Episode 12: The Scatterbrained Young Lady and the Villainess Story (2)
The villainess story Melissa had taken charge of progressed more slowly than my own writing pace, but it moved forward steadily all the same.
“Author, do you really intend to leave this book entirely in Lady Melissa’s hands?”
“Yes. Once I’ve made a promise, of course I have to keep it.
If I keep interfering, there’s a high chance the writing will end up neither here nor there.
And don’t you want to read something written by someone other than me, Miss Aria?”
“Of course I am curious to see how Lady Melissa will portray the villainess.
But I would still rather read something you wrote yourself, Author.”
“Well, it isn’t as though I’ll just be lazing around.
Think of it as gaining one more work to read, separate from the one I’m writing, and look forward to it.”
During that time, I truly did not meddle, leaving Melissa to write on her own.
After all, when there are too many writers, the story tends to climb all the way up Everest.
Especially in cases like Melissa and me, where one side is a fan of the other, it is easy to get swept along by that fan devotion.
In other words, rather than ruining a precious budding author for no reason, it was better to quietly watch over her.
However.
“Um, Author Wei? There’s something else I’d like to ask you…”
“Ah, Miss Melissa. What part are you curious about this time?”
“Wouldn’t it feel a little awkward to readers if the villainess makes a different choice here than she did in the original?”
“Hmm, readers are surprisingly not too concerned about that sort of thing.
If the impact of what follows is strong and entertaining, they’ll forgive a bit of awkwardness.
Still, it would be good to slowly lay hints near the beginning of the book that the development will differ from the original.”
“In what way?”
“For example, the villainess chooses a different tea from the one she usually drinks, and seems to like it quite a bit?
If small scenes like that continue to accumulate, they can create the expectation that she will make a different choice even at an important moment.”
“Ah! I think I understand what you mean!”
“The important thing is to show that the villainess in this story is the same person as in the original, but that a slight change can lead her to an entirely different ending.”
When Melissa got stuck while writing and asked questions like this, I accepted them without refusing.
As I said, Melissa was still a beginner author.
And beginner authors need help.
For the sake of smooth communication, I had even purchased a mansion in the capital, where Count Gideon’s residence was located, and settled down there.
Well, it wasn’t as though I bought it solely for Melissa’s sake.
It was more like setting up a kind of studio while I was at it.
The headquarters of the Publishing Guild was in the capital, making communication and cooperation easier.
The infrastructure was well developed in all sorts of ways, and since there were many people, it was easy to check market response, making it perfect for setting up a studio.
‘There’s a reason people say you should send people to the capital.’
Even if it was the capital of another world, that part was no different from my previous life.
Of course, the greatest and worst reason young talents could not casually go to the capital—
The murderous cost of living and housing prices in the capital were also similar to my previous life.
‘Who am I?’
The owner of 100,000 gold.
That was an amount I could easily handle.
After moving to the capital like that.
While preparing my new work, I answered Melissa’s questions whenever I had time.
“Miss Aria. It seems Miss Melissa’s writing is nearly finished. How are preparations on your end?”
“I am almost done as well. I believe we can meet the timing without issue.”
In time with the completion of Melissa’s writing, Aria and I were preparing another weapon to be used alongside it.
The impetus had been one question, and one worry, that Melissa had voiced.
“But what if people dislike what I’ve written?
Since I used a character from your novel however I pleased, Author Wei.”
She was worried that she might be branded a character thief.
Since she was using a character from another novel as-is from her very first work, it seemed only natural for her to worry.
It was an understandable problem.
More than half of this had begun from fan devotion, so how hurtful and stressful would it be if she were treated as a character thief?
“If that’s the issue, I don’t think you need to worry too much.”
But while I understood her concern, it was not something that particularly worried me.
“This isn’t character theft. It’s called a spin-off.”
The villainess story was a spin-off.
In other words, it was something that should be called a derivative work or side story.
To begin with, it was a work published with the original author’s permission.
So even if someone called her a thief, she could proudly retort, ‘I discussed it with the author! I got permission! I did everything properly!’
“I also plan to include a phrase and signature stating that this is an officially approved work with my permission.
So I don’t think you need to worry about being attacked as a thief.”
Of course, even if we went that far, there would always be people who disliked it.
That was how fan devotion worked.
Rather than an author they didn’t know, they simply wanted the author they liked to keep writing.
Even Aria had initially said she wanted to read something written by me rather than Melissa, hadn’t she?
So Aria and I prepared a weapon to use on precisely those people!
“We’ll use a cover and illustrations here.”
That weapon was none other than a cover and illustrations.
If we released it with a cover and illustrations drawn by the same artist as the previous works at the same time—
Wouldn’t that be the clearest and most intuitive signal that I had given my permission?
