Consultation

To get straight to the conclusion, the plan did not go well.

The more I tried to become a villainess, the more the prince counterattacked with devilish foulness of mouth.

The more I tried to make her dislike me, the more Claris’s affection toward me increased, and recently she had even said with cheeks red as apples, “I want to become someone like you, Onee-sama.”

(I’m completely in the position of the powerful classmate who guides the protagonist…)

Deeply troubled, I went home and consulted Ciel and Vincent.

“My school life isn’t going well.”

For a moment, the two of them looked serious, then they softened their eyes kindly and asked,

“In what way is it not going well?”

“It’s like… the more I want things to go a certain way, the more the opposite happens.”

“Is it like you want friends, but can’t make any?”

“No, I did make a friend.”

“You did? That’s good.”

Ciel and Vincent both looked relieved.

“Recently we’ve been making a secret base in front of the rooftop and spending time there reading romance novels we brought in together.”

“You’ve gotten extremely close.”

Vincent looked surprised.

“It smells like youth.”

Ciel looked delighted.

“Then, what part of it is not going well?”

“I want to be in the position of a cool villainess, but it isn’t working.”

“Mythia-sama, you do have that slightly embarrassing—no, adorable sort of hobby.”

“It’s not embarrassing, and it’s not adorable. It’s dignified and the coolest thing ever.”

I protested to Ciel, who apparently could not understand refined hobbies.

“So then, what did you do in order to become a villainess?”

“For now, I confessed to His Highness the Third Prince.”

“A confession…!?”

Vincent was struck speechless.

The chair he had been sitting in made a tremendous rattling sound.

“Kyaa, Mythia-sama, that’s amazing.”

Ciel looked incredibly happy.

“I think that’s wonderful. It’s bold and full of initiative. What was it about His Highness the Prince that made you fall for him?”

“I don’t like him.”

“You don’t like him…!?”

Vincent’s chair made another tremendous noise.

Ciel nodded with a serious face and said,

“I see, I see. Of course. Financial power and future prospects are important.”

“It’s not that kind of marriage-hunting thing either. I just thought being rejected by a prince would feel suitably like a romance novel villainess.”

“Ah, the pattern where she gets rejected and ends up resenting the heroine.”

“But when I confessed, he accepted.”

“You have a boyfriend at eleven…!?”

Vincent’s chair made an even more catastrophic and earth-shaking sound.

“You’re dating!? You’re dating him!?”

Ciel leaned forward as she spoke. Her eyes were shining.

“Officially, outwardly, that’s what it’s become, but the prince had another motive.”

“Another motive?”

“He apparently thought it would be convenient to use me as a shield because he was tired of getting confessed to.”

“Understood. I shall erase that walking pile of waste from this world immediately.”

“Please wait, Vincent. There is a possibility this is a contract-dating romantic comedy.”

Vincent knocked over his chair as he stood up, while Ciel grabbed his sleeve and held him back.

“I always thought His Highness the Prince was the type with no openings, perfect in every way, but his true nature is the worst kind of trash. If I insult him, he gives it right back with everything he has, and when I kick him in secret, he kicks me back with about the same force.”

“So in addition to emotional abuse, it’s domestic violence. Let’s kill him.”

“Mythia-sama is the one starting it, though. And it sounds like he’s holding back the strength of the kicks. This really does have the feel of a romantic comedy where both sides completely hate each other.”

Vincent was extreme, and Ciel was romance-brained.

I thought these two might be hopeless.

“That’s the situation with His Highness the Prince. Also, there was a girl who seemed like the protagonist, so I tried to tackle her and raise a hostility flag, but I accidentally helped her when she was being bullied.”

“That sounds like you, Mythia-sama.”

“I think that part of you is wonderful.”

The two of them were suddenly as calm as though they were entirely different people.

This explanation proceeded as peacefully as a gathering of cats in a sunny April patch of light.

“It seems difficult to become hostile toward her, so rather than that, how about taking advantage of the situation?”

Vincent said with a gentle expression.

“Take advantage of the situation?”

“Yes. Mythia-sama, the strongest villainess, uses her talent to seduce the protagonist and make her fall into darkness.”

“How terrible…! So it was all because my overwhelming villainess talent had simply been overflowing too strongly…!”

I shivered.

“I’ll start tomorrow at once and make Claris fall into darkness. The protagonist will be drawn in by the overwhelming charisma of me, a villainess, and will end up yearning to become a villainess herself.”

“I’m cheering for you.”

I returned to my room and wrote a plan in the Crimson Book for making Claris fall into darkness.

Having resolved one large worry, I soaked in the bath and warmed my body thoroughly, then got into bed a little after nine and went to sleep.

“Excuse me, Ciel. Something urgent came up. I think I’ll be back in about two hours.”

As Vincent adjusted his collar in front of the mirror by the entrance, Ciel said in a cold voice,

“Urgent? I don’t recall hearing anything about that.”

“It’s a personal matter.”

“And yet, for a personal matter, you seem to be fully equipped from head to toe.”

“As usual. There’s nothing special about it.”

“It looks to me as though your infiltration and assassination gear is missing.”

“You’ve developed quite the sharp eye.”

“You trained me yourself.”

Ciel glared at Vincent.

“Are you planning to assassinate His Highness the Prince?”

“Please don’t say frightening things. I’m a pacifist. No matter the reason, I never want to do that kind of work again. Of course, that does not mean it isn’t an option in the worst-case scenario, but this is not that kind of situation.”

Vincent said,

“To begin with, infiltrating His Highness the Prince’s residence would be a highly dangerous job. Even if Mythia-sama is being deceived by him, I am not so short-sighted as to go that far for that alone.”

“That’s good. I’m relieved.”

“Yes. I only intend to stand by his bedside and threaten him with, ‘If you deceive Mythia-sama, I’ll kill you.’”

“That is absolutely not allowed! That’s practically the same difficulty as assassination!”

“If it’s me, I can complete it without issue in two hours.”

“Please do not complete it without issue!”

Ciel cried out in panic at Vincent, who said it with the same energy one might use for going out to buy ingredients for dinner.

“You really mean to go?”

“What if I do?”

“Then I will stop you by force.”

“And you think you can stop me?”

“Not by myself, no.”

Ciel said,

“But what if the entire agent team were against you?”

In that instant, the presence of agents who had been holding their breath surrounded the area.

“This is surprising. When did you win them over?”

“It was not by my own strength. They are all here to repay Mythia-sama. And for that, they will show no mercy even against you. That is all.”

“Well, I suppose it will at least serve as a warm-up.”

Vincent shrugged and said,

“Come at me all at once. I’ll entertain you.”

And thus began a battle that was pointless and meaningless, yet stylish to a needless degree.

There was no meaning in this battle. There was only pure desire.

And Mythia, the one who possessed the sensibility to enjoy that more than anyone else, slept soundly on, knowing nothing.