A lavish banquet hall, where the chandelier's light sparkled on the gold-plated floor.
Elegant music flowed as nobles enjoyed their time with dance and conversation.
That is, until the "villainess" showed up.
Creak… Bang!
The door, which had been perfectly still just moments before, swung open with a creepy creak.
At the same time, the music abruptly stopped.
Everyone in the banquet hall stared, eyes wide like a startled rabbit, at whoever had just come in.
Long, wavy blonde hair.
Sharp, upturned eyes, and pupils as red as rubies.
Tight, red lips, pressed together stubbornly, and a body so frail it looked like it would blow away in a gentle breeze.
“Caliphe Opensa?”
Someone muttered, as if to say, 'What's she doing here?' but the villainess, Caliphe, didn't even look their way.
She just stared straight ahead and marched forward without a hint of fear.
Click, clack, click, clack.
The sound of her heels, clicking way too fast.
Finally, she stopped in front of a middle-aged man: Baron Abnormarl, the guy who donated to poor kids every year.
“Oh, hello, Miss Opensa. We met a few days ago. Do you remember me?”
“Of course.”
“Wow, I'm honored. So, what brings you here today?”
“I have a gift for the Baron.”
“Oh, a gift?”
Just as the Baron was getting a pleased look on his face...
Splash!
Caliphe splashed the wine right in Baron Abnormarl's face!
“Gasp!”
“Oh my god!”
Gasps came from all around.
The Baron, snapping out of it, raised his voice.
“Miss Opensa, what the heck is this all about?!”
“Go easy on the 'value for money' thing, Baron.”
“'Value for money'? What are you even talking about?”
“Children.”
The Baron flinched. Caliphe's eyes went cold.
He's feeling guilty, isn't he?
“When you came to the Marquis's estate, you were checking out the young servants very carefully.”
“I-I was just... they were cute...!”
“Oh, so cute you send them to work in the mines?”
They needed kids, small kids, to get the ore out of the narrow cracks in the mines.
And this bastard, Baron Abnormarl, only sent orphans – kids with no one to complain if they got hurt – into the mines.
So basically, this jerk could've gotten his hands on my little protagonist.
Trickle, trickle.
She dumped the last of the wine over the Baron's head, and her red lips whispered,
"Don't you dare touch those kids again, you piece of shit."
“Wh-what…!”
“I clearly warned you.”
Caliphe tossed her handkerchief at the Baron's face and turned on her heel.
That's when the Baron finally lost it.
"Who does this little brat think she is?!"
He totally lost it and charged at Caliphe's back.
Compared to the stout Baron, Caliphe was a stick figure. One good shove and she'd go down, easy.
Some people were already getting ready to laugh.
But, just as the Baron's hand was about to grab Caliphe's shoulder...
[Synchronizing with ‘Caliphe’.]
[Performing the role of ‘Caliphe’.]
A system window appeared in front of Caliphe’s eyes.
At the same time, Caliphe, pushed by an intangible force, stumbled on her own foot, and her upper body tilted sharply to the side as a result.
The Baron’s grasp belatedly passed through the space where Caliphe’s shoulder had been.
“Huh…?!”
“……!”
Everyone's eyes bugged out.
But it didn’t end there.
There was no more forced power, but Caliphe’s movements flowed smoothly. Her defensive instinct, which had sprung up at the opponent’s threat, launched a counterattack.
Caliphe, who supported herself with one foot back to regain balance, turned her body sharply.
She spun around fast, her arm whipping out.
At the end of that path was the Baron’s cheek.
Slap!
A satisfying smack.
Fat Baron Abnormarl stumbled back, his head twisted to the side. Caliphe, skinny as she was, didn't even budge, her hand still raised.
It was almost... graceful, in a weird way. People couldn't help but stare.
“……!”
“……!”
A breathless silence descended.
The Baron and everyone else just stood there, jaws on the floor.
So they didn’t notice.
The fact that Caliphe, cool as a cucumber on the outside, was secretly freaking out inside.
Damn, they weren't kidding when they said Caliphe's specialty was beating people up.
She's good at it.
It wasn’t just that. The long-accumulated experience in her body was telling Caliphe about the Baron’s weaknesses. It was like the senses of a veteran who had been in the field for a long time.
In this case, it was a veteran villainess.
On pure instinct, Caliphe jabbed the Baron's knee with her pointy heel.
“What are you looking at? Kneel.”
“Hngh.”
The Baron crumpled to his knees with a whimper.
“Get this: this is how we see eye-to-eye.”
"Hmph," Caliphe sniffed, chin in the air, and stalked out of the banquet hall.
Right then, a new system window popped up.
[Number 15. ‘Illegal Mine Laborer’ route has been blocked.]
