〈 Chapter 7 – Facade For Everyone 〉
Three weeks had gone by without so much as a single conversation between Garnet and the duke, her father. She didn't know if this was natural for the Valeria family members to be so distant from each other, but she had no reason to break this state of affairs; there was nothing to be gained even if she talked with her father or mother. Approaching either of them would have also exposed her to unnecessary scrutiny with absolutely no profit.
Despite her desire to avoid both of her parents while pursuing her objectives, she knew that sooner or later she would be forced to interact. At the very least, she understood why she was called upon at the current time. His Majesty, Prince Roland Ulric, her dreadful fiance, was en-route to ruin her life. At his current pace of travel it was fully expected for his entourage to arrive in the evening.
She had somewhat mentally prepared herself to deal with meeting her father, but the moment she stood before the doors of the duke's study her false sense of security, from whatever measly preparations she had made, began to falter. She opened the doors and entered the room as if she were entering the maw of a great beast. Pushing on the brass doorknob of the large wooden door she could feel how clammy her hand was. With a heavy heart, she had closed her escape route and consigned herself to an inevitable prison; it was a one-on-one cage match with no referee.
Though the room was well lit from the large windows it felt darker due to her pessimism. She turned around to see one man sitting at a large wooden desk working away on various documents cluttering the surface. Even with her arrival and entry he seemed unperturbed while remaining engrossed in his work. She warily walked forwards until she stood in front of the desk and her father.
The pen had ceased movement and the strong gaze of an unimpressed man locked onto her. The red eyes and severe countenance seemed to appraise her momentarily before showing displeasure.
"No manners. Announce yourself and wait, or were you simply too obstinate to care?"
Garnet hadn't known about either procedure beforehand. No matter how much she wanted to act prim and proper to avoid suspicion, it was impossible to do something she had no knowledge of.
"Your mother has told me about your behaviour these past few weeks, calling it unacceptable and erratic. More of the same with your servants ... disappointing."
There were only a few tense moments where she had made contact with her mother in the few weeks that had gone by. Her experiences so far were to be at the receiving end of several cold looks while they passed each other in the hallways of the manor and one teatime invitation which had to be declined. Her subtle mother seemed to be the indirectly malicious type: she was a sly bitch who, rather than directly reprimanding Garnet, would complain to her husband. Then the duke would later reprimand her from a position of even greater authority and more dire consequences.
"You've been allowed some freedom in consideration of your health, but with his Majesty's arrival, you will behave more appropriately."
Behaving appropriately was Garnet's primary concern because she had no idea how to, and the outcome of failing to do so was grossly undesirable. Commanding others must come naturally to the man because she was already unable to imagine him without an air of dominance, and in that demanding preeminence there was no room to disagree.
"I shouldn't need to remind you to commit yourself to our house and his Majesty. Mind yourself well so you don't incur any displeasure. If you were less capable, then your life would be very different. Don't forget that."
The connotation that she would be punished if she did not perform as expected, pervaded each word he took the time to enunciate.
"You may leave."
Without her even having the opportunity to say a single word, she was dismissed. In that grateful moment, she immediately began her withdraw by scurrying past the furniture in the large study, passing through the large doors as if she were escaping hell, and promptly dashing through the halls to the flimsy bulwark that was her room.
She had managed to overcome the meeting with the duke. Although the relief from her temporary success lasted only a moment. The heavy pressure and intimidation she had felt caused her confidence to crumble.
It was already partially hopeless for her to manage the prince's reception program. Fine dining, socializing, entertainment, conversation, and leisure were events already slated to occur. Further adding fuel to the fire was the warning and corresponding pressure she had now received on top of it all.
Leaning against a wall with her head down she spat out some rather dismal words.
"Somehow, I've got to get through this crisis."
Irritation and restlessness welled up from within Garnet. In a few hours, she had been transformed into a picture-perfect aristocratic girl.
