The first time Miyabi played that game, she thought, about the villainess, what a brainless, jealous and insipid girl. Being so powerful served her nothing at all. She should exchange it with some IQ points. At the time she just couldn’t understand the fixation that girl had, always shouting at the heroine incentive things like “you’re below me”, “weak”, “worthless”, “know your place!” and when she would fail at the end, she wouldn’t be remorseful at all and kept on being a crazy person, her craziness a step higher, “why can’t it be me!” “Why can’t I have what you have!” “Why is your fate so good?”. Now though, Miyabi feels like she understands where the other comes from.
Let’s talk about it a bit more clearly for it to be understandable. The game Miyabi played recently, was an otome one. It was quite generic without too many distinguishable traits or anything; and honestly, it wouldn’t even pass the bar to become something that could mark her. It was just good enough to while away the time on the train, in the toilets, when she didn't want to pay attention to a conversation and was pretending to work on her phone or things close to that. It was quite plain in her opinion, without any eye-catching novelty. The twist, if one should call it that, was maybe that in there the more powerful you were the more respected you would be. Power came before nobility. The exception was, of course, the heroine, Andrea. It wasn’t that she was awfully weak, she was just average which was quite the contrast considering all the powerful people she befriended through the game. It was certainly striking. That fact, anyway, was just something of the beginning for in the middle of the game the heroine would-, oh this is going too fast. Let’s take it slower.
So, the settings was that of a game centered around mana. Andrea was the child of Baron Mitch, born from a frail mother, somewhat late in their marriage. It was thought to be the reason for Andrea’s own fragility. In contrast to her problematic health, she was beautiful and extremely cute, adored by her parents, her servants and her friends.
The game premise was, without surprise, the school of Elite, a school where the highest nobility and the more outstanding children studied and perfectioned their attributes. There, Andrea met the capture targets one after the other gaining moral support and confidence from them who liked her personality and didn’t disdain her for being weak compared to them.
The game had some locked routes that could be unlocked under specifics circumstances and there was even a harem route.
The villains were different depending on the target you were pursuing but there were still recurrent ones and Meirin was definitely one of them. Her character's background wasn’t really as detailed as that of the heroine and the capture targets, more so that Miyabi hadn’t finished the game yet, so many secrets were still unknown to her. What she knew, however, was that Meirin was the adopted daughter of Duke Strassget. She was a powerful wind and fire wielder. With her rank and talent, she could easily compete as a candidate to become the crown prince’s fiancée. She was actually the best candidate amongst them all.
In the crown prince’s, Lutterghen Rothingdam’s, route, she sees the heroine as beneath her, bullied her for associating herself with higher nobility despite her lack of talent.
In Alder Mattking’s route, the prime minister’s son, she sees the heroine as a person undeserving of nobility altogether, so she pressured her. Almost the same mindset was used in her stepbrother’s route, also an adopted son, Ilais Strassget. Meirin appeared in a couple more routes and is revealed, later, to be the main reason behind the heroine’s bullying.
As comeuppance for her sins, Meirin was sometimes jailed, exiled or at worst, killed. At the time, when she was playing, Miyabi didn’t think much of it. After all, that person too was aiming to harm or possibly kill the heroine.
Now though, as she carefully touched the small hands, information flooded in her brain and many things became clearer. Since it became something of real life, of course, there would be somewhat of an explanation behind that villainess’s craziness. And indeed there was: a deeply seated jealousy, which in truth, had little to do with power, nobility or even the crown prince’s heart. It was that Meirin was terribly jealous of Andrea, full stop.
Meirin’s past could be considered quite bleak if not dark. She had grown up with an extremely demanding mother who put a lot of pressure on her. Thus, no matter what she did, she had to be the best or she would be thrown away, she was always repeated. Having already been abandoned by her biological father –something that her dear mother never forgets to remind her-, there was in her a constant fear that her mother too would abandon her. If that happened, then what would become of her? So, Meirin worked diligently. Her mother, later, remarried a duke, duke Strassget, who adopted her and gave her his name. From then on, the pressure got bigger. She was now carrying the “Strassget” name after all. When another child was adopted in the house to be a Strassget too, it got worse. If Meirin was considered talented, then this child was a genius. She couldn’t help resenting her stepbrother a bit. He was easily named the heir while she was forgotten, and now her adoptive father’s wish was for her to take the position of the crown princess. She was constantly given pressure, never praised for her hard work; in the long run, she turned into somewhat of a cold and hard to approach sort of person. When, upon meeting Andrea who was, not only weak but of smaller status too, yet still given more love, affections, and respect than she had ever been, the fact didn't sit well with her and her resentment grew. Added to that the fact that the girl's family's name was Mitch, Meirin, faced with such dispositions, could only snap. Why so? That biological father who rejected her yet loved this other child of his was none other than Baron Mitch!
By fighting her half-sister left and right, Merin was substituting and actually fought what represented that unloving father. How good would it be to hurt that beloved and precious child of his? Which expression would be carved on his face if she did?
So yes, Miyabi could see where this villainess came from. The she who was of higher status, way more powerful but still, inexorably, always lose when against that half-sister of hers. Maddening, indeed. That Miyabi understood didn’t mean she cautioned or condoned what Meirin did, of course. After all, the one who abandoned her was Baron Mitch, what then was she doing harassing his child? If you have the ability then directly confront the man! The one who keeps reminding her that she will be abandoned was her wretched mother. Shut that woman up! The one who was making her uneasy was duke Strassget… toss his name away! With her ability, certainly, it wouldn’t be that difficult!
The heroine really did nothing to the girl, so the misplaced anger was unfair. But Meirin was a teenager and like most of them, when they couldn’t hurl at the real responsible of their misery they search for another outlet for their anger. Andrea, in the end, was just Meirin’s punching bag. Although she couldn’t agree with Meirin, Miyabi could now understand what the game never explained, so she knew at the very least that there was more to this villainess than an insipid and braindead girl.
That Miyabi's death actually led her to that game’s setting was just… unbelievable! She had troubles believing even now.
Did Miyabi transmigrate into the villainess you ask? Oh, wouldn’t that have been wonderful? To her dismay, however, the answer was a resounding no. It was even worse than that. She actually transmigrated into the wretched mother, Yzaide and in front of her, two peacefully sleeping babies!
