Work Text:
When Kojima Kanzaki, a twenty eight year old Japanese office worker, woke up, she found herself reborn.
Her new name was Witiria Elphaine, the young daughter of a duke in the Kingdom of Lugunica.
Her wavy blue hair and jewel like green eyes could only exist on someone born into such a ridiculous fantasy bloodline.
At first, she was ecstatic. Why wouldn’t she be? Riches, status, servants, and a life where she would never have to worry about rent ever again were guaranteed to her without lifting a finger.
It was everything she could have hoped for. More than that, even.
Then she realized where she had been reincarnated.
Knights of the Dragon Kingdom.
An otome game she had played shortly before her death.
The setting was simple enough, as were the games she played at the time.
The world had entered an era of peace thanks to the efforts of heroes across the kingdoms, as most of the horrors that had plagued the world for decades or even centuries were finally vanquished.
And in Lugunica, the Dragon Kingdom, five years had passed since Queen Felt ascended the throne as Lugunica's forty fourth ruler.
And with her came a wave of reforms aimed at dragging the kingdom into a new age.
One of those reforms was the Royal Academy, founded jointly by the Minister of Finance, Anastasia Hoshin, and the legendary hero, Natsuki Subaru.
Officially, it existed to educate young nobles between the ages of eighteen and twenty three.
Unofficially, it served a far more practical and political purpose, one that the protagonist only came to realize in the middle of the game.
If every noble received the same education directly under the crown's supervision, none could later claim ignorance when the queen decided to crack down on corruption, or when she introduced her new reforms. It also helped monitor them during a time when Felt faced fierce opposition from several noble factions.
A brilliant idea, all things considered.
Unfortunately, nobles would remain nobles.
The academy quickly became a nest of scheming aristocrats, gathering the sons and daughters of powerful houses under one roof, a natural breeding ground for troublemakers.
It was there that the game's protagonist, a young noblewoman from a fallen house, rose through the ranks, gathered allies, and charmed every eligible man within a hundred mile radius.
But Witiria did not awaken as the protagonist.
No.
She was the main villainess.
Worse, her entire family were villains.
And not the harmless kind who talked down to commoners and threw wine at people during banquets.
That would be too merciful.
The Elphaines secretly collaborated with the remnants of the Witch Cult.
The Witch Cult.
The lunatics who had caused mayhem and despair for over four centuries before being purged around the time of Queen Felt’s ascension to the throne.
The monsters who had been enemies of the world itself.
The moment she remembered that detail, her blood ran cold.
Any association with them was practically a death sentence.
She knew she had to get away.
Fast.
At first, she tried steering her family toward the moral path.
Maybe it was because some part of the original Witiria still loved them, or because some lingering piece of her modern common sense wanted to solve the issue with words.
And it failed spectacularly.
What kind of adult listened to a child?
Especially a child who couldn't exactly explain that she knew the future because she'd played a dating simulator in another life.
So her warnings were ignored.
She wished she had been ignored as well, but her face had apparently gained a magnetic pull toward her father’s fists that day.
That was the moment she understood something very clearly.
There would be no changing them.
Her family continued marching toward their destruction.
Fine.
She couldn't stop them.
But she could sure as hell get away from them.
Thankfully, the Elphaines weren't particularly big on the whole "love" thing.
Nobody was going to cry themselves to sleep if she left. She certainly wouldn't.
So she trained.
She traded flowers and silk dresses for swords and combat uniforms. Comfort for pain.
She trained more and more, hoping to one day escape her family's shadow.
She even managed to enlist several noteworthy characters from the game's story as teachers.
Yet she knew strength alone wouldn't be enough.
If she wanted to survive, she'd need a strong back to hide behind.
And as usual with otome games, the main love interests were completely useless unless you happened to be the protagonist.
So she aimed elsewhere.
Toward the man she now called her captain.
Her captain wasn't one of the main love interests.
