VEDR – Prologue

“Hi~yaaaaah!!” 

From the back of my throat, I heard a screech I’ve never made in my entire life.

Then I staggered backwards. My butt was planted to the ground as my feet left the ground and I was left facing the heavens.

It was an atrocious stumble that even a young child wouldn’t commit.

However, it wasn’t a child who tripped, but the daughter of the Marquis, the highest ranking pride in the school.

I received astonished stares from the students around me, but they quickly looked away.

Right. They didn’t know what they were supposed to say afterwards for witnessing the proud Marquis’ daughter fall. I know how it felt to want to pretend you didn’t see anything.

I mentally nodded my head in agreement with everyone, but there was this one person who didn’t take his eyes off me, setting him apart from the united front of the masses.

-The pride of the kingdom; the cool, calm, and capable Crown Prince.

The Crown Prince crossed his arms and looked down at me without averting his eyes.

The sight of those grim eyes, like those of a vile man, sent chills down my spine.

“C-Crown Prince Ernesto highlander?!”

Although my whole body was convinced, as a last ditch effort, I just uttered his name.

“What’s wrong? Calling me with my full name and all that. Is this some kind of scheme, Lady Luciana Dianthus, daughter of the Marquis?”

As if to return the favor, my full name was returned in a rippling voice that seemed to echo around my waist.

Ah, I just love that voice. I love it.

No wait.

“I-I’m Luciana Dianthus, daughter of the Marquis?!!”

As soon as I said it out loud, I was reminded of all kinds of things as if I had been struck by lightning and crumbled on the spot with a bang.

“L-Luciana-sama?”

“Kya~! Luciana-sama has fainted!”

The girls started to make noise around me, but…Just for now, please let me pass out quietly.

It was only now that I remembered, I am a villainess…

With that thought in mind, I fainted with a snap.

◇◇◇

“Cinderella of the Magic Kingdom.”
This title that tickled the maiden’s heart was that of an otome game I was obsessed playing in my previous life.

The stage was in the Highlander Magic Kingdom.
As the name implied, magic was well developed in that country.
This could be traceable from the first king of the kingdom who possessed immense magical power. He used his power to save the country and build it up, so those who could use magic were respected.

Nevertheless, since magical power was inherited. Only noblemen who have accumulated generations of magicians in the marriage mart could use this power.
I heard that there were bastards of noblemen or mutated commoners, who possessed magical power, but that was about the extent of it.

Yet the game’s protagonist, a commoner, possessed immense magical power.
She was even said to be the best in the kingdom, even surpassing the magic of the Crown Prince.

The game started with the protagonist becoming the foster daughter of a Barony and entered the Lilium Magical Academy at the age of 15.
Because she was a commoner, she became the subject of bullying by all noble ladies in the academy as soon as she entered. 
However, the protagonist confronted these difficulties positively with a commoner’s willpower. 
With her natural grit and incomparable magical power, she was able to overcome most problems by herself.
And as for the incidents she couldn’t resolve, as an expedited plot twist, handsome guys, who were the capture targets, emerged to save her.

The most popular among the capture targets was Ernesto Highlander, the Crown Prince of the Magic Kingdom – the silver-haired, green-eyed, glittering prince who looked down at me coldly moments ago.
And Luciana Dianthus, the Marquis’ daughter, was the noble lady who bullied the protagonist at every turn… In short, me.

Luciana was a typical antagonist. 
Arrogant and lazy – a villainess young woman, who wore her family’s power over her head. Even her only cloak of fire magic was sub-par. – Yes, completely despicable.

On the other hand, the protagonist’s capture targets in the game were all high-ranking aristocrats or have high positions.
The protagonist chose one of those capture targets and the two faced various challenges together. In the midst of it, it was Luciana who relentlessly got in the way of their relationship.

Whoever the protagonist chose as her hero, she would get involved saying, “He’s better suited to me, a high-ranking noble lady.” 
As a result, Luciana was convicted for interfering with the hero and the heroine’s relationship through underhanded means.
Since the game was aimed at 15 years old and older, the scenes weren’t that intense. The conviction was also loose, so at most, Luciana’s family was stripped off their title and was exiled.

