The Sacred Calendar, year 1700.
Today, the condemnation of the ‘Saint’ is to be carried out.
“――False saint Luna, you are hereby sentenced to death by burning.”
An unreasonable verdict, handed down in the Supreme Court at the heart of the human world.
(……Ahh, what have I even been doing all this time……)
Saint Luna, her limbs bound to a holy cross in the great hall, crucified.
She holds a gray and hollow emptiness inside her as she looks out over the crowd spread below.
Young men staring with hatred. Nobles smirking with satisfaction. Old men hurling streams of abuse——every last one of them, people Luna had saved.
Humans really are wretched creatures.
Show them kindness, and they grow presumptuous in exact proportion to that kindness, convinced they’ve become something great.
Why must they keep for themselves alone the prosperity they’ve been given?
Why can’t they share with those around them the charity they’ve received?
Why do they mistake the kindness shown to them for their own entitlement to servitude?
Even now, even here at the very end, Luna still couldn’t understand it.
“――False saint Luna, do you have any last words?”
The executioner’s voice is emotionless, his gaze cold.
In his right hand he grips a torch, its crimson flame already burning.
“……Let me think……”
Luna turns her gaze skyward and looks back over her life.
Loveless parents who sold her off for a mere three copper coins.
A nobleman who whispered of true love, then betrayed her in exchange for status and honor.
Royalty who treated Saint Luna not as a ‘human being’ but as a ‘weapon,’ locking her away in the deepest reaches of the detached palace.
The great powers of the world, who coveted the ‘absolute military force’ of a saint and started terrible wars.
A world laid horrifically to waste by the famines, plagues, and poverty those wars brought with them.
And all of humanity, trying to execute her——pinning the blame for every last bit of it on her alone.
A life filled with trials and suffering, surveyed in its entirety——
“——I have nothing.”
What spilled out was an empty confession.
Nothing came.
No screams of hatred, no feelings of regret, no cries of resentment——not a single one, not even one, and she surprised even herself.
Luna had simply grown utterly fed up with this hopeless world.
“W-what do you mean, nothing……what kind of attitude is that!?”
“Do you have any idea how many people suffered because of you!”
“Say something! Well!?”
“Just apologize! Apologize right now!”
Ugly jeering pours in from every direction, and the cross binding her is set alight.
As the flames engulf her entire body, she finds one single ‘lingering regret.’
(……Oh, that’s right……. That villainess novel I was in the middle of reading, I do kind of want to know how that one ends……)
She thinks this, vaguely, absently, as she burns in the blazing inferno.
The next instant, what fills Luna’s eyes is a warm and gentle light.
(Mmm……nn……)
Whatever wraps around her body is indescribably soft, fluffy beyond anything she’d thought possible in this world.
(Huh……?)
As her five senses slowly return, her flickering vision finds——an unfamiliar ceiling.
She realizes she’s lying on her back in a bed, and at the same moment, she hears something like a sob right beside her ear.
Still lying on her back, she turns only her eyes toward it——
“Luna, hang in there! It’s okay, you’re going to be okay! You’ll make it, I know you will……!”
“Luna, Luna……!”
An elderly couple standing at her bedside, their faces crumpling as they weep. Behind them stands a middle-aged man who looks to be a doctor, his expression grave and pained as he watches on.
(Um……?)
Luna is bewildered by the sudden situation——and then the room’s door creaks open, and a man with a remarkably handsome face walks in.
“This is……quite bad.”
Dressed in aristocratic clothing, he glances at Luna——wrapped head to toe in bandages and connected to numerous tubes——and raises an eyebrow slightly.
“This poor child……. She was trying to protect the children in the territory, and she was run over by Lord Howard’s runaway carriage……”
The old woman says this, sharpening her gaze with a mix of grief and resentment.
“Is that so, how unfortunate.”
The man who had run Luna over——Duke Howard von Grazer——states this matter-of-factly and addresses the doctor in his white coat.
“You there, the town physician. Luna’s condition?”
