I’m the Villainess, So I’m Taming the Final Boss, Vol. 4, page 6
“That’s right. I will cooperate, though. After all, I doubt I’ll have another opportunity to join forces with Lady Aileen. Rachel, I’d like you to redo my hair as well.”
“What?”
“I’m currently Lady Aileen’s lady-in-waiting. I must look the part, mustn’t I?!” Lilia clings to Rachel’s arm, coaxing her like an ordinary young noblewoman.
Serena is watching them as if the sight is deeply unsettling. Aileen turns to her. “Serena. Don’t take your eyes off Lady Lilia. She is most definitely not our ally.”
“…I’ll do what I can. Getting kidnapped with this group was rotten luck.”
“No, that’s not true. In a way, it’s reassuring.” Aileen and Lilia are the only ones who are aware of it, but both Rachel and Serena were deeply tied to the game series as well. It should be possible for them to throw a wrench into its works. “Behave yourself and help us out this time. Our current situation really is rather desperate.”
“…Fine. Besides, I might get to see your face when word gets around that you’ve had an affair a month into your marriage.”
Serena’s last taunt makes Aileen freeze up.
She’d let her anger take over so she wouldn’t have to think about it, but once she does begin to think, she breaks out in a cold sweat. Even if she was forced into it under threat of violence, Aileen has become another man’s consort.
If she explains, she has no doubt Claude will understand that there was no alternative. However, it wouldn’t be surprising if half the world were covered in ice before she managed to explain everything.
What she fears most is that Claude may come to the Kingdom of Ashmael in search of her.
I’ll conduct this romance at top speed. I need to leave this place before Master Claude finds out.
She can’t ask her husband for help in a country whose holy sword could harm him. As his wife, it would be unforgivable.
So please, Master Claude, just this once, be a bumbling, incompetent husband who can’t find his wife!
This is, of course, to protect him from the holy sword. Not because Aileen is deathly afraid he’ll find out she’s a consort. She could never be scared of her kind husband. No, never.
With Serena and Lilia joining Rachel as her ladies-in-waiting, Aileen follows Ares. She walks carefully, confirming the locations of buildings and paths. Every time she spots a background from the game, she almost sighs.
In contrast, Lilia seems to be in a terrific mood. Almost immediately, she asks Aileen, “What will we do if it’s the tea party event?”
The “tea party” event occurs in the initial stage of the game. Having entered the harem as a maid, the heroine is ordered to wait at table, and she ends up spilling tea. Since she goes on to form a relationship with the character who gets splashed, it serves as a love interest selection.
“They’re already calling the heroine the Daughter of God. An early event like that will be long over.”
“But there’s no guarantee that Sahra is on Ares’s route. Though I do think it would be entertaining to romance him.”
“—Did you just say Sahra?” Abruptly, Ares stops and turns back slightly.
Aileen responds before Lilia can say anything. “Yes, we’re told that she is the Daughter of God. What sort of person is she?”
When she tries to sound him out, Ares glares at her.
Ares is a military general and the son of the previous holy king’s younger brother, which makes him Baal’s cousin. While he doesn’t manifest holy power, he has both popular support and the right to inherit the throne. He frequents the harem on a regular basis, with Baal’s permission. In the game, he’s the main hero, and he gradually grows repulsed by the king’s tyrannical behavior and the way he kidnaps women for his harem.
On the Ares route, he ultimately starts a revolution. He and the Daughter of God defeat Baal, whose mind has been taken over by the fiend dragon. He is then given the holy sword and becomes the new holy king.
Among other things, Game 3 is the tale of a revolution that topples a wicked ruler. Learning what Ares thinks of Sahra, and of Baal, will be an excellent way to grasp how far the game has progressed.
“She is a woman with the sacred power to heal, chosen by God. She isn’t like any of you.”
“My… You seem to know a lot about her.”
“Of course I do. She is my wife.”
Aileen stops in her tracks. “Your wife?”
“That’s right. Consort Aileen, tea will be held in that pavilion over there.”
Before she’s managed to get her thoughts in order, she finds herself confronted with a foreign landscape.
