This time, it’s a story about attending the Debutante—an event Chris had completely forgotten about.

Christina wants to avoid social gatherings as much as possible, but this time there was no way to skip it, so she reluctantly decided to attend.

* * *

Now then, there was an important event that I had completely forgotten about because I’d been too absorbed in adventurer activities.

That event was the “Debutante” for noble sons and daughters.

This is a celebratory ceremony held in the grand hall of the royal castle in the year a noble child turns seven (or is about to turn seven).

Though it’s called a ceremony, all that really happens is that His Majesty the King delivers congratulatory words to the children who will one day support the future of the kingdom and afterward it turns into a tea-party-like gathering where juice and sweets are served.

Oh and there’s dancing too.

That said, attendance is mandatory for all noble children, so of course I have to go.

“Come on, Chris, isn’t this dress just wonderful! I chose a cobalt-blue dress to match your eye color! Look at all this lace and decoration—no other young lady’s dress could possibly compare! And if we put this wig on your hair, it’ll be perfect! You already have such a beautiful face and you’re unbelievably cute, so it’ll absolutely suit you!!”

Mother had been looking forward to this day more than anything.

There was no way I could bring myself to say, “I want to attend in a suit…” to her.

After all, more than half a year ago she had already been working with the family’s exclusive fashion designer to design this dress specifically for me and had happily ordered custom-made hair ornaments, earrings, brooches, necklaces, bracelets and even rings—an entire collection of jewelry.

If I said something like, “Black suit with a blue ribbon tie is fine,” she would definitely burst into tears and then refuse to speak to me for over a month afterward.

It’s not like I want to make Mother sad.

Well, considering my current state (cross-dressing as a man), I’m sure she’s already heartbroken enough.

“Come on now, hurry up and try it on!”

The maids quickly stripped off the clothes I was wearing and I was forced into the outrageously flashy dress Mother had prepared.

Then they put a wig on my head, styled it beautifully and added so many glittering hair ornaments it was almost excessive.

Heavy-looking earrings adorned with huge gemstones sparkled from my ears and around my neck was a necklace made of diamonds set along a platinum base shaped like radiant beams—honestly, how many diamonds did this thing even use?

My neckline was so dazzling it practically hurt my eyes.

On the ribbon at my chest, they attached an absurdly large, sparkling emerald brooch, while my right arm received a gold-and-diamond bracelet, my left arm two more bracelets—one platinum with sapphires, one gold with rubies—and on the ring finger of my right hand they placed a pink-glinting diamond ring set in platinum.

They didn’t neglect my feet either.

I was made to wear glossy pumps the same color as the dress, covered in glittering sapphires and diamonds.

What is this over-the-top getup… am I a chandelier or something?!

Well, ducal daughters and royal princesses usually dress like this, but personally, I’d really rather not.

I’m aiming to become a mob guy—what’s the point of standing out like this?

I had changed my hair and eye color with magic, but Mother forcibly canceled it and returned them to their original colors.

As a result, an absurdly gorgeous, dazzlingly luxurious super-beautiful ducal young lady was completed.

“M-Mother… this is a bit much…”

“Oh my!! You look absolutely wonderful!! It suits you perfectly, Christina! You’re the cutest girl in the world!”

Just then, Father entered the room with a knock.

“Are you ready—ohhh!! How beautiful you are, Christina! As expected of my daughter. Truly the most beautiful girl in the world! With this, Prince Alex will surely be completely smitten with you!!”

What exactly are you saying, Father?

I’ve told you countless times that I have no intention of getting engaged to Prince Alex.

Have you grown so senile that you’ve forgotten already??

I was planning to spend this event quietly as a wallflower, fulfill the bare minimum of obligations and leave as soon as possible.

Naturally, I wanted to avoid meeting any members of the royal family but that was never going to happen, was it?

After all, we’re the ducal house that inherits the royal blood most strongly, meaning we have a duty to greet His Majesty the King directly.

And we do so first among all nobles.

Of course, Prince Alex, who is the same age as me, would definitely be attending this event…

No matter what, I wouldn’t be able to avoid meeting him.