“……Fractures in over a dozen places, including the head, lower back, and all four limbs. Damage and rupture to vital organs including the liver, spleen, and kidneys. Through continued circulation treatment with potions and sustained recovery magic, we’ve managed to keep her alive, but……. To be candid, it’s a wonder she’s alive at all.”
“Prospects for recovery?”
“I’m afraid……they are not realistic.”
The doctor’s pronouncement echoes through the room, and a heavy silence takes hold.
“U-ugh……”
“Luna, Luna……!”
As the sound of the elderly couple’s weeping fills the air——
“——Luna. I’m sorry to say this, but I’ll be canceling our engagement.”
Howard suddenly announces the dissolution of their betrothal.
“H-Howard-sama……!?”
“Of all the times——what on earth are you……!?”
The elderly couple stare at him in shock. Howard tilts his head slightly, looking puzzled.
“My, have I said something strange?”
“Strange doesn’t begin to cover it……. How can you say something so cruel when our daughter is fighting for her life!”
“Have you no heart whatsoever!?”
“Hmm, well. A body in this state couldn’t very well fulfill its nightly duties, now could it? I have no peculiar fondness for cherishing ‘defective goods.'”
The words come out evenly, and they are profoundly cold.
Howard felt not an ounce of guilt for having run Luna over——nor even the slightest concern for her condition.
“Y-you……!”
The old man, driven by a surge of rage, seizes Howard by the collar.
At that same moment——a row of spearheads lines up neatly at his throat.
The guards standing behind Howard, fulfilling their duty.
“Now then……what do you intend to do with that raised fist? Count Carlo?”
Eyes cold as ice bore straight through the old man.
Howard is a ‘duke.’ The old man——Carlo Spedio——is a ‘count.’
Between the two of them lies a gulf in rank higher than the heavens and deeper than the sea.
“Oh, sweetheart……”
“Carlo-sama, please, calm yourself. If something were to happen to you now, so many of your people would be left without a home……”
Soothed by the old woman and the doctor, the old man lowers his fist and bows his head, trembling.
“I-I……overstepped my station……a grave discourtesy……. I am terribly, terribly sorry……”
He bites down on an unbearable humiliation and wrings out the words of apology.
“Yes, quite. One ought to value one’s life. ——Then, if you’ll excuse me.”
And with that, Howard turns and leaves the room.
“Damn him……”
“Uuu……”
The old man drives his fist into the wall with a crash. The old woman weeps in grief. A gloomy atmosphere settles over Luna’s private room.
(……Hmm……?)
Luna, lying in her bed, slowly begins to piece together her situation.
(After I was burned at the stake, I reincarnated into this world somehow. The girl I reincarnated into is the daughter of a count, in critical condition after being run over by a carriage. Most likely……she died at that point, and my soul settled into that vessel. After that, she was branded ‘defective goods’ by the nobleman she was engaged to and told the engagement was off——and that brings us to now, I think)
This reasoning of hers was, as they say, not quite right but not far off.
(So, what do I do from here……)
A second life, obtained against all odds.
If at all possible, she wants to spend it in freedom and comfort, day after day.
But……she understood right away. Understood immediately.
The saintly power flowing through this body is unchanged from her previous life.
The vessel called Luna is filled to the brim with ‘extraordinary vitality’ and ‘immense magical energy.’
As proof of that, this body——which had apparently just been run over by a carriage——is already completely healed.
(From what I’ve heard so far, I was apparently badly injured. If I just wake up normally, it’ll definitely seem suspicious……)
She has her saint’s brain running at full capacity, beginning to work out a plan for the days ahead——and at that moment, a “grrrrrrrrrr” sound rings out from her stomach.
“[…]!?”
In the midst of the solemn atmosphere, the silence of the room is shattered by the hungry gospel.
(~~)
Luna desperately tries to hold back the red flooding her face, but……her ears had gone red too.
(Ugh, why does it have to be right now……)
Luna has been like this forever.
Despite being a saint——a being blessed by the world itself——her timing is hopelessly, catastrophically terrible.
