CH 25

25  Monologue of a Certain Duke Daughter 1

TN: I Know that I said there’s no release for this one this week but, situation had changed and I’ve to secure temporary editor. Thus canceled the break. Please help the original editor, HeXie with your pray too.

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“―――― YOU FU*CKING BIIIIIIIIII*TCH!”

When I was about to dump the trash into the trash can, I happened to hear someone scream such rude words. As I looked around to search for the source of that scream, I saw an enraged male student, looking ready to hit people.

Not wanting to get involved with them, I quickly left that place after I dumped the trash in its proper location.

“ Ah, there’s an email from Tsukunecchi.” I muttered, finding that there was a new message from my otaku friend in LINE, when I checked my phone once I finished my cleaning duty.

―― Yaho, Potekichi. I’m gonna cosplay as Silver big bro for tomorrow’s karaoke.

――Eh? Tsukunecchi, why?

―― Well, it’s just… you see, we’re planning to comfort Karin who has just become the newest victim of ‘Landmine Hime’.

―― Landmine Hime?

――The semi-professional Cosplayer. The one who is always angry unless she’s treated like a princess. She said that she wants to do a cosplay get-together and yet, she makes everyone do everything for her. From gathering people’s numbers, contacting them, and getting hold of the studio, she throws it on everyone else. The only thing she does is to set the date of the meet, otherwise nothing. Furthermore, she will blame someone if everything isn’t ready by the date she set.

―― The heck, that’s cruel (；゛゜’ω゜’):

――And Karin is just an amateur cosplayer after all. She has only been to dance parties and cosplay events. She doesn’t even know what a studio is, but that girl is forcing Karin to meet up with her demand. AND she’s getting angry because Karin can’t do it, so she has been spreading all kinds of stuff about her on the internet, causing her to cry. So, let’s go to comfort her.( T_T)＼(^-^ )

―― Roge~r. (｀_´)ゞ

―― Well, anyway, better get away from that ‘Landmine Hime’ next time. She’s infamous in the cosplay circle. In a bad way. Poor Karin…

―― OKOK. Let’s heal the poor princess, our dear Karin, with the magnificent ‘Seiroku (Six Saint)’. Are you going to do the Black, Tsukunecchi?

―― Yup. I’m thinking of popularizing a whole lot of whites books using this event, but in the end, it’s White(Ani)xWhite(Oto) you know. [TL : (╯°□°）╯︵ ┻━┻(╯°□°）╯︵ ┻━┻(╯°□°）╯︵ ┻━┻…. I’ve had enough of these GAL’s speech.]

――It’s okay, it sounds good to me. So, is that why you’re going for Black x White?

――Yeah. Let’s discuss it with everyone tomorrow. Bet everyone’s gonna feel excited about this.

――Ro~~ge~r(*゜▽゜)ノ

Yosh, since tomorrow’s plan has been decided, let’s go visit the 100 yen shop on the way back.

Let’s see… white cloth for the frilly shirt―― maybe I should just use the handkerchief for the funeral service? Oh, and then, safety pins. I have no choice but to buy some since I lost mine just recently―― uuu, my money… I lamented, standing behind the line in the crossroad as I waited for the light to turn green.

Suddenly, I heard a scream and turned around―― and saw a male student from the same school get run over by a car.

―― EH?!

I did not get a chance to scream as the car did not stop and came to my directi――

◇

Before long, I noticed that I had reincarnated. How did I realize this fact, you ask? Well, when you were placed before the mirror and it reflected your movement, how could you not realize it?

I absentmindedly waved my hand at my reflection – an adorable baby with tufts of purplish-grey hair on her head – feeling uneasy. As far as I knew, my current name was ‘Katrina’.

…………

… ‘Katrina’?! Wait, the color of my hair, my name… don’t tell me?! Is this world the world of the otome game called ‘The Saint’s Legend – Descendant of the Six Gods~’ otherwise known as ‘Seiroku’?!

The only Katrina in this game was the Duke’s Daughter, Katrina Lilac… Nooo~ Are you telling me that I seriously reincarnated as that very same Katrina Lilac in that game?! I mean, seriously?! That’s like a huge pitfall, right?!

No, no, no. Wait a moment. This news is seriously bad! Like, rea~lly bad! Doesn’t this mean that this world is going to be destroyed if there is no Heroine-chan?!

