OG Victoria was rich and spoiled.
Everytime Tori was reminded of this, it brought a feeling of exasperation and bitterness.
Victoria was very well loved by her family. She was the adored youngest and only daughter of Marquis Gregorio de Guevera and Marquess Antonia. There were also the two older brothers Tori read about in the wiki article.
Sebastian, the eldest, was twelve years older and Kasen was nine years older. The large age gap between them made the brothers dote on Victoria to the point where they not only visited her every day when she was unconscious, but once she woke up the first time, they and their parents would take turns watching over her in case she woke up again.
They brought over their work and moved a desk and chair into the space between the window and her bed so they could be there if she needed anything. When she woke up feverish, her mother wiped her sweat with a cool wet towel. Her eldest brother personally fanned her. Her father even had a doctor staying across the hall in case she had another episode.
How many noble families with the responsibilities the Gueveras had would do that? Tori doubted there were regular families who would do that.
To her, Victoria was ridiculously lucky in terms of birth. There were plenty of messed up villain origin stories that started with the villain’s family being generally terrible, but Victoria didn’t have that problem.
She just made dumbass decisions.
This idiot body had a good thing going and it was thrown away for some royal rando. Who wouldn’t be pissed? It was like watching a friend get into a trainwreck relationship.
In a way, Tori was glad she transmigrated when she did. At the very least, she wouldn’t make the same decisions as Victoria. All she needed to do was go to school and graduate without clashing with the protagonist and her harem. She was sure if she avoided conflict with the protagonist, the chance of her ‘bad end’ would be greatly diminished.
The countdown to the start of the game had begun and so Tori got ready. First thing: she had to pack.
When Tori thought back to her closet in her original world, she always felt she had accumulated a lot of clothes. She didn’t think that in a past historical scenario, albeit fictional, someone would have even more clothes at only fourteen years.
And once more, she was wrong.
The pile of clothes on her bed was taller than her; the most recent reminder that Victoria was painfully spoiled. It wasn’t a small bed either.
“Is this...all of it?” Tori asked as she stood at the foot of her bed, staring at the mountain of clothes. She had to admit, she was a bit impressed. Behind her, two maids wiped their brows as they came out of her walk-in-closet with another armload of clothes each. Tori narrowed her eyes. Walk-in-closets shouldn’t even exist here, but whatever. This was just a fantasy world loosely based on a hodge-podge of European periods.
“These are all of your gowns, outerwear, and day-to-day wear, my lady,” one of the maids said. “This doesn’t count your sleep wear, undergarments, shoes or accessories.”
Tori drew her lips into a tight line and nodded slowly. It was time for the art of tidying up She took a deep breath. “I’m going to sort through these. Whatever I no longer plan on using, we will resell and donate the profits to schools in the march.”
“Should we ask for additional hands, my lady?”
“No, I’ll do this myself. Just prepare the trunks to sort the items into.” Tori walked to her desk and picked up a few sheets of paper. Each sheet was a specific list: sleepwear and undergarments; shoes and accessories; school supplies; toiletries and make-up; miscellaneous items; and finally clothes and outerwear.
Essentially, packing lists for moving into the dorm at Lycée.
She moved aside four of the lists and brought over the list of clothes broken down by occasion, weather, and estimated frequency of use. Luckily, the Lycée required all students to wear uniforms and specially designed seasonal outwear. Those garments could be purchased in stores near campus and her family had already put in the orders.
All she had to do was pick them up.
What she had to pick out now were clothes to wear when she wasn't attending classes.
Her maids dragged in large trunks to fill. Each was enough for two of her to hide in. Tori was determined to use only one, but the others were for things she planned to get rid of. Victoria must’ve just bought whatever she thought was fashionable and expensive. From a glance, Tori could see that not all the colors would look good on her. Victoria was pale with cool undertones and blue eyes; a classic cool winter.
