However, the Claes family did not accept Keith as one of their own. His adoptive older sister, Katarina, who received all her father’s attention up until then, came to hate her adopted brother. To make things worse, Duke Claes’ wife jumped to conclusions, assuming that Keith was the child of her husband’s non-existent mistress. She, too, distanced herself from Keith.
Faced with the potential wrath of the young lady and Madam Claes, even the servants of the house were powerless to help him openly. Keith would spend most of his time alone, cooped up in his room. To cover up his childhood trauma and feelings of abandonment, Keith would in turn become a womanizer, building up quite the terrible reputation.
After enrolling into the academy, Keith would meet the protagonist, first approaching her with his flirtatious playboy façade. He would, however, eventually be drawn to the protagonist’s gentle nature, her bright smile slowly healing the pain he had felt over the years. Before he knew it, he becomes the charmed one. For the first time in his life, Keith realizes that he truly loves someone.
As expected, Katarina Claes plays quite the huge role in this route, living up to her villainous reputation. Enraged at the fact that the mere commoner of a protagonist had the gall to speak to someone from the Claes household, Katarina continually bullies Keith and his newfound love, all in the name of keeping the noble bloodlines pure.
And what awaited Katarina at the end of the Keith route was...
In the happy ending, the protagonist succeeds in romancing Keith. Much like Jeord’s scenario, Katarina is stripped of her title and exiled from the kingdom for her continuous harassment of Keith and his love. Soon after, Keith would leave the Claes family, eloping with the protagonist.
In the bad ending, Keith fails to protect the protagonist from one of Katarina’s ploys, and is severely injured and scarred in the process. Having sunken to the depths of despair, Keith summons up a powerful burst of magic, killing his sister in retaliation, before disappearing into the far corners of the lands.
Taking in all the relevant information, I sighed deeply.
How could this be? Why does Katarina Claes have no happy ends?! These are all terrible bad endings! In fact, if anything had changed, it was how Katarina died! By the sword, by magic... To be fair, she worked hard as a villainess. How could she only have bad ends? This is too sad!
And so it came to be that we held yet another strategy meeting, determined to rise up from the ashes against yet another Catastrophic Bad End Flag.
Without further ado, let the second Katarina Claes Catastrophic Bad End Avoidance Strategy Meeting commence.
“Keeping with the trend established by our first meeting, I look forward to your great ideas, ladies.”
“I have a suggestion.”
“Yes. Well then, Lady Katarina Claes, if you would.”
“This Catastrophic Bad End doesn’t differ that much from Jeord’s scenario. Could we not simply continue to hone our skills at the sword, and work towards establishing a magic-fueled business empire in the event of exile?”
“However... in this case, the sword has nothing to do with how Katarina was done in! If she is slain by magic, we will have to counter it with magic of our own!”
“But take into consideration that the enemy has strong magical aptitude. In fact, the only reason why he was adopted by the main family was due to his strong magic! Katarina, who can only use Earth Raiser, could not possibly compare, no matter how hard she worked!”
“In addition, the enemy is ever-present! He is under this very same roof. We cannot afford to let our guard down!”
“N-No... How can that be? What should we do?! We’ve come this far, and even avoided Jeord’s Catastrophic Bad End!”
“In this case... we have no choice. We’ll... have to tie up loose ends.”
“EH?! Do you mean...?!”
“I value my own life, you know. There’s no choice...”
“No... That can’t be!”
“You’ll have to do it yourself. There’s no other way. Although he is the cute little brother I’ve always wanted... nothing can be done! There is no other way! We have to stuff him into a box and throw him down the manor’s longest flight of stairs!!”
“N-No... I can’t do something that cruel...”
“But there are no other solutions!”
“Um. Apologies for interrupting your heated discussion, but... if I may?”
“What is it, Lady Katarina Claes?! Do you have any better suggestions that could turn this entire thing around?!”
