1 - Freshman Year, Spring

On the morning of the school entrance ceremony, as I saw myself in the mirror wearing my new uniform, all the pieces finally fell into place.

I was reincarnated as the Villainess of an Otome Game. This game was “Magical School Love”, commonly known as MaSLo. It’s the usual cliché of a commoner heroine entering a magic school in a world where only nobles were supposed to be able to use magic, and she would eventually be able to romance princes and other handsome men of high society.

To be honest, remembering that I was reincarnated hasn’t made my opinion of myself fall that much. Originally I, Elizabeth Asteron, was the jack-of-all-trades villainess character in the world of MaSLo. But it seems that my original personality before my reincarnation influenced this life, and somewhere along the way I’ve become a proper noblewoman.

Honestly, I thought I was a bit too much of a proper noblewoman.

In the game, I had a difficult personality but was also a star student in academics, magic, and even swordplay. I haven’t changed any of those but now my personality, which was supposed to be my key character flaw, was no longer an issue.

So I seemed to have become the ultra-perfect perfect noblewoman? Huh? Being two kinds of “perfect” just sounded wrong.

That wasn’t my issue though, and in truth, I had a lot of problems on my hands. Well, admittedly, I’ve lived a very privileged and comfortable life so far, so you could say I just had the one rather large problem:

The “Elizabeth Asteron has too many death flags” dilemma.

The crux of the issue is MaSLo’s plot. In the game, Elizabeth Asteron always dies after the heroine’s Good Ends. Is it too much to ask for the rival to live and the main character to be happy or are Villainesses just that unforgivable?

My impending deaths are divided into four separate scenarios:

One, I am accused of bullying the heroine, I lose my engagement with a prince, and I die on the execution block.

Two, I die in a war at the end of the plot.

Three, I am experimented on, brainwashed, and have to be killed by the heroine.

And four, I am found as a dismembered corpse under mysterious circumstances.

My maid is already calling for me outside my room, but if I go to school without thinking, those death flags will start rising in no time, so I decided to take some last-minute countermeasures.

Scenario No. 1 is what will happen if the heroine pursues my fiance Arthur’s route. Originally, I was jealous of the heroine and their increasingly flirty relationship to the point where I try to kill her. It fails and because of this crime of passion, our engagement is called off and I am executed.

The countermeasure for this is to avoid the heroine. If I don’t meet her at all, I can’t be accused of bullying her. I also hadn’t liked Arthur even before I reincarnated, so I couldn’t fall in love with him, wouldn’t get jealous, and in fact, felt this would be for the best for them.

Scenario No. 2 is what can happen on all routes aside from Arthur’s. MaSLo has a war break out in its climax and while the original Elizabeth couldn’t have cared less, nobles with magic are obligated to protect their territories and she is forced out onto the battlefield. However, while the heroine becomes a beloved war hero, the ending text includes this line: “The war had many casualties, with Elizabeth Asteron being found among the bodies on the battlefield.”

So my main goal is to prevent war from breaking out. I plan to pay special attention to a foreign student, Sergius, as he’s planning a coup that I need to dismantle before it starts an international conflict.

Scenario No. 3 is what happens if I meet certain conditions anywhere but the Arthur route. I am kidnapped by a magic cult, experimented on and brainwashed, and have to be killed as part of a boss battle. I’m already facing enough terrible fates as is, so I’m going to stamp out that cult without mercy.

The scenarios so far have been terrible, but Scenario No. 4 is by far the worst. It happens on the Reverse Harem route when in the Spring of our Sophomore year, I’m suddenly found dead and dismembered. There was never a reason given in-game. However, a story writer said that it would be revealed in the sequel.

Now that I was reincarnated as Elizabeth Asteron, I wanted to shout, protest, and swear, since the game company went bankrupt before that sequel could materialize, so now no one but that writer will ever know. If there’s one good thing out of this, it’s they won’t be able to grace the world with any more of their work.

For now, I should do everything in my power to prevent the Reverse Harem route.

As I drew up these countermeasures, the time for the entrance ceremony crept ever closer until I was running late, so I committed them to memory and headed off.

“Oh, someone please help me!” I heard as I walked through the school’s gates.

It came from above me, so I looked up, and there was the heroine. On a related note, this was her and Arthur’s first encounter in MaSLo: she was helping a cat that got stuck in a tree then Arthur helped her down when she got trapped herself.

Rationally speaking, Arthur was going to come to help her, so I should avoid doing so myself and getting to know her in the process. However, the Japanese-upbringing of past me couldn’t stomach the idea of abandoning her like this, so I helped her down.

“Thank you very much,” the heroine blubbers, still shaking. It’s cute.

“I was just doing the right thing,” I said as I started walking on.

“Let me introduce myself,” she says, “I’m Serena Hollina, first year.”

As I thought of if I should introduce myself in turn, I hear, “Ah, Eliza. What are you doing here?”

