It wasn’t that she didn’t like her looks. The combination of her father’s black hair with her mother’s golden eyes really suited her. But there was just no way this was the face of a background character, not even if it had been crafted by an overly zealous designer with a particular fondness for supporting characters.
It was too dazzling.
She suddenly recalled her father’s words from before: she was a candidate to become the Third Prince’s fiancée. That position would be reserved for neither the heroine nor a background character, but the villainess.
There was no other explanation.
Oh my god!
Amy’s vision started to turn black. She was about to faint for the second time that evening in her own bed.
She didn’t want this at all.
The web novels were filled with the same chain of events: the villainess would be forcibly betrothed to a man she didn’t even like, her engagement would later be called off when her fiancé would get stolen away by the floozie heroine, and then the villainess would face her judgment and her family would get broken up.
Amy couldn’t think of a future worse than that.
Her parents were happily married in a love marriage—a rare thing for nobility—and her father was doing well at his job developing magical tools.
Amy’s brother was a bit older than her. Although he was a little too hyperactive, they had always had a good relationship. He was currently living in one of the school dormitories, but he would regularly visit home on his days off, and—
Amy suddenly remembered something else.
Another stereotype in the “otome game reincarnation” genre was having a character’s brother be a love interest for the heroine. Amy combed through her memories, trying to remember if anyone in that dating sim resembled her older brother.
There were definitely five characters that would pop up on the opening screen, Amy thought, frantically racking her brain despite a slight headache to remember the beautiful opening illustration.
One was a slightly mysterious princely man (the one under suspicion of being the Third Prince).
One was a self-confident, well-to-do aristocrat (likely the son of a duke or marquess).
One was wearing magician’s robes (probably someone involved with the Institute of Magic).
One was a handsome man in armor (maybe the son of the commander of the Order of Knights or something).
And then there was a younger-looking boy, the only one among them wearing foreign clothing. He was probably the prince of some neighboring country. She remembered him wearing a headscarf, and Amy assumed he had something to do with an allied kingdom to the south.
“Oh, thank goodness! There wasn’t anyone that looked like my broth—”
There was, Amy realized midsentence.
He was a secret character who appeared in the events her friend labored away at. Although he wasn’t featured in the main story, he always showed up during events and prize draws…and he was a dead ringer for Amy’s slightly wild-looking older brother.
Amy’s friend had told her that the hidden character was a playboy adventurer with a scar next to one of his slightly droopy eyes…
“Oh my…! That’s what he’ll become! If he keeps delving into dungeons and other places with magical beasts all the time, he’ll look like that one day!”
She cut herself off with a hand over her mouth, even though she had only been speaking to herself.
Her brother was incredibly personable, and from a young age, he had been fond of mingling with all of society, men and women alike. Now at sixteen, he was without a fiancée, but he certainly had no shortage of lovers. Which meant it was almost certain that her brother was one of the love interests of this story…
As more and more red flags were raised signaling that she was the villainess of this world, Amy felt the sudden urge to bite down on her handkerchief in helpless frustration.
This can’t be happening! Has everything this whole time been part of the game?!
It had been ten years since Amy was born into this life, but…so much had happened in that time. Everything she had experienced, everyone she had met…had it all really just been scripted for the game?
As confusion raged inside her, a feeling between grief and resignation wrapped its tendrils around her. Amy felt paralyzed, and before she knew it, tears were spilling down her cheeks.
“Amy, are you awake? How are you feeling, dear?”
Amy sniffled. “M-Mom…”
After a quiet, polite knock, Amy’s mother, Isabelle, quietly entered the room, looking concerned. Her frown deepened when she saw her beloved daughter’s tearstained cheeks, and she sat on the bed beside her.
Amy slumped over, yielding to the slant from the weight on the bedsprings, and hugged her mother tightly.
My mother…her warmth…is this also just part of the game?