“...Yes. To be precise... Keith only fell for the protagonist because her presence healed his loneliness and pain. So... if Keith isn’t lonely in the first place, he wouldn’t fall for the protagonist, would he...?”
“?!?!”
“And... if Keith doesn’t fall for the protagonist, Katarina Claes would not face a Catastrophic Bad End!”
“Wh-What insight! What wisdom! Katarina Claes, you are a GENIUS!”
“Yes! That’s exactly it! This is wonderful!!”
“Well then, all we have to do is ensure that Keith isn’t lonely. Is that the battle plan?”
“Yes, of course. However... how exactly would we ensure that he isn’t lonely?”
“Hmm. How about we never leave him to his own devices... and just spoil him, and stay by his side often?”
“Well, that’s simple enough. All we have to do is shower our adopted brother with love! So to summarize... We just have to do what we wanted to do in the first place! How delightful!”
“Well then, with this, I declare that the appropriate way to disarm the Keith Claes Catastrophic Bad End Flag would be to simply shower him with sisterly love.”
“Agreed.”
“Agreed.”
And with this, the second Katarina Claes Catastrophic Bad End Avoidance Strategy Meeting came to an end.
“To think that all I had to do was love my adopted little brother!” This is far too amazing for me to believe. “I’ll invite him out to play tomorrow...” And with that, I promptly fell asleep.
I did, however, forget one important detail...
In the game of Fortune Lover, even Katarina’s mother picked on Keith, eventually contributing to his suffering and loneliness.
The next day, we were both seated at the breakfast table. Keith seemed somewhat recovered from his journey after a night’s worth of rest. Not wanting to pass up this opportunity, I immediately invited Keith out to play.
“The weather today is delightful — I’ll show you around the garden, Keith. You must not have seen it, given how you went to bed straight away last night.”
“Y-Yes. Thank you very much, Lady Katarina,” Keith said, acknowledging my words formally. My own adopted brother, treating my like a stranger! I puffed out my cheeks in defiance.
“Keith, we are brother and sister, you know. You should call me Big Sister! Also, you can drop the formalities with me.”
“But then, would that not be rude of me...” Keith said, somewhat wary of my suggestion.
“Ugh, we’re siblings, Keith! It’s fine! Also, I’ve always wanted a younger sibling to call me Big Sister. It is one of my many dreams! Please, don’t be afraid to call me that!” I said, my face now dangerously close to Keith’s. In my excitement, I had forgotten to monitor my behavior — Keith now looked adequately taken aback, and was shrinking into his seat.
Then, at my fervent request, Keith finally referred to me as “Big Sister.” Oh, cute little adoptive younger brother of mine. This is pure bliss.
With that, I pulled Keith behind me as I ran out of the manor and into the garden. The clear blue sky and good weather made it a perfect day for a walk. As expected for a duke’s manor, it was pointlessly and impossibly large. In fact, a small stream ran through the grounds, complete with the obligatory pond.
“There are fish in this stream, Keith! We can fish here.”
“...Fish...?” Keith, who had been peeking out at the stream from behind me, seemed surprised as
he heard this.
“Yes, fishing! Have you never done it before?”
“...No, I have not...”
“I’m pretty good at it, you know? We should try it together next time!”
“You have... fished before?”
“Yes, I’ll teach you all I know, Keith.” I said, nodding proudly. This only served to amplify Keith’s surprise, however. In fact, he had been like this for the past few minutes.
While I had not yet fished since becoming Katarina, I did fish up baskets of carp and crayfish in my previous life. As such, I had the utmost confidence that I would be able to do the same in this life as well.
Next, I led Keith to the fields. Ever since my first encounter with Prince Jeord, I had received a lot of assistance from the gardeners and servants with regards to my little project, and small sprouts of various vegetables now peeked out of the tilled dirt.
“This over here is an eggplant... And there are the tomatoes,” I said, pointing out the crops to Keith. It would seem that the vegetables in this world were largely the same as those I had seen in my previous life.
“...Fields? Did you... make this field, Big Sister?”
