I subtly tilted my ear toward their conversation and managed to catch fragments of their voices.
“Losing her memories is actually a good thing. We’ve been struggling with the adoption issue because she was terrified of adults, so this works out in our favor.”
“Then...”
“We should hurry and find adoptive parents before her memories return and her condition relapses. With a face that pretty, there’ll be plenty of people willing to take her in based on looks alone.”
From the director’s words, it sounded as though they sent children away without even checking what kind of people the adoptive parents were.
What happened to the children afterward clearly wasn’t any concern of the orphanage director.
Then the Class 1, Class 2, and Class 3 Lisa mentioned... are they some kind of ranking system? Does your class determine where you get adopted?
Just then, the door opened and Anna stepped out.
Looking down at me coldly, she jerked her chin.
“Follow me.”
I silently obeyed.
Since I supposedly remembered nothing, Anna gave me a brief explanation of my circumstances.
“This is Sunflower Orphanage. You are twelve years old, and your name is Lopez. The orphanage is divided into classes, and those classes—”
She abruptly cut herself off.
When I looked up at her in confusion, she continued as though nothing had happened.
“Actually, there’s no need for you to know the details. You’re currently a student in Class 1. The dormitory is over there.”
Looks like she wanted me gone as quickly as possible.
But judging by the director’s attitude, they weren’t exactly sending children to good homes.
I need to figure out an escape route before I even learn where I am.
Anna stopped in front of Class 1.
The moment she opened the door, the noisy chatter inside died down.
I followed her into the classroom and immediately felt waves of hostility directed at me.
Apparently, the original owner of this body had been quite unpopular.
Standing quietly beside the teacher, I listened as Anna briefly explained the situation.
“Due to an unfortunate incident, Lopez has lost her memories.”
A murmur spread through the room before a boy’s irritated voice cut through it.
“She’s obviously faking it! Teacher, you actually believe her? After everything she’s done?”
“Whether it’s a lie or not has already been confirmed. Sit down properly, Klein.”
My fingers twitched instinctively.
For the first time, I had heard a familiar name.
Only then did I really notice the boy slouching in his seat.
His silver hair shimmered brightly beneath the sunlight pouring through the window, drawing everyone’s attention.
Beneath long eyelashes were golden eyes that looked as though they had been crafted from melted honey.
He was so beautiful it was difficult to look away—pretty enough to be mistaken for a girl.
The moment our eyes met, he smirked.
“She’ll show her true colors soon enough.”
“That’s enough, Klein. Lopez already seems confused enough as it is...”
The instant I turned toward the speaker, my lips parted unconsciously.
A girl with fluffy cotton-candy pink hair and large pink eyes was looking at me.
Her peach-colored cheeks glowed with healthy color beneath soft baby fat, making me want to poke them.
She was unbearably adorable—the exact type I loved.
Seeing her cleared the fog in my mind.
Something hovered at the edge of my memory.
I couldn’t take my eyes off her.
“If you say so...”
Meanwhile, Klein, who had ignored every word Anna said, obediently nodded at the girl’s request.
My face hurts.
Feeling another sharp gaze, I turned my head.
Beside the girl sat another boy glaring at me.
Black hair as dark as midnight.
Sharp features.
Cold blue eyes.
A handsome boy.
He possessed beauty that rivaled Klein’s.
Yet after looking at me, he calmly shifted his gaze back to the girl and smiled gently.
“Medina is too kind for her own good.”
The moment I heard the girl’s name, my eyes widened.
The scattered fragments of memory finally connected.
A single novel surfaced in my mind.
I found it!
I hadn’t transmigrated into a random world.
I’m inside a novel!
And not just any novel.
This was a story I knew very well—one where Medina was the protagonist.
Of all the romance fantasy novels I had ever read, this one had left the strongest impression on me.
Unable to contain my relief and excitement, I quietly smiled.
I was worried I’d ended up in a completely unfamiliar world...
Thank goodness.
My laughter immediately drew hostile stares from the other children.
If I were truly a child, I might have shrunk under those gazes and burst into tears.
But mentally, I was an adult.
A few hostile looks from children weren’t enough to shake me.
“Why are you suddenly smiling?”
