Monsters wipe out Alicia's village, and the orphaned girl endures three wretched years in an orphanage before she escapes. Soon after, an older woman tries to kill her. In the fight, Alicia touches an odd crystal that floods her with knowledge, changing her from a naive child into a cold, methodical schemer. She now knows she was supposed to be the heroine of an otome game, and she wants no part of that destiny. Instead she sets out to become powerful however she can. Relying on what she has learned, plus aid from a stranger encountered in the forest, she teaches herself to live on her own in a brutal world, resolved to forge her own way.