My Next Life as a Villainess

by Satoru Yamaguchi

  So that was why he didn’t want to talk about it. It was true that I couldn’t think well of a man who surrounded himself with dozens of women like that, but... “The former king and you are two different people. Something like this would never change my opinion of you, Prince Jeord,” I told him with a smile. “I also know for sure that you’re not the kind of person to be unfaithful or play around with women.”

  I had known him for around ten years now, so I had a pretty good idea of the kind of person he was. “So don’t worry about your granddad, and... Prince Jeord? What’s wrong?”

  He was looking down even lower than before, hiding his face. I made to get up and move towards him, worried that he may be feeling sick, but he gestured for me to stop.

  “I am sorry. Please... wait for a while. I cannot... show you my face right now,” he said.

  Why couldn’t he show me his face? I took a good look at him and noticed that his ears were turning red. Maybe he had gotten a nosebleed from the heat! It was a very hot day, he had been running around looking for me, and to top it all off, he had been drinking this hot tea.

  The handsome, perfect prince with a nosebleed... of course he wouldn’t want to show that to anyone.

  Understanding the situation, I went back to eating pastries, trying as much as possible not to look at him, waiting for his nosebleed to stop. Look at me. I’ve grown into such a thoughtful lady.

  After a while, presumably after his nosebleed stopped, he turned his beautiful face back up. “Thank you, Katarina,” he said with a smile.

  Pretending not to see a nosebleed was expected of a noblewoman such as myself. Taking care not to look at his nose, I smiled back, saying, “You’re welcome.”

  After chatting about unrelated things for some time, I remembered why I’d come here in the first place.

  “Ah, Prince Jeord, I meant to ask you something. Did you see the book that was inside the bag I forgot here at the castle?”

  “Book? Oh, you mean that kind of book which you and your friends like reading. I saw the cover, but I did not open it. Why do you ask?” he asked suspiciously.

  “It’s nothing. It’s just not the kind of book that I’d like boys to see,” I said, making up a random excuse.

  “Is that so?” he asked with a smile.

  That meant that Jeord probably didn’t know about the note. My investigation had been fruitless.

  “I have work tomorrow, so I’d better go,” I said after a while, and he saw me off to the gate.

  “I will go to visit you the next time I have a free day,” he said, smiling at me.

  “I know how busy you are, so don’t worry if you can’t.”

  “Not being able to see you is what worries me the most,” he whispered sensually in my ear, making my whole body go limp.

  So little time after having a nosebleed, he had already got his cool back, and his mannerisms were as sexy as usual. I didn’t expect anything less from FL1’s main love interest.

  I let the breeze coming into the carriage’s window cool off my blushing face and eventually reached home. Once there, I worked in the fields for the first time in a long while.

  Ah, farming is awesome. I feel so relaxed the second I take my trusty hoe in my hands. And the weather’s so good! This is the perfect day off.

  However I had learned nothing new about the note, and had no more leads left to follow. Unsure of what I should do next, I stared at the blue sky, waiting for a good idea to come to me. None came.

  I stayed in the fields until it was time for dinner. Both my parents and Keith had already come back home, so we all ate together.

  The fact that I had run around in the castle while pulling up my dress had already been reported to Mother, who ignored the fact that it had been an emergency and got mad at me, giving me a lecture so long and tiresome that, when I finally went back to my room, I ended up falling asleep before I could worry about any of the many things that I had to think about regarding my future.

  ★★★★★★

  After finishing what little official business I was required to attend to in the morning, I returned to the office that was adjacent to my room to begin work on some documents.

  That morning’s matters had taken less time than I had expected, so as soon as I was done with this paperwork, I would be free. Since my fiancée Katarina was not working that day, I could visit her house to see her.

  Just when I was done and preparing to leave, I heard that Anne, Katarina’s maid, had lost sight of her inside the castle. I had been intending to visit her, but to think that she had already come here — and that she was lost, at that...

  I met with the maid and asked her for details. It turned out that Katarina had been chasing around her dog, who had run away. Losing sight of one’s mistress inside the castle would normally be worthy of reprehension, but, considering that her mistress was Katarina, if anything I felt pity for the poor maid.

  My lovely fiancée was not quite like any other noblewoman. When she ran, she did not hold anything back. If she was wearing a dress, she would just pull it up and go off at such a speed that no normal woman could hope to catch up to her.

  I thanked the maid for her efforts and helped her look for her mistress, deducing where Katarina could be based on the direction she had been running towards.

  “Katarina!” I called out again and again while making my way through the hallways.

  After a while, I finally heard her carefree voice, replying casually from deep within the castle.

  “Yes?”

  She came towards us, and I made sure to sternly tell her not to do weird things on her own, and to think before running off. After I had scolded her, and she had realized that her maid had requested my help in looking for her, she apologized to me.

  “I’m very sorry. I heard that you were very busy with work today, and I made you lose time looking for me,” she said.

  That was most curious. My official work for the day was a simple greeting, and my schedule was no secret. I asked her who had told her that, and she said that it was her brother.

