Episode 2: True Villain (2)

◃'◤⌌ Kairen’s POV⌍◢╨▹.

Several minutes had passed since I walked away, and I was still sweating from the tension.

‘She even did a background check on my family… what the hell. That’s scary.’

I didn’t think the Astraea would approach me like that.

The last thing I would’ve wanted was for her attention to be drawn to me.

‘Was she not pleased by how I talked about Lowe? Didn’t she despise her? Why was she shocked about me obsessing over her?’

It’s weird… or maybe I had misunderstood. Even in my previous life, I didn’t recall hearing any nasty about her from Lowe. I guess no matter how impudent the villainess may be, she was still a human with conscience in the end…? 

‘Maybe her reaction was out of disgust? Because she saw me as a kind of womaniser she’d rather not associate with?’

I hadn’t completely understood her personality. If she was disgusted by me, why did she come to find me in the first place?

Did the villainess somehow secretly cared about the protagonist after all? Was this the surprise plot twist of this story? 

Moreover, just what the hell is her deal asking me about my sister? Does she know? Or is she just trying to provoke me by reminding me about it?

I sighed.

Now I’ve just created a disastrous misunderstanding—

‘...I wonder if she’s part of the reason why Lowe’s avoiding me right now.’ 

Likely since I’ve scratched at her sympathy, I doubt she’d continue to treat Lowe with the same hostility knowing there was someone like me. If anything, the villainess might even feel pity for her. 

This second lifetime felt so much more distorted than the first. If someone had told me that there was another regressor messing up the timeline, I would…

‘I pray it doesn’t come to that.’

… I wasn’t lying when I said that I would be the one to manipulate Lowe. 

I know the future—who Lowe was and what she truly needed. I have to be the one to lead her—and shape her right otherwise this world will end just like before. 

“Whatever… she can bitch around all she wants.” 

I looked up and saw the sign, the teacher’s lounge.

Cursing under my breath, I ended my contemplation there. 

I went to find our class coordinator, Professor Aturina.

A lady with a young and slender figure; once an assistant magician of the Magic Tower, she resigned and entered the academy to pursue her passion in nurturing the next generation of magicians.

Her lightly curled bluish-violet hair fell upon her shoulders, the fringes which glistened a slight teal shade. Round rimmed silver glasses sat on her delicate nose, her jade coloured eyes focused intently on a book. More accurately, a romance novel.

This woman who appeared cold on the outside was someone who did many kind deeds behind the scenes.

“Professor, I’m here to submit my club application.” I brought myself to her attention.

“Already?” She raised her head from the book and looked at me with a slight frown.

“Yeah.” I said. She took the paper and gave it a glance. One of her eyebrows rose.

“Baking? Why baking?” She put the form aside and looked straight at me.

“Because I know how to bake?” I shrugged. This was not a lie.

“You… bake?” Her shock was evident, with eyes that bore at me as if I were some kind of delinquent. She caught herself overreacting, and quickly shook her head. “Do as you like, just don’t slack on your classes.” 

“I understand.” I nodded. There was much I still needed to work on to regain my original strength. “Ah right, speaking of which Professor, I have a request.” 

Her brows wiggled as if to express her annoyance. “...What?” 

“If there’s any group projects in the semester, can you put me in the same group as Lowe?” Blatant as this method was, I thought it was worth a try. 

She folded her legs and leaned back against her armchair. “Hm…? Seeing as you’re appealing so shamelessly, do you perhaps fancy her?” 

“What if I said I did?” I casually looked away.

“I will consider it.” She rolled her eyes. “Don't come to me crying if she doesn’t accept your proposal. It’s not like I can’t do something to support your blossoming love.” 

“Thank you Professor. I’ll make sure to not let you down.” I bowed a stiff 90 degrees. 

“...May I remind you that the academy is no place for a man to fool around with girls.”

“I understand.” Honestly, she wasn’t wrong about me being a womaniser. It wasn’t like I was doing it on purpose, fate just works that way for a reincarnated individual.

With a sigh, Professor Aturina took off her glasses and started cleaning them. 

“...” For a moment I was mesmerised by the face she hid behind those spectacles. Catching myself staring, I quickly turned around. “I’ll leave now before taking too much of your time. Thank you.” 

Without her glasses, she showed a stinging demure normally unseen in her cold, callous facade. I knew she was a beauty, and wanted to avoid being caught admiring her so I decided to leave first. 

“Wait.” And then suddenly her words stopped me. 

“...?”

“What happened to your face?”

I refused to turn around. “It’s just a minor scratch.”

“If it’s a minor scratch, you could just head to the infirmary to get it healed, no?” She chagrined. “Don’t lie to me, what happened?”

“It’s… nothing.” The matter regarding these wounds? I wished someone wouldn't remind me.

From behind, I heard the sound of the chair squeak. I felt the touch of her hand on my shoulder.

“Kairen, if you need any help, you know who you can speak to.” The words spoken were unusually gentle.

But, I moved out of the way, prying her hands away at once. “I know when to seek help and when not to. Thank you for the kind offer, professor, but I can handle this alone.” I couldn’t help but notice my tone darkened. 

