Using the Villainess as a Hunting Dog Once Again
Using the Villainess as a Hunting Dog Once Again
"S-Savior-nim... thank you so, so much for yesterday. If it's alright, could you tell me your name?"
"Uh, well, you see...."
Okay, Zenon, stay calm.
Let's just think about this calmly.
Why on earth would Sereniel come looking for me?
Even though I was the one who intervened first yesterday, it was Lady Denius who actually settled the situation.
Besides, the original story hasn't even started yet, and I've spent nearly a month suppressing Rihel's villainess nature.
This means that unless Sereniel starts picking a fight and dancing with swords first, there's no reason for their relationship to get any better or worse.
Furthermore, even if this is a liberal arts class that anyone can take regardless of their grade, this lecture teaches the absolute basics.
It makes no sense for Sereniel, who is showing quite a bit of talent as a spirit mage, to be taking a late-start basic mana control lecture.
'... No, wait, she said she came to find me, so it makes sense that she'd come here first.'
To think I'd show such an idiotic move again.
Am I already getting too used to this romance fantasy world... no, that's not it.
This is driving me crazy.
My head was so tangled up in complex thoughts that I couldn't sort anything out.
Therefore, I decided that my priority was to at least have a conversation and get as much useful information as possible.
I cleared my throat and opened my mouth.
"Ahem, my name is Zenon. There's no need for honorifics. We're both commoners anyway, and we're the same age, twenty-one. Plus, we're both first-years who just enrolled, so feel free to speak comfortably."
No sooner had I finished speaking than Sereniel smiled brightly and answered as if she had been waiting for it.
"Oh, really? Then I'll call you comfortably, Zenon! Thank you so much for yesterday."
Her tone had instantly switched to being casual.
But the deep gratitude she felt toward me was clearly audible in her voice.
After that, we kept an eye on the surrounding noble students and had various conversations in low voices.
"The professors like me, but they also hate me, and the male professors are just so transparent!"
"Still, some professors truly acknowledge me, so it's not too hard! So you shouldn't give up just because you're a commoner, Zenon, and try your best."
It felt surreal to be facing the everyday side of the female lead that I hadn't seen in the original novel.
Then, unable to hold back a question that suddenly popped into my head, I carefully opened my mouth.
"But tell me, why did you go out of your way to find me and thank me? It wasn't me who settled that situation yesterday, it was Lady Denius."
At my question, Sereniel gave a slightly ditsy, youthful smile and laughed awkwardly.
"Hehehe, well, you see...."
She scratched the white part of her hair with her hand as if feeling sheepish.
Then, she leaned her face in so close that her lips were almost touching my ear.
Caught off guard by her sudden distance-closing skill, I stiffened.
"I'm obviously grateful to Lady Denius too, but... she's not someone a commoner like me can dare to approach first to say thank you. Besides...."
Sereniel glanced around once and whispered secretly in a very small voice.
"It seemed like Lady Denius didn't originally intend to help me, but you pushed her from the side, forcing her to step in, right? So, I have to thank you, my true savior, first."
After finishing her whisper, Sereniel stepped back and gave me a bright, eye-smiling grin.
I held my breath for a moment as I faced that innocent, dazzling smile from such close range.
'Ah, as expected, I think I prefer someone sweet and sunshine-like like this... rather than tsundere or fierce villainess types who come at me with their thorns out every day.'
Without realizing it, I had lost my mind halfway and was blankly admiring her overwhelming appearance.
But soon, I gripped the reins of my reason tightly and shook my head hurriedly.
"Ahem, anyway, I understand. I'll make sure to pass on your thanks to Lady Denius when I return to the dormitory. Now, let's focus on the lecture."
I managed to tear my gaze away, which hadn't wanted to leave, and fixed it on the front where the professor was.
Thinking that since the business was done, she would go back to her seat on her own.
I tried my best to focus solely on the mana control lecture.
