Flag-Breaking Villainess: The Story of How Breaking the Romance Flags of the Otome Game's Protagonist Ended Up Creating New Flags Between the Reincarnated Villainess and the Heroine - Chapter 20

The absence of Liel made the silence feel overwhelming. Though the room remained unchanged, the lack of her presence felt oddly unnatural, leaving me restless. It was proof that life with Liel had become an inseparable part of me.

To confirm Liel’s whereabouts, I retrieved a magical tool shaped like a pocket watch. Unlike common magic stones that anyone could use, this was a high-grade artifact that required the user’s own magic power.

This particular artifact was paired with another, allowing it to track the matching item—a silver hair ornament I had given Liel on the day we met.

“It looks like she hasn’t left the capital.”

With the artifact, I was able to pinpoint her general location. However, the crucial question remained—why had she disappeared? The answer was likely hidden in her diary.

“I’ll have to apologize later…”

That said, reading someone else’s diary was unquestionably an invasion of privacy. Still, I had already made my decision. Apologizing was a given, but for now, I turned the pages.

On the most recent page, only one sentence was written:

“I want to be with Lady Lilia.”

“With… me?”

I started reading from the beginning, going through each entry carefully. The diary chronicled our days together, filled with her thoughts about me.

Thinking I might have misinterpreted something, I reread the passages. But no—there was no mistake. It was clearly written. She didn’t see me merely as a friend. She loved me as a woman.

“She… loves me?”

The realization sent my mind into a spiral, my vision blurring as my thoughts whirled.

I had never even considered the possibility that the heroine of this otome game could fall in love with another woman—let alone with me. I had assumed she only saw me as a friend. And yet, her diary contradicted that belief entirely.

Liel loved me.

The words in her diary weren’t just fleeting emotions; they were her raw, genuine feelings. I never knew that her feelings for me were this sincere.

“So… we were in love with each other all along.”

A warm sensation spread through my chest, and before I knew it, my face grew hot with joy.

But then—

“…She really didn’t need to write about touching herself while thinking of me, though.”

Honestly, what was she even writing? I felt a mix of surprise, embarrassment, and amusement all at once, leaving me completely drained.

Well, setting that aside for now—I had to focus on the reason I was reading this diary in the first place.

I flipped through more pages, scanning her recent entries.

As in the original story, Liel had been proposed to by Termain. However, rather than a simple marriage proposal, it seemed more like a transaction, one that exploited her feelings for me. Moreover, his true objective was her light-based magic power.

This was a major deviation from the original. I had barely interacted with Termain, so it was unlikely that my actions or words had influenced his personality or goals.

I decided to analyze the situation using both my knowledge of the original story and the information I had gathered in this world.

“Was Liel’s light magic actually Termain’s true goal in the original as well?”

It seemed he had been observing the academy closely. If that were the case, then in the original story, he might have chosen words that would captivate Liel, drawing her in through her loneliness, leading to his designated route.

“In routes where other love interests were chosen, Termain only appeared in the epilogue… But looking back, knowing his true intentions, his actions now seem like he was orchestrating events to steal Liel away.”

In Allen’s epilogue, Termain provided information about the location of an ancient flower field.

As the first prince, Allen had access to a secret unit called “Shadow Corps,” but he likely wouldn’t have taken them along to such a place. Even if he had, if Termain and his subordinates had set a trap and launched a surprise attack, total annihilation wouldn’t be out of the question. If the true purpose of luring them there was an ambush, then the flower field story was a lie.

In Vayne’s epilogue, Termain told him the location of an island filled with treasure and even provided a ship.

As an adventurer, Vayne was the most skilled among the love interests. If Termain wanted to ensure his elimination, the sea—where there would be no escape—was the ideal battleground. Considering Vayne’s proficiency in fire magic, fighting him on a ship surrounded by water was a well-planned countermeasure.

In Macius’s epilogue, Termain handed him and Liel tickets to a grand theater in a neighboring country.

As the student council president, Macius rarely left the academy and often spent his time surrounded by other council members. The theater tickets served as an excuse to get him and Liel away from the capital. With no interruptions on the road to a foreign country, Termain could easily assassinate Macius.

No matter which route it was, Termain’s goal was always to obtain Liel.

If that were the case… then the title of the original game, “Magical☆Academy: Gold Palm”, might actually mean—

“Gold Palm… as in, ‘Liel was in the palm of his hand’?”

If my theory was correct, then the original game developers had a rather twisted sense of humor.

Well, I had no way of confirming that now, so there was no point in dwelling on it.

“Liel is undoubtedly at Termain’s estate.”

First, I needed to speculate on why Termain was so desperate for light-attribute magic.

One detail from Liel’s diary stood out—the metallic sensation and the distortion in her vision when Termain touched her.

“I remember experiencing something similar.”

It happened at a social gathering after I had healed my mother with the Elixir.

For some reason, Termain had approached me to exchange greetings. Afterward, as he passed by me, I felt something hard and cold against my hand, and in that instant, my vision blurred.

Though I staggered, I managed to turn around—but by then, he had already disappeared into the crowd.

Something deep within me had simmered with unease, but after taking a sip of the Elixir I had kept hidden, the sensation vanished instantly, and I brushed it off.

“If that feeling was meant to fuel desire, then Termain must be in possession of a cursed relic. And if that’s the case, his true reason for seeking light-attribute magic must be connected to it. I don’t know the exact details, but…”

In the original story, cursed relics were barely explained, and they only appeared at the very end of Macius’s route.

Even after regaining my past life’s memories and researching cursed relics in this world, I found almost no substantial information.

They remained a complete enigma.

“In the end, I still have no solid proof.”

Everything—Termain’s actions, the epilogues, the connections I was drawing—was based on speculation.

However—

“One thing is certain: Termain took Liel. Not out of love, but for her magic.”

Regardless of why he sought light-attribute magic, it could only lead to something disastrous.

If Liel wouldn’t find happiness—if there was no happy ending for her—then I had no intention of letting Termain have his way.

“How dare you take her… take Liel away from me…!”

I would take her back.

I had no reason to resist this possessive urge.

To hell with the possibility of triggering a destruction flag.

With the stats I had trained, I would crush everything in my path.