Azhure: Next part after this should be the last. Enjoy
“Okay, the academy is eight years from now on, I need to plan ahead what I got to prepare before then.” Celes slapped both of her cheeks and got to writing some more. “First of all, I’ll be introduced to Lucis as my fiancée next year,” she stated, remembering the dialogue Lucis had with Maria regarding the first time he met the villainess and the engagement.
Already, she was haughty as a child, acting like Lucis was born to be her future husband, and now that she was Celestine, she could only internally cringe at her other self. “First of all, I need to make a better impression on him,” Celes stated to herself before writing it down. “And I also just need to act normally around everyone else, not the spoiled brat that was the villainess.”
Nodding to herself, she continued writing, surprising herself that she could write well using a literal feather. “As long as I am nice to Lucis, he won’t break the engagement and exile me,” she concluded confidently. “Lucis wouldn’t have chosen Maria if Celestine hadn’t been so much of a jerk to everyone. He knew better than to break the engagement when he had no reason to.”
Lucis genuinely reached out to Maria out of curiosity because she had contracted a light spirit. He explained it much and apologized profusely to Celestine for that matter, making it very clear that he had no hidden intentions but was aware of what the meeting could imply. For that matter, it made the villainess the one being too unreasonable with her reaction to the meeting.
“Obviously, I’ll also have to befriend Maria. That way, she also wouldn’t interfere with my engagement and go for other routes,” Celes then muttered, staring at the ceiling to rest her eyes. “…Gee, now that I say it, it’s kinda messed up that otome games have you make the capture targets cheat on their partners even though they’re the villainesses and act like it.” Arranged marriage or not, it was still an inappropriate idea to feed into young girls’ fantasies about love.
“It wouldn’t just be enough to be nice to her. I still need to make sure she trains herself to be stronger to take on Typhon,” Celes then muttered. Much of the experience Maria gained was from sparring classes, and Celestine was very much the main opponent every time. Most of the time, her minions fought Maria, with a few occasions of Celestine stepping in as a recurring boss battle. “Otherwise, we’ll get the ultimate bad ending.”
If Maria loses in the final boss fight against Typhon, instead of just a game over screen, the player will receive the ultimate bad ending. While everyone else was dead, Typhon kept Maria alive in a literal birdcage and cursed her with immortality to endlessly torment her by turning her contracted spirit into a cursed spirit and locking him in the same cage, letting the player imagine what happened after that as the CG of Maria’s spirit lunging at her faded to black. The devs were probably on something when they came up with that ending.
“Anyway, if Maria’s going to another route, it’ll hopefully be Van’s route,” Celes muttered, grabbing the relevant parchments. “Van va Kirash junior, second son of Van va Kirash senior, the king of Kirash. After being relentlessly bullied by his older brother growing up, he practically became a recluse and a scaredy cat. He was so afraid of his brother that he chose to hide the fact he had contracted a water spirit, named Walpole, for the fear his older brother might be able to do something to his spirit… or just torment himself even more.”
“In fact, Maria only met Van because Walpole chose to reveal himself to her, sensing the greater water spirit’s blessing on her, much to Van’s fright,” Celes continued in amusement. “His entire route was entirely Maria trying to get Van not to be scared of his own shadow anymore, which ultimately leads up to the Kirash invasion, where he faced up against his brother, enhanced with the dragon’s curse like the villainess.”
“With newfound confidence in himself thanks to Maria, he defeated his brother who also died horrifically from the curse like the villainess,” Celes shuddered with the words she said, remembering the boss fight against him where he solely focused on attacking Van, wasting all of the healing items her past live stocked up on him. “Goodness gracious, do the devs secretly want to make a horror game?”
“Van also has no engagement to break as his brother serves as the route’s villain. And because of Maria’s true heritage, many consider Van to be the true route of the game, where after defeating Typhon, he becomes the new king with Maria as Queen,” Celes continued. “Even though they’re cousins, but I guess that’s how medieval society works.” The Illyers started as a branch of the royal family, making Maria’s parents somewhat related to each other, and the same went with her and Lucis, given that her family was a branch of the royal family. The horror. Then again, she read somewhere that medieval aristocrats were all inbred, anyway.
“Oh, I shouldn’t forget about Van’s father, who let Typhon get that big,” Celes muttered, grabbing the parchments on the kingdom in the water territory. “Also named Van, he is Maria’s uncle who ousted her father from the throne. After becoming king, he waged war against the Fichs empire, the only other country in the water territory, to unite the greater water spirit’s domain under one kingdom.”
“While he managed to do it, it naturally came with a heavy cost. Not only did the war decimate the population, but the newly conquered lands immediately began to rebel,” Celes continued. “The Fichs empire was previously the conqueror, absorbing all of its neighbors until Kirash was left. Now that Kirash took over Fichs with heavy losses, all of them took their chance to become independent again.”