Tori was originally a warm autumn and had to consciously push aside her bias for colors that went well with her original complexion. She was both lucky and unlucky that Victoria had so many clothes as she first sorted the dresses on the bed by color. She just finished when a knock came from the door.
“I heard you had questions?” an amused voice of a man said from the open doorway. Tori glanced up and smiled at the man who shared the same hair color and eyes as she. He was well dressed and looked to have just come back from an errand outside.
“Kasey! Good, you’re here. I do have some more questions and since you just spent the last several years in Horizon, I figured you’d be the person to go to.”
Her second older brother was, as the wiki article said, a scholar. A tall, good-looking, and gifted swordsman scholar who patiently answered all of her questions, of which she had a lot.
Tori had gaps in her memory, or rather, there were things that Victoria either didn’t pay attention to or didn’t know. Everything Tori really knew about the world came from reading the wiki pages on it and for obvious reasons, she didn’t finish reading them.
She found that when she tried to remember something, either a quick, sharp shooting pain in her head would bring a memory or nothing came up. Since she had hit her head and had a fever, it was just easier to admit to her new family that she was a bit amnesiatic.
“Impossible!” Sebastian had grabbed her hand and lowered his head to meet her eyes when she told them. “You remember me, don’t you? How could you forget your favorite brother?”
“No, no...I remember you...I remember all of you.” Tori had tried to explain without worrying them further. Her parents had looked horrified, with her mother on the verge of crying again. “I just can’t remember...bits and pieces of things. I might have redundant questions, so, please don’t be alarmed.”
Kasen had pulled Sebastian away and took his seat beside her. “All right,” he told her in an understanding voice. “Then, whatever question you have, you can ask me. I’ll answer everything for you.”
Tori would’ve been lying if she said she wasn’t touched. She knew she needed the support and knowledge bank. A relieved smile had filled her face . “Thank you, Kasey.”
Sebastian had gasped and a look of panic filled his handsome face. “Tori...our brother’s name is Kasen.”
Shit.
Kasen wasn’t a popular name in her original world, but Kasey was relatively common. She’d heard his name being called before and read it on the wiki article, but must’ve fallen back on what she was familiar with. Kasen just smiled warmly and held her hand, as if noticing the doomed look on her face.
“It’s fine. Tori can call me Kasey.”
She called him that ever since.
When the headache and body pain were tolerable enough for her to at least sit up in bed and focus, Kasen spent hours at her side answering all her questions, no matter how simple and strange they seemed.
“I can bring you some general books on the history of the empire.”
“That would be great!” She had perked up and Kasen rushed out to get her some books immediately, but her excitement was short-lived. When she opened her mouth, she could speak the language that she intrinsically knew wasn’t one in her original world. When she listened to others speak, she understood what they were saying. The ability to communicate was inherited from Victoria.
However, being able to communicate through speech was different from literacy. Kasen brought her a suitable book to read. It wasn’t thick, but he assured her it was detailed enough. Tori’s heart had pounded in her chest as she accepted the book and put it on her lap. The thick, leather bound cover had no writing on it and she felt her chest tighten.
In her travels in her original world, she had been to places where she was illiterate and the feeling of being so ignorant and helpless that she couldn't even read the simplest signs always made her anxious. And those were in places where she was just visiting; if she lived in a place where she couldn’t read, she didn’t know what she’d do.
Tori had stared at the book, unable to bring herself to open it. If she were lucky, maybe the written language was in Japanese. After all, it was a Japanese game. She was no expert in kanji and often had to look up characters, but some literacy was better than none.
“Tori?” Kasen had looked at her and frowned when she didnt move. “Are you all right?”
She swallowed hard. Fuck it, Tori. You can learn to read again if you need to.
She opened the book to a random page and looked down. Immediately, her lips pulled into a wide smile as she let out the breath she’d been holding. With a look of utter relief, she looked back at her brother. “I can read....”
Kasen had looked at her strangely, but she ignored it.
