Please Bully Me, Miss Villainess!

Destined by fate.

Soulmate.

These are all wonderful words full of fantasy and romance.

Since childhood, Elsa had loved listening to those fairytales about happiness.

But in the end, the only one worthy of the prince was always the princess.

And children like her could never become princesses.

“Will I ever meet my ‘soulmate’ again?”

“Elsa, you’ll definitely meet that person again.”

She still remembered the words her godmother Daia had said while gently patting her head.

“This gift is both a blessing and a trial from heaven.”

Because she wasn’t a princess, she couldn’t wait in a castle for her soulmate to come. She had to find them herself.

“Once you’re sure, pursue it bravely.”

Pursue your own happiness.

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No one will love you.

You’ll never get what you hope for.

Living in this world is meaningless.

That’s why you’re bullied.

Because you’re a ‘worthless person.’

There’s no place for you in this school.

In those oppressive days, it felt like walking alone on a pitch-black road.

Cold, dark.

No exit in sight, no end visible.

Elsa, soaking wet from being bullied, suddenly came to her senses, startled by the thoughts that had suddenly appeared in her mind.

Where is this…

She realized she had unconsciously come to a dangerous place.

—The rooftop of the school building.

…Why did I come to such a place?

It was as if something had taken over her mind.

Her steps were unsteady, out of control.

One more step forward, and she would fall from this towering height.

—Jump.

—Jump and it will all be over.

No…

Why am I thinking like this?

She had no idea, but she could no longer control her body.

Someone…

Someone save me!

She wanted to cry out, but her throat felt constricted, unable to make a sound.

In the end, her foot shakily lifted, as if she were a puppet on strings. Then, as if there were invisible steps in the air, she was about to step down.

Falling from such a height would mean certain death.

Am I going to die?

Am I about to leave this world?

But… But I haven’t found my ‘soulmate’ yet—

Is it going to end like this?

Even though there were unpleasant things, even though there were many sad things,

She still wanted to live on.

She didn’t want to die yet—

“—Elsa!!”

From behind, someone called her name, a hand firmly grasping her.

Forcefully pulling her out of this darkness, bringing her back to the shore of light.

…Young lady?

Through tear-blurred eyes, she saw that person’s figure.

“It’s too dangerous! Don’t come to such places alone!”

After saving her, she was immediately met with a barrage of angry scolding.

“I-I don’t know either… When I came to my senses, I was already…”

A dark shadow suddenly slipped away from her body. Yvonne, quick-witted, sliced it in two with a wind blade made of magical power, turning it into black ash.

Her body finally returned to normal, but she quickly lost strength and fell into Yvonne’s embrace.

“To think she’d be possessed by a ‘Nightmare’ in such a place… This shouldn’t be… I remember there wasn’t such a plot in the main storyline…”

She frowned, muttering to herself, saying things Elsa didn’t quite understand, all while maintaining her embrace.

“Um… Yvonne…”

Her heart was pounding fiercely.

Although she didn’t dislike being held like this, it was still a bit improper, right?

“Ah… Sorry.”

She finally came to her senses, hurriedly releasing Elsa. Then, a gentle wind surrounded her, carrying away the moisture from her body.

“You were probably possessed by a ‘Nightmare.'”

“…A ‘Nightmare’?”

This was a type of incorporeal monster that amplified negative emotions in humans, a common minor enemy in the game.

“…………”

“What’s wrong?”

Elsa carefully looked at Yvonne, who had become somewhat strange after saving her.

Even though she was the one who had experienced the incident, Yvonne’s face had turned pale, looking shaken.

In that situation, if she had left Elsa alone, the protagonist would have died.

For the first time, the system presented two options.

[Option 1: Push the target ‘Elsa’ off the school building. (+100)]

[Option 2: Do nothing, watch her jump. (+50)]

There was no third option.

This reward value was the highest she had ever seen.

Even doing nothing would earn points.

But… How could she!

How could she do something no different from murder!!

Red warning frames filled her vision.

[Failed to complete the task as required. Punishment will be issued.]

[Ending One: ‘Criminal Charge’ condition met.]

This happened because she did something against the system’s rules.

“…This garbage system!!”

She couldn’t help but curse out loud, her expression becoming terrifying. The swear words that escaped her lips startled Elsa.

She had long suspected something was wrong with this system.

After meeting the protagonist, this ‘villain system’ had been intentionally guiding her to harm Elsa. Although choosing the third option could avoid it to a certain extent each time, after entering the main storyline, there would be unavoidable situations like this.

