Project Necro is an official initiative by Re:Library.

The villainess Ekaterina’s crime was attempting to murder the heroine. Since she hired someone to do the killing, the charge would likely be incitement to murder.

Even for a Duke’s daughter, incitement to murder is a serious crime. Well, in a class-based society like that, if the victim were a commoner, it probably wouldn’t be considered a crime worthy of punishment. However, even though she’s of commoner birth, Flora is now a daughter of a baron and thus a full-fledged noble.
Even with the difference in status between the daughter of a duke and that of a baron, attempting to murder a noble would certainly be a crime.

Come to think of it, in my previous life, Elizabeth Báthory—who was known as the “Blood Countess” for her brutal acts of slaughtering women and bathing in their blood to achieve eternal youth—was left unpunished no matter how many commoner women she killed, yet she was prosecuted for murdering a noblewoman.
The Empire likely shares similar values in that regard.

Especially now that we’re classmates sharing desks at the Magic Academy. The official stance is that everyone should study equally regardless of status, and that disciplinary actions for causing trouble are the same no matter one’s rank. Well, I’m sure there’s all sorts of behind-the-scenes stuff going on, but officially, that’s the rule.
Besides, it was the prince who gathered the evidence and brought charges—someone of a higher rank than even the Duke’s family.

But this is strange, too.
Onii-sama is already a duke. The prince, on the other hand, while he is the heir to the throne, he currently holds no authority to judge me or my brother. Yet in the game, the prince arbitrarily decided on the punishment.
While Onii-sama—who should have calmly and relentlessly refuted such absurdity—was just hugging his little sister without saying a word…

So, maybe that was just the game creator’s invention—perhaps they simply incorporated the typical fate of a villainous noblewoman found in otome games.
But…

As for the most likely punishment for a duke’s daughter who ordered the murder of a baron’s daughter…
…it would be confinement, wouldn’t it?

After all, this is a class-based society, so the treatment of a duke’s daughter wouldn’t be that harsh. She’d likely just be confined to a villa on the duchy’s estate, living in isolation without interacting with anyone—though she’d probably still be able to walk around inside the mansion and in the gardens. She wouldn’t lack for food or clothing; in fact, her life would be far better than it was during the final days she spent living with her mother. And after a few years, she’ll receive a pardon and be released from confinement. That seems like a reasonable outcome.

Well, her prime years as a woman will be ruined, and she’ll likely never be able to make a decent marriage, so her life will be severely compromised.
I mean, Ekaterina has lived her whole life in confinement, and just when she finally regained her freedom, she’s back in confinement again… Ouch.

But.

The one who will actually confine Ekaterina, in this scenario, is the head of the ducal family.
An order to impose this punishment on the criminal Ekaterina is issued to the head of the family, who is responsible for oversight, and he must carry it out accordingly. That’s just how it is.

That siscon Onii-sama of mine—imprisoning his own sister? Could he really do that?

Considering the relationship between the prince and Onii-sama that I heard from the prince himself back in the domain, I imagine the prince would have spoken to Onii-sama beforehand the moment he obtained evidence of Ekaterina’s crime. You could call it laying the groundwork. “I’m going to punish your sister,” he’d say.

Somehow… since we’ve become so close, just imagining the prince condemning or punishing me makes me feel sad all over again. If this were the Ekaterina without her past-life memories, she wouldn’t have become friends with the prince.

The Ekaterina in the game was selfish, extravagant, and hysterical…
Come to think of it, she might have been just like her grandmother. She was a far cry from the true personality of the young lady Ekaterina.

I wonder if it was that old hag’s maid, Nonna, or someone like her, who drilled into her head that this was how a lady should behave. Ekaterina, who had lived in seclusion her whole life, didn’t know how to act at the academy. Ultimately she became their puppet, doing exactly as she was told. I feel like that’s what happened.
If that’s the case, the reason the Onii-sama in the game fully accepted Ekaterina was probably because if the strings were cut, the puppet Ekaterina would collapse on stage. The fact that his younger sister—who had been shut away and refused to speak to anyone—was somehow managing to live her school life as a duke’s daughter was precisely because she was being manipulated; that’s why he couldn’t separate her from Nonna and the others. Isn’t that how it is?