But one minute passed, then three minutes.
There was only the sound of rustling from the seat next to me, and Sereniel showed no sign of leaving.
'... No, ignore it. Endure it.'
I shouldn't get involved any further.
I broke into a cold sweat and tried my best to pretend I didn't notice, but....
In the end, I couldn't overcome the persistent gaze that felt like it was piercing my cheek, and I turned my head again.
"Hey... why haven't you left yet?"
To my blunt question, Sereniel opened her mouth, bewitching me once again with a beautiful smile that felt like it was purifying my soul.
"You know, here at the academy, the noble students' territorial behavior is so severe that even the commoners don't stick together; they're too busy hating and biting at each other. Everyone is just looking out for their own survival."
"......."
A sense of bitterness began to color her clear eyes.
"So, I never had friends to eat with, and I was always alone, so I was very lonely... but you seem a bit different from the others. You even risked your own safety to help someone else."
Sereniel clasped her hands together and stared at me.
"So... couldn't we continue to be friends from now on? Since we're the same age...."
That expression, looking up at me pitifully like a puppy waiting for its owner after getting soaked in the rain.
Inside my head, the emergency alarm was still kindly warning me that if I didn't get a grip right now, I was fucked.
No, forget the alarm; I knew all too well that if I created a connection with the original female lead here, it would not only ruin my quiet survival plan but also create a fatal variable in my precarious relationship network with the villainesses.
'No, Zenon. Refuse.'
Draw a line.
Things are already twisted enough; if they get any more twisted, all my information might become useless...!!
But unlike my strictly calculating reason.
My lip muscles moved on their own without going through my brain.
"S-sure. Let's do our best to support each other in this harsh place as fellow commoners...."
No sooner had the answer to be friends fallen from my lips than Sereniel smiled brightly, looking relieved with the happiest expression in the world.
She finished her business without a shred of lingering attachment, giving a light wave as if to say she'd see me later, and began to leave the training ground.
I stared blankly at her retreating back as she moved further away, then wiped my face with both hands.
"Haa... I'm truly fucked."
Why, why on earth are men such simple creatures?
Lunchtime arrived after the morning basic mana control lecture ended.
I didn't want to eat lunch alone, so I searched for Rihel for nearly 20 minutes, but perhaps she had expected me to come looking for her.
No matter how much I scanned the student cafeteria, I couldn't even find a trace of her.
Meanwhile, the students who recognized my face started back-stabbing... no, they started saying it right to my face.
"Haa... if only His Highness the Crown Prince would become Emperor soon, these commoners who don't know their place wouldn't be able to crawl into the academy."
"The neutral noble faction is already starting to feel dissatisfied with the commoner appointment policy, so it'll probably be abolished gradually before the imperial succession, right?"
"Whatever it is, I wish they'd clean it up quickly. Rodpen Academy is a place to learn, sure, but honestly, it's for building connections and power, isn't it?"
The nobles, or rather, the noble brats, were jeering in very loud voices as if they had no intention of hiding it at all.
I clicked my tongue lightly and turned my head.
'Sigh, I'm not avoiding them because I'm scared, I'm avoiding them because they're filthy.'
I didn't want to make things tiring by getting into an argument with morons whose heads were filled with nothing but flower fields.
Besides, this is a romance fantasy, right? I couldn't even imagine how twisted their personalities might be.
After putting rye bread and mushroom soup on my tray at the food distribution counter just enough to satisfy my hunger.
I walked toward an empty table located in a very deep, secluded corner of the cafeteria.
At the tables around me, I could see a few commoner students who had already grabbed seats early, thinking the same thing as me.
But they were all, as if by agreement, not even making eye contact with each other.
Afraid that they might offend the high-and-mighty noble groups and get into a fight, everyone was busy shoving food into their mouths with their heads buried, thoroughly keeping to themselves.
'... This is a bit sad.'
I went through the trouble of getting into this difficult romance fantasy academy.
