Boredom leads to experimentation. When you’ve played just about everything, you start dabbling in genres that you would normally have nothing to do with. That’s how I got started with Otome games.

Otome games, if you’re unaware, are story-driven games marketed towards young girls. Usually you play as a female protagonist in a dating sim, and have to make choices at important parts of the story which will determine what ending you get. Romance is a central theme, and the goal is to end up with your desired “capture target” (love interest), whether that’s a powerful wizard or a charming student council president.

I enjoyed rooting for the underdog protagonists and “helping” them find their own happiness. Everyone likes a love story with a happy ending, right? Sometimes I want to take a break from saving the world or fighting monsters and just play matchmaker in some fluffy slice of life.

But then one day, a friend sent me an Otome game called “Lost in Love: A Heart Throbbing Romance in a Fantasy World~!” It had the typical setting of a commoner girl (named Mary by default, you could input whatever you wanted) developing magic powers and entering a Magic Academy, where the noble students bully her. There were four capture targets:

The Second Prince, Jonathan Lancaster - A white haired, enigmatic figure with a smile that no one can see through. Has very few ‘real’ friends, but adored by pretty much everyone. Caught in a not-so-secret power struggle with his older brother.

The Knight Captain, Ethan Loch - Serious to a fault and skilled enough to become a captain at 18 years old. A prodigy with the sword, yet woefully out of his element in the magic academy. Tall, dark haired, and strong bodied, Sir Loch is the type of guy who gives everyone near him a sense of security.

The Professor, Gabriel Kingsley - Gentle and kind, the smart (if a bit timid) professor is idolized by many of the more bookish girls in the academy. The typical intellectual type with aqua colored hair and glasses. An aggressive kindergartener could probably bully him.

The Troublemaker, Jay Fulton - As you might expect from his nickname, this guy is childish, always up to no good but fun to be around. The most surprising thing is that he also happens to be Alexander’s best friend. Lord knows how the fuck that happened.

Anyway, sounds like an interesting cast right?

Too bad.

I’m not exaggerating when I say this - Lost in Love is trash. Pure, unadulterated garbage. The Mona Lisa of rubbish. It took me three days to play it again after finishing the first route since I kept walking away from my computer in disgust. There was no sense of pride or accomplishment when I finished the True Route and reached 100% completion either, only numbness… plus a deep pit of regret. So I immediately deleted my copy of the game and flamed my friend for inflicting that evil on me.

What made it so bad? Oh dear, my sweet summer child, where do I even begin.

You could say that it’s the incredibly flat setting - we never get to explore much of the world beyond the academy, most of it is only mentioned in passing. The background may as well not even exist. It might also be the tragically dumb protagonist who causes most of the plot’s problems through her naivety and ignorance. Or maybe you could blame the poor writing and characters whose “best” lines were shamelessly ripped from other games.

All of that might have been pardonable, however, if not for the game’s endings.

As if the developers were determined to add insult to injury, there is not one happy ending in the entire game. It doesn’t matter what choices you make or who Mary ends up with, they get royally screwed nonetheless. Their fates simply vary from “bittersweet” to “terrible”.

Look, I’m not one to get mad at an unhappy end, okay? Tragedy has its place and can be beautiful. But the way Lost in Love did it was profoundly insulting. The “twist” always comes out of nowhere - nameless assassins poisoning the prince on his wedding day, the knight captain getting crippled by a falling tree, the troublemaker losing his memories, or worst of all, the professor getting possessed by a cursed necklace he just happened to find lying around. There was no setup or warning, it just slapped you in the face with more drama right when everything was finally over! And these were the so-called “good” endings! Mary just straight up dies in most of the bad ends! Were they trying to traumatize the players!?

So I persisted, knowing that there was a True Route that you could unlock after seeing everyone’s good endings. Surely this would redeem the game, right? There was no way they’d do the same thing here, right? Our little heroine and her friends will finally be happy, right?

…

Two words: demon invasion.

