That World of Otome Games is Tough for Us - Volume 2 - Chapter 5.2

The third day of the festival arrived. While other students got caught up in the exciting competitions, Marie and I retreated to a deserted area outside the event venue. There, she filled me in on her family’s circumstances.

“You’re marrying the heir of House Offrey?!” I shouted in disbelief.

I’d accounted for the possibility that Stephanie would approach Marie, but I’d never dreamed it would be to inform her of a union between their houses.

Students’ wild hollers spilled from the venue, reaching our ears. Under different circumstances, they might’ve amped up the atmosphere, but to me they were pretty much nails on a chalkboard.

Marie smiled helplessly. “I know, huh? Who’d guess their heir would recognize my charms? I’m a real temptress, aren’t I?” She was trying to joke about it, but one look revealed that she was teetering on a knife’s edge.

“Can’t you refuse?”

“You should know better than that,” she replied. “Maybe you forget sometimes, but I’m still nobility, even as dirt poor as I am.”

Yes—however impoverished, a noble was a noble. Arranged marriage was no rare occurrence among the upper crust. Those marriages were less about the couple involved and more about forging contracts between families.

Although love superficially seemed free to blossom here at the academy, there were actually severe restrictions on who could marry who. Even if you found someone you liked here, the next criteria were their status and assets. Marriage would invariably concern both families.

For an otome game, the developers had really integrated gritty, unpleasant aspects of reality into this world’s lore. Two people marrying purely for love was rare here. More often than not, personal feelings didn’t factor into the equation. The arrangements were purely political.

Not long ago, I’d nearly been forced to marry someone myself. Refusing the offer took great effort on my family’s part, but we’d managed. Marie’s circumstances differed markedly from mine, though. Both families—hers as well—had already agreed to the union.

“But we’re talking about the Offrey heir,” I reminded her, although I wasn’t sure why I was trying so hard to convince her to protest. “I bet he’s a totally selfish jerk.”

“I’m sure you’re right. Even Stephanie said he’s a slime.”

“She said that?” I shook my head. “All the more reason to back out. I mean, their whole house’ll be destroyed. If you marry into it, you…” You won’t find any happiness, I thought, not speaking the rest of the sentence. 

In the game, the Offreys were antagonists. They had ties to air pirates, which they leveraged to try to kill Olivia, only for their plan to backfire. Not only would they fail to take out their target, their scheming would result in their own doom.

In game terms, they were mid-level bosses thrown in near the climax for excitement and conflict. If we wanted to keep the plot on the rails, we were better off steering clear of them. Even if that weren’t a concern, the Offreys weren’t people I’d want to rub elbows with personally.

Marie must’ve known all this, because her gaze dropped to the floor, her hands curled into tight, trembling fists. “It’s not like I’m happy about this, either! I’d love to run away right now, but do you really think I’d survive out there on my own? In this cruel world?”

Her impending marriage would be a binding contract between their two families. If Marie did flee, both houses would do their utmost to hunt her down. So why not run far, far away, where they couldn’t find her? That idea sounded good at first, but this society wasn’t like our old one. A woman couldn’t make it by herself in a far-off corner of this world.

It would be difficult for Marie to stay on the lam. The paranoia of constantly looking over her shoulder, knowing both families were hot on her tail, would wear her down body and soul.

I wanted to offer to hide her in my family home, but the Lafans and Offreys would suspect me immediately and come straight for us. In that event, I wouldn’t be the only one to suffer; my family would be dragged into things, too.

“The Lafans have fallen far, but we’re still aristocrats,” Marie said. “It would shame the Offreys if I fled, and they’d find me eventually anyway. Besides, staying on the run would wear me down too much. I can’t do it.” It seemed she’d already given up. She heaved a dramatic sigh. “Man. I hoped I could at least go on the school trip.”

“You won’t even get to do that?”

The trip was coming up this term. If she couldn’t participate, that meant her wedding to the Offrey heir would be almost immediate, and she’d soon have to withdraw from the academy.

“The Offreys want our nuptials to roll along as quickly as possible,” Marie explained. “My family already agreed. I just received a letter from them ordering me to go through with the marriage.” 

She held out her hand, revealing a crumpled slip of paper. For a letter from home, it was awfully curt and succinct. There was no familial affection at all.

As we spoke, the crowd volume in the venue grew dramatically. Someone had impressed them. That was no concern of mine, though. All I cared about was finding a way to rescue Marie.

“Marie.”

“Ah-ah.” She wagged a finger at me. “You’d better not get any funny ideas about this.”

It was as if she’d read my thoughts. I’d just been mulling over using Luxion to bail her out of this mess.

“I thought about telling you to rescue me,” she continued. “I know that’s within Luxion’s capabilities. But honestly, I don’t think picking a fight with the Offreys is a good idea.”

“Why not?” I demanded.

“They’re part of an important plotline, remember? If we interfere, it could have a domino effect. What then?”

Without realizing it, I’d clenched my fists so tightly that my knuckles were white.

If we prioritized fidelity to the game’s plot, then we needed the Offreys to survive until the middle of our second year, which was also the middle of the game. Neither of us wanted to risk screwing up the story’s intended trajectory.

“Then again,” Marie said thoughtfully, “while we’re on the subject, doesn’t this marriage already break canon? I wonder if it’s my punishment for meddling.” She was referring to how she’d approached the game’s love interests and tried to win them over. I saw in her expression that, if doing so had indeed caused her engagement, she was resolved to face the music.

“If you ask me to save you, I will.”

Marie gave me a knowing look. “You say that, but you’ve gotta know how difficult that’d be. If you tried to squirrel me away, your family would instantly suspect you. I’m sure you’d figure it out, as long as you had Luxion on your side, but don’t you think handling the Offreys would be a real pain?”

She was right about that. There was no shortage of dark rumors about that family. Whatever evils they committed, they got away with; Holfort let them sweep it all under the rug. Someone powerful was shielding them from the repercussions of their villainy, which meant that provoking them would make enemies beyond just the Offreys.

If I helped Marie, that would be a big decision. I had to be ready for all it would entail. I stood there, unable to speak.

Marie flashed a brilliant smile at me. “I had fun.”

“Huh?”

“I’m saying I had more fun here than I expected I would. The prince and the other love interests wouldn’t give me the time of day, and I wasn’t able to live the dream and create myself a harem of beautiful men, but…it wasn’t half bad spending my days with you.” Marie dropped her gaze to the floor for a second, then peered back up at me. “Well, see ya. Don’t worry. Even if the Offreys ruin themselves, I’ll be just fine. Not many people out there can cast healing magic, which makes me one of the ­precious few, remember? I’ll find some way to survive.”

Marie was already so resigned to this marriage, she was contemplating what would come afterward. I’d known she was made of strong stuff—that if anyone could make it through this fiasco, she could. Still, this was a far cry from the happiness she’d hoped for.

“Are you sure about this?” I asked. “You’re the one who said she wanted a chance to relive her school days.”

Marie’s smile strained. “This is still better than a Game Over. If the protagonist and her love interest don’t overcome this hurdle, we’ll all be in hot water. I don’t want to find out what a bad ending looks like. Not when I’ll be someone living it.”

“Still—”

Marie turned her back to me and started to walk away. “Thank you for everything, and…good luck. Not that I think you need me to worry about you, since you have Luxion.” 

From behind, Marie looked even smaller than usual—shrunk in on herself, as if she was much more fragile than I’d ever acknowledged. It reminded me of my little sister from our previous world.

“Ah!” I gasped, reaching a hand toward her, but I lowered it immediately.

Marie had already made her decision. What could I do?