The Villainess Who Was Dumped Got Married into My Family, a Mob Noble from the Frontier, and Turns Out, She's an Amazing Capable Wife? - Chapter 22: The Protagonist, Mariana Ocean

Chapter 22: The Protagonist, Mariana Ocean

Classes started the very next day.

Unfortunately, we couldn’t bend the rules to be in the same class, so Alicia and I ended up in different classes. 

Here, classes are divided like “Class 1, Class 2,” further subdividing the students in the special class. 

The influence of a duke’s family doesn’t reach this far, it seems. 

Alicia continued to be in the same S class as the prince, who is the main character’s love interest, while I was placed in a different, more ordinary class

It was strange how classes weren’t just divided into numbers like “Class 1, Class 2” but were instead labeled as S, A, B, C, etc. 

The prince was in the S class.

Maybe they wanted to make it feel special?

It’s quite puzzling, and asking about it would probably just get a response like “It was decided by ancient wise people,” or something vague like that.

Interestingly, there wasn’t much about what classes were like in the game, so I was curious.

But it turned out to be just regular classes, with teachers teaching just like in my previous life.

However, there was one unexpected turn.

Mariana Ocean, the game’s main character, was in my “ordinary” class. 

That makes sense, though, because most of the events in the game happen outside of the classroom, where the main character faces terrible discrimination until the prince and his companions, the targets of her conquests, show up to solve the problem. 

If the main character is in the same class, she’s around her knights all the time, so those kinds of events wouldn’t happen, right? 

It figures.

Mariana, the main character, is a beautiful girl with dazzling blonde hair and beautiful blue eyes, so much so that the prince once told her, “Mariana, your eyes are as beautiful as the cloudless blue sky.” 

It’s funny how her name is Mariana Ocean, yet she’s praised with a comparison to the sky. 

I remember wondering about that when I saw her.

However, contrary to what I remembered, she seemed different in the classroom.

“The sage’s most frequently used magic was among the four elements, but which one did he use the most? Please raise your hand if you know the answer.”

“May I!”

“Mariana Ocean, go ahead.”

“It’s attribute-less magic! Because the sage mastered all magic, he ultimately reached the pinnacle of ‘nothingness’ by tracing back to the fundamental truths.”

“Correct. Not being fooled by the trick question, you truly are a progeny of the sage.”

She quickly raised her hand, answered the question, and then sat down with a satisfied smirk, adjusting her thick glasses with a “mhm.” 

…Is she really the main character?

…Is she really the right person for the main character?

I was shocked by how studious she seemed, far from the expected school romance heroine.

If I were the prince, would I find her attractive?

Her thick glasses ruined her beautiful eyes. 

What did the prince see in her eyes to call them “the blue sky”? 

Maybe it’s the contrast? 

Perhaps when she takes off her glasses, her incredibly beautiful eyes are revealed, and that contrast is what captivates her suitors.

“Ah, my, my glasses…”

Mariana’s thick glasses seemed quite worn out, and after adjusting them a few times, the frame finally snapped and fell off. 

What the—?

Shock hit me again. 

Without her glasses, Mariana’s eyes looked like the number “3.” 

“What should I do, they were expensive… Maybe I can still use them if I tie them with a string…?”

She was extremely nearsighted, something I thought I’d only see in gag comics.

This kind of setting didn’t seem right for an otome game world.

“Breaking her glasses again…”

“How many times now? Once every three days?”

“Someone really should buy her a new pair, it’s kind of sad.”

“She said she can’t accept them, though.”

I heard such comments from the surrounding nobles.

The protagonist breaking her glasses every three days was too much, even for me, and I was bewildered by the absurdity. But then, I noticed something odd. 

Mariana, the main character, was usually ignored by those around her.

As a commoner who had upset a ducal daughter and became close to the noble targets of conquest, including the prince, she was like a sore thumb.

Of course, she was isolated until the story progressed and she made friends with nobles who were against bullying and understood commoners to some degree… But somehow, she was drawing sympathy from those around her. 

Not as a target of jealousy, but of sympathy.

I was almost at a loss, trying to figure out what was going on. 

I felt like banging my head on the desk right then and there, but the desks in the classroom were too fragile, so I had to resist.

“Ah, the lens is scratched… I should have asked to move my seat to the front because of my eyesight…”

“Hey, want me to change seats with you?” 

A student with a kind demeanor suggested to Mariana with a wry smile.

“No, I’m okay!”

Mariana shook her head. 

“Thank you so much for offering! But I don’t need any special treatment in this school. I can manage on my own. Please don’t worry about me!” 

She shook her head so vigorously that her thick glasses flew off.

“Well, if you say you’re fine…”

The noble, who had shown kindness, was left puzzled. 

It wasn’t about refusing noble charity out of spite; the confusion was just overwhelming.

“Mariana Ocean, pick up your glasses. And in the next seat change, your seat will be right in front of the teacher. Is that clear?”

“Y-Yes! Sorry! I’m so sorry!”

This is not good. 

The more I see Mariana, the more she strays from the image of the protagonist I had in my memory.

I feel like I need to talk to Alicia about this when I get home. 

Alicia, who exactly were you fighting against? 

And to the noble behind me who’s been endlessly tearing up notes, rolling them into balls, and throwing them at the back of my head.

I’ve memorized your face and name, you know?

Nobles shouldn’t be engaging in such petty harassment.