The daughter of Count Storm, Camilla Storm, is a villain.

The Second Prince of the Kingdom of Sonnenlicht, Julian, shared a love that transcended social status with a daughter of a baron named Liselotte Ende. A fairytale romance that lit the passions of the kingdom, still fresh in the minds of many.

The country had nothing but goodwill for the couple that overcame many hardships. Even now, a day doesn't go by where their love story isn't the topic on everybody's lips.

And the person who played an all too important role in this story was Camilla Storm.

Camilla, who too loved Prince Julian, did everything she could to interfere with the budding couple, causing them no end of trouble. She harboured a fit of deep jealousy for Liselotte, the Prince's lover, tormenting and harassing her mercilessly.

Her wicked deeds are too numerous to quote.

Camilla spread a vicious rumour about Liselotte through high society.

"Liselotte only pursues Prince Julian to snatch royal power for herself. She is a harlot as well, slipping into bed with a new man every night."

She spread these lies as if they were gospel.

Camilla sought to entrap Liselotte using her power and isolating her in aristocratic circles.

She even went so far as to hire thugs to waylay and attack Liselotte. Fortunately, Prince Julian had managed to intervene just in time to save her, but Liselotte feinted from shock and didn't awaken for several days.

Using the power of her family, Camilla attempted to force an engagement between herself and Prince Julian. Due to Liselotte's scandalous activities, she wasn't fit for the royal family. Presenting herself to be a just an innocent person, she managed to win over not just the majority of nobles and the First Prince Eckhart, but also the King himself. Her engagement to the Prince seemed set in stone.

But, despite all that, Prince Julian and Liselotte stayed true to one another.

At the very moment that Prince Julian and Camilla's engagement was to be made official, Prince Julian revealed all of Camilla's crimes for everyone to hear.

The horrifying rumors Camilla had started about Liselotte, were in fact only true about Camilla herself.

Despite pretending to be the picture of innocence, she was, in fact, a wretched and vile woman.

In her quest to torment Liselotte to no end, she had hired ruffians to assault her, an unforgivable and inhuman atrocity.

His Majesty, the King, finally saw Camilla for what she truly was, annulling her engagement to Prince Julian. Instead, he accepted Liselotte as Prince Julian's true fiancée.

On the other hand, Camilla earned only the fury of the royal family for having tormented the innocent Liselotte to such extremes. After even her father, Count Storm, abandoned Camilla, she was sentenced to be banished from the country with naught but the clothes on her back.

However, Liselotte had a gentle heart and bore no grudge towards Camilla.

"We are two people who share the same love, I can truly understand Camilla's feelings."

Impressed by Liselotte's magnanimous act, Prince Julian pardoned Camilla from exile.

Instead, for her many crimes, the Prince imposed a new punishment on Camilla.

She will marry whomever the Prince chose for her and she was never again to appear before the two of them.

The fiancée the Prince chose for Camilla was Duke Alois Montchat.

A branch family of the royal line, a prestigious lineage that has ruled the Duchy of Mohnton in the north of the kingdom for generations, a perfectly suited marriage for a member of Count Storm's house. Rather, the Count's house had more to gain.

However, this was still a punishment. Despite Alois Montchat's high status, he was not a well-thought-of man.

In the gossip of high society, he was routinely referred to as 'The Toad of the Swamp'.

The swamp referred to the geography of the Duchy of Mohnton, which was covered in marshes and wetlands. The 'toad' part referred to the figure Duke Montchat cut.

A grotesquely fat body. His skin was a hive of pimples and acne, covering his pudgy and ugly face, giving him the likeness of a disgusting toad. All of that alongside the fact that his huge body caused him to sweat profusely, giving off an awful smell, was the origin of his name.

He had a withdrawn and gloomy personality, hardly ever talking with anyone. It was only for the most pompous of royal occasions that he crawled out of his swamp to visit the capital. And even then, everyone kept their distance.

From afar, you could still see just how freakish he truly was. His stomach was three times the breadth of a regular man. His gray hair was always damp and slimy as if he had just emerged from a bog. Those two eyes that peeked between his locks of hair were like a reptile's, cold and unfeeling. His red eyes retained deep magical power and no one would meet his gaze, for fear of falling under his curse.

That Duke Montchat will turn twenty-three this year. It was about the time in his life where he should consider marriage. But just which unfortunate soul in polite society would ever deign to marry such a man? He was another horror story spoken of in hushed whispers by the daughters of nobility, akin to ghosts that haunted the royal palace.

In short, he was treated as a source of trouble.

So, it was with welcome relief that people celebrated Prince Julian's decision.

There was no noblewoman who wished to marry the gloomy and unsightly Duke Montchat. It seemed an appropriate fate for Camilla, a villain who had callously wielded her family's power to put Liselotte through all sorts of ordeals.

The newspapers of the kingdom ran with the conclusion of the beautiful love story of the royal couple, the extra editions in the hands of everyone in the capital.

I can't possibly accept this. Why on earth must I have to see such a dreadful place?

As she looked over the swampy marshes, extending as far as the eye can see, Camilla tried to steady her quivering hands.

Certainly, she had desired to be the fiancée of the Prince.

But, that was the desire of every noble girl that age. In high society, there were very few people who didn't greatly admire Prince Julian, who had stunningly good looks even amongst the other members of the royal family. In addition, compared to the stern and humorless First Prince, he was compassionate and jovial, the kind of man who was always popular with women.

Certainly, Camilla was responsible for starting a rumor along the lines of 'Liselotte Ende is a loose woman'.

