The tone of his voice is so serious that my brain derails to the most insensitive thought—is it okay for a villainess to be so loved? I am so happy, yet anxiety is taking firm root in my heart.
……Is the villainess I’m aiming to be the right kind of villainess for me?
“I will always be your shield, whenever you need me,” Gill promises.
“Then I will always be your sword.”
“……Together, we’re the strongest in the world.”
Gill smiles proudly. The morning light makes his ash-gray eyes shine so bright that I can’t look at them directly.
“Lady Alicia.”
“Ali-Ali!”
Carol and Mel are barreling toward me. They both look as though they are about to burst.
“Good morning, my lady.”
“Good! Morniiiing!”
“H-hi.”
“Yay! She was talking to me—I’m sure of it!” Mel cheers, a proud, victorious look on her face.
“You’re wrong. She most definitely greeted me.”
“Huhhh? No matter how you slice it, she was talking to me—Mellie.”
I guess they’re both morning people.
“Alicia, you should probably just assume there’s at least a hundred people in this school who worship you like they do,” Gill says.
“A hundred?!” I shriek. “Isn’t that a bit of an overestimation?”
I am stunned. Isn’t that just too many fans for a villainess?
“…I’d say one hundred is a conservative estimate. There’s bound to be more.”
How does he even know that? Just how much intel is Gill gathering in secret?
“Well, I love my Ali-Ali most of all.”
“No, I worship Lady Alicia more than anyone else.”
Mel’s and Carol’s shrill voices ring in my ears. Gill watches the exchange with a tired look on his face.
“They’re at it again.”
……I wonder if the one with the most mature psyche here is Gill.
“Good morning, Alicia.”
A pair of big arms hug me from behind. A sweet aroma hits my nose.
Can’t this guy greet me like a normal person? He used to do that until very recently…
“Barf!”
“Could you please not ruin our morning?”
Henri and Gill shoot frustrated glances at me—well, at Duke, rather.
“Good morning, Your Highness. Now, please let me go.” I gently push Duke away with one hand. Look at me, shunning a prince—I’m a stellar baddie. But what a brawny frame he has. He’s so slender, yet so muscular. The quintessential dream body.
“In very recent history, you would’ve blushed from a little hug. Are you used to it now?” Duke teases slyly.
……Could it be he only hugged me from behind because he gets a kick out of watching me squirm?
In that case—
“Yes, I’m bored by it now. I doubt you’ll stir my heart from now on…though perhaps somebody else might.”
That last little jab surely scores me some Villainess Points.
“Ohhh…look who’s gotten sassy.”
From the way Duke is looking at me, it seems he sees through my entire act…… Urk. He’s angry. But I’m a baddie. I must be able to say cutting lines like that boldly.
“I deeply respect the amount of self-control you’ve had, Duke,” Henri says supportively. But his words don’t even enter the ears of the prince, who still refuses to let me go.
Agh…his gaze is painful. Duke told me he wanted an answer, but I still don’t even know how I feel! What am I supposed to do?
“Helloooooo? Class is gonna start soooooon—wait, what’s going on here?”
Curtis, who has jogged over to us, stops abruptly in surprise at the sight of Duke.
Yeah, I understand. It’s not often that Duke stares at me with that kind of expression…
“It’s nothing. Let’s go,” Duke says sharply, turning his back on me and walking quickly away.
“Wow, I’m a wonderfully wicked woman, aren’t I…?”
Gill smirks cynically back at me. “More like an awkward ass, if you ask me.”
“Awkward ass…that hurts. That means I’m not even close to being a baddie.”
“If your roles were reversed, wouldn’t you hate to hear the line you just said?”
If I were crazy about Duke and my heart was faithful to him for years, and I told him how I felt, yet he told me only other girls could stir his heart…
“Yeah, I would hate that a lot,” I admit. “If Prince Duke said such a thing to me, I would be deeply hurt.”
“Huh? You would? Alicia, I think it’s pretty clear you’re in lo—”
“I suppose Prince Duke will toss me aside now.”
“What? Where did that come from? More to the point, Alicia, I’m pretty sure you’re in lo—”
“That last horrible thing I said to him surely crushed him.”
“Listen to me!” Gill finally yells.
I look at him with a start. Gill takes a deep breath. Then he looks at me sternly.
“Alicia…you’ve loved Duke for a while now. Right?”
“……”
It takes some time for Gill’s words to sink in.
“Well, there’s no use in me saying so; you’ll just deny it,” he says.
“Yes…I think I probably do love him.”
“Huh?” Gill’s eyes widen. “Alicia…did you know I meant romantic love?”
“Yes, I’m sure of it.”
“Really?”
Why is he forcing me to say it was a lie? When he made me consider things from Duke’s perspective, I did feel very upset. I realize that I don’t want to see Duke falling for some other girl. All this time, I thought he would be best served hooking up with the heroine…but now my feelings are a little different.
Duke makes my heart race…and I don’t mind it. That probably means I have special feelings for him.
……But when I’m chasing after my dreams, these feelings are nothing more than a burden. I’ve never heard of the prince and the villainess having a happily ever after. He always winds up with the heroine.
“The saint shall marry the prince and become a symbol of peace for the kingdom.”
That is the prevailing view. But it feels more like a fate that is forced onto a person, not a path someone chooses for themself… That explains why Duke said that he wanted to be free.
After a long pause, I finally say, “I’m not sure if this is for the best.”
“What do you mean, Alicia? You said you were sure of it earlier.”
“I did…but now I’m not so sure anymore. I feel like I’ve wandered into a complicated labyrinth.”
“I get it…but it sounds like you’ve grown up a lot, Alicia.” Gill nods proudly.
……What’s with that air of superiority, Gill?
“Anyway, I need to go see Prince Duke…and apologize.”
“You’re apologizing?”
“Yes, this time at least. Though, of course, it will be an apology befitting a villainess.”
“You could always wait until you’ve got some time.”
“But if the world ended right now, I would regret not apologizing until I could regret no more.”
“I see… Well, you should go to him right away, then,” Gill says gently.
“Prince Duke is already in class by now, I imagine, right?” I lower my voice so it won’t echo down the hallway.
“Everybody is in class, not just Duke. You and I are ditching.”
“Should we march inside while class is in session?” I ask.
“That would be pretty wicked…though also disruptive.”
“Oh, the students are probably all asleep anyway. I’ll be their living alarm clock.”
“I know you’re putting a positive spin on this, but just so you know, what you’re doing is bad.”
“That’s what a baddie does—bad things.”
“Yeah, yeah.”
I don’t know why, but Gill really has a grown-up air about him lately. But I’m rather mature for fifteen myself. Gill is a special breed.
We silently walk down the hall toward Duke’s classroom. This hallway really is so big and pristine. The marble floor is always polished to a shine. But a chandelier is a little out of place in a hallway. It feels more like a palace, not a school.
“When Liz becomes queen, this school should be her first reform.”
Gill grimaces in disgust. “Huh? Why do you assume Liz Cather will be queen?”
“Because she’s the saint. She will wed the crown prince.”
“Duke will never agree to that.”
“But that’s the law of the kingdom.”
Gill’s eyes widen. I suppose he is surprised that I brought up the law of the land. I also believe the coercive forces of the game are absolute, though I feel sorry for Duke.
“But you should just break the law. Aren’t you a villainess, Alicia?”
“Not even a villainess can disrupt the fundamental laws of the world. If the nobility breaks the rules, then what reason do the commoners have for obeying them?”
“……I see the logic of what you’re saying, but Duke wants to marry you, Alicia.”
“If my love for Duke becomes serious, then I’ll just have to cast it aside.”