  My rival in love had lied to her so that she would interact with me as little as possible. I made a mental note to give him a piece of my mind at the next opportunity.

  We eventually reached the guest room, where the servants had prepared tea, and I asked Katarina something that I had been wondering about — namely, how far into the castle she had gone.

  She had run towards me and her maid from deep inside the hallway. It was not that there was anything dangerous in the building, but I could not control the whole place at once. I needed to know how far she had wandered in order to properly admonish her.

  With her usual casual, endearing expression, she gave me the most surprising answer: she had reached that place, the one where we normally did not go, and there she had met the former queen.

  That room, hidden in a corner that people rarely approached, was surrounded on the outside by trees, covering it in darkness even during the day. I remembered thinking of it as a somewhat frightening place as a child.

  While I tried to recall at what age I first found out about my recluse uncle, who was not himself much older than my older brothers, Katarina suddenly frowned and apologized about not knowing the former queen. I told her that it was not a problem at all — Katarina certainly was far from good at remembering people, but, in this case, it was not her fault.

  “I see! So, what’s the problem?” she asked, looking even more troubled.

  As it turned out, she had seen my expression grow concerned, although I had not noticed it myself. That would normally never happen to me, but my self-control was not as steady when I was with her.

  I should just tell her the whole truth, I thought. After knowing her for all these years, I understood that Katarina was completely immune to subtlety.

  I honestly told her that I was embarrassed that she had found out about the unfortunate circumstances of one of my relatives. She cocked her head to one side, looking ge
nuinely confused. I told her that the man refusing to leave his room was my uncle, and she remarked that she had heard there were serious reasons for why he was doing so.

  Of course, I thought to myself, surprised. How could I forget that my fiancée is such a person? She would never despise someone because of something so superficial. She always gets to know people before judging them.

  That is why I decided to tell her what I had not planned to reveal until after our marriage — the truth about my despicable grandfather...

  I told her about him, his promiscuity, the way he used his power to gather women around him, and the terrible battle for the throne that ensued because of him. She listened to my explanation without ever averting her gaze.

  Finally, I mustered my courage and told her my opinion of him. “My grandfather’s licentiousness disgusts me, and I have no intention of becoming like him. However, I cannot deny that I am his grandson,” I said, unable to contain a sigh.

  I then asked her, “Do you hate me now that you know what kind of promiscuous blood flows into my veins?”

  If I may say so myself, I had always been an extremely gifted prince, without any noticeable flaw. I was good at reading people and well-liked within noble society. But, even then, there was nothing I could do about this heritage of mine.

  No matter what I thought of him, I could not change the fact that the former king, a man whose mere mention was enough to upset many people, was my grandfather. That was why I had hesitated to speak about him to Katarina before our wedding.

  I was worried that she would despise him, and, by extension, his grandson — me. I knew that Katarina was not like other people. I knew that she likely would not care, but still, I could not shake this fear.

  I waited for the answer like a criminal waiting for judgment.

  “The former king and you are two different people. Something like this would never change my opinion of you, Prince Jeord. I also know for sure that you’re not the kind of person to be unfaithful or play around with women.”

  That was even more than I could have hoped for. Not only did she not think less of me, but she also said that she knew that I was not the kind of person to act like my grandfather.

  I once again felt that Katarina Claes was the greatest person I had ever met, and meeting her was, in fact, the happiest thing to have ever happened to me.

  I could not keep my face from turning red as my composure fell apart, but I did not want Katarina to see me like that. I hid my face and thanked her.

  When I finally regained enough self-composure to look back at her, she was smiling at me. We chatted some more about other trivial matters, and then I escorted her to the carriage that took her home.

  I promised to visit her as soon as I had the time. Missing the point, she said not to worry if I could not make it. I whispered, “Not being able to see you is what worries me the most,” in her ear, and the way she blushed was so lovely that my expression risked falling apart once more.

  Chapter 3: I Found a Fantastic Field

  Anne woke me up, and I went to work. I was well rested after a day off.

  I reached the Ministry by carriage and I went to the office, where Laura would be leading me as I did manual labor like on the previous days.

  I’m going to do my best today too! I thought to myself while rolling up my sleeves. However, looking at my sleeves, I realized that my outfit wasn’t exactly ideal for manual labor.

  “Having to wear a dress, and then the uniform on top of it is really cumbersome...” I murmured to myself, catching the attention of my tanktop-wearing colleague.

  “Cumbersome indeed!” he said. “Do you want one of these?” he asked with a smile, offering me a tanktop that looked just like the one he was wearing.

  I had to refuse his kind offer. I could have accepted it if I was still the monkey-like girl of my previous life, but as an adult noblewoman, a tanktop would be too much. Not to mention that it was still too cold to go sleeveless. But even if I didn’t go all the way to a tanktop...

  “Maybe it’d be okay if I wore work clothes...” I murmured to myself.

  “Definitely not,” said Sora coldly. “The rules say that we have to wear the uniform. This is the only department where people dress as they please.”