In this otome game, if the heroine didn’t choose the correct choices, she would get the bad end and get abducted by the demon king. In the end, she would fall into depravity. Sure, when you played the game, it didn’t sound like it was a bad ending at all. In fact, it sounded downright wonderful.

However, in exchange, the world would be destroyed as a result. Moreover, even if Heroine-chan was alive in that bad end, she was turned into the demon king’s slave. Everything else… was destroyed.

And the duke’s daughter, in other words, my current baby self would die first before the world even got destroyed!

The heck is this?! Isn’t it the same as telling me that this is mission impossible?! I shouted in my mind, eyes tearing up.

If things went according to the game scenario, Heroine-chan who entered the Selendia Royal Academy would cultivate her character with the main capture targets and their respective female counterparts, the rival noble daughters. She would become stronger, get along with the main capture targets. And as she solved problems along with them, she would gather the ‘Saint’s Ornament’. Finally, gaining a ‘True Love’ in the process.

After that, it would show the ending in the form of a movie containing the scene of Heroine-chan and her partner defeating the demon king. And depending on Heroine-chan’s effort in the academy, the content of the movie―― might change.

Anyway, as long as Heroine-chan gained a ‘True Love’, the ‘Saint’s Ornament’ of the capture target, and got her parameters above the fixed value, she would be saved by the capture target. Then, that capture target would confess to her in the end, and they attained a happy end.

However, if she failed to get even one ornament, or failed to get ‘True Love’… then everything would lead straight to the bad end without exception.

That aside, there was something more important. I had now become the duke’s daughter. The only rival character who loved to torment Heroine-chan. In this route, it was only after getting over a barrier called the Duke’s daughter – AKA ME – would Heroine-chan be able to foster love with this route’s capture target.

So, herein lies the main problem, what exactly should I do?

It was not like I could avoid breaking off the engagement event, that was fine by me. However, I definitely must avoid execution at all costs. Additionally, even though I was the rival character, I also had to remember to help the heroine to become the saint. After all, Heroine-chan’s existence as the natural-born saint – damn normie – was definitely needed to prevent the world’s destruction…

Now then, what’s the best way that does not abuse my authority while at the same time allow me to become a wall for Heroine-chan to surpass, yet still spared from the dead-end that was called execution after the engagement annulment event happened?

AAAH, my head hurts just by thinking about it.

N-no good. I just thought of something horrible. W-We’re literally in deep shi*t if Heroine-chan turns out to be a horrible girl with shi*tty personality… AAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH, what do I do if that happens?

… I-It should be okay, right? I mean, the heroine-chan in the game is a good girl, so she should be a good one here, too… right?

Oh God, please, please~, I’m begging you here, please make the heroine-chan a good girl with good personalities like the one in the original story.

Even if she happens to be a reincarnator too… Please at least choose the one who knows the bad end of this world. I mean, the world is going to collapse and she will become a slave in that bad end… So, if she knows, then she’ll try her best to prevent it, right?

I prayed hard. However, another possibility suddenly arose in my mind, causing me to panic again.

Oh God, what should I do if she was aiming for reverse harem? I mean, it should be possible, but… the difficulties would ramp up through the roof, wouldn’t it?

I mean, reverse harem implied that she would aim for the two hidden targets, namely Frederick, the 1st prince; and Duke, the Demon King. Frederick aside, Duke’s capture method was especially troublesome, and one wrong choice would lead straight to the bad end. And that means that one failure would cause Heroine-chan to fall into depravity.

Hence why, I wished that she would choose the regular route and not the reverse harem. After all, the regular route itself was already hard enough… so, there was no need to further seek unnecessary trouble, right?

So, Heroine-chan, please choose the regular route. Please. I will thank you very much for doing your best on the regular route. I will even prostrate myself in the dogeza in front of you, if you choose a regular route, so please, ok?

However, if at all possible, I wished she would aim for the ‘safe tile’ Theodore.

But, then again; Theodore wasn’t that popular since most people regarded him as a ‘Good Guy’. I mean, the most popular capture target in an otome game was usually those whose setting was set with hard to understand personality, someone dainty, or had some sort of illness, basically those kinds of guys were the ones who were popular with the market.

Because as the story advanced, the player would see the capture target in a new light, since the reason behind the capture target’s eccentricity was revealed.

Amongst those capture targets in ‘Seiroku’, Theodore – with his fortune telling ability – was the only one who knew that Heroine-chan was the saint from the very beginning.

