Chapter 1: Introductions
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Here it is. The first long original fic I ever wrote, though it's quite short by the standards of something like Thrown Into A Wolf. I'm still very proud of it.

I am curious if you all would prefer me to just pump the chapters out as soon as possible, since they just require some small tweaks at this point, or if you'd rather I spaced them out a little? Regardless, I hope you enjoy.

It's over. I have been exposed and humiliated. I tried to stop her, I tried to ruin her, but in the end it was all for naught. Everyone knows what I tried to do. I am the one ruined. I will be forced to leave this school.

There is no triumph in her expression. There is anger, but mostly there is confusion. Hurt. She has one final question to ask me.

"Why did you do all this?"

"Because you were taking everything from me!" I scream.

That's it. No more lines in my script. This is my fade to black. Nothing I do matters any longer. This is the only time where I am truly free. It's a good question. Why did I do it? Why do I keep doing it? How do I endure? As my consciousness fades away I can say that which no one will ever hear.

"No... the real answer is... because I love you."

* * *

"Oops~."

I bump into her in the hallway, causing her to drop her books. They scatter at her feet, and she crouches down to pick them up.

"You should really watch where you're standing, farm girl. This isn't an open field," I say in a mocking tone, making sure to put extra emphasis on the insult.

She gives me a brief look, half confused, and half annoyed. Not quite what I want to see.

When I can tell she's searching for something, it's my cue to say: "Is this what you're looking for?" I picked up something while she wasn't looking. A silver case that had been on top of her book stack.

She gets up, and reaches for it, but I raise it out of her reach. I'm taller than her, so it's not that hard.

"Hey, give it back!" she demands.

I smirk. "This is much too nice for someone like you."

"Give it back!"

There's what I want to see. Her angry frown. The fire in those eyes, which almost look like they could start to cry at any moment.

Ah, how cute~

* * *

My name is Francine Lataille, and I'm the villainess of an otome game. A dating sim, if you will, aimed at girls. The other girl is Emma Grenier, the protagonist of the game. The premise is simple enough. The game is set in the Fleurs Magiques Academy in the fictional kingdom of Avendelle, and Emma has recently started her first year there. There are four love interests for players to match Emma with. Each of them has what you would call a route, that can either lead to a Happy "Love" ending, a Neutral "Friends" ending, or a Bad ending. In addition there are several Bad endings that can occur along the way if the player performs poorly.

You can roughly divide the game into three parts. The first part is introducing all the characters, getting to know them, and the game's mechanics. The second part is training Emma's skills, setting her schedule, managing events, and selecting optional scenes depending on which love interest the players are interested in pursuing. The different ones have different things they value, which you can discover by getting to know them better. Or by reading guides written by others. At the end of the second part comes the route lock, where if they have sufficiently fulfilled the requirements so far, they get the final choice on which route to go down. They can't switch over to a different love interest past that point. And finally the third part is navigating the rest of the route to hopefully get the ending you want.

As otome games go it's a fairly chill one. No world-ending threats, no kingdom at stake, no brewing revolution, no crown prince drama, and no combat elements. It's just Emma, her getting to find her place in the school, and hopefully discovering love. Yet even though a lot of players prefer something more dramatic, the game found a sizeable audience who were drawn to the characters, the relationship building, and the other game mechanics.

I suppose the only real threat is me: the rival, and primary antagonist of the game. I hate her. It's what I know. What I was created to do. My role is to get in her way. I can be quite cruel. I do what I can to sabotage and ostracise her. My methods grow increasingly extreme. I want her gone. Preferably expelled. Or at least... that is how it used to be.

At some point I became aware of what I am. Where I am. I'm not sure how. Nor exactly how long ago it was. Maybe the overwhelming amount of times people have played through 'Personal Spring', as our game is called, sparked something. All those different save files existing in the same cloud space. I have seen every route, every choice, every event, every conversation, every interaction, and every ending many, many times. I am aware of everything that can possibly happen in the game. Know it all by heart. Though I do not know if any of the others are aware. See, I am still bound by the script. While I can think freely, I can't act as I want.

I've tried, of course. I put a lot of effort into trying to change things in my favour, both on, and off screen. Yet no matter how hard I try, all I can do is follow the script. I'm locked into the actions it wants me to do, and the words it wants me to say. So I can't ask the others if they know. My only freedom extends to inconsequential things. Stuff the player would never see, and that would never impact the story. If I try to do anything that would actually affect things it'll be as if it never happened. At least I've gotten pretty good at brewing my own tea.

You might think it boring, or frustrating, and you would not be entirely wrong. Still, it's the only existence I have ever known, and I can't do anything to change it. I've made my peace with that.

My knowledge of the outside is limited. I'm not even entirely sure how I know what I know, but sometimes things just come to me, like blocks of text inserted into my mind. For instance: the title of the game, what a game is, that other games exist, and so on. Including what happens in our game even when I'm not present. I even sometimes get to see the comments, and guides the players make. Some of which are wrong. But none of it has given me the power to do anything about my situation. So I have learned to find my enjoyment where I can. Like seeing Emma's fierce, or embarrassed expressions.

Emma is short, with medium-length brown hair, and brown eyes. She is nice, kind, and fairly pretty. She has a hint of freckles, that become highlighted when her face reddens, be it from blushing, or anger. While she seems very soft, she can be remarkably strong-willed, passionate, and determined. A good person. And she is very cute when bullied.

Meanwhile I am tall, with blue eyes, and long blonde hair set in a drill-curl style that is apparently quite popular among villainesses like me in these kinds of stories. I am very beautiful, but hard in all the ways Emma is soft, and rotten in all the ways she is good. Personality trait wise Emma and I are not too different. Strong-willed, passionate, and determined. Perhaps that it meant to be part of the reason I hate her so much. Well, I am supposed to hate her, but...

