The Duke's Daughter Goes Her Own Way
[The heroine Who Doesn't Want To Start Playing Otome Games (Because The Romance Target Is Like 'This' and 'That')]
Translated by: ME
(This is Mariebell's PoV)
Once May arrives, I'm scheduled to move into the dormitory.
It's not that I *can't* commute from home to the academy, but it's quietly quite far. It takes about an hour by carriage.
Noble houses are arranged in a circle centered around the royal castle. The central part of the circle, closest to the castle, is for Ducal residences, then outside that Marquises, then outside that Counts, Viscounts, Barons… and so on. Residences of Counts and below are located outside the area called the 'Noble Quarter'.
The area around the Ducal, Marquis, and upper-tier Count residences is a very quiet, clean streetscape, consisting only of large noble mansions and public buildings. It's so different from the streets I live on that my excitement skyrockets as if I'm visiting a tourist spot. But if I were to raise my voice in cheers, I'd probably be arrested by the patrol knights in an instant.
My family's Fluorite Count (until recently, Viscount) residence is located near the edge of the royal capital. It's a wide, large house, but it's not one of those 'They're all basically castles!' type of mansions found in the Noble Quarter. It's a wooden, two-story large house, the kind you might find in the American countryside. The surroundings are commoner homes, but our house blends in among them. It has the feeling of a 'slightly larger and cleaner house'.
Well, by my previous life's Japanese standards, it's a huge mansion, a cute Western-style house, and I'm perfectly satisfied with it.
Steinford Academy is a royal academy. In other words, its primary sponsor, or rather its owner, is the King. Its founder is apparently the King from five generations ago (according to my tutor). Therefore, it's located quite close to the royal castle.
Given that the academy is far, I decided to move into the dorm. The dorm fees being cheaper than I expected was also a factor. Another reason was my father saying, [If it takes two hours round trip every day, wouldn't it be better to live in the dorm so you don't waste that time?] In my family, which is fundamentally more merchant than noble, time is very precious.
***
Steinford Academy, which is purely merit-based, has a student body that is ninety percent male.
…It's like that. It's like a technical high school. Where having one girl per class is normal.
While women advancing in society itself isn't frowned upon, the women themselves have little consciousness of 'going out to work in society'. So, it seems few women wish to enroll at Steinford, which has a 'Study hard and get a good job!' vibe.
For noble girls, North Pole Women's Academy is the mainstream… Oh no, really, the whole 'lady' thing is so intense… I'll apologize, so please forgive me…
***
I moved into the dorm right at the start of May.
The dormitory, located within the school grounds, is a wooden building, unlike the brick school building. I'm happy it has a wonderfully shabby feel, quite similar to my own home. If it were a castle-like building, I'd probably get so excited my head would explode.
Since the number of female students is so small to begin with, all those who wish get single rooms. In the male dorm, it seems rooms are assigned as double rooms on a first-come, first-served basis for those who want them. There are a lot of boys, after all.
That said, compared to Cockford Academy, the total number of students is super small! Cockford has like three classes per grade, but Steinford only accepts forty students per year!
…I really just barely slipped in… I think it was probably by the skin of my teeth.
There are male and female dorms facing each other. The larger one is the male dorm, and the smaller one—on the level of [Huh? A private house?]—is the female dorm. Not so much a private house, but more like a wooden apartment? A boarding house? That sort of feeling. The building itself is Western-style and cute, though.
The room is about six tatami mats in size, furnished with a bed, a desk and chair, a large bookshelf, a low chest of drawers, a closet, and a cabinet.
Bathrooms and toilets are shared. Two meals (breakfast and dinner) are provided. There are live-in dorm mothers and security guards.
For this, the dorm fee is, in terms of Japanese yen sensibility, about 30,000 yen per month. A steal!
It's a completely unadorned room, but it's cleanly kept and not bad at all. I'm also happy the room isn't too large.
Not bad! It's better than the apartment I lived in alone during university!
Even though the bath and toilet are shared, the current residents, including me, number only five. So few! There really are fewer girls than I thought!
It seems unlikely we'll clash over bath times, and the same for the toilet.
There's also a fairly large powder room, where up to five people can get ready at the same time, so even if schedules clash, it's no problem at all.
Seriously, isn't this place great?!
I moved in my necessary belongings, and after hanging new curtains on the window, the feeling of [This is *my* room!] finally hit me.
I'll be in your care for the next three years.