  Well, he’s right. Tanktops, lab coats, frilly dresses... Everyone was wearing what they wanted, even though it was obviously against the rules.

  As it turned out, it was because the department’s director, Larna, didn’t really care about rules, and wouldn’t scold anyone for their clothes. Her subordinates took this as an opportunity to substitute the uniform for whatever they liked.

  It was no surprise that the rule-abiding Cyrus Lanchester disliked us. This smart and handsome romanceable character from FL2 was the head of the Magic Powers Department. He attached great importance to rules and laws, and he disliked the Magical Tool Laboratory for being a collection of weirdos who couldn’t care less about such things.

  But he did help me when those jerks were harassing me in the library, so he probably wasn’t a bad person. Just like Dewey, he could have something to do with a catastrophic Bad End, so, if possible, I wanted to befriend him and gather more information. But... even if he didn’t categorically dislike our department, I didn’t see how we could ever become friends.

  According to my colleagues, he came from a relatively high-ranking family. He was diligent and talented, and he was considered a perfect, flawless individual. He was held in high esteem within the Ministry and respected by his subordinates, but he only spoke the bare minimum and wasn’t on particularly friendly terms with anyone.

  Being in a different department (and one that he hated, at that), it wouldn’t be easy to casually chat him up. If I had at least played through FL2, I would know more about his background and tastes, and I could use those things to start a conversation... But I hadn’t, and all the information I had came from that dream and that note. I had nothing that could help me befriend him.

  And if we were inside the game, I’d just need to wait for him to talk to me and then choose the dialogue option which would make him like me the most... But unfortunately, this was reality. And I was the antagonist anyway, not the protagonist. He’d only approach me to fight...

  ...Haah, this is so sad, I thought to myself, sighing deeply.

  “Sorry to interrupt you while you’re busy reflecting, but Laura said we should get to work,” Sora said all of a sudden, giving me an exasperated look.

  “Yes,” I said, forgetting my sorrows to concentrate on my job. Today, too, I’d be delivering packages. I still had much to learn and I made a few mistakes here and there, but the whole day went by without any major problems.

  When we were close to the end of the day, our other tutor, Hart, taught us a little about paperwork. He only showed us the relatively easy documents, but even then there was a lot to be wary of, and I definitely would have preferred to keep delivering stuff throughout the building.

  “Good. Now they are complete. Would you deliver them to the proper departments?” Hart said, handing me and Sora some documents.

  “Should I tag along?” Sora asked, worried that I might get lost.

  But the documents he had were supposed to be delivered to a department on the other side of the building from where I was headed, so if he came with me, he’d have to go back and forth for no reason. Plus, I had already been to the department I needed to go to a couple of times to deliver packages, so I knew where it was. I explained that to Sora, and went to deliver the documents on my own for the first time.

  I was a bit nervous, but the kind-looking colleague who I found there just accepted the documents without any problem. Feeling accomplished after having completed my first solo task, I was on my way back to the Magical Tool Laboratory when I heard a lot of fuss behind the door of that department.

  It was the Biomagic Department, and the monkey was probably at it again. I was warned that I’d be in for some trouble if their director, who was in
terested in Pochi, caught sight of me, so I wanted to avoid that as much as possible. I walked faster to get away, but...

  “Ooh ooh ahh ahh!”

  “Huh? What?”

  I looked back, surprised by the weird noise I’d just heard, and I felt something heavy fall onto my head.

  Wh-What is this?!

  The something on my head started pulling at my hair.

  “Ouch! What?! Ouch!” I screamed, and I felt the weight lift from my head. The monkey I’d met before was now standing in front of me, holding my barrette — the one I always used to fix my hair — in its hand.

  “Hey! That’s mine! Give it back!” I said, going after it. But it just grinned and started running away!

  “Wait! Give my barrette back!” I said, pulling up my skirt and sprinting after the monkey, just like I had done with Pochi the previous day at the castle.

  “...Where am I?” I asked myself, panting.

  I had been running blindly after the monkey and ended up in a place I didn’t know. Getting lost two days in a row... Just my luck.

  At least yesterday I’d managed to get Pochi, but today, even after all the running I’d done, I’d lost sight of the monkey. What a complete fail.

  I really liked that barrette! You friggin’ monkey, what do you have against me?!

  Dejected, I looked around to try to find my way back, but there was no clear path. There weren’t even any buildings in sight.

  Why am I in the middle of nature all of a sudden?

  The Ministry’s entrance had a gate which was guarded, and you had to identify yourself before leaving, but I hadn’t passed by anything like that. So that meant that this place, surrounded by grass and trees, was inside the Ministry. What was this place?

  I knew that the building was very large, but I didn’t expect it to have a place like this inside it. I worried that I wouldn’t be able to ever find my way back.

  Maybe Sora or Hart will realize I’m missing and come looking for me. No, wait, if Hart started looking for me that would just be one more lost person, and then they’d have to go looking for him too... Please stay in the office...