She only had a few weeks before she left the safety and comfort of the Guevera Fortress and ventured out into the world. She needed to cram everything she could find out about this game world before she set foot outside. She felt her survival literally depended on her ability to navigate the in-game world without causing problems.
Tori read like she was cramming a semester’s worth of readings the day before finals.
Even Kasen told her to slow down and not read too late into the night, worried that she’d get dizzy and trigger her headaches.
It seemed that learning didn’t make her head hurt, so she habitually stayed up reading by candlelight and writing questions in a notebook that she would show to Kasen the next morning. He didn’t hand her random books, either. He curated material to build a foundation, as if he was teaching her about their world from scratch.
At one point, Tori wondered if her brother thought she had gotten dumber after her accident.
He gave her maps, charts of noble families, reviewed their own extensive family tree, and then started touching on the sciences of their world. While there was some overlap, Tori was excited to find out that many of their ‘sciences’ would be considered ‘magic’ to her. She was then grossly disappointed that despite the presence of magic - no matter how mundane Kasen made it sound like - there were no amazing magical beasts.
In addition, most magic was limited to things like lights, communication, and healing. Normal, everyday things in her world were just made magical by the use of crystals. Lame.
Her next massive disappointment came when she realized that she was a transmigrated soul in a foreign body, but had no sudden, extra perks. She hoped that there was something special about her that was the result of her transmigration. She read web novels and manga, she knew how this worked: a girl travels to another world; is special and has an overpowered gift she uses to save the world or build a business empire or get revenge or whatever.
Did she have super powers like speed or strength or reading minds? No.
She ended up breaking a nail and half of the maids likely thought she was insane for watching them with an intense look on her face in her attempt to read their minds.
Maybe she could talk to animals? Aside from talking to her mother’s hound and only getting nonsensical chuffs back, no.
Then what about a ‘goldfinger’ or cheat ability? No seeing ghosts - for the best; no controlling elements - that was heartbreaking. Even a magical storage space or dimension would’ve been cool.
But that was also a no. They didn’t even have bags of holding in this poor-ass excuse of a fantasy world and Tori was bitter for an entire week upon realizing that.
There was nothing special about her.
Transmigration gave her nothing but a younger, weaker body for a soul with forty years of various life experiences. Life experiences that didn’t necessarily carry over advantageously.
“What do you want to know?” Kasen stepped into her room and looked over the pile of dresses on her bed, ready to answer whatever basic question she had.
“What’s fashionable to wear in the capital right now? It doesn’t have to be the trendiest, but I don’t want to wear anything that is inappropriate or may cause disdain or is too outdated.” Tori walked up to the clothes and patted them. “I don’t need a lot, just a few, so...help me out.”
Kasen’s eyes widened and he seemed to hesitate. Then, he took a deep breath and seemed to silently calculate. “You’ll need casual clothes for going into town, at least two formal gowns, two or three occasional dresses for casual social events with your frie...”
He trailed off and seemed to hold back a grimace. Tori gave him a weak smile.
Haha...what friends?
OG Victoria went to a lot of social events, but not because people wanted to invite her. It was just that in the Guevera March, especially in the regional capital of Presidio where they lived, she was always invited as a sort of social obligation.
Victoria knew this, but it didn’t stop her from going. In fact, if she got an invite, she would attend and wave her status and wealth in front of her peers. She always had to be the center of attention, always had to be the best dressed and if she wasn’t, she’d criticize and snub whoever was. She looked down on everyone else to the point that the young social circle of the Presidio hated her.
No one visited when she was bedridden and the only letters she received were perfunctory notes that someone’s parents’ probably made them send. After all, she was still the Marquis’ daughter and even if she oppressed and bullied her peers, some sort of respect needed to be shown.
Suffice to say Victoria had no friends.
