章 4: Chapter 4- Sharing Notes
“Classes are so rough. I really feel for Alexandra. I could never keep up.”
“What are you saying? You are Alexandra,” I told her.
“But I was never the type to study! I can’t be a genius like Alexandra was in the game!” Alex complained.
I was currently in Alex’s room. After our first day of classes, Alex had invited me to her dorm room. Lady Rium had gone to an afternoon tea party that one of the noble ladies was hosting in the dorm’s backyard. Since I wasn’t invited, I can’t attend with Lady Rium.
“So how was the encounter with Prince Clovis?” I asked. They should have met during her Dance class.
“It was great. I was partnered up with him like in the game,” Alex answered. “I heard you paired up with Claudia. Will you be alright? She’s the evilest compared to all the other rivals.”
“Hmm, I wouldn’t call her the evilest, but…” I smirked, “Don’t worry, I have a plan to deal with her.”
Alex shivered as her face paled. “Reiré, you’re scaring me.”
“Enough about that. Since you know the otome game version, I’m assuming you’re going to follow that?”
Alex nodded, “Yes. Even though we know different versions, I think the story is still the same, the only difference will be the ending.”
“That is true, but you’re going for the first prince, so ultimately the ending will still be the same for the novel too.”
“Since you have been reincarnated into this world too. You can also go for the capture targets. I can help you raise their flags,” Alex offered.
“Thanks, but no thanks. You can have the male leads, I’m going for someone else.”
“Oh?” Looks like Alex got interested in who I’m going for. “Who are you going for?”
“I’m going for Claudia Arcement.”
“EH!!!! The rival!?!?!?!?”
“Yep.”
“Could it be…” Alex hugged herself. “You swing that way?”
I rolled my eyes. “I am bisexual, so in a way, yes.”
“Wow…”
“Is it that surprising?”
“No, I have friends who were gay in my previous life, but this world is set in a medieval-style where homosexual relationships are looked down upon. Will you be alright?
“I don’t expect my feelings to be returned, but as long as I can be good friends with her, it should suffice.” And as long as I get my fun, then I don’t care.
“Reiré…” Alex started to tear up. “My poor girl, I’ll be rooting for you.”
“Thanks… I guess…”
“Since you’re going for a target that isn’t even meant to be captured, I don’t know how you’re gonna raise her flags.”
“If there are no flags for her, then I will create them. Since Lady Claudia encounters you most in the story, I might as well just stick to you.”
“Please do,” Alex begged. “While I know Alexandra is supposed to be bullied by her, there’s only so much I can take. There are many times where I want to punch her in the face, but I had to refrain myself for the story’s sake.”
“You really are different from the Alexandra in the novel.”
“That’s because I wasn't Alexandra in my last life! I was a tomboy who often picked fights! I’d fight to protect my OTP from all those other ruthless shippers who are wrong!”
“Oh… So you’re that kind of otaku…”
“Don’t give me that disappointing look!” Alex cried.
“Ah, sorry. I did it subconsciously.”
“In any case, why Claudia of all people? I would think Rium is a better catch.”
“Lady Rium is my childhood friend. She is more of an older sister than anything,” I explained.
“Ah, yes. Rium is known as one of the Onee-sans like Sophia in the catalog of the game.”
Sophia, didn’t think I would hear that name on the first day. Since she’s a junior like Lord Raphael, I don’t really have any classes with her. Sophia Glede, daughter of Duke Florence Glede, is a top marriage candidate for Prince Leonhardt and Prince Clovis. She’s pretty scary in her own way, yes, even scarier than Lady Claudia who was known as the worst out of all the other love rivals. I best not meet Lady Sophia at all. If I do, I’ll definitely crack under her gaze.
“Reiré, are you listening?”
“Huh? Ah, sorry, what? I wasn’t listening.”
“I asked what’s so great about a villainess like Claudia?”
“Oh, it’s because she’s such a tsundere,” I simply answered.
“Ah, so you’re that kind of otaku…”
“Don’t you dare give me that disappointed expression that I used on you.”
“Hehehe,” Alex giggled. “Welp, since we both have a clear goal in mind, let’s work together. Our paths will definitely cross since we’re going for the targets in the same route.”
“I agree with you on that. Since we are both commoners in this academy, it makes sense to stick together.”
“My thoughts exactly. And as fellow otherworlders and otakus, we can talk about our hobbies and other stuff that others have no idea of.”
It was like music to my ears. “Yes! I have been dying to talk about anime and manga to a fellow fan!” I held her hands and cried, “I’m so glad I found out your secret!”
“Same here! I’m so glad you picked up my notebook and found out I’m not normal!”
“What am I seeing here?”