***
One day, shortly before the entrance ceremony, I was invited to the home of one of my few noble friends.
The one who invited me was Susanna of the Weims County family. She's a young lady the same age as me. Since Susanna's house is also located outside the Noble Quarter, I'm happy to be invited without feeling intimidated.
[The academy will be starting soon, won't it? Are your preparations alright?] Susanna asked while offering me tea. I nodded.
[Well, I'll manage somehow. But Susanna, you're going to North Pole, right? Are *you* going to be okay…?]
That's right.
Susanna and I get along well.
One reason we became close is the pathetic shared trait of ['not fitting into the young lady world'].
Susanna looks lovely.
Her light brown hair is soft and wavy, her cheeks are plump and round, and her perfectly round eyes have slightly downturned outer corners—the so-called 'tanuki face'.
Her build is petite and slender.
She looks like the very image of a ['heroine you want to protect'].
However, her personality is surprisingly strong-willed. She hates injustice and will bite back at anything that rubs her the wrong way.
According to Susanna, she caused a major blunder in her childhood because of that personality and has been trying to restrain herself a little since then.
…Just how bad was she *before* she started holding back?
Because of her spirited personality, her parents apparently ordered her, [Go to North Pole and learn what it means to be a lady. As you are, no one will want to marry you.]
[Well, I'll manage somehow. …If someone seems incompatible, I just won't talk to them, right? I'll do my best.]
Looking at Susanna with her slightly distant gaze, I wondered if she would really be okay…
[More importantly, it's you, Mary! The Crown Prince and Lady Elizabeth are in this year's Steinford class, aren't they!?]
Susanna leaned slightly towards me, and I leaned my upper body back to escape. Her intensity is scary.
[How nice~. Being in the same year as them… …I wanted to go to Steinford too.]
I offered a noncommittal [Y-yeah, I guess…] to Susanna, who let out a dreamy sigh.
Susanna *loves* Lady Elizabeth, the Crown Prince's fiancée.
'Loves' might be an understatement; she practically worships her.
There's a tea party at the royal castle hosted by Lady Elizabeth once a year, and every time Susanna returns from it, I'm forced to hear all about how Lady Elizabeth was this and that.
There are several tea parties held throughout the year, but since Susanna's Weims County family is near the bottom even among Counts, the ones they are invited to are limited.
While Susanna said she envies me for being in the same year as 'them', it's obvious she's envious specifically because she's in the same year as *Lady Elizabeth*.
I thought about asking Susanna, [What is Lady Elizabeth like?] but stopped myself at the last moment.
Knowing Susanna, she'd definitely just list off praises like ['As cute as a flower fairy'], ['As intelligent as the goddess of wisdom'], and ['As elegant as a Forne butterfly'].
The Forne butterfly is a butterfly that inhabits the northern mountains, famous for its beautifully colored wings. It's often used to praise a woman's beauty.
When a pair forms, they are known to flutter around together, never leaving each other's side, making them also a symbol of marital harmony. If you make goods for proposals using this motif, they sell well. Gifts for wedding anniversaries are also popular.
The male has wings of lapis lazuli and deep purple, while the female has wings of scarlet and yellow—both with different, equally beautiful patterns.
[I heard rumors that Lady Elizabeth and His Highness aren't getting along…]
Before I could finish with [I wonder what the truth is?], Susanna's eyes snapped wide open.
Scary! It's scary, Susanna! I don't know what, but I'm sorry!!
[You too, saying such nonsense…? Not getting along is impossible! There's no way anyone could dislike Lady Elizabeth!]
[Y-yes, you're right! You're absolutely right!]
It was scary, so I just nodded repeatedly.
…Anyway, asking Susanna is pointless…
She loses all reason when it comes to topics related to Lady Elizabeth…
I'd heard some unsettling rumors at the tea party, like ['Could it be that His Highness the Crown Prince has a thing for little girls…?'], but it doesn't seem like I can ask Susanna about that either.
His Highness and Lady Elizabeth have a four-year age difference, right? Is it enough to be called a lolicon…?
Well, I probably won't have much to do with them anyway.
…Though I did think, if I could just become friends with Lady Elizabeth, maybe she could introduce me to her brother…
***
Entrance Ceremony Day.
Since I'm already moved into the dorm, there's no need to rush. It takes less than a leisurely ten-minute walk from the dorm to the auditorium where the ceremony is held. Barring something major, I won't be late.
I ate the dorm mother's homemade breakfast, changed into the dress my parents bought for me, checked myself in the mirror multiple times, and left the dorm.
