If the Crown Prince and I were to exit and enter out of the hall together, it would certainly cause speculation. We both know that was why we met here, and even more, we planned to return at different times.

Light footsteps echoed in the gallery where I was alone. They were not a man’s footsteps but of a woman. She seemed to have come out from the shadow of a sculpture placed alongside the wall.

I had a hunch already, so I wasn’t surprised when a girl in a cream-colored dress emerged from the dim light.

“Lady Marika…”

“Lady Philia, I’m sorry… I heard.”

I gently shook my head while looking at a lady younger than me with a meek and dejected expression.

“It’s alright. You don’t need to worry about it. It’s not the kind of talk I would be troubled if anyone overheard it.”

“But you and His Highness had an agreement, didn’t you?”

“Certainly, we had arranged beforehand to meet here in a secluded place, but it was only because we didn’t want to fan any unnecessary rumors. There’s no other meaning behind this.”

I felt like she was watching me, just like how I was watching her.

I let my gaze wander through the air and stared at the second floor, which was submerged in the darkness. When I felt Marika’s strong gaze, I turned to her, and the peacock green eyes, now a deep blue, blinked.

“You and His Highness the Prince are…. weren’t you exchanging some private moments?”

“No. Because of my position, I have often been considered as a candidate for the crown princess, but I don’t have any feelings for him. The same goes for His Highness.”

 “And what about Laurenz De Cesari?”

“Why come you mentioned him? Allow me to say this beforehand since you appear to be misunderstanding the situation. Tonight my and my stepbrother Luca’s engagement will be announced. He’s the one I’m marrying, so I don’t have any special relationship with other gentlemen.”

Although I replied with a doubtful expression, I was awfully nervous.

Marika was staring at me with big eyes that looked like they were about to be sucked in, but she suddenly changed her air. I couldn’t put it into words very well, but I felt the change in her demeanor as if she had taken off the mask she was wearing.

“Lady Philia, there is no one except us here… Why don’t we talk about what we really think?”

“What do you mean by that?”

“You know what I mean. Because you’re also a reincarnated person… Lady villainess.”

The reincarnated heroine appeared! She said it herself.

I didn’t even need to ask Julio to enquire anymore. Never in my dreams would I imagine she would expose herself. I was shocked and excited, but I continued with my facade of a clueless person as if I was perplexed from hearing something I didn’t know about.

“Reincarnated… villainess? What are you talking about, Lady Marika?”

“You don’t have to play dumb anymore. But I can understand your feeling of denial, being reincarnated in Philia. I think I was ultra lucky to be a heroine in the Royal Court game. I was so addicted to it that I got the full set.”

“Do you even know what you are talking about?”

“Stop using that clueless attitude; it’s annoying. Well, it suits Philia, though.”

I was quite annoyed when she continued to laugh at me, saying I looked like I had a bad personality. However, I was also someone who had received the ladies’ training for nearly two decades, so I knew how not to show it in my face.

I chose my words carefully, led the way so that Marika did the talking, and did not let her catch me in my words.

“I can’t change my way of behaving at this point. It has been like this for twenty years. Lady Marika, your mood has changed a lot since earlier, hasn’t it?”

“Because I was living normally in the city before being accepted into Duke Dyural’s household. I was completely fine as I was originally. But I found a sister who said she was a former noblewoman, so I learned manners from her. I wanted to avoid embarrassing myself as much as possible. It’s a reincarnated person’s privilege, right?”

“So that’s why you had the reputation of having good manners and education.”

“That’s right. I wanted to make Al, Lau, and Luca head over heels for me as soon as I entered aristocratic society! I have been waiting for eighteen years; I couldn’t wait any longer!”

What should I say? She seemed to be aiming for the reverse harem.

No… there was no reverse harem ending in this game due to the storyline. Even if you had a relationship with more than one person, you would eventually reach someone’s true end, and there were also some side-ends where you could keep the relationship with several people.

I enjoyed this situation in the game, but in reality, I was immediately revolted by the heroine’s absurd spiteful remarks. However, she continued to talk as if she was high-spirited.

