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 3

I slowly awakened from a peaceful slumber. As I opened my eyes, the soft morning light filtered through the curtains, enveloping the room in a gentle glow.

Turning my head slightly, I noticed Liel still sound asleep beside me.

Her peaceful expression was so adorable that I couldn’t resist reaching out and gently poking her soft cheek.

“Mmm…”

Her sleepy reaction made me chuckle.

There was still time before the entrance ceremony, so I carefully slipped out of bed without waking her.

Sitting at the table, I began organizing my thoughts for the future.

Liel, as the protagonist, had four potential love interests.

The first was Allen Harmet. He had slightly long blond hair and striking blue eyes. As the first prince and future king, his affinity was with the lightning attribute. Influenced by the queen’s love for flowers, he too enjoyed flower viewing, and his ideal partner was someone whose smile bloomed like a flower. His route featured classic romantic events such as dates in the town square and picnics in flower fields. The climax of his story took place in the queen’s treasured garden, where he proposed to Liel.

Allen possessed authority over an elite secret unit known as Shadow Corps, an organization specializing in reconnaissance, intelligence gathering, and combat. In his original route, I was assassinated by this very group.

In the original story, the queen had passed away, and Allen would share memories of her with Liel as their relationship deepened. However, during a recent social gathering, I saw that the queen was alive and in excellent health. This was most likely due to the elixir I had introduced to this world before the main storyline began.

Allen did not initially attend the academy and was set to enroll one month after the entrance ceremony. During his introduction, Liel was meant to guide him around the campus. I had already broken the flag for their first encounter, so they remained strangers. However, the guidance event might still occur.

Although Allen did not have a rival in his route, there was another female character from a different storyline who fit his ideal type. To ensure he didn’t get close to Liel, I planned to befriend that girl and push the guiding duty onto her.

The second potential love interest was Vayne Harmet. He had spiky hair and red eyes, the second prince born to the king and a concubine. His affinity was fire, and he had a strong love for physical activity. His ideal partner was someone willing to travel the world with him.

Vayne’s route was far more adventurous. His exclusive events included exploring monster-infested forests and haunted mansions. His climax event involved a journey to retrieve the Ring of Happiness, a legendary artifact said to bring eternal joy. After facing numerous trials within a hidden cave, Liel and Vayne would work together to solve puzzles and overcome obstacles to retrieve the ring. Vayne would then present it to her in a heartfelt proposal.

In the original story, I attempted to eliminate Liel by force during Vayne’s route, only to be killed by him instead.

To avoid this, I needed to ensure that Liel and Vayne never had the chance to grow close. If he approached her, I had a contingency plan in place.

The third love interest was Machius Albirea, a young man with long hair, glasses, and light blue eyes. As the eldest son of a royal branch family, he held a high status and served as the academy’s student council president, making him the only older character among the love interests. His affinity was with the water attribute, and his ideal partner was someone highly competent and capable. Unlike the other routes, his required Liel to join the student council.

Most of Machius’ exclusive events revolved around student council activities, and his storyline featured the largest number of named characters due to its heavy involvement with academy affairs.

His climax event took place while he and Liel were organizing an old storage room together. During their task, they stumbled upon a Cursed Relic, an ancient artifact known as the Demon’s Bracelet, rumored to have been created by dark sorcerers during the age of ancient civilizations.

These relics were highly dangerous. Anyone who touched them without proper countermeasures would experience a loss of emotional balance, amplifying their negative thoughts, desires, and instincts. When worn, the artifact granted its user immense power, but it inevitably led to madness and drained their life force. Due to their extreme danger, these relics were outlawed in every nation, and any discovered were immediately sealed away in the royal treasury.

Not realizing the bracelet’s true nature, Machius touched it, succumbing to its corrupting influence. Overcome with despair, he unleashed powerful water magic, rampaging uncontrollably.

Despite being repeatedly thrown against walls by his overwhelming power, Liel refused to give up. She desperately fought her way toward him, embracing him while using her light magic to purify the relic, ultimately saving his life.

Once he regained his senses, Machius proposed to Liel.

In the original story, his route led to my downfall—I was framed for treason and exiled from the kingdom as a result of his schemes.

Having refreshed my knowledge of the love interests, I now needed to strategize how to navigate this world. My past actions had already caused deviations from the original game’s storyline.

Still, one thing remained unchanged—if I wasn’t careful, my fate would be doomed.

For now, I had to keep Liel and the love interests from growing too close. And if they did, I would need to act immediately.

To prevent any complications, I needed to make sure Liel did not join the student council.

There were two ways the student council recruitment event could be triggered. The first was a voluntary invitation event, which only occurred if Liel had a high intelligence stat. The second was a forced event—if her stats were too low, she would be at risk of failing a class, and the academy would assign her to assist the student council in exchange for avoiding expulsion.

To prevent this, I would warn Liel in advance not to join and personally tutor her to ensure she didn’t fail any subjects.

The fourth and final love interest was Tarmine Harmet.

With wavy hair and deep green eyes, he was the third prince, born to the king and a different concubine than Vayne’s mother.

Tarmine was a unique character. He had no shared events with the other love interests, and if the protagonist entered any of their routes, he wouldn’t even make an appearance. His only presence in the game was through brief mentions in each route’s epilogue.

In Allen’s ending, Tarmine discovered the location of a field where ancient flowers bloomed and shared the information with Allen and Liel. The story closed with the two of them heading to the flower field together.

In Vayne’s epilogue, Tarmine found and revealed the location of an island rumored to hold buried treasure. Not only did he share this secret, but he also arranged a ship for them. The scene ended with Liel and Vayne boarding the vessel, setting sail into the ocean breeze.

In Machius’ epilogue, he provided tickets to a grand theater in a neighboring country, offering Liel and Machius a brief escape from their exhausting student council duties. Their story concluded with them riding a carriage toward the foreign city.

Unlike the other love interests, Tarmine’s route was only accessible if the protagonist avoided all romantic entanglements. By not pursuing any of the other characters, the game would eventually progress to a scenario where Tarmine appeared at the academy and immediately proposed to Liel.

His storyline was essentially the equivalent of a normal ending or even a bad ending in the romance game—there were no dedicated events, just a direct cut to the conclusion. Because of this, little was known about his elemental affinity, ideal partner, or personal interests.

However, there was one major advantage to this route: I survived.

Unlike in the other routes, where I met various grim fates, Tarmine’s ending explicitly stated that I remained alive and unharmed. That was the main reason I was actively breaking event flags and steering Liel toward his route.

Of course, this was purely a matter of survival. I had no interest in becoming romantically involved with any of the love interests myself. Even when I played the original game, none of them ever made my heart flutter.

The only reason I had played the game in the first place was because its character illustrations had been drawn by an artist I admired. This was one of the few memories I had recovered from my past life.

Before reincarnating into this world, I had been an art university student with an interest in a career related to illustration. I had discovered the game through the artist’s promotional work and ended up playing it to completion just to collect all the CG illustrations. Thanks to that, I remembered every possible route and event in detail.

There were other fragments of my past life that I had recalled, but details like my own name or face remained a mystery.

And honestly, I had no desire to remember them.

Knock, knock.

A soft rapping on the door pulled me from my thoughts.

It seemed breakfast time had arrived.