“This turned king Van’s dream of uniting the land of water into a nightmare as he tries to keep his large kingdom together, having to constantly put down rebellions which stretched his army that’s still recovering from the war thin,” Celes continued to iterate, with the hidden spirits as her audience. “This kept on going for years, wearing down the king mentally. Not only that, but rumors began to spread that all of this was divine punishment for destroying the blessed Illyers. And it was at this low point that Typhon in human form appeared and offered him something he can’t refuse.”
“The game doesn’t tell what happened after that; it only results in cursed spirits breaking out in droves right after the condemnation event in the academy. If it weren’t for the blessed’s ability to purify them, the entire world could’ve been overrun,” Celes continued. “This, of course, only proved to be disastrous to king Van, seeing the effort he made in making a deal with Typhon to create cursed spirits being useless on top of the approaching light army on his doorstep.”
“However, when he confronted Typhon about the failure of his cursed spirits, Typhon revealed his draconic form which resulted in the king being killed,” Celes then said, remembering the CG where Typhon as a wrinkly old man gradually grew in size, turning into his serpentine dragon form with a terrified king Van before fading to black, leaving what happened after that to the player’s imagination. “It was that aftermath in the throne room that Maria’s group arrived, starting the final boss fight.”
And what a boss fight it was. The fight with Typhon mostly revolved around the dragon stacking debuffs to the party with his curses at every turn. This practically locked Maria and Lydia on clearing those debuffs instead of attacking the overgrown lizard. Not only that, Maria needed to strike the finishing blow, or else Typhon would revive himself. Celes lost count of how many times she saw the ultimate bad end CG as the devs even sadistically turned off the skip button for that occasion.
“After Maria struck the final blow to Typhon, the dragon disintegrated in purifying light, and at the same time, the spirits he cursed all around the world were purified as well,” Celes continued. “Maria’s party will return to the academy to graduate, and Maria will then marry the chosen capture target as they together help rebuild Spiri Raia after the destruction Typhon caused. Oh, and after that, the greater light spirit would then name Maria’s contracted spirit as the greater spirit heir, becoming his successor once he dies. Because spirits only live for a thousand years.”
At the last of her muttering, she reached out for more parchment, only to realize she had run out. Rummaging through the messy stacks of written paper, Celes couldn’t find anything more that she could review nor write on. Looking beyond the window, she saw the day was running late, and it would soon be time for dinner, and if she didn’t come down to have it with her family, a maid would bring it to her and see all the mess she had made. She’d rather not have to explain anything about this – she already had enough stares as to why she asked for this many parchments.
“Right, no pressure,” she muttered. After cleaning up and hiding all of her notes in the drawer, she went to the door and stepped outside.
Wh-Why are they here!? Celes internally freaked out.
In the dining hall, it was not just her parents having dinner with her. Across the dining table were two people. One was a man in white garb who screamed royalty, not much older than her father but with a tired look, like an elderly man having been through what life threw at him. The other was a boy of her age in similar fancy traveling clothes and platinum blonde hair that practically shone like the sun. He had a curious look on his face, eyeing the girl across the table, which only made her panic more because…
Why is prince Lucis here!? He’s supposed to be here next year! Celes freaked out even more the longer he stared at her, hoping her expression didn’t betray her struggle not to let her panic show. No wait! Mother told me he was coming here last week! She then remembered being over the moon when her mother told her that. She had completely forgotten about it in her panic after remembering her past life. Why did I forget!? That should’ve been important to know!
“Celes, dear,” Celes’ mother chimed gently, breaking her daughter out of her stupor. “This is his highness prince Lucis lu Celestia, your future husband. Come introduce yourself.”
“R-Right,” Celes stammered, hoping her mother didn’t notice that as she stood up from her seat, as she remembered from the lessons her mother gave her in this life, and gave a polite bow. “I am Celestine ce Celestium, pleased to meet you, your highness.”
“Likewise, I am Lucis lu Celestia. Pleased to meet you too,” Lucis similarly stood up and returned the bow with a beaming smile. “I heard you fell down the stairs, are you alright now?” he then said in concern with that kind face of his, eyeing the bandages still wrapped around her.
Uwahh! So bright! Celes internally gaped in awe, shielding her eyes from his positively radiant smile. So this is the crown prince of Celestia!
“Is there something wrong?” Lucis asked in concern, tilting his head, seeing Celes not answering.
Uwahh! So cute! “N-No! I am alright. Thank you for your concern, your highness,” Celes quickly stuttered as she tried to survive the adorable expression he was having. Even as a teenager in the otome game, he still has that habit, which hasn’t lost its cuteness.
“I see, I am glad,” the prince nodded in understanding. No wonder he was so popular.
