Chapter 13 - Elena

[Antagonist? That doesn't seem right.]

"Well, let's just say I was into some weird stuff. I only read that novel because it belonged to a certain genre. So yeah, this world isn't exactly normal," I muttered, my gaze flickering to the girl who stood up right after the protagonist.

"Shelly Trinika," she announced, and I turned to a part of the class.

There he was—the bastard—staring at her with unveiled lust.

"Steve," I muttered under my breath, my eyes narrowing as I assessed him.

I considered my options.

I could alter the plot to prevent the incident that pushes her into the villainess's path. But…

…why should I?

It's not like I don't already have my hands full with my own villainous fate, which would soon begin as the canonical events unfold.

In the original storyline, at this point in time, I am supposed to be engaged to Princess Elena.

Sigh.

I shifted my attention to the far corner of the classroom, where a girl with amber eyes and white hair caught my eye. She was wearing a golden hair clip that shimmered faintly in the sunlight.

Shit.

She still has that?!

[The hair clip?]

"Yeah… I gave that to her," I muttered under my breath.

[Wait… did she also attend that nursery school—or whatever it was—that you all went to?]

What the—?! "It wasn't a nursery school. It was more of a pre-academy," I corrected. "We were barely there for a year. I think it was designed to force most of us into awakening."

[But that was ten years ago.]

"Yeah…"

[Don't you think that's strange?]

I don't just think—it is strange. How and why did the children of the empire's most prominent nobles and royalty get sent to some obscure place under the guise of a pre-academy?

The novel never explained it. It was just a convenient backdrop to establish connections among major characters. A setting where most, but not all, met for the first time.

As for the real reason for Yuphenia orchestrating such an event, I couldn't say. The story never delved into it, and frankly, I didn't care.

[But why did you give her the clip? Did you mistake her for-?]

"No. At the time, I was scared of what deviating from the storyline might lead to, so I followed the script."

I befriended a lot of people, just like in the story—well, sort of.

In the original, Lorelle met everyone by chance. He was being bullied by his stepbrother when Eloisa and Ariana stepped in, forging an unexpected friendship. Later, he encountered Elena, the loner, and became her only friend. Their meeting was purely coincidental—or so the novel claimed.

But my approach was direct. I leveraged what I knew from the game: their likes, dislikes, and habits. Since the bullying scenario wouldn't work on me, I had to improvise.

As for Elena… I might've overdone it. She got a little too attached to me. Anyway, on the day we left that awful place, I gave her the clip—just as Lorelle did in the story.

But that was the last time I saw her. It wasn't supposed to be like that. In the original story, she was engaged to Lorelle after the pre-academy arc.

[So what changed that?]

Me.

It was after the pre-academy that the incident with Eloisa occurred.

I mistook her for…

Well, whatever. I ended up engaged to Eloisa instead of Elena, so I assumed her role in the story was done.

[Huh? Does that make her a side character, then?]

"No."

She's a side heroine—or should I say hidden heroine?

[So she's not really important to the story?]

"She is… well, she should be. But now that she has nothing to do with me, there's no connection between her and the protagonist."

[Then how about the clip?]

"That's what I don't understand. All of this happened ten years ago, so why the hell does she still have it?"