Somehow I’m the Otome Game Villain 7:

Somehow I’m the Otome Game Villain 7:

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Wordcount: 2500

Commissioned by LordMarksman

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“Well, this is a nice gift.”

“How… just how do you do it?” Marie looked at the air-bike with wide eyes. It was a top-of-the-line model and customized too. Technically, it had the best specs in the industry. It’ll blow everything out of the water once Luxion and Ideal were done with it. The two AI were eagerly working on it now. “You’re a jerk. A thug. Someone without a sensitive bone in his body, but you’re somehow getting ladies in high society twisted around your finger.”

“Maybe, it’s because I’m going out of my way to be their friend and look out for them first. It’s a dog-eat-dog world here, you know?” Compared to the Republic, the Kingdom was simply fucked up and the Academy was a vile cesspit. People looked for any reason they could to put other people down and put themselves up. Of course, being a decent person who didn’t try to use sweet and kind words at the same time had its appeal. “Atlee’s just being nice, too. This is her getting captured or anything. It’s a flag at best.”

“This air-bike is worth hundreds of thousands of Dia! It’s… it’s not just a gift you can give away to someone’s who’s nice to you! Do you seriously think that!?”

“Well, I could give it away as a gift. The Atlee Family is plenty wealthy too. This is about what’s expected for the upper class.” My words seemed to hit Marie pretty hard and she recoiled. Oh, right. Her family was in heavy debt and she had to scrounge for every bit of funding she had. “Ah, sorry… but it really is normal for the upper-class. She had a whole racetrack built for her Jilk, you know? Not just a bike. A whole track… in a setting where land’s at a premium because it’s all islands.”

“But… what… how… no… it can’t be! Hundreds of thousands of Dia can’t just be considered a gift for being nice!” Marie teared up and started sniffling. I scratched my cheek and looked away, which just made things worse as she stomped her foot. “Don’t you dare pity me! I’m right! This is definitely a sign of love and affection… not a courtesy gift!”

I decided to drop the subject and move on, since we weren’t going to get anywhere at this rate.

Man, I forgot how much it sucks to not be despicably rich.

“I said don’t pity me!”

“Anyway, Atlee needs time to cool down. Going too fast will just make things awkward, so let’s figure out how to help Redgrave-San.”

“And, you move straight towards another woman, too!?”

“That’s the plan that we made to keep Holfort stable, remember!?”

“That doesn’t excuse the fact that you’re good at it, enemy of all women!”

“I’m trying to secure my comfy lifestyle, and your paycheck!”

Marie and I yelled at one another for quite a long time, before both the AI’s were content with their work and interceded.

…

Unlike with Atlee, I couldn’t just approach Redgrave and ask to talk to her. Not only did she mostly stay at the school, she was a model student who usually just spent her time studying and getting perfect grades. With a great education and understanding born from another life, I needed to study to get the grades necessary for my station. Needless to say, Redgrave wasn’t exactly available outside of the in-game events.

Therefore, the solution we came up with was to make our own events that played with my current character as a thug.

It was the old ‘get in trouble to meet the student council president’ trick that was in flag capturing games. I got into a fabricated altercation outside of school, and Redgrave found my situation on her plate, because it was below the notice of the teachers.  As methods went, it was pretty underhanded, but it was better than trying to intrude on her situation.

Anyway, the three were ready to provide support through my earpiece, while I committed to doing my best on my end.

“Rault-san, do you understand why you are here?”

“Yeah, I’ve still got the bruises.” I grunted and took a sip of tea. We were in a dining room/conference room section of the young woman’s personal suite. The whole thing was apparently for our year’s head student, whomever that might be, because nobility wanted the head student to train in dealing with their fellows and staff. The whole, cordial meeting to discuss me getting in a fight outside of school had a tiered tray of fingerling sandwiches, desserts, tea, and maids to do everything for us. My thuggish backstory felt so out of place that I nearly wanted to apologize. “Those adventurers were trying to rough me up and trying to get my guards to kill them. If I hadn’t punched them, they’d be dead, you know? Either by my guards or by Holfort.”

Assaulting a foreign dignitary wasn’t a very good look, even for adventurers. Though Holfort was pretty respectful of its Adventurers, that didn’t mean the guys were above reproach. Damaging international relations with the biggest producer of energy in the world were worth an execution.

“Hm, so you are suggesting that you attacked them yourself to prevent them from getting hurt for doing something worse?” Redgrave narrowed her eyes at me when I just nodded at her words. She steepled her hands together and leaned forward. Keeping my eyes straight and meeting her eyes was difficult, but I managed. My older sister did her best to give me the ability, though I faltered from time to time, I sure as hell didn’t ogle. “So, I suppose that you didn’t mention their names to anyone for reprisal? You would not mind if I asked someone to look into the matter, perhaps asking your guards?”

“That would’ve made everything worthless. So, you’re free to waste your time.” The whole event was a bunch of holograms projected by Ideal and Luxion. We have witnesses who believe completely that our story was fact. Sure, firepower was nice, but the AI under my command were both terrifying when they utilized their power via more undetectable methods. “Go ahead and ask whoever you want.”

“I see… then I will do just that.” Angelica glanced over her shoulder at one of her maids and that one led the other one present out alongside her. I took the time to take a bite of the snacks offered for the session. That was all I had planned at the moment and it was the entirety of our plan. Up until the day the duel was declared, I’d keep getting into conversations with Angelica like this one via fabricated situations. We build rapport, I give her a shoulder to lean on, and get the right to fight for her in the coming battle so that her powerbase doesn’t collapse. Losing Julius would be terrible, but if she managed out a victory against the Saint, then her family would lose a few allies rather than get neutered.

Anyway, I thought that was the end of our time together, until she chose to speak up.