The skirt of her heavily embroidered gown ballooned outwards reminiscent of an upside-down tulip. When she lifted her arms they felt constricted by the form-fitting tailoring and pestered by the large ruffled sleeves, which fanned out as they reached the cuffs. The ruffles didn't stop their attack at only the sleeves; they even climbed up to her neck throttling her with more ostentatious embellishment. The tightly braided hairstyle made her feel as if she no longer had hair and instead was simply wearing a poorly shaped helmet with flashy ornaments.
She was a noble girl dressed to the nines, but her mind was at sixes and sevens. She looked the part, and none would question that she was a flower of high society. That was precisely the reason she found it so depressing. Rather than the excessive opulence of her getup, it was simply too much to see herself dressed up like a frilly doll. She was certain that she had lost a part of her sanity in those frills. In response to the crimson gown and prison of lace, she could only tilt her head back to stare blamingly at the heavens while exasperatedly sighing.
"I look fucking fantastic."
She frowned and looked around quickly to make sure that nobody had heard her curse. Fortunately, she was alone.
It was a bad habit of hers to swear often from any annoyance, whether large or small, but in her current life, she realized it was beyond unacceptable. The ghastly face Mira had made when she had cursed in private was something to remember. Decorum was one of the many hurdles she would have to overcome to get by, however, it was incredibly hard to contain herself when she felt like ripping out her hair, screaming, and stomping her heels in frustration every single day.
A creaking noise came from her room door. She had only a moment to see a small pair of spying eyes through the gap before they disappeared. Time and time again she would see only parts of the gnome-like figure peeking out. It was a child's curiosity, her little brother's curiosity. And each time she pursued that mischievous sprite she would, at best, end up seeing only the back of a six-year-old child fleeing from her. She certainly had no intention of chasing the mite now, lest she end up tripping over the hem of her ridiculous dress.
The fact that her oversights were so grievous, that she didn't even know she had a brother until recently, made her question her fundamental methods. Perhaps from the very start she should have just taken the easy way out by claiming a bad case of amnesia, but her wariness of the unknown prevented her from doing so. How would she be treated by a prideful, elitist, and cutthroat family after affirming her state of mental disability? For each stressor, it would alleviate some of the bite, but there would be a price to pay in her freedom and future. Choosing to tread the path of amnesia meant giving up the majority of all possible options and throwing her fate to the wind.
She thought that perhaps her decision had come down to a sort of reckless abandon where she believed that many of her errors would ultimately end up inconsequential since her primary plan involved running away. She had resolved herself to this struggle filled journey. Maybe unconscious overconfidence in her ability to handle her situation had cursed her. Her life wasn't entirely hopeless after all. By means of a little bit of bribery and a tiny bit of blackmailing, she had recently managed to obtain a favourable, under-the-table, faux diagnosis from the doctor, fully usable as an excuse. By capitalizing on her falsely diagnosed health issues, she would temporarily have a flexible justification to escape many situations she couldn't handle, as long as she remained consistent and didn't overuse the tactic.
"Milady, it's time to go down to the foyer."
Garnet's heart clenched and she jumped up at the sudden voice from behind her. Rotating her head to the side she saw her shadow, Mira, who had entered the room stealthily during her brooding session.
"I-I didn't mean to startle milady! It's just that the prince is to arrive soon ..."
She apologetically lowered her head as her apprehensive words fizzled out. It was comforting to see the familiar uncertain and pitiful state of her maid. Having Mira, who was her equal in desperately struggling through life, nearby gave her a sense of camaraderie. Either that or it caused her distasteful pleasure due to schadenfreude.
Once she obtained the knowledge, power, and money she needed, she would flee from the possibly deadly limbo of her villainess life. No matter what, with no other choice, she would bear all the unreasonableness and persevere.
Garnet stood in her designated place beside her father and the conniving bitch that was her mother. Her mother was holding hands with her little brother, who could no longer run away. The cold treatment she received from her mother was now being fully contrasted with the tenderness and doting directed towards her younger brother. A delightful smile, which she had yet to see her mother make, had been directed towards the child at least three times in duration she had been waiting here to meet her fiance. She wondered about why her mother was so partial towards her brother and seemed to otherwise despise her. It was an enigma that she was ill-posed to explain. However, even if she wasn't able to explain it, the effective reality was clear. Her mother, who despised her, was an enemy, and her father, who seemed to see her as tool for profit, was an enemy.