“D-doctor, was that……!?”
“Luna, are you hungry!?”
The town physician, receiving the old couple’s stares, gives a small shake of his head nonetheless.
“I’m afraid……in a condition this critical, it is simply not possible for the stomach to growl. Most likely, this is a form of collective auditory hallucination——”
“Grrrrrrrrrr.“
The hungry gospel had a very strong sense of self.
(……Second collective hallucination, received. Yes, this is unmistakably a collective hallucination. Indeed, no mistake about it. Saints do not tell lies)
Luna starts to flee into denial from the towering reality, but reality pursues her regardless.
“I definitely heard a loud stomach growl just now!?”
“I-it wasn’t a hallucination! That was absolutely not a hallucination!”
“No but, surely……that can’t be……”
As the commotion spreads, the old man, with tremendous urgency, calls out to Luna where she lies with her eyes closed.
“Luna, is there anything you want to eat!? Anything at all! Tell me something you like, something you want right now, something you can get down……!”
With a sound that resounding already out there, it’s too unnatural to keep playing dead. Far too suspicious.
Having reached that conclusion, she keeps her eyes closed and voices a modest wish.
“…………I’d like something sweet.”
“[Everyone]: S-she spoke!?”
A tremendous shock runs through the room simultaneously.
Not one of them had even dreamed she might actually respond.
(No wait, that was a trap, wasn’t it!? It was a trap, right!? When someone asks you like that, you’re going to answer them……!)
Some time passes——and before Luna, an almost absurd amount of fruit is laid out in front of her.
She leans her weight against the headboard and receives an apple cut into bite-sized pieces.
“Well, Luna? Is it good? Can you taste it properly?”
“Y-yes……thank you (I’d love to say it’s delicious, but when you all stare at me like that, I can’t taste a thing……)”
Once she finishes off the tasteless apple, the old man asks her in a nervous, tentative way.
“So, Luna——are you really truly alright?”
“Um……yes, somehow, thanks to everyone.”
The moment she gives a small nod, the elderly couple crumple to their knees and shed tears of joy.
“I-it’s a miracle……”
“Ahh, our thanks to the ‘Saint’……”
Shedding great round tears, the two of them clasp their hands together in prayer to the Saint.
(This world also has the concept of a ‘Saint.’ And unlike me……she seems to be properly revered)
Luna watches the elderly couple pray, feeling something quietly complicated stir inside her.
Having received a diagnosis of “mysteriously healthy” from the town physician, Luna is now holed up in the Spedio family’s library, working to gather information.
(Let’s see, let’s see……)
She works her way through history books, geographic records, and local chronicles, of course——but also the family tree of the Spedio household she’s in the care of, maps of Spedio territory, and anything else that catches her eye, devouring one volume after another.
By the time three hours have passed, she has learned a great many things.
“……I see……”
Having accumulated a wealth of knowledge, Luna lets out a long breath. “Fuhhh.“
“It looks like I’ve reincarnated into a world three hundred years later……”
By putting it into words deliberately, she swallows down the situation surrounding her——swallows down the reality.
(Whether someone cast a great reincarnation spell, or whether being the Saint made it happen, I don’t really understand why it came to this……)
But one thing is certain.
Saint Luna has been born again into this world.
“Still, three hundred years later and there’s still war.”
She turns her eyes to the history recorded in the book before her——the history of the world after her death.
After the execution of the Saint, the conflicts between the great powers subsided, and peaceful daily life returned. However, a dark age arrived almost immediately. A great Demon King attacked human society, seeking food and resources.
The human race is feeble compared to demons and demi-humans. From time immemorial, we have a history of being invaded by foreign enemies and watching our living territory shrink. What turned that history of victimhood on its head was the Saint, who boasted invincible strength. It was only because of her existence that humanity was able to enjoy peace.
Now that we have lost the Saint as an absolute deterrent, there is nothing to stop foreign enemies. Today, humanity is simply being devoured, and our territory only continues to shrink. The people, hoping for the Saint’s resurrection, endlessly speak words of atonement and beg for salvation. But no matter how much they pray, it is too late. The Saint is no more. Foolish humanity plucked out their own hope with their own hands.
