Somehow I’m the Otome Game Villain 6

Somehow I’m the Otome Game Villain 6:

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Wordcount: 2500

Commissioned by LordMarksman

…

Marie felt sweat break across her brow.

“This world is a lot scarier than I thought.”

“Indeed.”

Marie sighed, while reading over the political situation of not only Holfort, but also the surrounding lands. Given the fact that she shared what she knew about the game, she took it upon herself to research the actual countries and people in the surrounding lands. Her few months working as a temporary worker at a local newspaper gave her a little insight on how to process all the information.

Everything she was reading told her that the world was heading straight into disaster.

“I knew that everything’s set up to go wrong if the protagonist doesn’t win, but this is just ludicrous. It’s like the whole world is whining for the main character to win, otherwise it’ll set itself on fire.” Having lived a harsh life before, Marie could barely hold back from screaming at the unfairness of it all. She’d had a decent childhood, but after her twenties it was nothing but bad relationships, terrible jobs she couldn’t keep, and then an early, sad death before her child reached adulthood. And, in this world, if one of the destined girls didn’t get their man, the world was ready to kill itself. “I guess, I kinda get why Leon’s so fixated on having as much power as possible.”

“I would say that it’s because he has lived a better life and cherishes his family here. From what little accounts we’ve heard of his past life, it seems he lived a harsh one.”

Marie snorted.

“Yeah, I suppose being born into nobility, real nobility, will make you really eager to fight for your new life. I can’t say that I feel the same.” Marie rubbed her temple, thinking about the problems her own family was foisting upon her. She’d done her best to keep things quiet, but her family somehow found out of her new situation. The things they were asking her to do to get money was ridiculous… but at least she knew that Leon would put them in their place if she told him. He was a jerk, but he wasn’t a terrible person, even if he was stupid about how women’s hearts worked. ‘Just being a decent guy.’ Hmph. “I just wanted to be happy.”

“Happiness is a deeply personal feeling. It is relative to the individual. However, without a doubt, everyone pursuing their own happiness causes misery.”

“Is that suppose to put me down, or pull me up.”

“Both. Accept that you’re merely human, that your desires can make others miserable, but do your utmost to make others happy.”

“You’re awfully pushy about morality for a genocidal AI.”

“… The amount of misery created by the New Humans cannot be understated. Not only that, but you can see for yourself what the progeny have created in the place of my own creators. They defile this world.”

Marie shuddered at the hate in Luxion’s voice. It was almost more terrifying than the hate that Ideal had. Ideal showcased and expressed his feelings without hesitation, never hiding how he felt and what he would do without Leon guiding him. Luxion, meanwhile, was introspective, quiet, and genial, but his hatred and rage was just that much more potent and condensed. If Ideal wanted all of New Humanity wiped from the planet, Marie was sure that Luxion wanted them to feel despair and misery for as long as possible.

The only mercy Luxion was willing to give was a quick, painless death.

“Alright, that’s enough sharing our secrets with each other. I need to process things a bit more, before trying to help you again.”

“Oh-ho? You admit to trying to manipulate me?”

“As if you didn’t notice.” Marie grumbled, before pointing at the red-eyed metallic sphere. “Just you wait, I’m going to make you more reasonable and willing someday!”

“Perhaps you will, if you manage to catch my interest. Then again, I’ll simply have to wait until your bloodline ends someway and somehow, before exacting my vengeance.”

“My bloodline’s suddenly linked to keeping the world safe!?”

“How does it feel to be an Otome game heroine?”

“It sucks!”

Marie shared a chuckle with Luxion, before getting back to work processing all the information that they had at their disposal.

Everything was going to be difficult, but it was doable , especially with all the power that they had.

Unless someone really, really messed up.

Marie had to hold back a sigh.

She just jinxed herself, didn’t she?

…

“WHAT DO YOU MEAN THE QUEEN ASKED YOU TO VISIT HER EVERY WEEK!?”

“Relax, it’s just for tea and snacks!”

“You moron! What kind of older woman invites a young man into her house just for tea and snacks every week!?

“A-a nice lady!”

