Prologue

I think about the kind of person I want to become.

I admire someone and want to become like them, so I imitate them in hopes of getting closer.

To me, that seems like a kind of faith.

Admiration makes the heart leap and gives joy to life.

But at the same time, I think it also contains the element of denying who you are now.

I want to become an ideal self, more beautiful than I am as I am.

That is a pure wish—and a curse.

Just as stronger light makes darker shadows, imbalance creates a strong rebound in the opposite direction.

Ideals that are too beautiful and admiration that is too strong can also lead to self-denial over the self that cannot measure up.

That is why, when you admire something, you should do so in proper amounts.

I think it is better to hold your true self tight as well, and not forget the perspective that your imperfect self is lovable too.

At any rate, everything I have written up to this point is just because this is the opening and I purely longed to write something intelligent and atmospheric like in a villainess novel, so it does not particularly mean anything.

I do not care about rebounds or any of that, I want to become a cool villainess, and I sincerely wish to enjoy this life to the fullest and live the best possible villainess life.

(All right, I was a villainess nicely again today.)

As I watered the field with household magic, I looked back on the outrageously villainess-like things I had said and done that day.

It had happened that afternoon, when I put up a notice on the town bulletin board.

Regarding the tax increase that was being carried out simultaneously in many regions of the magical kingdom, I, the embodiment of evil, announced an extremely wicked and vicious policy to the villagers.

‘We will not be raising taxes. Also, these are blemished fruits that cannot be sold, so feel free to pick up to five per person.’

The villagers rejoiced, and the square erupted into chaos.

A few nobles pressured me, saying that if we did not raise taxes this time, something bad would happen, so I had Vincent’s role-playing agent team help silence them.

The number of nobles whose weaknesses I held was steadily increasing, and my influence within the magical kingdom was rising surely and steadily.

Because Lineage Territory had been treated roughly as land where people unable to use magic lived, there was pressure from those who did not want word to spread that its administration was going well.

However, since we were agricultural revolutionaries shipping fresh vegetables throughout the magical kingdom, it seemed that even with media restrictions in place, word that Lineage Territory was prospering was gradually spreading among the people of the country.

“I have been astonished by your achievements. I am sincerely grateful that you are in this country. I also intend to do everything I can to protect you.”

It was a few days ago that the racist merchant chairman said that to me with the face of a refreshing prince.

Feeling a chill run down my spine, I responded with a vague social smile while being careful not to become any closer to him.

And yet, despite that, I feel as though the arrow from the chairman gets bigger every time we meet, but that is probably just my imagination. Please let it be that.

While steadily building my reputation as the child lord of the frontier like that, I was thinking about how to become an even stronger and cooler villainess.

(Is there anywhere I can become a villainess comfortably and pleasantly?)

However, that was an extremely difficult problem.

Since I have worked pretty hard in this second life of mine so far, the honest truth is that I also want to take it easy once in a while.

And on top of that, becoming a villainess to my heart’s content is not easy.

(How can I be a villainess easily and effortlessly…?)

The answer did not come easily.

I agonized deeply.

Why is life filled with suffering?

Is farewell the only thing life is?

Why is drying your hair after a bath such a bother?

To change my mood, I did farm work.

I carefully brushed off the dirt, sorted the produce into three levels by size and shape, and placed them into baskets.

Large and well-shaped ones would be sold to nobles at a high price.

Medium-sized but irregularly shaped ones would be shipped for ordinary households.

Small ones with poor shape could not be sold, but the potage made by simmering them was incredibly delicious, a secret known only to us who worked in agriculture.

Farm work lightened my heart just a little.

But it was not a fundamental solution.

My heart was clouded.

There was a deep, profound worry there.

I stood by the window in the twilight, letting out melancholy sighs, and wrote in a notebook while thinking up the autograph I would use when I became famous.

“You do not seem very well… Did something happen?”

Ciel said to me worriedly.

“I am carrying a difficult worry. It is a truly, truly difficult problem.”

“What kind of problem is it exactly?”

“I want to be a villainess easily and effortlessly.”

“You want to be a villainess easily and effortlessly…!?”

Ciel widened her eyes slightly, then said,

“That is a wish that is astonishingly honest about your desires.”

“It is nice to work hard and achieve something, but I think it is also really nice to achieve something without working hard. I want to become the world’s greatest novelist while writing as little as possible, and I want to paint a work that shakes the art world and gets everyone to fawn over me while drawing as little as possible.”

“I understand the feeling, but when you put it into words, it sounds very disappointing.”

“I have been working hard enthusiastically until now, so this time I want to be a villainess in a loose and fun way.”

“I think Lady Mythia being honest with herself is cute too.”

“I like you, Ciel.”

Because Ciel forgives the hopeless me, my human resilience has been dropping more and more.

When I first came to Lineage Territory, I would wake up after at most going back to sleep three times, but the other day I achieved the god-defying feat of going back to sleep eight times.

However, because I have a contrary side to me, when I am pampered, I start to feel like trying a little harder.

(A way to become a villainess easily with just a little effort…)

At that moment, what suddenly crossed my mind was that the villainess in my favorite novel had gone to school in the early part of the story.

(School… that is it, if it is school, maybe I can become a villainess easily!)

It was a truly genius and devilish flash of inspiration.

