Chapter 3: In Order to Change the Future

 

“Rosalind-ojou-sama! Aah, wait!”

 

Reincarnation year 1. I threw out my embroidery and escaped from the room. The governess and maids chased after me, but I skillfully scattered them and headed toward my destination.

 

“Geez! As it is even though I’m on the watch out for my disastrous future, I don’t need to do things like small embroidery!”

 

Once I couldn’t see my pursuers’ figures, I spoke bitterly alone.

 

“Now, I’ll head to where onii-sama is.”

 

The Stanley marquis family’s residence was constructed in the middle of a fortress. Within the castle called Stanley Castle, there were buildings other than the residence: the employee quarters, training grounds, library, workshop, jail, arena, and other facilities.

 

“Because it’s uselessly big, I often got lost. But after spending a year, I of course got used to it.”

 

Marquis Stanley’s territory, the Arch Territory, was on the border facing the Kingdom of Valhalla. Thus, the Stanley marquis family was uniquely allowed to have a military force.

The chivalric order called the Arch Knight Order was its representative. It was made of mostly infantry, archers, and cavalry (horses・winged dragons). Although mostly filled with people from the knight class, in times of emergency, civilian conscriptions and mercenaries were also accepted. Apparently, commoners who earned merits of war were appointed the one generation long aristocratic peerage of knight.

Onii-sama received education and combat training from the Arch Knight Order inside the castle. On the other hand, I, the little sister, learned embroidery, painting, music, and language studies as well as household affairs――wholly a lady’s education so to speak.

Frankly speaking, I didn’t find it agreeable with my nature. The Rosalind who had been an archetypal noble lady had followed the road to a disastrous fate. Therefore, I wanted not to have a lady’s education but to receive equal education with my brother to become strong.

 

”Onii-sama~!”

 

When I rushed to the training grounds where onii-sama was receiving swordsmanship instruction, it just so happened that they seemed to be on break. Onii-sama scooped me up in his arms.

 

“Rosalin! You went against your instructions and came here today again? This kid can’t be helped!”

“But I was bored!”

“What were you doing today? Painting? Embroidery? You’re really bad at staying in your room obediently!”

“It’s better if I train together with onii-sama! Even indoors, I prefer studying with onii-sama!”

“Even though you’re a girl, you’re interested in combat and military affairs. If you’re like this, you won’t be able to be a wife.”

“That’s fine!”

 

Although onii-sama spoke as if scolding me, he didn’t turn me over. Thinking about the future, rather than receiving a lady’s education, I wanted to do practical things.

 

“Hey, onii-sama. I want to become onii-sama’s strength. I’ll study and train a lot. It’s my dream to be useful to onii-sama in the future. I won’t get married!”

“Geez, my goodness, what a troublesome girl.”

 

Though he said that, my brother’s face was affectionate. If I earnestly requested to him, I generally won; he allowed me to accompany him in his studies and training. My parents didn’t seem like they would be willing, but with onii-sama’s persuasion, they came around and ultimately gave in.

 

“Randolph-sama, the break is over. Will Rosalind-sama also be receiving instruction? Then please use this fake sword.”

”Thank you!”

 

The instructor, an old knight, was completely accustomed to me, so he had prepared a fake sword matching my size. On that day as well I received training to the point that I couldn’t lift my shoulders. After training, I washed off my sweat in the bath and had dinner. Returning to my bedroom, I slept like a log.

 

 

Today was classroom learning. I was studying history, geography, culture, international affairs, military affairs, and sometimes economics in the library.

 

“The Kingdom of Amelia has a history of 200 years. It is a feudal kingdom with a large territory where there are feudal lords below the king. Under the aristocracy are the knights followed by the many commoners.”

”A feudal kingdom?”

“The king and feudal lord’s give and take relationship makes up the kingdom’s form. The king gives protection to all of the feudal lords, and in exchange, the feudal lords swear an oath of allegiance to the king. Under a large feudal lord, there are numerous aristocrats and knights who bear the responsibility of the territory’s management and armaments.

“Huh. It’s different from an absolute monarchy?”

“An absolute monarchy’s king has greater power and jurisdiction than that of a feudal kingdom. There is greater centralization of power. Our neighboring Kingdom of Valhalla is an absolute monarchy.”

 

When I quietly asked onii-sama beside me about things I was curious about, the old teacher who was our instructor lightly cleared his throat.

 

“The Amelia royal family is the descendants of an ancient magic empire. They are of the few existing magic users.”

“Magic!? We can use magic!?”

“It is a mysterious power that only a very small number of influential people can use now. In the Kingdom of Amelia, magic use is limited to only those with the blood of the royal family. Hence, marriages of the royal family are strictly managed.