Given the current guests, dinner was an even more extravagant affair than usual. On her plate was the biggest piece of steak Celes had ever seen, all dressed up nicely with neatly placed potatoes and veggies alongside a generous amount of gravy poured by the servants. She wasn’t sure if a child like her should be eating this, but she certainly wasn’t complaining. She never had the chance to have one in her past life, given where she lived.
“Is the food to your liking, your majesty?” Celes’ father remarked, cutting a piece for himself.
“Yes, it is a scrumptious supper,” the king said before taking another bite. “Give my compliments to the chef, duke Celestium.”
“I will be sure to pass it on, your majesty,” Celes’ father nodded.
“Additionally, I would like to apologize for pushing this engagement earlier than we planned,” the king then said, catching Celes’ attention.
So my engagement with Lucis was supposed to be next year!? she thought, a piece of carrot still hovering in her mouth.
“It is fine, your majesty,” Celes’ father replied. “Ever since lady Aquarius denounced king Van for his actions to take the throne of Kirash, times have become uncertain.”
Huh? King Van denounced by Aquarius? She never did anything like that. Celes blinked even further, the carrot still dangling above her tongue. As far as she remembered, there was no scene showing how the greater water spirit reacted to assassinating duke Illyer being impartial as she was.
“Truly, the great sea lady Aquarius erected between Kirash and Fichs reminded us all of their authority,” Celes’ mother remarked, cupping her cheek.
“But at the very least, it had slowed down the talisman smuggling, now knowing the greater spirits would retaliate harshly,” Celes’ father muttered.
Great sea!? What sea!? Celes’ mind was beginning to panic even more. Does that mean Van never got to conquer Fichs!? She sorely wanted to ask, but she wasn’t sure if it was safe to do so.
“What is it about lady Aquarius father?” Fortunately, prince Lucis was curious enough to ask. So Celes will be getting to the bottom of this.
“Ah, yes. You would not know that,” the king realized. “The tutors would have taught you this later, but it would not hurt to know now.”
Despite wanting to ask, she certainly wasn’t prepared to hear the answer. Within the next few seconds, Celes felt as though everything she had planned for the future shattered before her eyes with those simple words from the king.
“It all started when king Van of Kirash murdered the Illyer family and his brother by burning down the duke’s mansion.”
It was late at night and the king and young prince were staying over in the guest rooms. Celes, meanwhile, collapsed into her bed, all energy evaporating from her. Letting out an inaudible groan into her pillow, she let herself get stressed out by what she heard over dinner. “I just reincarnated! How come things are already different!?”
She knew her actions to avoid her doom would inevitably steer events away from the otome game starting from the first change and snowballing from there. But the change had long since happened before the Celes of this world was even born, let alone remember her past life! What did she do before coming into this world that made her deserve this!?
“Instead of getting assassinated by a maid, the ducal family, along with prince Albert died in the mansion after it got burned down by talismans,” Celes muttered aloud into her pillow. Incidentally, she almost forgot to go over talismans, which were stored-up spirit arts in paper that anyone can us,e and so got smuggled around the world like contraband.
“Well, the otome game also mentions people thought all of them died as well, so it’s not like they’re really all dead.” If Maria’s parents could survive otome Van’s attempt at killing them all, they could survive escaping the entire house burning to the ground.
“But it’s Aquarius breaking neutrality that’s the problem…” Celes then muttered. While Aquarius lamented the duke’s death, she didn’t take it out on king Van. That was how important the greater spirits’ impartiality was; she didn’t want to set a precedent, at least that was how it went in the otome game.
But not only did she hear from the king that Aquarius harshly rebuked king Van for murdering her blessed, she also exacted the appropriate punishment by creating a literal ocean separating Kirash and Fichs, thus denying him the conquest he so desperately desired, and was the primary reason he tried so hard to become king. And thus, to this day, the water territory remains divided.
“It still doesn’t mean Typhon wouldn’t approach him. He will exactly approach him.” Facing constant rebellions from conquered territories was one thing, but getting personally smited by the greater spirit would certainly entice king Van to Typhon’s offer, so that wouldn’t change. “But it’ll definitely be different, and now I don’t know what’s going to happen.”
Regardless, that one butterfly effect will undoubtedly send ripples to this timeline and that’s what scared her. All the knowledge in the otome game and all the plans she made to avoid her doom could potentially go up in flames by the time she entered the academy.
Lifting her face up, she got to her feet on the bed and slapped her cheeks with both of her hands. “Right, I can’t get discouraged!” she exclaimed. “I just need to adapt and watch out for any changes!”
While there could be many things different from the otome game by the time she entered the academy, there should still be some constants. At the very least, the heroine will be there. She knew that for certainty.
Azhure: So, what do you all think of this part? Is it good? Are there any problems with it? Any reviews or feedback is appreciated as long as they’re not plain insults meant to blow off your stress.
Voice: Don’t do that to people! Not even on the internet!
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