The Valeria family weren't the only ones to stiffly wait on the prince's arrival. There were cleverly positioned servants ready to make every step the royal guest would take convenient. If he so much as sneezed, then there was most certainly a servant at the ready with a tissue, and another prepared to say, "Bless you."
She felt antsy from the hour-long wait in the foyer. Though she was permitted to seat herself on a small leather stool the servants weren't so fortunate. It must have been unpleasant to stand still for so long, but the status of the guest demanded this degree of punctuality. It would be a catastrophe should the prince arrive without a proper greeting, especially for her father, who only hours prior gave her insight into his expectations for propriety.
Were horse-drawn carriages ever known for their punctuality? The only means of communicating the royal's imminent arrival had been the herald, who rode posthaste on horseback to the estate.
It was surprisingly silent. The only noise that broke the stiff atmosphere was the humdrum and meaningless conversation between mother and son. It was quiet enough that when the guest arrived everyone knew before the knock due to the sound of horses outside the entrance.
Despite her confident self-directed bluster, she was crumbling inside. Surely she wasn't the only one with feelings of trepidation when those doors opened letting in a draft of chilly late winter air.
Walking boldly through the doors was a young man with retainers in tow. Despite the young man being the main attraction, her gaze still shifted to the armed men. Whether it was their stature or their powerful presence, they all seemed to fit the image of martial men to not be taken lightly. Boots marched over the stone floor, swords at their waists swayed, and the clanking sound of metal armour plates sliding and grating over each other filled the room. Whether young or old, each member of these royal knights looked courageous and capable. She was thoroughly impressed. However, her senses returned from the temporary distraction to the pressing issue at hand.
The overly handsome prick before her was guaranteed to be the prince, her fiance, with a 100% confidence interval. His glinting silver hair put K-pop to shame and screamed for attention. Steel-blue eyes filled with confidence casually scanned the room. With an overly handsome face sculpted by the gods, he smiled cordially. She was already transfixed in place. It's as if he were trying to tell the world he was a male lead in an otome game, and the shining halo above him was a scourge painfully blinding her eyes.
*Ugh. I already can't stand this fucker! He's more handsome than I ever was! Somebody, anybody, punch him in the face. At the very least, please pie him in the face.*
In her displeasure, she began to wonder whether they were even the same species. Perhaps the rest of the people in this room were a type of human subspecies with misplaced facial features, where the nose, eyes, and mouths were only in approximately correct locations? The poor chumps were afflicted with the curse of Picasso.
"Duke and Duchess Valeria, I am overjoyed at the welcome you've provided me, and the hospitality to stay in your home on such short notice."
He warmly opened his arms in a flourish and the gratitude in his voice appeared to be real. In return, the duke gave him a crisp reply.
"It is our honour to provide accommodations for your highness."
The prince lightly nodded his head in acknowledgement and with lingering pleasantry directed his attention towards the duke's wife.
"Duchess Valeria is as beautiful and refined as ever."
It was a mystery how her mother could show such a sweet and bashful smile, an expression that didn't suit her one bit, on demand. It was an unsettling and skillfully fabricated facade.
Her little brother stared upwards and was completely entranced by the prince who looked down on him gently. While tousling the boy's hair he spoke endearing words of encouragement.
"And you've grown so much since I saw you last. You are surely the pride of your mother and father. Make them proud."
Once he finished those pleasantries he then turned his full attention to her. A few short strides carried him uncomfortably close in front of her.
"When I heard you fell ill I was beset by anxiety. It must have been painful. The only thing I could do was come here to see you."
His voice was pure and his eyes were filled with concern. There didn't seem to be any falsehood in his tone or delivery. That was precisely the problem. He seemed too earnest, but not enough to be melodramatic. Was he genuine?