“I was able to conquer the assassin Region and the hidden character Bart since I could contact them when I was living in the city, but Al and others are absolutely impossible. It would have been nice if Duke Dyural had taken me into his custody earlier, but he’s a nobleman too, so he’s quite hard to meet. That’s why I wanted to make him fall for me as soon as the game started…” 

The heroine looked at me reproachfully with pouting lips and a childish expression. Because her facial features were lovely, she looked incredibly adorable. However, the things she was saying were anything but adorable.

“Why are you charming Luca? Luca and Philia can’t be together. Luca should have been disgusted by Philia’s approaches, to the extent of throwing up.”

“You don’t seem to be able to tell the difference between dreams and reality, do you?”

“I know what I mean. Through the assassin Region and others, I understood that you don’t have to follow the game’s routes to make them fall for you.”

She calmly continued the conversation that seemed like it was going well, but it wasn’t like that from my view. I felt like although she looked like she was talking with me, she was preoccupied with talking about her own thoughts. 

It was not like I didn’t like her ideas. If I had met someone in the same situation as me, I would be able to talk endlessly about things I hadn’t been able to say to anyone since I was born in this world. Just like talking passionately about your favorite game, you can reveal what you secretly think about Luca and his friends.

However, it was only possible after properly confirming the other party’s situation or any hidden calculation and that it was absolutely safe to do that. This was not a casual thing like discussing your thoughts on a game.

That was how I, who was born in Philia, had lived timidly and prudently until now as she had multiple brutal futures. No matter how much I felt he loved me, I hadn’t even talked about that with my father. Thus, talking with someone I had only just met about something so delicate was out of the question.

I wondered if the difference between us was because she was Marika. Was it her awareness of being the heroine of this world that made her act so rashly and boldly?

“Even though I was really looking forward to the Luca route. After all, I can’t get enough of the gap between his impossibly cold and lovestruck attitude. Just as I was thinking, oh, here comes Lord Cooluca, he suddenly acted warmly towards Philia. I didn’t get it at all.”

“Do you… like Luca?”

“Hmm, honestly, Al is more my type. However, I like their attitudes to be a little more wild than sweet. But I’ve decided that my first time will be with Lau, and my next will be with Luca!”

In the past, I would have gushed with laughter, but being a lady among ladies, I gently opened my fan and covered my mouth. I was not sure if I gripped the key part too tightly, but it made a dull sound.

“I’m sure I wouldn’t feel the pain for the first time since Lau is so skilled and seems super comfortable. After that, I must take Luca’s first time. That unaccustomed and desperate feeling is the best! Then it’s Al’s route after that, which is the Queen’s end. Oh, why isn’t this game a reverse harem, I wonder.”

I was amazed at my self-restraint that I didn’t scream, “You bitch!” and throw the fan.

For the sake of argument, I wondered if I could calm down thinking that we were talking about games. Even the best people could be a little evil in the game world.

If you were an RPG player, you were probably familiar with the experience of breaking into someone’s house, opening every chest or drawer, and taking their valuables. Even I had my black history, like shouting at the monitor, “Why can’t the prince and the knight be on the same path!” that I don’t want to remember.

Indifferent to me, whose eyes became distant, Maria, who was fervently rattling about which situation she should make characters fall for her, took a sigh, probably reaching a breakpoint.

“So… you’ve decided on Luca’s route only?”

“Although I couldn’t draw what you mean by only route, I don’t have the slightest feeling to associate with other gentlemen.”

“Then don’t put your hands on Al and Lau. I will begin my conquest from now on. Ah, but I really wanted to enter the aristocratic society earlier! Or it would have been better if there was an item to raise my favorability with them swiftly. It’s hard to tell their reaction since there aren’t status windows like function.”

Marika lamented, but I took a sigh of relief. The lack of a tool that can force you to change your mind, or a status window that quantifies what was going on in your mind, meant that there were fewer factors that could cause unreasonable game corrections.

“Lady Marika, despite what you may think, rest assured that I have no intention of approaching His Highness or Lord Cesari. But on the other hand, I don’t want you to get close to Luca.”

