Prologue: Erica Aurelia, the Villainous Lady

This will be a long time project. By the time I will post this, there are 138 chapters available. I know, I know. I told you that I don’t want to translate a long novel, but this is one that I really love and nobody picked it up. So. Yeah. I hope you will like this series.

TL: clover

ED: clover, eristol

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“How did this happen…?”

I, Erika, daughter of the Duke of Aurelia, froze as stiff as a statue when I saw myself in the mirror.

Deep golden hair of a hue akin to honey fell in soft, elegant curls.

The skin was as pale as milk, while a speck of red graced the cheeks, giving it a rosy hue.

Though it was the youthful face of an eight-year-old, a set of prideful brows loomed over the beautiful emerald eyes with a hint of arrogance lurking within.

—Is that…me?

No way! It can’t be! This is—

I began to feel a sense of incompatibility with the color of my hair, my skin, and my eyes.

All things aside, this characteristically vertical roll…!!

This is, without a doubt, the villainous lady of the romance-fantasy girl game『Liber Monstrorum ~Phantom Beasts and the Winter Princess~』, Erica Aurelia!¹

As the ground seemed to sway beneath me, I leaned against the mirror to stabilize myself. I was carried away by a sudden wave of memories gushing forth, assailing me with its intoxicating waves.

Does this mean I’ve awakened something like memories of a past life or something along that line?

As absurd as the idea may seem, but just now, my eight years’ worth of memory as Erica seems to confirm that  this is the world of『Liber Monstrorum ~Phantom Beasts and the Winter Princess~』

And that is why I have nothing but ominous feelings no matter how beautiful my appearance has become.

Of all people, it just had to be that villainous lady, Erica Aurelia.

From what I remember, Erica bullied the heroine after her enrollment in the magic academy, and she was the first person to die during the time when a series of bizarre murders started all of a sudden.

Being turned into a golden statue, devoured by a beast, drowning in a cold river…and the list of my possible deaths go on.

If I were to simply grow up in ignorance, I would die a pitiful death, which would then kick-start the serial murders that heightened the drama between the heroine and her chosen love interest.

That’s the one thing I truly want to avoid.

I don’t want to be suddenly attacked out of nowhere and die again.

—Again?

And the moment I didn’t want to recall at all rushed into my head.

The memories of my final moments in the previous life.

A sharp flash of light reflected in the corner of my eyes.

A burning heat spread across my flank, a stabbing pain. when I reached out my hand for the source, it returned soaked in a layer of bright crimson.

I tried to escape to and screamed for help, but no help came regardless of my screams. Unable to defend myself from the knife that continued to stab me over and over, I gradually felt my consciousness fading away—

I see, so I died back then.

My murderer had been a colleague from work, though we never really talked that much.

Suddenly, on my way back from work, he yelled ‘You betrayed me’ and stabbed me to death. I still don’t understand the reason behind such an accusation.

The only significant contact with him I could remember was lending him a spare umbrella on a rainy day, but what was his problem?

Or was it that?

There was a similar incident during high school.

I belonged to the Earth Science Club, and everyone in the club (which consisted of boys with me being the only exception) somehow came to believe I had fallen for them, and in the end it got misinterpreted that I had a physical relationship with everyone, and that rumor spread around the school like a wildfire before anyone noticed the contradiction.

What had followed was hell on earth.

I was too timid, and I couldn’t clear up the misunderstanding.

One of the club members who took the rumors seriously struck me from behind at when I was walking back home at night…

By the time I left the hospital, the Earth Science Club had been effectively shut down and I had the worst nicknames, such as ‘Club Crusher’, ‘Black Widow’, or just plain ‘slut’…hahaha…

It was painful.

In following years, both in university and during my jobs, similar incidents happened on a smaller scale, yet in a similar fashion.

I failed at trying to maintain my human relations as safely as possible. Every time I tried to maintain human relations as amicably as possible, disasters always found their way to me.

Eventually, I got to the point where I simply refused to interact with anyone outside of work purposes. During that period, I got addicted to something.

It was video games.

No matter how harsh the characters were, fiction couldn’t leave the screen to harm me!

How wonderful!

That being the case, my past life memories were little more than disastrous real-life experiences buried by various game playthroughs.

