First Contact

After using a dust explosion to cause the biggest explosion of the day, I returned to Kate with a look on my face that said, This is all perfectly normal, though.

Because making that sort of face made me look even stronger to the people around me.

At an academy where all sorts of schemes crossed paths, image strategy was important if I was going to become the strongest villainess.

While brushing aside the gazes of my breathless classmates, I made sure every movement I made looked calm and elegant.

That was how I was putting every ounce of effort into showing off a strong villainess aura at exactly the right moment, but in truth, there was only one thought in my head.

(T-this turned into something way bigger than I expected)

I knew about the phenomenon of dust explosions.

The fact that something like that could happen had stuck in my memory because I had been so impressed by it.

I had once fantasized about using it in a cool way, thinking that I might be able to recreate it with my magic.

But still, to think it would cause an explosion this huge.

(The power of nature is amazing…)

Though inwardly shocked, I kept up my act of being strong and mysterious.

My steady efforts paid off, and after class, the people around me seemed to have changed their opinion of me from “the transfer student who solved a first-class mage exam question” to “that dangerous girl who almost turned the training ground into charcoal.”

It felt a little different from what I had imagined, but I decided to think positively and accept that this also gave off a nice outlaw-like bad-girl feel.

And no one had found out that I could only use household magic.

In this way I had taken one step closer to becoming the academy’s graceful villainess, but compared to the Third Prince, whom I would eventually oppose (according to the setting), I could not deny that I still felt like the lesser one.

Even my score on the practical exercise, which had caused a far bigger explosion than expected, had not beaten his.

(But it is strange that even with that much of an explosion, one of the measurement spheres still didn’t reach the limit)

Come to think of it, the same measurement sphere had remained untouched during Roy-kun’s turn too, even though he had gotten the same score as me.

It might simply be natural since it was positioned all the way at the far edge, but it also felt like a coincidence worth noticing.

While thinking about that, I was sitting in a bathroom stall when I heard the voices of the girls in my class from outside.

“His Highness Felix was so cool!”

“That cool profile of his is absolutely irresistible!”

“I know! Personally, what I really love is the look in his eyes when he’s looking at Roy-kun—”

(He is unbelievably popular…)

A prince standing at the very top of the academy caste.

If I wanted to compete with him as a villainess—the same him who would one day stand side by side with the protagonist girl currently in F-Class—I needed to raise my own reputation with the people around me even more.

(Maybe I should start thinking about becoming more attractive too)

I tried seducing the boys in class with the mature charms of a villainess.

The effect showed up during cleaning time.

The boys in class had gathered in a corner and were talking about me.

“You know, I’ve been thinking about Mythia Lumiore…”

What exactly were they saying?

I casually closed the distance and focused all my senses on listening to their voices.

“She kind of gives off this feeling like she’d absolutely never be a romantic option, doesn’t she?”

“I get it. She’s small.”

“Yeah. Everything about her is small.”

I bit my lip.

I resolved then and there that no matter what it took, I had to wipe out these cruel and tyrannical classmates.

“In that respect, Filthlet-san is cute, though.”

“I get it. She’s big.”

“Yeah. Everything about her is big.”

It seemed Kate was popular.

Why had God made us with such inequality?

(Well, I don’t mind hearing my friend being praised)

The real issue was how I was going to build a graceful and villainous academy life from here.

(First, I need first contact with His Highness the Prince)

As preparation, I gathered information about him.

That he was so busy with official duties that he was absent from the academy for a third of the week.

That even when he was at the academy, adults frequently came up to speak to him, and he seemed to live an extremely busy life.

That there were many aggressive girls trying to get close to him for all sorts of reasons—his family, his face, his wealth, his status—and that he was being called out to the back garden for confessions almost every week.

That sometimes he sat alone on the emergency staircase of one of the research buildings where few people went, brooding by himself or feeding breadcrumbs to little birds.

I studied what kind of meeting with him would bring out the strongest villainess feeling.

