That World of Otome Games is Tough for Us - Volume 1 - Chapter 6.1

Chapter 6:

An Aristocrat’s Revenge

MARIE AVOIDED ME after that.

Luxion and I were walking down a corridor when I happened to spot her out a window. “What’s she doing over there?” I wondered.

Luxion studied her through the glass. “It appears someone deposited her personal effects in a puddle.”

“Oh, right. It rained last night.”

If only she hadn’t ignored my warnings. Nah, even if she’d listened to me, the damage was done the second people saw her hitting on the prince and his buddies. The bullying had been inevitable.

Marie collected her waterlogged textbook and notebook from the puddle and looked them over, assessing whether they were salvageable. I wanted to say something, but I knew my presence would only upset her and make her run away again. So what can I do?

“We should identify the culprits. Master, please give me your permission to do so,” said Luxion.

“What good would that do? Knowing who they are won’t stop them.”

Marie had already turned the majority of the female student body against her. Even if one or two people were to leave her alone, someone else would step up to do the job in their place.

“We will exact revenge, thereby making an example of the culprits,” Luxion explained smoothly. “If they fear their lives are endangered, they will surely cease with these absurdities.”

I frowned. “This should go without saying, but just so we’re clear: absolutely not!”

“Why? I believe it would be most effective.”

“It’s not a long-term solution, and you know it.” I glanced out the window again. Marie had finished collecting her things and had headed off. This bullying was getting pretty malicious. Was she really all right? “I wish there was something we could do for her, though.”

The problem was that, as noted, she bolted at the sight of me. And anyway, it would take conviction to step in at this point. Swooping in to save a school outcast sounded courageous, but actually doing so would put a target on my back as well. We weren’t close enough for me to stick my neck out any further. We were comrades in reincarnation, sure, but that was our only link. Even if I helped her from the shadows, it’d only cause more problems; this was an issue between women. It wasn’t my place.

Besides, I had my own life to live. It was Marie’s fault for putting her selfish desires first and ignoring the unspoken rules of the academy, thereby earning the ire of all the women in it. There was no need for me to shoot myself in the foot to save her from herself.

“Dummy. She’d be so much better off if she just gave up and settled for a normal, uneventful life. There’s happiness to be found in that, too.”

“Personally, I would prefer you and Marie to join,” said Luxion.

“Wha?” I jerked my head around to face him.

He stared me down. “If you were to breed, there is a significant chance the genetic makeup of your offspring would be even closer to that of old humanity. That is a matter of great concern to me.”

“Why would we have to bang, though?” I wrinkled my nose.

Luxion sensed my disgust. “I suppose I will have no choice but to extract your DNA, then. I would have preferred marriage—it is the best method by which to produce natural offspring—but alas.”

“Stop it. I mean it. You’d better not!”

The last thing I wanted was a surprise kid.

“Do you refuse her because she fails to meet your preferences?” Luxion asked.

This was exasperating. He was really angling for us to get hitched, huh?

“That’s part of it,” I admitted. “The other is that every time I look at her, I can’t help but remember my old little sister.”

“You believe Marie to be that sister?”

I already knew she couldn’t be, but the similarities made it impossible for me to take an interest in her.

“No, but I still don’t want to be with her,” I said simply.

That was the end of the conversation as far as I was concerned. I strode off, leaving Luxion behind. He drifted along in my wake, hastening to catch up and hover near my right shoulder, where he disappeared into the background with his cloaking device.

A woman flanked by her entourage was headed in our direction. Even from a distance, I could tell she carried herself with poise. Her lustrous blonde hair was braided and pinned behind her head, and there wasn’t a single blemish on her skin, which reflected the light like porcelain. Most striking were her severe crimson eyes, narrowed and angular in a way that lent her an intimidating air.

I moved to the side to make way for her. Angelica Rapha Redgrave strode past without sparing me a glance. Only once she was gone did I pause and throw a look back at her.

Luxion materialized beside me. “She is the villainess you mentioned. Correct?”

“Yeah. She’s way more intense in real life than she was in the game. Miss Olivia’s got it tough, having to go head-to-head with a girl like that.” I chuckled, amused only because it had nothing to do with me.

There was a short pause before Luxion said, “She has fewer followers than Stephanie Fou Offrey. Moreover, I noticed no demi-human slaves in their number.”

“Now that you mention it, yeah.” I nodded thoughtfully. “But it’s actually rarer to have them period. No girls from an earldom or higher does.”

