My Next Life as a Villainess

by Satoru Yamaguchi

  So they hadn’t only examined Maria’s book, but also the reason why I was unconscious. This would explain why none of the people around me were as surprised as I was.

  I couldn’t help but be impressed by Larna’s reasoning. For as problematic of an employee as she was, her intelligence couldn’t be denied.

  “Did I get anything wrong?” she asked, cocking her head to one side as I took my time to reply.

  “N-No, I think you are right...” I said, and I went on to describe how I had brought that book from the warehouse back with me by coincidence, the black letters pouring down in the black dimension, and how I’d felt dizzy.

  “...But it all felt so distant, like a dream. I was just asking myself whether it really happened or not.”

  “That’s what I imagined. You probably thought that it was all just a dream, so you could put the book back in the warehouse and stop thinking about it... right?” Larna said.

  “Huh?!”

  Can she even read minds?!

  “You know, Miss Katarina, you’re the type who just shows everything she’s thinking on her face,” she said. “And if it really was a dream, then we can all stop thinking about it. But if it wasn’t, that book could be useful for the Ministry. Could you try out what I said?”

  To be honest, the memory of what happened in that dark dimension was so scary that I didn’t feel like reliving it, but not knowing whether it really happened or not was unpleasant in itself.

  “Okay, I will. Pochi, come out,” I said, mustering my courage and summoning Pochi as I opened the book.

  “Woof!” he said, happy to come out of my shadow, and I saw a faint dark mist appear around the book.

  Sure enough, the page I had opened the book to was full of those black letters. More than just being written on the paper, it looked as if they were floating on top of it.

  “Judging from your face, you see the dark characters,” Larna said, looking at my shocked expression.

  “...Yes,” I said without taking my eyes off the book. I remembered being scared by them when I saw them pouring down from above, but now that they were neatly arranged on the pages, they only looked eerie and mysterious.

  “Now that we’ve figured that out, that’s enough for today,” Larna said while forcefully closing the book in front of me. Now that I looked at it, Maria’s book had been closed as well. “Cyrus and I are fine, but you two have directly received the lost magic, so we can’t ignore the possible physical burden. Miss Katarina’s frighteningly pale, and you, Miss Maria, aren’t looking much better.”

  Looking at Maria’s complexion, I had to agree with her. I couldn’t see it, but my face probably looked the same.

  “The covenant is not going anywhere, so we can look into it in a couple of days. You two just go home and rest.”

  We were dismissed by Larna, who said that it was probably better for Maria and I to keep our respective books. I put mine into my bag and prepared to go home.

  Maria was heading to the dormitory with Cyrus and Dewey, and I was heading back to Claes Mansion with Keith and Sora. We all walked out of the infirmary together and split up in front of the meeting room. Larna said that she’d stay in the Ministry since she had to look into some things.

  “Big Sister is always getting herself into trouble no matter how much people warn her,” Keith, to my right, said with a sigh.

  “She really is. If she had waited patiently in front of the stone, this would not have happened,” replied Sora, to my left.

  Oh no! At this rate, I’m going to be scolded bilaterally!

  “But I found that lost magic, so it was worth it, wasn’t it?” I said, while walking a couple of steps forward to strategically protect my flanks.

  It was then that I felt something — a cold, intense stare going through my back.

  What is this? I thought, turning back, but there was nobody in sight. Did I just imagine that?

  I looked at my arm and saw that it was covered in goosebumps. I had sensed something evil...

  “Big Sister? What’s wrong?”

  “Are you feeling dizzy again?”

  Keith and Sora were worried about me, but I couldn’t bring myself to explain what had just happened. I felt that if I told them, I wouldn’t be able shake it off as “just my imagination” anymore.

  “Yes. I must be tired,” I said, and we left together.

  That must be it. I’m so tired that I’m imagining things, I told myself while rubbing the goosebumps off my arm.

  I reached the carriage, thanked Sora for seeing me off, and left the Ministry without any more hint of that weird feeling from before.

  After reaching home and eating lunch, I went back to my room. When my stomach was full, I would usually fall asleep within seconds, whether in bed or in front of a desk. But I couldn’t seem to get any rest today.

  This must have been because of the dream I just had. I had already seen FL2 in two dreams, one before joining the Ministry and one right after, so this made it the third time. I had gotten very little information out of it... but what little I learned was terrifying.

  Based on the dreams and on the note I had found, I knew that Katarina Claes, after being exiled, had come back as FL2’s villainess to take her revenge on Maria. Now I also knew that she’d found the Dark Covenant and had a Dark Familiar — that wolf-looking shadow — with her.

  This last bit of information reflected what had happened to me today. Obtaining Dark Magic and finding Pochi, my Dark Familiar, were both coincidences. So was finding the Dark Covenant... or was it?

  The events around me were starting to resemble the game’s plot to a scary extent.

  Back at the academy, I had been surprised when the other noble girls publicly shamed me in the dining hall despite how I’d never bullied Maria, and I thought that this was the game forcing one of its scenes to happen through its mysterious influence.

  Could the same have happened just now? And if so, how strong would that influence be?