I’m scared some weird flags are going to get triggered.

* * *

Together with my parents, I rode in a carriage straight to the royal castle.

Since it’s an event for children, it’s held during the daytime.

When we arrived, well-dressed noble sons and daughters were being swallowed one after another into the castle.

Ugh… my stomach hurts… I don’t want to go.

As I stepped down from the carriage with my parents, voices around us rose in admiration.

Please stop, I don’t want to stand out.

Because Christina (me) is set up as a peerless beauty, once she dresses like a proper young lady, she naturally outshines everyone else by far.

She captivates everyone in an instant… I hate it.

“Hehehe, everyone’s eyes are all on Christina.”

Mother looked utterly pleased.

Well, if anyone saw this gaudy chandelier-woman outfit, of course they’d stare.

I want to scream and run away right now, Mother.

“Come on, let’s go inside.”

Escorted by Father (since I’m the main character today, not Mother), the three of us entered the castle.

At the end of a long hallway lay the grand hall—the venue for today’s event.

In about eleven years, this would also be the venue for the graduation celebration and coming-of-age ceremony at eighteen…

And the stage where Christina would be condemned.

The number-one place I never wanted to visit.

Every ending is awful, but the fastest route to Christina’s death is the romance ending of Prince Alex’s route.

During the celebration party, I would be dragged to the center of the hall and have my face slashed to pieces by Prince Alex’s sword, then be cut apart and killed.

The reason for the face-slashing is that villainess Christina, as harassment against Elise, immobilizes her and burns her face with fire magic—a horrific act that is outright criminal.

Elise’s entire face is burned, her bangs are scorched, she’s blinded and her face becomes horribly mangled.

Seeing that, Christina laughs loudly and says:

“Ahahahahahaha! How ugly you are! Even uglier than usual! But that suits you better, doesn’t it! No, this is what you truly look like!”

And she mocks her mercilessly.

This event itself is shared across all routes, but if the capture target is Prince Alex, a retaliation scene is triggered where Christina’s face is slashed and she’s verbally abused.

Fortunately, by then Elise has gained powerful healing magic as a Saintess, so after being rescued by the capture target with the highest intimacy, she heals herself and survives.

Naturally, when Christina sees Elise’s face fully restored, she flies into a rage and deepens her hatred even further.

She’s way too psychopathic—Christina is seriously terrifying.

And in Prince Alex’s romance ending, furious over Christina’s constant bragging about her beauty and her previous act of burning Elise’s face, Prince Alex slashes Christina’s face and shouts:

“Ahahahahaha! No matter how beautiful you once were, once you’re this mangled, you’re too ugly to look at twice!”

He then publicly humiliates her before everyone in the hall, shatters her excessive pride completely and cuts her down.

The scheming prince is absolutely ruthless.

Though to be fair, Christina’s harassment of Elise is even more brutal, so it’s hard to feel sympathy.

Honestly, they’re both way too psychopathic.

But this extreme cruelty and shocking depiction—unlike any other otome game—is exactly what made this series so popular.

Unrelenting malice, violence and cathartic condemnation.

That is the greatest selling point of this series and its unique charm.

Which is exactly why I absolutely must escape the role of villainess, no matter what!!

Getting my face slashed is absolutely not happening!!

Well, if I keep honing my swordsmanship and martial arts at this pace, in the worst case I might be able to evade Prince Alex’s attack and even knock his sword away and escape…

Yes, with that possibility in mind, I should train even harder!!

I clench my fist and thrust it into the air.

“Hey, Christina! Don’t make gestures like that while dressed like this!”

Father hurriedly grabbed my raised arm and forced it down.

Right—forgot about that.

“Sorry. I forgot I was cross-dressing.”

I had completely forgotten I was in full flashy ducal-young-lady cosplay.

“Christina, don’t call it cross-dressing! That is your true form!”

Mother shot me a sharp glare and scolded me as well.

“Sorry.”

Even so… I’ve gotten so used to dressing as a man that this just feels wrong.

Pants are great—easy to move in, don’t tangle around your legs, don’t get caught on things and you don’t trip over them!