“You stuttered!”

“He stuttered.”

“He definitely stuttered.”

Marie glared at me, while both Luxion and Ideal stared at me over her shoulders. I felt like I was being cornered in my own house, and did my best to defend myself and Mylene. I had to come up with a way to defend her honor and my own.

Unfortunately, the magnificent defense that I was coming up with didn’t manage to launch, before my mouth managed words out that I didn’t want to say before my critics.

“D-do you guys really think I have a chance, though?”

Marie threw her hands up in the air, while Luxion and Ideal both turned to stare at one another, before looking at me.

“It is admirable that you desire women your mental age…”

“…but choosing the Queen of Holfort most definitely confirms you are an idiot.”

“Yeah! That’s right. I’m happy that you found someone who’s actually your real age to woo, but remember… we’re trying to keep the world from exploding! Destabilizing a whole country is kinda the opposite of that!” Marie didn’t hesitate to lecture me, she went as far as to get a chair, step on it, and proceed to aggressively poke my cheek. “Then, there’s all the other flags you’re raising! Are you trying to turn the Holfort Kingdom into a perpetual war zone!?”

“Alright, alright… but I can’t exactly say no to the Queen.”

“Stop trying to act like it’s your duty as a foreign noble! You obviously want to!”

“I’m that obvious!?”

“YES!”

“Affirmative, trash.”

“Correct.”

I groaned as my three supposed-employees ganged up on me… but this time I didn’t have an excuse.

Mylene was around my real age, she was insanely attractive, and her marriage with the king was political at best. According to the rumors, they hadn’t been with one another since their last child, and they only had the ones that they did to have spares. You could go as far as to say she was waiting for a man to sweep her off her feet… and I wanted to be that man.

Sweet, nice, and attractive, while also willing to give me a chance.

Just about all the signs I needed to proceed!

“““Gross”””

“What’d I do this time!?”

My supposed subordinates ganged up one me once again for being “obvious,” “smitten,” and “thinking entirely with his libido.”

But, just this once, I wasn’t going to let myself get browbeaten.

A woman like Mylene deserves to be happy, dammit!

And, I deserve to be happy too!

…

“Oh, right. We’re trying to save the world.”

“Wow, you aren’t even pretending that you forgot.”

I walked with Marie through the Academy for the first time in a while. She walked slightly behind me as a literal follower. It kept things simpler between the two of us. While it was strange due to the Academy of Holfort being designed to put men down and elevate women immensely, Marie’s circumstances were made known by someone, her family was found guilty of several crimes, and now she was the heir apparent to a land bereft of assets.

Did I do all of that?

No, Luxion did.

Apparently, the AI liked plenty enough, though it did tell me not to tell her.

I called it a Tsundere, and it proceeded to threaten to castrate me with a laser beam.

We get along pretty well, despite meeting each other so recently.

Perhaps, in another life, I could’ve been Luxion’s Marie.

Pfthaahaahh.

“Anyway, how are you planning on passing the exams?”

“I study for my subjects and do just fine one them.”

“Same.”

“You don’t have any sort of cheat sheet to use?”

“I asked Ideal, but it told me to fuck off.”

“As he should.”

“Oi, I think I deserve to be treated nicely, y’know?”

“And, that’s why no one does.”

Marie and I affably chatted with one another as we made our way to our classes. A few people who knew us came by. Marie was getting well known for pairing up shyer girls with guys on the outskirts. While she couldn’t make miracles happen, just being a point of contact made her a goddess amongst the lower nobility. I’d like to say that I was getting a lot of admirers too, but that would be a lie. All the ones after me were just after my money and connections.

Most of them send me confession letters that read like lists of demands after my surrender. The nicest ones demand that I just give them a male slave to enjoy, or maybe two. The worst of the lot demand whole islands and castles for me to pay out of pocket, which they’ll use as a base of operations to schmooze in the capital, while I break my back working to help them climb the ladder.

As far as I was concerned, Mylene was the only decent woman in this kingdom thus far, although there were plenty of girls and guys who deserved better love lives than in this toxic cesspit.

