"None of them immediately stand out given that I'm not actually going to go through with marrying any of them..."

"We can come back to this, some of the options later might make the choice easier."

"Fine by me." 

"Next is the heroine. Now, going forward, the narrative roles you don't pick for yourself and your fiancé will still exist as narrative roles--there will still be a Royal Princess and a Duke's Daughter, and all three of the male roles no matter which one you pick. But by default there is only one heroine."

"By default?"

"You can take a flaw to add another one--the new one won't be vying for your fiancé's affections, she'll be an ally to your main heroine."

"Sounds like an easy flaw to pick. Alright, hit me with the heroines." 

"Despite being royalty, the Poor Princess is for some reason neglected and powerless. Common reasons include being the King's daughter with a previous, politically inconvenient Queen, or a legitimized bastard daughter, or a refugee from a destroyed kingdom. Regardless of the reason, she lacks most of the advantages of her station that the Royal Princess enjoys, and, while far from incompetent, is the least personally formidable of the potential heroines. What she does have is the a kind heart, a lovely face, and just enough social advantage from her royal blood to tie your hands somewhat; not that I expect you specifically to use the kind of tactics this precludes."

The Hero's Daughter's heroic parent died accomplishing some great deed - defeating a Demon Lord, sealing an evil god, etcetera. This won a posthumous elevation to the ranks of the nobility. This gives their daughter legitimate noble status, but none of the experience or social mores a noble young lady from a more established house would have. She will be quite talented, but will lack the extreme genius of the self-made Extraordinary Commoner. What she will have is fame, the inherited gratitude of the country, and connections with her parent's influential and dangerous surviving companions. Your fiancé's curiosity with her will soon turn to attraction, and the Hero's Daughter is not to be underestimated."

The Extraordinary Commoner is the 'default' option. Of humble background, without any social status, this accomplished young woman won admission into the exclusive Royal Academy on sheer merit. Given the stratified social structure of Villarosa, this is quite the achievement, but makes her the proverbial nail sticking out. That gives her an obvious weakness, but she is by far the most talented of the potential heroines. She will outshine her more pedigreed classmates and thereby attract the notice of your fiancé." 

"It's sort of weird that someone who can defeat a Demon Lord would have a less exceptional child than a random person...but then, maybe that's just wishful thinking on my part because my mother's a genius. I guess proooobably the Extraordinary Commoner? Since I don't want to be enemies." 

"I'll pencil that in, but you can change your mind later. About anything, actually, if you wanted to start over from scratch with Elaborate red hair you could do that, nothing is final until you've been sent on your way."

"I am definitely not going to do that but good to know." 

"Next is the fate your fictional counterpart suffers in the narrative. If you aren't careful, you'll suffer this fate too. The options are death, being sent off to a cloistered religious order, being forced into servitude to your rival, being stripped of everything you have and left to eke out a living on the streets, being exiled to a foreign political marriage, and simply being dumped and humiliated. The first one gets you an extra perk and the last one costs you an extra flaw."

She makes a Face. "Having now died twice, I can't say I like the thought of staring it down a third time. Maybe if there are enough really amazing perks. Can we pencil in 'dumped and humiliated' and I take the flaw that gives a bonus heroine?"

"Sure." She makes a note. "Minions next?"

"Sure." Hopefully there's something more appealing than Maid. 

"The minion options are Maid--exactly what it sounds like, plus any Maid minion will have some highly useful skill that an ordinary maid lacks, as well as being highly competent at normal maid tasks and deeply loyal to you personally. Classmates; actually two people who often act together, they're a pair of female classmates your age of slightly lower social status, whose families are formally or informally in service to yours, predisposing them to be your friends and follow your lead. The Classmates are one of the most independent and proactive minions, and therefore also a deniable asset if you need one of those--don't look at me like that, there are reasons that can be useful besides just picking on the heroine. They can be counted on to give you insight into the Academy gossip and help subtly manipulate it; both of which are tasks your exalted status can make difficult to accomplish yourself."

"My exalted status of being a rich commoner?" 

"You're not thinking rich enough. Richer than the Aspis Consortium." 

"Well, damn, fair enough." 

"The Admirer is a sort of male counterpart of the Classmates, though there's only one of him. He is a talented but not exceptional fellow student with an obvious crush on you. While he knows and accepts he has no chance with you, that doesn't mean a bat of your eyelashes doesn't twist him around your little finger. You may choose for him to be a rival or a friend of your fiance; either way he will prove a useful tool. You may optionally choose to spend an extra flaw to select one of the choices you have not already picked for Your Fiance to be your Admirer instead."

"--At which point, 'why do I care I'm not marrying him anyway' stops applying." 

"It can do, yes. That's a reasonably popular option for people who don't want to fight their heroines, is to dump the fiancé in favor of the Admirer."

Seshka laces her fingers and leans back and thinks. 

She's never been in love. It's always been something she thought it would be nice to have someday, but--even if it never happens, she'll be fine; she wants children eventually, but Mom did fine by herself. 

But...it would be nice to have. She loves her mother very much, but...the lifestyle the two of them lead has always been a bit lonely. She doesn't regret their research, but--this new life she's going to lead is an opportunity. 

"I'll take the Admirer. And upgrade him--I'll switch my literary ending to Servitude and use the extra heroine flaw for this instead." She might switch it back if there are other flaws she likes when they get there, but Servitude isn't death, and she doesn't plan to fall into her bad ending anyway. 

"Do you know which one you want for your admirer, yet?" 

"Not yet, no; I think I'm going to have to think more about how to resolve various combinations of fiancé and admirer."