Planned waterways have been designed to look like small brooks, and the sound of their murmuring envelops the garden. Stone bridges and paths are surrounded by verdant lawns and great trees. In a desert country, such luxury is possible only because water is abundant here.
A marble pavilion sits in its center. It’s surrounded by more channels of water, and bridges lead to it from the four cardinal directions, linking it to the harem and the quarters known as “palaces.”
She knows this because she’s seen that exact view as a still image in the game.
No, forget about that. Did he just say “wife”?
Her eyes go to Lilia. Lilia is also blinking, stunned. Apparently, Aileen wasn’t hearing things.
“Um, General Ares. About what you just mentioned…”
“Roxane, why are you the only one here?”
Ares has set off toward the pavilion, and when Aileen hears what he says, her mind freezes up again.
She can see a lone figure in the pavilion, on the other side of a small bridge.
Roxane Fusca, the villainess of Regalia of Saints, Demons, and Maidens 3. She’s a beautiful girl, with translucent porcelain skin, pale silver hair, and cold eyes. She is from the house of Fusca, a distinguished family in Ashmael, and she was betrothed to Ares at birth.
A true aristocrat, she deals with the lowborn heroine harshly. As the game progresses, she torments her in ways unique to a harem—trying to kill Sahra with poison and informing Baal of her relationship with Ares in an attempt to get her executed—and she even secretly colludes with the fiend dragon.
However, she gets the standard ending: Her various machinations are denounced by Ares and the heroine, and her engagement is dissolved.
“Where is His Majesty? Don’t tell me…” Ares seems anxious.
In contrast, Roxane responds so quietly that her doll-like face doesn’t move at all. “He heard that Sahra was in the harem kitchens and went to fetch her.”
“For the love of…!” Ares tsks in mingled irritation and disbelief. He turns to Aileen again. “Wait here. I’ll go retrieve His Majesty.”
“…Yes, but first, who is the lady?” Aileen needs confirmation. That’s all she intends the question to be, but Ares nods, then says something preposterous.
“Queen Roxane. She is King Baal’s principal consort.”
“?!”
There’s no telling what Ares has thought of Aileen’s astonishment. He turns to Roxane and introduces her rapidly. “Roxane, this is Aileen; she’s a new high-ranking consort.”
“I know of her. After all, as principal consort, the harem is under my jurisdiction.”
Roxane speaks indifferently, and Ares’s expression sours. “Don’t think that means you can throw your weight around… Chat with each other for a little while. Consort Aileen, Roxane is the holy king’s official wife. She outranks you—or rather, she is the highest-ranking consort of all. Be careful: The woman has driven many consorts from the harem.”
Dropping that remark, and without giving anyone a chance to respond, Ares starts to walk quickly back the way they’ve just come.
…Huh? What did he just say? The holy king’s official wife? —She isn’t Ares’s fiancée?!
When she glances at Lilia again, she is standing with her mouth hanging open. That means Aileen hasn’t misremembered.
Reality doesn’t match the game’s plot.
“…If you’re curious about Lady Sahra, you may follow him,” Roxane says, in a voice as thin and soft as rain. She won’t even look them in the eye. “It isn’t pleasant to see you standing there in a daze.”
“You heard her. Lady Aileen, let’s go.”
Clearly excited, Lilia is the first to turn on her heel. Aileen hastily follows her. Serena and Rachel are bewildered, but they exchange glances and go along with them.
“But where are we going?”
“To the harem kitchens, obviously. They’re this way.”
“How do you even know that…? You really are crazy…”
Serena seems creeped out, but Lilia tells her it’s a secret and leads the way. Her confident steps impress even Aileen. Lilia has played this game in depth as well.
And now, when the difference between reality and the game is so immense, that may prove helpful.
A voice as lovely as a songbird’s breaks her train of thought. “Master Baal! I’m sorry, I was supposed to come to you…”
Harem maids have bowed their heads, stepping aside to clear a path. Here, where only the underservants go, the nation’s king is laughing.
“Be at ease. We suspected you’d be haunting the kitchens. You may be married, but you’re still a hard worker, Sahra.”