The history book is lined front to back with words of regret and atonement.
(That’s right, it’s all too late. I am done……being the Saint)
Holding those dim feelings locked inside her chest, Luna turns her eyes next to the Spedio family tree.
(Father Carlo Spedio, mother Trebas Spedio……their child is me——Luna Spedio)
Carlo and Trebas are both sixty years old.
Luna, on the other hand, is fifteen.
(……Forty-five years’ difference?)
Something feels off about how wide the gap with her parents is, but there might be complicated circumstances she shouldn’t pry into——so she decides not to dig deeper here.
At any rate, having absorbed the history of the world after her execution and a working knowledge of her immediate circumstances, Luna stretches out in a great big yawn and starts to think about what comes next.
“So what do I do from here……”
Her first life, she lived as a saint.
Not as an ‘individual,’ but as a ‘banner for the salvation of mankind.’
This second life, obtained against all odds.
This time she wanted to live as one person——to live as Luna.
“Hmm……”
She thinks through her dreams, things she’d wanted to do, professions she’d wanted to have, all manner of things——and what pops into her head at the end of all that is those words.
“……Villainess.”
Luna had been drawn to the villainess from that novel.
The villainess is selfish, carefree, and willful.
Toward this existence that is the polar opposite of a saint, she had harbored something like a powerful longing.
“——Alright, I’ve decided. I will never, ever help anyone in need again. I’m going to be a villainess!”
She clenches both fists, and makes her declaration of intent——and at that moment, an old mirror installed on the wall ahead catches her eye.
One step, two steps, three steps closer, and she examines her own appearance reflected in the glass.
“……We really do look alike.”
Luna Spedio, fifteen years old.
Height one hundred and fifty-eight centimeters, slender build.
Long silver hair reaching down to her back, large round sky-blue eyes, healthy and dewy skin.
The body she had reincarnated into looked just like her before death——as if it were a living portrait.
(We have the same name and a similar physical makeup, so maybe my soul was drawn to this vessel……?)
While Luna is thinking something along those lines, knock knock knock rings out, and the door slowly opens.
“——Luna-sama, dinner is ready.”
Her name is Ro Steincrow, the lady’s maid entrusted with attending to Luna’s personal needs.
Ro Steincrow, fifteen years old.
Height one hundred and sixty centimeters, slender build.
A beautiful girl characterized by beautiful black hair cut level at the shoulders and vivid crimson eyes, dressed in a proper maid’s uniform.
The Steincrow family has served the Spedio household for many generations. Their eldest daughter Ro, being the same age as Luna, had taken on the role of lady’s maid.
“Lord Carlo and Lady Trebas are waiting in the dining room. Please follow me this way.”
“Thank you.”
Luna says her thanks and picks up the crutches left at her feet.
In truth she could walk without any such aid——but right after being run over by a carriage, strolling along as if nothing had happened would certainly raise suspicion.
Having reached that conclusion, she decides to spend some time getting around on crutches.
Leaving the library together with Ro, Luna hobbles down the corridor on her crutches and approaches the staircase leading to the dining room——
(……Oh!)
A bolt of lightning strikes through Luna’s mind.
(This is something I read about in that novel……. No question, this is a ‘Villainess Opportunity!’)
She clears her throat once, composes a cold expression, and consciously adopts what she imagines to be a villainess’s manner of speech.
“……Ro, do you have a moment?”
“Yes, what is it?”
“This area doesn’t seem to have been properly cleaned, does it?”
Taking a cue from the villainess in the novel, Luna smoothly runs her finger along the stair railing.
But——
(……Huh, it’s spotless)
The housekeeping in the manor is perfectly thorough, and not so much as a speck of dust clings to her fingertip.
“Luna-sama, is something the matter?”
“N-nothing at all!”
Her cheeks burning red with embarrassment, Luna turns sharply in a completely different direction.
