So You've Become a Villainess: an (Otome) Isekai Raising Project

Christmas weather delays all kinds of deliveries


You toss your hair back like you saw in an anime once, it does you the courtesy of flowing on its own wind for that extra bit of badass.

"They're my groupies, duh," you say with a cheeky smile.

Bridgette snickers. "I guess your old swagger's coming back, eh Big Sis?" She nudges you in the ribs. She's sore enough from your sweet submission skillz nudging you makes her wince.

You lose focus over the sound of Sensible screaming. The idea of you acting like the canon Grace, or God forbid, canon Grace banishing you to some dark corner of her mind has Sensible dashing to the beer cooler in your brain. Sporty and Flashy run her down and hold her back.

<Emo> "What happened to cleaning up our messes?"

You start wondering about the drinking laws in this world before Bridgette snaps you back to reality.


[How do you respond?]
[ ] *Gag* If I ever go back to that, slug me!
[ ] Eheh, wrestling always brings out the showman in me.
[ ] It's only natural to carry myself as royalty, isn't it?
[ ] ...Can kids our age drink?


Before she can respond, fanfare responds through the castle grounds. It sounds suspiciously like the "Important Event" theme in Our Bloody Valentine. You scrunch up your face, trying to parse how many levels of meta you're on right now before Chiaki appears in your peripheral vision.

"Your assumption is correct, Young Mistress." Chiaki says. "That is the summons from Prince Alteisen."

A strand of your hair curls into a question mark. "Wait huh?"

She leans down to whisper in your ear. "It's the important event theme from OBV too."

You pound your fist with a palm. "I knew it!"

Bridgette snerks, "Why wouldn't you? Even the most backwoods bumpkin knows the Iron Aria. Now c'mon, Elder Brother gets super anal about punctuality." She heads off to the main castle with a poise that makes you forget she's walking hurt. Your new groupies look to her, then to you, then follow her.

"Young Mistress, I do believe you've been swaggerjacked," Chiaki says with a wry smile. She waits for the three to walk out of earshot before continuing. "I assume you're waiting for me to explain what I was talking to your mother about?"

You flop onto her petticoats. "It's like you can read my mind."

"Like a book, Acchan," she says, taking your hand. "Lady Claudius and I were discussing postponing your bethrotal to Prince Alteisen until you have graduated from Heart-under-Blade Academy. That's a major break from canon."

The name Heart-under-Blade triggers memories of future past. Phantom pain assaults your wrists, your ankles, your knees, your elbows, your throat. You grit your teeth and bare it as you clamp down on Chiaki's hand.

Chiaki squeezes back, a tether to keep you from drowning.

<Sporty> "Deep breaths, girl. Just like Coach taught us."

You see Emo go to say something in your mind's eye, only to get choked out by a clearly buzzed Sensible.

You let the fear pass over you and through you.

You're not dead.

You're not undead, either.

You're still here, with air in your lungs and light in your eyes.

You start to walk to the castle, through a garden of topiary perfectly frozen in rich, Autumnal reds and oranges. It makes you nostalgic, keeps your nervous energy away from any potential bad ends.

Chiaki matches your stride perfectly. "...The Alteisen family tests the mettle of their children and their potential suitors. It keeps the blood strong, or so they say. If you show he's lacking or you're lacking, they'll wait for you to mature. They aren't going to call it off because an alliance through marriage between the Alteisen and Claudius families is too much to pass up, but it will buy you more time away from the Prince."

You snap into Primetime mode. "...So I just gotta beat him, right? And that'll postpone things?"

"I was going to suggest you have Lady Claudius speak for you, but feel free to knock his dick into the dirt, Young Mistress Aachan."

You laugh loud enough to echo off the snow-white keep and the old iron ramparts. "Such language!"

Chiaki hums. "I do not wish to treat you as a child overmuch," she says, "But if the Prince's wiener offends thine ears I shan't speak a word more of it."

"You just wanted an excuse to talk about dicks," you say, snickering. "And to get my mind off getting a bad end."

"The latter more than the former" Chiaki says as the two of you reach the keep. "I prefer fish, anyway."

You put on a silly French accent and waggle your eyebrows. "Would mademoiselle prefer Les Beans, hon hon?"

Chiaki rolls her eyes. "By Sophia, that was tortured. Anyway, you can either let Lady Claudius work out an agreement with Lord Alteisen, directly challenge the Prince and show he's not ready for you, or take a dive."

"Hey wait," you say. "Why would any of this help me later?"

Chiaki taps her chin. "Ah, you didn't get the diary entries in Our Bloody Valentine. Prince Alteisen finds the whole bethrothal thing an unwanted burden, especially with canon Grace emasculating him at every turn. Six years being tied to canon Grace fuels a murderous resentment which never finds an outlet until Fall From Grace, I guess."

"...I can see it," you say, mimicking Chiaki's chin tap. "Didn't realize the Prince was that soft, though."

Man, maybe you should've paid more attention to the in-game lore. Or when people not Grace said stuff. It's not your fault Prince Alteisen was about as exciting to you as watching paint dry.

<Artsy> "Hey! Watching paint dry is a soul-enriching exercise."

You nod. "If I fight him, don't punk him out too hard. Got it."

Chiaki nods back. "Good." She crouches down to adjust your outfit and tie your unruly hair back into a princess braid. "Gotta make a good first impression, Aachan."

You pump your fist. "Yeah! And what better way to make a first impression than with a dynamic entry?"

"...Come again?"

With an explosive first step you shake Chiaki, blow open the door to the keep with a flying kick, and stride down the hallway's silver sable carpet like you own the place.

"S'blood, Sis," Bridgette says from behind you, her chained attire rattling from a well-timed dodge. "You almost hit me and the physicker!"

"...Ow." Lily moans weakly.

"And you hit one of your groupies!"

You look back to see the physicker hugging one wall and Lily slumped against the other.

"Gah! Maybe that entrance was a liiiitle too dynamic?"

Lily gives you a shaky thumbs-up as she discreetly laps up a trickle of blood from her own mouth. "I found it had q-quite the impact!"


[How Will You Handle the Bethrotal?]
[ ] Let Justine handle it. There's probably a bunch of political stuff she can do that Chiaki didn't tell you about becauae it's boring.
[ ] Challenge Prince Alteisen's mettle, but go easy on him. You don't want him to get all weird and resentful, plus any way out of this bethrotal is golden.
[ ] Go all out on Prince Alteisen. Maybe you can make a man out of him with your fists, or at least scare him enough to not try anything for a while
[ ] Go through with the bethrotal. <Sensible> "Pffthahaha, no."