I Never Wanted To Be A Villainess!!! Chapter 4: Cruel Fate

“Cr-crown prince?” No! What was with her luck? Why did she have to meet him now? All she wanted was a peaceful life, but now she had just made an enemy of the crown prince already! Was she going to be executed for hitting the prince!?

“That’s right, you ugly potato. I’m the crown prince!” The boy may have had a cute face, but he was as arrogant as they came. However, this arrogance was a given. As the crown prince, he was raised to believe that everything in this world belongs to him. There was nothing that anyone could say to refute that besides the king. “Now apologize for hitting me and bow!”

“Fufufu~. Energetic as always, your highness~,” Rosa’s mother said, walking up from behind her and picking her up into her warm arms. She was annoyed that the prince was not where she was told he’d be. He was the last person that she wanted to meet her precious daughter. “I’m terribly sorry that my daughter hit you, but there is no way that someone as weak as her could have ever harmed you. Am I right?”

“Well yeah, but she still needs to say that she’s sorry by bowing to me! My father says that one must bow if they are to ask for forgiveness.”

“Oh my, how wise you are~,” Rosa’s mother said, sweet-talking the prince to calm him down, Though his mere presence was annoying to her. He was nothing more than an arrogant prince that had been pampered since the moment he was born. “I am sorry, but since she is bundled up so much, she can’t do such a thing at the moment. Your aide is waiting for you in the Duke’s study. If you wait there, we will be there shortly to give you a properly apology.” While the words that came out of her mother’s mouth sounded nice, Rosa could feel her anger towards the prince emanating from her body.

“Fine, but it doesn’t matter what you do, she’s nothing more than an ugly potato girl!” he said, mocking Rosa as he walked away.

SNAP!

“Jessica, please take this maid to the infirmary while I take care of this.” For a brief second, Rosa could have sworn that she heard something snap but assumed that it must have been her imagination.

“As you wish, ma’am,” Jessica said, quickly taking the other maid with her.

“Alright sweetie, let’s get you nice and dolled up so we can show that prince who the real ugly one is.” It pissed her off immensely that fool of a prince dared to call her precious daughter ugly. If he wasn’t a part of the royal family, she would have gutted him like a pig.

Rosa’s mother brought her back to her bedroom, where several maids were already waiting for them. “Girls, you know what to do.”

“Yes, Ma’am~!!!” The maids happily said as they viewed their new doll.

“M-mother?” Rosa wasn’t sure about this. Perhaps if she…. The moment that Rosa tried to run, the maids were already on her, stripping her of everything and prepping for her meeting with the prince. Her mother chose the dress, and the maids did her makeup and hair. Rosa tried to fight back, but the maids were much stronger than they appeared to be. She was helpless as they treated her like a doll.

“She looks wonderful~!” her mother said a half hour later. The red dress and white petticoat went perfectly together, and she decided that her daughter did need any makeup and she was perfect without it.

“Mother do I… do I have to meet the prince?” Rosa asked, concerned about meeting the boy that would grow up to cause her death.

“Sweetie, it’ll be fine~,” her mother said, taking her hand. “We do owe him an apology, and there is nothing to fear that ugly little prince can’t harm you here. And besides, don’t you want to show him just how “ugly” you are~?”

“Well, I guess,” Rosa said as she couldn’t deny the feeling of wanting to see the prince's face when he saw the real her. She allowed her mother to walk her to her father’s study, where her father, the crown prince and who looked to be the crown prince’s aide, were waiting for them.

“Finally! It took you long enough!” the prince shouted at Rosa’s mother, seeing her come in. “Where’s the ugly potato girl!?”

“Ehem, your Highness, it would seem that I will need to talk with your father to proceed with your royal studies,” Rosa’s father, the Duke said, tempted beyond belief to punch this snot-nosed brat in the face. How dare this brat call his daughter an ugly potato.

“I am sorry, my lord, the prince didn’t mean any offense by it,” the aide said to him, bowing his head. “There was this rude girl earlier that hit the prince, and he only wishes that they are properly punished.”