When I was playing the game, I thought, Isn’t that a bit too light? – But not at all!
What kind of life could a noblewoman, who was only arrogant, has neither the ability nor the personality to get along well with people, have after exile? To make matters worse, she was followed by her equally useless parents and siblings.

“It’s over. I’m doomed…”
I mumbled to myself as I lay on the bed in my dimly lit room.

I was carried back to the Marquis’s mansion after I fainted in the academy.
They took great care of me and even tucked me in bed. But since waking up, all I could hear was the word “doomed” and sighs of despair.

Ahhhh, until yesterday, I had nothing to worry nor gloat about.
Why did I have to remember?

Back at the academy — Right before I tumbled in front of the Crown Prince, I was inviting him as usual.
And as usual, the prince gently but firmly rejected my invitation.

Normally, I would have retorted, “How dare you turn down my invitation!” I should have flown into rage, but then it came to me all of a sudden. “It can’t be helped, you’re a villainess after all.”

Then I tilted my head, unable to understand my own thoughts.
“Villainess? Who am I referring to? Me?” I remembered wondering to myself.

But in the next moment, like a revelation, it flashed through my mind.

“I am a Villainess!!”

Then, shocked by this revelation, I stumbled backwards before the Crown Prince in a haphazard fashion… And then everything went dark. I fainted right there and here I am now .

—- After finishing my recollections, I got off the bed and flopped down and walked across the room to stand in front of the mirror.
I swallowed a gulp of saliva and peered at the figure in the mirror with trepidation.
In the mirror was a clear reflection of an impeccable beauty with waist-length purple hair and amber eyes.
After staring at the figure for a while, I groaned and sighed in resignation.

—- There was no doubt about it.
I am the daughter of the Marquis, Luciana Dianthus.
The villainess in the otome game I played in my previous life.

But how on earth did this happen?… I mulled over it, and then was reminded of my previous life.

In my previous life, I was an arasa and I’ve never dated a man. So, while playing an otome game set in this world, I used to fantasize being an irresistible young lady if I were to be reincarnated. I may have even uttered this desire to myself in my room, where I lived alone.

—– So, should I say I got what I wished for?

I thought so for a moment, but reconsidered it and vehemently denied it.

—– No, no, no, absolutely  not! Not this one!

It was true that Luciana was an incomparable beauty and the daughter of the Marquis. 
But, Oh-ho-ho, did I get my wish? That was very hard to say.

Because, in spite of her beauty, Luciana wasn’t actually popular at all.
As the protagonist’s rival, she was disliked by all capture targets.
The only people around her were wishy-washy men, who were attracted to her family background. 
Moreover, no matter what she did, the last thing that awaited her was a future where she would be condemned and banished by the hero.
She could barely imagine her life being irresistible to men.

And, unfortunately, Luciana was someone who had no qualms about being unpopular.
All Luciana had was good looks and her family background. There was nothing nice about her.
She was always domineering, lazy and never studied. And despite being a high-ranking aristocrat, her magic was below average.
Even so, she wore her family’s power on her sleeves, and piled up this and that evil. She would be condemned.

As I groaned and swooned, depressed by the status quo, I realized something.

Um, wait, am I only 16?

Realizing my age, I caught my breath and frantically retraced my memories of the game.

The conviction event was to take place at… 17 years old.
That meant I have one more year before I would be condemned and exiled.

Thank goodness, there’s still time!

I breathed a sigh of relief as I suppressed my pounding, fast-beating heart.

—- I’m currently a second year student at Lilium Magic Academy. It’s now autumn.
The protagonist would enter the academy in the spring of my third year, six months later.
And it would be another six months later, in the fall of my junior year, that I would be convicted.

The protagonist hasn’t enrolled, and the game hasn’t even started yet.

That’s it! In the meantime, reconfigure my life and avoid that sentencing event.

Good thing, I was unpopular in my previous life, and a moona (a virgin). So, I’m fine with having no love life. I’m a former commoner, so I don’t mind not having any money.

Yeah, I found a solution!
Relieved, I went straight back to bed and fell asleep.

---

PREVIOUS | INDEX | NEXT