  All of my friends had been there to help me at the dining hall, but I didn’t know whether I could count on that again. I felt that the game’s influence had gotten stronger ever since I had happened to find Dark Magic, a Dark Familiar, and the Dark Covenant. Maybe I would slowly turn into the game’s Katarina and use the dark powers at my disposal to do evil, throwing myself into one of the routes leading to doom...

  The more I thought about it, the more anxious I became, and I wasn’t getting any sleepier. Rather than lay in bed doing nothing, I decided to go to the garden to get some fresh air.

  I was sitting under a tree, enjoying the pleasant spring breeze and the sight of my vegetable field, when I heard a voice from behind me.

  “Big Sister, didn’t you say you were going to take a nap?”

  “Ah, Keith,” I said, noticing my brother standing there. “I tried to, but I couldn’t fall asleep.”

  “You couldn’t fall asleep?” he repeated, surprised. “You, who always falls asleep minutes after eating?”

  That was true, but maybe that wasn’t something you should say to your sister’s face.

  “What’s wrong? Are you worried about something?” he asked, staring into my eyes.

  “Well, it’s that...”

  By sheer coincidence, I had followed the game’s script and got my hands on Dark Magic, so I was worried about becoming a real villainess, losing all my friends, and having to face doom. Keith wouldn’t be able to understand that, of course, since he didn’t know that we were living in the world of an otome game.

  “...I obtained forbidden powers, and I’m worried that I could become evil and be hated by everyone, and eventually... be doomed,” I said, trying to explain my worries without mentioning the game. After all, all that mattered was what I was scared about: becoming evil, losing my friends, and winding up in a catastrophic scenario.

  I lowered my gaze and waited for Keith’s answer.

  “You becoming evil and losing all your friends? That’s something I have t
rouble even just imagining,” he said with a troubled expression before sitting next to me.

  “B-But look at all this Dark Magic stuff I’ve been involved in... It’s still possible.”

  Unfortunately, he didn’t understand why I was so bothered. “Maybe, but it’s unlikely.”

  “Unlikely, yes, but not impossible.”

  “Sure, but that could be said about most things.”

  I wondered about whether Keith would end up fighting against me and defeating me in real life, just as in the game. Whether he ended up putting me in prison or killing me, I was sure that he would stare at me with cold, hateful eyes when he did it.

  “Even if that happens, I’ll always be by your side,” he said, much to my surprise.

  “Even if I become evil? Would you still say the same thing then?”

  He narrowed his blue eyes before replying. “Whatever the case, unless you want me to, I’ll never leave you. You were the one to tell me that first, remember? You said you’d stay by my side even if I ended up hurting people because I couldn’t control my magic.”

  Now that he mentioned it, I remembered saying something like that.

  “Of course, I’d try to keep you from turning evil, though,” he said with a playful smile. The sight of it made the fear inside my heart shrink down by several sizes.

  “Thank you, Keith. Please stay by my side, and make sure I don’t do anything evil,” I said, returning the smile.

  I really have a wonderful brother, I was thinking to myself when I heard a rustling sound behind me.

  “Keith told us that we could wait in the mansion while he went to check on Katarina, so we should keep waiting.”

  “I am afraid that we should do as Big Brother says.”

  “We have waited long enough. We cannot let them stay that cozy with each other. I will go.”

  “Prince Jeord, please do not make such decisions on your own. And if anything, I should be the one to go, since I was the first one to reach the mansion.”

  “By only a few minutes! I am her fiancé, and as such, I should be the one to go.”

  “You may be her fiancé, but I am her friend. We even slept in the same room of the castle not that long ago.”

  “Oh, you mean that time when you did all you could to get between Katarina and me?”

  “You still think about that? I would have expected your skin to be tougher.”

  “Mary, Jeord, give it a break. This is no place for disput— Ahhh!”

  I turned to the direction that the scream had come from and saw Prince Alan, with his silver hair and blue eyes, tripping out of some bushes a short distance from me.

  “Prince Alan?!”

  “Oh... Hi,” he said awkwardly while still lying on the ground.

  “Prince Alan! Why would you go first like that?!”

  “Exactly! You should let your older brother go first!”

  “This wouldn’t have happened if you two hadn’t been pulling at each other so much inside that tiny bush! Why am I the one being scolded here?!”

  Mary and Jeord also came out of the bush, followed by Sophia and Nicol, who asked me how I was feeling.

  Keith mumbled something like “I told you people to wait,” but I couldn’t quite catch what he said.

  “Excuse me, why is everyone here?” I asked, surprised at seeing my friends there.

  Keith was the one to explain, with a disappointed look on his face. “Sophia told everyone that you were feeling unwell, and they all came to visit. I thought that you were sleeping, so I told them to wait while I made sure...” he said. Then, whispering so feebly that I couldn’t hear it, “If I knew they would bother us like this, I’d have sent them away at once.”

  In short, they’d all come to visit me.

  “Thank you, everyone!”

  “Since you are my fiancée, it is obvious that I would be worried about you. And, just so you know, I will be by your side whatever may happen — forever,” Jeord said with a smile, grabbing my hand.