Sweet. One of Noah's bad endings, gone.
I did a good thing, so maybe...!
“Check the routes I can proceed with.”
[Routes available for ‘Caliphe’:
―Villainess’s demise (Death)
―Price of neglect (Death)
―Shame of the family (Death)]
Nothing has changed?
“I did a good thing! Come on, just give me one survival route!”
Caliphe grabbed her perfect blonde hair, totally frustrated.
Caliphe Opensa.
The only direct descendant of the prestigious magic family, the Opensa Marquisate.
The golden rose of high society, famous for her flashy looks and for being a total bitch.
But here's the kicker: she was just a two-bit villain in the raising simulation game <The Faker's Love for the Protagonist>.
<The Faker's Love for the Protagonist>, or <Fake Love>, for short, is a game where the goal is for the player to become a guardian and raise an orphaned boy named Noah to see various endings.
Before meeting his guardian, Noah has a rough time at the Opensa Marquis's place.
And it's all thanks to that villainess, Caliphe.
Caliphe was the only direct descendant of the Opensa family, but she got screwed out of being the heir.
Totally hung up on this, Caliphe brought in an orphan boy, claiming she'd sponsor him, all to suck up to the head of the family.
That was Noah.
But you can't score points with a move that transparent.
So, Caliphe, who ended up being a total laughingstock, blamed Noah and basically abandoned him.
They don't go into detail about how bad Noah had it at the Marquis's place.
It's all backstory, before the game even starts.
But hey, villains gotta get what's coming to them.
Caliphe dies in every ending.
Sometimes by accident, sometimes by Noah’s hand, and sometimes by the hand of Noah’s beloved teacher…
So yeah, 'Caliphe' is just a character who's doomed to die.
And guess what? That's me.
To be stuck in this gilded cage!
And get this, when I first got possessed, I wasn't even in control of my own body.
It was like I was forced to be some kind of puppet, my mouth and body just doing 'Caliphe's' thing.
So, I ended up kicking Noah out, even though I didn't want to.
“You filthy little sewer rat! I took you in from that orphanage, and you steal my earrings? How long are you gonna lie about it?”
“N-no, it’s not. Hicc. Please, just listen to me once, please…”
“Shut up!”
Splash!
“Useless thing. Guards! Get this little rat out of my sight, now!”
“N-no, I’m sorry! I was wrong, Lady Caliphe!”
…So yeah, Noah got kicked out, soaked with cold tea.
Watching that, I was losing my mind.
Good thing Noah didn't actually leave the Marquis's estate. He just got moved from the main house to the servants' quarters.
Anyway, from that day on, I fought like hell every time my body tried to do its own thing.
And finally, a few days ago, I started to get control back. Mostly.
“Young lady. Oh, are you sending gifts again today?”
“Yes.”
Which meant I could secretly send Noah gifts, like some kind of sugar mama, not a sugar daddy.
I mean, Caliphe's 24, but to a kid, she's probably ancient.
I rattled off Noah's favorite stuff, stuff I'd learned from the game.
“Six strawberry croissants with plenty of whipped cream, four cinnamon scones with strawberry jam on top. And eight crème brûlées with strawberries.”
“Should we send these anonymously again?”
“……”
I pondered for a moment.
Sending them with my name on them would just freak Noah out.
I already framed Noah for stealing and dumped tea on him. That must've been a death flag, because from then on, I could see all of Caliphe's death endings.
Running away was pointless. One of Caliphe's endings was literally dying while trying to escape.
If this were just a game, that'd be it. Game over.
But... this is real life, right?
Maybe I can change things. I mean, after two weeks of fighting like hell, I got my body back, didn't I?
So, first, I had to make amends for what I did to Noah.
"Yes, anonymously."
"...Are we really going with 'SupremeBeingBlondeFairy' again?"
"Yeah."
“...Understood. So, same as before...”
"Wait. Put a card in this time too.”
I wrote a short message on a small card and handed it to the maid.
"I'm always watching you. Good luck!"
The maid’s face turned pale when she saw the card.
"Does she mean... she's always watching, so there's no point in even trying...?"
What? I was speechless, but instead of arguing, I just cut her off.
"Just get out of here.”
“Y-yes, ma'am!”
The maid took off.
I looked in the mirror. The Caliphe in the mirror was gorgeous, with golden hair and a sharp, almost thorny look, like a rose.
A gilded cage, but with a killer face.
I'm too pretty to die like this.
I touched my face in the mirror and muttered,
"I will survive, no matter what."
I'd been testing the waters, making sure I was really in control. That's why I'd only been sending anonymous gifts.
But now I'm sure.
"It's time to meet Noah face-to-face."
It was finally time to move.
