Novel Bin Prologue: Erica Aurelia, the Villainous Lady
Prologue: Erica Aurelia, the Villainous Lady
“How did this happen…?”
I, Erica, the Duke of Aurelia’s daughter, couldn’t move when I saw myself in the mirror.
Dark golden hair like honey was gently rolled elegantly.
The skin was white like milk, and the cheeks were rosy.
Although it was still the young face of an 8-years-old, she had high eyebrows and emerald eyes that looked arrogant.
—Is that, me?
Wrong! That wasn’t me! That was—
I began to feel a sense of incompatibility with the hair color, skin color, and eye color.
Above all, this characteristically vertical roll……!!
This was the villainous lady of the romance-fantasy girl game『Liber Monstrum ~Phantom Beasts and the Winter Princess~』Erica Aurelia!
I was seized by a sensation that made my feet wobbly, and I leaned on the mirror to stabilize myself.
One by one, the memories of my past life was gushing forth like a spring, and I felt sick.
Does this mean that I was reincarnated and awakened the memory of my previous life?
I thought that was absurd, but just now, the recollection about my life as Erica said that this was the world of『Liber Monstrum ~Phantom Beasts and the Winter Princess~』
And that was why I had nothing but bad feelings no matter how good my face was now.
More than that, it was that villainous lady, Erica Aurelia.
I knew that Erica was bullying the heroine who entered the magic academy, and she was the first person to die as the time for the bizarre incident started.
If I grew up like this, when the drama for the heroine and her chosen capture target reached the climax and the murder case began, I would die!
I really wanted to avoid that.
Being suddenly attacked and died again, that would be too regrettable.
—Again?
And the memory that I didn’t want to remember rushed into my head.
It seemed to be the memory of my last moment in the previous life.
I was shocked because I could see shiny things.
I felt a burning heat in the side of my flank and when I stretched out my hand there, it was bright red with blood.
I escaped to ask someone for help, but I was stabbed many times as I shouted—.
I see, after that, I was dead……
He was my colleague, I thought he was a man who never talked much.
Suddenly, on my way back from work, he stabbed me many times while saying ‘You betrayed me’, but why?
The only contact with him that I could remember was lending him a retractable umbrella when it began to rain, but what was his problem?
Or was it that?
There was a similar incident during high school.
I belonged to the Geography Club, and everyone in the club (which consisted of boys except for me) said ‘I fall in love with you’ and in the end it was misunderstood that I was supposed to have a physical relationship with everyone, and that rumor was circulated around the school.
It was hell.
I was weak and poor; I couldn’t clear up the misunderstanding.
One of the member who truly believed it hit me from behind at night……
By the time I left the hospital, the Geography Club had become deserted and I had the worst nicknames, such as ‘Circle Crusher’, ‘Small Carnivorous Plant’, or just plain ‘Slut’……, hahaha…
Painful.
Even at university, or even in society, it was not as serious as that, but there were similar incidents.
I failed at trying to overcome real human relationships as safely as possible.
It was troublesome trying to be involved with other people other than for business, and so I got addicted to something.
It was game speedruns1.
Fiction wouldn’t try to go as far as trying to hit me through the display screen!
How wonderful!
The memories I had remembered were mostly my disastrous experiences and the main strategy method of the game.
I was biased in my life experiences.
The more I traced as I followed the memory threads, there was no choice but to accept because I experienced it in real life.
So, I didn’t dislike Erica.
Strong spirit.
Prideful.
Active.
She was a girl who seemed to embodied the strengths I admired in the past life.
She was close to my ideal except for the harassing people part.
If I were a girl like this, I wouldn’t be harassed or stabbed by a misunderstanding Yandere man.
Maybe an ordinary human being would also be able to overcome it, but that was a trivial thing.
That’s it!
I could change this romance-fantasy girl game into a happy-go-lucky fantasy girl game!
But, was it really possible?
At minimum, I would have to escape my mysterious deaths.
Then I felt like I could live more freely than my previous life.
Not bad.
Surely clues could be found in the memories of my previous life.
Why did Erica die?
That was because Erica trampled over the lives of other characters.
If I avoided that, I might be able to seek refuge in the middle of a fatal situation.
The dark past of each capture targets.
It was a death flag that Erica built herself.
Since that was the case, I could strike down the death flags with all my power.
However, there was something I want to check before that.
This ‘memory’ could also be my delusion.
It was possible that this wasn’t a reincarnation but a sign that I was going crazy.
The young Erica was just playing with her 12-year-old older brother.
She got sleepy when she read an easy-to-read book with a lot of pictures from her older brother’s collection.
She fell asleep on a chaise longue and she just came in front of the mirror with her messy hair again.
In order to judge whether my memory was a delusion or not, I had to make sure whether something that I knew had happened or not.
“Are you okay, Erica?”
It was my older brother that came close to me, worried about me who was leaning against the mirror.
Just in time.
“Your complexion isn’t good.”
My brother’s name was Edward Aurelia.
He was the first child of Duke of Aurelia and one of the heroine’s capture target.
He had the same blonde hue as Erica’s, but his eyes were very kind and sweet.
“Onii-sama, thank you very much. I just got a little tired for a moment.”
“I see, you just read variety of books until a while ago. You should eat sweet things.”
Edward took out a small package from a small box on the table, and unwrapped the package.
“Here, open your mouth.”
When I opened my mouth, the chocolate grain was thrown in.
Onii-sama was always sweet to me.
“Is it delicious?”
“Yes.”
“Yeah, you’re a good girl, Erica.”
He stroked my hair with a gentle hand.
If I had such an older brother, I wouldn’t blame anyone for being a brocon.
Well then, I needed to get the information I wanted from my gentle older brother.
“Um, Onii-sama.”
“Hm, what is it, Erica? Do you want more chocolate?”
“If I ate too much before supper I would get fat.”
I felt bad for making my older brother’s smile dimmed a little.
But, I had to ask him about the incident at the beginning of this game.
“May I ask you about things in the northern, the ice and snow-covered, Lucanrant territory?”
“……What are you talking about?”
“About what happened in the North last year.”
“…You mean the Dukedom of Lucanrant Tragedy, huh…”
Edward-onii-sama looked sad as he said it.
“That’s, when Erica gets a little older……I will tell you in detail at that time, now I want you to forgive me.”
“……I understand, Onii-sama. I’m sorry.”
“No, it’s okay, I’m sorry for being fussy, Erica.”
It would have been better if I could have a confirmation that there was a tragedy in the North called ‘Werewolf Massacre Incident.’
I didn’t think that the 20-years-old older brother would explain such a gruesome story to his 8-year-old sister in more details.
“Then, I will return to my room.”
With this, it was confirmed that this world is『Liber Monstrum』
The phantom beasts – numerous monsters, werewolves, vampires – were the beginning of a strange world where they were engulfed in the shadows of the night.
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1 Speedrun: a term in gaming where you tried to challenge yourself while gaming, whether it was to beat the highest score, beat it in the fastest time, or make all routes play-throughs.