He extended his hand in front of her and with pleading eyes he implicitly encouraged her to take it. She was left with no other choice but to rest her hand on his while trying to prevent her well-practiced sweet smile from cramping.
"You're still as lovely as ever. I'm blessed that I can be with you today."
With those short words he knelt and planted a kiss on her hand. Shivers spread throughout her body and a jolt of electricity up her spine made her want to suddenly jerk away. Although the kiss had only lasted a moment Garnet's mind had already overloaded.
*This dirty bastard is sucking on my hand like a fucking vacuum cleaner! What does he think he's doing? Slurping somen noodles? Disgusting!*
Though her thoughts drifted off on a tangent in the heat of the moment, her mouth was able to transmit some form of adequate communication.
"I-I'm so grateful for your highness's concern ..."
She had thought long and hard about what kind of adversary she would have to face. No matter the friendly face and honeyed words, she resolved herself to not trust him. Trusting any romantic capture target had the inherent risk of dancing toe-to-toe with a high-functioning sociopath. Perhaps capture targets' feelings burned so passionately in otome games precisely because they were crazy, and that was somehow nauseatingly relabelled as love.
The prince, a primary capture target and likely a target of the highest difficulty, would have a corresponding flaw of equal proportion. However, the flaw that should have been present was not immediately externally apparent. He seemed to be otherwise caring, concerned, and wholly amicable. This was the first red flag that something was seriously wrong within him internally; there is no telling what was going on inside the man's head!
He could be a huge pervert. Maybe he is a yandere who will eventually kill her, a natural-born schemer and violent. What if he is an empty shell only faking human emotions and is actually soulless, just waiting for a heroine to redeem him? He could be a major sadist, or perhaps he has strange fetishes like masochism because after spending years with a fiancee like Garnet he still smiles so brightly. Does he like that kind of roleplay? Frightening.
Regardless of all that, he was possibly the greatest threat to her life, especially since she felt as if she could be lulled into complacency. Maintaining the status quo was risky. Without fundamentally changing the trajectory of her life a deadly story could unfold. She was trapped in an unnatural and uncertain situation that required attentiveness. Naivety, negligence, and wishful thinking were sins she could not afford to make.
In the end, it was as depressing as it was stressful. She wasn't able to read his character or intentions, but over his short stay at the Valeria residence maybe his mask would fall off providing her with some insight.
When all the formalities were said and done, she felt herself being pulled and led away by a hand firmly gripping her own. She prayed that her new arch-nemesis would develop incurable erectile dysfunction.
*Please, anyone, save me ...*
〈 Author's Note 〉
Oh man. I got the no show update bug.
https://forum.scribblehub.com/threads/chapter-releases-dont-show-up-on-latest-updates.1127/
And I posted a really messed up unedited version somehow so for the first 2 hours I furiously attempted to correct the grammar and wording last night. I should have just deleted and then edited the chapter and reposted. I finished editing at 02:00. Why did this chapter take me so long to write and so long to edit compared with all the other chapters!!! If you read this chapter in the first hour it was posted sorry! Clearly I was rushing myself to just post the chapter and then mistakes were made. Things went wrong =D.
I said I would post this chapter today. It was 00:15 when I finally posted so I have to redefine "today" as, "It's still today if I haven't gone to sleep yet ..."
If I ever mess up my grammar and editing in the future please send me a message. Anyone at any time. If there's anything that is unclear in my writing, any mistakes, or any improvements I can make please send me a message. With a chapter number and text.
I wanted to try writing POV chapters for all my characters in first person for a while, then convert it to third person. The idea was that maybe it would help me get out material more easily or that it would help me connect with my characters' senses and environments so that when I converted it to third person it would end up making the story feel more immersive and detailed. But I don't want to write the story in first person since it would feel strange for so many different characters.
