Episode 1. Prologue (1)
A woman with large blue eyes, a fair face, and long golden hair tied high in one, stared at me with trembling eyes.
She was undeniably pure and beautiful, like a single stalk of lily, the protagonist of the story.
“What are you doing to me right now?” she asked.
Drops of water fell from her hair. Even her old dress, which didn’t match the luxurious mansion, was now stained with watermarks.
I opened my lips.
‘Oh, I’m sorry.’
I was about to say that. But the only options that came to mind were…
▶ Did you ask because you didn’t know? Is having bad hair a sign of poverty? Or is it because you’re poor that your hair is bad?
▶ Disappear before my eyes.
‘Whichever I choose, it won’t make me a villain, will it?’
I thought to myself. But I had to choose one of these two lines.
Because I’m the villainess in a romance game!
‘Why did I end up in this situation? It’s so embarrassing.’
As soon as I arrived at my fiancé’s house, I had sprayed the heroine’s hair with a tea kettle. Of course, everyone in the mansion’s attention was now focused on us.
If only I could shout this out loud.
‘Don’t stare at me! I didn’t want this situation either. In fact, it’s so embarrassing for me to be in front of other people.’
Calling someone like me, who is naturally timid, a villainess, what a ridiculous situation.
My face was burning to the point where I didn’t know what to do. But!
‘If I don’t choose this damn option, the story won’t progress to the next scene!’
It just wouldn’t progress. It could even automatically progress to the worst outcome.
‘Automatic progression is not an option.’
I was scared just thinking about it when a guide popped up.
▶ The option will be automatically selected. 5, 4, 3…
In the end, I had no choice but to press the lower option and silently cry inside.
Doesn’t a villainess have human rights too!
* * *
So, somehow, a woman like me who is timid and hates being noticed ended up becoming the villainess of a romance game where only true insiders can exist.<Pro Players>
I let out a sigh and muttered, ‘I shouldn’t have said anything unnecessary while playing a romance game.’
What good is regret? Rewinding time to a peaceful Monday evening, today too, I carried a pile of tasks that others had pushed onto me at work, unable to even utter a word.
‘Wouldn’t it be better to die than to live like this?’
Lost in somewhat melancholic thoughts, I turned on my phone inside the shaking subway.
‘Well, let’s play a game. Right, a new game was supposed to be released today, right?’
No friends, and at work, I’m just a shadow of someone else. That’s why my only hobby is playing romance games on my way to and from work. And today was the day when a romance game titled “[Victorian Love]” opened.
‘The opening is nice.’
As I stared at my phone with interest, it took me exactly 15 minutes to scrunch up my face in disbelief.
‘…No, how can all of this be such trashy content!’
The story was so clichéd that I felt like I could predict the entire plot even with my eyes closed. As the title suggests, the setting is the Victorian era. The protagonist is a brave young lady from humble beginnings who becomes a governess in the household of Count Bohan. Her targets for romance are the Count himself and his four sons.
But as with any romance game, there’s a villainess in the story, and her name is Sienna Liata. She’s the first princess of this country and the fiancée of Daniel, the eldest son of Count Bohan!
I forgot that I was in the subway and erupted in anger.
“What kind of villainess is this? Of course, it’s natural to interfere. A woman who has neither seen nor heard her fiancé is stealing him away.”
Moreover, even if you say one word to the woman who’s snatched her fiancé, the woman burst into tears and she would become the bad one. Of course, it’s only natural for me to be furious!
‘Ugh, ugh, I turned on the game to relieve stress, but it’s just adding more stress.’
It felt like I was looking at myself who couldn’t even say a word after being belittled at work.
And on top of that, Daniel condemned that villainess sister like this:<She said unnie like in sister>
– This is why you are disgusted, Sienna. You have everything. But why do you have to harass such a poor person?
This wasn’t even funny. I have everything, so I shouldn’t bother you?
‘Is it alright for a squirrel to steal a bear’s food? You’re the bad one! What did our villainess sister do wrong!’
Inside the subway, I simmered with anger the whole way, and eventually, I turned off my phone. Then, at home, I fell asleep with a feverish feeling.
The next day.
“…?”
Something was off. I opened my eyes, and the room was pitch dark.
‘Is it still night?’
I sat up and groped around my head. I was trying to find my phone. However, my phone didn’t come into my hand, and I could only grasp a strange velvety sensation of a blanket.
‘Huh? I don’t use this kind of blanket.’
If you use this kind of blanket with an electric blanket, it gets too hot.
‘Moreover, what’s this?’
Even the lace-trimmed slip was extremely unfamiliar. I don’t wear such nightwear. In the winter, pajama bottoms are the best.
‘Did I even turn on an electric blanket to sleep because it’s cold? What’s with the slip?’