“Yes, I did! In the beginning, I was doing it myself, but I guess it’s a little difficult for a complete amateur. Now, the gardeners and servants help me with it. I promised that we would hold a party and cook up a storm after the harvest. Make sure you have some as well, Keith.”
At my words, Keith’s expression of surprise seemed to have reached its zenith. He had been like this all day. Looking at Keith’s cute face and perpetually open, gaping-in-surprise mouth, I couldn’t help but recall his original character settings.
Keith, who had spent all his childhood cooped up alone in his room. He probably never really had the chance to play outside, let alone see any of these sights. I wanted to show more and more things to him.
“Keith... I’ll show you my favorite place next!” I grabbed Keith’s hand once more, leading him away in a flurry of footsteps.
“Here it is!” I said, pointing to a large tree on the outskirts of the garden. It was the largest tree on the family manor’s grounds, and was my definite favorite. I would often read books under it, or take naps in the shade. But more than anything else...
“The scenery you see from up there is the best!”
It was as I said — the view from the top of the garden’s tallest tree was indeed spectacular. According to my memories, Katarina was not very interested in climbing trees. I, on the other hand, was once known as a wild monkey for my tree-climbing tendencies. Naturally, the prospect of climbing such a tall tree excited me.
In fact, I had marked this tree for climbing quite a while ago, and had eventually managed to make it all the way to the top during breaks from field work.
“Tree climbing...?”
“Yes, tree climbing! Have you climbed a tree before, Keith?”
Keith, with his mouth still open wide and gaping, shook his head in response. That would be a no, I suppose.
“Well then! I will teach you all I know. First, observe my movements...”
With that, I took off my shoes and tossed them carelessly to one side. After hiking up my dress, I latched onto the tree’s trunk and began climbing it.
Although the dress hampered my mobility more than my typical gardening overalls did, such an obstacle could not possibly stop me — before long, I had made good progress. Such was the power of one who was known as the Giant Ape of the Backyard Hills. My tree-climbing had apparently caused my family great embarrassment, however, and many a time they pleaded with me to stop.
I continued my ascent. Now used to the dress, I entered a focused state of mind, increasing my speed as I climbed. Faster and faster I went. The genius of tree climbing, the wild monkey... I had many names, but I did have one flaw...
And that was getting a little too ahead of myself. My parents, and even my teachers often had the same warning to give — in fact, this very flaw was the reason why I had so untimely passed on from my previous life in the first place.
Even after dying once and having been reborn, I unfortunately still had that same flaw plaguing my mind — I suppose old habits die hard.
Having reached the middle of the tree, I turned, waving to Keith at the bottom with a beaming smile on my face. Safety was no longer a consideration. Feeling somewhat invincible, I intensified my waving. This, of course, predictably led to me losing my balance and falling off the tree altogether.
As I fell in slow motion down onto the garden grounds, my previous family’s parting words echoed in my mind. “You fool of a daughter...!”
With a tremendous thud I landed, bottom-first on the ground. I steeled my mind — it was impossible for me to not have been injured, having fallen from such a height.
But... Hmm? It doesn’t hurt very much at all. Am I that sturdy? In fact, it feels like I had landed on something soft...
I turned my gaze downwards.
“K-Keith?!”
Did my cute adopted brother become a soft cushion for my behind when I wasn’t looking?! In fact, why does it look like I’ve landed on him bottom-first, and why is he sprawled out on the ground like that?!
“Noooo! Keith... Don’t die, Keith...! Alas, my poor, cute adopted brother!!” Hugging Keith’s sprawled-out body, I started bawling my lungs out.
Is this punishment for me considering throwing him down the stairs in a box last night? No... it can’t be. To think that I have brought death to my adopted brother with my behind!
My crying intensified as I howled out Keith’s name. “KEEEEEEITH! DON’T DIE!!”
“Um... Big Sister?”
“Don’t die... Who... Who could have known? How could this be? How could I kill my adopted brother with my behind?! Keith...!!”
