Escaping Three Beastmen

My elder sister, the crown princess, died on the road while searching for medicinal herbs to save me. The obsessive merman, cunning fox spirit, and unhinged lion shifter she had entangled herself with all came looking for her.

Each one believed he was her true love, and they immediately began fighting among themselves until all three were gravely wounded.

When they learned that my sister had died because of me, they turned their fury to me, seeing me as the root of all their suffering.

The merman brutally ripped out my spiritual core. "You killed her, so you don't deserve to live either."

The fox spirit forced deadly poison down my throat. "Simply dying would be far too merciful for you."

The lion shifter imprisoned me and tortured me daily. "That face of yours that looks like hers is the only reason you're still breathing."

I carried the guilt of my sister's death, and I suffered in silence to keep my parents safe from their wrath. Three years passed, and I had become nothing more than a broken shell.

I fought desperately to escape and return to the royal palace, only to hear familiar laughter echoing from the inner chambers. It was my sister's voice.

"Thank heavens you came up with this brilliant plan, Mother. I certainly wasn't about to keep dealing with those disgusting beastmen forever."

Rage consumed me. I burst through the doors, determined to kill us both, but her personal guard cut me down with a single strike.

When I opened my eyes again, I had returned to the day my sister staged her own death.

When Mother's lady-in-waiting brought me to the funeral hall, she was weeping inconsolably before the coffin.

"Vee, why did you have to fall off that cliff? Open your eyes and tell me this is all just a nightmare. The heavens are blind to take such a wonderful daughter so young."

She collapsed to the floor in apparent grief, but I watched with cold detachment, finding the whole scene laughable. In my previous life, I was completely fooled by her masterful performance.

My elder sister, Victoria Songworth, had always been vain about her beauty. She frequently used royal expeditions as excuses to visit the beast kingdoms and seduce their nobles.

However, after having her fun, she would claim that even the most powerful beast aristocrats were still crude foreigners beneath her station.

Knowing she could not end things cleanly, she left those three beastmen with ambiguous parting words before conspiring with Mother to stage this elaborate performance.

She got her clean escape, but I was left to bear the consequences when those three beastmen marked me as the killer of their beloved. I paid the price for everything.

While I was lost in these thoughts, Mother suddenly grabbed me roughly. "How dare you just stand there? Kneel and apologize to Vee. This wouldn't have happened if she hadn't been searching for medicinal herbs for you!"

She tried to use force on me,