She knew failing tasks would face punishment, but she didn’t expect it to be in this form.

Is it going to end now?

Her life as a villainous young lady was truly short.

But there was also a sense of relief, as if the sword hanging over her head had finally fallen.

Among the endings Yvonne knew, this was still one of the better ones. Moreover, she had prepared for it to some extent, so it wasn’t unacceptable.

It’s decided—

After composing herself, she took a deep breath and turned to face Elsa.

“—You must listen carefully to what I’m about to say!”

“O-okay?”

Grabbing her shoulders, she showed a serious expression never seen before:

“Everything that’s happened until now is just a ‘trial’ before you step onto the real stage! But don’t worry, in just one year… When you turn 16, you’ll be able to become an inseparable, happy couple with your ‘soulmate’!”

Soulmate…

Hearing this word from her lips, Elsa felt her heart flutter. At this moment, she viscerally sensed a certain fate, connecting her with the person before her.

“…How can you be so sure?”

“Just consider that I have the ability to foresee the future… Anyway, stop crying first.”

Yvonne helplessly took out a handkerchief, wiping the tears from Elsa’s face.

“Unlike me, your future is full of light and hope. So… Never let such low-level monsters take advantage of your inner weakness again, understand?”

It was also a kind of compensation for all the bullying she had done.

At the very least… she wanted her to reach the best ending.

Before completely exiting the stage as the villain character, what Yvonne worried about most was this seemingly naive protagonist.

As the protagonist, she must become strong.

“…Even if it’s just you, you must clear the game!”

Elsa nodded dumbly, not fully understanding the meaning of her words at the time.

But not long after, Yvonne silently disappeared from her world.

“Hey, hey, have you heard?”

“Yes, we’ve heard—”

“I can’t believe it, Lady Yvonne actually…”

The incident started with the capture of a demon spy.

Although the demon committed suicide after being caught, an encrypted letter was found on him, coincidentally signed by Duke Smolet, raising suspicions of his involvement with the demon race. The duke was thus accused of treason by the church council.

It was almost a bolt from the blue for the Smolet family.

As if Yvonne had foreseen all this, she had applied for early course completion just after entering her second year, completing all her credits within a short month. The day after receiving her graduation certificate, she was summoned home, beginning over a year of house arrest, surveillance, and restricted life.

A year later, the judgment was handed down: stripping the entire Smolet family of their noble status and exiling them.

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“—So much has happened indeed,”

Speaking of past events, her hand still clung to Yvonne’s arm, unwilling to let go.

“But it’s great that the charges weren’t implemented in the end… It wasn’t in vain that I went to great lengths to find Lord Michel…”

“I was wondering why Michel agreed so readily… So you had approached him beforehand?”

After listening to the process from her perspective, Yvonne was quite speechless.

So her fiancé—that narcissistic prince—didn’t agree to help out of consideration for his fiancée, but for Elsa’s sake??

Men are truly scum!!

Setting that aside, what Yvonne understood least was Elsa.

She had finally established herself in school through her own efforts, so why did she come chasing after her?

If death options like the previous one came up a few more times, even nine lives wouldn’t be enough to withstand it—

“Huh? Wasn’t it you who said it, Yvonne?”

She looked at Yvonne, blinking her eyes with an expression of disbelief.

This made Yvonne even more confused.

“…What did I say?”

—’When you turn 16, you’ll be able to become an inseparable, happy couple with your soulmate!’

“—Like that~”

Yvonne felt her scalp tingle.

So those words from back then had become a pit she dug for herself to fall into!!

Although she had lightly spoiled the plot for a reason at the time, now they had both deviated from the original main stage. Where could they find those men who would be captivated by the protagonist?

“Um…”

Yvonne couldn’t help but interrupt her enraptured self-narration.

“But we’re both girls…”

“There’s no rule saying a ‘soulmate’ has to be of the opposite sex, right?”

She pouted, seemingly unwilling to give up just because of gender issues.

…It does sound quite reasonable.

“For me, Evie is my soulmate. That won’t change.”

Her face once again bloomed with a smile as radiant as flowers in full bloom, her eyes curving into beautiful crescents.

Just waiting won’t make a ‘soulmate’ appear, that’s why one must actively search.

“……”

The two fell into a brief silence.

“Could it be… you’re embarrassed?”

“…I’m not!”

Yvonne turned her head to the side with a red face, troubled.

What would become of them in the future?

Herself, who should have reached the exile ending, and the protagonist who had deviated from her original track—

It seems the story has no choice but to continue.