“Eh?” We both turned to the door to see a girl with short brown hair and sharp grey eyes in our school uniform.
“Ah, Grace.”
If I remember correctly, Grace was Alexandra’s roommate in the novel. They didn’t get along at first, but they slowly became best friends. Yes, in the novel, she helped give love advice to the protagonist.
“Reiré, let me introduce her.” Alex moved over to stand beside the brunette. “This is my roommate. Her name is Grace Riefenstahl.”
“My name is Reiré Norman. It’s a pleasure to meet you.” I’m pretty sure Grace’s family has the Viscount rank. I need to bow, one of a maid, not the courtesy bow I did for Lady Claudia. Now, why did I do a courtesy bow instead of a servant one for Lady Claudia who had a higher status than Lady Grace? Well, it’s because I’ve known Lady Claudia for a much longer time than Lady Grace. Lady Grace doesn’t show up as much as Lady Claudia does in the novel. And besides, I wanted to leave a much better impression on Lady Claudia than Lady Grace.
“I see this commoner is well mannered compared to this dimwit.”
“Grace! How can you be so mean? Come on, we’re roomies, let’s get along!” Alex clung to Lady Grace’s arm as she tried to act cute.
Alexandra would never act like that in the novel. I could only assume Alex’s behavior is because she already knows about Lady Grace’s role in the plot.
“Please get off of me. That is not how a student of Roseward Academy should act,” Lady Grace coldly stated.
“Oh, not honest are you? Don’t worry. We’ll be best friends in no time!”
Ah, so Alex does know. So it’s the same as the game. We should probably exchange notes in case there is a difference in the story for the novel and game. It’s a good thing I also wrote down all that I remembered of Fight for Love and Acceptance last night.
“Eh! You’re kicking me out!”
Alex’s whiny voice broke me out of my thoughts.
“Yes, I’ll be having some nobles coming here, so please play somewhere else,” stated Lady Grace.
Alex pouted, “But this is my room too…”
Lady Grace sighed, “You’re just gonna get bullied if you stay here anyways.”
“Huh? Could it be that you’re worried about me!?” Alex smiled when she saw how Lady Grace’s face turned red.
Lady Grace will soon be the victim of Alex’s teasing. Really, Alex and I have so many things in common. It seems like we both like to tease. “How about I take Alex to my room, Lady Grace? Lady Rium is at a tea party at the moment, so my room is empty.”
Lady Grace looked relieved. “If you please.”
“Let’s go to my room. There are actually some more things I want to discuss with you.”
Alex sighed. “Fine. But mark my words, Grace, you will be my best friend!”
Lady Grace groaned, “Why can’t you act proper like Reiré here?”
“Because I have not learned my manners like Reiré has,” Alex proudly claimed.
I’m not sure if that’s a good thing to be proud of. “Come on, you big doof.” I took Alex’s notebook and then grabbed her by her arm and dragged her out the doors.
“Everyone seems to be hosting parties,” Alex voiced as she watched the freshmen walking down the halls in beautiful dresses.
“They’re trying to make connections. Nobles always have social gatherings after all.”
“How nice. The only time I will ever be invited is just to be made fun of,” Alex said.
“That doesn’t start till later into the story, right?”
Alex nodded. “But I don’t want to be a laughing stock in an elegant tea party.”
“I’ll invite you to Lady Rium’s then. She’s holding one soon and she invited me to attend,” I voiced.
“But won’t we both get made fun of by the other nobles?”
“Lady Rium will most likely kick them out if that were to happen. Most people already know that Lady Rium and I are friends, so they’ll try to not pick on us when she’s around.”
“So nice, I need to befriend someone of high status soon too.”
I didn’t befriend Lady Rium for that reason, but it did benefit me. Her family just so happens to be fond of our family’s bakery.”
Finally entering my room, I let Alex sit on my bed. I refuse to have anyone sit on Lady Rium’s bed without her permission.
“So what else do you want to discuss?” Alex questioned.
I walked over to my desk and pulled out my own notebook. “This.” I tossed her my notebook and she easily caught it. “I want us to exchange information.”
“Ah, I see. So this notebook contains information on the light novel version?”
I nodded. “Yes. Read through that and I’ll read through what you wrote.”
“Okie-dokie.” Alex complied and opened my notebook.
I did the same and opened to the first page. I didn’t really play any otome games, but I do have a good sense of it. Every character has a bad end and a good end. And no matter how much I read, in every route, Lady Claudia dies. There is no happy end for her. So it’s the same in the game too huh… So the first matter of business is to stop her from being executed. Honestly, the things I will do for my favorite character.