The suspicion that everything in her past had all been fabricated was already solidifying into a conviction, and an indescribable emptiness began to fill her chest.
Amy barely managed to get out, “I…I feel…”
“Oh, dear, no need to be so down in the dumps about it! Do you feel ill? Does your head hurt?”
Amy continued to sniffle. “N-No, it’s… I remember. That video game. Th-That…”
She stopped herself. Even if she had said “otome game,” those words would be incomprehensible in this world she now lived in. She may have been only ten years old, but she knew a little bit about the world. As the daughter of a nobleman, she had been receiving a private education for several years now, so she should have realized this sooner and caught herself from speaking nonsense.
But she had just remembered the memories of her past life, and her jumbled-up brain was not thinking rationally.
As Amy tried to smooth over her “video game” slip of the tongue, her mother simply rubbed her back tenderly. But then Isabelle said something Amy could never have expected.
“My, my… So you’ve remembered, too.”
Amy froze.
“…What?”
When Amy looked up in amazement, her mother’s eyes—the same shade of gold as her own—were twinkling as she smiled.
“It was quite a shock, wasn’t it? I mean, the whole family reincarnating together…”
“Wait, what?!” repeated Amy.
Isabelle chuckled. “But despite the changes, we’re all pretty much the same, you know. So there’s no need to get so worked up!”
“M-Mom…?”
Isabelle seemed to be thoroughly enjoying herself, bulldozing right past her daughter’s disorientation straight into wondering if she should whip up a celebratory dish, like Japanese red rice or something, to commemorate everyone in the family remembering their past lives.
An ill-timed doubt came to Amy’s mind that Japanese red rice probably didn’t exist in this world, but then she remembered…that was just the type of person her mom was. Slightly off-kilter, happy-go-lucky, marching to the beat of her own drum, stubborn at times…
Memories of Amy’s previous life flooded her mind, mixing and marbling with memories of her current life. Then her brain finally caught up with what she had been told.
When her mom said the whole family had reincarnated together, did she mean…everyone?
H-Hold on—let’s circle back to that!
“W-Wait a minute… When you say ‘everyone,’ do you mean Dad, too?”
“Of course! He’s still tinkering with those machines of his, isn’t he?”
In Amy’s previous life, her father had worked as an engineer for a manufacturer of household electrical appliances. In this life, he was absolutely obsessed with developing magical tools. It wasn’t quite household appliances, but close enough…
Yeah, Amy thought, that makes sense.
“Wh-What about my brother?”
“Oh, Harold? That boy… The moment he remembered his past life, he shouted, ‘I’m gonna hunt things for real now!’ For Pete’s sake…”
In his previous incarnation, her brother had loved action video games, especially the hunter characters who specialized in the dual-wielding fighting style. When she compared that boy with Harold, who had at some point randomly become motivated in his magic and swordsmanship lessons, Amy thought, Yeah…that checks out.
Isabelle, with a slightly faraway look, was twisting her hand like she was barbecuing a big skewer and muttered, “That meat might be difficult to cook properly…”
Amy had heard that Harold did well at school, but the motivation behind his success definitely boiled down to wanting to enjoy his life in this world hunting monsters. She was willing to bet that whatever he hunted would be served as the main course for dinner tonight.
“Mom…you and I…we all really reincarnated together…”
Isabelle laughed. “We are a close-knit family!”
Although Amy wondered whether that really had anything to do with it, given the circumstances, it was warmly reassuring.
The way the earl and countess raised their children was certainly one aspect of their lives that was very unaristocratic—they were quite particular about being hands-on with raising them, instead of just leaving everything to a wet nurse. The sort of things Amy didn’t fully appreciate as a child, she now absolutely understood.
“Mom…”
When Amy clung to her mother, Isabelle brushed aside her bangs and stroked her cheeks. The warmth of her hand was the same as it was in their past lives.
The family together again… Maybe this reincarnation isn’t so bad after all, Amy thought, her mind finally at ease.