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From her memories, Tori can surmise that at gatherings, Victoria would have a small posse of followers, like any true villainess, but those hoes weren’t loyal and would immediately turn around and talk about what a horrible person Victoria was once Victoria was out of earshot. Though, it wasn’t really slander if it was true. She was mean, arrogant, stupid and couldn’t read the room. The only good things about her were her lineage, wealth, and her face.
At the very least, ‘face’ was counted.
“Horizon is a large city and Lycée’s students are from all over the empire. You’ll meet plenty of new people and make better friends.” Kasen was trying to comfort her, but she still thought it was somewhat patronizing.
“Yeah...sure....” Tori looked back at her pile of clothes, brushing off the pathetic feeling she got knowing that this body was friendless. No matter how much of an introverted homebody she was, she always had friends in her original life. This was just sad. “Anyway, I’m leaning towards these neutral grays and with some lighter shades of blue and magenta....”
Kasen dutifully began to go through the piles of dresses in the colors Tori wanted to keep and made his suggestions with the critical eye of a fashion editor. Fashion trends always started in the capital and moved out, so the further from Horizon one was, the less trendy the clothes were.
Luckily, Kasen was aware of what people in the capital were wearing recently since he just graduated from Université a few months earlier.
They would be staying with their father’s sister, Auntie Lucia, when they were in Horizon and their mother had given her a rather large allowance just to buy clothing there, but Tori felt guilty spending money when her closet was bursting with clothes that were rarely, if ever, used. Since she woke up, she’d cycle through the same clothes that weren’t restricting and comfortable for wearing at home in the summer. It had worried her mother.
Tori shoved aside the piles of dresses she wasn’t going to use with some struggle. Even a separated mountain still became a bunch of hills. She lifted her hand and wiped the sweat off her brow, frowning.
“This is more time consuming than I thought.”
Kasen chuckled. He glanced at her and then towards the window. “It’s still light out, do you want to take a break? Do some sword exercises before dinner?”
Her eyes lit up and Kasen seemed to take that as an agreement. She tossed aside the bright orange clothes in her arms and nodded. “Let’s go! I’m getting claustrophobic surrounded by all these clothes.”
She hurried to the door and grabbed a wooden training sword - a waster - from where it was leaning against the wall by the door.
“Do you want to change first?” her brother asked as he followed behind her. Tori shook her head.
“No, it’s just for a little bit. I’m just going to do some forms. I can do them in a dress.” Even the female guards to the family trained in pants, but Tori wasn’t going to spar. Forms were a series of positions that transitioned into one another to make a particular sequence. She did them for both sword and tai chi, and doing so helped relax her since the movements were so familiar.
In the late afternoon, she walked out into the training courtyard. It was open to everyone in the fortress who wanted to practice, so even before sundown, there were a few guards getting some practice in. Kasen was no stranger to there and no one seemed to pay any attention to him.
However, Tori could feel the eyes on her as she walked out and pretended she wasn’t aware of the confused, if not stunned, looks.
It took her a while to have more contact with people outside her immediate family and the two or three maids that served her, so she wasn’t fully aware of her reputation amongst the family’s guards and remaining staff until a month ago, when she started leaving her room.
If she didn’t have any friends, what did she expect about her reputation with the servants?
It was bad.
Tori wasn’t sure exactly how bad; it wasn’t as if anyone was going to tell her she was a spoiled bitch to her face, but she had a general idea from the looks people gave her when she greeted them. Apparently, Victoria did not casually greet servants ‘good morning’ or get their attention with ‘excuse me’.
Her first appearance in the courtyard one morning made the entire yard freeze in their place. Her father, who was leading morning training, had dropped his sword and ran to her.
“Tori!” The blue-eyed, middle-aged man with some gray at his temples rushed towards her with a frantic expression. “Are you all right? Did you get lost?” He had ripped off his gloves so he could place his shaking hands on her shoulders. “This is the training courtyard, my dear. Not the garden.” He hand cupped her head and looked at her as if some tragedy had struck and she lost her mind.