“Is Stephanie’s father not an earl?”

“She’s the exception, not the rule.”

Still, it was curious to see girls with no personal servants whatsoever. Maybe they did have them but left them at home rather than parade them around at school? Whatever the case, Angelica was promised to Prince Julius. She was positioned to be the next queen. It would be purely scandalous for her to swan around with demi-human slaves.

“She’d definitely be the next queen—if not for Miss Olivia. Probably not the best optics to have lovers tailing you around in that case,” I said.

“This matriarchy is hardly logical. I have to imagine there is something more to it than meets the eye.”

I shook my head. “It’s an otome game with half-baked lore. What do you expect? Thinking about it’s a waste of time.”

Yeah. No use speculating, I assured myself. But on the other hand, why were the girls so fussy about these unspoken rules that they felt compelled to bully those who didn’t fall in line?

***

After passing Leon in the hallway, Angelica paused to glance back at one of her followers. “That was the Bartfort boy, yes? The one from the rumors?”

The girl bobbed her head slightly. “Yes.”

Like her, Angelica’s followers were all first years. Their houses had strong connections to the Redgraves. It was by their families’ orders that they served her here as loyal retainers.

“I heard he earned an impressive sum after a grand adventure, but he was less remarkable than I’d imagined,” Angelica said. “I sense no ambition in him.”

The stories painted Leon as an accomplished adventurer, someone to be lionized in Holfortian society. Alas, he hadn’t left the best impression.

“He had a cowardly look about him, if you ask me.”

“It makes you wonder whether the rumors were credible.”

“I bet he just got lucky. I mean, luck is part of being an adventurer, but if that’s all he’s got going for him, then he’s not that special.”

Angelica let out a long breath at her followers’ snide comments. “Whether they were achieved by luck or not, his accomplishments are undeniable. The male students will begin hosting their tea parties starting in May. When Prince Julius holds his, I would like to invite Bartfort.”

The girls lowered their heads obediently.

“As soon as he’s set a date, make sure Bartfort gets an invitation.”

“As you wish.”

With that matter settled, Angelica continued on, her followers keeping on a couple of steps behind her. Then Angelica recognized another student up ahead. Her brow twitched, and lines formed in her followers’. 

As soon as the girl in question noticed Angelica and her entourage, she scrambled to the side to make way, clutching heavy tomes to her chest. She shrunk away, careful not to meet their gazes. Her submissive air only put blood in the water.

“Lady Angelica, it’s the scholarship student,” one of Angelica’s followers remarked.

“I can see that,” she said flatly. Angelica strode up to Olivia and came to a stop. Her eyes turned toward the girl, though the rest of her body continued to face forward. “It seems you have grown awfully close with His Highness.”

“P-pardon?”

Olivia nervously lifted her head, her face stiff. It was obvious she didn’t know how to respond. But Angelica didn’t really care whether she was comfortable with this discussion.

“For your sake, let me say this: His Highness’s status is far above your own. You shouldn’t forget that.”

“It’s not like I mean to…” Olivia opened her mouth to make excuses, but she snapped it shut just as quickly, as if she couldn’t find the words.

Angelica tore her gaze away. “I warned you.” She strode off.

Once they were a fair distance away from Olivia, Angelica’s followers had some opinions to air.

“Lady Angelica, was that the most judicious approach? That girl doesn’t understand her place. Otherwise, why would she have approached the prince?”

As tempted as she was to let out another sigh, Angelica held it in. “I warned her. She won’t get a second chance.”

“It’s not just His Highness, either. She’s been cozying up to other young lords as well. Shouldn’t we teach her a lesson?”

They were being awfully insistent. Angelica could tell they were fed up. Her tone took on a hard edge as she said, “If we see her at it again, she will be punished accordingly.”

My people are more upset with the scholarship student than I thought. I suppose even those closest to me are less than keen on the idea of a commoner attending the academy. The prince’s careless actions also worried her. It doesn’t help that His Highness is so fickle. If he tries to invite her to his tea party as well, the mounting tension will reach a tipping point all the faster.

It was easy to envision, at this rate, especially when it came to the female students. Julius and his friends were particularly popular. If they played favorites with the common-born scholarship student, it would only breed greater resentment, which would eventually crescendo. Julius and his friends wouldn’t be the only ones to suffer the repercussions; Olivia would suffer for them, too. Angelica was all too aware of that.

Please, she thought, don’t cause any more trouble than you already have.