A Katarina Vacation Arc
Eventually, all the guests arrived and Katarina was finally able to get away to eat!
"Aunt Mili said you're not supposed to only talk to people around the buffet, remember?" Olga said blandly. She looked quite nice in her orange and purple dress with her pale hair pulled back with a braid on one side.
"Oh, come on!" Katarina said. "All the food will go to waste if no one eats it."
"You've seen Marie eat cake," Olga said, somehow managing to be even more bland. "Do you really think the cake isn't going to get eaten?"
"But it's such a waste of food!" Katarina said. "All the food just getting left there, not getting eaten, it's just so sad!"
"Nevertheless," Olga said, vividly reminding Katarina of Maria.
And suddenly, Katarina had to wonder what kind of DLC this was. What if this wasn't a directly related DLC but a sidestory DLC?! Olga was acting so Maria-like, but like a watered down, more dere Maria…
AH, what if this was a setup for the sequel?! A really cheap setup, with Olga just rehashing Maria's character and reusing the setting with the protagonist going to the Academy? Katarina vaguely recalled Acchan telling her how another game that Miyazaki-sensei had made was basically just a rehash of the story of his previous game in the series, including repeating the final boss and reusing a bunch of characters… what if this was a situation like that! What if Olga was basically Maria version 2, and this was a DLC setting up the sequel! Except with more yuri routes because they're trying to get into the American market? From what she could remember from that weird American otome game with the time traveling and the tornado, they preferred yuri otome games… and zombies. And yuri games in a zombie setting…
But wait! Did this mean… was Katarina being positioned to be an obstruction or bitchy rival character again! NOOOOOOOOO! No, she wouldn't have it! She'd just managed to escape a bad end in the main game because Maria chose the Sirius/Rafael ending, she wasn't going to die to a DLC! She was going to stop this here and now! She didn't want Olga to somehow end up killing her or something!
Ugh, she missed not being able to go to Fallen God's website for his golden ending walkthroughs. Fallen God, who though singlehandedly revived the galge genre, please send your blessings upon this lone follower in need of guidance!
"Katarina?" Olga said, waving a hand in front of her face and frowning. "Are you all right?"
"Olga," Katarina said, "Whoever you fall in love you, I'll support you."
"W-wha–?" Olga cried, managing to stifle it in the last minute to keep from drawing attention. "W-what are you talking about all of a sudden?"
Katarina took Olga's hands and looked deep into her eyes, trying to will her to understand. She'd one this numerous times with that black-heated prince, but he never seemed to get the message. Hopefully her cousin would be less dense and oblivious. "Olga, I want you to know, no matter who you fall in love with, I'll support you. Even if you have to steal him– or her!— away from another woman– or man!– I'll support your love! No matter what, where, who, how, why or how many, you can count on me to support your love life! Even if it's some kind of taboo relationship, I'll understand and support you! Ah, but I won't condone murdering anyone, all right? That's a crime!"
"….!" Olga said eloquently, flushing completely crimson as she gave Katarina a look very similar to the one the black-hearted prince gave her every time she told him this. Ugh, another dense, love-blind character. Seriously, was Japanese culture that bad, that all media assumed EVERYONE would know relationship cues if it hit them with a big stick? After all, all these decades of of showing how NO ONE can manage to pick up on romantic cues was probably indicative of something… Takahashi-sensei, your influence has much to answer for…!
"Well, just remember that whenever you fall in love, you have your cousin Katarina on your side, okay? Ah, but no crimes or bullying, that's just wrong," Katarina said, finally releasing Olga and then, remembering she needed to do her part in helping Olga be less tsun and more dere, gave her cousin a quick hug. "Well, I'll just go to the buffet and get some food, okay?"
Katarina bounced off, leaving a slack-jawed cousin behind her.
Katarina, because she was trying, talked not only to people around the buffet table, but also the people she met along the way. That counted as 'not just people around the buffet', right?
