This time I am the eldest daughter of the house of blackwood. An only child. (I'm sure my father was most disappointed with having only a daughter, there is always a little satisfaction that comes from his misfortunes.)
I learn this along with other particulars of this world through listening to servants and people in the streets when I leave to get a dress for the ball.
There is magic here for one. I am blessed with fire magic. How boring and predictable. My magic is always so stereotypical of a villain.
I have also narrowed down some of the main cast.
The prince is the older of the two royal children. He has a younger sister. His name is Alaric. He is your typical blonde haired, blue-eyed prince. All regal and noble, intelligent and considered by the public to be the perfect gentleman.
The royal family is also rumored to have some secret magical gift known only to them, just to make him even more special.
He is always like that. Powerful, with a perfect reputation, just a bit arrogant, always confident in his place as ruler. The sort of person who knows what he wants and always gets it.
The main cast always consists of the prince, the childhood friend, the scholar, and the dark one.
The childhood friend is as the title indicates a childhood friend of the that blessed woman. Always kind and helpful. Compassionate, usually belonging to some form of nobility, higher than that woman but lower than myself or the prince. Usually he ends up a knight, a protector of the heroine.
I likely won't be able to identify him until I identify the heroine.
The scholar's job changed depending on the setting, the most powerful mage when there is magic, leader of the church when that woman is a saintess, head researcher of the crown. Always a leader in some powerful institution, always a genius in his field. Uninterested in other people, always finding them boring, until he meets the heroine.
This time I suspect he is once more the archmage, ruler of the high tower an organization of mages. He is apparently a mysterious figure and is rumored to be making an appearance at the upcoming ball. No one knows his name, or his appearance, a true mystery. (In reality it likely won't be that hard to identify him when he shows up at the ball, the main cast is always eye-catching)
Finally the dark one. Always dangerous, a killer, rescued from the darkness by the light of the heroine. Sometimes an assassin, or a spymaster, or an executioner.
He was always the one I found hardest to resent. The others live relatively happy lives, and sure the scholar and childhood friend were always turned down for the prince by their one true love but that was a small hurt in comparison.
The dark one is always from a tragic background, a slave, an abused child, an orphan left on the streets. He is always raised surround by violence until it is all he knows. Then, he finds a light, the heroine, who pulls him from that darkness into a world worth living in. He swears his loyalty, his undying love to her. Only for her to always turn her back on him for the prince. I never know what happens to him after the happy couple get married. I am usually dead by then, often by his hands. However, his fate is not any kinder than mine. To suffer, then to finally find something good, only to have it slip from your grasp, time and time again.
It is not a role I envy.
He will be hardest to identify mostly because he is not someone people talk about openly or at all. (Though again I will likely be able to identify him on sight, he is always black haired and as statuesque as the rest of the cast)
Finally, there is of course the heroine, savior of all, a blessed light in a world of darkness, a pure being despite all of life's hardships (can you feel the disdain yet). She always starts off as someone lowly, a commoner or a bastard child. However, she makes her way into high society despite this, an outsider untainted by courtly scheming. Draws the harem in, marries the prince and becomes queen or empress.
She always has green eyes. The eyes of a heroine, I suppose.