But, she hadn't fanned the flames of gossip on purpose. Camilla had seen Liselotte walking with a man other than the Prince one day and had simply brought it up idly with other noble daughters. The story had acquired legs and a new pair of shoes by the time it had arrived back at her feet. Even if Camilla may have inadvertently started it, if the story takes on a life of its own as it spreads, she could hardly be blamed for what it became.

Certainly, she had used the power of her house. She had used it incessantly.

She had used her parent's influence to gain entry to tea parties she wasn't invited to and to take the hand of the Prince at the ball's first dance. But, was there anything wrong with that? As far she was concerned, it was like a beautiful person making use of their charm. If a talented person could use their ability to sing and dance to get close to the Prince, then why was it so wrong to use power to achieve the same end?

Certainly, she may have taken things too far. It was true that she was at odds with Liselotte, forcing her to tears at times, earning the wrath of the Prince and the shame of her parents.

But, that doesn't mean that Camilla was entirely in the wrong. Liselotte often cried crocodile tears and at times didn't hesitate to return the favor to Camilla.

Despite her meek appearance, Liselotte was no shrinking violet. For every insult Camilla threw at Liselotte, she hurled back five more. Rumors about Liselotte aside, stories were beginning to spread about Camilla as well. Far from being isolated herself, Liselotte had instead been the one who sought to ostracize Camilla from polite society in return. The only way Camilla could claw her way back was through influence and financial power.

Besides, Camilla wasn't the only enemy Liselotte had to contend with. Camilla aside, there was no shortage of people who tormented Liselotte. Rather, Camilla was blamed for a lot of their actions. However, when the tables turned, things changed very quickly. All those who had once oppressed her soon took Liselotte's side. Only Camilla, who could never give up on her love for the Prince, continued to oppose Liselotte till the very end.

Certainly ―――― Camilla had made many mistakes. However, she was by no means the monster the newspapers made her out to be. She had simply been painted as the perfect villain in the love story between the Baron's daughter and the Prince.

In that way, she had been cast out from her home, forced into a betrothal with a grotesquely hideous man, and become the topic of ridicule and scorn in high society.

This kind of ending, how could she possibly accept it?

But despite everything, the gossip, the humiliation, and the banishment, what Camilla truly refused to accept above all else was the man she now beheld.

"Miss Camilla, is it to your liking? It is a boar caught in the western forest. It's dripping with grease and truly delectable."

The Montchat manor, deep in the Duchy of Mohnton. In the courtyard of that mansion that sat atop a lone hill, Alois, the Lord Montchat, said so as he stuffed himself with another mouthful of meat.

Before Alois, enough meat was stacked that it seemed to make up a wild boar all of its own. The meat was cooked on the bone, its once white hue burned black in the oven. Just like Alois said, the meat is glistening with fatty globules.

The mountain before him grew smaller and smaller as Alois attacked it with the knife and fork skills of a seasoned veteran. The juices flowing from the meat splashed on the napkin hanging from the cuff of his shirt, leaving a great many stains. But Alois didn't care about such trivialities, devouring the meat with indulgent relish.

Camilla kept her distance from Alois and looked his gluttonous body up and down. It was early afternoon and the sun had just begun its descent into the west. It's not an appropriate time for breakfast or lunch, let alone dinner.

"Lord Alois... I... I came because you said this was to be a tea party."

"Tea... Ah, I have some! How many lumps of sugar do you take? Five? Perhaps six?"

Camilla and Alois sat at opposite ends of the large table, facing one another. Atop the table, dwarfed by the mountain of boar meat, sat a small pot of tea and a jar of sugar cubes.

"Lord Alois... I... I believe I made myself clear earlier. I have no intention of marrying you."

"Yes, yes. I heard you. You haven't stopped saying it since you arrived..."

Alois' silently drooped his head at Camilla's words. Even so, it wasn't as if he could simply will his body shrink, and he definitely wasn't going to give up the meat in his hand.

"With the way, I am now, you said you couldn't bring yourself to seal our marriage with a kiss. Therefore, unless I slim down, you can't consent to our wedding."

"That's right. Well then, Lord Alois, do you also remember how you answered me when I told you that?"

"Of course I do! I vowed to lose weight, just for you. That way, I can marry you without fail!"

yase 03

The toad of the swamp half rose to his feet as he spoke passionately. The table rumbled as he shifted in his chair. Enduring the earthquake-like shaking, Camilla let her feelings be known.

"Then ――――"

Even if her mouth was curled into a smile, that expression was a mere mask.

"At least put a little bit of effort into losing some weight, you gelatinous frog ――――！！"

Camilla cried, grasping at Alois' arm to try and separate the meat from his jaws.

The sensation she felt on her palms at that time was something she wouldn't soon forget. As she touched Alois, it wasn't clear just where his fat ended and the meat in his hand began.

Camilla could never accept it.

How could she ever exchange holy vows and kiss such a gluttonous frog in the sight of God?

It can't be helped to be forced to marry at some else's discretion. Camilla was a noblewoman, after all. Political marriages were the norm in her world, she had long since accepted that.

But, on the other hand, Camilla was still an eighteen-year-old maiden. Even if she had to give up on marrying for love, there were certain lines that Camilla had to draw.

And this frog-like man was far, far removed from that line.

At the very least, until the man in front of her became someone that Camilla could bear to kiss.

That unkempt hair atop greasy skin encasing a bulbous body, wrapped in clothes that should never be seen in the public eye. She would have to shape him from the ground up.

――――Until he can measure up, I'll have to educate him...!

Shuddering as she watched Alois, Camilla etched that vow upon her heart.