At the buffet table, Anri was waiting next to… ooh, was that slow-roasted meat? Wow, it was so soft! Why weren't more people eating this?
Ah, well, more for her!
Still, since she was expected to not just be around the buffet table, she found a nice big plate and started piling up. "So, how have you been Lady Anri? What have you been doing since graduation?"
Anri stared at Katarina's plate, which was starting to be filled with meats, cakes, small pastries, and other party foods. Katarina supposed she was hungry. Ah, but don't get from Katarina's plate, okay Anri? "Eh? Ah! Well, I haven't been back home long. it was a long journey back from the Academy, you see."
"Ugh, tell me about it," Katarina said, instantly commiserating. "It rained every day, and all the roads were so muddy, so we went so slow!"
"I know, right!" Anri sighed. "The roads so terrible!"
"But at least the inns were nice," Katarina said. "They had great food too!"
"Ah, as expected of Lady Katarina," Anri said, sounding amused for some reason. Well, of course! Food was important and delicious!
"So you live around here, Lady Anri?" Katarina said.
"Not in Hasard Duchy proper, but we're close enough to be invited," Anri said. "Um, if I may ask, Lady Katarina, is there anyone else with you? I don't believe I've seen Lord Keith abouts… or Lady Mary… or your fiancée…"
"Oh no, it's just me and my mother," Katarina said. "We're visiting family, after all."
"Really!" Anri said, sounding cheerful. Katarina supposed there was something about visiting family that resonated with people. "Then, Lady Katarina, may I–"
"Ah, Katarina, there you are!" Olga said suddenly as she seemed to appear out of nowhere. "Aunt Mili said you're not supposed to only spend your time around the buffet, remember?"
"Don't worry Olga, I'm just loading up," Katarina said. Sheexamined her plate, then grabbed some little finger sandwiches and added it to the pile. One promptly almost fell off, but she managed to catch it and, lacking any place to put it, popped it into her mouth. "Oh, Olga, this is Lady Anri, we're classmates from the Academy."
"Yes Katarina, I know," Olga said, her face going full tsun with villainess eyes. "Lady Asteris. How nice of you to make it."
"Lady Romani," Anri said, suddenly sounding cool and formal. "I am honored to have received an invitation to this event."
"We are glad to see you made it," Olga said, still at maximum tsun.
Katarina looked back and forth between the two of them. "Huh? Why are the two of you acting like that? Olga, Anri, are you hungry? Try these finger sandwiches, they taste really good," she said, picking up said sandwiches and putting one each in their mouths.
The two jerked in surprise as they suddenly found themselves being handfed delicious little one-mouthful finger sandwiches. Olga also spat it out, before seemingly remembering you should waste food, and quickly chewed and swallowed. "C-cousin! Don't do that!" she said.
"L-lady Katarina, not in public, please!" Anri said, no longer sounding so cool and formal.
"But it's delicious, right?" Katarina said. "Here, have another!"
She made to put it in their mouths again, but Olga grabbed it before she could. "I-I can feed myself, cousin," Olga said, then reluctantly ate the sandwich.
"Ah, if Lady Katarina says it's good, then I'm sure it is," Anri said, accepting the finger sandwich and putting it in her mouth with every sign of delight. Could Katarina pick food or what?
"There!" Katarina said. "Now you've both eaten and aren't acting weird anymore."
"The only one acting weird here is you!" Olga said.
"I know, but mom said I couldn't hang around the buffet and only talk to the people there," Katarina said. "Eat some more than come with me Olga. You shouldn't mingle on an empty stomach."
Absently taking some super soft smoked meat from her plate, Katarina moved away from the buffet, licking her fingers.
The two girls stared after her.
"How in the archtrees are the two of you related?" Anri said.
"I ask myself that every day since I've met her," Olga said. "Ugh, why is she licking her fingers, is she a child? Pardon Lady Asteris but I have to keep her from causing a scandal–" She made to go.
