I Only Deal With Villainesses
I Only Deal With Villainesses
The day after I safely returned from my sudden encounter with the final-boss-level villainess, Ilusia Rodpen.
I woke up at 7:30 AM as usual, washed up roughly, and headed straight to the garden outside the dormitory.
'Can't skip morning training.'
Even though accidents broke out starting from last night's practical exam, the original plot got twisted from the start, and the Princess was terrifying.
Still, I was satisfied with how refreshed and light my body felt.
It was the moment I was about to cross my legs and sit in the center of the garden for mana training.
"Huh?"
In the middle of the garden.
On the dew-covered lawn, I saw a familiar figure who had come out before me and was already sitting in place.
With her jet-black hair cascading down to her waist.
It was Lady-nim Rihel Denius, eyes closed, not even moving an inch.
Around her body, the energy of the Blue-Black Flame was flickering like a will-o'-the-wisp? and moving at regular intervals.
'Is she already seriously training to reach the 5th Rank?'
As I stared at her for a moment, a thought suddenly struck me.
In the original work, she was a genius mage who reached the 4th Rank at a young age, but she never ends up reaching the 5th Rank.
It wasn't because she lacked talent; it was just that she invested more time and money into bullying Sereniel than into the effort required to reach the 5th Rank.
Anyway, is that why? What if Rihel Denius actually reaches the 5th Rank without any issues? Would she even reach the 6th Rank like the Duchess-nim?
"Hmm... whatever happens, it'll be better than her fate in the original work."
Seeing her white face, which was so peaceful with none of her usual sharp and venomous expression, I felt a bit sorry for her. If you only saw her looking this quiet and serious, she'd be a perfect beautiful girl, the protagonist type. It made me think she was pitiful for suffering just because the author set her up as a villainess.
'Still, that's enough observing.'
I couldn't just keep watching someone else's training when I had my own problems to deal with.
I muffled my footsteps as much as possible, sat cross-legged facing her, and carefully sat down just one step away, right in front of Rihel.
Then, I slowly closed my eyes and began to draw up the mana in my dantian.
A deep and quiet inner world.
Rihel had perfectly blocked out external noise.
She was focusing all her attention solely on the flow of the Blue-Black Flame coursing through her mana circuits.
At the same time, beyond her consciousness, the advice her mother, Duchess Mirea Denius, had left her the night before coming to the academy kept echoing.
— Crossing the wall from the 4th Rank to the 5th Rank can never be achieved simply by mindlessly increasing the amount of mana or speeding up the calculation of spells.
— The five elements that make up the world. Fire, water, wind, earth, and light. You must perfectly understand how those fundamental attributes are intertwined to form the providence of this world, and synchronize them with your mana, only then can you set foot at the entrance to the realm of Archmages.
Recalling her mother's slightly indifferent yet affectionate voice, Rihel struggled to manifest the forms of the five elements within her mind's eye. The energy of fire, which was familiar because it was most similar to her unique characteristic, the Blue-Black Flame, blazed up, and the moment she pulled in the energy of water to cool that heat and harmonize it.
'... Ugh! Not yet. The flow isn't smooth.'
Her mana circuits were slightly damaged due to the collision between the attributes. Rihel steadied her heart, which was starting to feel impatient, and lightly adjusted her breathing.
Others praised her as a genius, but compared to the achievements her mother had made at this age, she was still far behind.
Of course, she was showing overwhelming growth compared to other mages of a similar age.
She wanted to become stronger even a little faster and be proudly recognized by her mother as the perfect successor.
How much time had passed like that?
The flow of mana, which had been minutely misaligned and clashing, finally connected into one smooth loop, and she felt the sensation of her dantian warming up.
It was a very successful meditation.
"Phew, today wasn't bad either."
Feeling a heart-swelling sense of accomplishment, Rihel Denius slowly brought her consciousness back to the real world.
Her long, lush eyelashes lifted, and her ruby-red eyes sparkled in the morning sunlight.
"...."
Finally, taking one last deep breath and exhaling all the residual mana remaining in her mouth, her gaze naturally turned forward.
And at that moment, Rihel's thoughts came to a complete halt.
"......"
Just right in front of her nose.
At a very close and intimate distance where she could reach out and touch him, someone was sitting cross-legged, staring straight at her.
And with a very annoying and brazen smile at that.
"Did you sleep well, my beautiful rose?"
It was Zenon.
"Kyaaaah!! Y-you crazy...! W-when have you been there!"
Truly startled, Rihel lost her balance and landed on her butt on the lawn.
'Oops, did I scare her too much?'
Her appearance while meditating with her eyes closed was so beautiful that I was distracted for a moment, and by the time I came to my senses...
I realized I was definitely leaning in and staring at her from a bit too close, which must have been burdensome.
Tsk, even so, did she have to freak out and scramble backward like that?
I thought that a little, but...
Since calming her down was the priority, I very slowly unfolded my legs, stood up, and approached her.
Then, I carefully reached out my hand right in front of Rihel, who was still sitting on the lawn, stroking her chest to calm her startled heart.
