I Reincarnated into an Otome Game as a Villainess With Only Destruction Flags… Volume 3 5 — Everything Ends

Volu 3 Chapter 5: Everything Ends

We remained in the room as Rufus was taken away. Lana – or rather Lahna – remained in the room as well.

“Um, Lahna-sama. Thank you very much for saving . And for treating so well,” I thank her again.

To think that Lana, who I had thought to be a re maid, was actually soone from the Ministry of Magic – and fairly high up in the Ministry to boot. I was surprised.

“No no, I had always wanted to sit down and have a long conversation with you, so it was pretty fun for ,” she says, flashing a smile.

“What? Always?”

Huh? Then maybe she knew about beforehand?

“She is the superior I ntioned during the school festival,” Rafael explains, noticing my confusion.

Ah, so she’s the one who had apparently taken a shine to … so then we may have already t in the past?

“Um, so then have we t before?”

Had I just forgotten again?

“Yes, we’ve t before, but since I’ve never t you with this appearance, you probably can’t tell who I am,” says Lahna, flashing another smile.

“With that appearance?”

What does she an?

“She’s a master of disguise, so she has many different appearances. By the way, she’s the one who taught how to disguise myself.”

What?! She was that master of disguise he ntioned before?! That’s amazing!

But in that case, no wonder I don’t recognize her. Actually, if that’s the case then no matter how many tis I t her, I wouldn’t be able to rember her. I wonder what she looked like the last ti we t.

“Um, what did you look like when we t before?” I ask Lahna.

“When we t before, I was wearing my public face,” she says, giving a sohow aningful smile.

“Public face?”

As I was standing there confused, for so reason, Lahna suddenly embraces .

“Huh? Um…”

“Ha ha, you’re really cute. I told you that I’d embrace you when we t next, didn’t I?” says Lahna, narrowing her blue eyes like a cat as she laughs.

She said that she’d embrace when we t next?

And those eyes… I’ve seen them before sowhere…

“Hurry up and give back Katarina already,” says Jared, stepping in just when it seed like I was about to rember. He drags away from Lahna’s chest.

“Such a short-tempered prince,” says Lahna, snickering.

Ugh, and I was just about to rember…

“Katarina, are you alright?” asks Jared, looking at with a serious expression.

“Yes, nothing happened to m – oh right! Selena-sama, Selena-sama had magic cast on her…”

I hadn’t seen Selena since last night. Rufus said that she was just sleeping, but I was worried how she was doing right now.

“So others are heading to her location along with Ian-sama, so no need to worry,” Lahna responds.

“Ian-sama ca as well?”

“Yes, after hearing the news, he jumped in with a deathly pale face. I’ve never seen Ian-sama look like that. He must be really worried about Selena.”

“Is that so! That’s good.”

Like I thought, you can’t really tell what soone is thinking unless you talk with them. It looks like Selena’s not hated like she thought.

“But really, it’s a relief that nothing happened to you,” says Jared, sighing deeply.

Everyone else said they were relieved that I was safe too.

“Be more careful from now on, okay?” Keith says.

“I understand,” I reply ekly.

“But considering that you were kidnapped… Katarina, isn’t your skin unusually smooth?” says Jared, looking at intently.

I tense up.

It’s a bit tough for to say that I was treated even better than usual after being kidnapped, considering how much I must’ve worried everyone.

“Is – is that so?

“Yes. I also feel like your hair is glossier too… wait, what’s this?” says Jared, voice rising. He holds my hair up as he looks at my neck.

“Huh, what is it?”

“This mark on your neck. What in the world happened?”

“A mark on my neck?”

What does he an, a mark on my neck? Oh right, it must’ve happened then!

“Ah, it seems like I was bitten by a bug or sothing.”

“You were bitten by a bug?”

“Yes. When Rufus pushed down on the bed…”

“Pushed down on a bed?!”

Huh? For so reason, Jared looks very scary. What was the matter?

