Even the Villainess Has Her Reasons
There are plenty of romance plots I could have used even if I hadn’t based the story on Milene. But I deliberately chose her as the motif to poke at those two idiots still making fools of themselves at the royal palace. They’ll never suspect that the author K is actually Milene. After all, it would never occur to them that she’d be living among commoners and writing books.
“To be honest, yes. But it’s not just that. This material feels like it’ll sell extremely well. It’s inspired by my own life, but the actual content will be quite different.”
“Hmm. So the protagonist doesn’t charge straight into revenge. Instead she’s exiled as a commoner, then ambushed by bandits on the road only to be rescued by a foreign prince attending the capital’s social season. Interesting. I’m not usually a romance reader, but the premise is genuinely compelling. It’s not simply ‘she gets saved and lives happily ever after with the prince.’ She accepts his help and slowly builds her own dream. A woman standing alone would struggle, yet the male lead’s support lets her overcome those obstacles while still growing on her own.”
“Right. It’s not officially serialized yet, so I can’t go into every detail, but…”
If it doesn’t get picked up, I’ll simply insert a character with a similar backstory into the hero-party novel. Naturally I’ll adapt her to fit that genre—perhaps an episode that drives home the Demon King’s threat and further cements the importance of the Holy Sword and the Hero. That should be enough to make even Schwald realize the truth.
“Still, readers might get frustrated and ask why she doesn’t take revenge.”
“That’s why we occasionally switch to the perspectives of the villains who abandoned her. ‘It was all a misunderstanding. This is what really happened.’ As the truth comes out, they destroy themselves.”
“And later they beg for forgiveness, but the protagonist refuses? Hmm.”
“Exactly.”
“Hmm. Not bad at all.”
Hugo skimmed the rest of my manuscript, then gave a slow nod. His reaction seemed noticeably less enthusiastic than last time. Maybe I really should just shove the story into the hero-party series instead.
“Ah, is it not to your taste?”
“Not at all. As I told you before, I simply don’t prefer romance. The work itself is clearly something female readers will adore. I believe it would be best to assign a dedicated editor for this project.”
“Oh, in that case—”
“From what I can see, the one thing I’m certain of is that this reeks of money. So let’s move on to the formal review process.”
“Thank you!”
I bowed deeply. I had just secured both a new source of income and a perfect manuscript with which to torment Schwald and Sophia.
And so I met the new editor. Thanks to the manuscript I’d sent ahead, the moment I walked in she practically rushed over to me.
“This is going to be huge! Massive! I can smell the bestseller from a mile away! Every woman—commoner or noble—will hail this novel as a turning point for the entire romance genre!”
The short-haired woman in front of me was visibly vibrating with excitement as she clutched my manuscript. She even grabbed both my hands and shook them vigorously. Her eyes sparkled as though she had encountered a deity.
“Ah, I’m late with introductions. I’m Tiana, romance editor at Portmus Publishing. Nearly every female author published by us has passed through my desk.”
“Nice to meet you. I’m K.”
“In any case, this truly has the potential to become a cornerstone of the romance world.”
“You think so?”
She was clearly overselling it. She was so worked up that a bit of spit had landed on my cheek.
“Absolutely. The situational setup is on an entirely different level from anything I’ve seen before! It feels like taking a straight road, then curving it into a clever shortcut. Look at the pile of manuscripts I have here. Every single one of these authors is churning out mass-produced romance just to pay the bills. But compared to them, Author K, you’re on another level!”
On another level? That was praise I’d never heard even back in Korea. Well, the only times I’d ever been called amazing were when I helped my little sister with her homework or cleared a visual novel in her place.
“I see. But surely similar novels have been published before?”
“Not like this. They’ve all been children’s fairy tales—nothing but prince-and-princess stories. The names and events change, but the plots are all painfully predictable!”
“I see.”
She was practically trembling with pent-up rage that had finally found an outlet.
“We publish them because people still read the stuff, but lately every submission feels identical. We were starting to suspect the authors were colluding. But after reading this, I feel like I’ve been wading through all that garbage just so I could witness this very moment!”
Garbage? Calling incoming manuscripts garbage was a bit harsh… though, on second thought, it wasn’t my problem. She clearly had been through a lot. If this went well, I might actually become a literary superstar in this world. An ordinary salaryman in Korea, a bestselling author in another world? Now that was a genuine success story. If nothing else, I could be proud of that.
“Author K, let’s move forward with this immediately. Can you prepare the full first volume?”
“That won’t be difficult.”
Writing something like this wouldn’t take long at all. I simply had to add or remove a few odd details from that plagiarist’s original work and change the character names. I was going to transform the novel that woman had ruined into something magnificent.
“Then I look forward to working with you.”
“Of course. Actually, this is already the first volume.”
I took out the manuscript I had prepared in advance.
“You wrote the entire volume ahead of time?”
“Yes. I haven’t done a proper proofreading pass yet, though.”
