In Volume 1 and Volume 2, we met former Office Lady Natori Midori, a woman whose genuine desire to be useful lead her to be fired by her employer. Reborn into the world of a otome game, Natori – called Natalie by the characters – find herself working as the familiar and assistant to the villainess, Lapis.
Natalie is in a bind. She likes the game protagonist, Diana, and wants to protect her from having to kill Lapis. She really likes Lapis, more than just wanting to save her. But the more she tries to protect them from their fates in the game, the more the game world pushes them all to the same end.
What’s a reincarnate to do? In The Fed-Up Office Lady Wants to Serve the Villainess, Volume 3, she gives up pretending. Having met the Prince’s confidant, Rubeus, who seems to be manipulating them all for his own (and, unwittingly, the Prince’s) sake, Natalie only sees one way to stop the worst possible things from occurring. She tells Lapis the truth. Then she tells Diana what she can. By trusting in people by whom she wishes to be trusted, Natalie believes she can protect everyone. She and Lapis share another confidence as well. They now know they their feelings are more than just assistant/employer, but there is much more to be said about that.
Rubeus is sending the country down a path towards commoner uprising and noble rebellion. will Natalie be able to stop it? Lapis and hopefully, Diana, are on her side. The relationship between these two is strained as well, so where all of this is headed, we can’t be sure. The story is actually getting a little fraught, but I’m hoping this game gets a well-deserved happily ever after.
Nekotarou’s art is great. While the magic is fairly standard, it’s fun to see Diana use people’s own spells against them.
And in the bonus story, one of Natori’s former coworkers learns that Natori was a decent person and she was the jerk all along. I wonder if that is going to play into the story at all.
Ratings:
Art – 9
Story – 8
Characters – 8
Service – We’re up to intimate embraces
Yuri – 4…we’re getting there!
Overall – 8