Hell, he wasn't even a side one.
Natsuki Subaru.
Or Subaru Natsuki, by this world's standards, unless you were in Kararagi.
His role in the game wasn't particularly large.
He mostly appeared whenever the writers painted themselves into a corner the protagonist and her wicked charms had no way to escape from and needed a believable way out.
A political crisis?
Subaru solved it.
A military disaster?
Subaru had a plan.
A mystery nobody else could figure out?
Somehow Subaru already knew the answer.
Beyond that, he occasionally appeared to offer advice during chance encounters or congratulate the protagonist and tease her partner if she managed to start dating one of his close friends, Reinhard van Astrea or Julius Juukulius.
Or, if the protagonist embraced true villainy, he was a guaranteed bad end.
Other than that, he disappeared later on in the game without explanation, much to the annoyance of his fans.
Other than some sad faces and angsty lines, they got no explanation!
Shitty otome game!
Ahem.
That was about it.
Yet despite his limited appearances, he had a surprisingly large and devoted fanbase, though they were mostly office workers and salarywomen.
People who found his tired but dependable presence strangely comforting amidst a setting filled with dramatic romance, noble politics, and beautiful idiots making terrible decisions.
...Okay.
Maybe she had been one of those fans.
Maybe she'd had a crush.
A big crush.
And maybe she'd bought an unofficial body pillow of him.
What?
The company didn't sell one.
A woman had to make do.
Still, that had been fantasy. This was reality. She didn't buy one here.
Even if the idea sounded tempting…
(She just knew that greedy fox, Anastansia, manufactured them! She had no proof, but she knew!)
Besides, there was another reason he had been popular.
He was the only reliable adult in the entire game.
She still remembered an interview with one of the main developers. A fan had asked why Subaru wasn't romanceable despite his popularity. The cheeky response became legendary and had over three million views online.
"Our protagonist needs at least one adult who won't fall for her charms."
The interviewer laughed politely, but the developer hadn't stopped there.
"If she becomes a true villainess, he's an instant game over. If she behaves herself, he's a safe place to land. Isn't a reliable adult a different kind of wish fulfillment?"
At the time, Witiria had thought it was clever. And true. There were only so many hopeless idiots, whether it was with their feelings or just in general, she could tolerate before her patience ran thin. His appearances were a sort of break. A roof over the stormy sea of flowery romance.
And now?
Now she was the subordinate of the actual man.
The queen's chief strategist.
Her closest advisor.
One of the greatest heroes of the age.
His brown eyes were sharp and warm at the same time. His black hair remained as wild as the artwork she'd remembered, though the illustrations did not do him justice.
At first glance, he looked intimidating.
At second glance, he looked exhausted, despite the small smiles and warmth that radiated from him.
Not the exhaustion of a busy man. Nor the exhaustion of a father raising children. Something deeper. Like a piece of him was missing.
People said he had once been energetic. Loud. Excitable.
The kind of person who could drag everyone around him into whatever insanity had captured his attention that day.
Looking at him now, that image felt impossible.
He always looked so tired.
More than his responsibilities.
More than his duties.
More than his children.
He carried the air of a man who merely lived because he happened to.
Like every morning he woke up, looked at the day ahead, and chose to continue because stopping wasn't an option.
...She knew that look.
She had worn it herself in her previous life. But whatever burden weighed on him had to be heavier than hers had been.
Far heavier.
This was reality, Witiria reminded herself. A truth she needed to remind herself of occasionally.
Even if it wasn't her original one, this was real.
And he was real as well.
Subaru was the most accomplished hero of the era, perhaps in history. A man who had changed history despite possessing neither Divine Blessings nor the prestigious background so many others enjoyed.
Witiria had always loved underdogs. Their struggles reminded her of her own. Seeing them push through impossible odds made her regain the resolve to face the days ahead.
But the prices they paid couldn't have been more different.