I heard this year's new students number thirty-nine.
Just barely…! I'm really glad I slipped in…!
Including me, there are four girls. …Wow… It really is ninety percent boys…
Thinking I might have arrived a bit early, I was walking when I spotted a girl walking near the auditorium.
She was a short girl, and I did a double-take, thinking, [Huh!? A child!?]
She had a slightly bouncy gait, and her happy atmosphere was palpable. With each step, the hem of her fluffy dress fluttered, looking very cute and endearing.
The girl entered the auditorium and disappeared from sight, so I decided to head in too… and started walking again. But immediately, I was stopped near the auditorium entrance.
[My apologies. We are currently escorting His Highness the Crown Prince's fiancée. Could you please wait here for a moment?]
The polite young man speaking was wearing the uniform of a royal guard knight.
It's the same uniform Morris (the meathead) wore in the ending of his route in the game.
I nodded to show the young man I understood, and he smiled and said, [Thank you for your cooperation.]
He's a different person from the guard I saw at the castle with His Highness before.
But this guy also doesn't give off a meathead vibe.
Huh? Did Morris *really* manage to become a guard knight? What strings did he pull?
I was held up for what was probably only about a minute—hardly worth calling 'waiting'—before the young man smiled and said, [Sorry to keep you waiting. Please go right in, my lady.]
Hya~, such a gentleman~!!
If *this* is what a 'Guard Knight' is supposed to be like, then Morris, wasn't that impossible for you? Because he had an exclamation mark at the end of every line of dialogue!
The real ones are different~… I thought dreamily as I entered, completed the reception, and headed to my seat in the auditorium.
Sitting in the plush auditorium chair, I thought.
He said they were ['escorting His Highness the Crown Prince's fiancée'], which means that girl I glimpsed, the one walking with a bounce, was Lady Elizabeth.
Maybe it was because I saw her from a distance, but she looked very much like a 'child'…
His Highness is four years older than her. Meaning she's currently twelve.
Wait a second! Twelve years old? That's a sixth grader!? His Highness is sixteen, right!? A high school sophomore!? Isn't that a bit…? Thinking of it as an elementary schooler and a high schooler makes it seem even worse, doesn't it…?
I know the worlds are different. I understand the common sense is different too.
But I'm slightly taken aback…
Moreover, when you think of His Highness, he's expressionless and unfriendly, right?
That tiny girl and an expressionless, handsome older guy…
Huh? Is this okay? Really? His Highness won't get arrested for some kind of crime?
While I was thinking such things, the entrance ceremony began.
His Highness the Crown Prince gave a speech on stage as the representative of the new students.
He's handsome, and his voice is amazing too… Wonderful…
His voice seems a bit lower than what I heard in the game. But maybe it's one of those things where recorded voices sound a little different from real ones.
It's still a great voice, regardless.
Behind His Highness on the stage, in the corner, a guard knight was standing by, as expected.
It's the same person I saw at the royal castle ceremony.
So, is that person His Highness's 'Dedicated Guard' (was that the term?) …I wonder what Morris is doing now…
Morris's future goal was supposed to be becoming the Head Knight of His Highness's dedicated guard.
The appointment authority, I believe, lies with His Highness.
…Or maybe, since that's game lore, the real-world system is different.
While I was pondering this, the ceremony ended.
After this, we were to move to a lecture hall in the main building for an orientation about tomorrow and beyond.
The new students stood up from their seats one by one and left the auditorium.
Lady Elizabeth, who had been seated away from us, now had His Highness the Crown Prince sitting next to her. I hadn't even noticed when he arrived.
Probably because of security and such, they can't move around in a group together or anything.
More importantly, Your Highness, when did you get there…?
Walking slightly apart from the group, Lady Elizabeth was next to His Highness. She wasn't using the bouncy walk I saw before the ceremony, but a perfectly ladylike, beautiful gait.
There was quite a height difference between them; Lady Elizabeth didn't even reach His Highness's shoulder. …I can see why the lolicon suspicions arise…
Moreover, they were firmly holding hands. And in the 'lovers' hand-hold' style, no less.
Person who started the 'they don't get along' rumor, why did you even say that…?
If *that* is 'not getting along', then there are no loving couples left in this world…?
***
The day ended, and I returned to my room in the dorm.
Alright! Let's think this through a bit!
Things are pretty different from the game!
First, me.