While thinking such silly thoughts, I was suddenly brought before His Majesty the King.

Father performed a simplified greeting, standing upright with his right hand over his chest and bowing slowly.

In situations where many people are greeting in succession, a full kneeling bow isn’t used—things would back up too much.

This time, together with Mother, I lightly lifted my dress and performed a graceful curtsey.

Heh heh—despite hating lady education, I’ve been forced to do it daily, so my noble greetings and manners are flawless.

“Your Majesty, I humbly congratulate you on the debut of Prince Alex and Prince Leonard.”

Following Father’s words, I slowly straightened and raised my gaze.

Beside His Majesty stood the Queen Consort and Prince Alex and on the other side the Second Queen and Prince Leonard, Alex’s half-brother.

Seeing the two boys looking exactly like their game versions but in shota form, I couldn’t help smiling a little.

They really are cute.

Prince Alex, with glossy jet-black hair cut short like raven feathers and clear blue eyes full of resolve.

Prince Leonard, with strong-looking emerald eyes and slightly wavy brown hair slicked back neatly, wearing a composed expression.

Right—now that I think about it, Prince Leonard is also the same age as me.

I had completely forgotten.

The other same-age capture targets—Daniel the stiff intellectual, Markus the cheerful musclehead and Oswald the twisted introvert—should also be somewhere in the hall.

I absolutely have to avoid running into them.

I want to run away at full speed right now!!

“Indeed, I am pleased that your daughter Christina has reached this day as well. Oh! This Christina looks even more beautiful than before! She shines like a jewel!”

I’m not shining like a jewel—there are just way too many jewels on me, Your Majesty.

I’m desperately resisting the urge to rip everything off and flee in shame.

I return a faint smile and whisper, “Thank you,” then dip my knees slightly in a bow.

When we met before, I had dark brown hair and eyes and wore a plain navy suit with a green ribbon tie—so this must be quite the contrast.

“Thank you, Your Majesty. My daughter has finally turned seven.”

Father looked extremely satisfied and Mother’s smile was almost frightening.

“Alex, what do you think of Lady Christina?”

“…Yes, she is a very beautiful young lady.”

Prince Alex replied smoothly with a flawless smile, clearly saying something he didn’t mean.

I’m not stupid enough to take praise from someone as twisted as you at face value, Prince Alex, so please rest assured.

I know perfectly well that you’re thinking something like, What is this gaudy woman? How embarrassing.

After all, this scene appears in the past recollections of your route.

“As I mentioned before, I am strongly considering her as your fiancée.”

“Father, let us leave that discussion for another time. Today is a celebration for many who have turned seven, just like myself. Please refrain from personal matters.”

Wow, he’s incredibly articulate for someone our age.

I deliberately speak in a childish, halting way and this feels unfair.

“Very well. Then let us hold a tea party soon and invite Lady Christina.”

“Yes.”

Prince Alex replied briefly and let it pass.

I turned my gaze away from his perpetually fake smile and when I looked toward Prince Leonard, for some reason he was blushing and staring at me intensely.

Huh? That’s strange.

In Prince Leonard’s route recollection, this scene should have been the same as Alex’s—thinking What a ridiculous outfit. Is she sane?

Leonard, snap out of it. The woman you’re looking at is an illusion.

In a few hours, I’ll be a plain mob boy again.

Unable to say any of that, I simply offered the same faint smile and small bow as before.

Leonard immediately became flustered, breathing heavily.

What are you doing? You already have Lady Flora as your fiancée.

Ignore, ignore.

* * *

Once His Majesty and Father’s conversation ended, I finally managed to get away from Prince Alex’s cold gaze and Prince Leonard’s overheated one.

Ah—so suffocating.

“Father, Mother, may we go home now?”

When I said that, they both answered at the same time.

““Of course not!””

“But we’ve already greeted His Majesty.”

“The dancing hasn’t finished yet and you still need to meet the other young nobles! Socializing has already begun!”

I don’t care about that at all—I want to go home.

I slumped in defeat and reluctantly picked up a cracker from a nearby table.

On top of it was sweetly stewed fruit.

