“...I do not believe I have had any episode of the sort...” I said, which made Katarina visibly disappointed.
Not without a hint of guilt, I passed the topic onto the friend sitting next to me. “Sophia, what about you?”
“Oh? ...Me?”
★★★★★★★
“Yes, what about you, Sophia?” Katarina asked me with a sparkle in her eyes.
“...Well, I...” If Mary, a lady amongst ladies, didn’t have any story that could satisfy Katarina... how could I?
To begin with, my situation was somewhat different from that of my friends. Because of my white hair and red eyes, I had always been seen as different, as an outcast. Before I knew it, I stopped leaving home for fear of the glances that people would throw my way.
It was only thanks to Katarina, who had praised my hair and eyes as beautiful, that I had started going out again. It was only then that I realized that not everyone looked at me with disgust.
That wasn’t enough to completely undo my years of fear, of course, and I still attended parties and balls as little as I could. Unlike beautiful ladies such as Katarina or Mary, no handsome boy would ever approach me at a ball.
Just a few days ago, during the ball held by my relatives...
Attending a ball for the first time in so long, I was happy to be escorted by my beloved brother. Unfortunately, as he still wasn’t engaged, he was one of the main targets for single ladies. He was snatched away by a group of avid girls as soon as he entered the hall, leaving me alone.
Katarina or Mary would normally be with me at balls, but in this small event hosted by an earl related to my family, I had no friends with me except for Nicol. The situation made me extremely anxious; I didn’t like crowded places, I didn’t like speaking with people I didn’t know, and I didn’t have the sociable personality to engage in conversation with just anybody.
I wanted to go home, but we had just arrived and I couldn’t leave my brother alone. So I just found myself a wall to lean on and waited for him there, motionless, hoping that no one would see me.
I was enjoying the ball, in a sense. I looked at the other young men and women interacting and romancing each other... when I noticed something.
Someone was looking at me. It was a group of boys around my age sitting at a table far from where I stood. They were looking at me while talking to each other. Initially I thought that it was just my imagination, but our eyes met a few times, and I became sure that they were talking about me.
What are they saying? From this distance, it looks as if they’re laughing. Are they laughing at how I look? I’m used to that sort of treatment; I have received it since I was little... The memories of my troubled childhood resurfaced, thoroughly killing any fun that I could have been having.
I should go home, I thought, when one of the boys from that table stood up and came walking towards me! Anticipating some insult along the lines of “Someone like you doesn’t belong at a ball,” which I had heard time and again as a child, my whole body tensed up.
The boy reached me, and so that I could ignore whatever terrible thing he was going to say, I started thinking of the sweetest scene in my favorite romance novel. So, the one where the prince falls in love with the lady at the ball and proposes to her on the spot. It went something like...
“...Excuse me. S-Someone as beautiful as yourself does not have to stay alone by the wall. W-Would you not dance with me?”
I was able to imagine that scene so clearly that it felt as if the boy in front of me had actually said it. My imagination really is incredible.
But, for much as I would have liked to, I couldn’t keep ignoring reality. After all, that boy was still standing in front of me... but what for? Had he insulted me already? I was so busy daydreaming that I hadn’t even heard him.
His face was surprisingly red. Is he ill? “...Are you feeling al...” I tried to say, when my brother, who had finally freed himself from the swarm of fans, returned with a concerned expression.
“...Won’t you reply to him?” he asked me.
“Reply? In response to what?” I replied. As the boy from before heard this, his face fell and he quickly retreated from the hall. “I wonder what was wrong with him...”
Nicol asked me to recount what had happened until now, and I explained that I had been pretending to be a piece of furniture when I was approached, and, fearing that I would be insulted, I began daydreaming (very vividly) to protect myself.
“I guess I must blame Katarina’s influence for this,” sighed my brother.
I had no idea what he was talking about, but I was happy that I had somehow been influenced by Katarina.
I tried searching my memories, including that ball, for any romantic story. But, unfortunately, I couldn’t find anything.
“...I’m afraid I have nothing...” I said to a disappointed Katarina.
But if there was a girl who was sure to have some such story, it was the beautiful, popular, and talented Maria.
“Maria, what about you?”
“Oh? ...Me?”
★★★★★★★
“Yes! A girl as pretty as you must get approached by boys all the time!” said Katarina, excited.
“...That’s not really...” I mumbled, struggling to find an answer.
As a commoner, I was different from the nobles around me. I didn’t attend balls like my friends did, so I didn’t really have the opportunity for romantic encounters in the first place. A normal commoner would have such chances at school or work, but because of my magical powers, I always stood out... so much so that I had no friends, let alone love interests.
Now, chatting happily with my wonderful friends felt like so much of a miracle that I didn’t really think of finding a boyfriend anymore. Of course, as the only commoner in the academy, the noble boys would never even take me into account.
