Title: The Spare
Summary: Since when was there a Jake Rapha Holfort in the game?
Julius looked curiously. I simply scowled back. What cruel god decided that I would be reincarnated as the spare prince? I didn't even have the luxury of people trying to kiss my ass since I was the product of Roland (because I refuse to call that bag of STDs Dad) and some random maid.
"So you're my brother?" Julius asked with an unimpressed look.
"Unfortunately," I bit back at the shitstain.
Roland just looked amused while Mylene looked ready to paddle me for having the audacity to disparage her little darling.
"No need to be so rude just because you're not the rightful heir," he scoffed with an irritated expression. Funny how he had yet to develop his distaste for royal life. He would soon come to realize I got the better end of the deal.
"Why would I want such a stupid position?" I said with a shrug.
"Huh? What do you mean by that?" Julius asked in confusion. For a kid who would hate being the crown prince, he sure seemed offended that I wanted nothing to do with the position.
"Being King is a sucker's job. I'd much rather be like Grand Uncle Lucas."
The man was living the dream. Exploring the world, adventuring to his heart's content, bedding refined women if his manners was of any indication, and, most importantly, avoiding paperwork. He was my hero, unlike Roland.
Looking at Roland, I could see he had a conflicted look. The man was likely proud that I was a free spirit like him but hated that I idolized the man who had stuck him with the job.
Looking back at Julius, I saw he was rather angry at the correctly perceived insult. I can't wait for the boy to come to realize that I was going to live the life he wanted, and his envy would be delicious.
It was official, Julius was a weenie. Oh, woe is me. I never had a childhood because it was all lessons on how to run a country on top of required learning, and no one can understand me. The little bastard had the audacity to claim a 9-2 tutoring schedule with breaks for lunch, hugs from Mylene (I'm not jealous), playtime with his friends, and playtime with Angelica (which he definitely made unbearable for himself by just treating Angelica as another assignment). That wasn't even getting into how some of the lessons were just glorified snack time.
"Jake, kindly stop antagonizing your brother. It's unbecoming," Mylene said to me with narrowed eyes as she interrupted my inner monologue.
"What did I do this time?" I asked while looking at Julius who seemed to be stewing again.
"Take your assessment seriously. Regardless of the fact that you are the spare, you need to learn the material," Julius spat.
Looking back down at my sheet, I did a check. It looked good enough to me. There was a reason why my mind drifted.
"I'm finished?" I hesitantly said to Mylene.
"You still have an hour left," she said with a saccharine voice promising pain.
"... can I at least have a snack?" I pushed.
She promptly threw me out the room. So easy.
"You really should stop antagonizing Brother and Mother," my sister/niece said as I scoured the pantry to make her something to eat, much to the chagrin of the palace cooks.
"Please, I'm the child of a commoner woman. They would have taken issue of me regardless of my behavior."
"That still doesn't justify you acting like Father."
"You take that back right now! I'm nothing like Roland."
Erica had an unamused expression as she began to speak heresy.
"You skive off your responsibilities, you constantly antagonize Mother, you dote on me, you constantly ogle the maids, and you are frustratingly capable. Mother often claims you are the second coming of Father. It doesn't help that Father also seems to favor your brusque attitude. A real chip off the old block as they say."
Okay, maybe she wasn't too far off in her assessment. I still found the idea that I was like Roland to be vomit inducing.
"You do realize most of what I do is so that no one has the bright idea of thinking I should take the throne."
"By acting exactly as Father, who is the current King? In case you haven't noticed, Father did the exact same thing you did and still wound up as the king."
"... Fine. I'll actually try not to make an ass of myself."
I stared at Frampton, Offrey, and several of the other prominent lords of their faction. This was what I got for cleaning up my act. All the traitors flocked to me in order to have insurance in case they found Julius lacking, which was becoming increasingly more frequent now that my recent good behavior was paired with my previously acceptable assessments.
You'd figure my middling scores would have warded off these sycophants, but, apparently, they thought my lackluster test results were because I had no motivation to do better. After all, I was the hated spare. The fact that I still passed classes with minimal effort made them believe I was potentially smarter than Julius. The fact that my scores typically were just on the cutoff point lent credence to those absurd (accurate) assumptions.
Julius distaste for me grew as he saw it as me trying to usurp his position, or maybe he was distraught someone worse than him by every metric was somehow being rewarded for laziness.
It really didn't help that Roland made it obvious who he loved more (Erica, me, several maids, several of his other bastards, Julius, ..., and finally Mylene).