“What do you an by that? By Rufus, you an the man that was just taken away, correct?”

“Ah, yes. Well, last night, he suddenly pushed down on the bed, and that’s when I was bitten by a bug or sothing. I think that Rufus was trying to put to sleep with his magic, but…”

For so reason, Jared looks even scarier than before. I want soone to co save . Thinking that, I turn my gaze towards my friends standing behind , but their faces are just as dark.

Huh, why? Everyone was all smiles a mont ago – what happened?

“It looks like we can’t trust Katarina’s definition of ‘okay’… so, did anything else happen other than getting pushed down and being bitten by a bug?”

“Ah, yes. Lana – I an Lahna – ca in shortly after so I got away before he could cast his magic on .”

Jared let out a deep breath.

“To think that this would happen as I was taking my ti, matching your pace… if I’m not careful, you might be stolen before my very eyes. I think I have no choice but to stop waiting,” says Jared, closing into my face for so reason.

“Hm?”

I don’t really understand what’s happening, so I just think absentmindedly that wow, handso people really are still handso from up close. But before I knew it, Jared’s face had gotten so close I couldn’t even make out its details… then I feel a soft sensation on my lips…

W – what is this?! C – could this possibly be…?

“I won’t wait any longer. I won’t be able to stand it if soone else steals you away while I’m waiting,” says the black-hearted prince who stole away my first kiss.

Those lips… on my lips…

What’s happening? But why? Jared just uses as a shield to ward off other won – he should actually love Maria… but then w – why a kiss…?

Everyone was getting pretty noisy around , but none of their words registered.

My mind is filled with the thoughts of that kiss. Why, but why, I don’t understand.

Even in my previous life, I had no experience with romance – and so, my mind short-circuited. This is how the kidnapping incident ended.

************

“Selena, Selena.”

I wake up to the sound of soone desperately calling out my na. I open my eyes to soone I had never expected to see, gazing at worriedly.

“Ian-sama?”

“Selena, you’re awake. Thank goodness,” says Ian, embracing as if I’m sothing precious to him.

It was almost like a dream, but the warmth I felt from him was definitely real.

“I heard the whole story. I’m so sorry you went through all this for ,” apologizes Ian, looking pained for so reason.

“N – no no, I’m the one who decided to do all this… I apologize deeply for troubling you by acting without thinking.”

After I wake up, my mind feels unbelievably clear. Thinking back, I can’t believe I did everything I did. I really had thought that if I took on all the bla, I would be able to avoid troubling Ian… I’m embarrassed at how foolish I was.

“Don’t worry about it. You were being controlled, it’s not your fault. More importantly, thank goodness you’re alright. I was really worried, you know?”

Controlled? I was wondering what he ant by that, but such questions flew from my mind at his final sentence.

“Um… you were worried about ?”

“Of course. You’re my precious fiancée.”

Ah, I never thought that I would hear Ian say that I’m his precious fiancée… but…

“U – um… Ian-sama, I was under the impression that you disliked ?” I ask, recalling Katarina’s insistence that to know the truth, you need to confirm things with the person in question.

“What in the world are you saying? Of course not,” says Ian, looking surprised for so reason. He didn’t seem like he was lying.

“Um, but you won’t et with that often, and you’re always cold to whenever we do et…” I ask, gaining the courage from Katarina’s words to ask everything I never could ask before.

“Ah!” exclaims Ian, blushing slightly.

What’s the matter?

“That was because… you’re so adorable that I lose the willpower to hold myself back.”

I’m troubled at his words. They ca completely out of left field.

“We’re still just engaged – we’ve not yet been wedded. And so I understand that you do not want to be overly clingy… but when I see you, I’m overtaken by the desire to touch your lovely self… thus, I’ve been avoiding eting you and keeping my distance whenever we do et,” says Ian, his face redder than I’ve ever seen before, “I’m sorry if you’ve misunderstood because of that. I’ll say it again then, properly. I, Ian Stuart, love Selena Burke.”