It wasn’t that I had no interest in love; I enjoyed reading the romantic stories in the novels that my friends recommended to me, and I thought that being part of one would be a wonderful thing. But I was so happy with my life that I hardly felt like asking for more.
Only a year ago, I’d had to withstand bullying and insults. But now that I had Katarina and the others to protect me, I had nothing to fear anymore. They were all high-ranking nobles, and they were all enthusiastically on my side, Katarina especially so. She was like a hero from a book, saving a tormented damsel... Where before there were bullies, now there were more and more kind people.
One day, I had stayed behind in the classroom after the lesson to ask a question regarding something that I had not understood. After that, the teacher asked me to help with bringing some heavy things to the dormitory. I agreed without thinking twice about it, but after a while I could feel my arms getting tired. I regretted accepting the task unconditionally... I should have told the teacher that I could only bring half of it at once.
“Hey, what are you doing with that?” asked someone from behind me.
I turned around to see a boy from my class. “I was asked to bring this to the dormitory...” I replied, and he silently took the weight off my hands and started walking towards the dorms. This all happened so fast that I was utterly confused, and I ran after him.
“E-Excuse me...”
“To the dormitory, right?”
“Yes... Thank you.”
I had hardly ever spoken with him, and yet he was so kind to me. I thanked him with a smile and he bluntly muttered, “Sure.”
We walked together for a while, and I offered to bring at least some of those heavy things myself, but he refused. Just as we came close to the dormitory, he suddenly asked me a question. “Say, Maria, are you... are you seeing anyone in the student council?”
“Seeing anyone? What do you mean?”
“Like, you know, d-dating anyone...” he explained, blushing.
“D-Dating?! N-No, I don’t do anything like that...” I replied in flustered surprise.
“I see...” he murmured to himse
lf, and then he went on, walking faster than before.
Actually, he had not been the first boy to be so kind to me as of late. Some would help me carry heavy things, just like he did, some would help me with my student council duties... They would all help me and then just disappear.
I came up with a theory as to why this was happening: Katarina and the others in the student council were very kind, and as they represented the whole academy, the other students were influenced by them.
Not only were my friends, who were now in their second year in the student council, wonderful people, but they even made those around them better...
I tried to search my memories for anything that could be interesting, but, unfortunately... “I don’t think I have any stories like that. Sorry, Katarina,” I apologized.
“There’s no reason to apologize! It’s not a problem at all!” she hurried to say.
★★★★★★★
After hearing the replies of Mary, Sophia, and Maria, I could only sigh.
I thought that they were just being considerate by keeping quiet about their romantic lives, but it turned out that they really were in the same boat as me... which still, somehow, made me glad that at least I wasn’t alone. If these three beauties couldn’t find any love, it just made sense that I, with this villainess face of mine, couldn’t either.
And a damsel in distressed being saved by a hero rushing in to save her, being proposed to by someone who fell in love at first sight with them at a ball, being loved by an army of boys, and then being treated nicely by everyone could make sense in a novel, but it was too unrealistic to happen outside of books. The best we could do here was to get together and talk romance.
I was relieved to know that everyone around me was as unfortunate with love as I was. Tomorrow I’d be able to focus my energy on tending to my field, as usual, as the couples breezed by.
Satisfied, I ate another cookie.
Chapter 7: Katarina & Co.
Working as the Claes Family’s Gardener
Many a winter had passed since I had started working as a gardener for Duke Claes. I was born in a poor village to the name of Tom Wisley, and for as long as I can remember, I was sent from one house to the next to work as a servant. What with my rugged face and my dislike of talking, I never made any friends and I always worked alone.
I was good with my hands and good around plants, so when I was still young, I started fixing gardens for nobles, merchants, and other rich people. After a while I turned into a fine gardener, but I still was bad at dealing with people. Some folks would trick me out of my pay, and sometimes even raise their hands against me.
And then, one day, I met that boy. He looked about the same age as me, but much more handsome.
“Are you the one tending to this garden?” he asked me all of a sudden, after I had just finished working on the plants around a noble’s house.
I could tell from his clothes that he was higher class than me, so I started to pay all the normal homages...
“There is no need for that. So, this garden. Are you the one tending to it?”
I had done my best that day, as I always did, but now I was scared that there was something wrong with my work. “...Yes,” I told him with a nod, and his eyes started sparkling.
“This house’s garden has always been appallingly tasteless, but it is unrecognizable now! You really are gifted!”
“...Th-Thank you very much...” His stare was so intense that I didn’t know what to do.
“Do you work exclusively for this house?”
“...No, they just hired me for a one-time job.”
“So do you normally work for another family?”
“...None in particular.”
I couldn’t get people to like me enough that they’d take me in to work for them exclusively, so I hopped from one garden to the next.