And yet, when she desperately showed off in front of him, he offered her his hand.
When people laughed at a duke's daughter playing pretend, he spoke for her, setting the stage for her to receive her knighthood.
He was the reason she managed to become a knight.
Later, after various accomplishments, she asked for the reward of becoming his personal knight and guard.
She couldn't tell him everything. How could she tell him that she had lived another life? That she knew events before they happened? That some of the people around them had once been nothing more than characters on a screen to her?
She had tried it once, and her body suffered the consequences.
She imagined his expression, confused and doubtful, and somehow that thought hurt more than the blows and isolation she had received that day.
There were some truths that sounded insane even when they were true.
But she told him enough.
Enough about her family. Enough about what they were involved in. Enough about how much she tried, and failed, to set them back on the right path.
Enough for him to shield her back and draw her to his side.
He was her savior.
And so, another wish was added to her survival.
To save her favorite character.
To save the man who seemed to have saved everyone but himself.
Survival alone was a bit sad, wasn't it?
“Hey, Witiria, are you ready?”
Oh, speak of the devil!
Witiria looked away from the training ground, where knights swung their swords over and over.
Apparently, that was also a new development. Previously, knights had been much lazier unless someone was there to breathe down their necks.
She sent a radiant smile toward her captain.
“Subaru! I was just thinking about you. It seems we really are connected by fate.”
Subaru raised an eyebrow at her.
“Again with this, Witiria? I told you, you shouldn’t waste your attention on an old fossil like me. You’re twenty.”
“And you’re twenty five, so don’t come at me all high and mighty, sir!”
In fact, considering her previous life, she could be seen as the cougar in this relationship, no?
…She kind of liked the sound of that.
Subaru chuckled, a sound far lighter than the tired expression he usually wore.
“You’re literally younger than my daughter.”
“She’s adopted, that doesn’t count!”
He rolled his eyes at her while she grinned back and puffed out her chest in pride.
“Struggle all you want, Captain. The one who’ll hold your heart in the end is me. We’ve got to make it fair since you already got mine, y’know?”
Subaru facepalmed, a blush rising to his cheeks.
“...I’m going to file for harassment.”
Witiria didn’t miss a beat.
“As the one managing your paperwork, I’ll make sure it arrives exactly where it belongs.”
“...The trash?”
“The trash.”
Subaru groaned while Witiria chuckled to herself.
This behavior...
She would have never thought she could act like this during her salarywoman years, or even during the years before she met him.
There had always been something weighing on her.
Bills. Expectations. The threats looming over her life.
That was why she knew.
Life was too short to keep holding herself back. Too short not to say what she wanted to say. Too short not to feel what she wanted to feel.
Witiria Elphaine loved Natsuki Subaru.
And she felt pride in admitting it.
She didn’t know what exactly held Subaru back, but she was determined to break it down, little by little if she had to. He was worth it, to her.
And in her modest opinion, it was working.
Subaru shook his head as his cheeks returned to their natural tone.
“C’mon, enough with this. We’re going to the Royal Academy. You know how some of them could take your words and use them.”
Witiria’s expression sobered as well.
The Royal Academy.
Where she should have been if she had not awakened her memories. Where she would have been playing the role of the villainess.
Where the vixen protagonist was.
Where trouble waited at every corner.
She nodded before giving him a sharp salute.
“Witiria Elphaine, personal guard of Natsuki Subaru, promises to put my body and soul into making sure no harm comes to you, and that all your goals are achieved, sir.”
Subaru looked her over once, searching for any gap in her resolve or understanding, before exhaling in relief.
“Good.”
Then he nodded for her to return to her place at his side.
With a pep in her step, she moved to his right, their shoulders almost touching.
She grinned at him.
“Don’t worry, Captain, I’ll protect you from all those vixens and idiots. You’ve already got enough of both covered with me around!”
Subaru gaped at her, flushed, before starting forward again, her own steps easily matching his.
