all. Who would cry on such a lovely day?”

“Right? His Highness the Crown Prince finally getting engaged… Her Majesty the Empress must be in a very good mood.”

At Rene’s words, Christine, another marquess’ daughter, chimed in brightly.

“Of course she is. Her Majesty invested so much effort into arranging the match between His Highness and the Duke Toned’s daughter.”

That was true. Both the Empress and the Emperor held high hopes for this marriage.

The peace of the Dioretta Empire practically depended on the marriage between Crown Prince Heide and Larienne, the daughter of Duke Toned.

Unfortunately, that enemies-to-lovers couple still had tens of thousands of thorny miles to crawl through.

I had possessed the story at the very beginning of the novel The Butterfly Garden’s Secret Affair.

From this point on, the imperial family and House Toned would tear each other apart in chaos, while Heide and Larienne rolled through a tragic, love-hate briar path with their whole bodies.

Knowing exactly how the plot would unfold, I stayed quiet and simply nodded, but then Rene nudged me with a subtle tone.

“Still, isn’t it a little disappointing? It would’ve been nice if His Highness had chosen a partner from a pro-imperial noble family. For example, someone like Lady Ayrbet Titanoa here.”

“Absolutely not.”

I shook my head quickly and firmly.

Rene looked startled, but I put strength into my eyebrows to emphasize my resolute will.

Becoming the lover of the crown prince in a hardship-filled, messy romance novel? What kind of curse was that?

I already suffered more than enough in my pre-possession life.

I was overjoyed to have possessed not a main character but a background character totally unrelated to the plot.

And to top it off, I was the only daughter of a wealthy, powerful duke’s household.

Besides, our family, House Titanoa, belonged to the pro-imperial faction supporting the crown prince.

While the male lead duke-it-out Crown Prince crushed the anti-imperial faction, all I had to do was clap from the sidelines and sip honey.

Yes. Honey.

I decided I would live a possession-life drenched in honey.

I would loaf around and play all day.

I would show the world the very limits of laziness.

Hahahahaha.

Barely holding back the laughter about to burst out, I lowered my gaze at a forty-five-degree angle and spoke in a sorrowful voice.

“I am too frail, so I am not suited to become the Empress of the Empire.”

Since everyone already knew Ayrbet Titanoa was sickly, they nodded as if that explanation made perfect sense.

The only daughter of Duke Titanoa, a character who never appeared in the original novel, had supposedly fallen into a deep coma from a terrible illness.

A frail duke’s daughter who opened her eyes after ten years. What possession could be more perfect for a honey-filled life?

I tried to hold it in, but I felt I was going to burst out laughing again.

I excused myself from the young ladies sitting at the same table and rose from my seat.

It seemed I needed to go laugh freely in some quiet corner of the rear garden.

Walking through the Butterfly Garden, filled with the warm sunlight of a spring day, I sighed in satisfaction. Yes. This is it.

This is life.

So what if I was a lowly extra? This world had fiery romances and political power plays, but it had no dungeons.

No gates, no monsters, no emergency calls!

I lifted the corners of my lips all the way to my ears and looked up at the cloudless sky.

“The weather is sooo nice. How can the sky be so clear and blue? Just like my future, huh?”

Chuckling to myself, I turned my head and spotted a plump little honeybee fluttering among the flowers.

“Hello, little bee. Are you drinking honey too?”

I’m drinking honey as well.

With life overflowing with sweetness, everything in the world looked happy.

Even the butterflies flapping their yellow wings seemed to be blessing my honey-flavored possession-life.

“Hello, butterfly. Isn’t the weather lovely?”

As I followed the butterfly deeper into the garden, a cat with a white body and clear mackerel markings appeared from between the bushes.

Since it lived in the imperial gardens and was well-fed, it was adorably chubby.

I crouched down, held out my hand, and spoke to the cat.

“Hello, kitty? Aren’t you just the cutest thing?”

The cat stared at me with round eyes for a moment, then waddled closer with a thump.

“Hey.”

…Hey? Not “meow”?

Thinking that cats in this world must make strange sounds, I watched as the cat raised its body and stood on two feet.

Then, as if brushing off dirt, it patted its front paws together and stretched out one paw.

It looked exactly like it was asking for a handshake.

What in the world? Is this a dream?

Blinking in confusion, I stared at the cute cat when it opened its plump little mouth and started talking, wait, hold on, the cat is talking?

“Yoo Nanhee nyang, no… should I call you Ayrbet nyang now?”

“Wha…?!”

I fell backward on the spot, landing on my backside.

It was shocking enough that the cat was talking, but it even knew my pre-possession name.

What is this? A dream?

I looked around, but the imperial garden was still filled with nothing but peace, and then the cat continued with words fit for a nightmare.

“I am Himong from the Dimensional Management Bureau nyang. I have an announcement to deliver to Ayrbet nyang, so special-attent…!”

I didn’t know if it was a nightmare or a Himong, but I quickly clamped my hand over the cat’s mouth.

If anyone heard what this cat was saying, I’d be in serious trouble.

Who would’ve thought that the first crisis in my honey-filled possession-life would come in the form of an adorable chubby cat?