The girl before me was like a real incarnation of Sophia herself. But unlike the character she was here, standing before me in the flesh.
I stared at the girl, unable to comprehend what I was seeing.
“Um... a-about just now...” Her snow-white cheeks were now flushed, a gentle shade of red slowly spreading through her face.
Ah, this is just like that scene! Just like how Sophia reacts when she first lays eyes upon Princess Emerald! That very same blush.
Unfortunately for the girl, I was no beautiful princess, but instead Katarina Claes, villainess extraordinaire... all thanks to this face of mine.
If I recall, the princess said this exact line to Sophia...
“What pretty hair you have. Just like strands of silk... would you mind if I ran my fingers through it, just ever so slightly?”
“...Eh?!” The girl before me seemed shocked. Her expression was enough to wake me up from my daydream...
Ugh! What have I done? My fantasies slipped out from my lips before I knew it!
The girl shifted her weight from one leg to another, apparently in a state of panic. A natural reaction if confronted by a fairy-tale prince... of course. But to think that the person who said it to her was none other than me, with my villainess-like face! If I were her, I would be afraid, truly afraid!
“Ah... Um. I meant to say...” I desperately searched for an excuse.
The panicked girl, however, suddenly blurted out a line of her own. “...Princess Emerald.”
WHAT?! Is... could this possibly be?!
Before I could stop myself, I gripped her shoulders, moving my face close to hers. “Princess Emerald! From the romance novels!! Perhaps... maybe! You know of Princess Emerald and Sophia too?!”
Intimidated by my sudden approach and the fact that I was gripping her by the shoulders, the girl nodded rapidly, her panic hardly fading. Encouraged, I listed off various titles, only to have the girl nod at each and every single one of them.
I can’t believe it! I’ve found her! My comrade-in-arms in romance novel appreciation!
That’s not all! Just like the character in the story, she’s also stunningly beautiful!
I... I am overcome. With emotion, with gratitude.
I stood, shivering in place...
“...What are you doing, Big Sister?” A familiar, yet somewhat suspicious-sounding voice. Suspicious of... me?
Turning in the direction of the voice, I was greeted by Keith, my adopted brother, flanked by Mary.
“...What? Whatever do...” I turned back to the girl, observing my own behavior.
I had apparently captured her with my hands, one on each shoulder at some point in time. My face was close to hers, and my nostrils were flared up in excitement.
Ah, yes. I look like the classic pervert.
“Wah! I-I apologize.” I muttered, promptly letting the girl go. I could feel surprised stares converging on me from all directions.
Yes, truly... I am sorry. In my sudden bout of elation, all logic left my being.
Come to think of it, I don’t even know her name!! And to make it worse, I didn’t tell her mine!
What terrible social faux pas, enough to disqualify me as a noble lady!
Lifting my dress as slightly and elegantly as I could, I curtsied, issuing a formal social greeting.
“I do apologize for my manners. I am Katarina Claes. Very pleased to make your acquaintance.”
Despite the fact that she had been captured by a suspicious-looking villainess, and was now being formally greeted by her, the girl greeted me in kind — as expected of little ladies with noble upbringing.
“...Sophia Ascart.”
What?! She’s... Sophia? Like the Sophia in the book? Was Sophia based off this beautiful girl before me?!
My unbridled excitement and literary arousal was off the charts.
“Lady Sophia! If it would please you, would you like to speak in greater detail with me?” I asked enthusiastically, grasping Sophia’s hands in my own.
Keith, however, who had been standing next to me this entire time, promptly reminded me of the situation at hand.
“Big Sister, I do apologize for interrupting you in the midst of such spirited conversation... but the tea party has already ended. We should make the appropriate preparations and return to the manor.”
“?!”
WHAT?! B-But my passionate discussions on novels! We’ve barely started!
In that case...!
“Well then, Lady Sophia. If you would like, please feel free to pay a visit to the Claes manor...”
“...Eh? Um...”