“Well, I wanted to see Luca’s lovey-dovey expression, but I’ve got my hands full with Al and Lau at the moment. There are many events for these two people. Ah, after conquering them, how about we exchange them for something…”

“I won’t!”

“Huh, what a miser!”

There were still some uncertainties about her who was making a ruckus unwilling to resign, but thanks to this, I had also learned some of the heroine’s side circumstances that I couldn’t ascertain before. Thank God she was a careless girl. Still, was she starving to talk with someone? Was she waiting for someone she could confide her inner feelings to?

I smiled with mixed feelings that I had been able to get her to talk so much and also because I hadn’t said anything that could be used against me.

“Someone who chased two rabbits catches none, Lady Marika. Above all, it is rare for His Highness to dance at a soiree. Are you sure you don’t want to go? After he had to dance with me tonight, I’m sure there must be several other people who are eager to dance with him.”

“Ah, that’s right. I can fast forward with the help of a dance event! It’s absurd that insignificant characters dance with him and not I, the heroine.”

I was sure the world must’ve been glittering in her eyes.

“Then I’m going for the time being… let’s talk again later, Lady Philia.”

The heroine, who changed her mood back to that of a duchess as if she were changing her mask, flipped her fluffy skirt and walked away quickly.

Marika was not hostile but rather friendly, even believing that we were the same reincarnation. She must have been thinking of me as a player in the same game. That was why she could do things like that without hesitation. I didn’t think she had that kind of personality when she was alive in her previous life, or rather I didn’t want to think about it.

It was a terrifying gamer mindset. One of these days, I fear she might even ask me to lend Luca because she wanted to play Luca’s route. 

She seemed to be doing well now, but if she continued to act like this world’s protagonist, I was worried that she’d make a painful mistake someday, although it was someone else’s problem.

I hoped she didn’t drag me into the uproar when that happened.

“What is it with that crazy woman?!”

A sober voice fell from above my head, and I snapped out from my thoughts concerning the heroine.

From the second floor that was submerged in a lightless umbra, Luca descended soundlessly.

There was no way my overly anxious brother would let me go alone, even with the Crown Prince. If I kept quiet about it and later Luca found out, having chased after me, I was not joking that it would become trouble just like how it happened with Laurenz; that was why I had him explain beforehand.

I appeased him, who insisted that he would come with me, persuading him not to come out and hide in the gallery. When I was talking with the Crown Prince, Luca was hiding in the darkness of the second floor, and the heroine was hiding behind the sculptures in the hallway, listening to our conversation.

After the Crown Prince departed, I felt Luca moving when the talk with Marika took a suspicious turn, but I gave him a signal not to move. I don’t want him to come in on my talk with Marika.

“Sister, it seems you have been accused of something strange. Are you all right?”

“I’m fine. Above all, thank you for listening to my selfishness.”

I didn’t want him to probe in the matter with Marika, so I changed the topic, to which he extended his hand out with a peevish expression.

But because my dress was bulky, he didn’t hug me tightly; instead, he softly wrapped me in his embrace.

“I’m serious here, to talk with the Crown Prince alone like that… I will not adhere to your selfishness like this again.”

“There’s nothing between His Highness and me, but if you don’t like it, I’ll be careful so that it doesn’t happen again.”

“Not careful, but absolutely.”

“Very well.”

As I adequately dodged him, he seemed to be in a bad mood. After making a child-like discontented face, Luca suddenly turned serious.

“Also, please don’t get much closer to that strange woman.”

“Are you talking about Lady Marika?”

“That woman was talking about the Crown Prince and me with an overly familiar face while saying creepy things, wasn’t she? Many women in social circles direct that kind of lust to others, but that woman is extraordinary.”

Luca spat in disgust as if he was really nauseous. It seems that the heroine’s spitefulness was too much for the misogynistic and fastidious Luca.

“I don’t want you to get close to that kind of woman.”

“Perhaps.”

I didn’t want to get too involved with her either. She was too open and dangerous, and she could cause all sorts of problems.

“But…”

“Yes, sister?”

“No, nothing.”

I muttered the rest of what I couldn’t say in the back of my mind.

At the very least, she was being honest earlier, and the one who was lying was I.

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