The Summer Ball.
It was originally a royal and noble exclusive event held only in the palace. In recent years, with the nobles placing greater importance on the art of dance, it developed further, emphasizing social networking even in court balls. Eventually, this tradition was adopted by the students of the Royal Grammar Academy as well.
And wouldn't you know it—the upcoming Summer Ball, just a month or so away, was exactly of this nature.
The boys would be dressed to the nines in their suits at the banquet, while the young ladies would be elegant and noble in their gowns. Undoubtedly, such an occasion was also highly conducive to plots of love at first sight.
“Is it coming again...”
I fretted in my room, holding my head in my hands.
Sigh! The plot point of Chapter Two: the gentle, green-haired Secretary and Liliana's Summer Ball.
Ever since my duel with Waldenburg, my school life in the royal capital had welcomed a long-awaited month of peace, so to speak.
During this period, there was no Providence and no Human God. During the day, I attended classes to study magic theory and practical combat, and at night, I reviewed in my dorm and dealt with Misha, making for a peaceful... well, perhaps not entirely peaceful, school life that I hadn't experienced in a very long time.
In short, I knew I had to make my move again.
Otherwise, I would see my own CG—something like “The Villainess's End”: Loris sitting on the cold floor, her blonde hair disheveled, tears silently falling, surrounded by the disdain of all the male protagonists and Liliana, light flooding in from the door behind her, while she was left alone in the shadows...
Something like that.
Ultimately, what exactly have I done over the past month...
Picking a fight with Liliana, and then... it's hard to explain in a few words.
Dueling with Waldenburg, and then... it's hard to explain in a few words.
Despair.
“Dammit...”
I clearly agreed to help her and the other male protagonists lead a happy life to pull out my villainess flags, so why does it seem like the male protagonists are all being driven away at this rate?
...Although, unexpectedly, my relationship with Liliana is still very murky.
No, I absolutely must cook up another solid plan.
For this Summer Ball, there are two choices in the original otome game plotline.
For example, you could choose to dance with Crown Prince Leonhart. From the player's perspective, that would only increase affection points without any other special consequences.
Or you could choose to dance with the Secretary.
That is, the green-haired guy with glasses, Meretskov. Dancing with him would trigger his route, which is also the only route entry point in the entire game.
Anyone who plays romance games often shares a consensus: if you don't trigger the route entry point, it's impossible to have a good ending with that character during the rest of the playthrough, and you might not even have any interactions with them at all.
But this is the real world...
From my personal, subjective perspective, maybe I should help pair her up with Crown Prince Leonhart. After all, that's the best way for me to survive.
Alright, it's decided. Let's make preparations for both paths.
That is the foolproof way.
Thinking of this, I pulled out a notebook from my desk. I named it my Survival Guide, using it to constantly reflect on my current situation.
Then, I flipped to the first page.
“Sigh, so tired. Although I successfully made an enemy of Liliana on the first day of school, when will this life ever end? I really want to take a bubble bath.” — Day 1 after enrollment.
“Bubble bath.” — Day 7 after enrollment.
(An entry expressing thoughts about the anime Amagami, musing on how wonderful girls are.)
“Loris, oh Loris, how have you fallen so low? Indulging yourself in pink soapy bubbles?” — Day 17 after enrollment.
“Bubble bath.” — Day 30 after enrollment.
Me: “...”
Although it was a bit of a tribute to a certain infamous writer, as far as I was concerned, I actually worked very hard.
Time flies, doesn't it?
When I think about it, a month has already passed in the blink of an eye since I joined the student council.
Looking back now, besides the matters with Liliana and Waldenburg, a bunch of other headache-inducing and rather comical things have also happened during this period...
In that case, I might as well sort them out properly—
...
I still remember the first day the student council officially met, right around the time I finished my duel with Waldenburg. I was faced with a social scenario of hellish difficulty.
Sitting around the long table of the conference room were Liliana, Waldenburg, and Isabel.
The three of them were respectively: the vital heroine; the male protagonist who challenged me to a duel only to have his sword broken by me; and the sickly, gentle beautiful girl.
The four of us sat at the same table.
The air was so quiet that one could hear the ticking of the wall clock.
At that moment, I had only one thought in my mind: I must keep my face straight.
(A paragraph describing the complex emotions and push-and-pull among the first-year members.)