And that was why he was always ready to save the day whenever Heroine-chan needed him with his gentle smile and calming yet mysterious voice as well as kind personality.

However, the reason behind his ability and personality was because his mother had once got tricked by a fake fortune teller during his childhood.

Due to that fake fortune-teller, his parents’ relationship became strained, but he thought that the root of the incident was because his father had never consulted with his mother about her troubles. As such, he brought upon himself the duty to listen to someone’s troubles and helped them out by pointing out the possible future options to them.

Furthermore, due to his hatred of fortune telling, he diligently studied the subject. Even though he hated it so much that he wished it would just disappear from existence. Still, despite his extreme loathing, he was extremely talented in that field. So talented that he became the best fortune teller in the kingdom.

He kept it as a secret, though, since he didn’t want to be associated with fortune-telling at all.

It was only after a certain event with Heroine-chan that the curtain of his battle against the fake fortune-teller who had tricked his mother rose. With Heroine-chan’s performance and Theodore’s fortune-telling prowess, they managed to catch the fake fortune teller and regain Theodore’s family’s heirloom, the ‘Saint’s Tiara’.

Not only that, from that battle with that fake fortune teller, Heroine-chan and Theodore realized that Duke Lilac’s house – in other words, my family in this life – was related to the demon race and the fake fortune teller.

Anyway, that aside, the moment they won against the fake fortune teller with the fortune-telling power that he hated so much – as well as with Heroine-chan’s remark of ‘Poor thing, this power should be used to save the world instead of to fool others.’ – relief swept Theodore.

And then, he finally reconciled with his father, inadvertently causing his parents to reconcile as well. Thus, putting an end to the strained relationship within Theodore’s family. After that, he gave his love and gratitude to Heroine-chan along with the tiara since she was the saint.

In ‘Seiroku’, he was set as the relatively easy capture target that every otome game had. That being the case, his capture flag was also easy to trigger. It could be triggered from the very beginning!

That was why… Although he had a lot of fans in the beginning, his popularity soon dwindled with passing time, since the player’s eyes were more attracted to the other capture targets. Thus, making Theodore an extremely pitiful character who was forgotten by everyone, with some even dubbing him as the tutorial capture target.

Nevertheless, since his affection – once gotten – rarely went down, most people didn’t try to meet him even once until right before graduation time. From this, it could be seen that he was an extremely poor character.

Then again, the players had no other choice but to do that. They had to raise the affection of the other capture targets to trigger their event after all.

ANYWAY! I hope that the heroine was not a foolish and egoistical girl. Still, Heroine-chan might just want to get along with her favourite capture target, which might not be Theodore…

That’s fine and all, but if possible, I want her to stay away from Big White (Frederick). He’s mine. But… aaah, I may not be able to have a relationship with Frederick too, considering the setting… Waaah~ how cruel… sob…

But! I won’t give up on him for as long as I’m still alive…!

Just kiddi~ng. Teehee~. I guess I shouldn’t expect such impossible development.

Anyhow, my main goal here was to survive. There was no way in hell I wanted to experience the second death in my teens again.

Nope. I’m gonna live until I become a grandma. That’s my first goal here.

That’s why, for that goal, the first thing I have to do is to avoid my death flag. To do that, I must stop Katrina’s (me) father from trying to make Katrina (me) a saint, and announce to the world that his daughter is the ‘Reborn Saint’. Seriously, that’s like the most common death flag amongst villainess.

Oh, and I also have to stop him from working together with the demon race in their evil plan.

That last information was the main reason for my execution by the way. Anyway, this small modification in the scenario wouldn’t be a big deal. Especially since I could see that right now, my father was an extremely kind father. That’s why, I would prefer not to make things difficult for him.

My second goal… eh, let’s try to cooperate with Heroine-chan. Of course, if it’s possible.

I mean, if I stopped my father, that would actually expose the demon race as the mastermind behind all the incidents revolving around the six main capture targets. And if that was the case, then I wouldn’t end up executed!

Yosh, let’s cooperate with the heroine as much as possible. I decided these two things as my main focus for the time being, finally feeling as if a stone has been lifted from my chest with goals in place.

Yosh, I’ve established my goal. So, let’s start moving! Well, as soon as I’m allowed to move as much as I want that is. Then again, it’s still impossible for the time being since I’m still a baby… albeit a cute one.

Anyway~ Fight O~~~!

Little did I know that by that moment, the game scenario had already crumbled down.

And worst of all, it was crumbling down towards the worst possible direction.