The (Alleged) Villainess' Dad 3 - (Original Otome, VillainessDad!Reincarnator)
If you wish to Donate and Support: ptreon DOT com / socialistbukharin
King Gert de Malica was a normal monarch. Not a warrior, not a visionary, and definitely not a foolish wimp.
Such is why he found the current escalations of matters of state so horrible for his usually tame tenure. Reforms had started rolling in gradually to improve his subjects' lives, but he wasn't the man penning those. That was his prime minister, and he was glad that he chose him to replace his father's old 'armchair' in that regard.
Fiall was a powerful wizard, but equally a man that could look into the future and see how the monarchy could fall without some adjustments once in a while. Taxation had grown more efficient, but the peasantry had not seen its radical thoughts approached as the nobles carefully coerced a more advanced way of things compared to the past.
It also helped that his Queen, Felicia, was not a yeswoman. She had that sort of stubborn nature that made her an essential part of the monarchy just as much as Gert himself and, loving the woman much, the man saw no point in 'putting her down to her proper level' as some of his old advisors would beg him to. Felicia wasn't the most beautiful woman, but she wasn't the plainest. She was also fairly good in her duty of producing children as their 'treasures' were good by their own views.
Well... that was until this very day as he was urged by some of his servants that Lord Premier Fiall had come to discuss urgent matters, and the King knew perfectly what was going to happen - after all, he had already handed some limitations to his son after his latest mess.
One thing was to be foolish in love- another was to try and strike down his betrothed because she was accused by some stupid girl of 'destroying a dress'!
Years and years of painting the monarchy as a benevolent government was getting torn apart by a boy that was showing himself more and more unhinged as time went on. But while the King was keen to blame his child for this issue, he had to also admit that the boy wasn't the sole culprit. The girl was to blame, but, in a rather unsavory part, he knew his wife had to be blamed for doting too much on the boy. He was to be king in the future, and yet the woman had tried to fill his mind with the ideas of eventually being a knight, or an adventurer, giving him hope for 'freedom' when that should have been crushed as soon as possible in a most kind way.
Right now? This was another mess he had to face. And he could tell right away as he arrived at the private room where the meeting was bound to happen and took notice of his wife's look that it wasn't going to be fun. Even more as he realized Fiall was not alone. Lady Minister Jeaniemas, Lord Buremont and Lord Pascalus.
Considering how the latter was known to be a bit craven, it was telling how much upset he was with the hideous look of rage in his face as he took notice of the king. He had heard that the social-climber that claimed his son had also taken more boys under her, but to learn that it was their heirs meant a lot. Especially for someone like Lady Jeaniemas who had some unflattering tales about similar occurrences in the past.
"Your Majesty, we are glad you could make it," Fiall greeted curtly, the king sitting beside his wife and nodding. "We took the opportunity to provide a glimpse of our grievances to your highness, and we have to admit that it baffles us how little we can see in appeasament from the crown."
"We already scolded and punished the boy. The prince shall never dare to-"
"I care not if he can or cannot dare to try and strike my own child!" Fiall snapped, a rare occurrence considering how calm of a man he was even in times of conflict. It was such a sight that everyone in the room flinched. "The prince got his pocket money taken, and? Was he removed from the cause of this? Nay! All because you're trying to play diplomacy with him!"
"The affairs of the crown are meant to be solved by the crown," The king argued flatly. "But we are working on it. This is just the beginning-"
"I don't think you understand that this is not going to work for us- or anyone in the nobility as we are all concerned with the prince's behavior and the lack of efforts to remove him from the harl- source of disturbances," Lady Jeaniemas interjected, a bold interruption since she cut into the king's own speech. "The truth is that the council already had the chance to thoroughly examine the situation before the matter, and we had established several routes to take within this matter. Since this violent attempt adds a new layer of concerns, we also decided it was time to avoid further hesitation and give you what the nobles demands from the crown."
As the woman finished talking, Lord Buremont passed a small paper to the king and the ruler unraveled it to read it. His eyes narrowed, his teeth gnawed, but his wrath boiled to nothing as he realized this was not a situation that could be rebuked. This was the most powerful tool in the hands of the council, and their mass resignation was going to throw the kingdom in anarchy.
"Fiall... we are friends. This- this is too much."
"You are a good parent, Gert. I know the same for Felicia," The magician argued angrily. "Why are you two covering for your son's mishaps and even enabling them?"
"He- he will go back to normal," The queen offered weakly. "It takes time- it's the first time he falls in love and-"
"P-Perhaps you don't really understand the gravity of the situation, your highness," Lord Pascalus finally jumped in, ditching any lingering hesitation. "M-My son, my heir- that brat took his mind and heart and she feels enabled by the fact she has an easy time leading the prince- what about the kingdom? What about the future for our children?!"
Pascalus calmed down as Buremont landed a hand by his shoulder, squeezing and allowing the fellow man to ease his posture for a moment.
"Is the prince going to be pulled away from that girl?"
"No-" "Yes."
The queen turned to the king, and Gert had a strong look on his face.
"My king, this is-"
"I am afraid what we feels is no longer viable for our next steps," The king quipped with a tight tone. "The nobles are not going to support us if we allow this matter to sit for too long. Pirte shall be distanced by the girl."
"He- he will hate us. Dear, this is not something we can-"
"Enough!" Fiall snarled angrily. "His feelings? What about my daughter's feelings at having to see her future husband cheating on her? Being shunned by others as a pariah and then being almost struck by the one that was told would be her caring husband?!"
