Reincarnated in an Otome game as the ugly character in the background

Prologue (Volume 1)

"Reality is a garbage game." And, "Good and evil are so-so."

These are things that I have heard throughout my life, although, well, 15 years is a short time to live.

But it's something that I agree with, not because reality shows me that. But because of what I'm seeing right now.

"Elize, at this moment I will break my engagement to you!"

An attractive young man was yelling at a school event.

That was his role in that world. A dating simulator game world.

"Your Highness, understand, that woman is not worthy for you!"

And not just any game world, but an otome-themed one.

Normally, an average Japanese guy like me shouldn't be playing something as absurd as a game for girls, the premise of which is to conquer unrealistically attractive guys.

"As usual, you're a woman feigning ignorance, I'll tell you more plainly than this - I won't marry you, a vile woman who thinks only of herself and is willing to trample on others to accomplish her goals!"

What the hell is that guy talking about?

I mean, is it wrong to be selfish? Many scientific, literary, economic and other advances were achieved through selfishness and fulfilling their goals.

In schools they teach you that the world is black and white and that you have to obey the law. That is correct, but the world is gray. Not black and white.

My divorced parents are proof of that.

My mother cheated on my father with my aunt because she thought he was cheating on her too. But my father was really just looking to fix an impotence problem by going to a specialist doctor who only sees late at night.

In the end, my parents separated and never spoke to each other again, from time to time I move to the house of one of them to spend time together.

Since summer vacation ends today, I came to Tokyo to stay with my dad for the duration of the season. My mother and aunt who are now a couple went to Hawaii for vacation while my dad works hard to pay for my college.

Anyway, my parents' situation is not important at all. I was raised more by video games and forums than my own family.

"You're wrong Your Highness, I'm only doing what's best for you, but that woman next to you is manipulating you!"

Strong statements towards the girl who was being criticized not only by her fianc. There were 5 other people next to her, four of them were other guys and a girl of medium height next to the prince.

"You're lying! What she and I have is true love, you just want to take advantage of my position so you and your horrid mother can benefit! Your heart like your face is horrible, hahaha."

Why the hell are you laughing you fucker?

This guy, the shining prince, is an idiot who loves justice and kindness.

That's why I'm repulsed by otome games, they're so unrealistic in personality that they seem to be made with some program that throws random personalities.

The reason I play it is because the developer that created it, is a small game company that has been becoming very famous.

Part of that fame is due to a strange game they put out.

I heard rumors on forums that the developers of the otome game went to work with another team, which was making an RPG game about a fantasy world where there are flying ships and they use strange, almost giant robots as combat armor.

I want to buy it, but it seems to be so popular that it sells out fast.

The cashier at the store I went to recommended I buy this game, it was that same person who told me about this rumor.

Maybe it's true, since I've been getting into trouble fighting monsters so far in the story.

I really like the combat and magic system. There's plenty of diversity so I don't get bored, but I hate having to choose glowing guys as my team members.

After several hours of playing it, I finally completed it.

"Damn. I must admit that despite having grotesque romance elements and shirtless men, it really was an entertaining game."

I saved game, turned off the console and stood up to stretch my body.

A sound of a beast crunching I heard. It was my stomach asking for something to eat.

"It's almost 10 pm, some family restaurant must still be open."

I grabbed my purse, keys and Smartphone to go out to get something to eat.

I was coming to a two-way street.

The traffic light was red, a notification message came to me, I took out my phone to check who it was from.

Seeing the content of the message, I made a grotesque expression.

"Really, again?"

The message was one of those annoying spams that are sent by people who want to screw with your life, the message this time was weirder than usual, it said.

"Have you ever wondered that, if you were to die, you'd have a chance to start over? Whether it's somewhere in your hometown, a foreign country, or maybe.... another world?"

No doubt this message makes no sense, I'm going to delete it.

Oh, looks like the light is green, I'll erase it as I walk.

"Let's see... delete and lock, with that.... huh?"

I didn't realize it in time, but a light was coming towards me at high speed and then, everything went dark.

I had just woken up after a very strange dream.

I was staring at the concrete ceiling of the apartment in my house.

I turned my head to look at the other things in my room, everything the same, nothing weird.

"Razel, wake up and come to breakfast."

A woman's voice called out to me, it was my mom.

I stretched a little and then placed my feet on the floor to put on my slippers.

I walked to the door to open it and on my way out, I walked a few steps and came to the kitchen which was also the living room of our house.

I, Razel Bartlet, am the first born of a family of gentlemen.

