This Time I Boarded the Enemy’s Ship

I died at twenty-two.
Yet I woke up at sixteen.

First by accident, then once more as an experiment.
By the third time I died and awakened,
I accepted the truth—my miserable life as Princess Aira of the Empire kept repeating.

“Please marry me.”
In my first life, desperate to escape the Empire, I proposed a contract marriage to the King of the Archipelago.
The King welcomed me warmly and loved me, but it ended in tragic failure, and I became consumed by vengeance.

Even after completing my revenge, I found myself starting a new life again.

“Marry me.”
This time, I proposed a contract marriage to a Republic Admiral who had helped with my revenge before my regression.
I needed to find a way to end this endless cycle.

“I have no interest in children.”
Jens Will, merely a naval lieutenant at this point, rejected me outright.
Clearly, this strategy was flawed. Seeing me contemplate my next move, Jens offered an alternative:

“There are better options than outdated solutions like marriage. You can seek asylum and protect yourself from the Empire through a different path.”
“?”
“Enter the Republic’s military academy. You’re still sixteen, aren’t you?”

Me—once the Empire’s princess and Queen of the Archipelago—becoming a Republic cadet…?