At the sound of that name, Aileen stops, fixing her eyes on the girl in the distance.
Sahra! It’s her, the heroine of Game 3…!
Sunlight filters through the silky, lustrous pink hair that falls to her shoulders. Her large violet eyes and rosebud lips hold a mischievous smile. Clouds of aromatic steam rise from the large pot she’s carrying. Apparently, she’s been cooking. That’s right: In the game, Sahra first worked as a cook. As she smiles at Baal, her long, canary-yellow kaftan sways.
Hmm? She’s wearing canary yellow? But the harem attendants are supposed to wear light green…
Upon closer inspection, she sees that the cut of Sahra’s clothes is different as well. No, more than that— She had heard the word married just now, hadn’t she? As she’s thinking, Ares abruptly emerges from the bushes beside her.
“Sahra! You’re here again… And you, Your Majesty! I asked you to wait in the central garden!”
“What, Ares, did you get lost again? You’re late.”
“I don’t know my way around the harem…!”
With a cheerful laugh, Baal turns back to bronze-skinned Ares. When Sahra sees him, her face lights up. “Ares! Look, it came out well! I thought I’d serve it to all of you.”
“You’re no longer a servant. Why would you come here to use the kitchens…?!”
“I-I’m sorry. I’m less likely to get lost here than in the palace.”
“Ares, Ares. It’s fine. We’ve told Sahra she may return to the harem whenever she likes.”
There’s no room for Aileen or the others to break into their cheerful conversation.
A soft voice reaches her ears. “He’s the same as ever.” It’s one of the attendants who are standing with bowed heads.
“His Majesty still has feelings for Lady Sahra, doesn’t he?” responds another.
“Even though he allowed her to leave and marry General Ares?”
“Only because he couldn’t fight with the general over a woman. After all, as His Majesty’s cousin, General Ares has the right to inherit the throne. He relinquished his claim to keep the kingdom from being torn in two.”
There are times when women’s gossip is the best source of information. Aileen compares what she’s hearing to her game knowledge, putting it in order.
“I heard that King Baal and General Ares arranged it together, as a way to protect Lady Sahra.”
“Mm, yes, perhaps. When General Ares married Lady Sahra, he presented Lady Roxane, his own fiancée, to His Majesty. Everyone says it’s because Lady Roxane was infatuated with General Ares: They’re keeping a close eye on her to ensure she doesn’t harm Lady Sahra.”
“I heard that Lady Roxane negotiated with King Baal: Provided he made her his principal consort, she wouldn’t hold a grudge against Lady Sahra for stealing General Ares.”
Like Aileen, Serena has been listening in, and she’s starting to look rather disturbed. “Oof… Roxane? Isn’t she the consort we just met? Talk about sordid.”
“It does sound that way… Granted, it’s not exactly unusual, but…” Rachel looks troubled.
True, it’s rather common for two men to fight over a woman. Even in the game, depending on affection levels, that sort of event occasionally occurred. However, Aileen’s attention is elsewhere. Wait just a minute. If Sahra really is married, then that means…
Ares is the main hero, and his route is the so-called standard route. If Sahra has married him, she’s achieved the ending where his affection level is as high as possible. In other words, she’s finished romancing him.
But Baal is the final boss on the Ares route, and he’s still holy king. On top of that, the villainess Roxane has simply had her engagement broken. Not only has she not been executed, she’s Baal’s official wife…?
From the moment she heard of the fiend dragon’s resurrection, Aileen knew the game was entering its second half, but she’d never dreamed it was already over.
“Oh? Your Majesty. Who are they…?”
“Ah, our new consort and her ladies-in-waiting.”
“I knew it! You’re Miss Aileen, then?” Sahra comes running up to her with a smile. Her innocent manner is a good fit for a heroine. “Ares says you destroyed the holy item!”
“Sahra. I told you, that holy item was quite old and worn. It was only coincidence that it broke.”
“I know that. The fiend dragon isn’t the only thing threatening the country right now, though. Our neighbor, Imperial Ellmeyer, has fallen to the demon king… We can’t count on the Maid of the Sacred Sword, but my power alone may not be enough to protect the kingdom. I’ll need everyone’s help. I’d like you to lend me your strength.”