In terms of a romance novel’s villainess noble girl, maybe the classic pattern was the kind where she tried to get close to him and failed.

(A villainess who gathers her courage to speak to the one she longs for, only to have it go unreturned… I like that)

The villainess in the novel I loved so much also never had her love returned by the person she had cared for all along.

It was precisely because she kept that aching sorrow hidden inside her heart that the way she still chose to live with dignity looked even cooler.

(With this type of event, I should be able to pull it off easily)

There were already plenty of girls at the academy who had tried to get close to His Highness the Prince and failed.

Love letters arrived in his shoe locker and desk almost every week, and it seemed that getting rejected after confessing to His Highness had practically become a trend among the girls at school.

If that was the case, then clearing the encounter event would be easy.

All I had to do was follow the trend, confess quickly, and get rejected.

“Y-you’re going to confess!?”

Kate’s eyes widened when I told her the plan from here on.

“But Mythia, you’ve never even spoken to His Highness Felix, have you?”

“I’ve never spoken to him, and to be honest, I don’t even remember his name.”

“You don’t even remember his name, and you like him?”

“I don’t like him.”

“You don’t like him!?”

Kate said with a bewildered face.

“If you don’t like him, then why are you confessing?”

“I need to get rejected here so I can keep walking my own path.”

“You need to get rejected…?”

Tilting her head with a dubious expression, Kate continued in a voice that sounded like she had thought of something.

“…I see. So even though you say that, you actually fell in love at first sight.”

“I absolutely, completely, not even the tiniest bit like him.”

“It’s okay. I understand. I’ll cheer you on.”

Kate brought some accessories and makeup tools that she said belonged to her older sister, and did my makeup for me.

“I secretly brought them from my sister’s room. Leave it to me. I’ll make you look as cute as possible.”

I entrusted myself to Kate on the landing leading to the rooftop.

The soft tip of the brush tickled my eyelids.

When I looked at the finished result in a hand mirror, I caught my breath.

(I look exactly like someone the day after getting punched in the face…!)

“Sorry, one more try! Give me one more chance!”

Apparently, it had been her first time doing someone else’s makeup.

On top of that, because she had used her older sister’s makeup tools, which she had never used before, she had lost track of how much to apply.

“This time, I’ll do it the way I usually do mine.”

After removing the failed makeup, she tried again.

Seeing the finished reflection in the mirror, I could not suppress the pounding of my heart.

(Amazing… I look stylish like Kate now too!)

Delighted at how much prettier I looked than usual, I made my preparations perfectly, wrote an appropriately convincing love letter, and summoned His Highness to a deserted spot behind the clock tower.

“You came.”

The wind blowing through swept my hair away.

There was not a shred of emotion in the eyes of the Prince when he appeared.

As though he were listening to a long, boring speech.

To him, this encounter was probably nothing more than one repeatedly occurring scene from everyday life.

Even sweet drops become tiresome if you taste them every day.

(If that’s the case, then I should be able to clear this event just as planned)

Feeling relieved inwardly, I said to Prince Felix,

“I don’t like you at all. But if you want, I suppose I could go out with you.”

(Yes, nailed it!)

I clenched my fist in my heart.

It was a confession delivered from a condescending angle, with absolutely no charm to it whatsoever—a confession with a one hundred percent failure rate.

And the words I didn’t like him were not an attempt to hide embarrassment either, but words spoken from the bottom of my heart.

Even if, by some chance, he had been interested in me, after a confession like this he would definitely think, There is no way with this girl.

(I’ve taken another step toward my ideal villainess)

As I waited for his answer with a composed face, Prince Felix said,

“Understood. I look forward to it.”

(…Huh?)

Had I misheard?

I felt like I had just heard words that absolutely must not be said.

“Um, what did you just say?”

I asked again, confused.

“You said you would go out with me if I wanted it,”

said Prince Felix.

“I look forward to it.”