The Villainess Will Not Bring Dishonor To Her Family

69 - Flower of Headal

Jesmaine Polliet's Point Of View

I was born in a mountain village in my previous life, and lived a quiet life with the view of the beautiful seasons. I used to be pretty quiet as well, preferring cooking and handicrafts for my spare time. Honestly my childhood was incredibly peaceful... perhaps that is why I fled into the world of books and games when I moved to the city with my parents. Everyone were so different, so loud and... had very different mannerisms than those I was used to.

The game 'Doki Doki Flower Academy' was one of the games I played during the last year I lived. A common otome game with classic capture targets:

The gentle crown prince that was kind enough to be the prince on a white horse.

The yandere Gilbert, who pretended to take the role as the womanizer.

The cold and cool William.

The ore-sama Soleil.

The tsundere Eric.

And finally the sadist Lionel.

All of them had their own route, where you went into specifics with parts of the world. For example, if you chose Lionel's route, then at one point a war with Headal would start. You would either see him off and try to fix it politically, or go along with him.

If you take the political path, then he goes cold in an event, where he finally breaks down at the end and tells you about how his father's wife killed his brothers and his mother, the lord's former wife, and his mother killed his half brother. As far as I recall it happened in Gilbert's mansion when they were around eight, so Lionel always held a grudge towards Gilbert, though he never acted on it...

Jesmaine... I had just turned eight when I awoke, so there was nothing I could do. I was in an enemy country, and we were heading to war with them as usual...

...The reason I focus on Lionel is because I am supposed to be the 'love rival' for his route. Jesmaine fell in love with Lionel during a peace meeting and set her mind on a Romeo and Juliet kind of romance. Of course, Lionel doesn't agree with this. If the heroine chooses either the reverse harem route or Lionel's route, then Jesmaine 'disappears'... and if the heroine chooses any other, then Lionel converses with Jesmaine in the background a few time before she 'disappears'...

Those were the odds I was born into...

They're hardly better than Lily Celeste's, which is public execution no matter which route Claire takes...

Of course I've fought quite hard to avoid my own death and make as much peace as possible... but I didn't expect things to go so awry...

I was about 9 when the prince of Headal went 'You will marry me', and cast away his former fiancé... not only that, he immediately had me sent through queen's training just to solidify his claim. And a claim it is. He's left neither me, nor my family any choice... and he tries to keep me locked up in the palace at all times. Merely getting to the Camellia Academy was a miracle.

As much as I don't want to be here, I need to make sure that Claire and the prince don't see me as an enemy, so Lionel won't kill me or go to war with us. That is the decision I made. If I must be a queen, then I want to make peace between our kingdoms... at the very least...

...

And I ended up in the same class as Lily Celeste... the main villainess!

I'd heard that she had a brother that never appeared in the story, but I couldn't take the risk that she hadn't changed. I needed to be on good foot with Claire, so I decided to distance myself from her... My hope is that Claire will be with the prince, and that neither of them will hate me... hopefully that way we will be able to stop the war between our kingdoms for a while. That... is my hope... and my goal...

---*---

The game never really said anything about the history of the game, so I couldn't compare it with the game. In the first place, a lot of things have changed compared to the game, and not just in Ristaze. I was not supposed to be engaged with a prince, just to mention one huge change.

Of course, I later noticed that most of the characters from the game seemed a little bit off. Not just Lionel's interest in Lily, but also Magdalin and Bridgette, Lily's followers. One tried to bully her, and the other followed her more loyally than she ever did in the game. Gilbert changed too. He wasn't a womanizer anymore, and he doesn't skip classes either. In fact, he seems very dedicated...

It's not just them. Soleil was merely a shadow of what he'd been in the game. He was not just tolerable, he was actually welcoming. Still a little arrogant towards commoners, just like Lily, but he had actually turned 'okay'. He actually helped Claire too...

About Claire! She's actually doing really well! She said she's been taking a lot of classes since she was small... I considered whether it was a side effect of me becoming our prince's fiance, after all... I was partly considered a genius... I really am not though... I can hardly keep up nowadays, but I stood out a lot when we were kids. Claire may have been given Queen's training because she was the next in line if we killed Lily.

Then I found out about Helena. Helena messed up a bit in blending in... as for why, she's only been here for a few years... there are surprisingly many things that are different from our former life, and after she's been buried in work she's probably forgotten to adjust. Though, for some reason, it appears she didn't look up on ANY of the capture targets of all, but instead began working on improving their printing press... I wish she had looked into the situation just a little bit...

Perhaps that way we could have gotten along with Lily better.

---*---

Everything considered I think 'Lily' may indeed be worried for her own end as well. After all, she didn't hurt Helena. If Lily is thinking she will be executed for being cruel to someone the Heroine likes, then it would make sense.

I wish I could confirm this more directly, but the people wanting me to go home are getting increasingly intense in their words... and yesterday I received yet another letter from the prince, demanding me to return.

Of course I didn't intend to go.

I don't want to be locked up... and I won't be able to do anything from there...

---*---

I was never given the choice.

I was taken back in the middle of the night, after they tricked me to drink a sleeping drug...

By the time I woke we were halfway back on the way to Headal.

Did this mean the Claire was on Lionel's route?