I was subtly testing her. Once it was accepted for publication, they would handle all of that anyway.
“I can take care of the corrections. And this?”
“Possible additional episode material and character sheets.”
“Character sheets?”
“I wrote down the settings for each character.”
I handed the sheets to Tiana. She seemed to be reading them carefully, which was a relief.
“You prepared this much already? Let me take a look.”
“What do you think?”
The difference between novels written by men and women is obvious. Especially in romance, the male-oriented and female-oriented styles are clearly divided. Male-targeted romance may be fine for men but holds little appeal for women. Conversely, the deep, rich romance that women love often feels like an impenetrable wall to male readers.
I had paid special attention to that balance. After all, even though I’m currently Milene, inside I’m still a man. I had tried my best to write it in a way that women would enjoy. For all my faults, I’ve read an enormous number of novels. I worked hard to appeal to both male and female audiences.
“It’s all good, but who exactly is the protagonist’s final partner? There are so many potential love interests.”
I nodded. She had a point. The romance novel I wrote—Even the Villainess Has Her Reasons—features a protagonist named Anastasia who shares my circumstances. To be more precise, the main changes are that the prince is now named Houston, and the Sophia counterpart, Villia, is a commoner who transfers into the kingdom’s elite academy. She openly sets her sights on the prince, frames Anastasia, and essentially puts her through the same ordeal Milene suffered. However, unlike the original where Milene is simply exiled and never heard from again, Anastasia travels to a neighboring country with the help of its prince. There she receives support from various people and eventually builds a life that is entirely her own.
In the process, Anastasia meets all sorts of characters: a foreign hero, a famous merchant, a powerful magician. She also becomes entangled with people from the rival factions of Prince Houston and Villia—sons of knight families, mages, and so on. Naturally, they form her reverse-harem cast.
The exiled Anastasia gradually discovers her own goals in life. Instead of pursuing direct revenge, she focuses solely on living well. The men who get involved with her during that journey fall for her one by one. Until the very end, however, they maintain a delicate balance of tension. The reason for keeping things so precariously even is simple: once you give readers multiple attractive male leads, picking only one will disappoint fans of the others. That’s why the term “best girl” exists, after all. If your favorite character doesn’t end up with the heroine, the story feels hollow. In the worst case, readers might drop it entirely.
Dropping the series. Author, you should drop it too.
Comments like that would appear. Though since I’m not writing a web novel, it probably doesn’t matter. No one is going to show up at my door. The persona of “Author K” is built on mystery. It’s just a pen name; they don’t even know where I live. How would readers possibly track me down? At worst they’d simply stop buying the books. That was the real problem.
Web novels cost only a few pennies per episode or a flat subscription fee, so readers can drop them easily. Sometimes they even finish disappointing stories out of inertia. But my books are physical print. On top of that, novels have only just begun spreading among the general public in this world. If I made a gamble like that and disappointed readers, sales would plummet overnight.
“I plan to decide that in the final volume.”
So I still hadn’t chosen. It would be troublesome if readers felt let down. Until then, maintaining a careful balance without leaning toward any single man would be the true charm of the work. Meanwhile, the kingdom’s side would feature characters who collapse under the weight of their own regrets. Anastasia herself would show them not the slightest interest.
“I see. Personally, I’m quite fond of that foreign prince.”
“Ah, I feel the same way.”
The foreign prince Anastasia meets for the first time essentially saves her life.
“I haven’t seen the full development yet, but if the story follows this synopsis, I doubt any other romance novel in Portmus will be able to compete.”
“You flatter me.”
That was definitely overpraising. Raising expectations too high would only lead to greater disappointment if I wrote something mediocre. Maybe the smart move was to write a few books, rake in the money, then flee abroad. Sweeping up cash, enjoying the sweet life, and bolting—it was a time-honored tradition in every era and every country.
“Now that I think about it, the novel There Is No Defeat in My Hero Party is also your work, correct?”
“Yes.”
“It’s fascinating. When a single author releases multiple works, the characters often feel similar, yet these are completely different.”
She was right. I had taken special care with that. While writing, Anastasia’s personality had started shifting toward something more heroic, so I referenced the original Milene’s character to balance it. I hadn’t expected her to have read the hero-party novel too.
“Ah, you’ve read that one as well?”
“Of course. It’s not my usual genre, but it brought significant revenue to the company. I was curious.”
“I see.”
Even I would be interested if one of my company’s titles became a massive hit.
“In any case, this is perfect. I actually live right next door to you, Author K.”
“Next door? I had no idea. Ah.”
Since I stayed shut inside the house all the time, I barely knew my neighbors. Wait… wasn’t this dangerous? At this rate I really might end up living as a lifelong hikikomori. That was genuinely risky.
“We can meet frequently to discuss the new project.”
“Ah, yes. Understood.”
Surprisingly, it looked like this work would proceed smoothly as well.