The Prince’s First Love Was Me Chapter 1

“Ronnie!”

“What should we do……!”

“Ronnie! Come on, wake up!”

“We’d better get him to the hospital quickly.”

I could feel people bustling around me in every direction.

Well, they’d found someone who’d been hit by a truck, so of course they’d be shocked. Still, at least it seemed I wasn’t destined to die. I could tell because my consciousness was gradually becoming clearer.

Come to think of it, my luck was so bad it was downright ridiculous.

What were the odds of a speeding truck mounting the sidewalk and running someone over?

‘……But why does my body feel so light, considering I was hit by a car?’

Nothing hurt, and my mind was perfectly clear. If I wanted to, I felt like I could jump right up.

Half believing it, I wiggled my fingers. When I concentrated and tried hard enough, my fingertips actually moved.

“Oh, my goodness.”

“Ronnie! Keep going! Try a little harder!”

Every time my body twitched a little, gasps and cheers broke out from all around me.

Since my mind was already wide awake, I felt a little embarrassed. It was like being a baby attempting to roll over for the first time in front of the entire family.

Excuse me, everyone.

If you have time for this, please call an ambulance! Someone’s struggling to stay alive here, and you’re just standing around watching!

Heave-ho!

After several attempts, I finally managed to struggle into a sitting position. Then I lifted my heavy eyelids and looked straight ahead.

“……Huh?”

An unfamiliar scene had somehow appeared before my eyes.

According to what had happened, I should have been lying on the sidewalk. Yet all I could see was a spacious, luxurious room that reminded me of a hotel suite, along with a group of unfamiliar women surrounding me with worried expressions.

‘Where am I? Could I already be dead?’

Once I realized what was going on, a hollow laugh escaped me. Of course. There was no way I’d be fine after colliding with a truck. I must have died instantly without even having time to feel pain, which would explain why my body felt so perfectly fine.

Still, at least all those years of following the law and living a decent life had paid off. The place I’d ended up in didn’t look like hell, at least.

I stared blankly at the enormous chandelier hanging from the ceiling before coming to my senses and looking around.

“Is this heaven? Are you angels here to welcome me?”

I muttered gloomily, but cheerful giggles soon came from all around me.

So this wasn’t heaven?

Scratching the back of my neck, I tentatively asked the oldest-looking woman in the group,

“Could you be a goddess?”

“Oh, Ronnie! Honestly!”

The woman slapped my back several times and laughed heartily. I barely managed to suppress a scream.

“……Ahahaha.”

I awkwardly laughed along and discreetly rubbed my back, which was now more ticklish than painful.

Wow, she’s strong. But can you still feel pain after you die?

“Are you okay? Are you hurt anywhere? Is your head all right?”

Just then, a man I hadn’t even realized was there suddenly leaned into my field of vision, frowning.

He had red hair tied into a ponytail, and his slick, shifty-looking face didn’t exactly make me want to get involved with him.

Still, judging by how thoroughly he was asking about my condition, he seemed to have some responsibility for me. Was he the grim reaper assigned to me or something?

“What happened to me?”

“They said you slipped on some water. You fell backward and wouldn’t wake up, so I left the shop in someone else’s hands and rushed over.”

“Slipped? No, that’s not right. I just got hit by a car……”

Wait a minute. I got hit by a car, and when I woke up, I found myself in some strange place I’d never seen before? Wasn’t this a cliché that showed up all the time in novels?

Had I traveled to another dimension? Or possessed someone?

Now that I thought about it, everyone had colorful hair, and they were all dressed up in fancy gowns…… Had I really ended up inside a book? Which one? What was its title?

Judging by my surroundings, it seemed to be a Western-style setting. But because I had a habit of reading just about anything, I couldn’t think of a single story that fit. This was a problem.

Maybe I could figure out the title if I heard the characters’ names.

And if I was lucky, I might even be the protagonist.

I looked at the man with a solemn expression.

“What’s my name?”

“What are you talking about all of a sudden? You’re Ronnie.”

“Ronnie?”

None of the novels I’d read had a protagonist with that name.

After three seconds of silence, I pulled myself together and tried a different approach.

“Then who are you?”

“Are you joking, or do you seriously not remember? I’m your brother! Your big brother, Toby!”

Toby? I didn’t remember any characters with that name, either.

Surely the Toby he was talking about wasn’t one of those colorful mascot characters I’d seen on television, wearing a full-body costume.

At this point, maybe I’d simply forgotten the novel’s plot, or perhaps I’d possessed some incredibly insignificant extra.

Or maybe I hadn’t possessed anyone at all and had simply fallen into some unknown fantasy world.

Just as my head filled with one question after another, I belatedly realized I’d missed something important in Toby’s words.

“Wait, your brother? Did you just say you’re my brother?!”

The moment Toby nodded, I frantically groped my chest.

By this point, I should have felt something in my hands, but they moved freely up and down without encountering the slightest obstacle.

It was real! It was gone! There was absolutely nothing there!

“Did you lose something?”

“Let’s all look for it!”

When I continued patting myself down with a panicked expression, everyone scattered and began searching the surrounding area.

……Good heavens.

I would’ve had enough trouble adjusting if I’d possessed a woman’s body, but I’d ended up in a man’s body instead?

“Aaaah!”

My anguished scream echoed through the spacious sitting room as I mourned the loss of something precious(?).