What's the same as the game is that I'm an unremarkable Count's daughter. …I never thought our house would become a County…
What's different from the game is that the school I'm attending isn't Cockford Academy but Steinford Academy.
Instead of entering at fifteen, I entered a year early at fourteen.
My personality is probably different too. Because in the game, even though the choices were multiple choice, there were quite a few where I thought, ["I don't want to pick any of these…"].
Next, His Highness the Crown Prince.
His name and profile are the same as in the game.
He's the kingdom's only Prince, with two younger Princess sisters.
His face closely resembles the game's standing sprite. Silky golden hair, bright blue eyes—a level of good looks that's hard to look at directly.
Frankly, I think His Highness is completely different from his game counterpart in every way *except* for his profile and appearance.
First, he's engaged.
That was clear from just watching them today. The 'they don't get along' rumor is impossible.
That's the look of someone utterly doting on Lady Elizabeth. He seizes every opportunity to be affectionate with her. And Lady Elizabeth looks at him with a ['What am I going to do with you?'] sort of smile.
Super sweet! Sweet like covering chocolate with honey and rolling it in sugar! Sweet like Indian Gulab Jamun! I once bought a can of that out of curiosity and regretted it so much I cried…
Given that, what was with the 'expressionless' thing in the game? He smiles so much… …Only towards Lady Elizabeth, though.
And then, Lady Elizabeth.
In the game, she only appeared by mention in His Highness's and Elric's routes. I don't think her name was mentioned in either route.
In the game, she was a slight emotional wound for His Highness, and a precious little sister to Elric.
I don't know about the real Elric, but for the real His Highness, she is undoubtedly his 'beloved fiancée'.
She was about a hundred times cuter than I imagined.
Sorry, Susanna. Every time I heard you talk about her, I thought you were exaggerating impossibly! But she really is a cute person!
She's an incredibly beautiful girl. I totally get the ['like a fairy'] description now.
…Though when I looked at Lady Elizabeth, His Highness would look back at me as if to warn me off, so it was scary and I couldn't look too much.
Speaking of which, Your Highness, what's with that? Do you have some yandere in you? A boy who was looking at Lady Elizabeth let out a frightened ["Eep!"] and looked away; what did you do to him?
…There wasn't a yandere route for His Highness in the game, though.
And the other three capture targets I remember are nowhere to be seen.
They aren't serving at His Highness's side either.
I had wondered if, just because the school setting was slightly different, the capture targets might still be here somewhere?
But they're completely absent.
Oh, that's right! I remembered one more capture target character!
The guard knight brother who was attending behind His Highness and Lady Elizabeth today!
His name was… what was it? Alphonse or Alphonso… I think one of those is a variety of mango. The one that's *not* the mango is the brother. I don't know which is which.
The non-mango brother was supposed to be His Highness's dedicated guard knight.
He was the 'Older, Flirty Guy' archetype, about ten years older than the heroine.
He was a sexy, flirty guy whose conversations with the heroine were light, but he was actually a very sincere person… the usual type of character.
He always wore a smile, but it didn't reach the bottom of his heart—a character with hidden depths.
In the end, he said something like ["I've found something I truly want to protect"] and quit being a guard knight.
No! Don't quit!
Becoming a guard knight must be incredibly difficult!
Don't quit for the sake of some little Count's daughter!
The real non-mango brother was standing neatly and sharply next to the other guard brother.
When I glanced at him, his shoulder was trembling a little; I wonder what happened?
So, while the characters are completely different from the game, the game's characters do exist.
It feels kind of weird, I thought.
But well, I concluded that this is probably just the ['world that served as the model for the game'].
That means I probably don't need to worry about things like ['the game's coercive force'] or ['the story might follow the game's plot'].
Alright! Starting tomorrow, I'll study hard!
***
Two weeks passed since classes started.
Lady Elizabeth is cute.
Despite being the daughter of the MacNaughton Ducal house, the second-ranked ducal family among the great nobles, she isn't pretentious in the slightest.
On the first day, the academy informed us as a precaution that handmade gifts for His Highness and Lady Elizabeth were prohibited due to security reasons.
If handmade is out, are store-bought items okay? One of the four girls, Emilia, gave Lady Elizabeth some candy as a present.
And amazingly, Lady Elizabeth accepted it.
…Though His Highness next to her made a terribly stern face. I thought, Emilia, you've got guts!
After having the received candy inspected, Lady Elizabeth ate it during break time.
And the sight of it! The cuteness broke through the heavens!!
