Chapter 4 – The Necessary & the Unnecessary
Includes brief game world lore explanations.
Ping ♪
| [Emergency! Your brother is rushing over after hearing about his step-sister’s crisis! Will you try to persuade him like before? 】 | |
| ▶ Yes No Talking is useless, just beat him up |
“What’s with that third option?”
I remarked as I looked at the options. Just as I expected, the “Yes” option was glowing slightly.
The option that Lunaria would have chosen.
Even if I explained to that idiot brother how this situation arose, he would inevitably protect his step-sister and disregard Lunaria. Therefore, there was no need to make him understand with words.
Despite countless attempts to reason with him, in the end, he allowed himself to be corrupted by that step-sister —the one sitting there crying hysterically and making a scene right in front of me—and that brother treats his fiancée terribly. Knowingly.
When you enter the Lunaria route in the game, the story itself is short but quite rich in content, detailing her past and that of her family.
Why she became a villainess. How she managed to control such immense mana.
Because of my knowledge, I knew everything about the magic that I was using for the first time, including how to channel the power into this body.
If used properly, the electric shock ability can also function as a stun gun. Alternatively, you can perform a flashy lightning attack right before striking, forcing the opponent to tense their body unnecessarily. Then, you can adjust the power at the moment of impact to inflict unnecessary damage.
Furthermore, of the options displayed before me, I chose the third one without any hesitation.
Time seems to stand still while the options appear.
I wonder if this is also unique to Otome Games. I tried to figure out how it worked, but as soon as I chose an option, time immediately started moving again. The crying of the step-sister in front of me was so loud that I couldn’t gather my thoughts.
The maids who had been trying to comfort the step-sister crying like a monkey were no longer there.
They were still trembling from the words Lunaria just uttered, and were now terrified at how unlikely they were of ever getting paid. Finally, realizing that they would receive no mercy, they all sat down and groaned.
They probably never expected that they weren’t employed by the Duke’s family. Or rather, the fact that so many people never realized that that damn father wasn’t the head of the family gives me a headache.
I’m sure the brother was the same.
He was intelligent, athletic, and had a cordial relationship with his fiancée. He was reputed to be like a fairy tale prince.
If Lunaria hadn’t become the Duchess, he might have become the Duke of Solfège, but after accidentally discovering the taste of a woman’s body, he became addicted to the point of acting like a monkey.
He is no longer the fine young man who treated his fiancée with respect, and has become a patron who buys his step-sister anything she asks for.
In this country, engagements are arranged at an early age, and nobles are sternly taught to remain chaste until marriage. This rule is even more stringent for high-ranking nobles, and even more so for royalty.
Even if it’s just a political arrangement, they meet when they’re young and gradually deepen their bond. Some cultivate genuine love over time, while others accept it as a family duty, marry, have children, and then discreetly keep ‘official’ lovers, while ostensibly maintaining an impeccable public facade.
The kind of relationship they build after marriage is entirely up to them. Among nobles, having lovers is something of an unspoken understanding.
Of course, there are those who break the rules that are taught at the beginning, but most are love-struck couples who accidentally cross the line just before the wedding. In such cases, families just rush the ceremony to save face.
On the other hand, for those who stray with someone other than their betrothed, they would be branded as “too base to even await marital bliss“, and become the laughingstock of high society. Yet somehow, the older brother had forgotten even that.
Such individuals are deemed unfit to be nobles, and if they were engaged and yet harbor feelings for another, even their character as a human being would be questioned. Such whispers circulate, and it is clear that a tragic future awaits them.
Shortly before Lunaria chose to take her own life, her brother’s fiancée came to her in tears to seek advice.
“Why?”
“Why?”
“It’s not your fault, Lunaria, but why did you welcome such people into the venerable Duke of Solfege House?”
Those painful words flashed through my memory.
Lunaria tried to stop it, too.
However, their belongings were brought in with such ferocity that it was as if they had fled in the middle of the night, and before she knew it, her home had become theirs.