As many may know, I have added "An Odd Rose – Logs" to the story before chapter 1. I post a lot of minor updates and announcements there as a sort of series writing diary. It helps me record my progress, keeps me regularly working on my story, satisfies some people's curiosity about what I am doing, and boosts my motivation. The Author's Notes will now focus more on the story, chapters, and polls with much less tangential fluff.
There used footnotes in the story above for Schadenfreude, Picasso, and Somen. I'm just going to include them here now.
[1] Schadenfreude Definition - pleasure derived by someone from another person's misfortune.
[2] Picasso was a famous artist. He is notably known for his abstract portraits where faces had skewed, colorful, and misplaced features.
[3] Somen Noodles - delicious Japanese noodles that people loudly slurp. Slurping the noodles loudly is a sign to the chef that the meal tastes good.
One time I was eating some somen or soba noodles at a restaurant in Japan and the family I went with said, "You eat your noodles so silently." I had many question marks above my head at that moment. They said it like they were seriously concerned for me. Then I tried to slurp loudly, but I breathed the soup in and started having a coughing fit. Let this be a lesson to you all. Stealthily eat your noodles and don't try to be a hip slurper.
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Prince POV! Whooooo! (Probably interesting. Forces me to suddenly commit to writing future plot.) Votes: 34 63.0%
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Garnet FTW (People like her POV?! Maintains a sense of mystery about the prince.) Votes: 9 16.7%
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Pfft. Mira POV because she is 'best girl'. MOBs for the win! (How do I write this? Uh oh.) Votes: 11 20.4%
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Other. (Maybe you will explain in the comments) Votes: 0 0.0%
i still believe
Thank you for believing. Your comment has haunted me for months.
I also noticed you by chance on random webnovel translation websites' comments' sections because I read the same stuff as you apparently. Lol
Just out of curiosity, your story has the "Romance" tag but doesn't have the "Girls Love" tag.
Does that mean the protagonist will fall in love with the prince or a different guy (i hope not) or am I overanalysing things?
PS: Really like your story so far.
I don't think it's going to end up hardcore enough to deserve the Girls Love tag. I have planned for some events, but romance in the story is mostly non-sexual. I have some ideas about how I want to approach Garnet's romance, but things will probably change a lot by the end of the story because Garnet changes a lot. Garnet is definitely the character that gets the most messed up in my story and she will 100% have an identity crisis in my story that will not leave her the same person. I can't really say for sure, but I believe she will have both hetero and GL romance situations appear, but her romance is going to ultimately be riddled with problems just like her! I'm so rough on my characters. f*ck you Garnet. XD
At lot of people keep asking me questions about the romance. They PM me, "Is this story GL or hetero." I give them the best answer I can, then they say, "Thanks. I don't think I'm going to read your story anymore though." O.O
To all the people that like my story, but are concerned about the romance I would like to make it clear that my story has a lot going on. It's not all about the romance. It seems like Garnet is my #1 main character right now and probably in the future, but she is not the only main character if everything goes right. If you like my story and writing then isn't that a simple enough reason to keep reading?
There's going be many heavy twists and turns. Characters are going to do things that people like and don't like. However, my writing style will stay the same. My goal for this story is to have a bunch of characters face difficult struggles and to permeate the whole story with strong emotions over the course of a plot that is as good as I can make it.
PS: Why do you like my story? People say they like it, but I never know why specifically. Further down the story in a few months maybe I'll ask my reader base.
@Yorda I found this story because I'm an avid reader of stories with the "male to female" and "romance" tags. I prefer boy x mc instead of girls love, although that doesn't deter me from reading if I enjoy the story. And to be honest, in your story I don't really care yet what type of romance there will be, and that's not something I usually say.
The basic premise is something that I already enjoy, guy stuck in an otome game is something I have seen few times done. But the turn you gave it and with your writing style combined is even more interesting: the predicament of her situation in an unknown world, politics, always on edge as to who to trust, what is right and not; a wrong step could mean prison, exile or death; etc. I like that vibe and seriousness, it's not a goofy game but a real life or death scenario.
