Lady Philia d’la Love’s Mistakes Chapter 2: An Explanatory Prologue, Part 2

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‘Royal Court Play ~Love, Strategies, and Corruption~’ was an R-18 otome game.

Set in a kingdom in another world, a count’s daughter, who had been raised as a commoner, gets wrapped up in high society conspiracies while, one by one, from the prince to even an assassin, people fall for her plain charm — an ero-focused, mystery-flavored game.

Gamers didn’t value it so highly because the story frequently had parts that were crude, but the original illustrator’s skills were amazing, and the graphics were excellent; it was the first time that my past self had become obsessed with an R-18 otome game.

I got so into it that I collected the soundtrack and the fandisk, and even searched the internet for the novel adaptation*.

In the midst of doing so, I got into web novels itself and even read a considerable amount of game reincarnation novels.

That’s why the moment I saw Luca, I understood I had reincarnated into the so-called villainess.

 

In the game, Philia d’la Love is a rival character introduced in the crown prince route and also the duke’s son’s route.

Philia was the duke’s daughter, of one of the most outstanding noble families in the kingdom, and a beautiful woman with golden hair and ice blue eyes. Having lost her mother after birth, her father doted on her, and being the foremost queen candidate for the same-aged crown prince, she was a lady that stood at the zenith of the ladies’ hierarchy of her generation.

Most games with these types of stories had a rival character, so Philia was given a villainess’ personality. She would mock and insult the commoner heroine and her actions of wanting to erase the heroine who had charmed the love interests were exposed.

 

In the Crown Prince route, she was introduced as a lady who was only attached to the crown prince’s status, not the person himself. She was also unable to read the situation; saying things like, “Naturally, I am the person who deserves to be crown princess.”

In Luca, the duke’s son, route, she was introduced as a yandere stepsister who teased and oppressed her younger stepbrother from a very young age. When he grew up to become a beautiful young man, she stalked him while holding feelings of lust mixed with hate and love.

 

I do wonder if my past self knew what despair was.

It’s not as if I would become a selfish shaman or transform into a pervert in the future. Philia was a character destined to die.

In the true ending for the Crown Prince’s route, for having hurt the crown prince after he protected the heroine, the sentence was beheading for the crime of treason. In the true ending for Luca’s route, when they found her doing something banned by law, it was an immediate death through execution by use of a fiendish, potent poison. Normally, whenever one spoke of a noble’s capital punishment, it would refer to death by poison which would officially be announced as suicide or a public execution with no chance of allowing any retorts.

In particular, during Luca’s route, there was also a 10 percent chance that she would die by being pushed to her death. Or, in her madness, she would bathe in sulfuric acid — there was an abundant amount of variations in ways to die. Why? you ask?

It’s because Luca can’t become duke while Philia’s still alive. In this world, if there was a male guardian approved by the king then the female as well would succeed the rank. With this, it was certain that Philia, who was a direct descendant of the duke, would become the duchess, and Luca, who was the son of the duke’s male cousin, would not be recognized, despite being of noble blood. If we’re talking about a noble character from an otome game, a lack of title wouldn’t go so well.

In the other routes, such as the female knight who becomes the villain in the Knight route, for example, there was a friendship route wherein the female knight reconciled with the heroine after a confrontation that made you think ‘Is this a yuri end?’, yet isn’t it cruel that even in the route where Philia doesn’t die, she becomes a drug-addicted prostitute in the slums?

And so, for the first time in this life, and even in my previous life, I fainted.

 

 

I had never even caught a cold in this life. My surroundings were in an uproar. For about three days I was confined to my bedroom, and I thought about a lot of things.

In web novels, weren’t there a lot of villainess reincarnation stories where they used their previous life’s knowledge of the game to avoid the death route? Things like successfully taking over the heroine role or a situation where it mysteriously transformed into a reverse harem were unnecessary. If I could receive a modest amount of happiness that would be enough.

I decided to immediately take action.

What I have to avoid would be the rival character positions in the Crown Prince route and Luca’s route. Philia was introduced as a disagreeable domineering lady in the other routes, but because she doesn’t die in those, I didn’t care.

I can’t be hated or liked by the crown prince and Luca. If I were hated then events would follow the same as the game and if I were liked then the game might correct itself by erasing me as a hindrance to the heroine.

For the Crown Prince route, because it was my father who successfully negotiated my being a princess candidate, it would be best to aim towards a course outside of that.

For Luca’s route, I can’t have childhood discords happen.

Bullying is a definite no.

When I was able to leave my room, I immediately looked for Luca. He was inside the nursery, staring at nothing in particular. Despite the abundance of toys around him, he wasn’t doing anything.

 

“Luca.” When I spoke, Luca turned to look my way with just his head. “What are you doing?”

“…Nothing.”

“Is that so? Then, can I stay with you?”

 

Luca stared at me for a moment before nodding. At the start of the game, Luca was an indifferent and neurotic 18-year-old; but in his childhood, he was a somewhat vague and absentminded kid.

I recalled the background material mentioned in the fanbook.

Luca’s mother, Diana, heavily influenced his personality. Diana was born to a fallen noble family. Using her beauty as a weapon, she first married the duke’s cousin, Luca’s father. However, having grown weary of her rankless husband, she took on many lovers. His father fell into a drunken ruin over her infidelity. As expected, Luca was neglected, and as their household lost their wealth, there weren’t enough attendants left to take care of him.

Luca, who only knew that life, lost his child-like innocence. Although he especially repulsed his mother, he hated himself more for needing to be protected by her, which eventually created a pessimistic seven-year-old.

After his mother’s second marriage to the duke himself, Luca further became disgusted towards women in general because his stepsister bullied him–

Is what his background said, but I won’t let that happen.

 

“Hey Luca, do you have anything you like?”

“…Not really.”

“Nothing special? Like reading a book, riding horses, sweets, fruits…”

 

Luca tilted his head in disinterest, which increased my discomfort.

Luca’s background stated his hobbies were chess and gem collecting. But that was the older Luca, and I didn’t know what he enjoyed as a child.

This requires further investigation. I held out a hand to Luca.

 

“…?”

“Luca doesn’t have anything he likes yet, right? If so, why don’t you search for them with me?”

 

As I calculatingly thought ‘For some reason, that just barely caught Luca’s interest, so I’ll take it from there,’ Luca stared at the smiling me with upturned eyes.

And timidly took my hand.

What the– he’s so cute!

As a woman with a mental age of 30, I was gripped with motherly instinct towards my younger brother who hesitatingly put his small hands in mine.

That was the beginning of my “Winning My Younger Brother Over Through Gentle Means” operation.

 

11 years later, the results were completely off the mark from my expectations.

I have extreme regrets.

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*novel adaptation – these are usually called SS in the otome game world, or short stories. It’s usually a novel adaptation from what I’ve seen.

We got to know a bit more of Luca’s background. It’s kinda sad that his mother’s like that, but as Philia said, she a bitch.

Also, we have an editor and proofreader for this story! Welcome petitmelon and cookiemon! *claps*

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