It is natural for eleven-year-old me to go to school. And with the advantage of memories from my previous life, I can move many things forward from a favorable position.

In conclusion, school is the best.

I will do lots of villainess-like things at school and spend fun days there. Yes, that is what I will do.

“I will move Operation Splendid Villainess into its next phase.”

I turned my back to Ciel with a fitting expression, took a few steps, then turned around, brushed back my hair, and said,

“I think I am going to go to school.”

Nominally, I am an eleven-year-old serving as acting lord, but I have another hidden face.

It is the face of a splendid villainess who moves in secret within corrupt noble society.

Admiring the villainess from the novel I had loved in my previous life, I devoted myself daily to becoming the strongest villainess who punishes weak evil.

With help from Vincent, the butler who similarly admires fictional spies and role-plays as one, I trained the villagers into excellent agents.

Together with my powerful companions, I strengthened my influence over noble society, and now even Father, the head of House Lumiore, and the nobles of the Eastern Assembly are under my control.

There is no doubt that even the Council of Three Hundred, the enemy from the fantasy setting I created, feels threatened by that power.

With help from his subordinate agents, Vincent immediately gathered information on schools throughout the magical kingdom.

There was an academy whose first headmaster had been a summoning mage accompanied by a golden golem, and a magic school built adjacent to an ancient labyrinth.

In the magical kingdom, where magical education is taken very seriously, the competition is apparently fierce to the extreme, and there are even adults with the extreme belief that academic background determines one’s life.

As someone who loves books and adores words like “what is truly important is invisible to the eye,” I cannot help but tilt my head at that.

But I do have some idea of what adults who narrow their perspective and measure everything in the world by simple scales are like.

My parents from my previous life, who believed a woman’s worth was in marrying someone of superior family status, and Father in this life, who said magical aptitude was a person’s worth.

On the other hand, there were also cool adults who lived without being trapped by such prejudice.

‘No matter what happens, you will absolutely be all right. You may do whatever you want. You may say whatever you want. No matter what anyone thinks of you, there is no need to care. I will always be on your side.’

I carefully repeated to myself the words Mother gave me that day.

I felt warmth filling my chest.

Hiding the smile that rose to my face with my hand, I continued reading through the materials Vincent had prepared for me.

(But every one of these is a prestigious school with an incredibly high difficulty level…)

When putting the material together, there is a limit to how many schools can be described.

Inevitably, the proportion occupied by prestigious schools must become high.

In addition, Vincent and Ciel may also be estimating my academic ability highly.

(Well, I am good at studying, so it is not like I lack confidence.)

Partly out of rebellion against being told in my previous life that “girls do not need to study,” I am someone who quite likes studying.

It feels like one truth of humanity that if you are told not to do something, you want to do it.

Conversely, if you are told to do it, you stop wanting to.

Surely everyone has had the experience of thinking, “I was just about to do it, but now that you said it, I do not want to anymore.”

At the same time, being a realist, I realized that it would be risky for me to enter a prestigious school.

‘I have never heard of someone being born into a proud noble house of the magical kingdom without any aptitude at all for standard magic. It would be a disgrace lasting for generations. This fact absolutely must be hidden.’

Just as Father had said, I have no magical aptitude for standard magic.

The only magic I can use is household magic, which is low in difficulty and usable by anyone.

Father continues to hide with all his might the fact that I have no aptitude for standard magic, and in truth, it would indeed be troublesome if it were discovered.

To keep it hidden, a school with lower required magical skill would be better.

Above all, this time my goal is to become a villainess easily and leisurely.

For that, the best thing would be to become a villainess at an easy school while surrounded by kind, soft-hearted children.

There were four schools marked as A-rank.

They seemed to be the prestigious schools representing the nation.

I probably could not get into those, so I decided against them.

There were ten schools marked as B-rank.

Those also seemed to be famous schools with history and tradition.

Somewhere a little easier would be better.

I looked through C-rank, D-rank, E-rank, and F-rank.

As the letters moved further along in the alphabet and the difficulty dropped, the rank of that school seemed to shine in my eyes.

(Amazing… how easy is this school…!)

While the other schools were made up of neighboring letters of the alphabet, that school was clearly on a completely different level of low difficulty.

It was located far below the very bottom, vastly separated even from F-rank.

(If it is here, there is no way I will fail, and they probably will not get mad even if I doodle during class or write settings for my fantasy novels. I should be able to spend my days doing villainess-like things to my heart’s content.)

“I choose this one.”

“Are you sure, Lady Mythia?”

Vincent said with a puzzled look.

He had probably questioned why I had chosen the very lowest-ranked school in the magical kingdom.

However, my objective is, to the very end, to become a relaxed villainess with ease.

I have no interest in academic credentials as symbols of authority, and I do not want to spend my school life stifled in suffocatingly harsh competition.

Rather, I want a school life where I bask in the sun every day together with easygoing, kind children who look like they eat grass from around the school during class, while doing lots of villainess things.

I checked the school’s rank once more.

G, H, I, J, K, L, M, N, O, P, Q, R… yes, while the lowest for the other schools is F-rank, this one is so extraordinarily far below that it must without question be the loosest and fluffiest school possible.

“I choose Arcadia Magic Academy.”

With a fearless smile, I decided to take the entrance examination for the magical kingdom’s only S-rank school.