I feel like the romance should appear later, maybe due to the need of support she will start to rely on someone who she might develop feelings for and how that affects her political background or even her own identity. This is just me rambling a plausible possibility in her dangerous environment. Could just fall in love at first sight or whatever. Who knows, I don't, author-san could know or could simply have a bunch of ideas to explore. After all, what's an otome game without lots of flags and romance interests?
I can't really say any more than I have as with seven chapters there isn't enough development. So far it feels like an introduction because, after all, we have arrived not too long ago in the mc's shoes. And I like your thoughts on how you want your characters, not just the mc, struggling as real people do.
In the poll I ended up choosing the Prince even though I would prefer keeping with Garnet struggling in the unknown. But at the same time I also think switching would provide an interesting and refresing point of view to the story. I'm struggling myself with what seems a simple choice at first.
Anyway, I felt like letting you know my feelings so far in this 'little' comment of mine since I read your curiosity towards your readers. Although readers' comments are double-edged weapons, so I will end this comment with simply warning you that you should just write what you feel is right since you will never be able to please everyone nor the large majority.
@Sthelen Ooooo. You gave me something great to read. Big or 'little' comments are always welcome!
Yeah, there seem to be a quite a few otome game setting stories, and a few GB otome game setting stories on Novelupdates. However, the grand majority of them are very similar.
(1) It's like a universal rule that the reincarnator or transmigrator knows the otome game story. Not for my MC though! Ahahaha.
(2) They are all generally stupid. Pragmatic and realistic characters don't exist in these stories. The MCs always seem to want something stupid like, "Let's roleplay the fun story and get the romance to be a success!", or maybe, "I want to go open a bakery after my engagement is broken teehee." So I wanted to make a pretty gritty and serious AF story.
(3) Usually the heroine is a bit*h and the villainess is a misunderstood good person who simply had a bad upbringing. Not this time my friend. Break the mould. This is one of the points I am most happy about. Ohohoho.
(4) I was happy just a moment ago, but that's the problem. There are always happily-ever-after endings for this kind of story. Disgusting. I'm not able to definitively see the end of my story right now, but it's not gonna be happily-ever-after when the dust settles because so many bad things are going to happen and I love it!
@Yorda Ohohoho
@Sthelen Ohohoho
@Yorda
At lot of people keep asking me questions about the romance. They PM me, "Is this story GL or hetero." I give them the best answer I can, then they say, "Thanks. I don't think I'm going to read your story anymore though."
Its quite simple actually, atleast in my case. You got a male genderbendered isekaied into a female but only in body. Still a male in mind. Why should he start to be attracted to other men suddenly? Most authors dont put any effort into explaining the change in mind via story. Most times where it happens it just "Hes now a she and because of that, she now likes men" (simplyfied) Not very convincing :P There was even a story where he/she got his mind f*cked up by doctor to get her straight... To sum it up: Most authors fail to convince me in that regard. Dropped some good stories because of it.
To be honest, even if there is a good reason, I would have problems to read further because I just cant forget that the MC is actually a guy in a womens body. If he starts to get romantically involved with another guy, even in a non-sexual way, it feels like BL. I would never read anything in that genre. One of the reason why most of my genderbender favourites are tagged with GL. I will most likely drop this series also at that point but will enjoy it till then, after that it just isnt my cup of tea :P
PS: Why do you like my story? People say they like it, but I never know why specifically. Further down the story in a few months maybe I'll ask my reader base.
Interesting premise, I think its my first genderbender otome fiction ever. Its very descriptive wich makes it easier to imagine. Also easy to read and it doesnt look like it will be all fun and games.
Maybe I should also mention how I found your fiction. Your forum post "Pickin Fights With Other Sites! Scribblehub Banzai!" just didnt make any sense and I liked it. I had absolutely to see what such a person would write and wasnt disappointed :P
@Thor Oh, so you know me from the forums. I'm not sure whether to be proud of or ashamed of all the stupid stuff I post there.
Right now I've gone into a deep plotting isolation where I am constantly trying to figure out how to wreck my characters lives and minds in a coherent manner and finally arrive at a satisfying conclusion.