"Wait," Anri said, pulling out two handkerchiefs. "You'll need these."
Olga frowned at her, aware her face probably turned it into a full-blown glare. "I have my own handkerchiefs, Lady Asteris. They shall suffice."
"I've seen Lady Katarina eat," Anri said. "Trust me, in this if at nothing else ever again: they won't. Take the handkerchiefs."
Frowning harder, Olga managed to accept them without ripping them out of Anri's hands, then followed after her cousin.
Days later, the handkerchiefs would be returned, laundered and pressed, with a note saying, "My apologies. You were right. Sincerely, Olga Romani."
When she finally found her, Olga was treated to a sight she would have said was impossible: her cousin Katarina looking embarrassed. And it wasn't from the sauce still on her fingers, or the sauce smeared around her mouth. No, it was because Sir Galad, a knight of the Warriors of the Sun, was speaking to her. Granted, many said Sir Galad was second only to Nicol Ascart as the most beautiful man in the kingdom, even with only one hand, but Olga was fairly sure that wasn't what had her cousin blushing.
"– most noble and virtuous of you, assisting those poor women and children," Sir Galad was saying when Olga arrived. "You have my compliments, Lady Claes."
"Oh no, it was nothing," Katarina said, actually blushing. Olga checked to make sure it wasn't some kind of sauce smeared on her face, but no, it was actually blush on her cheeks. "Lady Maria did all the hard working, finding them and saving them from those horrible people. All I did was a little translating."
"Nonsense, Lady Claes," Sir Galad said. "Do not understate your contribution. Without your efforts, those woman would have been left in fear, thinking they had exchanged one prison for another. You were the one who let them know they were free and helped them believe it, allowing them to live with dignity once more. Sad as it is to say, few nobles would have taken the time to do so for nameless, landless slaves taken far from their homes."
"Oh, now you're just exaggerating, Sir Galad," Katarina said. "I'm sure anyone would have done the same if they could speak the language. Why, my friend Lady Diana was often with me, helping speak with the women from Gerudo who didn't understand our language. And Lady Maria does this sort of thing all the time."
The two had attracted a crowd of listners. Olga was glad to see Matthew there, looking wide-eyed and enraptured. She leaned over to her elder sister. "What's going on here," she whispered quietly.
"Sir Galad was just telling us about how he recognized cousin Katarina," Matthew said, sounding excited. "You remember the rumors that the king's Wandering Knight rescued some foreign women who were being held by a slaver? Apparently, Cousin Katarina could speak the foreign language that some of those people knew, so she'd been helping the Warriors of the Sun and other philanthropic covenants help provide for the needs of those women while the Wandering Knight recovered from her battle."
EH? Wait, Cousin Katarina ahd gotten involved in something like that?! "I remember more stories, but there were all vague swamp about the Wandering Knight fighting some sort of fire demon."
"Eh? But the knight covenants have been talking about it for weeks!" Matthew said.
"I don't hear knight covenant rumors sister, those are your circles," Olga said.
"Oh, right," Matthew said, abashed. "Well, I'll tell you later, it's all really exciting and heroic, I had no idea cousin Katarina had been involved…!"
Olga sighed. Now even her own sisters were ignoring her in favor of someone else.
"You have heart of a Sunsister, Lady Claes," Sir Galad was saying. "A pity you are not a knight. The Warriors of the Sun would be proud to have you in our ranks. I suppose we shall have to settle for merely having you as our future queen."
"Eh? Queen?" Katarina said. "Oh no, I'm not suited to be queen at all! I'd probably just embarrass the country. Mary, er, Lady Hunt would be a much better queen than me. I mean, there's nothing she does that she isn't amazing at, I don't think queen is going to be any different. And Lady Berg is much braver and smarter than I am, so she'd be much better at helping Prince Ian run the country than I would be. And Lady Randall… well, just look at her! she already looks very queenly! They'll all be much better candidates than I am."