“…Do you always succeed in your attempts to do the right thing? Finding ancient ruins, succeeding in your classes, and helping those who were harmed?” Scarlet eyes bore into me and sent a chill down my spine. I managed to suppress my libido in favor of staying unfazed by her words. “Perhaps, you could share some advice on how to live as freely as you wish while doing everything that you want?”

On instinct, I played up my character.

“Oh? Is the lady feeling jealous about a thug?”

“I’m jealous that you’re barely doing what’s considered right, yet achieving everything you ought. Yes.” Angelica glared at me. I didn’t expect this development, but it made sense quickly. I’m the heir to a large household, but I barely adhered to social norms, but still succeeded. On the other hand, she was raised to be Julius’s bride and did everything in her power to succeed at everything through her way, yet she was failing. “Is it merely luck, or do you earnestly work to succeed?”

“My family has plenty of money, but I did plenty of searching and research on my own. I know two of the Ancient languages.” I huffed and played up my part. The secret genius and talent hidden behind a rough exterior. I liked it better than being just a thug and it worked well with my established reputation. “Besides, I act better around good people who treat each other decently. Over here in Holfort, there’s only the abused and exploited and those who hold power and exploit. For the lower nobility, it’s the men who are abused and for the higher nobility, it’s the women.”

Angelica’s teeth grit, as she obviously wanted to defend her country, but she couldn’t deny what I said.

The women of the lower nobility were tyrants with slaves and who wanted servants rather than husbands.

Meanwhile, the capture target’s decisions spoke for them.

“I see. I wondered why your records from the Republic are spotless, while here you act as you do.”

“And, how’s that?”

“As a loud, obnoxious, and recalcitrant thug.”

“Then, I’m definitely guilty of that. You should try it sometime. It’s a good way to get jerks and assholes off your back… though you’ll probably lose if you go against the commoner instead of the assholes who actually deserve it.”

“And, who might those be?”

“The prince? His parents? Your peers that are shitting on you because you can’t somehow make a prince do as you ask?” I listed off targets without much thought, but I knew that I was right. Angelica’s jealousy stemmed from being deemed a failure and shamed, despite doing everything right on her end. The fact that the future heir decided to impartially get rid of her for the heroine wasn’t her fault, but her circle and people were blaming her. “Send a letter to your Queen, tell her that you can’t pursue the prince. Tell your father trying to do as he asks will just ruin your relations with the crown. Tell the prince that he’s an inconsiderate bastard and walk away.”

I expected a lot of different replies, but I didn’t expect Angelica getting up, rushing at me, and slapping me in the face.

Still, even while my cheek stung at her attack, her eyes glistened with tears and not a single word left her lips.

I sighed and cast my gaze upward, while the stinging pain faded.

I didn’t address her directly, but I did speak to her.

“Listen, sometimes, even if you do everything right, you’ll fail. That’s normal. What isn’t normal is that you’re being dragged into the mud for failing by your so-called friends and peers. They deserve to be put in their place, even if you’re only doing it to protect your own family.” I looked over to her and the young lady looked furious. Red in the face, gritted teeth, and a glare that could kill. This seemed like a bad end for her route, so I just told her the truth to her face. I messed up here, so I might as well help her as much as I could. “His highness decided to be selfish and pursue his happiness. You’re obviously too nice of a girl to get in the way of that, so just cut ties and do what you need to for yourself. There’s more to your life than a single failed engagement… even if you did love the prince, you still need to take care of yourself.”

That was about as much as I could provide this young lady from what I learned in my past life. Granted, a lot of it was via osmosis and things I just learned on the internet, but reading and deciding what to believe and not to believe is literally what learning is. All I was doing was giving her hints and advice I would’ve liked to hear. Nothing is perfect. Luck is a massive factor in everything. Sometimes life just shits down your throat without a hint of warning, even though you’ve done everything right. Being the good person doesn’t mean only good things will happen to you.

I had a whole of a lot of things to say, but I decided that was all I needed to say.

If Redgrave decided to throw down the gauntlet, I’d still be happy to help her out, but at this point I just wished her family and faction the best of luck.

But, as I got up, she spoke again with her eyes aimed squarely at her feet.

“Why? Why spare people who beat you? Why help Clarisse? Why do all that and then tell me to be horrible?” Angelica took hold of my lapel and I paused and looked down at her with more than a little confusion. Where the hell was this conversation going? Hadn’t I tripped a bad-route flag? Why wasn’t my support chiming in? “If you’ve got everything so figured out, then why can’t you help me as much as you’ve helped so many others?”

I blurted out the answer before my mind could come to a decision.

“Because you don’t need help. You need to get up, get out there, and be the daughter of a Duke and live up to your family’s name. Even though everything feels like it’s falling apart, you still have your obligations and your family to protect.” This wasn’t my past life talking. This time it was from all my lessons since I was reborn into this world. My purpose was to become the next head of the Rault family and that meant I understood what being nobility went. Things were strange in Holfort, but some semblance of honor and pride still remained. With that in mind, I pried away the young lady’s hands from my lapel. More than anything, I wanted her to scrounge some sort of victory against all odds. “You’ve lost a single battle, but you’re ready to give up the whole war. Trust me, if you’re going to be utterly defeated, I’ll help you… but for now: don’t give up and act according to your station!”

With my piece said and her hands away from my lapel, I moved out of the room.

Naturally, as if on schedule, my personal peanut gallery chimed in.

“Wow, that would be a wonderful speech, if it didn’t come out of a hypocrite that looks for the easiest solution possible at all times.”

“Or a bastard that holds the world’s last piece of hope hostage to get overwhelming might.”

“Or a smoothtalker after younger women. Ptooey.”

Ah, after that series talk, it was nice to get lambasted by my employees again.