Volumes 1 & 2 of HPCWTC are available uncensored on ko-fi! ※ This work contains depictions of coercive relationships, explicit language, and other graphic content. Reader discretion is advised.

I.

Princess Sylvia Arperio of the Kingdom of Roang, beloved by all.

Beauty that shone more brilliantly than the rarest of gems.

A status that granted her everything she desired without lifting a finger.

Knights who wouldn’t hesitate to sacrifice their lives for her, and a perfect fiancé whose eyes were only for her.

Any woman would have envied her life without question.

Nothing but a path of roses stretched out before Sylvia’s future.

But fate’s favoritism didn’t last long. In the year Sylvia turned twenty-one, the Kingdom of Roang was defeated in war against the Valencha Empire.

Her homeland was trampled, her family lost their lives. Sylvia was taken as a hostage and dragged away to the Valencha Empire.

The fallen kingdom’s princess was imprisoned in a remote castle.

Three men reached out their hands to her.

To plunge the cornered princess into despair.

***

“Wow…”

I clutched my chest as I read the opening of the mature, dark novel starring Sylvia, “In the Bedroom of the Hostage Princess.”

No matter how many times I read it, this opening always made my heart race. Even more so because I knew what would follow.

Sylvia would be imprisoned in a cold castle and sexually tormented by the male protagonists. Natural enough, given the genre was “cozy trash.”

She was practically born to feel pleasure, experiencing mind-blowing sensations that pushed all limits in her relationships with the three men.

The more I turned the pages, the more my cheeks twitched and my lips curved into a sly smile. Sylvia’s life was tragic, but I envied her. I know that sounds insane, but yes—I’m not normal.

My s****l preferences are as permanently twisted as an evergreen pine tree. I don’t even have the willpower to separate reality from fantasy.

As my collection on BlueBooks proves, my tastes are pretty hardcore. Coercion is standard, I don’t mind various kinky stuff, but what I love most is confinement. It wouldn’t be wrong to say I have a confinement fetish.

Unlike me, Sylvia was a normal person, so she couldn’t accept her life in the novel.

‘I want to escape.’

‘How wonderful it would be if I could leave this castle and live freely.’

Whenever I read Sylvia’s pitiful inner monologues like this, I wished I could take her place. I wouldn’t mind swapping souls with her. If I became Sylvia, I was confident I could properly enjoy that cozy confined life.

Of course, all of this was just my fantasy—there was no way it could actually happen.

…or so I thought.

It was a night like any other when I fell asleep while reading the novel.

Like a lightning strike, a flash blazed through my mind. Pure white darkness enveloped me, and from the edge of that white void, someone’s voice reached me.

“You said you wanted to swap lives with me.”

A pale hand suddenly shot out and grabbed mine. An irresistible, powerful force pulled me somewhere.

That was my last memory from my previous life.

***

“…!”

The figure of a woman reflected in the stagnant puddle. It should have been my reflection from this angle, yet a woman I’d never seen before was staring back at me from the water.

Platinum hair like spun silver and gold threads, coral-colored eyes resembling a lustful blush, skin so pale it was almost ghostly white, and a delicate frame where her bones were visible. Eyes so dewy they made you want to squeeze out tears, and small, plump lips that begged to be spread to their limits.

‘Sylvia Arperio?’

Sylvia Arperio in the flesh filled my vision completely. There wasn’t even room to doubt it was someone else. The woman reflected in the water was exactly how I’d imagined Sylvia to look.

And then—

“Is that woman the famous Princess Sylvia?”

“Hey, don’t make eye contact. The Kinamun cultists from the Kingdom of Roang use terrifying magic.”

“That’s all just rumors. Can’t you tell from how the Kingdom of Roang suffered a crushing defeat and sent their princess as a hostage?”

“They said she was a flower no one could break, but that seems like nonsense too. How could she be pure with that lust-soaked body?”

“I heard that in the ballrooms of the Kingdom of Roang, obscene parties were held every night. When intoxicated by magic and d***s, they wouldn’t even recognize their own siblings or parents.”

The murmuring voices of onlookers pierced my ears.

Princess Sylvia, Kingdom of Roang, hostage.

‘Did I really swap bodies with Sylvia?’

I lifted my head and looked around.

A triumphant army leading shackled prisoners of war was passing through Valencha’s gates. Among the bustling crowds, everyone’s gaze was focused on one person.

The fallen kingdom’s princess—Sylvia.

‘I remember this scene. It’s from the early part of the novel.’

Only then did it hit me that I’d actually entered the story. Who would have thought my unrealistic fantasy would come true?

Wait, is this a dream? It’s not like I got hit by the classic truck of reincarnation—does it make sense to possess someone’s body while sleeping? I found myself nodding at this reasonable doubt.

But the sensations felt far too vivid for a dream. My soles throbbed where they’d been scraped by stones, and my wrists ached numbly from the handcuffs and rope.

‘If this isn’t a dream…’

The corners of my lips curved softly upward. My body trembled as shivers ran from the crown of my head to my toes.

I’ll say it again—I’m not normal.