When I popped it into my mouth and chewed, the distinct scent of honey, the fruit’s flavor and the salty cracker taste spread together.

There’s no cohesion…

Each flavor insists on standing alone—neither bad nor good, just disappointing.

If there were cream, it might taste more unified, but like butter, cream doesn’t exist in this world yet.

The other sweets were similar—fake cookies made by mixing chopped stewed fruit into flour and baking it, fake biscuits made by baking honey-filled dough into various shapes and fake rusks made by spreading wine-and-honey fruit jam onto lightly toasted bread.

Everything was mostly brown in color, poorly presented, disguised only with colorful flowers.

Even so, in this world, these are considered extremely luxurious sweets.

“Christina! Don’t eat with your hands!”

Mother immediately scolded me in a low voice.

“Sorry…”

Honestly, using knives, forks, or spoons for such cheap sweets is such a hassle.

Mother’s whispered lecture went on for quite a while.

When it was time for dancing, boys and girls who knew each other paired up, but I didn’t know any noble boys.

I had deliberately avoided interacting with nobles, focusing only on training, studying and adventuring.

That’s probably why my parents wanted me to make noble acquaintances here.

No thank you.

Fortunately, it’s considered improper for a young lady to invite someone herself, so unless a boy asks me, I don’t have to dance.

If I were in a suit, I could have just asked some random girl, danced once and gone home…

I sighed without thinking.

Since my gaze was lowered, I noticed a hand extended toward me before seeing the person’s face.

When I looked up, it was Prince Alex.

Seriously?

“Lady Christina, would you care to dance with me?”

He was probably told by His Majesty to invite me.

After all, His Majesty is obsessed with pairing me with Alex.

I smiled politely and replied, “It would be my honor,” then lightly placed my hand atop his.

Thus, the first dance of my life became Prince Alex—exactly as in the game’s scenario.

This is what causes Christina to mistakenly believe, “His Highness is interested in me!”

But don’t worry—I’m not an Alex fan and I want to avoid him at all costs, so I won’t misunderstand.

After finishing one dance with Alex, for some reason Prince Leonard was waiting and I ended up dancing a second song with him.

Hey—make sure you danced with Lady Flora first, alright?

I don’t want her resenting me later.

After that, I was continuously invited by various noble boys, forced to dance nonstop until the dance time finally ended…

What the hell was that?!

Ah right—Christina is canonically a peerless beauty.

They were all completely fooled by appearances—men really are hopeless creatures.

Once the dance ended, my parents finally gave permission to leave and I quickly boarded the carriage and returned home.

“Haa… I’m exhausted.”

I sat on my bed, kicked off my shoes and flopped backward.

“L-Lady! You’ll wrinkle the dress! Please change first!”

My personal maid, Marie, immediately scolded me.

“Yeah yeah, got it.”

I reluctantly sat up and stripped off the dress.

“Eek! Lady! Please be more careful!!”

I got scolded again.

I ripped off the wig and hair ornaments together and tossed them to Marie.

“Lady!!”

“It’s such a hassle. I don’t even like flashy stuff. You know that, Marie.”

“That may be so, but these clothes and jewels were all lovingly prepared by Madam for you. Please treat them with more care.”

“I wanted to go in a black suit and blue ribbon tie.”

“For important milestone events, that is not permitted. Normally, you’re allowed to do as you please, but for important ceremonies, you must act properly as a ducal young lady. You are a member of the prestigious Rosenschwert Ducal House, which carries royal blood. Your conduct reflects directly on your family’s reputation.”

“I know, I know…”

Now down to my undergarments, I flopped back onto the bed again.

“Lady… I told you to change properly.”

“I’m tired… I’m sleepy…”

“Then I’ll wake you at dinner time.”

With a resigned sigh, Marie began tidying up the discarded clothes.

I rolled around on the bed, pulled the blanket over my head and closed my eyes.

The game’s forced mechanics are terrifying.

* * *

Never again do I want to become a chandelier (laugh), but Chris can clearly feel herself being pushed along by the game’s forced mechanics and it frightens her.

And yet… it seems her tragedy (or misfortune?) is far from over.