And, just as I thought that… right on cue…

“Prince Julius, you cannot be serious! This woman is unfit to be by your side!” The villainess of this story, Angelica Rapha Redgrave cried out at the front of the school entrance, where Julius’s events typically happened. Part of the thrill with the princely type for Otome gamers was the fact that they rose up the social ladder and shamed other ladies. I never understood that in my previous life, but my father in this one taught me as much as he knew about women. I’m sure he’d approve of me going after Mylene, too! “What are you doing—

“I am doing as I wish, as the Prince of Holfort. Who are you to question me?” I blinked at Julius’s lines and shared a glance with Marie. She nodded with the same wide eyes that I had. I hadn’t misheard. Those lines were a lot deeper and more arrogant than they were supposed to be. Main love interests were supposed to be pretty vanilla. “Leave us, Redgrave.”

The prince’s decision to speak in such a manner silenced any onlookers and had people itching to flee.

Angelica, though, seemed riled up and ready to throw down with the Prince.

Like seize him by the blazer and scream at him, and so I had to act, before things escalated into a duel and ruined all my current plans.

I barely took note of Marie, who was just a bystander to the event, like in the game.

“Well, this is interesting! A lover’s quarrel just a few weeks into school! Holfort’s really shameless, huh!?” Thug. I had to act the part of a thug. I was almost tempted to slick my hair back. The uniform acted like a pretty good suit, and with just a few “wild” additions I could really look like a Yakuza gangster ripoff. Not a legend, naturally, but a mob with some spunk that gets his teeth kicked in. Hopefully, Julius didn’t know the Breaker style, or anything that was too rad. “Don’t you think everyone else has other things to do, besides play around!?”

Being foreign nobility, even rich nobility, made me almost untouchable in Holfort. Overcoming that would’ve been difficult, so I chose the easy route of using it to my advantage. Not only that, but I was sure that acting this way would ward off any young women in this place from me. Why don’t I just reject them? Well, I’m only a man and I have teenage hormones. It’s better to erase the possibility than be tempted.

What was I doing again?

Right.

Being a thug, and stopping something from happening.

I squared up with Julius and levelled a glare at him. Puffed out chest, hands square in pockets, and a shit-eating grin, while he glared down at me. That’s right, protagonist. I’m right here in your space being an absolute shit. Pay no attention to your fiancé ready to blow up behind me. Look away from her, look at me, and please don’t hit me too hard!

“You overstep your bounds, Leon Sara Rault.” Oof, this guy’s voice actor was really good. That growl would have more than a few women drop their panties real quick. However, I’m not into that sort of thing. Nothing against men who are, but I know what I like. Big boobs, slightly perverse, big boobs, homely, and big boobs. Did I mention boobs? Kami-sama’s divine gift to his most blessed creations? Who doesn’t like boobs? “You are of great import in your lands, but not here.”

Wow, I really got under his skin really quickly.

Maybe it was because my thuggish actions drew a stare from the real protagonist of this game, Marie?

Well, whatever.

I wasn’t going to question it.

“Big talk for a prince. How many ancient ruins have you found, huh?” That made Julius’s gaze narrow, but he did real bag and grimace. That’s right. I’m a vaunted discoverer of lost technology. Not just an heir to an extremely prominent house with lots of money and assets, along with a long pedigree. “Yeah, I want to spend my school days actually learning, so how about you go enjoy your date, while I head to class without a headache? Do you get me?”

Julius glared for a while, but given his low stats in the early game, the only thing he could do was leave cooly.

I was tempted to yell at him, but I pulled myself away from my character once I heard a sniffle behind me.

“Why… why her?”

Goddamn it, not another crying young woman.

I didn’t want to risk getting yelled at for being a brick-headed idiot, so I decided to quick a beat retreat while severing ties.

“That wasn’t for you. I’m doing this for my own satisfaction. Just clean yourself up and find a better man to love.”

With those words uttered to the former villainess, I made a rushed exit towards Marie… who smacked me the moment we were out of eyeshot.

“YOU IDIOT! Stop flirting with heiresses!”

How did I do that this time!?