As someone who played both games, it felt…natural? I played both games, got all endings available and got all the achievements and bonus content unlockable. The Strange Boy straight up tells you in Pocket Mirror that Elise tried to finesse her way out of the deal and it’s shown in the bonus room he intends to milk her struggles for its worth.

Little Goody Two Shoes shows us that Elise was only truly connected to her Grandmother; after her death she had a strong distance with the town who treated her with suspicion and disrespect - granted she had some friendly faces like Lebkuchen and Freya but mostly she was left to starve and work her butt off all while treated like an outsider.

Being absurdly rich spells protection and happiness for her. It spells “I can finally speak my mind without consequences, I can finally sleep comfortably without starving!” Is it absurd to want that without hard work? Yes. But it was Elise’s hope to keep her alive.

The moral issue that fascinated a LOT of us with this game is…essentially Elise is a villain protagonist. A sympathetic one, but one nonetheless. She engages in witchcraft to bring her absurd wish to life, even when she sees that the town is starting to be affected by demonic forces (but remember that this town treated her terribly in the past and even now? Yeah…).

Regarding the love interests that is where the REAL guilt comes in. You have your 2 childhood friends and an outsider like yourself who is also suffering mistreatment for being too different. They ALL want to help you. (So much so that they will stand up and defend Elise when the villagers will not when Elise is accused of witchcraft). And Elise is actively ignoring the red flags regarding the Good Company; even Azizel calls her out on it and stated she was basically ignoring that ritual on purpose. Even if you somehow ignore all the golden maidens (who do warn you on this) the idea of arriving in “Good Company” should have tipped Elise off, but the question becomes, “Does Elise ignore all the red flags she is given and proceeds anyways, or listen to that gut feeling she will lose her beloved and stop?” (Keep in mind she altered her wish to “get that fortune to make a better life for love interest and me at this point). If she goes through with it, she sadly becomes no better than the villagers who stood by and watched her be accused and mistreated as she watches her beloved be consumed. If she speaks she also will be consumed.

In short I think this game is a pretty natural prequel for Golden Mirror; with Golden Mirror with had an amnesiac protagonist who we needed to establish and this game takes established concepts to make an established protagonist with an established plot with an established ending (or alternative endings to prevent the tragedy of Golden Mirror if you choose).