I love her. She will never know. That is my fate.

 

* * *

"Knock it off, Lataille."

Someone snatches the silver case from me, and gives it back to Emma. It's a precious gift from her mother, so even by my standards it's a bit too cruel to try to take it away. Of course I technically don't know that, and later on in the story I don't care how cruel I have to be.

"That's Lady Lataille to you, Valleroy," I declare with distinct displeasure.

Paul Valleroy is Emma's childhood friend, and one of her potential love interests. Aside from being a fellow blonde, we couldn't be more different. His short, just-out-of-bed head of hair could never compare to my long, luscious, immaculate curls, and his golden eyes don't hold a candle to my deep blue.

He's from a respectable family, but they're not of particularly high standing compared to mine. They're still well above Emma's, whose family owns a farm, and some woodlands. But since they met as kids, and grew up close, he still treats her as an equal. Understandably he doesn't like me, and is giving me a dirty look.

"Is there some issue?" a voice from behind me asks.

I turn around to face the speaker. "None at all, Lord Arthur. Grenier merely had a slight accident," I say in a pleasant tone.

Arthur Merillat is the school's top student, and also the eldest son of the prime minister, meaning he's from the most prestigious family in the country, aside from the royal family itself.

He steps forward. "Are you alright, Lady Emma?" he asks.

While he has a slightly haughty air about him, Arthur always treats everyone with the utmost courtesy. Even calling someone as low-ranked as Emma 'Lady'. He's completely sincere about it as well. Not the type who looks down on anyone. Of course he is another of her potential love interests. And the man I am interested in, according to the script. I used to believe it too, before I realised how cute Emma is. Before I fell in love.

Emma nods. "Y-yes, thank you, Lord Arthur." She looks a little starstruck, and no wonder. Arthur is tall, and handsome, with short, finely groomed black hair, clear blue eyes, and elegant glasses. Most girls would feel a little overwhelmed at seeing him up close.

In Arthur's route it is basically a competition between me and Emma. Her bad ending is me winning Arthur, and her getting expelled due to my schemes. Her happy ending is winning Arthur's heart, while my scheming gets exposed, and I become so humiliated that I am forced to leave the school at great shame to my family. Arthur is a pretty popular choice, so I have been through that a lot of times.

We head into the classroom, and find our desks. Emma and I sit pretty far apart, which used to be a relief, but now it feels like such a shame. I could have bullied her so much more. At least I can still mostly see her expressions from here.

There weren't a lot of people in the classroom before us, but one of them is the third love interest: Gabriel Calland. We've just started a new game, so we're still at the introduction stage for all the major characters.

Gabriel is a quiet boy who has little interest in talking to others, and instead prefers to read on his own. But since his desk is right by Emma's, and Emma is the pretty open type, they slowly end up talking more and more. He has an interest in animals, and she comes from a farm, so they find some common ground there to break the ice. His unusual green hair is a little longer than the average boy's, and you could perhaps call him more pretty than handsome. His eyes are such a dark shade of green that they look nearly black. His family is from a remote area, but thanks to his father knowing the king from back when he was just a prince, they have a higher status than you would expect.

That leaves only one boy, who should be arriving any moment now.

"Did I make it?!"

A boy with spiky, red hair bursts into the classroom. Otto Giltstern. Our resident exchange student. He's actually the third prince of the neighbouring kingdom Gromsal, who has come here because our education on magic is better than in his home country. Or so he says.

When he sees the professor has yet to arrive, he lets out a sigh of relief, and a wide victory grin spreads across his face before he excitedly thrusts a fist into the air. "Safe!" His bright, green eyes (a nice contrast to his fiery hair) sparkle as he spots our protagonist.

"Hey, Emma! You're looking lovely today!" He beams at her.

"O-oh, thanks. Good morning, Otto," Emma replies with a slight blush. Such fine, rosy cheeks. I wonder if I could ever make her react that way?

Otto is the very bold, and frank type. He takes an instant liking to Emma, and tries to talk to her at every opportunity. I'm not exactly sure why, apart from the fact that she is the protagonist. Perhaps he also noticed how cute she is when he first saw her, but there are certain things I wonder if have to be chalked up to this being a game. And even though it's only been a few days since they first met, he's already talked her into dropping the 'Prince', and just calling him Otto.

The professor enters the room, cutting off Otto's chance at a conversation as he has to quickly find his seat.

So there you have it. Our protagonist, her four potential love interests, and me. I wonder which route we're taking this time. While I haven't kept perfect count, I would say that for first-time players roughly 40% pick Arthur, 30% pick Valleroy, 15% pick Otto, and 15% pick Gabriel. When you take into account those who play the game multiple times the numbers end up a bit different. Arthur and Valleroy become fairly close, with Arthur maintaining a slight lead, and Otto and Gabriel rise up so they're not so far behind. This is information I learned from a comment, but across all playthroughs the division becomes: Arthur 31%, Valleroy 27%, Otto 22%, Gabriel 20%.

Whether it's someone's first time, or a repeated playthrough I learn after the game is over. I'm not sure why it tells me. For a while I tried to make a game of guessing if it was a first-timer or not, but the longer this has gone on, the more I've just settled in for the ride. Now I just try to enjoy the moments I can.

As usual Emma occupies my thoughts as I wait for our next interaction. I know what expression she's going to make, but actually seeing it is an entirely different experience. It never gets old.

... Hang on. Her hairpin is supposed to be a sunflower. Why was it white? I was so busy paying attention to her face that I wasn't really looking at it, but... argh, I can't see from this angle. No, I must have imagined it.

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