If I had opened my mouth to say anything in such an awkward atmosphere, it would have surely added fuel to the fire—thus, the tension was only broken by the timely arrival of the President, Leonhart.
He was there to guide the first-year student council members. That afternoon, he patiently explained the student council's rules, regulations, and work assignments.
Naturally, I listened with an expressionless face the entire time, pretending to be an emotionless villainous daughter machine.
Thanks to the first correct feedback from the World's Will, I was granted a Heartbeat Exemption against Leonhart. I must say, this reward mechanism should have existed from the very beginning... but it didn't. It only appeared as a reward issued after I interfered with the plot and was forced to make modifications under the demands of Providence.
I naturally had some inkling of what was going on, but for now, I didn't plan to dive deeper and court death.
And besides, these are memoirs.
First of all, speaking of Waldenburg over this past month, his performance in the student council has been... how should I put it?
...Very Waldenburg.
At every meeting, he would sit in the furthest corner, arms crossed, eyes closed, looking as if he were playing chess with Zhou Gong.
When I first noticed it, I couldn't help but wonder if this guy had come to the student council just to catch up on his sleep.
As it turned out, during one meeting, Secretary Meretskov suddenly called on him: “Waldenburg, do you have any input regarding the adjustment to the disciplinary patrol roster?”
He opened his eyes and said blankly, “The night shifts on Wednesday and Friday should be adjusted. There is some overlap in personnel.”
I couldn't help but flip through the roster in my hands—indeed, he was right. The Secretary nodded, made a note on the document, and continued.
And Waldenburg... closed his eyes once more.
Seeing this, Liliana couldn't help but whisper to him, “How do you know what's going on in the meeting when your eyes are closed? Is that some kind of special skill?”
He glanced at Liliana. “Even while resting, a swordsman must remain alert to his surroundings.”
Me: “...”
Translated: he wasn't sleeping; he was just resting his eyes.
But honestly, closing one's eyes during a meeting is just plain disrespectful.
Another time, he helped resolve a student dispute—two first-years in the cafeteria were about to come to blows over the last pork cutlet.
After Waldenburg arrived, he didn't say a single word. He simply stood before the two of them with his hand resting on his hilt, staring at them expressionlessly for ten seconds.
Then, the two of them shook hands and made up.
Afterward, I asked him how he did it.
He said, “I was preparing to take action.”
Translated: if the two of them didn't stop, Waldenburg was going to join the fray himself.
In short, I have completely given up on trying to understand his concise, lightning-fast way of speaking.
Now, let's talk about Liliana.
For the past month, her performance in the student council can be described in one word: chaotic.
It wasn't because she lacked ability, but simply because she got nervous too easily.
For example, there was one time when she was asked to help organize a roster, sorting all first-year students' names and classes in alphabetical order.
She had her head lowered, her quill lightly tapping on the paper as she worked, murmuring under her breath, “A... Aldheim... B... Bell... No, wait, should Bell be before Aldheim? But Ald starts with an A...”
I watched from the side for a while and, forgive me, but I couldn't help but say, “It's sorted by the first letter of the family name, not the first name.”
Because commoners don't have family names, only given names, this was likely the reason for Liliana's confusion.
Liliana looked up, her face instantly flushing red. “Ah... I-I'm sorry...”
“Why are you apologizing?”
“Because... because I wasted your time?”
I took a deep breath, resisting the heroine's charm and suppressing the urge to pat her head. In an impatient tone, I said, “Give me the roster.”
Liliana obediently slid the paper over.
I picked up the quill and wrote rapidly—A, B, C, D... It was sorted in less than five minutes.
When I pushed the roster back to her, Liliana couldn't help but turn red-faced, whispering a soft “thank you.”
Wait... I seemed to have accidentally helped her again.
Dammit, please stop increasing my affection points.
Expressionless, I said, “Do it yourself next time.”
“Okay!” she answered quite cheerfully.
Later, I also noticed that she learned very quickly. She was smart, considerate, empathetic, and an incredibly beautiful and kind heroine... I could only say she truly lived up to the title of a protagonist.
She never made the same mistake twice. By the third week, she was already able to handle most of the clerical work independently.
Even Crown Prince Leonhart, upon seeing the documents she organized, gently praised her once, “Well done.”