“Um... are you listening to me, Big Sister?”
“Don’t dieeeee!! KEEEEEEITHHHH!!”
“Big Sister KATARINA!!”
A sudden loud voice snapped me out of my grief. Looking up from the body that I had been hugging, I came face to face with Keith, his eyes now wide open. For a moment, our blue eyes met, and confusion and relief stirred in my chest.
“Keith?! Y... YOU’RE ALIVE!!” Overcome with emotion, I hugged Keith even harder. My adopted brother, however, suddenly became somewhat rigid in my arms.
“Wha— Does it hurt somewhere, Keith??”
“...I am all right. I just... fell on my back. Just a small impact to the back. I’m fine,” Keith said with a faint smile.
He doesn’t look fine to me at all! Keith must be pretending to be all right for my sake...!
“Wait here, Keith. I’ll get some help and bring you back to the manor right away.”
Due to the fact that I had been a commoner in my last life, I was not exactly used to having an entourage, and so I had dismissed my servants prior to setting out. To think that something like this would happen in their absence...
Reassuring Keith despite my own panicked expression, I turned and ran as fast as I could to the manor.
Fortunately, Keith seemed to have just been left with a bit of a bruise — according to the doctor, he would recover in no time.
As I prostrated myself before my adopted younger brother in genuine remorse, Keith, the angel he was, merely said, “I am glad you are unhurt, Big Sister.”
Moved by his gentle nature, I started bawling my heart out once more. With that, I was forgiven by Keith, and was adequately cautioned by my father and the servants to be more careful as I was out and about. With this, my adventure was over...
Or so I thought...
After finishing my dinner, I retreated to my room, ready to roll straight into bed. Before I could do that, however, I received a summons from my mother.
Honestly speaking, I had been making a conscious effort to avoid her ever since the engagement arrangements with Jeord. I couldn’t help but wonder what she wanted me for. In any case, I allowed Anne to tidy up my hair as much as she could, and then made
my way to my mother’s chambers.
On my way to her room, a certain detail emerged from the depths of my mind. Come to think of it... in the setting of the game, Katarina’s mother, Madam Claes, also gave Keith quite the hard time, due to the misunderstanding that he was the child of her husband’s mistress.
Yes, now I remember — I heard such rumors circulating amongst the servants when Keith was first taken to the household, probably due to his blue eyes, which are similar to my father’s. To make things worse, the marriage between Madam Millidiana Claes and my father, Duke Luigi Claes, was more political than romantic... which is hardly a rare sight in the world of nobles.
While my father was a daughter-obsessed, somewhat jovial middle-aged man now, he had been quite the playboy in the past, and had no shortage of female suitors who were lining up in hopes of becoming his bride.
Millidiana Adiss, in turn, was the second daughter of the Adiss family, which was coincidentally of similar social standing to the Claes family. With her upwards-slanting, almond-shaped eyes and her somewhat shy demeanor, however, few suitors seemed interested in her.
At the recommendation of Duke Adiss, it was seen as beneficial for both families to be united, with Luigi taking Millidiana as his bride... And that was the short, abridged history of my parents’ marriage.
On the surface, the two didn’t seem to fight or argue, but even Katarina, their daughter, could see that her parents were somewhat aloof from one another. This was why Keith was assumed to be my father’s illegitimate child, given the similarity of their eyes... Thus swirled the rumors amongst the servants.
And that, unfortunately, was exacerbated by the servants claiming that “the young miss has done it again,” due to my tree-climbing misadventure...
Despite all those rumors, I had first-hand knowledge of the game, and knew full well that Keith was no illegitimate child. My mother, however, did not have that privilege. For both their sakes, I had to make sure that the truth of the matter was understood...
At that moment, my thoughts were interrupted by a set of imposing doors — we had arrived. Upon entering the room, I was surprised to see my father and Keith there as well...
My Next Life as a Villainess: All Routes Lead to Doom!, Volume 1 Page 4