Then the boy got all worked up and said, “Then come to my home! You shall be my gardener!” He brought me to Claes Manor, and years later, that very boy became the head of that manor.
He’d hired me kind of willy-nilly... but I really liked working here. The other servants were nice people, I had regular pay and vacations, and the duke was kind and forgiving. Everyone loved him! I was still bad with people, and I couldn’t open myself up with the others working in the mansion... But the duke would come to me casually and ask me to go with him to hang around town in disguise.
We went to do it once, and he liked spending time with me so much that we did it again and again after that. Before I realized it, he’d started calling me “friend.” Me! A lowly servant! At first I thought that it wouldn’t be proper to do the same, but after a while I ended up calling him “friend” too.
I wasn’t good with people, and I was bad at talking... So he was the first to call me that from the bottom of his heart. I wanted to always stay by his side, and I worked as hard as I could. Eventually, I was even appointed head gardener.
...And then, my friend became ill and died.
After that, my days felt empty. Nobody would come and praise my garden enthusiastically like he always had. I didn’t go to town anymore... The downtown we used to go to together.
I want to go where you are... I want to see you again, my friend...
I even thought things like that, until she came.
“I want to build a field in this garden,” she said, with her fierce blue eyes, looking just like him.
And that girl started coming to see me day after day.
“Mr. Tom! I’m here!”
She talked with me, kindly and casually, like my old friend did. I had avoided going to town because the memories of him were too much to bear... but she asked me to accompany her “to buy materials for my projectiles!” and I found myself enjoying going there once again.
After meeting that girl, I didn’t feel the rush to follow my friend anymore.
“My dear friend, I have to ask you to wait for me a bit longer after all. But when I do come to see you, I’ll have a lot of stories about your granddaughter to share.”
Working as the Claes Family’s Head Maid
I was born as the first daughter of a relatively well-off merchant family, and I started working as a maid for the Claes family when I was sixteen.
My sisters were both talented and charming, and received plenty of marriage proposals. As soon as they were old enough, they both married; the older one took her husband into our family and the younger went to her husband’s family.
But I had none of the talent nor the social ability of my two sisters. My face made me look stern, and my voice made me sound angry — I had trouble finding friends, let alone lovers. Even after I finished my lonely years at school, I still didn’t receive any marriage proposals like my sisters had.
I thought that I’d probably be alone all my life if I stayed home, and I’d just be a nuisance for my parents. I decided to go to work for the Claes family, which had always been close to mine.
It didn’t take me long to realize that I wouldn’t be able to enjoy a marriage and family like other girls, so I focused my energy on work. Unlike the others around me, my work was all I had. After about ten years, my work was rewarded when I was unexpectedly given the position of head maid when the previous one retired.
I was scared that people would treat me lightly because of my young age, so I put even more energy into my duties. With this face, this voice, and this relentless attitude, I had caused the maids and other servants to avoid me altogether. But I didn’t stop giving my best, working to make the most out of my lonely life.
Despite my appearance, I liked frilly dresses, cute dolls, fairy tales with beautiful princesses, and adorable little sweets. People laughed at me because of this ever since I was a child, and so I eventually started enjoying them only in secret.
My aura of austerity was so strong that my colleagues just assumed that I didn’t like sweet things and wouldn’t offer them to me. So when I had some free time, I would bake sweets myself, careful not
to be seen, and eat them all alone...
A few years ago, before I was head maid, I had brought my secretly baked treats into the garden where I could sit and eat them by myself.
One of the other maids had recently married and left the mansion. While staring at the grass in front of me, I thought about how now I was just going to see one colleague after another leave me behind.
I’m not particularly talented nor likeable, so it’s just obvious that I can’t get married, but... Their happy smiles... I’m so envious of them... If only a fairy would come out of nowhere, turn me into a princess, and bring me before a handsome prince like in the fairy tales I read as a child...
I was busy daydreaming when I saw someone come out of the tall grass. It was not a fairy, but a little girl covered in leaves. This girl — a duke’s daughter — stared at the sweets I was holding, silent except for the growling of her stomach.
“...Would you like some?” She was staring at me so hard that I couldn’t help but offer her something.
“I can have some?! Really?!” she said, looking so excited that she could have been jumping up and down.
She ate some of my sweets, and despite the fact that they were the work of an amateaur, she took a liking to them — so much so that she would seek me out sometimes to ask for them.
Unlike my colleagues, she never seemed scared or cold around me, and I, too, felt at ease around her.
Once she turned fifteen, she had to go to the Academy of Magic, and her personal maid, Anne, would follow her there.
I also wanted to go to the academy with her... but as head maid, I could not leave the mansion. This made me feel incredibly lonely.
A few days had passed since the young miss left the house.
“Excuse me,” said a voice behind me as I sat in the garden, eating sweets by myself.
My Next Life as a Villainess: All Routes Lead to Doom! Volume 5 Page 10