(Tch……. To think she wouldn’t allow this me a single ‘Villainess Move’……. Quite a capable lady’s maid, isn’t she……)
In Luna’s mind, her assessment of Ro goes up a little.
“If I may say so……you seem a bit different than before.”
“Huh!?”
A sound entirely unbecoming of a villainess escapes Luna’s throat.
(Could it be……that she’s realized I’m not the real Luna Spedio? That she’s realized I’ve reincarnated!?)
She takes a big, deep breath and settles herself.
(Fuhhh……it’s okay, it’s okay, there’s no need to panic yet)
Having slowly regulated her breathing, she asks in as calm and natural a way as she can manage.
“I-i-i-i-i……is that so? For reference, in what way do I seem different?”
Her voice rises at the end. Her formal speech has slipped too.
She is clearly not behaving normally.
“To put it bluntly, you’ve become rather scatterbrained.”
“Huh!? (What a fastball, quite an arm on her……)”
“Though……personally, I find you more approachable now, and more charming.”
“I-is that so? (This girl is a good person!)”
The favorability rating for Ro in Luna’s mind skyrockets to its maximum.
“Forgive me for speaking out of turn. ——Now then, right this way.”
After that, Luna is shown to the dining room, where she has dinner together with Carlo and Trebas.
A few days later, Luna is in the Spedio family’s fitting room, being dressed in a gown.
“H-hey, Ro……this corset, you’re definitely pulling it too tight……”
“Luna-sama, please pull your stomach in a little more.”
“Impossible, impossible, impossible, any more and my organs will pop out……!”
“Please bear with it.”
“Huh!?”
That evening, Luna is to attend a certain soirée.
This party, hosted by the Kingdom of Elgia, is a ‘supremely high-status affair’ that permits attendance only by those holding the rank of count or above.
Simply being invited is a great honor in itself, and a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to make a name for one’s house.
Luna herself had not particularly wanted to attend such an event, but……
(If I don’t go, it’ll cause trouble for everyone)
If a provincial noble like the Spedio family were to absent themselves from a party hosted by the royal family, it could put them at odds with the royals.
If that were to happen, not only the Spedio family but their subjects too would end up paying the price.
In the first place, this soirée was an event that had been decided before Luna ever reincarnated. That someone who’d come popping in from three hundred years ago might cause trouble for the Spedio family and their people was simply not something her nature could allow.
(Besides, for a villainess, ‘family standing’ is important)
A young lady born into the lowest baron’s house versus one born into the highest duke’s house——when it comes to living the ideal villainess second life, the latter is obviously preferable.
The higher the family standing, the broader the range of ‘Villainess Moves’ available.
(The Spedio family’s rank is count, exactly in the middle of the five noble ranks. But the territory they govern is quite far from the capital……. Probably on the lower end among counts, maybe close to viscount level. In order to make ‘Supreme Villainess Moves,’ I’ll need to raise the family standing a bit)
She ought to also keep the elevation of the Spedio family’s standing in view for the future……Luna is thinking along these lines when the gown fitting finishes.
The fitting room curtains part with a swoosh, and she presents her elegant appearance to Carlo and Trebas.
“Um, what do you……think?”
What Luna is wearing is a pure-white gown like freshly fallen snow.
A crimson necklace glittering at her neckline makes for a lovely accent.
“Oh! As our own daughter, how beautiful……!”
“I knew choosing white was the right call……! It’s always suited you, ever since you were small!”
“You look wonderful.”
Praised by Carlo, Trebas, and Ro all at once, Luna——
“I-is that right? Ehehe, thank you.”
——scratches her cheek, a little bashful.
A short while later, the waiting carriage arrives at the front of the manor.
“——Well then, I’m off.”
“Ah, take care.”
“Enjoy yourself, dear.”
“Have a lovely time.”
Luna climbs into the splendid carriage and heads for the party venue in the capital.
After riding some time in the carriage, she arrives at Saint-Louis Palace near the royal castle.
She hands her invitation to the reception, passes through the gates under the watch of the guards, climbs the long staircase leading to the venue, opens the tall doors, and there——the beautiful, glittering world of the upper class spreads out before her.