I’ll spare you the gory details. After spending dozens of hours to get 100% completion, you were treated to the sight of all four capture targets sacrificing their lives one after another to close the demon portal and save what was left of the kingdom. The protagonist spends the rest of her life in crippling guilt and solitude (because, I forgot to mention, she accidentally opened the portal in the first place with her colossal stupidity).

I watched the credits roll in disbelief, not moving until they finished and I was sent back to the main menu. That, ladies and gentlemen, marked the end of Lost in Love.

And you wonder why I was so distraught at finding myself in this game world?

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Let’s talk about my character then.

There are several antagonists and love rivals in Lost in Love, and the most infamous is Christine Halesworth. She is everything the protagonist is not: rich, refined, and one of the most powerful blue bloods in the kingdom, being engaged to the second prince. Her (or rather, our) family is a ducal house with a long history and far reaching influence.

She is also a massive bitch.

Christine acts as the ringleader of the girls who bully the protagonist throughout the story. Everything from dropping a bucket of dirty water on Mary to sabotaging her tests, you name it, she tried it. And if the player chooses to go after the prince, she obviously becomes the main love rival. This ends up raising her nastiness to a whole new level.

Alexander Halesworth, meanwhile, is Christine’s big brother. He only features prominently in one route (the troublemaker’s), but his appearance is so memorable that some “fans” of the game hate him more than his sister. To put it simply, Alex is a complete scumbag.

However terrible Christine might be towards the protagonist, it pales in comparison to how Alexander treats everyone of a lesser status than him. He doesn’t even see commoners and his servants as human beings. The guy is convinced that nobility are born with God given authority to rule and be served… and as the heir to Lancaster Kingdom's most powerful duchy, there are few people with more authority than him.

I’m not sure what they’re like, but I believe Duke and Duchess Halesworth must share this sentiment too, since the game mentions that their province is poorly managed despite its immense natural wealth. Corruption and abuse of power is rampant, while commoners always get the short end of the stick.

Really, I think that the game’s writers went a bit overboard portraying the Halesworth family as evil, but that’s how it goes unfortunately.

So what happens to the Halesworths in the game?

Well, like I said, there’s no such thing as a purely happy ending in Lost in Love. Not even for the villains.

The Halesworth family always falls to ruin, though the exact fate depends on the route picked. At best, we are reduced to the level of a petty merchant clan, forced to live out our days being ridiculed by our former peers and subjects. At worst, in the prince’s bad ending, my parents are executed, Alexander is literally torn apart by an angry mob, and Christine… well, the second prince prepares a “fate worse than death” for her to avenge the protagonist. The game leaves that one to your imagination.

Seriously, isn’t this way too dark for an Otome game!? What the hell writers!

Now I have found myself in the body of that very same Alexander Halesworth. I’m honestly feeling really bitter about this, the way everyone looked at me earlier was the worst feeling in the world. Their thinly veiled fear and contempt made it clear just how badly they thought of this young master, and I’m sure that some of them have fantasized about killing me.

Should I run away? I know that there are other countries in this setting. I could just pocket some gold, travel far across the ocean, and disappear forever. Change my identity and live a simple life in a small medieval town. That might not be such a bad idea.

But then again… sigh.

I also feel responsible. Even if this situation was forced on me, I’ve got the chance to make a difference, you know? There are people in this mansion and in our territory just like Emma, suffering because of the Halesworths’ cruelty. It’s hard to ignore that. If I can make things better for them, it will ease my conscience.

And it’s not like I’m not tempted by Alexander’s status. Being a rich young noble sounds fantastic, I could leave the hard work to my subordinates while I eat delicious food and play with-

Oh, excuse me, my motivations leaked out for a bit there. Ahaha~

Anyway, escaping can just be my backup plan. For the sake of the people and my comfortable life, I’ll try to avert the terrible fate awaiting the Halesworth family. Even if my new relatives are a bunch of unpleasant elitist twits.

Who knows, maybe I’ll even be able to create a happy ending to this steaming pile of garbage.