The Villainess Carries a Strategy Guide - CH 3

April, in front of the gigantic but beautiful but gigantic school building, I couldn’t help but raise my voice dressed in my brand new uniform.
“Huge…”
When I look around, there aren’t many students who are impressed by the size of the school building, so I quietly proceed to the auditorium where the entrance ceremony is held.
Today is the 301st entrance ceremony of the Royal Aristocratic Academy. At the same time, it is also the day when spring’s “event”, commonly known as just “Spring”, is held. If the content hasn’t changed in 300 years, naturally all the freshmen already know what to do. The first event held just to greet incoming students— “Spring”. Many students couldn’t hide their nervousness.
I’ve been reading the strategy book for the last six months. I feel bad for the other new students, but it is a considerable advantage.
There were many times when I thought, ‘ehh is it okay for something like that to happen?’ while reading, but according to my mother’s memo, even in the Bad End, there would be no deaths, much less the destruction of the country. Of course, it would be hard to call it anything close to a Happy End for me.
By the way, I only know three people in this school.
The first is my fiancé, this country’s prince, His Highness Llewain Phabaddon. He advanced to the Year 2 this year, and made a name for himself by becoming a Transcendent when he was still in Year 1. His stunning looks are a hot topic, but in truth, I have never met him. Usually, people who get engaged should meet face-to-face, but father wouldn’t allow it. To be more precise, he said really outrageous things like, “It’s an engagement that the royal family felt out and half-forcefully concluded on their own, and yet, why is Rebecca the one who needs to go to the Royal Capital? It’s only good manners for them to come to our territory.” As a result, I couldn’t speak to His Highness.
So I don’t have any particular feelings about him, but there is one problem.
As far as I can see from the strategy book, His Highness seems to have hated me from the beginning for some reason. Rebecca in the game was infatuated with His Highness, so I wonder if he found that unpleasant. In the character introduction page of the strategy book, it’s written,
Capture target¹, Transcendent, Year 2, first prince and heir to the throne, blue-eyed blond, talented in magic, Rebecca’s fiancé, phantom beast—eagle
Remarks: unsociable, number 1 in popularity
It is very easy to understand the strategy book which tries to be as objective as possible. If there’s a flaw, it’s that I can’t recognize faces just from the words, but it can’t be helped.
By the way, my introduction is written as,
Villainess, Year 1, black haired with silvery gray eyes, erotic beauty, phantom beast—white snake
Remarks: obsessed with His Highness and impedes the main character in any route.
“Villainess” and the “Remarks:” were crossed out in red.
Writing it down then erasing what she didn’t deem acceptable was revealing of my mother’s mental state. I was genuinely embarrassed about the evaluation of being erotic.
I’ve digressed, but the second person I know at this school is my biological brother, Vanderlei Sultarque. He has advanced to Year 3 this year, and it seems that he was also recognized as a Transcendent last year. I was surprised because I wasn’t aware. We haven’t seen each other since we were separated when I was 10, and brother was 12, when he moved to the Royal Capital where Father works as the Right Hand of the King for the sake of his studies. 10-year-old me had no concept of writing letters, so we naturally lost contact. However, I’d be happy if he’s doing well.
The strategy book says,
Capture target, Rebecca’s older brother, Transcendent, Year 3, dark brown hair in a single ponytail with olive brown eyes, talented in horseback riding and swordplay, phantom beast—horse
Remarks: reliable senpai fram e
That’s right, my brother’s hair and eyes are brown, inherited from father. Unlike this black, straight down pitch black, of mine. Only the eyes are crystalline gray. I was proud of those things that I inherited from my mother, but now that I know the word villainess, I can’t be honestly happy, wondering, “is it villainous looking”.
Wait, that’s not it.
Imagine my surprise when I found out that my brother was a ‘capture target’! However, even that pales in comparison to the the surprise I felt when I learned of the Last Scene of the Scenario. No matter which ‘route’² the main character enters, my brother will condemn me together with the main character. Even though the conclusion of the condemnation is the collapse of the Sultarque Duchy. In that situation, it seems that the person himself will marry into his fiancée’s Marquisate.
It hit me like a blow to the head. It’s like saying that my brother in the game abandoned not only me, but also our father and the duchy. Were you so fascinated by the main character that you went crazy? It was so shocking that I couldn’t help but think so.
I’m a little scared of what kind of person my brother has become. There’s also been a five year blank, so honestly, it’s not like I really want to see him.
The third is the daughter of Viscount Cuei, Melinda. She is my only friend. I love how candid she is.
When I was 12, she just happened to sit next to me at the theater. When I heard her ruthless whisper of “Hmm… 62 points” about the extremely popular lady-killer actor, I couldn’t help but laugh. She had box seats so I knew she was a noble, and I was delighted to find out that she was the same age as me. She doesn’t appear in the game at all, so she’s also reassuring company.
You can probably guess this by now, but my relationships are very few. This is due to the rumor that ‘the daughter of the Duke of Sultarque is not loved by the Duke’ that circulated for a time.
Apparently, my father had the experience of my brother as a baby crying a lot because of him, so there was a time when he didn’t even try to get close to me when I was just born. He said, “She’s a girl, so she needs to be raised even more carefully,” and thus, it had been three years since he had been holding back from coming to see me and just watched me from afar, so in a way it was amazing.
In addition to being a Duke, my father has always been quite good-looking. My mother, who caught him, was stormed with jealousy from the start. Mother was strong-willed and she herself wasn’t bothered, but she couldn’t stop the malicious rumors. By the time my mother finally seized my father with great difficulty, and succeeded in bringing him to me, I was already three years old. Little me greeted my father, who appeared while being dragged, with a smile, and father cried and gladly corrected his behaviour.
However, rumors once spread do not disappear. They decided to raise me wrapped in silk padding so I wouldn’t come in contact with malicious people and rumors. Even though they knew it would narrow my world, still, no matter what, I was precious to my parents.
TL/N:
• ¹ capture target – love interest you can pursue in a dating sim
• ² route – a unique branching storyline determined by the player’s choices
• as a fun reminder, Japanese high schools only have three years (grades 10-12 everywhere else), so Vanderlei will graduate at the end of the current school year