"Notable as those fine ladies are, Lady Katarina, you do yourself a disservice," Sir Galad said. "For when those who could not speak needed to be heard, it was you who gave them a voice, and did not twist their words for your own gain. I submit that you are equally deserving to stand in that august company you have already complimented so thoroughly."
"Eh?" Olga said, then realized she'd spoken out loud when people stared at her. Well, she was in front now. might as well ask the question. "Why all this talk about Katarina being queen?"
Sir Galad seemed surprised. "Do you not know, Lady Romani?" he said. "Lady Katarina is engaged to his highness, the Third Prince of Sorcier. While I as a knight must refrain from espousing my personal politics, there are many who consider him to be the most likely candidate to succeed his father as king."
Olga stared at Katarina for a moment, who for some reason was blushing even more and muttering "just a shield" under her breath. A recollection suddenly came vividly to mind.
"Ah, no, that was just a matter of honor. When I was young, I accidentally got a scar on my forehead. To make up for it, my friend took responsibility and asked me to become his fiancée to make up for scarring my face. We've been engaged ever since. I told him that the scar is gone now and he doesn't have to do that anymore, but he says the scar is still there. So I'm still engaged. Well, there are circumstances on his end too. If he didn't have a convenient shield protecting him, women would be sending him all sorts of engagement proposals, and he'd probably find that a huge bother. So I act as a shield for him. He's my friend too in addition to being my fiancée, after all. Ah, but don't worry. I've made it quite clear to him that if he ever finds someone he loves I'll be willing to step aside right away so he doesn't have to have me killed to be able to get married."
"Wait, you mean that guy you were telling us about a few days ago was the Third Prince?" Olga exclaimed.
"I told you, it's complicated!" Katarina said.
"The rumors say the Third Prince's fiancée is an amazing lady who's considered a Saintess, so beautiful that everyone she meets falls in love with her," Olga said, recalling every popular rumor. "A highly connected, cunning woman who knows knights, academics, musicians, Ministry Officials and artists. Who's loved by commoners and nobility alike, and who seems to know every last hidden secret of anyone she meets. Who can look straight at Nicol Ascart and not fall in love. Do you mean to tell me… that woman is YOU?!"
"Eh? EH?! Who says that about me?" Katarina cried, looking genuinely shocked. "Are you sure you're not talking about Lady Mary, Prince Alan's fiancée? Talented, beautiful woman, with huge…" Katarina hesitated. "Er, that is, with lots of pride and dignity and is totally the most amazing gardener in the world?"
"No, that's definitely what they say about the Third Prince's fiancée," Matthew confirmed, looking at Katarina with wide eyes.
"EH! Who's been spreading lies about me?!" Katarina said. "I'm not any of those things at all!"
"For some reason, the rumors always forget to mention 'humble'," Sir Galad said, looking amused, but only around his eyes. The rest of his face was utterly serene.
Katarina sighed. "Really, all those rumors aren't true at all!" she said. Then paused. "Well, except the one about Nicol. But only because I've had years to get used to it! I really don't understand why people would say such things about me."
"Didn't you help free all those slaves?" someone, Olga couldn't tell who, asked.
"Well, yes… but it was just the one time!" Katarina said. She sighed and took a small pastry from her plate and swallowed it whole, making Olga wince. "I really don't see where the rest of those rumors come from. Are you sure you're not thinking of Lady Berg?"
As everyone around her stared, hanging on to Katarina's every word, Olga REALLY hoped Aunt Mili would consider this sufficiently far from the buffet. Well, at least she was talking to people…
She wasn't going to get in trouble for this, was she?
How had it come to this!? Olga wailed internally like a salaryman killed by a train who had managed to piss off a godlike being.
And Katarina STILL had sauce smeared on her face!
Sighing, Olga crept forward, drawing out handkerchief as Katarina began relating a story. Something about… fried vegetables at the School Festival… ?