“Huh, that’s boring.”

 

When I grumbled, the old teacher once again cleared his throat.

 

“The Kingdom of Amelia has a history of conquering its neighboring kingdoms because of its magic power. It was especially so for the previous generation’s King Cyrus who had such a belligerent personality that he had the nickname ‘Hegemon.’ Holding overwhelming military might, he set out to expand the kingdom’s territory.”

“Huh~”

“Up until twenty years ago, in the vicinity of Stanley Castle was the border with the Kingdom of Valhalla. After King Cyrus’ territorial expansion, the border moved further north to a certain Fort Horns. However, after King Cyrus’ death, the royal family’s ruling power weakened. Opposing lords’ power and influence grew stronger――”

“Rosalin, Rosalin, are you okay?”

“Hmh……ha!? I-I’m okay, onii-sama!”

 

Although in this one year I had completely mastered the writing and reading of the language of Amelia, this sort of studying made me drowsy.

Rather wasn’t the teacher’s detached talking voice extremely compatible with the early afternoon? It was more effective than unskillful hypnotism.

 

“The Kingdom of Valhalla is located around the northern extremity of the mainland. Due to geographical influences, the Kingdom of Amelia assists in trade with the Kingdom of Valhalla. However, in recent years dissatisfied voices that the tariffs are too high have increased――”

“Zzzz zzzz”

“Already the people of Valhalla have a deep animosity for their loss of territory in the battles 20 years ago――”

“Rosalin, hey, Rosalin.”

“The Stanley marquis family shoulders the responsibility of the cornerstone of defensive preparations in the Arch Territory, using military might as well as diplomacy to avoid conflict and protect the fief――”

“Hm, wha, onii-sama…… Fwaaa……”

 

What, was it already morning? It was rare for onii-sama to come wake me up.

I let out a large yawn and opened my eyes. What flew into my field of vision was the form of the teacher who had changed to a demon-like expression.

 

 

So that onii-sama would learn unembarrassing behavior as the next marquis, he also received etiquette lessons. Although I discarded my lady’s education, if I were to receive the same lessons on manners as onii-sama, I would take them without complaints.

 

“Etiquette is also important, you know. If we don’t acquire manners as the upper class, when meeting royalty and other nobility, we will create embarrassing experiences.”

“Yes, onii-sama!”

 

There was both classroom learning and practice. It made me a bit ill at ease, but if I was with onii-sama, I had fun doing it.

 

“Having Rosalind learn manners through the same lessons as Randolph seems good, doesn’t it?”

 

Mother who came to see the state of affairs said that. She seemed to have judged that this was more effective than having me take a lady’s education against my will. She was an unexpectedly flexible person. Henceforth, I came to openly receive the same lessons as onii-sama. While nonetheless, there were issues and complaints at times, in general, things went as I desired.

 

 

“Onii-sama, onii-sama!”

 

I always clung to my brother Randolph. 

 

“Hah~ onii-sama is the best. Good looking, smart, and kind. He’s surely the utmost ideal best onii-sama for all maidens!”

 

However, it was sad. In the game Rose of the Battlefield, onii-sama had the position of the villainess’ brother.

He had no relation to the heroine Eugenie whatsoever. Though I saw him as the best onii-sama, to Eugenie, he was a siscon big brother who pampered a detestable woman, making him highly unpopular.

 

“However, since Eugenie is a good girl, I doubt she would say bad things about onii-sama.”

 

On a side note, no matter how ideal onii-sama was, feelings beyond familial love did not well up within me. Since we were blood related, that was an obvious. I was thinking of wanting to have my brother and Eugenie marry each other. For that sake, it was necessary to know my brother, but.

――When I reached my second year of reincarnation, I had full-heartedly become emotionally attached to onii-sama.

Chapter 4: Meeting the Heroine

 

“Onii-sama, you’re slow~. You still haven’t come back~”

 

On that day, I impatiently waited for the return of my brother who had gone out hunting. I gazed at the forest from a second floor window where I had an unbroken view of the outside. Onii-sama periodically left to go hunting in order to polish his horseback riding and leadership skills. Before long I saw the hunting party return and hurriedly started running.

 

“Onii-sama, welcome back!”

 

When he noticed me, onii-sama dismounted from his horse. I ran into onii-sama to embrace him.

 

“Rosalin! Take a look. I hunted a deer monster today!”

“Wow, amazing! As expected of onii-sama!”

“Tonight we’re having venison roast!”

 

Hooray! It was real wild game!

 

As deer monster does not taste much different from normal deer meat, its value as food ingredients was high. Behind the castle, the forest called Stanley Forest extended. Monsters and beasts frequently appeared. Because they increase in numbers too much during breeding season and come out of the forest and lay waste to the plantations in the vicinity, they would be periodically hunted to manage the numbers.