Despite his red face, he said those words while looking directly at .

Ah, it was just like Katarina had said.

The only person who knows what they’re thinking is that person themselves. That’s why you have to talk with them. It was just like she said.

I start to cry at my overwhelming happiness. Ian, his face still red, wipes away my tears in a fluster.

************

With the Katarina Claes kidnapping case safely closed, after making my report to the Ministry of Magic, I head to my partner’s place while holding a written report.

When I say ‘I’m coming in,’ at his door, he says ‘Co in,’ in response.

On entering the room, I see him looking at with a relaxed gaze.

“Ooh, your disguise is especially plain today, I see.”

“I was disguising myself as an unassuming maid with no relatives, after all. The wig was a bit stuffy though,” I say, taking off my brown-haired wig. My natural black hair flows down my back.

“I always think that your disguises are really amazing, Suzanna Randall,” says Geoffrey with a smirk.

“Your praise is a great honour, Prince Geoffrey,” I respond, purposefully talking like a noblewoman.

That’s right – the true identity of the master of disguise of the Ministry of Magic, Lahna Smith, is actually Suzanna Randall, the fiancée of the First Prince Geoffrey.

The only ones who know of this fact apart Geoffrey are a few higher-ups in the Ministry.

To explain why I’m going as far as to disguise myself and use a fake na, if I worked in the Ministry as ‘Suzanna’, I wouldn’t be able to move as freely as I can now.

Well, thanks to my secret identity, I can conveniently take on Geoffrey’s requests from the shadows.

Geoffrey was the one who requested that I investigate the House of Mason due to the kidnapping incident – or to be more precise, after noticing their suspicious behaviour. Thanks to his request, the case was quickly closed.

Geoffrey Stuart is a man who, contrary to how he looks, is not only pretty good at his job but is also secretly doing a lot in the shadows.

So then why would he let a man, rumoured to be secretly doing terrible things, into his faction? The reasoning is simple – Geoffrey purposefully let him into his faction to get him moving, so he could then push him to ruin after gathering plenty of evidence of his misdeeds.

Based on that reasoning, he herds a lot of people like that into his faction, purposefully preventing them from joining Ian’s faction. Thus, there’s many ne’er-do-wells in his faction. And yet, he doesn’t care – he’s happy with that.

That’s right – he doesn’t really want to ascend the throne at all.

There’s only one thing on his mind.

“Hm, but most importantly, that bastard Mason – I really can’t forgive him for going after Ian and Jared behind my back. Looks like I’ll have to crush him into dust,” he says once I finish my report on the main details of the case.

Geoffrey smiles oh-so-very evilly. His expression makes think that Mason is done for.

If Mason had just done so small-scale misdeeds, he would’ve gotten off with a normal punishnt… but to go after Geoffrey’s brothers… I have no doubt a punishnt that greatly exceeds his expectations is awaiting him.

“Ah, but I’m glad all’s well that ends well. Were my wonderful brothers doing well?”

“Yes, they were fine.”

“Thank goodness!” Geoffrey says, jumping up from his chair. He runs to the wall and throws open so curtains on the wall.

“Ah, my brothers are really wonderful,” says Geoffrey.

He stands by an oil portrait of his three brothers, hung securely on the wall. Normally, it’s hidden by the curtains.

That’s right – Geoffrey Stuart is in reality a pervert who loves his brothers to an abnormal extent. (On a side note, only a few people including myself know of this fact.)

And so, fighting with Ian for the throne is all an act. While pretending to fight for the throne, he’s secretly keeping an eye out for any strange or dangerous people and helping Ian out by preventing them from joining Ian’s faction.

He’s also always watching out for his twin little brothers as well, making sure that no weird people co near them.

There’s only one thing on this mind – to make sure that the brothers he so loves can live happily.

To accomplish his goal, this perverted prince will do absolutely anything.

When we first t, I greeted him by telling him that I had no interest in anything other than magical research and that I had no interest in being a princess. In response, he told that he had no interest in anything other than his brothers and that he had no intention to ascend the throne. It’s a nice mory.