At a small square table my family was gathered.

A big muscular man with a very serious face, his arms are as hairy as his chest, you could easily mistake him for a mountain bear.

He is the head of our small house of semi-nobles. Roland Bartlet, my father.

At the other end of the table were two women, the small one was a girl who smeared strawberry jam on her face, she was my younger sister, Gina Bartlet.

Next to her was a woman who looked young but clearly wasn't, my mother, Miranda Bartlet.

All of us in this family have black hair and black eyes. Unfortunately, I am not the most favored since unlike my parents who are attractive in some ways, I am something of the ugly duck in the family.

I have small eyes that give the impression of being a badly drawn picture, unruly hair. My face is round like everyone else's, but somehow I don't look like part of the family when they see me.

Strange shadows are under my eyes and my parents thought it was leukemia or some disease I had, but it was just something similar to a strange mole.

How unfortunate for me.

After sitting down, we thanked each other for the food.

"Oh great goddess Alexia, bless this food that we will eat to have energy throughout the day. Blessings to the goddess and to us."

I proceeded to eat my toast with blueberry jam, accompanied with fried egg, bacon and fresh goat milk from the supermarket.

It was certainly a delicious and energetic meal.

"Razel."

My father called out to me while I still had toast in my mouth.

I turned to see him and before I told him what I wanted, he said.

"You will also accompany me to work today."

In response to that, I choked on the bread.

I was beating my chest due to the surprise of what I heard.

I drank my glass of milk to down my food and then replied to my father.

"Do I really have to go, I don't want to meet her again!"

My father had a very serious look on his face, I didn't even know if he was upset or not.

But with a calm tone he was telling me.

"The duke told me to take you. So you have to abide by the order, we are his vassals, so we can't do anything."

It's just as he said. The duke is the man we serve as his vassals.

In this society, there are two types of people; those who are nobles and those who are commoners.

The nobles are the ones who have privileges while the commoners do not. Fortunately for them, the country does not treat them badly as they want to show that they are superior even in dealing with the riff-raff.

As a house of knights, it is normal to be nobles, but not receiving the ante-name [von] means that we are neither official nobles to others nor commoners to the riff-raff.

We are a gray and ugly dot, as well as me.

"I-I understand. I'll go get ready then..."

"Thank you for understanding quickly. For a 7-year-old, you're pretty smart."

I don't think that's a worthwhile compliment considering I'll be meeting that little demon.

"Fare you well~"

My mother was waving goodbye to us from the balcony of the condo.

We waved to her as well before getting into a carriage.

We were both in different places, the reason being that my father takes up a lot of space because of his burly body.

Will I be like that someday?

I hope not. I wouldn't want my arms to look like trunks and be almost six feet tall.

Through the window I could see the city and the people.

It was an ordinary sight for me.

Men and women wearing expensive and elegant clothes, on one side; while on the other side young girls wearing fashionable clothes and short skirts listening to music on their magic devices.

Oh, that girl has the new Youfone magic player. Because of the magic element it can store more memory, so it is good for places where the magic element is not very stable.

"Today's traffic is horrible no doubt."

My father said that since despite being in a carriage, other people were using state-of-the-art automobiles.

Automobile transportation is very advanced, but that means its value goes above 1 million crystalia.

Crystalia is the name of the official currency of the Arklight Empire. As the name suggests, it is a precious crystal made of light blue paper.

We also use coins, their system is outdated so I think it should be updated.

Coins of bronze, silver, gold and the most expensive of all, white gold.

One silver coin is not enough for a plate of food.

But 10 silver coins are enough to buy bread and milk.

One gold coin is enough for one lunch; while one white gold coin is enough to eat for three days.

We are poor, so I have never seen more than silver coins.

I would like to have money and buy things for me and my family.

"Razel, we are here."

I was having many diverse thoughts as we inadvertently arrived at the gate of the duke's mansion.

The guard saw my dad and then let us through.

The carriage is rented, it's like a cab. Since no one would send one to come and pick us up.

... Huh? What's a cab?

As we entered the grounds of the mansion, I looked at a huge garden that looked like a miniature forest.

There were beautiful bushes cut in the shapes of animals and fish.

Exotic flowers the likes of which you would see only in dreams.

Miniature trees of different colors. I don't quite understand why they are small and the colors, but everything was beautiful.

After reaching the center of the grounds, lay the duke's mansion.

It was so big, no, huge is a more appropriate word.

Its length is over 200 meters and a height of 50 meters.