“Yeah, where is she!? the prince yelled, still unaware that Rosa was standing behind her mother, hiding behind her dress. She didn’t want to interact with him at all. Why couldn’t he just leave and go away?

“She is right here, your highness,” her mother said, gently pulling her out from behind.

“Hah! Now I get to see just how ugly… wow… um, what I meant to say was, I’ve been waiting to meet you… so that you can apologize!” The prince's face turned beat red the moment that he saw her. With just one proper look at Rosa, the crown prince’s view of her changed instantly. There was no way that he could be mad at such a shy cute girl.

“I… I apologize?” Rosa said nervously, concerned with the prince’s current attitude. Why was he acting nervous now? Rosa gave him a small bow, hoping that it would show her sincerity to the prince. She didn’t know if she was doing this right, but her mother smiled at her after, so she assumed that she at least did nothing wrong.

“Ehem. Well, now that the prince and the daughter of Duke Dawn have met, I do believe that we may get to the subject at hand,” the aide said, seeing that for once the prince was calm enough for him to speak.

“And what would that be?” the Duke asked. “I’ve received no prior letter as to why the prince or his aide are visiting today. You should be glad I didn’t turn you away at the gate. Do you care to enlighten me with the reason why you’re here?”

“W-well, as you know, the prince will be turning ten next month, and at this age, it is only proper for the prince to have a fiancé. The candidate has always been chosen from the three ducal families. The house of Twilight possesses no daughters, and the house of Dusk’s daughter is already engaged to a prince overseas. This being said, only your family has a daughter that may qualify. As such, the king hereby requests that Lady Rosa Dawn be engaged to the crown prince as the next crown princess.”

No! Not like this! If she becomes engaged to this creep, there is no way that she will survive. There had to be a way out of this. There just had to!

“Hmm, it would seem that the king has not yet heard of the news pertaining to my daughter,” the Duke said, refusing to give in so easily. “Currently, my daughter has lost her memories, and her body is very weak. In her current condition possessing the title of crown princess will be too much for her to bear. I am certain that the king realizes this.”

“W-well, yes, we did hear of the young lady’s accident, as well as her current condition, but currently, as stated before, your daughter is the only one that qualifies.”

“That’s right! She is the only one that qualifies~!” the crown prince yelled, to everyone's surprise, especially Rosa’s. He was supposed to hate her. What was going on here? She didn’t want to gain any sort of attention from the prince. “You should be glad. There is nothing better than being engaged to the future king~.” The prince was so proud and arrogant that it made Rosa fear him even more.

“Nnnn~. Mother~.” As the crown prince went to grab her hand, Rosa hid her face in her mother’s dress.

“I am sorry my prince, but it would seem that my daughter is quite frightened of you,” the Duke said as Rosa’s mother picked her up into her arms. This only seemed to enrage the prince. Rosa watched as the expression across his face turned sour.

“As you can see, it would not be beneficial for them to be engaged under such circumstances. If my daughter had taken a liking to the prince, my hands would be tied, but seeing her response as a father, I cannot accept such an outrageous proposal.”

“Duke, you do realize that this is a request from the king,” the aide said, seeing the prince’s face start to turn red from rage.

“But it is not an order from the king, giving me the right to refuse,” the Duke said, unwilling to give his daughter to a boy that would dare call her ugly and then change his attitude only because he found her pretty. Such a vain boy did not deserve to even look at her.

“Sir, please. The king will be most displeased by this response.” The aide was grasping at straws. There was nothing that he could do to convince the Duke to change his mind.

“Then he will be displeased about it. I am sorry, but my schedule is quite packed, and I can’t afford to waste any more time. Please take your leave. I shall have my wife and daughter take you to the gates.”

“But sir-”

“Fine, we will leave,” the crown prince said to them. “But this isn’t over if a request from my father won’t sway you. Then an order will,” he said, sounding like an actual prince, storming out of the office without even being seen off. His aide quickly followed after him. Rosa could only fear what was about to happen next.