Grasping Sophia’s hands once again, I issued her a quick invitation, and was elated as she promptly accepted.
I did it! Not wanting to waste the opportunity, I decided on a date and time for the visit on the spot.
“Well then, I will be eagerly awaiting your arrival.”
With that, and an adequately large smile, I bid Sophia farewell and turned to return to the manor with Keith.
And so it came to be that I met the comrade I desired at this royal tea party. Not only would she discuss my favorite novels with me, she even looked like a character from my favorite book! What a HUGE SUCCESS!
I grinned widely all the way back in the horse carriage as Keith looked on, a somewhat surprised and flabbergasted expression on his face.
It was soon the promised day — and as expected, Sophia turned up at the Claes manor. I had been looking forward to this the entire morning.
“Young Miss, the Lady Sophia you had been speaking about has arrived, but...” Anne, apparently here to inform me of Sophia’s arrival, seemed a little off.
But this is it! Sophia is here! In my haste to see her, I dashed out of the room, leaving Anne with a cursory word of thanks.
As expected, Sophia was standing in the guest parlor, awaiting my arrival. Beautiful as always... but oh? For some reason, there was another person by her side — a ravishing youth.
With his raven-black hair and eyes, he seemed somewhat different from Sophia in appearance. Upon closer inspection, however, I found that this was not the case — their facial similarities suggested familial ties. Like two perfect dolls, they stood side by side, perfectly complimenting each other.
If I had to guess, this was the reason why Anne was so surprised earlier. Entranced by their beauty, I could only stare at them in wonderment — the boy, however, was the first to call out to me.
“Thank you very much for extending an invitation to my sister. My sister seldom ventures out on her own, so I have come with her. My name is Nicol. I am Sophia’s elder brother.”
My hunch was indeed accurate — this impossibly handsome youth was Sophia’s brother.
I was slightly surprised at Nicol’s statement. Sophia must have been quite the sheltered child. Perhaps I wasn’t one to talk. I was sheltered in my own way, primarily due to my mother insisting that, “You will have Keith accompany you when heading out at all times. You will listen to what Keith says, and under no circumstances will you do anything strange.”
As such, Keith was predictably always by my side. Yes, on account of us both being so sheltered, we will surely be fast friends.
With those thoughts in mind, I curtsied properly, first to Sophia’s brother and then to Sophia herself. “No, the pleasure is all mine. Thank you for coming. I am Katarina Claes.”
“Nicol Ascart, elder brother of Sophia Ascart. Pleased to make your acquaintance,” he said, introducing himself once more.
I froze at those words. Nicol Ascart... a name that I was familiar with. I had definitely heard it somewhere before. “Ah, excuse my ignorance, but would you happen to be Chancellor Ascart’s son...?”
“Yes. That is correct.”
No way?! This person is a potential love interest in Fortune Lover, Nicol Ascart! No wonder he’s so pretty and handsome!
Honestly speaking, I had wanted to drop everything and return to my room this very instant so I could pull ou
t the archives and give them a good read. That wasn’t exactly something I could do in this moment, so I did my best to recall what details I could.
Nicol Ascart... son of Chancellor Ascart, and a childhood friend of Alan’s. A year older than the protagonist, and an upperclassman in the Academy who was famous for saying relatively little.
Hmm. Nope, this is all I can recall at the moment.
To begin with, I still hadn’t attempted Nicol’s route before my untimely death!
I’d planned to do it after finally succeeding with Jeord.
As a result, I knew very little of Nicol’s route... primarily on the account that I hadn’t even touched it. If not for one of my friends introducing the character to me, I would have never heard of him at all! That friend of mine had cleared his route beforehand, and was telling us all about it.
Let me see... according to what my friend Acchan said... the rival character in Nicol’s route is... that’s right! His sister!
Yes, I remember now! Nicol is hopelessly overprotective of his sister... and so Sophia is the rival in this case.
To successfully romance Nicol, one would first have to appropriately interact with Sophia... I vaguely recall Acchan saying something like that.
