Why did all these Alicia-related messes have to happen without my knowledge? A villainess cannot afford to be half-hearted with her feelings.
I lower my voice and glare at Gill. “Gill, I know you’re eating this up.”
“Yeah, and? Every time you stir up some drama, you just get more popular.”
“I don’t want to be popular. I want to be hated.”
“Setting that aside—are we going in or not?”
“We’re going in.”
If we don’t go in, that would signal defeat. So with this strong proclamation, I boldly set foot into the dining hall.
Nobody says a word—stares pierce into me as I stride in. Being watched always makes me stand up straight and tall.
“Oh my.”
This is the first thing I blurt out. Is this……a bunch of hair? Strewn across the floor is a beautiful mess of hair in the rare color of violet.
“The cutter herself finally makes an appearance!”
The tense, high-pitched voice sounds familiar. I turn to look at its owner. Why, it’s Jane… Haven’t seen her in a while. Looks like her wound healed—either that, or it was healed with magic.
“You’re looking well, Jane,” I say.
She grimaces. “Hearing my name from your mouth disgusts me.”
Oh my, oh my, somebody sure hates me. And of course she hates me. I lost control of my own strength and sent her flying. To use the word disgusting to describe me—that takes guts. I did have the feeling our battle was not yet over. So this is a grudge match.
“Alicia, I don’t think she’s our girl,” Gill whispers to me.
……Huh? She isn’t?
“Don’t you think she’s the troublemaker?” Gill asks, pointing behind us.
I look where he is pointing to see a girl with her hair brutally shorn off, sitting on the floor.
Aha. She’s the owner of the violet hair.
“What a tragic sight. What happened?” I ask.
Jane glares at me and begins to speak. “She says she idolizes you. She loves your long, lustrous, beautiful…disgustingly black hair, so she grew hers out to be like you.”
Well, what a nicely thorough explanation. She even described my hair type to a T.
“And?” I prompt her to continue.
Jane lets out a coquettish shriek. “The thought of anyone idolizing you makes my skin crawl! So I did her a favor and cut her hair! That’s what she gets for worshipping you!”
After shrieking with all her might, Jane sneers at the violet-haired girl slumped on the floor.
Oh dear…it seems during my absence, Jane has become quite unhinged. Not a trace of the esteemed teacher’s pet remains. Did I knock it out of her? I wonder……
“So what exactly do you want me to do about this?” I ask.
“Just look at what a pathetic state she’s in because of you. Don’t you feel anything?”
“No, I don’t.”
With my blunt reply, the atmosphere in the dining hall changes in a flash.
Oh my…I recognize this atmosphere. Blame is in the air.
Jane’s eyes shoot open. “You’re deplorable!”
“How rude… I don’t even know her. I have no interest in weaklings.”
“But she’s in that state because of you.”
“Don’t misunderstand—that’s not my fault. It’s your fault.”
“It’s your fault for making me do it!” she yells, sounding a little frazzled.
……She seems pretty gutted that I knocked her down a peg.
“Lady Alicia is right—it wasn’t her. You’re the one who cut my hair.”
Oh my. What a lovely voice.
I look at the violet-haired girl behind Jane. She got to her feet and speared Jane with a scrutinizing glare.
What incredible valor. And her stance has a sophistication to it, despite her disheveled hair.
“Wow, she really does idolize you, Alicia,” Gill remarks.
“Does she?”
“Her stance, the way she pierces people with her gaze—she looks just like you,” Gill dispassionately remarks as he observes her.
I stare fixatedly at the pile of violet hair on the floor.
……It seems yet another incredible girl has entered the story.
Jane snorts daringly at the violet-haired girl. “Serves you right for spewing that nonsense about loving this bitch.”
Jane points her scissors at the girl. She looks as though she might stab her then and there.
……So how will a girl who idolizes a villainess deal with this behavior?
I silently watch the girl. Her deep-purple eyes are wide.
Gill gives me a testing look. “What’s our move?”
“It’s her move. That’s for the girl with the cut hair to decide.”
My words boom through the dining hall louder than I expected. The girl’s gaze shifts toward me. Our eyes meet for the first time.
……Yeah. There’s no need for me to come to rescue her, so I’ll stay out of this.
“What a ruthless witch you are!” Jane roars, even louder.
“Ruthless? Why? This problem isn’t mine to resolve.”
“How irresponsible. Your very existence is utterly unpleasant.”
Oh my, that’s high praise to a villainess. Perhaps I shall reward you with a suitably villainous reply. I smirk and snap my fingers. And the next instant, Jane is clutching her chest, breathing erratically in pain, and falling to the floor. Strained wheezing and drool emit from her gaping mouth.
I used a level-91 dark magic spell that stops an internal organ from functioning. Now that spell is very fitting for dark magic. I snap my fingers again to cancel the spell. (I had to stop it there; otherwise, she really would have died.) Jane foams at the mouth a little as she glares at me. It looks like the spell really hurt her.
“What…did you…do?” Jane mutters weakly as she lies on the ground. It is still a struggle for her to breathe.
“I stopped your heart for just a moment.” I tilt my head and smile. “Did it hurt?”
The next moment, all the stares upon me change from scorn to terror. The tension in the air grows thick. I can tell from the way everyone around me is breathing. Nobody dares hurl an insult at me now. What a perfect moment that was to show off the level of spell that had taken me two years’ practice to achieve. Don’t anger a villainess, or there’ll be hell to pay.
“I wouldn’t move if I were you,” I tell Jane, walking past her to the violet-haired student. Despite what she just witnessed, her eyes are still filled with respect and adoration as she looks at me.
“You—what is your name?”
“My name is Carol Miller…Lady Alicia,” she answers clearly, a tremor in her voice.
I’m right. Girl has class.
“Do you idolize me?”
“I do! Your strong will, your forward-thinking pragmatism, your beautiful golden eye, your long, lustrous black hair—I love it all.”
There is a ravenous adoration in Carol’s voice as she speaks. I never dreamed anyone would worship me so devotedly as her.
“So I wanted to grow my hair longer, to be as much like you as possible, Lady Alicia…,” she murmurs sorrowfully.
I glance at her hair. It has gotten frightfully short. Jane went too far.
“I’m sorry you got caught up in this,” I apologize to Carol, then turn to Jane. All traces of her former spirit gone, Jane stares at me in terror.
“Don’t worry. I’m done with you.” With a little smile at her, I snatch the scissors from her hand. Then I turn back to Carol. She is staring blankly back at me.
—Now, time for a great history-making villainous act! Burn the image into your eyes, mortals!
I grip my hair in my fist and vigorously slice it off with the scissors. The black hair flutters to the floor, landing atop the pile of violet hair.
Carol’s and Gill’s eyes are both so wide in shock that it looks as though they might pop out of their sockets any second.
“There. My hair is just as short as yours. Now you’re like me again.”