  Realizing that he must have heard the conversation between Keith and me, I felt a bit embarrassed.

  “Me too,” said Mary, pushing Jeord aside. “I will never leave you. And I will be sure to scold you should you ever stray from the path of righteousness.”

  So she also wouldn’t leave me if I became evil...

  “I think that forbidding her from eating sweets would be more effective than scolding her,” said Alan, grinning.

  “If that happens, I will also stop lending you novels until you behave!” Sophia, visibly pained by her own words, said.

  “Whatever you end up doing, none of us will ever leave you. We will always keep supporting you,” Nicol said with his dangerously attractive smile.

  It’s not just Keith... All of them will stay with me, letting me know if I’m doing something wrong.

  “Thank you, all of you,” I said from the bottom of my heart.

  The fear that had burdened me so much had now completely disappeared. I couldn’t do anything by myself, but, with the support of all my friends, I was sure that everything would be fine.

  Feeling better, I kept chatting with them and then, that night, I slept like a baby.

  On the first day of the next week, I went to work with the covenant in my bag.

  On the way to the Magical Tool Laboratory office, I met some employees from other departments. When I greeted them, they greeted me back.

  When I had first started working, most people had either been too formal because of my rank as a duke’s daughter, or they had talked with me as if they’d rather avoid me altogether, but lately, this had happened less and less. Even people who knew that I was Katarina Claes would talk normally with me, and this made me incredibly happy and motivated to work harder.

  Larna and Sora were waiting for me in the office, and we walked together to the meeting room, where we met with Maria, Cyrus, and Dewey.

  Once we were all sitting down, Larna took the two covenants from Maria and me.

  “Thanks to your efforts,” she said cheerfully, “we have obtained not one, but two lost magic books. Early this morning I made a report to my superiors and got permission to study them further. Hence, since you all helped in finding these books, I would like you to proceed with their analysis.”

  “All these people working on just two books? Did you forget how much the Ministry is understaffed right now?” Cyrus complained.

  “Of course, of course. We will take turns and only do it in the free time between our official duties. However, I would like Maria and Katarina to have a more active role in this investigation, which could potentially become very useful for the Magical Ministry. Can I ask for your help?” she said, looking at us.

  “Yes!” said Maria.

  “Yes,” I agreed.

  “We don’t have a lot of time to spend on this meeting today. Would you start reading the content of the books?” Larna asked.

  Maria and I opened the respective books, after which she activated her Light Magic and I called out Pochi. The black letters appeared on the book.

  “Hence I put forth the whole of my knowledge of Light Magic,” Maria shyly started reading, making Larna let out an enthusiastic “Ohhh!”

  And then, everyone looked at me. Their stares were telling me to hurry up and read the book.

  However, I looked at the black letters in front of me and sighed.

  I have to say it, don’t I? Just because they can’t see the book, I can’t lie and make something up on the spot. It’s going to be embarrassing, but... I made up my mind.

  “I am sorry! I cannot read a single word of ancient script!”

  I felt the tension silently building up in the room. Had this been an anime, there would be a “crickets” sound effect.

  Everyone had dropped their jaws, but Larna was the first one to get hers off the floor.

  “Yes... I should have realized that. A book as ancient as this would be written in ancient script. And you wouldn’t be able to read it,” she s
aid, disappointed, as I quietly nodded.

  “Then,” she said, handing me paper and pen, “just write down the letters you see. You should be able to do that much.”

  “I will!” I said.

  For a second I was scared that they’d force me to learn ancient script, so I was very relieved that I could just write it down for them to read.

  I took the pen in my hand, placed it on the paper, and... uh?

  “...I-I can’t write. Why?”

  My hand wouldn’t move. I tried writing down some random modern letters, and I had no problem doing that.

  What was going on?

  “When I try writing down the letters from this book, my hand just stops moving...”

  “That figures...”

  “What? It does?”

  “There’s magic on that book that prevents anyone but those with the right powers from reading it. I expected that it wouldn’t let you copy its contents that easily.”

  “Oh, I see...”

  So, if I can’t copy down the letters, that means...

  “Katarina,” Larna said with the friendliest, most pleasant smile I’d ever seen, as she put a hand on my shoulder. “This is for the good of the whole Ministry. Learn to read ancient script and analyze the contents of the book. Thank you in advance.”

  “Whaaaat?!”

  Not only did I have to study ancient script, of which, at that point, I couldn’t read a single letter, but I also had to analyze the book itself. Have mercy!

  “Hmmmmm...”

  I want to refuse, but Larna wouldn’t allow me to anyway...

  “Let’s do our best together!” Maria, who was in the same boat as me (except for already being able to read ancient script), said with a smile that I could never say no to.

  My response was a single, prolonged moan of pain aimed at no one in particular. I thought I had been lucky to be assigned to a department where most duties were simple manual labor, but now, because of this covenant...

  I stared at the book in my hands with contempt.

  “You could start by borrowing an ancient script dictionary,” Dewey promptly suggested, but I didn’t have enough energy left to reply.

  “Losing time sitting here won’t make things any better,” Sora said, and I begrudgingly stood up from my chair.