 

“Aw, I also wanted to go.”

“Rosalind, you can still only ride ponies. But that’s right, you might be able to go hunting with us next year.”

“Yes!”

 

Then one year later, onii-sama’s prediction came true. When I turned eight years old, I put on my custom-made pants and boots and mounted my horse. I held a weapon and accompanied them to go hunting.

 

 

“It went over there, Rosalin!”

“Yes, onii-sama!”

 

The prey driven on by the hunting dog jumped out before our eyes. We followed onii-sama’s orders and aimed our spears at the prey, a boar-type monster. I served the role of weakening the monster, and lastly onii-sama killed the prey with his spear.

 

“Ooh! Rosalind-sama, nice assist!”

“You wouldn’t think that this is her first time out hunting!”

 

I was showered with words of praise from the huntsmen who came hunting with us.

 

“Ohohoho! This is nothing special!”

 

Reincarnation year 3. I had perfectly become accustomed to being a noble young miss. Well, I was originally an otaku. I had mastered the language of noble girls in an online noble girl club.

 

“Now, let us continue hunting! Let us slaughter the monsters in this forest!”

“You can’t slaughter them, Rosalin. Monsters are part of the forest’s ecosystem. Although we will hunt those that have increased in number to the point of harm and those that damage human habitation.”

“Uh, yes. That’s right. Onii-sama!”

 

“The monsters we killed today are of the species that damaged the fields of Lowes Village last year. If we hunt a few more, we might be able to prevent an increase of them this year.”

 

Onii-sama’s sat on his horse, his hair fluttering and his white teeth peeking out in his smile. The 13 year old onii-sama whose voice had finished changing had recently become more and more cool.

 

“Now, let’s go hunt the next game!”

“Yes, onii-sama!”

 

Forgetting myself after awakening to the joy of hunting, I got excited and spurred my horse to gallop.

 

“Hey, Rosalin, where did you go!?”

“Rosalind-sama~!”

 

When I realized it, I had separated from onii-sama and the group.

 

“Hm, hm? Where would this be? Well, it’s fine. Let’s head back.”

 

The horse I was riding was one used to hunting, so it had already entered the forest many times. It remembered the way back, so I had no need to worry.

 

“……――!”

“Eh?”

 

At that moment, I heard a small scream-like voice in the distance.

Was it my imagination? Was it the cry of a bird? ……No, that was the voice of a person. It was the scream of a girl. There were no girls among the group that entered the forest with me. That meant a girl from the nearby village had gotten lost?

No good! I spurred my horse and headed toward the direction I heard the scream from.

 

“No! Help!”

 

At the destination I finally arrived at, there was a girl around my age being chased by a pig-type monster. The girl stumbled. Immediately, the monster made to attack her.

 

“Look out!”

 

I quickly made my horse slide behind the monster and stabbed the monster from behind with my spear. The angered monster’s attention went to me, and it charged at me with vigor.

 

“Hoh!”

 

I nimbly avoided it on my horse. The recklessly charging monster crashed into the large tree behind me and became disoriented. I jumped off of my horse and thrust my spear into the monster’s neck. My speartip cut into its artery like it was being sucked in. I felt in my hands that I had killed the monster. The monster trembled, and then it finally stopped moving. 

 

“Huff, huff. Are you okay?”

“Y-yes. Thank you. You saved me.”

“You’re welcome.”

 

When I turned around and ascertained that the girl was fine, my heart felt like it would stop.

 

Soft chestnut-colored hair, emerald-like eyes. Smooth and tender skin. Soft and plump cheeks. Cherry blossom colored lips against those rosy cheeks. The girl I saved was a girl so beautiful you would doubt your eyes.

C-cuuuuuuuuute!

Eh, what, this girl!? Was she a doll? A princess? An angel? A forest fairy!? 

 

“Wha――what were you doing in such a place!? From appearance, you must be a kid from the nearby village, right? Didn’t you hear that it’s dangerous in the Stanley Forest now because monsters are coming out!? It’s crazy for a girl to come into the forest by herself!”

 

After I got excited in front of the overly beautiful girl and said everything in one go, the girl stared at me in wonder.

 

“Um, but you are also……”

“I-I’m okay! I’m with onii-sama! Right now we’re a bit separated, but I’m not lost! I properly know the way home!”

 

Geez, I seemed to have been saying a bunch of needless things since just now. But in front of such a cute girl, I end up losing my bearings!

……I might understand the feelings of a boy teases the girl he like……

 

“U-um, I also entered the forest with my brother.”

“My, was that so?”