At least, if I am not mistaken... it is equivalent to eight large neighborhoods in size.

No doubt being rich is a wonderful thing.

When we got off the carriage, my father said.

"Wait here. I'll go tell the duke we've arrived."

The stairs up to the front door of the house were automatic. It is because they are quite a few steps. So automating them by magic element is the normal thing to do.

I watched my father being carried up those strange steps that made a zuu sound as they took him all the way up.

Once he was out of sight, I stood waiting with my head down watching my feet. I played with my feet as the reflection of the tile showed my face.

At that, I heard a terrifying sound.

"Cooommoneeeer~!"

I panicked and started to look to the sides, that voice, that horrible little voice of a spoiled little girl was the sound that terrified me.

"Catch meeeeeeeeeee~!"

"Huh?"

The sound was high pitched and seemed to be getting closer, as I lifted my head I saw it.

A beautiful girl was falling from the sky towards me.

"Ehhh!!!"

It would be bad if something happened to her, so I stretched out my arms to catch her and then used a simple spell.

Body magic reinforcement.

A glow of a light blue color covered my body. This allows me to receive nullify a small amount of physical damage.

It was in less than a blink of an eye when she landed on my face and my head embedded against the asphalt.

"Hahahaha that was amazing! I was waiting all morning up there until you showed up. hey, commoner, what's wrong with you, you didn't die or did you?"

My head hurts, but not from her.

It hurts.

What's this?

Images?

No. They're real images, but these images are strange.

It's strange.

What's Japan?

Summer vacation before entering high school?

I've never known anything called a game console in my entire life!

No.

A light, there's a strange light approaching.

That light is...

"Commoner, what's wrong with you?"

... It can't be, I... I...

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!"

Due to the images coming into my head, I let out a scream after getting up and ran out of there.

"Don't joke about it!"

I entered the small forest called the garden of the duke's house.

"I refuse to believe it! This must be a lie! I'm still dreaming, hahaha!"

That's right, it's impossible for something like this to be possible.

I must be in my bed, playing with my phone and watching funny videos on Newtube.

"I'm going to wake up from this dream right now!"

A tree was in front of me, I ran towards it to hit it and manage to wake up.

Okay. Wake up me!

"Puah!"

That's the sound I made after hitting my head really hard.

I could feel liquid running down my forehead and then down my nose.

I looked up at the sky, it was covered by tree branches.

Just as I looked like I was about to cry, she arrived.

"Hey commoner, what's wrong with you? You ran off like a madman, do you have some contagious disease and have to be put down?"

Those horrible words came from this little girl.

This girl who I hope is not who she thinks she is.

I stood up and asked her to get out of doubt.

"S-Sorry, can you tell me your name?"

Moments later, she slapped my face.

"How dare a commoner like you by asking that to your employer's daughter, know your manners first!"

My cheek hurt.

It was the second real feeling I felt, but those words from this very proud girl, made me feel real what I fear, but as long as I don't hear her name, it will be just a dream.

"I-I am very sorry for my behavior. But the blow on my head made me forget some things."

"Hmph, is that so?"

Because of the way my father raised me, I was talking to her like this to make it look like I really have a slight amnesia.

She looked at me with a face that said she didn't understand what I was saying, but she didn't care and stood up.

The sunlight falling through some branches bathed her in its warm light.

With an elegant and refined touch, she took the edges of her red dress and bowed to curtsy.

"I am the daughter of Duke Rosenberg. Rejoice in my beautiful appearance. I, Elize von Rosenberg, am the little princess of this house and you, the son of a vassal of my papa. Which makes you my servant too, ufufu."

Hearing how proud of herself as she said his name, I asked her one last thing.

"M-M-Miss... just in case, are you already engaged?"

Hearing my question, she boasted.

"Indeed. Two years ago, on my fifth birthday my father officially engaged me to the third imperial prince, His Highness Regulux. Astonished isn't it, are you amazed how a girl as young and beautiful as me has been chosen as the mate of our nation's prince?"

"Uwahh! What's wrong with you now?"

I was screaming because of what I heard.

This is the worst, there is no way something like this could be possible.

But there is no doubt.

Seeing her, hearing the name of the third prince and even more so... the name of this country.

Arklight Empire.

Third prince Regulux.

I grabbed my head and looked up at the sky in panic.

No doubt about it, this girl, Elize. she's the villain of that game!

"I... I reincarnated in an otome game!"

And what's worse.

"This game with powerful enemies capable of destroying the world!"

Without a doubt, this outcome is the worst unimaginably speaking!