We’ve ended up getting along fairly well since that first eting ten years ago. And so we continued our everyday life of pursuing and punishing evildoers, I for the Ministry of Magic, him for his brothers.

However, I do appreciate this pervert for being largely the reason why I can avoid the topic of marriage as I do as I please in the Ministry.

“Oh, these eyes, they’re just like mine,” says the pervert, lost in his thoughts as he gazes at the oil painting. I don’t understand what he’s saying.

He probably won’t return to reality for a while, so I help myself to so tea that had been prepared in his room. Mm, it’s delicious – little wonder from tea prepared for royalty.

But anyways, Katarina Claes really is an amusing girl.

She first caught my attention at the twin princes’ birthday party. Normally, I don’t really have much interest in others.

I was standing in the corner, a little tired of dealing with people. That’s when she ca along and began eating the food at great speed. She then proceeded to chug down the wine before flopping down, drunk.

I was surprised to see soone act like that at a party held at the castle – she imdiately caught my interest.

Then, the more I investigated her, the more amusing the rumours made her seem. Even though we hadn’t even t once, I really took a shine to her.

Just when I was feeling sad because I wasn’t able to talk with her much despite finally eting her again at the festival, amazingly, she appeared during my infiltration mission. And so I was able to talk a lot with her.

After talking with her in reality, I learnt that she was even more amusing and wonderful than I had expected.

Ah, I want to put Katarina Claes in the Ministry of Magic and have her by my side.

I didn’t realize that my expression as I fantasized mirrored Geoffrey’s as he gazed at his oil painting.

************

With the incident over and done with, I return to my dorm room.

I had so kind of weird dream right after the incident and so my mories are a bit hazy, but Keith explained what had happened afterwards.

I’m sure that I had that weird dream because of sleep deprivation during the incident – that’s right, that has to be it. Well actually, oversleeping may be the real reason…

Anyways, apparently the case is closed.

The mastermind behind the incident was apparently a Marquis nad David Mason. He had apparently executed his plan to place Geoffrey on the throne, but Geoffrey himself had no knowledge of Mason’s plans.

This was a bit off from my deductions, but I’m glad that it wasn’t a sibling fight.

On a side note, supposedly Rufus was sobbing his eyes out over at the Ministry of Magic as he revealed everything of Mason’s misdeeds, crying about how he did everything on Mason’s orders and that he had no choice.

Thanks partly to his sympathetic childhood, he wasn’t arrested for the cri and was instead taken in by the Ministry of Magic like Rafael.

To be honest, when I talked with him, he didn’t really seem that sympathetic and he didn’t seem that likely to start bursting into tears… but I guess he pulled it off well.

However, Keith and the others were lanting that Rufus got off light. They’ve basically never t and yet they’re treating him like an enemy. Why?

The thing that surprised the most after returning to the academy was that I was chosen for an Outstanding Achievent award.

At the very end of the school festival, students would nominate their favourite performances and other such student-made creations for the award – a few among the nominations would receive an Outstanding Achievent award.

Apparently my performance in the student council’s play was one of the things nominated for an Outstanding Achievent award. Supposedly, it was greatly praised for being so good it sent shivers of terror down everyone’s spine.

On a side note, Maria’s sweets were also very well received and were also chosen for an Outstanding Achievent award. As expected from Maria.

The award is just for the prestige and doesn’t have any prizes associated with it, but putting Maria aside, it’s pretty impressive for to receive an award considered to be a great honour in the academy.

After all, no matter what I did I couldn’t seem to get it right – I was a stereotypical noble girl villainess. The next ti I go ho, I should bring along my award certificate.

Apparently my father had been pretty busy with his work so both my parents weren’t able to co to the school festival after all, so I’m sure they’ll be very happy if they see my certificate.

And so, though there were a few small surprises along the way, I returned to my everyday school life…

But I feel like Keith’s suddenly beco overprotective.