“Wow, Claudia’s story is very sad in the light novel. I really sympathize with her,” Alex voiced.
That’s right. While magic doesn’t exist in this story, it doesn’t mean that the supernatural doesn’t. In the light novel, Lady Claudia gets heartbroken when Price Leonhardt chose the protagonist over her. Lady Claudia was a cruel girl, but she was a maiden in love. She actually wanted to befriend the protagonist, but her jealousy got in the way. The protagonist was kind, sweet, smart, and just plain adorable. Lady Claudia was completely envious of Alexandra. And because of this jealousy, she got possessed by the Witch of Envy towards the end of the novel.
“In the game, there wasn’t anything about the Witches of the Seven Deadly Sins. It would have made the story more fleshed out if the developers added that in,” Alex said. “While there weren’t any witches, there was the mention of the Eyes of the Seven Deadly Sins.”
“Is that so…”
Witches of the Seven Deadly Sins were quite big towards the end of the novel. The protagonist had to call for the Witch of Pride in order to put a stop to the Witch of Envy that possessed Lady Claudia. The novel didn’t really go in depth about the lore, but the witches had their own attribute in magic affinity apparently. In the beginning of the story, witches were just a folklore, but towards the end, it was actually a true story. That was the only sign of real magic in the novel. From what I’ve read, the Witch of Envy had the Water attribute and the Witch of Pride had the Light attribute. The novel never mentioned the other five witches since they never appeared in the first place.
In Alex’s notebook, the Eyes of the Seven Deadly Sins are said to be artifacts. In the game, Alex will be able to see the Eye of Pride when she visits the royal castle. Then towards the end of the game in Prince Leonhardt’s route, Lady Claudia tried to steal the Eye of Pride in order to frame Alex but got caught instead and ended up executed. That was a way worse way to die than in the novel. She was actually deemed a criminal while in the novel she was portrayed as a poor maiden taken advantage of by the Witch of Envy. While I’m not sure how close this world is connected to the novel or the game, I am sure that the Eyes are connected to the Witches somehow. Maybe I should go to the library and see what I can find about the Witches and those Eyes.
“I like the novel Claudia more than the game Claudia,” Alex announced. “Her character in the novel is way more developed than the game version. I can see why you like her.”
“See, Lady Claudia is a good girl, so I want to help her. I refuse to see her die when I’m here.”
“I get where you’re coming from, but so far she acted exactly like the game Claudia.”
“Really? So far she acts just like the Lady Claudia in the novel as well,” I voiced.
“We don’t know for sure which Fight for Love and Acceptance this world is based on…” said Alex.
“But there’s a chance it’s both. The novel and game could both be implemented in this world.”
Alex couldn’t deny that fact. “That’s also true.”
“For now, let’s just do what we want to do. I’ll keep getting closer to Lady Claudia and hopefully steer her away from the path of envy.”
“Then I’ll keep getting closer to Prince Leo!”
“Please don’t use that nickname in public. It’s like you’re asking to be bullied.”
Alex chuckled, “Sorry. I’m just so used to calling Leonhardt Leo.”
“Also make sure to use the appropriate titles as well,” I scolded. “You need to add Lady or Lord to nobles of higher status. You can only call my name without titles because we have the same status.”
“I got it.”
“I’ve been scolded by Lady Rium many times when I acted rude, so please be mindful.”
Alex saluted, “Yes, ma’am!”
“Since now we both got a rundown from both sources, the only thing we can do is play the role of the main character and side character for now. I’ll help you as much as I can without disrupting the story too much.”
Alex became touched by my words. “Reiré, you’re such a good girl.”
I only rolled my eyes at her. She’s so childish… Wait… “Question. How old were you before you died in your previous life?”
“How old? I was thirteen.”
Oof! Such a big age gap. I hugged her and cried in her place. “You died so young. And I thought I died young.”
“Eh? Then…”
“I was eighteen-years-old when I died in my previous life.”
“So old…”
Excuse me? I pinched her soft cheeks as I glared at her. “What did you say?”
“N-Nothing! Ish hurts. Ledy Reiré, it hursh!”
“Hmph!” I pouted as I released her cheeks. “That’s what I thought.”
“So mean…” Alex sniffled as she rubbed both her reddened cheeks in pain.
Looking out the window, the sun was setting fast. “It’s getting really late. Lady Rium will be returning soon. We haven’t even gotten dinner yet…”
“How about we get dinner together, right now? The dining hall should still be open,” said Alex.
“Then let’s hurry.”
We both quickly made our way out of my room to the dining hall. Since it’s late, I doubt there will be many nobles there, so we should be able to eat peacefully at a table. We should relax as much as possible because tomorrow will be a busy day.
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