...He was cute when he got all flustered like that.
End Notes:
- Canon events did happen, and Re:Zero is, in fact, a reality. Through some machinations that I will not explain, an otome game depicting that exact world was released in another world, which was not Subaru’s original one.
- Witiria had mastered both the sword and magic, though her main magic attributes are Yang, Water, and Wind, much to her disappointment that she couldn’t share an attribute with Subaru.
- If the Re:Zero series was a prequel game, this world would not be the “True Ending,” but the “Neutral Ending.” Every character got some sort of happy conclusion: Emilia got the Elior Forest and dragon blood, Crusch was healed, Julius got his name back, and so on. But it came at the cost of Subaru painstakingly sacrificing himself and going against fate again and again.
In the end, Subaru didn’t get a sad ending, but neither did he get a truly happy one.
Emilia never officially returned his feelings, which eventually made him feel inadequate and give up on her, not that she knew that, still thinking he was waiting for her. His relationship with Rem became so complicated that neither of them knew how to untangle it.
And more importantly, Subaru had lost trust in his friends’ ability and willingness to carry his burdens alongside him. He was entrusted with one burden after another, and he always put on a strong front so people would follow him, until eventually a rift formed between them. The only reliable pillar that was in his life before Witiria was Beatrice, but she was not enough to mitigate all the damage that had been done. Despite them noticing it and trying their best to close it, that rift remained wide open even after years.
- Witiria is actually the subject of quite a bit of jealousy. Her closeness with Subaru, along with how he seemed to return to his old self more around her, made many of his friends very jealous of her, unlike in the otome game. One of the worst offenders is Julius, who had actually taught her swordsmanship in the past before she joined Subaru. She loves rubbing it in their faces, which, naturally, does not help her case.
- Subaru’s hesitation is a mix of knowing Witiria when she was younger and his own experiences with nobles. He has had plenty of noblewomen compliment him or outright try to seduce him over the last few years. So much so that he began to treat almost any compliment toward him as an attempt to flatter him for some ulterior motive.
Witiria is one of the only people who managed to break through that suspicion, though a part of him is still worried she is only doing it because she wants to make sure he stays by her side when her family’s crimes become public. In a way, he has his own doubts that someone could love him that way, born from years of unhealthy relationships and political maneuvering. But she has slowly anchored herself in his heart, becoming one of the most cherished people in his life.
- The reason Subaru disappeared later on in the original story was him deciding that he had nothing to do in Lugunica anymore, as he was not truly needed anymore (this is beyond the point the protagonist can become a villainess) and he gave up hope of living a happy life and in his fragile bonds with his friends. The previous months before his disappearance he worked on a dimensional traveling spell with Beatrice and they, along with Meili, Spica, and Patrasche, had left to be epic dimensional hoppers. He left a letter but the matter was classified and only Felt and Reinhard knew the full details, much to their burden.
Omake:
Witira opened the door to Subaru’s office, finding him staring at the growing pile of paperwork on his desk with dread.
“Sir, you have eight more letters to review.”
Subaru looked up at her in exhaustion.
“Seriously, this is getting ridiculous. It’s like those bastards don’t want me to get any work done in this place.” He reached out his hand to grab them. “Show them to me.”
She joyfully placed them in his hands, and he began to open them one by one.
You are so fine, but not yet mine.
Subaru blinked.
He opened another.
Marry me.
He paused for a moment, took a deep breath to gather himself, then opened another.
Roses are red, violets are blue, never seen someone as scrumptious as you.
“....”
Love letters.
From a very specific source.
There was only one person who sent him these kinds of weird and slightly perverted love letters.
He slowly looked up.
Witira was standing there, smiling at him brightly.
Then she winked.
Subaru looked back down at the letters.
And just like always, he couldn’t throw them away.
So, with a sigh that fooled absolutely no one, they joined the rest hidden safely in his closet.