…Huh? So does that mean the incitement to murder was also suggested to Ekaterina by Nonna and the others? The young lady Ekaterina wouldn’t even think of something like that.
Could it be that the old hag’s maids are actually connected to Magna… or could they have been pulling the strings behind the scenes to frame the siblings…?
Yikes, that sounds plausible. They probably couldn’t siphon money from our family anymore now that Onii-sama inherited the dukedom. Did they try to eliminate Onii-sama and wedge themselves in…?

Ugh! No good—since these events didn’t actually happen here, all I can do is speculate!

Either way, in the game, Ekaterina was basically Mini-Aleksandra from the prince’s perspective.
Judging by the hints in his words back at the estate, it seems the prince hated his grandmother. Maybe he thought it would be better to get rid of Ekaterina before she took after that old bag and caused trouble for everyone else.

But, what would Onii-sama do if he were told that Ekaterina must be punished—and that he must put her in confinement by his own decree?

Thinking about it that way, a possibility emerges. The possibility that the game’s condemnation event—which should be impossible—could become reality. It’s a tiny, needle-tip-sized possibility, though.

If Onii-sama ever so wishes.
Our title and our fortune would be confiscated, and we’d be reduced to nothing but a commoner. But something would be preserved—our freedom.

What if Onii-sama, in order to prevent his sister from being imprisoned again, gave up his title and fortune and begged, “Please, don’t lock Ekaterina away”? What if the prince’s heart was moved by the plea of his longtime friend?
Perhaps the two of them conspired to lay out a plan, staged that condemnation… and manipulated those around them so that Ekaterina could be dealt with exactly as the prince had ordered.

It’s a very slim possibility, though.
The fact remains that it’s still far too outlandish for Onii-sama to renounce his status.
Even the prince must realize that Onii-sama is more valuable as a capable individual than his title or wealth… or perhaps that’s precisely why. He likely decided it would be better to grant Onii-sama’s wish rather than punish Ekaterina according to convention and risk damaging his relationship with him.
Did he plan to grant both of them a pardon and bring them back home once the heat had died down a few years later? This is just another speculation, of course.

There are still some missing pieces, but even so, the impossible becomes possible. It’s truly as tiny as the tip of a needle—a minuscule, minuscule possibility—but still, the chance of it happening shifts to “plausible.”

To throw everything away for his little sister.
If it’s Onii-sama, he could do it. He’d actually do it.

.

Waaah!
Once I thought of it, I can’t help but believe this is exactly what happened!
Onii-sama’s sister complex is second to none! I’m not sure if that’s something to praise, though!
But I don’t want him to sacrifice himself for my sake—no way!

There might be something behind that doomed end. But there’s no doubt that Onii-sama went through a hard time because of his little sister Ekaterina!
Nooooo! Absolutely not!

That’s exactly why!
I’m on high alert for any doom flags! I’m definitely not going to do anything bad!
If Magna is the mastermind behind the doom, doesn’t that mean I could be framed just for showing a moment of weakness—even if I haven’t actually done anything wrong? A moment of weakness is, in itself, a doom flag.
Oh no, the difficulty just went up.

Pure, righteous, and beautiful!
Oh, wait, is that a bit off? Maybe that was the motto of the Girls’ Musical Troupe.
E-either way! At the very least, until I get through the game’s “Condemnation Scene,” I’ll live my life carefully, keeping in mind that ruin is a real possibility and making sure not to set any flags.

At the very least, for the rest of this school year, while my Onii-sama is still at the academy.
Once my big brother graduates from the academy, that “Condemnation Scene” where he holds me in his arms won’t be possible anymore… so maybe I won’t have to live in fear of ruin anymore.

Until then, I’ll just have to behave myself.
A wise person avoids danger and leaves no room for scandal. Oh, does staying as far away from the Prince as possible count as that?

It’s a pretty half-baked plan to avoid doom flags, but once I get back to the academy, I’ll start fresh and do my best!