“Papa, I see this courtyard from my window,” Tori had lifted her hand and pointed to her room. “I’m not lost.”
“Oh...then, are you looking for Papa?” her father asked. He looked almost touched by this.
She had opened her mouth, about to tell him no, but was struck, feeling a bit guilty. “Actually, yes. Papa, I want to practice here.”
“Practice what?” His sincere confusion was irritating. She resisted the urge to roll her eyes. What else would she practice?
“Sword, Papa. I want to practice the sword.”
She could’ve sworn she heard a collective gasp of shock from the rows of guards who were waiting for training to begin. In the end, she managed to convince her father that she was well enough to hold a sword, but he still had someone wake Sebastian up so he could personally give her lessons.
If she had appeared as a true beginner, perhaps the confused gazes that landed on her now wouldn’t look at her as if she had two heads. But at the time, Tori didn’t have time to pretend to be a newbie and falter through the basics Sebastian tried to show her. She wasn’t used to such a long period of inactivity and wanted to move.
She immediately dove into sets of cuts and movements to test how familiar her body was with the weapon. She wanted to estimate how far she could push this untrained body and had ignored everyone in favor of her personal experiment.
She didn’t know when, but by the time she opened her eyes after a simple twenty-five form series she was satisfied with, everyone in that courtyard was looking at her as if she were a ghost. Her face heated up and she frowned. What the hell? Hadn’t they ever seen a girl with a sword before? There were plenty of female guards.
She raised her arms and glared, defensive. “What? You wanna fight?”
“Tori.” Her father had a serious and worried look on his face as he slowly stepped forward and approached her with his arms out. Tori frowned moreso. Why did she feel like one of those velociraptors in the Jurassic Park sequels? “Where did you learn to use a sword?”
That was a valid question.
“I don’t know.”
And that was a terrible answer.
In her rush to get out of bed and do something, she had forgotten to come up with an elaborate lie to explain why she suddenly had the fifteen years of swordsmanship skill she had in her original world. She couldn’t casually tell her father “oh, every year since I was twenty-five, I picked up one new thing to learn each year. Historical European Martial Arts was the first thing I picked up.”
For one thing, she was fourteen.
For another, her father had obviously watched her grow up for those fourteen years and had never seen her have any interest in any weapon.
“You don’t know?” Marquis Guevera had a strained voice, unable to reconcile what was happening.
“I just watched you.” Tori had said. She pointed to her window once more. “After so many years, I should’ve picked something up, right?” She had forced an innocent smile and her father reluctantly accepted her answer.
That was a month ago and there were still stares.
“You want to go through the forms together?” Kasen asked. He grabbed a waster from a basket. Tori nodded and stood a few paces from him with a wide, clear space in front of them to move. She took a deep breath and got into position before closing her eyes.
She heard Kasen’s clothes rustle and she began to move her arms and legs, smoothly drifting from one position to the next as if defending against an invisible group of assailants. The movements she’d done for years in her original body carried over to her new one, although Victoria wasn’t as strong and had limited endurance, so she couldn’t push herself as far.
Tori had been working on that by lifting books, doing barre exercises, and stretching with yoga in her room at night. Part of it was because she had a lot of hobbies that were physical and wanted to continue them here. Another, more practical reason, was that she wanted to have some ability to fend off enemies. While she planned to avoid conflict with the protagonist and her harem, Tori didn’t know what this world would throw at her.
Better to be prepared.
The more skills she had, the more adaptable she was. In her original life, she’d learned practical things from sewing and cooking to more physical things like dance and exercise classes. She tried to learn new languages, new instruments, and got into several arts and crafts. While her skill level in each varied, she could confidently say she was a jack of all trades, but master of none.
Before she left for her business trip to Tokyo, Tori had just started her horseback riding lessons. A lot of good that did her now; she had only three so far. Her equestrian skills were probably lower than Victoria’s, who had fallen off a horse.