Note to self, maybe be less of an ass to Mylene.
A very cute blonde girl, adorned in a maid outfit, stood in front of me with a rather irritated look. It must have taken every ounce of my childhood friend's willpower to maintain a level expression.
Clearly, I wasn't doing a good enough job if I hadn't broken her refined demeanor.
"Hello, Angie. I brought some snacks," I said as I lifted a pink box full of commoner sweets.
"You know you're not supposed to go out into town," Angie said with a plastic expression.
"But Erica hasn't been feeling well as of late. I thought a small pick me up would make her day."
My niece loved the simple things in life. It reminded her of the times when my sister bought her cakes and treats for birthdays and milestones. It was something she deeply missed once her mother died from head trauma. I wondered if my bratty sister was also reborn.
In any case, Erica loved these small things, and who was I to deny her that joy.
"... Be that as it may, you shouldn't put yourself at risk like that," Angie said with a soft expression that allowed her beauty to shine through.
I blushed. This was so messed up. What was wrong with me? She's a child!
"... I also got you something," I said with a light cough before pulling out a raspberry mousse.
Angie eyed the dessert hungrily and quickly gestured to a nearby table. Funny how Angie was just like Julius when it came to wanting to eat something not pretentiously prepared. It was a shame the two could not resolve their issues by honestly talking things out.
And now I felt like shit for not helping Angie...
Ughh... I needed to stop thinking about ruining the plot. Still... the whole situation just left a sour taste in my mouth as I watched Angie let out a content sigh as she ate the mousse.
Maybe... maybe there was a way for me to ensure she did not get banished. Even if the protagonist pursued Julius or the reverse harem route, all I needed to do was ensure that Angie didn't antagonize the protagonist. Regardless of the fact that Angie had the right to ward off other women, it was her justified actions that got her banished.
Now I just had to convince her that she had to be okay with the other woman...
Mission Fucking Impossible
"My name is Stephanie," a young girl shyly introduced herself.
"Jake," I said nervously.
I fucked up. I fucked up. I fucked up.
The girl was Stephanie Fou Offrey, one of the secondary villainesses and all around bitch. How did it come to this?
Oh right. I saw a bunch of snobby girls doing their level best to make someone cry. It rankled my senses enough that I had to just stop it... and I rescued chibi Stephanie.
How was I supposed to know the poor bullied child was a villainess? She was just so pitiful! Nothing like the foaming bitch in the game.
Sensing my distress, Stephanie developed a sad expression.
"I'm sorry."
... Curse my feeble heart. I couldn't bring myself not to cheer her up. A child didn't deserve to be an outcast. I would know. I was one.
Fuuuuuccckkkk! I was engaged to Stephanie! I was just trying to cheer her up! How did that translate into marriage?! She was supposed to be engaged to Brad!
Fuuuuuccckkkk! Why was Angie upset?!
She was jealous over how I would act cordially with Stephanie but misbehave with her? Misbehaving was how I showed affection! I could only be myself with someone I was comfortable with.
Eh, Angie?! Why was she running away?!
Did I say that out loud?
Oh dear.
Fuuuuuccckkkk! Erica was giving me weird looks for seducing a mutiple children! Just like dear old Roland!
It's not like that at all, dear niece of mine! In fact, she's older than me! I'm the victim here!
Eh, Stephanie was behind me? And now she was crying. Goddamnit all!
"Hi, Clarice," I said to my childhood nemesis as I slumped in my seat.
Clarice gave me the stinkeye. She did not like me. It had very little to what I did to her personally.
Julius disliked me on principle, which lead to Jilk disliking me on principle, which lead to Clarice disliking me on principle... which lead to me making her one of the besties on principle.
"Jake," she said dismissively.
"I need advice," I lamented.
"Why should I help you?"
"I'll tell you which store Jilk has taken an interest in recently."
Suddenly I heard a chair scrape near me. Looking to the side, I saw that Clarice had sidled up to me.
"Tell me more."
AN
1) Yeah, this was an unifinished idea that went into a completely different genre when Stephanie got introduced.
2) Leon now has the misfortune of being related to his mortal enemy.
3) And now there's Mommy Mylene and Mommy Mylene.
Review Response
Yolo27th: Wait, is Lelia the official translation or the phonetic translation? I don't have the physical volumes for the Alzer arc and beyond. I see Leila as the far more common translation on the internet. You should approach your writing the way most comfortable to you unless you think a specific perspective will work for the narrative better.