Villainess WG - 01

Katarina Claes reclined upon a sofa in the antechamber of the Stuart Estate, propped up on a large, billowy satin and silk pillow. Its deep purple contrasted to the blue and white gown she often wore, but highlighted her exceptional curves. In a stark contrast to her regal appearance, she had fallen asleep in a most unladylike fashion while waiting for Prince Geordo, with one leg over the top of the seat with a shoe still hanging off of it. One arm was sprawled behind her while another dragged closer to the floor as she loudly snored.

“She’s so cute, even when she’s asleep,” Geordo thought to himself as he peeked through a crack in the door. It was his fault for making her wait so long, but he just had to make sure everything was perfect for her.

A paragon of aristocratic nobility, and his betrothed since the age of 8, Prince Geordo continued to watch in admiration as she lazily repositioned herself like she hadn’t a care in the world. It was that disregard for protocol and earnest love of herself and her friends which attracted him to her, gently molding their status from a political bethrowal to one of genuine desire.

He continued to watch as she rolled around in her sleep, squeezing one of the expensive pillows so tightly that a feather ejected itself from the satin case and lodged itself in her open mouth. She gagged loudly and coughed back out before returning back to a more blissful state. Even now, she could always make him laugh.

Geordo wasn’t the only one who saw such beauty. Katarina’s magnetic personality and caring drew others around her, which was quickly leaving him behind. His many attempts to win her heart in more subtle ways were always being interrupted by their mutual friends, but this time he knew what would get through to her at long last.

It would be rude to awaken her after such a blissful slumber so Prince Geordo decided he would simply open the dining room door and let the scents handle the rest.

He wouldn’t have to wait long.

As though shoved by invisible hands, he heard Katarina roll off the couch with a thud. She clutched her head as she stifled a groan before picking herself back up. With her hair still in slight disarray, she sleepily trudged into the dining hall while rubbing her eyes, entirely forgetting that she was no longer in her own house. She paused in mid yawn as she laid eyes on the prince and the unfamiliar surroundings.

“My apologies for making you wait, Lady Katarina,” Geordo smiled from the end of the table, bowing in formal greeting. “I trust you slept well?”

“Uh, um, yes!” Katarina scrambled as she patted down her dress and attempted to straighten her bangs. “Thank you for having me over. You said that you had something urgent you wanted to talk with me about?”

“Why yes, for you see my family will be hosting another gala this weekend and I wondered if I could implore your impeccable taste on the matter, being a lady of high nobility and all.”

Katarina groaned internally. She hated stuffy, aristocratic parties. Where others might have been overjoyed at the prospect of high tea and gossip, she had glimpsed a world beyond such archaic protocol.

“I know I look like this, but I’m still a 26 year old fujoshi woman from Tokyo on the inside...just because I died young and got reincarnated into some dating sim…actually wait...did this scene happen in the game? I’m not forgetting something am I? Is this a potential flag event!?”

The prince often caught her muttering to herself about some strange things. A dream, perhaps? Given how spontaneous Katarina could be, he often found it better to not probe any further.

“Is something wrong, my lady?”

Katarina smiled cheerfully as she approached, making a half hearted attempt to hide her initial disappointment.

“Uh, nope! Nothing wrong at all! I’d be more than happy to help! What would you like my opinion on?”

The prince smiled, knowing that the plan was set into motion.

With two claps of his gloved hands, servants began to pour out of the nearby kitchen. With them they carried many assortments of trays and presents in a grand display. Together with them, the intoxicating scent which had roused her from her slumber was overwhelming.

There on gold trays, on floors and tables were two dozen big, chocolate box-bonus, stuffed with caramel and macadamia nuts and piled into a pyramid of lusciousness. More than two dozen large, strawberry tarts, dusted with sugar and smeared with whipped cream were presented under glass. A six layered, red velvet cake with pecan and walnut cream icing, cinnamon apple stuffed fritters, decadent butter ripple ice cream, enough chocolate chip brownies to build a small castle with; all of them were her favorites.

“I just wasn’t sure which one of these would work as the dessert piece for the evening. Given that you’re the resident expert on sweets, I felt that I could only trust your opinion.”

The amount of food was astonishing. Katarina had been to a lot of parties in her 18 years since she had been reincarnated but never one with a spread as extravagant. Even a woman with a tooth as sweet as hers felt her ever eager tummy cramp in an attempt to prevent her from instinctively stuffing herself until she exploded.

“Actually, Maria’s also pretty good at sweets too,” Katarina buckled, making the most half-hearted attempt to avert her gaze from oh so much chocolate. “Why don’t I call her, Mary and Sophia over and we can all-”

The prince had seen that coming. He had called Katarina over on this very day when he knew that they would all be preoccupied with other duties. He smiled at her as he grasped her hands in his, anchoring her waving heart to a plate with a slice of cake he had cut just for her.

“I’m sure they’ll all be around shortly. However, this is a matter which I could only entrust to the one I am engaged to. It has to be you, Katarina.”