Ugh...I knew I should’ve signed up for those classes a few years ago.
There was never a cure for regret.
“Young lord, young lady.” A gruff guard’s voice pulled Tori from her trance and she slowed to a stop. She opened her eyes and turned towards the merlot and black uniformed guard a few steps away. “The Marquess has sent me to remind you that dinner will be had in the formal dining room.”
Kasen lowered his sword and looked towards her. “Go and wash up for dinner. I’ll take your sword.” Tori handed it to him and headed back inside. She made it a few steps in when she heard her name.
“Tori, did you finish packing?” Her father was walking down the corridor and looked up from a folder he was skimming. A warm smile filled his face as he looked at her.
“Almost.” Nope. “Kasey helped me pick out some clothes.”
“Oh, that’s good. If you need anything, you just tell Papa, okay?” He lifted his large, calloused hand and patted her head of unruly curly black hair she inherited from him. His hair, however, was cut short. If it wasn’t for his neatly trimmed beard, he’d look like an aged version of Kasen.
“Okay, Papa. I know.” Tori continued ahead and rounded the corner.
“Tori, did you go out to practice?” Another voice called out to her. She glanced to her right and saw Sebastian coming out of his office. He seemed to almost pout. “Why didn't you call me? I would’ve come. You know I’m a better swordsman than Kasen!”
While in her heart, Tori considered Kasen her favorite brother, Sebastian openly insisted that he was instead. He was much more extroverted than their brother and resembled their mother more with his wavy dark brown hair and green eyes. He still had the Guevera height and build, though. He wasn’t lying when he said he was a better swordsman. None of the guards his age seemed to be able to match him.
“I was just stretching out before dinner. Are you done for today?” she asked as she prepared to walk up the stairs.
“Yes, I have to be.” Sebastian frowned, annoyed. “I can’t believe I have to leave so early. Are you sure you don’t want to leave with me tomorrow to go to Horizon? My work will only take a few days and then I can take you around the city.”
Even if she wanted to, she had a pile of clothes on her bed that prohibited her. “No, Kasey and I are going to leave in a few days. I have a few more things to prepare.”
Sebastian looked disappointed and shuffled a few steps away. He looked back at her with big, despondent eyes. “Are you sure?”
“Yes.”
He groaned and seemed to slink back into his office, defeated. Tori chuckled and ran to her room. She quickly washed her face and hands before changing into a fresh dress for the meal. She followed the scent of dinner wafting through the fortress to get to the main dining hall and saw her father step inside as she rounded the corner. Before she reached the door, she heard a pleased squeal from within.
“Stop it, Gregorio, we’re about to eat!” Her mother sounded as if she were admonishing her father, but there was a hint of joy and teasing in her voice.
“Good, I’m quite hungry for you.”
“Gregorio!”
Tori stood outside, in the hall, counting a few seconds before stomping her feet to give them warning. Nowhere on Victoria’s wiki article did it say that her parents were as affectionate as they were. Everytime they passed in the hall, the couple would kiss. Her father had no qualms with hugging his wife whenever he could and they openly flirted to the point that it seemed everyone was numb to it.
Even in the short time Tori was exposed to them, she’d started ignoring their public displays of affection.
“Mama, is dinner ready?” Tori called out before she even appeared at the doorway. She gave them another second to compose themselves before she walked in.
“You’re just in time, darling. We’re just waiting for your brothers now.” The Marquess abandoned her husband to get to Tori and personally led her to the seat next to her. The first time Tori had come down for a meal, she stood to the side, trying to figure out where to sit. Her mother had figured this out at once and brought her to her seat.
“I’m starving. Where are those two?” The Marquis was already in his chair at the head of the table.
“What about Gramps?” Tori asked as she pushed her chair closer to the table. The elder Marquis usually joined them at dinner, but not always. He was a surprisingly social old man and constantly hanging out with his old man friends.