This is how it should be. I hope you'll be happy.
Liliana naturally became shy in the face of praise. Besides, if fate exists, the two of them are the destined match. I am merely a piece of tumbleweed.
But as I sat nearby watching this scene play out, I couldn't help but have two thoughts pop into my mind.
(A paragraph describing wild thoughts about how cute she is, only to snap back to reality and wonder what on earth I was thinking.)
...
Alright, then there is Miss Isabel, who didn't have much of a presence before but actually has her own route.
Speaking of Isabel, something happened with her this month that left a deep impression on me.
That day, only we first-years were in the student council office. Halfway through our self-study, Isabel suddenly turned pale, and the hand holding her quill began to tremble.
Sitting next to her, I noticed it immediately.
“Isabel?”
She shook her head and squeezed out a smile. “It's nothing, just a bit of dizziness.”
But I noticed her lips had already lost all their color, pale as a ghost.
This was perhaps the family curse passed down through generations.
Before I could move, Liliana, who was sitting opposite us, stood up anxiously. At the same time, her talent for healing was already beginning to show.
She walked over to Isabel's side and gently placed a sphere of green light over her chest. Her actions were incredibly gentle as she said with concern, “Go to the infirmary. I'll handle things here.”
Isabel wanted to decline, but without another word, Liliana gathered her documents.
Then, she gave me a somewhat troubled look. She probably felt too embarrassed to ask me directly, but since we were the only ones there, her gaze roughly translated to: “I'm so sorry to trouble you, Miss Loris, but could you please handle this?”
I nodded absentmindedly, feeling a bit melancholy. After all, to some extent, Isabel's fate was the same as mine.
Both of us knew we would die in the future.
The only difference was that I had a chance to change it, while she... No, maybe that's just wishful thinking.
In any case, Liliana supported Isabel as they walked out of the conference room.
I noticed she supported Isabel very carefully, her right hand holding her elbow and her left hand hovering behind her back as if afraid she might fall.
Isabel kept her head lowered, so I couldn't see her expression, but I noticed her ears had turned red.
Once the two of them were gone, I looked at the mess left on the table. I could only psych myself up and finish the work. If there had been outsiders around, I might have had to pretend to look a bit villainous.
I later heard that after Liliana took Isabel to the infirmary, she stayed until the school doctor said “everything is fine” before leaving.
And starting from that day, she would place a honey candy on Isabel's desk during every meeting—reportedly, it was good for sudden spells of dizziness and weakness.
It was actually just low blood sugar, right?
But this world had no such concept, and Isabel might not necessarily have had it, but this was the friendship between the two of them.
Watching from the side again, I thought to myself that the progress bar for this pairing had probably at least started.
...
There was one more thing that left me with mixed feelings.
On that day, after the regular student council meeting concluded, Leonhart, my fiancé and the President, called out to stop me privately.
“Loris.”
I stopped my steps and turned back to look at him.
He stood there, his golden hair reflecting a soft luster in the afternoon light, his ice-blue eyes looking at me.
“Recently... your relationship with Miss Liliana seems to have eased up a bit compared to before?”
I was taken aback for a moment.
I didn't expect him to ask this.
“It's just a normal relationship between classmates,” I said. “The President is overthinking.”
Leonhart looked at me in silence for two seconds, then smiled slightly. “That is good then.”
I didn't know what he was thinking, but he also seemed to sense something subtle, even if he couldn't quite put his finger on what was strange.
It was probably because I no longer felt that forced heartbeat around him, which made me look at him much more objectively. He also vaguely noticed this shift in emotion, but as His Highness, he merely offered these polite words of inquiry.
Actually, he and I were quite miserable in our own right. Ultimately, ours was just a political marriage. If it weren't for this arrangement, we might not have had any intersection at all. Now that “Loris's” heartbeat was gone, even the potential connection that should have existed had vanished.
All that remained was the heavy hand of our elders, treating us like puppets on strings.
I didn't know what his goal was, but I had only one goal—to survive.
Not to be killed by the villainous ending, and not to be killed by that eighteenth-birthday curse in the final ending.
These partial, fragmented memories were probably all that made up the insignificant, tiny portion of my wonderful academy life in the royal capital over the past month.
“Our path to dismantling these special routes is still a long one...”
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