 

But looking at the shaking girl, indeed feelings of guilt sprouted. That was right. This wasn’t the place to act tsundere. This was right after this girl met with a scary experience, so I had to be nice to her! 

 

“So, where is that brother?”

“Um, when I realized, I was alone……”

“I see. My horse knows the way back, so it’s okay. Come with me. By the way, your name――”

 

At that moment, we heard a voice from within the forest.

 

“Hey, Jenny! Where are you?”

“Ah! Aaron-onii-chan! I’m here, onii-chan!”

“……Jenny? Aaron? Eeeh!? That would be to say that, could you be by any chance――”

 

The otome game Rose of the Battlefield’s heroine Eugenie’s nickname was Jenny.

It was true that the girl before me had Eugenie’s looks. Eugenie was one year younger than Rosalind, so by her age, it wasn’t strange.

She was childhood friends with Aaron who would become the leader of the Arch Knight Order, but she was not born and raised in the same village or town as him. The setting was that they became close when she came over to her uncle and aunt’s home to play.

 

(If I remember correctly, as a child, she entered the forest with Aaron and got lost. She should have been chased by a monster. And then it should have been that when she fell into a pittrap and cried, Aaron saved her. That was spoken of as a memory――)

 

I took a sidelong glance at the slain monster.

……could it have been this monster!?

I killed it, so Eugenie and Aaron’s memory will never happen!? 

Well, in this world, I was aiming for the onii-sama x Eugenie route, so it didn’t matter, but…

 

“What’s wrong?”

“Um. No, there’s nothing really……”

 

Incidentally, there was no setting for onii-sama and Eugenie to meet in the forest as children. Of course, she wasn’t acquainted with Rosalind either. In the game, Rosalind was a lady-like young miss, so she didn’t cling to her brother and enter the forest. As I replaced Rosalind on the inside, I somehow managed to make contact with Eugenie at such a young stage! I turned to face Eugenie.

 

(C-……cute! Such cuteness!? Is this the charm of an otome game heroine!? I had become accustomed to seeing beautiful people and beautiful women, but her aura was different!)

 

I had reincarnated for 3 years; my chances to meet face to face with the children of the upper class had increased. The children of nobility were of course all beautiful boys and girls.

However, Eugenie’s aura was different! As expected, she would charm the several elite, handsome men who would ignore the beauties of the upper echelons. She even seemed to have attracted me of the same sex. Rather, I had fully been charmed by her. This girl was too cute!

 

(But, Eugenie and I can’t be acquaintances here! The outline of fate will be greatly changed!)

 

To aim for guiding Eugenie toward the difficult onii-sama route, I have to properly manage the flags!

If Eugenie and I became acquaintances here, times where she and onii-sama are acquainted would appear one after another. If that happened, the timing for her to meet the other capture characters would become strange, and my previous conjectures would be messed up! That would trouble me, so I had to prevent it!

 

“It seems that your brother is coming close. Well then, excuse me!”

”Eh?”

“Good bye!”

”Ah, wait!”

 

I mounted my horse and left. After checking that she wasn’t following, I hid myself in a place hidden from view and made sure that they would reunite without trouble.

 

“Jenny! What a relief. Let’s head back!”

“Y-yes……”

 

Eugenie and Aaron went to leave the forest. When I could no longer see their figures, I also returned to search for onii-sama.

 

“Rosalin! I’ve been searching for you! I’m glad you’re okay!”

“I’m sorry, onii-sama. You know, I also killed a monster by myself! It’s over here, so follow me!”

“Amazing! As expected of Rosalind-sama!”

 

My game was brought back to the castle, and onii-sama’s game was sent to nearby villages. That night, monster meat cooking lined the dining tables of the Stanley family and surrounding people.

 

 

I was Eugenie Carolle. I turned seven this year. 

Although I usually lived in a district in the Oaks Territory with Papa and Mama, this year I was visiting an uncle’s house in the Lowes Village of the Arch Territory. My parents said that it was ‘for the sake of developing aesthetic sensibility,’ but I didn’t really understand what they meant.

At the Lowes Village, there were many animals as well as empty fields and forests, so I would run around and play with the neighbor big brother Aaron everyday. 

On one of those days, I got lost in the forest and was being chased by a monster, and an attractive girl who looked like she came out of a fairy tale saved me. 

Shining silver hair, golden eyes. That terrifyingly beautiful girl seemed just like a goddess.

 

”Good bye, Jenny. Come over again sometime, okay?”

 

The day I left the village, I was seen off by my uncle and aunt, and with my parents who came to pick me up, I got onto a horse-drawn carriage. I wanted to meet that girl, but I wasn’t able to see her again. Even so, her figure was left in my heart.

……I also wanted to become like that girl. With a feeling that I hadn’t had when I came to the village, I returned to town.

 

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