My Next Life as a Villainess: All Routes Lead to Doom!, Volume 1

by Satoru Yamaguchi

  “But alas. You are merely being humble, my good lady.”

  It seemed that Jeord and Mary had now gotten into their own intense discussion. In fact, Keith had started cheering for Mary at some point, “Do your best, Lady Mary!” Alan, however, seemed puzzled upon hearing his name. “Hmm...? Appearances...?”

  Again! I’m excluded from this discussion. Did all of you not come to my manor to spend time with me?

  To make things worse, they’re all talking about difficult things I could hardly understand. I have never felt more lonely than this...

  All this loneliness was starting to make me sulk.

  “On another note, Lady Katarina... What did you think of my brother’s gift to you...?” Sophia asked, smiling.

  My lonely sulking was blown away in an instant by her radiant, lovable smile. “Ah yes, I really quite enjoyed it. Do tell Master Nicol that I really liked the cute necklace he sent me, if you would be so kind,” I replied, smiling back at Sophia.

  “NECKLACE?!” For some reason, the four that had excluded me from their conversations prior all said the same thing at the same time, turning in my direction. And then...

  “Katarina. What exactly is this... ‘necklace’?”

  “But you are not fond at all of accessories, Big Sister. Did you not reject all such gifts?”

  “Yes, yes. Something that is worn could not possibly be used, and so you would never accept it, Lady Katarina. Was that not the case?”

  “Oh. Actually I heard from Mary that it was something like that...”

  Everyone in the garden was seemingly overcome by surprise. But yes — that was exactly it. I had no interest in accessories and dresses, so I turned them all down. However...

  “...Actually, it was a necklace that was featured in one of the stories I read, you see. So I was quite happy to receive it. Also, it had no gems or anything like that — hardly stuffy at all, so I happily accepted it.”

  That’s right. Nicol’s birthday gift to me was none other than the necklace that a favorite romance novel protagonist of mine wore. Although I had no interest in accessories whatsoever, my otaku tendencies meant that I was particularly weak to items that showed up in the books and stories I read.

  “It’s just like that one character!” I would say, becoming all excited about it.

  “I actually like it so much that I have it on today as well, under my gardening overalls!” Saying so, I lowered my collar ever so slightly, showing the necklace to my gathered friends. For some reason, all of them instantaneously adopted similarly intense expressions.

  Ah, as I thought... I suppose it’s a social faux pas to wear accessories like this under farming attire!

  “Fufu. I was the one who gave my brother the advice, Lady Katarina. After all, he’s the only one who’s a year older, and he is always away. It’s not very fair, you see...” Sophia said, smiling innocently as she did so.

  Upon witnessing her smile, my other four friends stood silently, and for a while, seemed resolutely rooted to the spot.

  Afterword

  Hello, this is Yamaguchi Satoru. Thank you very much for purchasing this book.

  This work was originally submitted to the novel submission site “Shousetsu ni Narou” in July of 2014, and was then serialized. I have all my readers to thank for my work being compiled into a book — and as such would like to extend my sincere thanks to the fans who have read my works on the site. Thank you very much.

  Well then... the title of this book is quite long, isn’t it? “My Next Life as a Villainess: All Routes Lead to Doom! Volume 1” Even the supervisor of the editing department said, “It’s the longest among all the works we have.”

  And as for the book’s contents... it’s exactly like the title says! The protagonist has been reincarnated as an antagonist character in an otome game called Fortune Lover that she had been playing before her untimely death. She must overcome all the Catastrophic Bad Ends, and work hard to stay alive and well.

  The protagonist, Katarina, isn’t exceptionally beautiful, smart, or magically inclined. She’s quite the disappointing protagonist, isn’t she? But she has a creative mind, and tries her best to do what she can. I would be very glad if you, my dear readers, could continue watching over her warmly.

  With regards to the illustrations for this book, I would like to thank Hidaka Nami-sama for their cute illustrations of Katarina and the other rival characters, as well as the cool Jeord and the many other romance interests.

  When I first set eyes on these character designs, I was overwhelmed by just how splendid they were. Hidaka Nami-sama, thank you very much for your wonderful illustrations.

  Lastly, I would also like to thank the supervisor of the editing department, who gave me a lot of advice, as I was quite clueless. I would also like to thank everyone who has helped with the publishing of this book — I thank them from the bottom of my heart.

  Again, thank you very much, everyone.

  Yamaguchi Satoru

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  Copyright

  My Next Life as a Villainess: All Routes Lead to Doom! Volume 1

  by Satoru Yamaguchi

  Translated by Shirley Yeung

  Edited by Aimee Zink

  This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, or persons, living or dead, is coincidental.

  Copyright © 2015 Satoru Yamaguchi

  Illustrations by Nami Hidaka

  All rights reserved.

  First published in Japan in 2015 by Kodansha Ltd., Tokyo.

  Publication rights for this English edition arranged through Kodansha Ltd., Tokyo.

  All rights reserved. In accordance with the U.S. Copyright Act of 1976, the scanning, uploading, and electronic sharing of any part of this book without the permission of the publisher is unlawful piracy and theft of the author’s intellectual property.

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  Ebook edition 1.0: November 2018