My life experience was quite one-sided.

The more I follow up the thread of my memories, the more I realize that I haven’t done any worthwhile thing in my actual life.

But I do recall that I had never detested Erica.

Strong-willed.

Haughty.

Assertive.

She was a girl who seemed to embody the strengths I admired in my past life, which I didn’t possess.

Apart from her malicious tendency to harass people, she was close to my ideal.

Such a strong, straightforward girl wouldn’t cause ill-natured, psychotic men to misunderstand her, stalk her, and then stab her.

Maybe ordinary men keep their distance, but that is irrelevant after going through so many similar mishaps.

That’s it!

I just have to change this dark romance-fantasy girl game into a laid-back slice-of-life!

But, is that really possible?

At the very least, I would have to escape my unexplainable deaths.

Only then I can live more freely than in my past life.

Not bad.

Surely the clues to my survival can be found somewhere in the memories of my past life.

Why did Erica Aurelia have to die?

That is because she trampled over the lives of the other characters.

As long as I avoid that, I might be able to find a way out of my fatal predicament.

The dark past of each capture targets.

Those were death flags that Erica raised for herself.

In that case, I just have to put my all into breaking down the flags.

But before that, there is one thing I need to confirm.

These ‘memories’ can also be my delusion.

It is possible that they aren’t memories carried over from reincarnation but simply a sign that I am going crazy. In order to confirm the authenticity of my memory, I have to make sure whether something that I know has happened or not.

The young Erica was just playing with her older brother, who was twenty years of age.

She dozed off while reading an easy-to-read book with a lot of pictures from her older brother’s collection.

After waking up, she came in front of the mirror to fix her messy hair.

“Are you okay, Erica?”

The voice belonged to my older brother who approached me, seeing me leaning against the mirror and worrying about my condition.

Just in time.

“You’re not looking too good.”

My brother’s name is Eduard Aurelia.

He is the eldest child of Duke Aurelia and one of the heroine’s capture targets.

Twelve years older than his sister, Eduard shared her deep honey-colored hair and emerald eyes, but unlike the unapproachable Erika who gave off the impression of a thorny rose, Eduard had a sweet and gentle countenance.

“Onii-sama, thank you for your concern. I just got a little tired for a moment.”

“I see. You were just reading all sorts of difficult books until a while ago after all. Here, have something sweet.”

Eduard reached into a small box on the table, picked out a little package and unwrapped it.

“Here, open your mouth.”

When I opened my mouth, my tongue was greeted with the taste of a truffle of fine chocolate.

My brother has always doted on me.

“Is it tasty?”

“It is.”

“Very good, you’re a good girl, Erica.”

His gentle hand ruffled my hair.

With a brother like this, can anyone really blame me for growing up a little pampered?

Well then, I need to get the information I want from my gentle older brother.

“Um, Onii-sama.”

“Hm, what is it, Erica? Do you want another chocolate?”

“I will get fat if I eat so much before supper.”

What I am about to ask will definitely put a damper on his smile.

I feel bad, but I have to ask him about a certain incident at the beginning of this game.

“May I ask you about the incident of the northern, the ice and snow-covered Lucanrant territory?”

“…What are you talking about?”

“About what happened in the North last year.”

“…You mean the Tragedy of Lucanrant Ducal House, huh…?”

Eduard looked sad as he said it.

“That, when you get a little older…I will tell you in detail at that time, for now I want you to excuse me, Erica.”

“…I understand, Onii-sama. I’m sorry.”

“No, it’s okay, I am the one sorry for being fussy, Erica.”

I only needed a confirmation that there was a tragedy in the North called the ‘Werewolf Massacre Incident’, so I decided to not push the issue any further.

I didn’t expect the twenty-year-old older brother to explain such a gruesome story to his eight-year-old sister in any more detail.

“Well then, I will be returning to my room.”

With this, it is confirmed that this world is『Liber Monstrorum』.

The world I now live in is one crossed by werewolves and vampires—a world of phantom beasts.

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¹ Liber Monstrorum: it is the latin of Book of Monster. It is a late seventh-or early eighth-century Anglo-Latin catalogue of marvellous creatures. (source)

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