Ah, thank you so much, Acchan. And I am also very sorry for getting upset about the spoilers. Who would think that Acchan’s spoilers would be of assistance to me in such a scenario...?
So... if the rival character is indeed Sophia, that would mean that Katarina has nothing to do with it! There are no Catastrophic Bad Ends with Nicol!
In addition, if Sophia is indeed the rival character, Katarina won’t have any famous lines to steal... unlike the incident with Alan and Mary. At the very least, I hope I won’t end up doing the same thing again.
Well then! With this, there’ll be no problems even if I become good friends with Sophia. After all, she’s an ally, a comrade-in-arms in my enjoyment of romance novels!
I would never let her escape so easily...
“...Um. Lady Katarina...?”
It would seem that I, Katarina Claes, had once again fallen prey to my mental fantasies. Before I knew it, Sophia was looking straight at me with worry evident on her pretty face.
“Ah, Lady Sophia. I do apologize. It is nice to meet you again, truly! If you would like, I would be glad to continue our previous conversation...”
With that, I invited Sophia to a table that had been prepared for the occasion, lined with delicious tea and snacks. After that, Sophia and I spent quite some meaningful hours together.
While she was somewhat reserved and fearful at first, perhaps in response to a strange new environment, Sophia eventually opened up as the conversation shifted to books.
She really seemed to love her books. In addition to contemporary romance novels, she also read older fairy tales and myths, along with historical fiction and many other genres. It was truly an interesting conversation — she even gave me a few recommendations!
If there was one thing that did slightly bother me, however, it was the fact that Sophia’s brother Nicol hardly said a thing. In fact, he distanced himself from our discussion, simply watching on quietly. I felt somewhat bad about excluding him while we were having a cheerful and adequately girlish conversation. Perhaps I should have called Keith here to keep him company?
He really was quiet, just like his character setting. What a waste, given how dashing he is!
Time passed all too quickly without either of us noticing. We were both brought back to reality all too soon by one of Sophia’s entourage, who whispered that it was almost time for her to return.
Quickly standing up in response to the statement, Sophia’s hair glittered and shimmered, shining silently as I watched on, entranced. It’s really... beautiful. There’s no mistake about it — surely it would feel just like silk. Would she mind if I touched it... just a little bit?
“What beautiful hair you have... would you mind if I ran my fingers through it, just ever so slightly?”
The words had already escaped my lips before I could catch myself. I had blurted out a line from Princess Emerald and Sophia... and had delivered the line as if I were the princess herself.
In the novel, however... Sophia was blushing, her face stained a soft crimson. But here...
“...Eh?!”
What a disaster! I seem to have startled Sophia greatly! Oh no, I’ve done it! She looks positively distressed! What have you done now, Katarina Claes?!
While I had always happily played with Mary’s soft, sometimes wavy hair, I hadn’t thought about the fact that touching another noble lady’s hair in this world may be a social faux pas! Mary, of course, always seemed glad, but still...
To make things worse, I grabbed her by the shoulders and breathed into her face when I first met her! Surely she thinks I’m some sort of deviant! A pervert!
What a terrible turn of events!! Even if I do have a face of a villainess, I don’t want the title of pervert! Anything but that!
“...U-Um... well...” I stood rooted to the spot, internally panicking as I searched for an excuse.
“...you?”
“...Eh?”
Sophia repeated herself, her voice weak and quivering — it was an almost inaudible whisper. I calmly asked her to repeat herself.
“...Does it not... disgust you?” Sophia said, in a louder voice now.
Disgust? Disgust... you? Me? Wait! Is she disgusted by my seemingly perverse actions?!
No, no Sophia! You have it all wrong, I’m not a pervert at all!! All right, so maybe there was that incident from a year ago where I supposedly seduced Mary away from a certain haughty prince but... BUT! I don’t swing that way! I’m normal! I’m just a normal girl!!
“A-About that, I... uh...” An excuse! Think of one, quickly! Do it now!
