Chapter 1: I’ll Enjoy My Temporary Engagement!

As the bumpy carriage ride rocked my body, I found myself in disbelief that I really was being shipped off to Lord Leeuwenhoek. My attempts at resistance had only won me a temporary reprieve: engagement rather than immediate marriage. In other words, I would be betrothed to the cursed marquess for one year. Since Elvira would arrive within a year’s time, I predicted I wouldn’t actually have to go through with the marriage.

At any rate, I was now an unwanted fiancée. I was told that Prince Bernard would definitely enforce my punishment because he’d loudly declared it in front of so many people. Personally, I didn’t see why anything had to happen at all, but apparently he had to follow through. On the bright side, at least everyone knew it was a false accusation.

While en route to the borderlands, I reflected on the prophetic dream I’d had.

As a general rule, these dreams of mine foretold real events, but naturally, it was possible to change that future. This was especially true since the dreams changed my state of mind and the way I interpreted things that happened.

It seemed that out of the infinite possible futures, my dreams depicted the one with the highest probability of occurring. And they were usually nightmares. Being able to see one of many possible futures was an ability from my past life.

In my previous life, I was a cat named Lilybell, and a beautiful one at that, with glossy pure-white fur and blue eyes. My first owner was the Great Witch Alys. As a half demon, Master Alys was long-lived and, like one would expect from her title, her magic was second to none. After many years in solitude, her loneliness prompted her to cast a spell on her beloved white cat, me, to prolong my lifespan to match hers. That was when I acquired the power of prophetic dreams, an ability that had originally been part of Master Alys’s dark magic repertoire. Upon my life resonating with hers, I began to have the same dreams as she did. However, she was not able to stay with me for long. She was killed, leaving me with my extended lifespan.

My next owner was a saint named Clarissa. She couldn’t undo the spell that Master Alys had placed on me, so instead, she cast a holy spell that would keep me in good hea