The Villainess Will Not Bring Dishonor To Her Family

117 - One of Us - Part 3

I've been verbally ambushed while unarmed. I've no better description of what just happened. The woman in front of me is clearly enjoying peeling off the persona made for the purpose of disguising me, and if it was just that, then I would have been fine... however, I know nothing about this woman other than that her father was killed and that she was a tyrant in the book... no. I know more. I know a bit from her political actions.

"What?! If you knew that was a woman why did you not tell me?!" bursts out from Jacques irritatedly as he turns to Catarina while tensing up.

"I am sure you have the wrong person Princess Catarina, and prince Jacques, please do not refer to others in such a crude manner," Lionel cuts in while I'm still gathering my thoughts. He looks angry, and he looks confused. Keeping up with this is likely difficult for him since he knows nothing clearly. No, back to Catarina. The only time she could have connected the dots was when 'Augustus' appeared at the academy-

"Don't try to pull the Augustus facade. Lily Celeste never had a brother, though you don't look surprised at all. How unexpected that you'd know," Catarina brushes Lionel off and then smiles to Jacques.

"If I had told you, then you would have used that to get her in trouble. You would have ruined the meeting... now now, don't look so angry, you already agreed that the benefits of working with us was worth it." Her bright smile is betrayed by the gleam in her eyes. They may be 'Allies' but there seems to be only superficial trust between them. Jacques visibly tenses his jaw and crosses his arms, but doesn't say anything further. Whatever the benefit, it must be important. Though, by the way she said that just now, that means Jacques isn't reincarnated.

"Ho~ and how can you make such a bold claim,  as to know the Celeste lineage, Princess?"

There. We'll pry her for the information. If she doesn't answer then face will be saved.

"Ah, that's simple. I am one of the original developers of the game. Ah. You do know about the game, right? I forgot to confirm that part."

...developer... inventor... maker... for books... author...

"Ah. You're the idiot pervert that decided on the lewd school uniform."

Finally reaching a usable conclusion I end up saying out the first thing in my mind. Unfiltered. I don't know why it came out. I didn't mean for it to get out... must be the horror of wearing the perverted uniform for months and dealing with the horribly written love script... and Gilbert. Wait... if this is the author... I have a bunch of complaints to make!

I end up continuing after a moment of awkward silence of Catarina being shocked and neither Lionel or Jacques apparently knowing what to say.

"First of all, why would you make the skirts so short?! Secondly, why would you make creepy a character like Gil?! And why by the gods would you make Lionel a sadist?! What made that sound like a good idea?!"

Catarina finally puffs up a bit, though she's already bigger than me in multiple dimensions.

"What do you have against Japanese school girl skirts?! Gil-Chan isn't creepy, he's cool! The charm is in how he gets all possessive and lovey dovey and gets rid of everything that wants to bother you!" She yells back at me with a whine.

"What part about that is good?! Have you ever been on his bad side?! He fed me poison when I was 8 because I slapped his hand for touching my butt!"

At this point Catarina goes blank.

"Eh? He wasn't supposed to do that. What did you do to anger him?"

...what?! That part was my fault?!... I feel dizzy. I think too much blood rushed to my head just now. I don't feel so good...

I take a few deep breaths and glance to the two quiet guys. Jacques is looking exhausted and is ignoring the conversation entirely, but Lionel appears to be trying to keep up with everything. Once I glance to him he looks to Catarina determinedly.