(T-this is……)
Crimson carpet laid across the floor. Abstract paintings by famous artists hung on the walls. Golden chandeliers suspended from the ceiling——truly, ‘magnificent and resplendent’ is the only phrase that fits.
(It’s so extravagant……. How much money do you think goes into all this)
Luna is overwhelmed, but presses forward into the venue.
Tonight’s party is a standing buffet, and all manner of luxurious food this world has to offer——meat, fish, liquor——is lined up in staggering abundance.
However, making a beeline for that spread would be the height of foolishness.
The objective at a soirée is not food but men. And specifically, ‘premium prospects’ from families of higher standing than one’s own.
This dazzling social arena is a woman’s battlefield.
(That glittering crowd over there is……probably royalty? From what Ro said, there’s a princess named Alicia attending)
As Luna is surveying her surroundings with an air of indifference, the sound of laughter from elaborately dressed women reaches her from the right.
“Ohohohoho. As a matter of fact, this dress here was designed by a prominent designer in the capital——”
“This gemstone is a rare mineral extracted from the Oldo mountain range——”
“Our family has served His Majesty the King from generation to generation, a bloodline of distinguished tradition——”
Unprompted, they prattle loudly about their garments, their jewels, their lineage, as if performing for an audience.
(Oh my……. Already going at it, I see)
That is the opening salvo——pushing their strong suits to the fore, be it gown or jewelry or pedigree, in the ferocious status contest to stand even a single millimeter above one another.
Let yourself fall behind here and what follows is simply ‘disastrous.’
Before you know it you’ve been driven to the corner of the hall, spending a lonely evening as a wallflower.
That is why they dress up and proclaim their worth.
Beautiful skin and lustrous hair are the strongest of swords.
A vibrant gown is impenetrable armor.
Lavish jewels are projectile weapons.
This is how women arm themselves at a soirée.
(Hahhh……. Three hundred years later and this part hasn’t changed at all)
In her previous life, Luna had been particularly disliked by aristocratic women.
Partly because Luna was born a poor farmer’s daughter, she had no habit of dressing herself up beautifully.
And yet her beauty was so great it was called ‘enough to topple a kingdom,’ and in practice she had captivated countless men.
More beautiful than anyone, yet less interested in beauty than anyone——that attitude rubbed noble ladies the wrong way, and Luna has a past of having been subjected to underhanded bullying and harassment behind the scenes.
(Getting dragged into a status contest would just be a pain, so let’s not go anywhere near that crowd)
Of her own volition, Luna moves to the edge of the room and plants herself in the loser’s position known as ‘wallflower.’
By removing herself from the front lines, she figures she can get through this soirée without incident and without being caught in the crossfire.
Safely evacuated to neutral ground, she gazes absently out the window and lets out a small sigh.
(Hahhh……. I wonder if they can find that novel……)
Luna had asked her lady’s maid Ro to make the rounds of secondhand bookshops.
The item she’s after is a villainess novel that was popular three hundred years ago.
The one whose continuation she’d been worrying about at the moment of her execution.
(Did the villainess Arshe manage to live happily? What about the scheming true heroine? The nasty prince from the neighboring country? The childhood friend suffering in unrequited love? The slightly scatterbrained magic item shopkeeper? Ughhh……I’m too curious about how the story continues, at this rate I can only sleep at night……)
As Luna heaves a sigh, the crowd across from her grows noisy.
“That melancholy-looking girl over there……. Which family’s young lady might she be?”
“Hm……? Oh, how beautiful……. That expression is unmistakably the face of someone lovesick!”
“Hmm……let me go speak with her.”
One of the ‘leading figures’ of this soirée begins to move, soundlessly and quietly.
“——Pardon me, miss, would you care to dance with me……oh, what a surprise. It’s Luna, isn’t it.”
“……Duke……Howard……”
When Luna slowly raises her gaze, who she sees is the man whose engagement with her had only just been broken off——Howard von Grazer.