[Antagonist? That shy girl doesn't look like antagonist material.]
"Looks can be deceiving. Besides, I was into some pretty niche stuff when I read this novel. This world isn't exactly what you'd call normal," I muttered, watching the girl stand up after the protagonist.
"Shelly Trinika," she announced.
My gaze shifted across the classroom until I spotted him—that bastard Steve, staring at her with barely concealed lust.
I could alter the plot, prevent the incident that would push her toward becoming a villain later. But honestly? I had enough problems of my own. My own villainous fate was about to kick into high gear once the canonical events started rolling.
According to the original timeline, I should be engaged to Princess Elena right about now.
I sighed and shifted my attention to the far corner of the classroom, where a girl with amber eyes and white hair sat quietly. She wore a golden hair clip that caught the sunlight.
Shit. She still has that thing.
[The hair clip?]
"Yeah. I gave it to her."
[Wait—she also went to that nursery school place with you guys?]
"It wasn't exactly a nursery school. More like a pre-academy designed to force most of us into awakening our abilities. We were barely there for a year.
[But that was ten years ago.]
"Exactly."
[Don't you think that's strange?]
Strange didn't begin to cover it. How and why had the children of the empire's most prominent nobles and royalty been sent to some obscure institution under the guise of education? The novel never bothered explaining it—just used it as convenient backstory to establish character connections.
[But why did you give her the clip? Did you mistake her for someone else?]
"No. Back then, I was paranoid about deviating from the storyline, so I followed the script as closely as possible."
In the original story, Lorelle met everyone by chance—bullied by his stepbrother until Eloisa and Ariana intervened, creating unexpected friendships. Later, he encountered Elena, the loner, and became her only friend.
But I took a more direct approach. I used what I knew from the game: their personalities, likes, dislikes, habits. Since the bullying scenario wouldn't work on me, I had to improvise.
As for Elena… I might have overdone it. She got a little too attached.
On our last day at that place, I gave her the clip—just like Lorelle did in the original story. But that was supposed to be the last time I saw her.
[So what changed?]
Me. After the pre-academy, the incident with Eloisa happened. I mistook her for someone else and ended up engaged to Eloisa instead of Elena. I figured Elena's role in the story was finished.
[Does that make her a side character now?]
"No. She's a hidden heroine—important to the story. But now that she has nothing to do with me, there's no connection between her and the protagonist."
[Then why does she still have the clip?]
"That's exactly what I can't figure out. It's been ten years. Why would she keep something from a childhood acquaintance for that long?"
The implications made me uncomfortable. Either she had an unhealthy attachment to the past, or there was something about our time at that pre-academy that I was missing.
Neither possibility boded well for me.