Chapter 1: The Knight Commander's Son Helps the Villainess

"Alice! I'm canceling my engagement with you!"

When I hear that voice, my consciousness awakens.

While feeling lightheaded like a light dizziness, various knowledge and memories flowed through my head.

The memories of this world with its aristocracy and the memories of being a member of society in Japan where science has advanced flow into it, and eventually they become one.

Is this what they called isekaid? [tn:so-called reincarnation in another world]

There is a consciousness that the character of the previous life came out strongly. The body was in this world, a world with nobles, and I could recognize it as that of Arth Lost, the son of Viscount Lost.

I hold my head down and check the surroundings with a blurry vision.

The place seems to be a venue for a certain evening party.

It was supposed to be crowded with the evening party hosted by His Majesty the King, but the area was unnaturally quiet.

All eyes were focused on one point.

The owner of the voice from earlier was monopolizing that gaze, was the first prince of this country, His Highness Mace Landry. There are several people around him, and apparently I am one of them.

In other words, I'm getting a lot of attention, but I'm just a small part, and no one seems to care if I'm holding my head.

Rather than that, the gazes were focused on Prince Mace, the person who announced the cancellation of the engagement earlier, and a lady who was standing a little away from him.

Characterized by silver hair and bright green eyes, that pretty girl is the fiancée of the prince and the eldest daughter of the Duke of Misty, Alice Misty.

yes? that? Alice Misty... this name was familiar.

Groove! The Villainess Duke?!

It's not the knowledge of this world... it's the knowledge of the previous life, that character was from an otome-game [tn:dating simulation game for women] I played in the previous life.

I wonder why I, who should have been a man in my previous life, play such a thing, but... well, I'm sure it matched my sensibilities at the time and because it's popular game and I got nothing to do so why not?

I think the title was... "Lovely☆Princess"?

The content is very cliche (tn: simple and typical), it's all about a love affair that overcomes various obstacles with five male capture targets, and each individual route has a normal end and a true end, and as an added bonus, there was a reverse harem end.

The love rival in that maiden game is the prince's fiancée, the duke villainess daughter Alice Misty... most likely herself.

Yeah, if you look closely, the prince and his entourage are familiar capture targets, and the heroine is shrewdly next to the prince.

I... I can't say anything because I don't have a mirror, but I'm on the far right of this entourage, and from the name of Arth Lost, I'm probably one of the capture targets.

The Lost Viscount family is a knight clan, so as a the son of the Knight Commander, I'd been trained to become the next Knight Commander. The other captured characters are the crown prince, the brother-in-law of the villainess, the son of another duke, and the son of a merchant. In a harem position I'm in the lowest rank in popularity poll, because of muscle-brained character. The Knights of this country have a certain amount of power and prestige, but they are still the lowest in terms of the noble class.

Well, I should still look pretty good, and there shouldn't be a problem with Mr. Arth Lost, who is the lowest ranked character among the capture characters in the popularity poll on the official site...It makes me sad to say something, but it must be my imagination. [tn: the mc means to say that in terms of appearance, he wasn't the lowest, and rebuting/saying that make him think that he's simply saying excuses and make him pitiful]

"What you've done to Maria! I won't let you say you've forgotten what you did and feign ignorance!"

When I was thinking about such things, I heard those words of the crown prince.

My memories of before and after are vague, but... since you said you broke off the engagement earlier, why are you condemning her now? Even so, was there an event where all the capture characters blamed the villainess Alice?

I remember the engagement annulment event, but I think it was only the prince at that time...?

When I was thinking about such things, the followers other than me started talking about what Alice did as a villainess.

In summary, she the villainess was harassing Maria, the heroine, in the shadows, urging other nobles to leave her out of the group, creating a bad reputation, and finally hiring an assassin the other day to killed latter but... that's so strange.

Even the villainess Alice in the game didn't do that much...or rather, if it wasn't my imagination, I don't even have the slightest memory of it.

It's true that I remember Maria crying, but at least I haven't seen the specific scene.

The testimonies of the other capture targets were all said to have been heard from the heroine, Maria, and there seemed to be no concrete evidence.

That said, if the prince and his entourage (four people other than me) all say it out loud, the mood at the venue seems to be that Alice, the villainess daughter, is somehow at fault...

With a glance, I turn my gaze to the heroine.

The heroine's face is covered, but from my position, I could see a part of her face that was just hidden... specifically, her mouth that was loose with a smile.

(Does this... feel like it's going according to her plan?)

From the appearance of the heroine, I sensed that something had been set up, so when I turned my gaze to Alice, the villainous daughter who was the other person involved... Alice somehow seemed to be resolute, but somehow sad. I was listening to it with a warm atmosphere.

(Wait... I think I know a story about a similar situation)

That's right... A story about a villainess reincarnated in an otome game avoiding the bad end. It's a so-called light novel, and I feel like the villainess was being given false evidence by the reincarnated heroine.

in short...

(this plot is the heroine a reincarnated person pattern...)

It's probably a plan to steal the crown prince by putting the false accusation on Alice, the villainess, but... Even so, it's troublesome that the other capture targets are also on the heroine's side.

Or rather, I can tell from the memories and emotions of Arth that I have a lot of affection for the heroine, and the other capture targets seem to have a high degree of favorability, so we're going to deviate from the story, It seems obvious that the heroine is aiming for a reverse harem end.