“...Are you not disgusted by my appearance, Lady Katarina?”
I stood, gaping, having lost all my words and the train of thought behind them. Eh? What? The disgusting one here isn’t me... but Sophia? What?
Sophia continued on, evidently close to tears, as I stood with my mouth still agape like that of a gasping goldfish.
“...Does it not disgust you, Lady Katarina? This... white hair of mine, only seen in the elderly... these blood-red eyes. Everyone calls me a disgusting, cursed child...”
“?!”
WHAT?! How can something so beautiful be disgusting?!
Thus far, I had seen blonde, silver, brown, red, and black eyes and hair amongst the denizens of this world. As such, I had simply assumed that Sophia’s white hair and red eyes were relatively normal. To think... she was ostracized for it? Wasn’t that strange? And then there was that...
“...Cursed? What do you mean...?”
Sophia attempted to answer my question, even amidst her tumultuous emotions. But it was Nicol, her brother, who spoke first.
“...Malicious rumors. From certain individuals who are jealous of our father’s — our family’s achievements. Such jealousy causes them to spread these baseless accusations.”
That made some sense; the Ascarts were a formidable family. I suppose it was only natural for the strong and capable to have many enemies, and of course, these enemies and detractors would in turn spread nasty rumors about them.
This was true even for the Claes family. While Keith was capable and skilled, and I had tried my best to cultivate a noble image, rumors on the street claimed that we were “strange and eccentric.” Baseless accusations indeed! Ah, jealousy is a terrible and frightful thing.
“...Even so. It does little to change the fact that my appearance is disgusting and revolting,” Sophia said, with a surprising amount of conviction and force.
She must have heard many of these rumors whispered around her person. While it was true that I had never seen anyone quite like Sophia all this time...
“...Well, I personally think you’re very pretty...”
“...Eh?” Sophia’s eyes opened wide. She stared straight at me— no, into
me, as I continued, meeting her gaze.
“I think that your silky white hair is beautiful. That your ruby-red, sparkling eyes are beautiful. That... you... are beautiful.”
Now that I’ve made myself clear, perhaps I’ll stop coming across as a pervert!
Anything but that! No pervert labels shall befall me! If I have a villainess-like face and am labeled a pervert, I have no idea what I would do.
Rest assured, Sophia. I am normal, the very epitome of normal. Attempting to reassure her, I gave Sophia my warmest possible smile.
“Actually, I would be so pleased if you would come and visit again! And if you don’t mind... would you like to be my friend?”
Saying so, I held out a hand — and was surprised when Sophia grasped it in her own. Her beautiful, gentle white hands were tightly holding mine. Fortunately, she no longer had a surprised or shocked expression on her face. This was the story of how I made my first romance-novel appreciating friend.
I saw Sophia and her entourage out to the porch and waved as they boarded their horse carriage. Immediately after, I returned to my room and pulled out the “Archive of memories on the game I played in my past life.” As expected, there were not many details recorded within.
While I was surprised that Sophia was a rival character just like Katarina, I had not done anything strange or untoward this time. I felt a wave of relief wash over my being. If anything, I was happy — Sophia was of the same age as Katarina, and also had reserves of magic within her.
This, of course, meant that we would be in the same year at the Magic Academy. We would be able to discuss romance novels, even in class!
Overcome with happiness, I jumped up from my bed, bouncing as I landed. This behavior, of course, earned me a stern warning from Anne.
And that was how Sophia ended up coming on regular visits to the Claes manor — along with Nicol, her silent brother.
Perhaps it was due to the influence of Sophia and my passionate conversations, but Mary eventually began to show some interest too. She eventually asked, “May I borrow a book, Lady Katarina?” Before long, Mary had joined our novel appreciation group, and our conversations became even more lively.
I even took Sophia out to the fields one day, on account of her never having played much outside before. In fact, she even started assisting me with my crops!
My Next Life as a Villainess: All Routes Lead to Doom!, Volume 1 Page 15