“He’s out with his war buddies again,” her father said.
Tori wrinkled her nose. “Sebastian’s leaving tomorrow. He didn’t want to stay for dinner?”
Just as she said this, her brothers entered the dining room. Her father snorted, as if such a reason was worthy. “Why bother? It’s just Sebastian.”
Her eldest brother came to a halt and narrowed his eyes. “What kind of....”
“Sit down,” the Marquess said. “Let’s have dinner. Sebastian, don’t forget that when you pass through the towns, to make reservations for your siblings at the inns.”
“I know,” Sebastian said as he took his seat across from their mother. Kasen sat on his other side, across from Tori. “I’ve already mapped out the route.”
“We’re taking the Andreas Pass,” Kasen said. “It’ll save us two days of travel.”
“Good, good. It’ll give your sister more time to familiarize herself with the city,” the Marquis said with an approving nod. The servants came in with their dishes and placed them in front of each person. “Kasen, make sure to stay with her. It’s easy for a newcomer to get lost in Horizon.”
“I know, Papa.”
“It would’ve been better if Kasen was still going to school there,” Sebastian said as he began to cut through the steak on his plate. “If only he was a year younger. Tch...so useless.”
“Yes, if only I controlled the circumstances of my birth better,” Kasen said in a droll voice.
“Exactly, you....” Sebastian lowered his utensils and turned to give their brother a glare. “Shut up, Kasen.”
“Enough.” Their mother shot them both a look. She turned to Tori, her face softening. “Your brothers only have a limited time to stay there with you, so take advantage of them while you can, all right?”
“Go to your Auntie Lucia if you need immediate help,” her father said, looking at her pointedly.
“Lucia’s home isn’t too far from Lycée.” The Marquess nodded with confirmation.
The Marquis seemed to think for a moment. “If it’s an emergency and during school hours, contact your Uncle Maurizo. The Université where he works is closest to Lycée.”
“Papa, Uncle Maurizo is a research professor there. I can’t always bother him.” Thinking of doing so made Tori feel bad, especially when her uncle, her Auntie Lucia’s husband, studied medicinal plants.
Her father simply brushed off her concern. “It’s fine. You are more important than whatever plant he’s researching now.”
Everyone around the table nodded in agreement.
Though Tori couldn’t help but feel a bit exasperated at this, she was still moved. She sighed to herself and continued to eat as her new family happily chatted around her.
In this sort of loving, doting environment, Victoria’s personality in the game made total sense. Victoria was not only born into power and wealth, but was so loved and pampered, it made her spoiled and expectant, resulting in the arrogant young woman who easily became envious and succumbed to her darkest impulses.
It was the literal fatal character flaw that made Victoria have so much conflict with Alessa. Because of that envy, and fueled by her pride, Victoria did things that ruined her.
Tori looked around the warm, loving family that was laughing around her and surprisingly felt that she was a part of it. Maybe it was because of the affection they showered on her or their consideration for her recovery and their unquestioning acceptance to the obvious changes in her personality that made her feel comfortable considering her situation.
It had been just a few weeks since she woke, but she had real affection for the Gueveras. She wasn’t sure if it was her own that she had developed or if it was Victoria’s lingering feelings connected to her fond memories of her family, but Tori counted herself as lucky to have transmigrated into their home.
She quietly ate, her mind assessing her situation once more.
Victoria’s original actions led to the eventual downfall of her entire family, if the wiki articles on the game sequels were anything to go by. Her death made her brothers villains and a centuries old marquis family just an entry in a history book.
Tori couldn’t allow that to happen.
This was her family now. Even if they didn’t know that the soul inside had changed, this body belonged to this family and they loved her. They treated her well and did their best for her.
Tori knew what she had to do: go to Lycée and be a good student. Lay low. Don’t have any conflicts with the protagonist and her love interests. Be the most forgettable NPC she could.
At the very least, that should allow her to survive and none of these kind people would suffer.