Prologue: The Corporate Drone and the Villainess
Who am I? Where am I?
You might think I asked those questions as part of an elaborate joke, but I was deadly serious. As serious as anyone could be, in fact.
Who in the world am I, for real?!
I can’t tell anymore. There are...twoof me.
My name was Yukimura Rina, embattled systems engineer, just a working woman circling the drain toward thirty. The company I worked for had apparently never heard of labor laws, so I spent most of my time up against the twin foes of unreasonable expectations and sudden specification changes. Every day, I was at it from dawn to dusk, getting three hours of sleep a night at best. In fact, I pulled all-nighters at the company so often that getting to rest my head on my own pillow was a luxury.
For better or worse, I found my job very rewarding. I loved to jump in and save the day, putting runaway projects back on track. No one ever celebrated me, but I knew my work was appreciated.
Or, rather, I convinced myself that was the case to avoid looking the truth in the eye: to my company, I was nothing more than a well-worn tool, easily replaced if I broke.
Yippee! Here’s to another day of corporate servitude.
I should have changed jobs, but I was so accustomed to working myself to the bone that all I did when I was close to the edge was download a game to soothe my weary heart.
In hindsight, why didn’t I take advantage of the few hours of rest I could get? My decision-making process was so altered by overwork that I turned to a random otome game instead. I started it during my commute and got hooked right away.
To be honest, I thought that both the setting, a fantastic magic academy, and the main love interest, a dashing prince, were incredibly embarrassing. Hearing him propose to me with the cheesiest lines in existence when I reached the happy ending was downright torture.
I was always an action manga kind of gal, so why in the world did I download such a girlie game?
Somehow, I found myself a fave anyway.
Villainesses were otome game staples, and the one I picked was no exception. Really, it ti