On top of that, the immense effect of covers and illustrations had already been thoroughly proven in my previous life.
Characters they had only seen in writing would take form and appear before their eyes; it would be stranger if that had no effect.
There were even readers who were drawn in solely by a well-drawn cover, so what more needed to be said?
“Therefore, if we use a cover and illustrations, we will definitely be able to open the readers’ wallets.”
So I tried to find an artist who could draw the cover and illustrations.
“If that is the case, may I draw them?”
“Miss Aria?”
“Yes. I do pride myself on being able to draw fairly well, appearances notwithstanding.”
Aria, who happened to be beside me at the time, volunteered.
As it turned out, she had learned to draw while working as a minstrel.
Whether it was because she had the talent of an artist, or simply because her long lifespan had given her plenty of time to learn, I did not know.
But Aria’s drawing skills were quite excellent, just as she had claimed.
“With skills like this, you’re more than enough!
I’ll be counting on you!”
I hired her on the spot as my secretary and illustrator.
Her skills were one thing, but if I introduced the pictures as having been drawn by superstar Aria, it would stimulate the desire to purchase even more.
“Hehehe. With this, I can participate in your work as well, Author.”
Aria, for her part, was delighted that she could participate in my work.
As a fellow fan, it seemed she had been envious that I had entrusted Melissa with being the spin-off author.
In any case, together with Aria, the illustrator recruited on the spot, we immediately began producing the cover and illustrations.
“Is it truly all right to finish them in this art style?
It feels a little… exaggerated and unrealistic in many ways…”
“That’s exactly why it’s good!
Readers like it when characters are handsome and beautiful.
A bit of exaggeration is practically essential!”
Once the completed drawings were delivered to Guildmaster Rex of the Publishing Guild along with the plan to include them in the novel—
“So you want to put these pictures on the cover and throughout the novel, and use them as proof that this is a book acknowledged by you, Author?”
“Yes.”
“And while we’re at it, put them into the previous works as well.
So that people who already bought them will buy them again for collection purposes, increasing sales?”
“That’s right. Exactly!”
“Could you possibly be the devil of gold coins, Author…?”
Guildmaster Rex trembled for a moment after hearing the plan.
But perhaps sensing that this would bring in tremendous sales, he immediately began making arrangements with all his might to insert the covers and illustrations.
And with that, all preparations were complete.
At last.
“It’s here! It’s here! A new book is here!
A brand-new work officially approved by Author Wei!
[The Villainess Does Not Fall] is now on sale to great acclaim!”
The villainess story written by Melissa and personally reviewed by me.
[The Villainess Does Not Fall] was released.
***
Immediately after [The Villainess Does Not Fall] was released.
The first reaction people showed toward [The Villainess Does Not Fall] was, just as Melissa had feared, quite negative.
“A villainess? A story where the young lady who was the fiancée and bullied Mary is the protagonist? Why would I read a story about such a wicked woman?”
“It wasn’t written by Author Wei?
Then why would I even read it? Shouldn’t we report it instead?”
On top of the negative image they already had of the villainess,
they assumed someone had arbitrarily stolen the character and written with her.
But afterward, the Publishing Guild
announced a brief introduction along with official certification that Author Wei had given permission.
“Author Wei personally allowed and reviewed it? Hmm, then maybe I’ll give it a read…”
“The villainess’s hidden true feelings?
It’ll be completely different from the original?
I am curious what it’ll be like…”
The people who had calmed their anger slowly began to show interest.
And as the finishing blow, we revealed the beautifully drawn cover and some of the illustrations!
Because production costs would have soared too high if they were in color, the pictures were unavoidably drawn entirely in black-and-white ink.
“What! We can actually see Mary and Michael dating?!”
“They say there are pictures of the Hero and Demon King too!”
“Graaah! I’ll buy it! I’ll buy them, all right!
Give me one copy of each!”
But it was enough to make readers go wild at the fact that the characters from the novels they loved had been expressed in pictures, driving them to make purchases.
And most of the people buying those books also bought [The Villainess Does Not Fall] while they were at it.
“Ahem, well, I’ve already bought it, so I suppose I have no choice.”
Wrapping their curiosity in such an excuse, they opened [The Villainess Does Not Fall].
And on the first page they opened to—
—Congratulations on your marriage!—
—Congratulations on your marriage! I sincerely hope you two can live as happily as we do!—
There was the villainess, wearing the same pure white dress Mary had worn in the previous work and smiling brightly, holding a wedding with her attendant.
And beside them, the original protagonists and victims of the villainess, Mary and Michael, were sincerely congratulating them.
“???”
The people who saw that scene, just as before,
once again found their minds filled with confusion.
The shock therapy Melissa had learned from Wade was more than good enough to pass.