I think that Garnet is the second hardest character to plot because she changes a lot over time. BL was not my intention here, if anything I mainly want to focus on Garnet as a villainess and not her romance (which would invariably be abnormal if I could justify it well). Hmmm, I really have to consolidate what I want for her character growth because right now she could go all over the spectrum. Scary, vicious, creepy, cunning, paranoid, cowardly, confident, redeemed, corrupted, and many more extremes. She's fun to mess up.
Plotting is hard and frustrating. I'm finding all the places where I am lacking as both a writer and a person. I'm glad you aren't disappointed yet! For once in my life I am giving my best effort, but effort doesn't guarantee anything. I've never given a real shot at this 'writing' stuff before since I'm a science elemental type. It seems like the way 95% of people do it on this website is to just write blindly until their story either ends or they give up.
I dug myself in for a hard battle with this serious GB, multiple POV, and multiple main character story. Hot, hot trial by fire.
@Yorda Thats no stupid stuff you are posting. Its like the greatest wisdom if you interpret it the right way! :D
Maybe you should take Garnets character before transmigration into consideration for the following growth. Can he even stomach to be vicious, scary or cruel only to keep up the facade and does this facade become him later on? Ones character will be formed through experience and the surroundings in general but in his case there is a already formed character present. Im already excited for the events that will trigger his changes :P
Also I dont think that you planned for BL, it was just a comment how it feels for me as a reader who cant forget that its a guy in a girls body. My mind goes to dark places if they suddendly start to flirt with random prince69. And I think thats the case for many others who ask beforehand ;)
Btw, it would be funny to read the first otome fiction without romance, that would be a first! Still waiting for a fiction where the heroine gets snatched away by the villainess :(
Well, take your time to keep up the quality. Its promising so far!
@Thor
You got a male genderbendered isekaied into a female but only in body. Still a male in mind. Why should he start to be attracted to other men suddenly?
I disagree. You're assuming the sexual orientation of a person based on their gender. Going by that assumption homosexual and bisexual people don't exist and that's naming a few. You're implying a male's mind into a girl's body has to be a male heterosexual yet their partner, another girl in those GL stories you mentioned, has to be at least homosexual or else she wouldn't be interested in the mc at all as I doubt she'd see a male. Quite controversial in that regard considering and following that logic we could also continue saying that women can't be interested in other women.
The mc could have perfectly been attracted to other boys, girls, both or, heck, even none if they are ace, before getting transported to this new world. Same as with other characters in the story be it male or female. Feelings, in particular, are very irrational and can't be explained rationally.
They could also be unaware of their own feelings, believing that they do and don't like certain stuff, because life is a confusing mess for many people and given their previous socio-cultural situation they hadn't been brave or experimental enough or met the right people to know what or who they like. Same as with prejudices that people experiment not because they actually have first hand information about the subject but because of what other people tell them that could be either correct, incorrect or incomplete.
And that's not only for this particular story, it could be said about every single one because all characters are meant to be representations of people, fictional or not.
Most times where it happens it just "Hes now a she and because of that, she now likes men" (simplyfied) Not very convincing
Sadly that's something that, same as many other things, writers can have a hard time thinking or maybe don't give enough consideration since they might not care enough and just want it to happen. That doesn't mean what I said above can't happen. Well written and immersive stories are one thing, and disregarding a story due to a character's romantic or sexual inclination is another entirely different.
@Sthelen
My god. I love these mammoth sized comments. There are also forums on this site that people can login into using their normal scribblehub username and password. I lurk.
Right now I am trying everything I can to get better at writing and work out my story plot. I've been watching nearly 200 writing help videos and taking notes from youtube tutorials. I ordered some books online that I have been reading to help me think about my characters. I've been trying to spend some time on vocabulary lists, grammar, and sentence structure. I am quite deficient as an author, but it feels good what I'm doing.
@Yorda I like what you do. Keep it up but don't burn out. Ohohoho.
