Chapter 1: The School Festival at the Academy of Magic
I, Katarina Claes, was living the good life. My days were pleasant and cozy, and I was usually in a great mood. The reason for this was, of course, because I was now free from the fear of Catastrophic Bad Ends.
On a certain day back when I was eight years old, I accidentally hit my head on a rock, and somehow all the memories of my previous life flooded back into my mind — and it was then that I realized something terrible. Namely, the fact that I was now living in the world of an otome game, and had been reincarnated as the villainess character, Katarina Claes.
To make things worse, Katarina was also the protagonist’s rival in four of the game’s potential routes, and she had no happy ends of any kind. If the protagonist got a good ending, Katarina would be exiled from the kingdom. If she got a bad ending, Katarina would end up getting killed by the protagonist’s love interest. The future that awaited me in this new life as this unfortunate character was nothing but a sea of Catastrophic Bad Ends.
When I realized what was coming, I was thrown into despair. But on the bright side, the plot of the otome game didn’t begin until eight years later, when I’d go to the Academy of Magic! I realized that if I worked hard, I might be able to do something about those Bad Ends.
So, ever since that fateful day eight years ago, I worked as hard as I could. I trained fervently in the way of the sword so that I would stand a fighting chance if any of the protagonist’s love interests came after me with a weapon. I also practiced my magic as much as possible so that I could use it to survive if I were exiled. To that same end, I prepared to make my living as a humble farmer by eagerly reading up on agriculture.
Eight years passed as I was occupied with all these countermeasures, and before I knew it, I had become fast friends with both the game’s four potential love interests and the other rival characters from the game. Although I wasn’t sure why we all got along, the other characters and I finally began attending the Academy of Magic last year, entering the main stage of the game.
It was at this academy that we met the game’s original protagonist, Maria Campbell. In only a few days, the enchanting Maria was able to capture th