Volume 4 Chapter 1: The Incident Occurred Suddenly Part I (2/2)

“What’s the matter all of a sudden, big sis?” says Keith, sighing.

After I finish my preparations to head to school, my kind younger stepbrother Keith comes to my dorm room to walk with me. So I ask him a question that’s been bothering me for a while.

“I’m talking about Jared-sama. I’m wondering why me.”

“Ah, about that,” Keith says, looking somewhat stiff. At his expression, I think that ah, Keith thinks that it’s love as well.

“After all, Jared-sama’s so popular he has no shortage of admirers.”

Not only is he a handsome prince, but he’s also intelligent and athletic, and even good at magic on top of all that. He’s truly a perfect man – no wonder he has to beat women off with a stick.

And so, despite having a fiancée – Katarina Claes – he’s popular enough that he’s still approached by numerous women.

“He could have his pick of any number of splendid people.”

And in the original game, he was drawn to a bright, innocent girl like the protagonist because he was bored with life…

“And yet, why did he choose someone with no redeeming features like me?”

I do have my social standing as an duke’s daughter, but thanks to my villainous face I’m not particularly beautiful, I’m not very intelligent, and I barely have any magic. I suck at dancing too – the only thing I’m really good at is tree climbing and fishing. I’m a completely normal girl.

“What could be so good about a normal, uninteresting girl like me?”

I hang my head, really having no clue why he would be interested in me.

“I think you should look up the definition of ‘normal’ in the dictionary again,” says my brother, looking at me with a faraway look.

Not understanding what he means, I look at him in confusion.

“Good morning, Katarina,” says a smooth voice from behind me as I’m still gazing at Keith in confusion.

Speaking of the devil… when I turn around, I see just the person I expected to see. He’s smiling as he draws near.

It’s the third prince of this country and Katarina Claes’ fiancée – Prince Jared Stuart himself.

“… Good morning, Jared-sama,” I greet him despite my inner turmoil.

Jared closes the distance between us with impressive swiftness.

“I sent you flowers and a letter today as well, but did they arrive safely?” he says, giving me his best quality smile from fairly close up.

He’s close! Too close! My heart is going to explode at this 3D super-handsome man!

In the past, I just thought that he just couldn’t get a handle on personal bubbles. But now that he’s making passes at me every day, I’m a lot more conscious of him now and can’t just act normally when he comes up close.

“U – um Jared-sama, could you step…”

Before I could finish asking him to step back, Jared step back.

Wait, if I look closely, he didn’t step back by choice – he was pulled back by someone else’s hand.

“Jared-sama, you’re too close,” says Keith, who had been the one to pull Jared back for me. His smile is just as bright as Jared’s.

Ah, thank you, my stepbrother. Your actions have saved my heart.

“Keith, Katarina and I will be married eventually. It’s fine for me to touch her even more than I am now,” says Jared, extending a hand out to touch my cheek. At the sensation of his long fingers softly touching my cheek, I jump despite myself and smoothly put some distance between us.

Keith furrows his eyebrows at my actions.

“Don’t be ridiculous – marriage? She’s scared. Sis, over here,” says Keith.

At Keith’s encouragements, I smoothly hide behind him. But my stepbrother, it’s not that I’m scared…

“Katarina isn’t scared. She’s just more aware of me now,” says Jared, as if he can see right into my heart.

It’s just like he says. It’s not that I’m in any way scared… it’s just that I’m not used to these kinds of romantic moves. I don’t know what to do and it makes me feel shaken.

What else should I have expected from the perfect prince Jared? He sees right through me.

“I’m different from a certain somebody who she doesn’t notice in the slightest,” says Jared as I’m admiring his astuteness. He smiles fearlessly.

Hm, who does he mean by someone I don’t notice? Since Keith seems to have reacted to his taunt, does Keith know who it is? Looking up, I see that Keith looks really sad for some reason. So I try to call out to him.

“Um…”

That’s when someone else cuts in.

“Katarina-sama, good morning,” greets my best friend Mary Hunt cheerfully. She comes in with her fiancé Alan Stuart.

Mary’s bright voice chases away the awkward atmosphere in a moment, making it cheerful instead.

“Morning, Mary, Alan-sama,” I respond with a smile.

Mary gives me a lovely wide smile as well right back. In high society and public areas, she smiles perfectly and elegantly – a picture-perfect noble girl. But when she talks to me, she always gives me a lovely smile like this.

On the other hand, her companion Alan just says “Yeah,” aloofly – I can’t even tell whether that’s supposed to be a greeting. But that’s nothing new.

I don’t expect him to be as friendly as Jared, but I can’t help but think that it might be nice if he was a little friendlier… but Alan fans say that his unfriendliness is what makes him great. I don’t really get it, but a maiden’s heart is unfathomable.