"Hey Arth Say something too!"

When I was calmly analyzing like that, the crown prince said something like that, probably because he was suspicious of me being silent.

With those words, the eyes of the whole venue gather on me... Hmm...

"Your Highness. Just to confirm, you're going to break off your engagement with Alice-sama, right?"

"No wonder!"

"Is it really good?"

"That's too bad!"

"Is that so...then..."

After saying that, I slowly walk in front of Alice.

Alice was looking at me cautiously, so I smiled at her and slowly put one knee to the ground, gently—holding Alice's hand and saying,

"Marry me—Miss Alice."

"eh...?"

Alice looks surprised. Well, it's only natural that someone like me, who had been on the side of condemning Alice up until now, would suddenly say something like this and react like that.

But... sorry. I love the villainess, Alice. Of course, the main character in the game is not the villainess Alice, and for a time I was so addicted to it that I wanted to write a doujinshi about Alice's happiness.

now I'm here or even as a side character, I will pursue Alice... or rather, when I saw her with a sad expression in front of me, I wanted to protect her.

Besides... there doesn't seem to be any evidence that she really did something to the heroine and that suspicious smile, this certainly seems to be a false accusation... If the prince lets go of her, then there's no problem if I take Alice, right?

I said to the stunned Alice with a gentle smile as much as possible.

"I may not be a good match for you Alice, but if His Highness wants to let you go, give me your promises and I, Arth Lost would love you from the bottom of my heart."

Hearing those words…Alice's face turned so red that she could clearly see it and her gaze was swimming…Eh, what a cute creature.

"Ah, um, um... um..."

"Arth! Are you out of your mind!"

Instinctively, I feel the urge to hug her, but what interferes with that is the angry voice of the crown prince, who should have been taken aback.

It's noisy... and it's irritating me at all...

After smiling at Alice, I turned my stern gaze to the crown prince while hiding her behind me to protect her.

"Your Highness...If you make her suffer by falsely accusing her, she will not forgive you either, you know?"

"That's my line! That's the sinner who tormented Maria!"

"Arth-san! Wake up!"

Such a concern words from the heroine. If it was the previous Arth, it would have fallen easily but I'm not that fool. I turned my gaze to Maria without any particular interest and said.

"Maria-san. Do you enjoy falsely accusing an innocent girl? No, demeaning Alice-sama in order to get His Highness... Aren't you ashamed of yourself as a person?"

"You! If you mock Maria, I will deport you from the country together with that sinner!"

"Huh? Deportation? Do you think you have the authority to do that?"

"what!"

The prince glared at us with a terrible expression. I said calmly while protecting the prince's gaze so that it wouldn't go to Alice behind me.

"Please think about it. Today is an evening party hosted by His Majesty the King, isn't it? Since such a big event has caused such a ruckus, His Majesty has not intervened at all until now, so please have a little guess."

I glance at His Majesty the King. His Majesty the King, who has a sharp face like a painting, loosened his cheeks in amusingness when he received my gaze. I'm convinced by the look on his face.

"Don't you see, Your Highness? You are probably being tested."

"What are you talking about!"

dull prince. I almost let out a sigh, but I managed to hold it infact・・・shoved it to my throat that I feel I'm about to suffocate.

"Perhaps your Majesty has grasped all of your recent actions."

"Wha...!?"

It's just a guess, but from my urban knowledge, His Majesty the King of this country is a person who can turn their heads. Besides, there's no way he doesn't know about the prince's depravity these days. In fact, he's still watching the situation quietly, but he didn't seem to flinch or shock at all about this situation. In other words, it can be predicted that this situation is also in the hands of that person.

The prince was surprised by my remark, but next he changed his face to anger and said.

"You.....I didn't expect you to get my father involved!"

why you. Instinctively, I felt like I was going to tsukkomi[tn:manzai, a traditional comedy style in Japanese culture comparable to stand-up comedy eg:falling when a person say something contrast to topic and event], but since it was troublesome, I decided to finish it quickly.

"Well then, good evening. Shall we go, Alice-sama?"

After saying that, I took Alice's hand and left the place.

"Wait! Hey, don't let them escape! Guards!!"

However, in order to stop us, the prince instructs a nearby soldier to do so.

The guard approached me in a hurry, but I looked at him coldly and said.

"Is your master the Lord His Highness, or His Majesty the King?"

The soldiers stopped at those words, after all soldiers are loyal to empire hence the king.

I continued to say that I thought that a person with a genuine loyalty would be sensitive to such things and would be saved.

"The one over there is just a crown prince with a high right of succession to the throne. Are people like you, who are genuinely loyal to His Majesty, obey those words at your own discretion? If it's an order from His Majesty who is quietly watching, you should obey it, but... it's not. Your Majesty is this your order as well?"

When I turned my gaze to His Majesty the King, who had been calmly watching this place from a while ago, His Majesty said something with an expression that made him look like he had seen something interesting.

"Good. Go."

"Hey... Father!"

The crown prince raised his voice at His Majesty's words, but fell silent as he couldn't say anything when latter's stern face was directed at him.

I and Alice bow our head lightly to His Majesty and then leave the place.

It bothered me that the heroine was eerily quiet, but...more than that, I wanted to be alone with Alice and hear her answer, so I started walking as quickly as possible, but at the same time could let Alice keep up and not be hurt.