It's a slightly popular candy now: soft biscuits with chocolate cream sandwiched between them. When I asked Emilia why she chose that as a gift, she replied, [I just knew Lady Elizabeth would look absolutely adorable eating it.] Good job.
Each piece is quite large, about ten centimeters in diameter.
She holds it in her small hands and eats it in little nibbles. It was as endearing as a small animal. And she's an exceptionally beautiful girl on top of that.
It seemed delicious, and the way the corners of her mouth relaxed into a smile was also incredibly cute.
Beautiful Girl + Small Animal-like Mannerisms + Happy-looking Smile = Destructively Cute!!!
Everyone in the classroom who saw it had their faces soften with an ["Ahh^~"]. His Highness noticed this and emitted a fierce ['Don't look this way'] aura, so we had no choice but to look away.
Seriously, what was that!!! There's a limit to cuteness! If Susanna finds out about this, who knows what she'll do!
Since that day, whenever His Highness is absent due to official duties, someone in the class gives Lady Elizabeth a treat.
When His Highness isn't next to her, we can sneak peeks freely, after all!
Lady Elizabeth's snack time on His Highness's absence days has become a healing moment for the entire class.
…His Highness probably knows, though. I'm scared that one day he might do something to all of us…
***
One day, I was reading a book on a bench in the courtyard.
The library is far from the classroom, so I was reading a book I borrowed while taking a break on a bench.
Then, Lady Elizabeth came and sat down on the adjacent bench, settling herself daintily. Haa…… No matter what she does, she's cute.
Her feet don't reach the ground, leaving her on tiptoe, which is also adorable.
There's about a two-meter gap between my bench and Lady Elizabeth's bench.
Lady Elizabeth was gazing at the single tall tree in the courtyard.
That tree is indeed intriguing, isn't it? Because it's just one, standing all alone.
While looking at the tree, Lady Elizabeth was singing a song in a small voice.
The song, carried by the wind, faintly reached my ears.
At first, I couldn't believe my ears.
No way. Is it just because I was singing it in my heart that I heard it that way?
I thought that, but I definitely heard it.
Yes.
It was that famous commercial song, the one like ['I wonder what kind of tree this is~? I'm curious~?'].
And, in proper Japanese.
As I sat frozen, pretending to read the book open on my lap, Lady Elizabeth got down from the bench.
[Ellie, my apologies. Did I keep you waiting?] His Highness said as he approached.
[No, it's quite alright. Are your matters finished, Leon-sama?]
[Yes. …Shall we go?]
Lady Elizabeth let herself be led by the hand by His Highness and returned inside the school building.
No way… Could it be that Lady Elizabeth is a reincarnator like me…?
And not only that, but also someone who doesn't want to participate in the otome game, just like me…?
I wondered if there was some way I could make contact with Lady Elizabeth…
Because if she's a fellow reincarnator, we might become friends! Me and that angelically cute Lady Elizabeth!
I might get to see her eat delicious snacks right in front of me!
…And also, maybe I could meet her brother too (whispered).
***
From that day on, I thought about how to make contact with Lady Elizabeth.
With guard knights and maids always nearby, charging at her in person is very difficult.
I really wanted to try that thing, you know… The one that often happens in novels: ["You, by any chance… do you know about a game called ○○?"].
But, I don't remember the title at all!!
After thinking it over, I decided on the safe method of ['giving her a letter'].
If I write the contents in Japanese, it confirms she's a reincarnator if she can read it, and if she can't, then that's that.
I took out the letter set I brought from home and wrote in Japanese: ['If you can read this, please come to the cafeteria after school. I have something I'd like to talk to you about.']
Well, if she can't read it, I'll just be stood up! No big deal!
It was the first time I'd written Japanese characters in over ten years, but I managed to write them correctly, surprisingly.
I actually made one mistake with the character for 'school' in 'after school'… I added the grass radical to the component 'fruit'! It took me about three minutes of rereading, thinking ["Huh? Something feels off?"], to notice it.
Guess you don't forget this stuff.
What's that saying again? ['The soul of a three-year-old until a hundred']?
It's true, I can still dance the local folk dance from my previous hometown.
Now, all that's left is to give this to her on a day when His Highness is absent!
Wah……! I'm getting nervous already! I wonder if Lady Elizabeth will come……?
***
Next time, we return to Ellie-chan.
And it will start in a way that shows no intention of resolving the cliffhanger from two chapters ago.
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