@Sthelen Yes, you are completly right. I should have been more precise with my comment. I just didnt took enough time at work :S
Its didnt want to just assume the sexual orientation. Of course they could be bisexual. But most times its the premise that they are not.
Take this story for example. The synopsis for a fiction is like a promotion for the story. If you now have a line there like: 'However, the true problem was even more profound. "Marrying a man is impossible: I'm only into girls!"' you assume that he is completly straight. Also he was older before his transmigration so I can assume that he had enough time to be sure about his sexual orientation.
It makes for an interesting premise but if you take that away there isnt a huge problem. Assume the Identity of the person you are now at the best of your ability and try to marry into a decent family. Problem mostly solved. The marriage is already arranged. I wont deny that there a still other problems with that line of thinking but it would potentially take away alot of the drama the story is built upon.
Well written and immersive stories are one thing, and disregarding a story due to a character's romantic or sexual inclination is another entirely different.
Thats true. You could say that I am in the wrong to disregard fictions just because of that. Im aware of it. Like I said, I dropped good fictions just because of that. But it doesnt change that they are objectively good fictions. Its all about personal preferences.
@Yorda
Thats quite the effort you are putting in to learn how to write. The chapters you posted were already pretty decent.
@Thor I'm glad to see we are on the same page.
"Marrying a man is impossible: I'm only into girls!"' you assume that he is completly straight
I do agree but I have to go back to my previous statement that they could have feelings that they aren't fully aware or they think are something else entirely. I do know a handful of people, me included, that thought a feeling they had was something that actually turned out to be something else, feelings aren't very clear sometimes (kinda wish they actually were). But yes, making you assume the character is heterosexual based on that is usually spot on by the author. Although the story can then change for whatever the writer considers appropriate or bring us pieces of information we weren't aware that happened some other time before. Etc.
I wont deny that there a still other problems with that line of thinking but it would potentially take away alot of the drama the story is built upon.
Drama is what makes stories more interesting, and even if the character wasn't a transported male into a female's body, it could still add obstacles as an arranged marriage with no love isn't liked. Nevertheless, adding that higher obstacle as the mc isn't even into boys is an even greater obstacle.
You could say that I am in the wrong to disregard fictions just because of that. Im aware of it. Like I said, I dropped good fictions just because of that. But it doesnt change that they are objectively good fictions. Its all about personal preferences.
I wouldn't say you're in the wrong for that, that's perfectly fine. It was just my full on critique mode about what you had said before regarding assumptions in case there was some confusion. Seen there is not, we are all good.
Everyone has different tastes and I'm included in the list, there are several points I can't tolerate be it fictional or not, although if it's not explicitly explained then I might be able to gloss it over.
For example, I'm the opposite, I'm not a fan of GL yet I can read and enjoy them, but I do like more when there's a male genderbended character as a female falling in love with a male due to my own personal circumstances. To each their own.
I hope I didn't sound like I was barking or anything, be it now or before. Sometimes I can ramble a lot when certain themes are mentioned and even more if they are said incorrectly.
@Sthelen Seems like we are thinking alike and are also a good example of opposite taste.
I have the problem to sound harsher than I intent to be or as if my opinion is the only truth. Sucks to be me sometimes It doesnt help that I cant express my thoughts as precise, in english, as I want it to be.
Back to the point with feelings, yes the growth of a character is always a subject to change. Could go in every direction but then there is the question if I like the direction, unfortunately. Not one of my best traits .
But I have trust in our Author because it seems like there is alot of thought going into the character. If it comes to the point I might be able to gloss over it too. There is always time to broaden ones horizon.
@Thor @Sthelen Thanks for raising the bar and increasing the pressure on me.
@Thor Agreed, agreed.
Could go in every direction but then there is the question if I like the direction, unfortunately. Not one of my best traits
I wouldn't like it if the mc turned out to be a cruel heartless person that toys with people's feelings. Can't say that's a bad trait, what we don't like, we don't like.
@Yorda Ohohoho. You're welcome.