No matter what goes wrong, it’s gone really wrong. I groped my way across the bed and slowly placed my feet on the floor. The floor was ridiculously soft. Anyway, this wasn’t my room. I wandered through the unfamiliar darkness, trying to turn on the lights.
No matter how much I felt around the wall, I couldn’t find the switch. So, I eventually went to the window and pulled back the curtains.
But then…
‘…Where am I?’
Outside the window, a vast green garden stretched out. What in the world was this sight in the middle of winter?
‘Look at the trees. They look like something from a topiary. Maybe the gardener meticulously pruned them.’
Trees that seemed to be shaped like rabbits or butterflies, as if a theme park was nearby, caught my eye.
Dumbfounded, I let out a hollow laugh and turned my head.
Compared to the room where I was lying, the garden was like a playful coquetry.
‘And what’s with this princess-like room?’
In the large room, there was a round bed with lace drapes placed in the center. And on both sides, there were elegant white vanities and antique sofas. Despite the spaciousness, there was no sign of a wardrobe or other furniture.
‘What is this…’
No matter how I looked at it from the front or back, it wasn’t our house.
In my extreme astonishment, as I blinked my eyes, a paper fluttered down from above my head.
※ Welcome to the female-oriented game [Victorian Love]!
“What?”
It was sparkling yellow text.
※ The deity has been deeply moved by your creative interpretation. Therefore, the deity has decided to give you the opportunity to create a new ending.
Creative interpretation, huh?
‘Is it a creative interpretation to tolerate the villainess sister who suffers from heartache because of the fickle fiancé?’
If you’ve fallen in love with someone else, it’s only proper to end things with the person you’re currently seeing.
‘What’s so creative about that?’
It was when I was reading the guidance message with a sour attitude. Just as I was about to finish reading, ding-dong, and the message changed again.
※ In 100 days, please change the fate of the villainess Sienna, who is destined to be pierced by Daniel Bohan’s sword and die.
Success Reward [Happy Ending] / Failure Penalty [Death]
“…What! Death?! Are you kidding me!”
It’s that guy, Daniel! The villainess’s fiancé.
‘He’s detestable even when he’s just fooling around, but he’s planning to kill his fiancée? He’s a complete trash.’
Until this point, I had been quite composed. It felt like I was watching someone else’s situation. To be more precise, I hadn’t realized who I had become after possessing [Victorian Love]’s character.
‘A total waste, irredeemable garbage.’
So, I continued to curse Daniel in my mind. Then, once again, a ding-dong sound echoed above my head.
※ There’s a warning.
This time, the text was in red.
※ You are the villainess. If you engage in actions that are not fitting of a villainess and the character’s identity disappears, be mindful that your existence itself could disappear.
“…I’m the villainess?”
Only then did a sense of reality start to return. No matter how angry I got, there was a difference between someone else being stabbed with a sword and me being stabbed with one.
“I’m the villainess? So, am I Sienna Liata right now?”
Since there was no chance for a villainess’s room to appear in the game, I couldn’t determine whether this was Sienna’s room or not. I anxiously looked at the fading text and asked urgently.
“Wait a second! What do you mean by existence itself disappearing?”
Because it was written in red, it felt like it was scratching at my nerves even more sharply. However, without answering my question, the text changed back to yellow.
※ Now, let the story begin.
“Hey, are you messing with me? Hey!”
I swung my fist towards the empty air, but the guidance message didn’t appear again.
‘I’ve become Sienna, huh.’
I pinched my cheek. It hurt. It wasn’t a dream.
‘Even if pinching my cheek hurts, getting stabbed with a sword would hurt even more, right?’
Moreover, the guidance window had warned like this: In case of failure, death.
‘There’s really no need to test if death hurts.’
Whether I succeeded or failed, I had to spend 100 days. It was a structure where you couldn’t do mid-game saves or reloads.
I crossed my arms. Anyway, I had played this game for about 20 minutes. Excluding the opening that I had to watch, I had only played the very beginning of the story.
‘The beginning of the story starts with the protagonist.’
The protagonist, Beth, is the daughter of a rural pastor. She is hired as a governess by Count Bohan, who noticed her during a territorial inspection by coincidence.
Although he appears as a blunt character, considering that the Count is one of the capture targets, he must have had ulterior motives from that point.
‘Well, then, I just need to prevent Count Bohan from meeting the protagonist.’
If that happens, the story itself won’t start, and Daniel won’t fall for Beth at first sight.
‘But the story I know is from the protagonist’s perspective. What exactly is the beginning from the villainess’s point of view?’
As I sat on the bed, pondering this, there was a smart knock on the door.
“Have you awakened, Your Highness?”