I offered a sincere apology, mixed with my usual shameless flattery as naturally as could be.
"I am truly sorry, Lady-nim. But the sight of the noble black rose blooming alone in the center of the garden, glistening with dew, was so beautiful... that I found myself drawn to it as if possessed, and I lost my mind."
"Haa, you crazy... so creepy from the morning..."
She shuddered at my cringey line, but subconsciously grabbed the hand I had held out.
When I gave a light tug, Rihel's light body was easily pulled up from the lawn.
However, as soon as Rihel stood on her own two feet, she realized belatedly that she had grabbed a commoner man's hand to get up, and the tips of her ears turned bright red.
"Ugh...!!"
Smack!
Rihel shook off my hand she was holding and immediately began to fiercely slap my back.
"Ah, seriously! It's annoying! So annoying!! How can you just! Suddenly approach a woman! In a place where she's alone!! Without making a sound!!!! You were right in front of my face, so I got startled and almost threw out my back!!"
Smack!Smack!
Smaaaack—!!
"Augh! L-Lady-nim! It hurts! It's all my fault!"
"Don't play the victim! Because of you, the meditation flow I worked so hard to set up this morning is all broken! Take responsibility!!"
Thud, thwack!
The sound changed from a smack to a thwack.
The pain became that much stronger.
She didn't even give me a chance to speak while demanding I take responsibility.
There was no mercy in her palms as she didn't stop the beating.
I had no choice but to endure the villainess's back-smashing, which was spicy enough to bring tears to my eyes, helpless to do anything else.
'Ow... how hard did she hit me? It's still stinging.'
The academy's first class.
The 3rd Training Ground, where the Basic Mana Control lecture, one of the mandatory liberal arts courses for the Magic Department that I successfully managed to enroll in thanks to the tsundere Rihel, was being held.
This place was where one learned the basic methods of mana control, and practical training was being conducted for commoner students who were ignorant of magic, or young noble masters who had entered knowing only very shallow basics.
Of course, I sometimes saw students who weren't first-years, but... well, considering the personalities of those Noble-nari, it was understandable.
After the boring theoretical explanation by the professor with the abundant blue hair finished, I was blankly watching the students sitting in their seats, struggling to gather their mana.
'The more I look at it, the more I can only think it's nothing but a talent show for little kids.'
Surely there must be some students who got in because they had at least some talent or skill....
To think they're all just punching the air because they can't even grasp the very simple flow of mana.
Or not? Maybe those kids already finished early and aren't here?
Anyway, even though it was a quite amusing scene, I didn't have the luxury to keep staring blankly, so I took my eyes off the students and focused my mana onto my palm.
Whoosh—!
A small flame immediately bloomed at my fingertips.
It wasn't the blue-colored mana sphere that ordinary mages create, nor was it the Black Flame or Blue-Black Flame that are symbols of the Denius family.
It was a very murky and dull purple flame.
It was that mysterious flame that had completely vaporized the steel scarecrow in yesterday's practical exam.
I gave this bizarre flame a very intuitive and third-rate name: 'Purple-Black Flame'.
'Still, since it has "Black Flame" in it, it feels like it's become a bit closer to the Denius family.'
As I stared blankly at the strange color of the flickering Purple-Black Flame, I thought it was about time, and I started cursing up a storm in my head.
'Sigh, because of this one damn shitty flame, I wonder where the story started to get twisted.'
I should have just shot a 1st Circle Mana Shot as planned and entered quietly with mediocre grades that wouldn't attract too much attention.
That way, I could have continued my academy life a bit more comfortably with just the title of "luckily caught the Duke's eye."
But regardless of my will, no, this Purple-Black Flame, which hadn't even shown a hint of itself throughout my training, suddenly popped out of nowhere and got me a perfect score on the practical exam.
As a result, it shattered the pride of the original male protagonist, Kalian Valetier.
As a result, the novel's first main event, where Kalian rescues Sereniel, went up in smoke.
In the end, I forced my way in, caught the female lead's eye, and then even got kidnapped by the Princess—what a spectacular butterfly effect.
"Haa...."
A deep sigh escaped me as I anticipated the rough, thorny path ahead.
But just then.
"E-excuse me...."
Someone spoke to me very cautiously from the seat right next to me.
It was a voice on a completely different level from the sharp condescension or arrogant tones I usually heard from Rihel, Mirea, or Ilusia last night.
A voice so soft that just hearing it warmed my heart.
I tilted my head at the unfamiliar voice tickling my ears and turned my gaze to the side.
"......"
And I froze right there.
A female student sitting demurely with her hands clasped in the seat next to me.
Unique two-tone hair where bright mint and snowy white blended harmoniously.
Even her beautiful appearance—anyone could see it was the novel's female lead, Sereniel.
Even unlike yesterday, when she was surrounded by young noble masters and looked terrified and deathly pale.
She was now looking straight at my face, her two eyes sparkling like jewels.
"S-Savior-nim... yesterday... thank you so, so much. If it's alright, could you please tell me your name?"
At the sight of the original female lead expressing her gratitude without hiding her slightly flushed cheeks, an emergency alarm began to ring in my head.