He cos along with no matter where I go. Not only Keith, actually – all my other friends too. They cling to so tightly it makes wonder what’s happening with all their student council work.

Well, I do kind of think it can’t be helped considering how much I worried them when I was kidnaped… but I also feel like it’s overkill even considering that.

Naturally, wanting so ti alone, one day, I sneak out of the dorms and head to my field.

There stood a man who, in direct contrast to everyone else, barely showed his face in front of since that incident.

“Jared-sama.”

“Ah, Katarina – we finally et again,” says Jared, smiling beautifully.

I grow a little nervous as he nears, thanks to that weird dream I had right after the incident.

In that dream, for so reason, we had kissed. I have no idea why I had a dream like that… maybe I have so little experience with romance that my desires grew out of control? How embarrassing.

However, I had completely forgotten about the dream since I barely ever saw Jared for so reason since the incident. But seeing him standing in front of makes recall the dream, making nervous.

But paying little attention to my internal turmoil, he draws near and holds around my shoulders.

Not that I care or anything, but now that I’m more aware of him, Jared really likes touching , doesn’t he?

Is it because he’s a prince? Is that why I grew frustrated and had such a dream… ugh, it’s all his fault.

“Since then, thanks to all the people getting in my way I wasn’t able to see you. I was really lonely, my beloved princess.”

His last words were word-for-word the line he said to the heroine Maria during that play. They’re sugary sweet, but they aren’t really that different from the things Jared says normally. Jared drops lines like that on a regular basis. It’s not unusual for him to whisper them in my ear like this too.

That’s right, this is completely normal… and yet, for so reason, his voice reverberating in my ear sounds a bit seductive and my face heats up.

Thanks to my dream, I’m way more aware of him and what he’s doing now. Even though he’s acting just the sa as usual, I just can’t see him normally and it’s embarrassing.

Jared’s eyes glint for so reason on seeing my flustered state.

“Oh? What an unusual reaction – did you finally start paying attention to after you-know-what?”

Huh? What does he an by ‘you-know-what’?

“Hm? Ah, no, I just had a strange dream after the incident…”

“Dream?”

“Yes, a dream where you and I… um…”

It’s no good, it’s so embarrassing I can’t even say it out loud. My voice trails off.

My face grows even redder and my tears prick at my eyes.

In both my previous life and this one, I’ve had zero romantic experiences – I’ve never even talked with my friends about the people I like. If this was 2-D, then things would work out, but in 3-D, I can’t casually drop the word ‘kiss’ in front of a handso guy like him standing so close to !

And if I talk about a dream like that, I’ll be so embarrassed if he thinks I’m creepy for having such a dream because my desires are unfulfilled…

Jared looks incredibly pleased considering how agitated I am. His cheeks seem slightly flushed as well.

Huh, why? Did my agitation spread?

“Hmm… was that dream sothing like this?”

Just like in the dream, Jared closes in with an incredibly happy face and brushes his lips to mine.

This is!

Our lips make a soft noise as they part. Jared laughs cheerfully.

“So you thought it was a dream? It’s not a dream – both this ti and last ti.”

“W – why…”

I’m just a shield he uses to ward off other noble ladies – Jared should actually like Maria… but he kissed … is this a joke? Was Jared that kind of person?!

“Why kiss you? Why, because I love you, of course.”

I’m lost for words. L – love? If he loves , then that ans…

Jared places a hand on my cheek, a lovely smile spreading across his face.

“Ha ha, you’ve finally realized? I’m very happy.”

When Jared makes to kiss again in my complete confusion, soone interrupts.

“Stop right there – don’t get any closer to my sister.”

“Move over. Keith-sama, I’ll deal with him with magic.”

“Wait a second Mary, what are planning to do?”

“No no, Mary-sama, I’ll step in here…”

“S – Sophia-sama, please calm down. Throwing sothing like that is dangerous. Please pick sothing that would cause injuries I could heal with my magic.”

Everyone runs over at once.