Anna still seemed offended by my earlier backtalk in the disciplinary room and by the incident where she had fallen over.
She looked at me with open displeasure.
Since I already expected hostility from her, I simply nodded with an innocent expression.
“I remembered something funny.”
“See, Teacher? She says she lost her memories, but she remembered something funny? That’s weird!”
Klein immediately jumped on it.
Anna looked down at me coldly.
I calmly opened my mouth.
“When I screamed, the teacher fell over and—mmph!”
Panicking, Anna clamped a hand over my mouth.
Then she snapped at Klein.
“Quiet, Klein! Lopez really has lost her memories!”
She crouched beside me and whispered a warning.
“If you mention that incident again, a caning will be the least of your worries. Understood?”
Looking into her threatening eyes, I nodded.
“Good. Lopez, go back to your seat.”
“Where is my seat?”
“Oh... next to the green-haired—”
The green-haired child immediately flinched.
The moment our eyes met, tears welled up in his large eyes before spilling over.
“WAAAH! I don’t want to sit with Lopez!”
“Poor Bill, Teacher!”
Klein burst into laughter.
I quietly looked between Klein and the sobbing boy.
Oddly enough, I didn’t dislike them.
Maybe recalling the novel had put me completely at ease.
Funny how my memories are crystal clear now after supposedly forgetting everything.
I knew where I was.
I knew which novel this was.
And I knew exactly what kind of situation I was in.
As I organized the information in my head, I suddenly froze.
...Wait. If I really transmigrated into that novel, I can’t just relax.
Because I was a disposable extra.
An expendable character sacrificed by the male leads—Klein and Chester—in their attempts to win the heroine’s affection.
And if that were all, I wouldn’t be worried.
As a disposable extra, my fate was far worse.
I was destined for a miserable life.
The reverse-harem romance fantasy novel I had read, “I Accidentally Became the Beloved Youngest Princess,” wasn’t particularly popular.
It wasn’t uniquely creative, nor was it exceptionally entertaining.
Yet I remembered it vividly—not because of the adorable heroine, nor because of the obsessive male leads.
I remembered it because it had one of the most tragic endings I had ever seen in a childcare romance fantasy.
Every single male lead died trying to protect the heroine.
After reading that shocking ending, I could never forget the novel.
Maybe the author won the lottery halfway through writing it.
Maybe they developed a grudge against the heroine.
Maybe they simply grew tired of the male leads.
Who knew?
Regardless, the ending was memorable enough that hearing the protagonists’ names immediately triggered my memory.
Hmm? But why do I remember even the dialogue?
I definitely hadn’t read it closely enough to memorize entire sentences.
Maybe this was one of those transmigration perks—the ability to perfectly recall the original story.
Considering my sudden situation, it was an incredibly useful blessing.
“Hey. You’re lying about losing your memories, aren’t you?”
The brat had a terrible attitude.
“No. It’s true.”
I answered as sincerely as possible.
That foul-mouthed yet ridiculously pretty boy—Klein—was one of the novel’s male leads.
And he was also the boy Lopez had a crush on.
Klein knew that and used Lopez.
All to gain Medina’s favor.
Even at a young age, his obsession with her was remarkable.
The signs of a male lead really do show early.
Anyway, Lopez was simply a tool for Klein.
In his eyes, she was easy to manipulate.
The original Lopez suffered from severe emotional neglect and took out her frustrations on the other children.
Naturally, no one wanted to befriend her.
Who would like a kid who was always picking fights?
Lonely and desperate for affection, Lopez fell for Klein’s smallest acts of kindness.
She became his pawn.
When it was later revealed that she had falsely accused Medina, her already terrible reputation completely collapsed.
No one spoke to her anymore.
Instead, they bullied her.
When Lopez finally tried to protest, Klein threatened her.
“If you don’t want to get kicked out of the orphanage, you’d better keep your mouth shut and behave.”
After that, things only got worse.
She lashed out at Chester, another male lead, and ended up being used by him as well.
Eventually, she was pushed out of the orphanage and practically sold off to an adoptive family.
The story only briefly mentioned what happened afterward.
She was adopted by the wrong people and spent the rest of her life being exploited.
And now...
I had transmigrated into that girl.