At this rate, I'm going to graduate like dust without making a single friend among my peers.
Swallowing my slightly bitter feelings, I dipped the rock-hard bread into the soup and began to eat quietly.
Of course, even with a steel mentality forged by my experience as a K-office worker.
Eating alone in such a desolate atmosphere was quite a lonely affair.
To the point where I never wanted to experience it again.
It was just as I was finishing about half of my meal, moving my jaw roughly.
"Wow... that appearance is truly breathtaking no matter how many times I see it."
"Haa, if only she weren't a commoner...."
"It's such a waste."
The self-proclaimed very, very noble-blooded ones, who had been continuing their conversation as if they were sitting in important positions regarding politics, imperial affairs, and continental affairs.
Suddenly, they started praising someone noisily.
"Ah, I finally found you!"
"......?"
In my field of vision as I raised my head, I saw Sereniel walking over, her dazzling white and mint-colored two-tone hair fluttering.
Without a moment's hesitation, she pulled out the chair opposite me, and a massive tray filled with mountains of meat, soup, and other colorful vegetables was slammed onto the table.
"I've been wandering around the cafeteria looking for you for a while! There were no empty seats, but is it okay if I eat here with you?"
Sereniel looked at me with sparkling eyes, wearing a bright, innocent smile, as if she hadn't even imagined that I might refuse.
I paused for a moment with a spoon in my mouth.
'Sigh, if I get more involved with this original female lead here, things will get uncontrollably tiring.'
My reason was telling me to make a reasonable excuse and refuse immediately.
The moment I ate with her here, it was obvious that the aggro, which was already heavily focused on me, would be drawn even more.
But since I had already drawn a ton of aggro by stepping up at the practical exam yesterday, what's the harm in hanging out with Sereniel, who is also a commoner?
I thought it wouldn't be anything that would draw too much attention.
In the first place, things had already gone wrong with the original male lead from the start.
'Above all, eating alone so miserably all the time... is too hard.'
In the end, I gave a light nod without any particular verbal response.
And as soon as the silent permission was given, Sereniel picked up her fork, humming a small tune as if she were in a good mood.
It was the very moment we were sitting face-to-face and just about to start eating in earnest.
"... Crazy."
"W-why is that person in the student cafeteria...?"
Suddenly, a massive commotion erupted from the cafeteria entrance, one that couldn't even be compared to when Sereniel appeared just a moment ago.
"She's truly beautiful...."
"I heard she reached the 4th Rank before returning to school this time? As expected, the Denius Duchy's bloodline is on a different level."
"If we're talking purely about strength, they say she's even a step above Her Highness the Princess...."
All the students in the cafeteria, noble and commoner alike, parted the path to both sides like the Miracle of Moses and held their breath.
'... 4th Rank? Denius? Then, by any chance....'
The moment I combined the keywords I had overheard and realized the identity of the existence that had appeared in the student cafeteria.
Someone pinched my right sideburn very hard with their fingertips and pulled it upward.
"Aack...!"
"Why on earth are you wandering around as you please without even checking the communication device that Mother spent so much money to make for you?"
A sharp, cutting voice.
In my field of vision, as I turned my head with difficulty while my sideburn was being held, a very familiar figure came into view.
"A private chef from the family has arrived, so you can take care of breakfast, lunch, and dinner at the dormitory from now on. Don't eat outside today; come to the dormitory. I clearly left a message telling you to wait quietly in the living room, didn't I?"
"T-that, well, you see...."
Rihel Denius.
She was looking down at me coldly with a very dissatisfied and annoyed expression in the middle of the cafeteria, watched by hundreds of students.
I was scared for a brief moment by that atmosphere, but I soon thought calmly.
'... Wait a second? If I use this well like last time, can I get some sweet satisfaction?'
"Ahem! You've come at just the right time, Lady Denius."
I wanted to teach these noble brats a lesson anyway, so please take care of it again today!