Prologue
“I can help you save your sister’s life, but only if you become the villainess in my stead.”
That had been the fateful proposal that changed my life, a promise of certain doom offered to me by one Shizuki Sakurazaka, a prominent lady of the powerful Sakurazaka zaibatsu. I often pondered why she chose me, someone seemingly ordinary, save for my younger sister and her fight with an incurable disease.
“The world we live in is based on an otome game,” she continued, following up her initial shocker with something even more unbelievable. I knew extraordinary claims required extraordinary evidence, and to my amazement, Shizuki had provided just that. Compelled by her words, I accepted her offer and assumed the mantle of villainess.
It was now three years later. Initially, I floundered, unversed in the ways of high society. But I adapted, guided by Shizuki’s instructions and her knowledge of the future. I managed to connect with Ruki Yukishiro, one of the male love interests, and, just like in the game, fell in love with him.
That night, I stood in the penthouse ballroom of a towering skyscraper, adorned in a resplendent evening gown that signaled my status as the lady of a powerful conglomerate. Gazing out of the floor-to-ceiling windows, I looked down upon the ordinary people below. Their cars and shops twinkled in the night, tiny emblems of their mundane existence.
“Mio, there you are,” came Ruki’s refined voice from behind, a timbre I had grown familiar with over the years. Instinctively, my hand tightened on the fabric of my dress, squashing any hint of vulnerability.
There was no time for weakness now. It was time to get to work.
When I felt my grip loosen, that elegant, practiced smile I’d so painstakingly cultivated floated naturally onto my lips. I turned, and there they were: Ruki standing beside Nonoka, the original game’s heroine, just as Shizuki had told me.
“Hello, Ruki, Nonoka. This is turning out to be quite the night, isn’t it?” I asked, my arrogant smile hanging off my face as I dramatically brushed a lock of hair from my shoulder.
“Mio, you haven’t been yourself lately,” Ruki began.
“Whatever’s troubling you, we’re here to listen!” Nonoka added.
“No, nothing is troubling me,” I countered. “But I wonder—perhaps it is you two who have something to share?”
Tonight marked a turning point in the game. Here, Ruki would level an accusation against me, and I would accept the blame, paving the way for him and Nonoka to unite. This was the denouement, the key to unlocking the game’s “good ending”. Yes, my downfall was scripted, but it was necessary. To rescue Japan from an unprecedented financial crisis, to save my beloved little sister, my ruin was the only path.
I was all right with that. The weight of many lives rested on my shoulders. This was my role, my duty, the persona of the villainess was mine to embrace until the very end.
“Now, let’s get to villainessin’, shall we?”