Well, the point is that the atmosphere changed after they arrived.

But Mary, who had been smiling at me brightly, transitioned into the smile she uses in high society at some point.

“Oh my, Jared-sama, is it alright for you to be in a place like this at a time like this? I believe that quite a bit of student council work has piled up,” says Mary to Jared.

The words themselves made her seem like she was worrying for him… but I feel like the atmosphere has gotten awkward again for some reason.

“That’s true. It had piled up quite a bit, but when I gave it my all I finished it immediately.”

“I see, that’s good…”

Mary’s smiling… but the atmosphere is still… I wonder why?

“But recently, I’ve really received much more work than usual. I wonder why that could be.”

“It’s nearly graduation. Could the cause not be that?”

“Is that so? I myself am thinking that someone is purposefully pushing work on me to take up my time.”

“My, Jared-sama, are you becoming delusional in your exhaustion? I do believe it may be best for you to rest alone today.”

“Well, let’s leave things at that for now. However, no matter how much my workload increases, it won’t be much trouble for me.”

“Ha ha ha, as expected from you. It’s easy for you.”

Their smiles are bright and lovely but the atmosphere is terrible.

“Good morning. Everyone, I do believe we all need to head to the school building. We will be late,” interrupts Sophia, ending their conversation. Sophia looks flustered, as if she slept in a little.

And so, we all headed together to the school building as always.

On a side note, Sophia had apparently slept in just like I had thought. Apparently she had stayed up late reading novels. Since the novel had supposedly been very interesting, I had her agree to lend me it sometime.

When we reach to the school building, Maria, who lives in a different dorm, was waiting for us. We head to the classroom together and attend our lectures, which dwindle by the day.

************

“When I went to the Ministry of Magic yesterday, Lahna-sama said that she wanted me to bring you as well next time, Katarina-sama,” says Maria during our break, after our lectures are over.

Maria Campbell. She’s the protagonist of the original otome game and one of the few light magic users in the country.

It had already been decided that she would be joining the Ministry of Magic after graduation, and now that our lectures at the magic academy have lessened, she’s visited the ministry a number of times.

I met the woman who’s going to be her direct supervisor, Lahna Smith, during the incident that occurred a little while back.

I spent a short while with Lahna, unaware of her true identity. She had been incredibly easy to talk to and seemed very openhearted, but in reality she was a higher-up in the Ministry of Magic. And apparently she was very high up in the ministry.

This Lahna has taken a liking to me for some reason and so she’s been encouraging me to join the Ministry of Magic after graduation. She’s even said that she’d recommend me.

If I graduate like this, it’s very possible that I’d end up Jared’s wife.

Well, it’s not like I dislike Jared himself, but since he’s a prince if I marry him I’d become royalty.

To be honest, I’m barely managing as an duke’s daughter… even when I think I’m doing okay I end up getting lectured by my mother.

I feel like I’m not really suited to be a noble lady in the first place since my memories of my past life returned to me. I’m more suited to be a farmer or a townsperson.

Someone like me becoming royalty… the highest standing in this country…

A little while back, I thought that my engagement was just until Jared found someone he really liked, and mused about what I should do once the engagement was annulled.

In a normal noble family, I would probably be told to hurry up and marry myself off… but my father dotes on me and says stuff like “You can do what you’d like, Katarina.” And my mother is like “If you’re going to bring shame down on the family by marrying someone then you’re better off at home.” So both of them didn’t really bother me about getting married.

So I hadn’t really been worrying about graduating… but to think that Jared would seriously approach me romantically…

At this rate, I’ll really become royalty. I can join the Ministry of Magic to avoid that. My friend Rafael who’s currently working at the Ministry of Magic was the one to tell me that.

The Ministry of Magic has the second-most power after the king. And so, if I join the Ministry of Magic, even if a prince requests it, I apparently can’t be married off immediately and dragged off to the castle.

This is really helpful for me in my current situation… but I don’t really have much confidence in it.

After all, my magic is the absolute worst in the academy. If I was good at academics, then I could’ve become a researcher, but my academics aren’t that great either.

Is it really okay for a normal girl with no redeeming qualities to join a ministry filled with elites so easily?

From my previous life on, my parents always scolded me for being too insolent sometimes… I don’t really want to enter this country’s number one organization through nothing but connections when I don’t have anything to show for myself.

And so, even though Lahna’s inviting me, I haven’t given her a proper response yet.

It’s too late to hope to be as skilled as Maria, but if I could only gain some kind of special power, I’d join the ministry with no hesitation…

I muse about things like that as I give a vague response to Maria, who’s desperately inviting me to go to the Ministry of Magic with her.

There’s only a few months left until graduation – I still don’t know what I want to do.