Smiling, Aileen listens without moving so much as an eyebrow. The other girl squeezes her hand. “Everyone says I’m the Daughter of God, but please just call me Sahra. There’s no need for formalities. Let’s be friends.”
“…Yes, Lady Sahra.” Aileen is being formal in spite of the request, and Sahra’s eyes widen. However, she promptly smiles as though that was what she expected would happen. She probably thinks Aileen is just being reserved.
When Sahra calls for everyone to come along, Ares follows her, looking relieved in a weary sort of way, and Baal follows him. When he passes in front of Aileen, Baal leans forward slightly and whispers, “The moment you hurt Sahra, you will cease to be useful. Watch yourself.”
“I have no reason to hurt her.”
“The Daughter of God must be an eyesore to you, Maid of the Sacred Sword. The holy sword is in her hands.”
“Oh, then you mean it hasn’t been repaired yet?”
Baal’s eyes widen slightly. Then he offers her a smile that doesn’t go past his lips. “Who can say? …We don’t dislike clever women.”
Deftly dodging her question, he strides away. Aileen exhales heavily, watching the trio’s receding backs. Sahra beams at Baal with a pure, innocent smile, and he returns it with one of his own.
…Is he a fool? She’s someone else’s wife.
However, thanks to her former fiancé, she’s seen a man lose his head for love before, so she isn’t really surprised.
“‘We can’t count on the Maid of the Sacred Sword,’ she says. She’s only the heroine of a sequel. I sense no respect for past installments,” Lilia says, coming up beside her. This is the woman who taught Aileen how pathetic and foolish men could be when they went mad for love. “It looks as if we won’t be able to simply boost Sahra’s parameters, snatch the holy sword and be done with it, Lady Aileen.”
“That’s how it always is. Don’t tell me you’ve lost your nerve.”
“Of course not. I am the player, you know.”
“As long as you’re confident, that’s all that matters. Let’s go.”
Ignorance is a crime: Unwittingly, the Daughter of God has made enemies of two Maids of the Sacred Sword.
Her first priority is information. Aileen must learn why neither the final boss nor the fiend dragon have been vanquished, even though the Ares route has reached its conclusion.
I can’t sense any trace of the fiend dragon in the holy king, either. I have no idea what’s happening here…
Depending on the situation, they may have to revise their plan to take the holy sword.
“Sahra says she’s baked a snack for us. Replace both the sweets and the tea, Roxane.”
“…Yes, Your Majesty. Let us have black tea, then.”
No sooner have they returned to the pavilion than Baal gives an arrogant order. Acknowledging it, Roxane sets to work. When she sees this, Sahra is flustered. “What? But the sweets here already are quite wonderful as they are…”
“They’re just ready-made stuff. They could never equal something you prepared yourself. Besides, we aren’t throwing them away, we’re bestowing them on others. No doubt someone will enjoy them.”
“I-in that case… Miss Roxane, I’m sorry. You were the one who brought these, weren’t you…?”
“Don’t fret over that; it’s Roxane’s duty. Come, Sahra, sit down. We’ll listen to your complaints about Ares.”
Baal’s casual tone makes Ares grimace. “Your Majesty…”
“No you don’t, Ares. You’re our guard. Just watch your dear wife talk with us from there.”
Sahra’s smiling wryly. Ares sighs in resignation. The mood among the three of them is tranquil.
Frankly, though, this is unpleasant. Especially General Ares’s attitude. Proudly watching another man fawn over his own wife…
Either his self-confidence is incredible, or he unconsciously considers the holy king beneath him.
But she’s the most unsettling one.
Aileen steals a glance at Roxane. The woman is setting out tea and sweets in an impassive, businesslike way.
The role of hosting tea parties falls to the wife, the mistress of the house, and so what Baal is saying isn’t outrageous in and of itself. However, Roxane looks less like a wife and more like a lady-in-waiting or a simple maid. Her face is perfectly expressionless, and she works efficiently, hardly speaking at all.