“Oh that whole engagement thing? Where I tripped and hit my head when we were children? Well, you did take rather good care of me back then but I told you that you don’t have to feel so obligated to carry on like this! I’m totally over it! See, I didn’t even get a scar!”

The prince’s crestfallen gaze reflected off the sheen of Katarina’s bare forehead. Perhaps she had spoken a bit too much.

“Well alright, fine. I suppose I can have a small piece if you insist. I know you’re probably just trying to make it up to me but you don’t have to try so hard to get me to like you. I already do!”

Prince Geordo’s face lit up.

“...As a very good friend!”

His face sunk again.

Katrina’s face on the other hand was entirely aglow as she sampled the thin slice of cake. The smoothness of the chocolate melted on her tongue as it entered her still hungry belly.

“Oh my god that’s delicious!”

One bite was never going to satisfy her. It was like having only one potato chip and never going back for more. The entire slice soon disappeared into her and was quickly replaced by a larger, thicker one. The taste testing had certainly met her approval as pressed her hand to her cheek in bliss.

“Well, what do you think?” The prince asked once he had rallied his mood. “Any changes you’d make?”

Katarina was well ahead of him. She scooped a big dollop of cream from a chilled pot all over it as she took an enormous bite. With eyes shut, she moaned her approval as she ate.

Now it was Katarina’s turn to snap her fingers. A servant quickly approached as hurriedly gestured for ink and paper to be brought to her side. With her left hand she continued to feed herself as she wrote furiously with her right.

The gorging continued like this for over an hour as she made notes for every adjustment and combinations of flavors that worked just as well. Unknown to her friends, she had mastered the art of writing while snacking while she crammed for exams in her former life and was quite adept at putting her critique into words. As soon as one page was done, another was immediately slid under her arm as she continued to suckle every last dusting of sugar from her fingers.

Katarina’s dress bulged at her midsection as she began to consume at a far more rapid pace. The prince had never expected her to take his request in earnest as he had prepared far more food than a single woman could handle, but she showed no signs of stopping. Piles of plates stacked up against piles of paper as her belly swelled out of the constraints of her corset from both the top and bottom as pressure continued to build up behind it.

“Ah...I see that you approve of….pretty much everything,” The prince smiled as he glanced over some of her completed pages. They were detailed, completely down to positives and negatives for each dish with matching star ratings. “Unfortunately, I don’t think it helps me figure out which one we should use for the party…”

Katarina’s quill scratching halted. She looked up from her latest page, swallowed the brownie still hanging halfway out her mouth and smiled back sheepishly.

“Oh yeah...I guess that doesn’t really help, huh? I can’t help it since these are all just so good!”

“W-well I’m glad to see that our chefs were going in the right direction. I shall take these to them as soon as possible to make the adjustments.”

“Oh, but there's still so much I haven't tried yet,” Katarina pouted, not even trying to hide her disappointment. See, I’ve got plenty of-”

There was an audible pop. All eyes in the room were drawn to Katarina’s back as the constraints of her corset visibly gave way under the mounting pressure of her overstuffed belly.

Free from its fabric shackles, it bulged out in all directions and pushed the stretchiness of her dress to its limits. A sizable potbelly formed before her as the food she had mercilessly consumed wrought its vengeance upon her gown. At least a couple of inches of softness bloated out onto her lap and wobbled for a few awkward seconds between the two of them.

“Your dress! I can’t believe this happened! Quickly, fetch the tailor! Pay him to craft my betrothed the finest-”

Katarina merely held up a hand to pause him in mid command. Smiling widely, she reached out for a few more strawberry tarts and aptly popped them into her mouth.

“You need not worry yourself about my state of dress,” Katarina giggled. “This old thing was bound to need some adjustments anyway and I am a growing girl after all. Consider it a compliment to how well your chef had done with all of these treats. I do hope he will find some of my critique helpful to make your party fun.”

And there it was. It was that consistent ability to find the good in any situation which had attracted the prince to her in the first place. From when they were children all the way through to how they had grown up together, nothing ever seemed to dampen her day.

The prince relaxed and sat back in his chair. The servants around the room relaxed with him, He pushed another plate of tarts towards Katarina who happily obliged the offer and resumed her taste testing with gusto.

It was clear that she would not stop until every scrap of food had been consumed and he very well couldn’t have his fiancé wheeled out of the house once she became too big to move. It was with some reluctance that he signaled the servants with a gesture to cut the tasting short, at least for today.

He clutched the wedding ring still in its box which he had tucked into his back pocket. His plan to win her heart through her stomach would have to wait until she was in more fitting attire.

Prince Geordo wiped away a bit of cream which was stuck to Katarina’s cheek. Katarina smiled back and continued eating. The prince’s original ploy had been merely to spend some alone time with her and technically he had accomplished just that.

“Oh well, I guess I’ve got an excuse to invite her more often then…if her dress can take it...”