So What If She's a Princess?

"Your Highness, the Princess." What a noble title. Princesses enjoyed the most luxurious lives in the entire country and received the finest education. Everyone's burning gaze was fixed on them.

The maids cleaning the palace once again couldn't help talking about how much they longed to be princesses:

"I wish I could be a princess too. I wouldn't have to lift a finger, and people would take care of everything for me."

"If you were a princess, you could give one little order and countless knights would rush to carry it out!"

"Best of all, you'd be like Princess Nomo, with outstanding older siblings, and you wouldn't have to worry about affairs of state. You could just enjoy yourself!"

"Just think, your future spouse would be a handsome, wealthy prince! Good heavens!"

"What's so great about being a princess..."

Princess Nomo had once again overheard them by accident and couldn't stop herself from blurting that out.

The maids, taken aback by someone contradicting them, searched all around for the mysterious person who had dared to show such "disrespect" to the royal family. The impulsive princess had already fled the scene, muttering under her breath as she went:

"Being a princess isn't as wonderful as they make it sound. According to incomplete statistics, out of ten princesses, five are cursed, three have been kidnapped, two have terrible social skills, and the last one is a complete fool. There are at least a hundred countries on this continent, not counting the Demon Realm, so there could be tens of thousands of these supposedly 'precious' princesses. The outstanding princesses and princes stay outstanding, while the slackers just get worse and worse. And that's not even counting the princesses and princes of the superpowers. My dear sister Grace is not only proficient in every sort of royal etiquette, earning her the nickname 'walking elegance,' but also became a great mage at a young age. My dear brother Otestantin is even more learned. At my age, he had already defeated his swordsmanship teacher, and now he's just become a renowned master swordsman. And me..."

The princess fell silent. Nomo, sixteen years old, a third-year student at Best Academy, had no particular qualities. Her magic was above average, her strength was above average, her speed was above average. In short, every one of her attributes was above average. Even her exam scores were always above average. Whether her rank went up or down, she was always above average, exceptionally consistent. Above average was like a curse. The most absurd thing was that even when she took the test for elemental affinity, all her affinities, including many that were opposites or incompatible, were above average. Light, above average. Darkness, also above average. Nomo could only say, Thanks, I'm really going to lose my mind.

Being above average in everything sounded impressive. Put kindly, it meant she was well-rounded, had lots of potential, and a bright future. Put less kindly, she wasn't good at anything and couldn't do anything right. And at Best Academy, where geniuses were everywhere, Nomo could only be called ordinary.

But there was good news: Nomo's love life was finally not above average. Ha, what a joke. Her crush had negative emotional intelligence, and Princess Nomo's romantic history didn't even qualify for a passing grade. The princess could only gaze wistfully at her crush, a classmate and partner, and think, "It can't be helped. I fell for you." ?????

At long last, during their graduation trip, their relationship finally warmed up, and a tiny spark of romance appeared. Then, bam, her dear classmate's true identity was revealed. As it turned out, he was a necromancer wanted by nearly every country. The spark of romance went out in an instant. The infamous villain, known for all his evil deeds and countless murders, revealed himself by putting on a little demonstration of "how to paint the ground red." "Thanks a lot," Nomo thought from the corner where she was cowering. "My love life just went straight into the negatives. : )"

Whether it was because of their years as classmates or because there really was a tiny spark of romance between them, the necromancer spared the princess. Nomo returned home, clung to her sister, and wept bitterly over her lost love. She cried, she got hurt, then Nomo was ready to get back out there. As a princess, she attended the matchmaking ball her older sister and brother had personally organized. There was no most handsome, only someone more handsome. No most outstanding, only someone more outstanding!

Unexpected, but only natural, the necromancer gained another crime: kidnapping a princess.

Can a love that has died be rekindled? The other person is a necromancer, after all. Can even dead love be controlled? Breaking the curse of being above average, the necromancer promised her: Your love life will be the best.

One-on-one romance, happy ending. Trying to write something sweet?

A princess who thinks she's been through the trials of life, but is still childish at heart. Her abilities are above average, she takes life as it comes, and she's fairly ordinary × an outlaw necromancer, lazy at first and still lazy later, though not quite as lazy, with top-tier combat strength.

The princess can't beat the necromancer because she's only above average. The necromancer might have somewhat questionable morals? The characters' actions and values in the story do not represent the author's values. It's fiction, after all. Don't look for reality in a fictional world.

I guess I want to write about the life and love story of a slightly odd, above-average princess? Maybe a somewhat cheerful story?

Content warnings: The male lead may not seem very enthusiastic early on. The princess may not grow much, and her strength will still be above average at the end. Some parts of the princess's character aren't reflected in the blurb and are only introduced in the prologue, so maybe she's been through a lot? Maybe she just thinks in an unusual way? The male lead's values are questionable. This is my first novel, so I don't know how it'll turn out.

Also, there are lots of things I don't know much about, so I'm making them up as I go and drawing on my experience reading other novels? I'm terrible at coming up with names...

I'll be honest, I'm a hopeless mess. I never thought about what to write after this.

All right, I really regret starting this. My goal now is to finish it. Finishing is winning!

All right, I can't keep writing. When I started, I only had a burst of enthusiasm, but no setting and no main plot, so now the characters are a mess, and everything that happens next is made up as I go. I only wanted to write a little romance at first, but I really feel like I can't continue. I guess flags really are just there to be raised. I'll leave it for now. I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry. QAQ

Theme: Breaking through your own limits (the author means herself).