While attending the academy, acting as the Crown Prince’s fiancée, handling the Duke’s duties that her father had abandoned, and managing the stewardship of the household, she was unable to stop her brother or admonish her father. She had no choice but to give up on something, somewhere.
By maintaining indifference, the other party would also become indifferent.
However, with the entry of “me” into Lunaria, the meaning of Lunaria’s existence as the villainess in a traditional Otome Game must have changed significantly.
First of all, the fact that Lunaria chooses to commit suicide is a major departure from the storyline.
And even now, in this moment.
Within the game, this step-sister actually appears as a part of the protagonist’s entourage.
In addition, there’s the timeline.
The game begins before Lunaria stands as the Duchess, and the Crown Prince, who is engaged to Lunaria, falls in love with a transfer student, the daughter of a Baron.
The Baron’s daughter just happens to be a reincarnated Saintess from another world. What a densely packed setting.
In the end, the Crown Prince dismisses Lunaria’s warnings as annoying, and alongside the Baron’s daughter, the Saintess, defeats the villainess, and the Baron’s daughter, like Cinderella, becomes the Crown Princess, leading to a happy ending.
When I played the game myself and reached the ending, I pumped my fist in excitement, saying “I did it as the Saintess!”, but upon reflection, I couldn’t help but wonder if this so-called Saintess had actually done something terrible.
The Crown Prince had completely neglected Lunaria, his actual fiancée, and arbitrarily labeled her as the villainess, which made her furious, and she declared, “If His Royal Highness insists, then I’ll become the villainess as you wish!”, and with her immense mana, summoned the Demon King at the trial!
As the step-sister’s shrill sobbing echoed like background music, I stared blankly into the distance, realizing that the prince in that game, and the whole game plot, was downright trash.
With each playthrough, my unease grew more and more, but as I played the game with a slightly different perspective, the “me” who had completely fallen for Lunaria began to emerge.
“Ugh, ugh, sniff, elder brother…. elder brother!!!! Waaaaaah!!!”
The sudden loud, high-pitched cry snapped me back to reality.
“Your Grace… how shall we proceed?”
The butler, Kyle, asked Lunaria, looking genuinely annoyed.
“… Honestly, that astonishingly brainless wailing doesn’t move me in the slightest…it just noise to me… but he’ll be arriving soon, won’t he? My former brother, now thoroughly bewitched by this harlot?”
“Well, um, yes…”
“I’ll have to deal with him too. Drive out the fake servants and these whores. Only you all are necessary in my household. The rest are unnecessary.”
“LUNARIA!!!!!!!”
Bang! The door was smashed open without so much as a knock.
Panting heavily, the brother, Randolph, had a demonic expression on his face.
“ELDER BROTHEEEEEEER!!!!!!”
“Ah… you poor thing, crying so much… what happened? Did Lunaria bully you…?”
Me and the others stared in disbelief as Randolph smothered her with sloppy kisses—going mwah! mwah!—on her cheeks and forehead.
The two were oblivious, lost in their own little world.
“This person… is unnecessary after all. And I see no reason to hold back.”
The two of them, unaware of the cold gazes being directed at them, embraced each other tightly, seeking comfort in each other’s warmth.
“First, let’s drag them back to reality… then escort them out.”
Lunaria’s voice slithered across the floor, low and menacing. As the room’s temperature steadily dropped, finally snapping Randolph and his stepsister out of their delusion.
They tried to muster a defiant glare, but Lunaria’s intimidating aura overwhelmed them, so they quickly lost their resolve, and collapsed to the ground.
“Greetings, dear brother. And farewell.”
Without realizing the meaning of that coldly spoken “farewell”, Randolph finally noticed the Scarlet Rose on the back of Lunaria’s hand.
Too late to do anything about it.
Too late to regret his actions.
Next time, revenge on the brother begins.
By the way, the crying step-mother and step-sister are completely ignored by their own servants.
Those servants, despite being on the stepmother’s side, are desperately thinking of ways to curry favor with Lunaria—but honestly, there’s just no chance.
Sads Translates 