Soon, the overwhelming shock of something I simply couldn’t accept knocked me unconscious.

 

 

 

****

 

 

 

When I opened my eyes again, I was being carried on the back of some guy as he walked.

I was just about to struggle in surprise when I spotted a familiar ponytail.

“……Toby?”

“You’re awake? If you didn’t wake up soon, I was going to take you straight to the doctor like this.”

“I’m fine. I was just a little overwhelmed by everything that happened earlier. Put me down. I can walk now.”

When I started trying to get down, Toby tightened his arms around me to support me.

“Just stay on my back. We’re almost at the café anyway.”

The café? Why were we suddenly going to a café?

I didn’t want to end up drinking coffee in this body and then have the misfortune of needing to use the bathroom.

I wasn’t ready to face my new body yet!

“How about we go somewhere else instead of the café? Maybe a bench in a nearby park. The weather’s so nice and sunny.”

“No can do. The Charlotte residence might’ve been your last delivery stop, but I left work to come get you, so I have to go back. I left the customers in charge of the shop, you know.”

“Wow. I make deliveries, too?”

And just like that, my hopes of Ronnie being the son of a noble family went down the drain.

I guess I was destined to live like a worker ant no matter where I went. How depressing.

“Are you really sure you’re okay? Should I take you to the hospital after all?”

“No. I think the blow to my head has left me a little confused. I’ll probably return to normal after some time.”

“But we searched everywhere and couldn’t find it.”

“Find what?”

“The thing you were looking for earlier. I don’t know what it was, but I told everyone to contact us if they spot anything that looks like it. So just wait and see.”

I let out a deep sigh and buried my face in Toby’s back.

I’d never find it in a million years.

There was no way something that was supposed to be attached to my body would be lying around on the ground.

If it were something I could take off and put back on, I would’ve done that ages ago.

While I was drowning in self-pity, Toby set me down in front of a café with a white exterior and a wooden sign. It was a small café that looked just right for one person to run.

“Sit down and get some rest.”

By then, the sun was already beginning to set.

I sat in a corner where I wouldn’t interfere with business, rested my chin on my hand, and stared blankly at the people passing by.

Time kept moving forward, and everyone hurried along on their own paths. Meanwhile, I still didn’t even know who I was.

What a bleak reality.

‘Well, when has my life ever been smooth sailing……?’

As soon as I became an adult, my parents divorced as if they’d been waiting for that very moment. After making me move out on my own, they never even showed their faces again.

From what I’d heard, they’d each been dating someone else for quite a while before that, but what did I know?

Afterward, I worked part-time day and night to pay my tuition and rent. Once I got a job, I suffered through overtime almost every day to pay off my student loans.

As a result, I had no memories worth looking back on. I hadn’t even had time to make friends, let alone date anyone.

‘My life was tough right up to the very end.’

I’d scrimped and saved on clothes and sacrificed sleep, struggling to get by all those years……

I’d hoped that maybe this time, I’d be reborn as the daughter of a wealthy family and live without worrying about money. Instead, I’d ended up inside some ordinary commoner’s body, running around making deliveries.

Sigh. Looks like I wouldn’t be enjoying wealth and glory in this life, either.

“Why the long face, idiot?”

Toby, who’d finally found a moment to spare, held out a pink drink to me.

Without even asking what it was, I absentmindedly took a sip.

A strawberry shake.

I gulped down several refreshing mouthfuls before letting out a long sigh.

“I have nothing to live for.”

“Nothing to live for? You’ve got it too good. If I were you, I’d be grateful for every single day.”

I weakly shook my head.

You fool. Try living as a woman and suddenly waking up inside a man’s body. Let’s see if you’d still feel grateful.

Toby stared at my gloomy face for a while before suddenly holding a mirror he’d gotten from somewhere up in front of me. What was he doing all of a sudden?

“No matter what you say, big brother, I don’t want to live in this body…… Wait?”

My eyes widened, and I grabbed the mirror with both hands.

I don’t know who you are, but thank you.

I thought you’d shoved my soul into whatever body happened to be available, but you actually placed me inside a masterpiece crafted with the utmost care.

Did you feel sorry for me because I’d worked my whole life just to earn money, only to die young and unjustly?

If so, let me thank you once again for your boundless generosity.

I gazed happily at my reflection in the mirror.

Curly brown hair. Lively green eyes. A fair face with rosy cheeks. An elegant, fresh charm that radiated even when I was sitting still.

I had the perfect fresh, fruity look!

It wasn’t easy for a guy to have such a refreshing appearance.

“Hehe. Whoever this guy is, he’s really handsome.”

It would’ve been perfect if only my voice were a little deeper.

Well, an androgynous voice suited such a pretty face better anyway.

“Since when do you admit that? You’re always pretending to be humble.”

Toby let out a disbelieving chuckle.

Whatever.

I was still completely captivated by my own face.

I’d always had that kind of fantasy.

Being so objectively handsome that girls loved me, while I, the person in question, had absolutely no idea.

Man, could I finally make that dream come true in this life?

I kept grinning at my reflection, unable to look away from the mirror. Eventually, Toby couldn’t take it anymore and snatched it away.

“Go home early. You don’t look well.”

“Actually, there’s something I’ve been meaning to ask.”

“What?”

“Do you know my home address?”