My Lord’s Engagement – Q of Hearts (Part 2) Note: Please don’t read it in the little pop-up for the reader. For some reason it doesn’t reflect my later edits (which I often make a lot of after publishing), so please click ‘view original’.
One Day I Became a Burikko Villainess n.o.ble Girl, . Honto tutorial .
Think of it as throwing money at the author and Alphapolis, and getting a book with squiggles and pretty pictures as a pleasant extra.
It was already evening after all, so I had planned on leaving Beatrix’s room, but I was curious about the secret character, so in the end I just stayed there. The castle maids were thoughtful enough to bring more tea and sweets. The tea sweets were fluffy pseudo-soufflés. There was fruits in it so the colour of the soufflés were all a little different… I wonder which one should I pick. I decided to go with the one that was faintly pink. It’s probably got berries or something in it. Beatrix chose the brown one.
“And soo, the headmaster is the secret character?”
That always languid looking one? …That headmaster?
The tall and thin man with the three silver braids popped into my mind. His golden eyes were mysterious. He’s the headmaster after all, and he’s powerful after all, so he might certainly be a high-spec character. Some people treated him like a legendary cla.s.s monster but… from what I could see of the person himself, it really made me wonder if he wasn’t a slug, or a sloth, or a bean sprout monster instead. He was always hiding in his room after all, and the only time I’d ever spoke to him was in the academy greenhouse… and only for a little, too. His ecological behaviour was still wrapped in mystery.
“By the way, um, the Headmaster Route, was it? What kind of conditions did you need to clear to unlock it?”
It was a route that I’d never been able to see, so I was really interested to hear what was in it. I just can’t imagine a romance with that headmaster.
“Once you cleared the conditions that I mentioned earlier, when you returned to the start menu, you’d find the option for the new Headmaster Route. Then you’d just pick the headmaster… the joker, to enter his route.”
Beatrix continued her explanation.
In Carte à Jouer, you didn’t change character by making choices in-game, but instead you’d choose a card from the menu at the start to choose their route. For example, if you picked the K of Hearts, then it’d be Royce-sama, and if you picked the K of Spades, then it’d be Raiga. And so in other words, the Headmaster’s card appeared on the menu.
“Wow…”
In other words, had I picked up my pace a little in my old world, I might have been able to meet him… I’d cleared all the romance and friendship routes, and I’d almost cleared all the bad ends too. There’s nothing I can do about it now, but it’s a waste.
“Was the Headmaster in the game this sort of person as well?”
“In the game, he wasn’t lethargic, but he was even more of a shut-in than the current Headmaster. He was interested in the protagonist for having as much mana as he did and brought her to the academy, and after that, he’d quietly watch over her but… while he was watching over her, his feelings escalated, and he gradually started to rampage.”
As she explained, Beatrix switched the legs that she was crossing. She’s wearing a dress, but her actions are manly.
“…Rampaging, huh?”
It sounds kind of disturbing.
“To begin with, in the Headmaster Route during the entrance ceremony, right from the very start, the four rival characters tried to hurt the Heroine.”
“Eh-… why?”
Each rival character wouldn’t have any reason to hurt the Heroine as long as she didn’t get involved with their romantic interest.
“Because she had become a rumour for being brought into the academy by the Headmaster, and so becoming interested in her, the Ks and Js came into contact with her one by one, and she ended up in a reverse harem.”
“Harem…”
What the heck.
“Because of the Heroine’s mana and talent and personality, all the male characters approached her to try to make her theirs.”
“Hm~mm…? When you say Ks and Js, you mean that the characters from the friendship routes were included?”
No, I mean, in the end it’s just what happened in the game, so it’s not like I’m worried about Achille. I’m not, okay?
“Yeah, that’s right. The characters from the romance routes are a given, but even the characters from the friendship routes were pa.s.sionately making moves on the Heroine.”
–CRASH- …
“M-, Miss Camille?”
Oh no… I dropped the teacup. In a fl.u.s.ter, I used magic to fix it. It’s the same magic that I used when I threw up the alcohol at the entrance ceremony. It turns back time for just the necessary parts. …Mn, good as new. I’m not shaken in the slightest, okay?
“W-, What happened then?”
I urged Beatrix to continue.
“Finding out that the rivals were trying to hurt the Heroine, the Headmaster erased every one of them. The Headmaster had probably used some kind of magic, because not one person had noticed that the rivals had disappeared. Only the Heroine had noticed, and questioned the Headmaster… And that was the start to their romance.”
“It’s a pretty heavy start to a romance, isn’t it…”
It’s a bit horror. And was she physically erased this time? Camille, I mean.
I reached my hand out to another pseudo-soufflé. This time I chose a light purple one, and brought a spoon of it to my mouth. Mnn-, it’s similar to the taste of rum raisin from my old world. How nostalgic.
Being rum raisin flavour means that there’s alcohol in it, doesn’t it?
^ That was an author’s note