"Fiall-" Gert felt this was spiralling out of control.
"No, enough! I have given so much leeway, and yet there seems to be a dissonance between duties and feelings," Fiall snapped back, glaring at the king as the two shared a bitter exchange of glances. "Like the Queen, I shall follow my daughter's heart and demand the dissolution of the betrothal I had forced her to abide because you two said would be beneficial. I see no longer the point of this, and I demand its dissolution!"
"I-I will not stand by this, Fiall," Felicia said nervously, but this was a mistake, especially as the king caught the familiar hollow glare that struck him together with the magical pressure that had the guards unsheathe their blades and take a protective stance by the rulers' side.
Fiall's angry look, the very one he bore when he learned his wife had passed away, was back.
"You dare to force my daughter, my blood, to be forced to such an humiliation?!" The premier growled furiously. "Nay, enough is enough!"
He stood up, holding a hand by his chest.
"By the power of magic and my role as the representative of the Royal Council, I impose these demands: Prince Pirte's claim to the throne shall be discarded; Princess Elena shall claim the role of Crown Princess; and the dissolution of the betrothal between Meryall de Bendily with Pirte de Malica."
The queen paled considerably, trying to say something, but the king's hand slammed by her mouth. Shock at such a traitorous action, a glare from her husband silenced Felicia as Gert provided a tired look.
"By the power of magic and my role as King of Malica, I shall... accept all demands."
This could have been avoided, Gert confessed to himself as the rest of the meeting was the withdrawal of the nobles and the sudden 'escape' of his wife to her room. It was his fault for thinking his boy could be fixed with a stern talk as he had underestimated how much his wife had coddled the child but...
At least he could live with the more down-to-earth mindset of his youngest child - Elena was going to be upset to be taken away from the border, but she was going to understand 'why' she was taken away and... let's hope distance made her less displeased with her brother.
Delilah Martesy had a feeling something went awfully wrong.
After all, she followed all the right steps to get her prince, her knight, her trader, and her spy all under her spell. It worked... partially. The villainess, Meryall, had behaved in a strange way around her after some canon events, and ended up succeeding in fixing her reputation while damaging her prince's pride.
That was a red flag... coupled with the few glares and rumors aimed at her as she wandered the halls. Delilah was called many things: a harlot, a man-eater, and a spy from a foreign kingdom. These were all definitely spread by Meryall! Yet no amount of her precious pets' efforts seemed to solve this issue.
Nay, it felt like this were only getting worse for her as time went on and... then she got handed the most horrible news: she had been expelled.
The news had been the ultimate defeat for Delilah. All these years of patiently waiting, remembering the right things to do, to imagine the power she would have over others- none mattered as she found herself crying for real over the paper that had her removed from her path to grloy. Her harem would follow her to hell and back, but she needed to be around for the rest of the boys to seduce. She only had those from the first game, what about those from the sequels?
It felt fitting for Delilah to claim as much power and love as possible - she deserved just that much after a previous life of injustice.
First she was scorned as someone jealous that would nag at her siblings to 'be like them' and yet failing short to stand out, then she would try to make a few relationships work by being willing to give up her body to some handsome rich boys but... they didn't like her lack of class and 'inability to handle house chores'.
And then she got booted out of college because she skipped classes one too many times!
The first life she had was horrible, and the one as the Heroine of her favorite otome game should have been great! She had everything memorized like a creep, she had seduced the silly boys that wanted to 'reach out for a listener' and then- and then she had nothing!
Without hesitation, Delilah stormed to find the source of her problems: Meryall! She had to have caused her expulsion. She was the daughter of the Prime Minister, maybe he forced the headmaster's hand to have her expelled despite having a unique affinity and even some impressive grades all thanks to her boytoys! Yes, it made sense in her mind. The villainess was to blame!
Yet, as Delilah reached her destination, she was baffled by the sight of an open door leading to Meryall's dorm and... finding nothing there. The room had been completely vacated by a while now.
Upon asking around, Delilah learned no one wanted to talk with her and... that Meryall had been pulled out of school.
"W-Why?"
The teacher that had shown her some sympathy, the one for Magic Combat, gave her a shrug.
"My understanding is that the Prime Minister got fed up with the school's behavior around your affair and decided that his daughter could not be subjected to further harassment. He had her removed, and even took away all funds his noble house provided to the Royal Academy."
...Why?
Why would a side-character like that move this way? Why would the Prime Minister be so worried for his daughter? What about politics? What about the king?
Actually, how come Delilah couldn't find Pirte anywhere?! As she strolled about, she was notified by the rest of the harem that-
"T-The king did what!?"
Pirte had been removed from school too by royal decree and was to return home. He left behind a letter promising that they would reunite in the future but... if the king said no, then that wasn't going to happen. Of the many things that Delilah knew of Pirte was that the boy was worthless in terms of escaping his own guards or enforcing his will.
In less than a week, Delilah has lost 1) her stay at the Royal Academy, 2) her villainess and 3) the jewel of her reverse harem!
Why? Why did it came down to this? I did all I needed to do following the game so... what went wrong?!
AN
Meryall got pulled out of school, what about her education!? Worry not! MC!Dad has a plan and it involves the 'old days' of his second life!
Isn't it weird that some of these stories take a big-ass time developing the 'path to exit' from the toxic schools? Well, Dad ain't going to waste any time in leaving his daughter in a bad place for her education! She will learn the old fashioned way!