It’s my fiance, Arthur Symseria. Thanks to the memories of my past life, I’m not as clingy with him and I dislike him, too, so our engagement is now completely up in the air. If I’m being truly honest, I hate him; I don’t know how he was ever so popular.

“Oh, Arthur,” I said. “I’m sorry, I’ll head to the entrance ceremony at once.”

“No, don’t bother, I was looking for somewhere I could escape to, it’s such a hassle,” Arthur said. “So, what are you doing here, Eliza?” he said, giving a fake-looking smile.

“Umm, she helped me get down from that tree!” Serena said.

“Hmm, I don’t believe I was asking you,” Arthur said. “Well then, I must be off!” he said as he walked away.

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“Oh no, the time,” I muttered.

We rushed to the entrance hall where the ceremony was being held but we were already late.

“You’re an idiot, you know that?” says Yoshie Catherine.

She is my only friend in this world of nobility. Her name is Japanese but she has a European face. Her personality is much more the former than the latter, however, and as a result, we’ve been had a wonderful friendship for the past 10 years.

“But you’re still helping me out with my plans,” I counter.

“I know, but this whole ‘keeping yourself from dying’ thing is really stupid,” Yoshie says.

We’re also close enough that we can exchange jabs like this.

“That was an unforeseeable accident,” I say.

“Is that so?” Yoshie says. “Anyway, what’s the plan for the rest of today?”

“Recover my honor, is what!” I cry.

“I see,” Yoshie said. “Well, you go do your best, I’ll see you around,” she said as she headed off to her next class.

Over the next month, I become accustomed to the magical school system where students can choose their classes as they would at a university. The capture targets are approaching Serena and things seem to be developing almost the same as the game.

According to the original plan, I avoided all contact with her, but the school life for Serena is getting pretty unpleasant due to the nature of MaSLo.

As it was then, there are many people unhappy with her getting close to the capture targets, and as a result, they’re bullying her. More so, people seem to think I’m the mastermind. I could only wish they were joking.

The worst part of it all however was that the capture targets aren’t doing a thing to help her, including that bastard Arthur. What a load of crap. So, to prove I’m not the mastermind and to protect Serena, I decided to take action according to MaSLo’s plot.

Originally, there was a mandatory event in the final week of April. I’d call Serena out to the courtyard, accuse her of getting too close to Arthur, then attack her with magic. Of course, Arthur is supposed to be the one to come help her, but from my point of view, he can go fuck himself.

After classes end, I look for Serena. “Been a while since the entrance ceremony hasn’t it, Ms. Hollina?” I ask.

“It has been, Lady Elizabeth,” she replied.

“I have something I must speak to you about,” I continued. “Please come to the courtyard.”

“I-I will,” Serena said nervously.

I was getting anxious, there was something up with Serena. I don’t know why, but she’s giving off this aura that makes me want to protect her, even if she is the heroine.

We come to the courtyard. Usually, there are only a few people milling about but news has spread fast, and now the rumormongers of the school were gathering to spectate.

“It seems you’re being bullied,” I said to Serena outright.

“I am…” Serena says, looking down.

“Would you happen to know why?”

“Um, because I’m a commoner and I’m getting too close to Arthur?” Serena offered.

“50 points out of a 100,” I say.

“Huh?” Serena goes.

“The correct answer is that this bastard still isn’t doing anything despite the fact he’s part of the reason you’re being bullied,” I said as I kick the bush behind Serena.

“Oof!” Arthur grunts as he falls out of it and onto the ground.

“Oh, my apologies, Arthur,” I say, “for a moment, I thought there was a bug there.”

It felt better than expected, so I decided to do it again. I thought he’d be humiliated after that, but as I caught sight of the entranced look in his eyes, I felt intensely uncomfortable and stopped.

“Say, Ms. Hollina,” I say as I turn back to her. “No, Serena, would you like to be my friend?” I ask.

“Huh…?” Serena asked, confused. “Um… is it acceptable for a commoner like myself to be friends with a noblewoman like you?”

“Don’t worry about it, I don’t choose companions by their statuses,” I said. “I just wish to be your friend.”

“Then, in that case, I’d be happy to be your friend, Lady Elizabeth,” Serena said.

“Please call me Eliza, it’s what my close friends call me,” I replied.

“Would you mind if I called you just Eli?” Serena said with a smile that would have raised so many affection flags if I was a capture target. Instead, I felt this inexplicable sense that I was in danger.

“Eli…?” I whispered.

“Would you prefer I not?” Serena asks, nervously tilting her head. It’s cute.

“No, please feel free,” I said, “in fact, I like it!”

Serena’s face lit up like the sun.

If I were a man, I would have fallen for her right then and there. As it was, I turned to face the gossipers who were hanging onto our every word. “Listen to me!” I cried. “You all heard what we said! If anyone does anything more to my friend Ms. Serena, I’ll give it back to you tenfold like this!”

I proceeded to trample Arthur.

The spectators ran away scared and so the confrontation in the courtyard ended and Serena’s tormentors stopped as well.

And for a month after I had to go into social exile for kicking and stepping on Arthur. Come on.