“Please don’t do anything inappropriate.” A stern warning. 

“I know.” An impossible request.

‘Because I already had blood on my hands.’

⌌✧ ⫺⪼▫◆▫⪻⫹ ✧⌍

 ⋉◆⌌ Astraea’s POV⌍▫◆⋊.

Every student in Oben Academy was obligated to participate in at least one club association. 

However, once you’ve submitted your name, it’s up to you to decide whether or not you want to show up.

If you choose not to, just be prepared to face demerits.

I couldn’t choose any clubs where the Lowe and the male leads may possibly show up. I wanted to avoid altering any scenarios which involved Lowe naturally raising her favorability with the male leads, if possible. 

Hence, the safest option was to join a club that the original villainess was part of.

The tea club.

Tea, as in the yellow aromatic substance in a sophisticated ceramic cup.

Or, my favourite ‘other’ definition—gossip.

Situated behind the school compound was an arbour in the centre of a lake garden where only the most well-informed noble ladies gathered. A sacred space where secrets were shared, a sanctuary for gossip mongers to freely express their wildest and most salacious stories.

Yes, you heard that right. 

This was a club where girls shared scandals over delicious tea. The perfect place to scheme underhanded methods of dealing with bagworms that were acting a little too lively.

Negative rumours about Lowe? The bullying development? The villainess’ followers? Plans for such complot were all made here in this delightful garden. 

Of course, it wasn’t like I had any intentions to ruin Lowe’s academy life. But instead, I felt that there was someone else’s life who I’d like to destroy.

“That commoner Lowe, what do you think of her?” 

Some were calculative.

“I think she’s a little too nice to my liking. Pretty, sure, but she should know when to back off. Just because the guys are showing interest in her, it doesn’t mean she should act like she doesn’t know who she’s dealing with.” 

Some were jealous.

“Did you hear? I heard that even Glenn Twilight followed the commoner into the baking club. The girls there are so blessed, it’s so unfair.”

Some were the acting paparazzi.

“Fortunately the prince decided to join the swordsmanship club. If he joined the baking club just to meet that commoner, I don’t think you should forgive him, Your Grace Astraea.” 

Though in general, they were all trying to suck up to me.

“You know, then there’s also that odd Kairen guy. Honestly, I’d prefer if the commoner Lowe spent time with him rather than Glenn or His Highness Isodor. Commoners should be with commoners.” 

The girl who said that received nodding approvals from the majority of members. I nearly spat out my tea.

“What do you think, Your Grace Astraea? Don’t you agree that Lowe should pick those on her level?” She asked. 

For a moment I found myself startling at her question. All eyes were on me.

I placed the cup down with a clink and gently coughed. 

“Lowe doesn’t deserve that guy. He’s too disgusting,” I scoffed.

“H-Huh?” The girls were taken aback. A sensible response since surprisingly, I had just defended Lowe’s reputation.

“I hate it when that commoner spends time with my prince. Be that as it may, I don’t care if she spent time with Glenn Twilight or any other of her small time admirers. Kairen is the only exception.” I delineated.

All the girls looked at me with stunned faces. They quickly regained their composure and came up with excuses to agree with me. How pitiful of them.

“Truly! That scum Kairen is the worst.”

“Right, you could tell from his attitude that he doesn’t even know his place. He even spoke against the church, remember?”

“He’s pretty crazy isn’t he? I think he’s from a merchant family, don’t know what they do for a living, but it probably isn’t anything noteworthy.”

However, curiosity got the better of one of them—Yvonne. “Your Grace, is there any reason for speaking out against him specifically?”

Yvonne Aiolos. She questioned my reason for speaking out against Kairen.

“Indeed some of you may be curious as to why I speak of him harshly. So to make my statement clear for you all, I’ll let you in on a secret.” I said with a grin. Hearing the word ‘secret’, their ears perked up like winter foxes in snow.

⌌✧ ⫺⪼▫◆▫⪻⫹ ✧⌍

In the baking club meanwhile, pastry girls surrounded a person draped in a pink frilly apron.

The man was Kairen Copper. 

Most members of the baking club consisted of girls, with the minority being male. There wasn’t any particular reason for this—simply that guys who could actually bake were a rare breed.

Due to the influx of newcomers signing in, the club president decided to arrange a small examination. 

If they failed to create anything of decent quality, their applications would be rejected. After all, the original members of the club didn’t want to ruin the culture by introducing people who only came to flirt with Glenn.

And on that note, Glenn was the one and only exception. He was the mascot, there was no need for him to know how to bake, so the exams were unnecessary!

Given the limited stations available, the evaluations were handled in batches. And when the time came for Kairen’s turn… 

“What do you think he’s making?” Leaning in, Glenn asked with a curious gleam in his eyes.

“Uh… I don’t know.” Lowe responded, tilting her head slightly because his lips were almost about to kiss her ear.

Kairen’s performance was an unexpected upset. Earlier when she heard that he had chosen the baking club, she felt fear thinking that he was trying to approach her.

Now she didn’t know anymore. 

What if it wasn’t him who joined because of Lowe, but Lowe who happened to join a club he had an interest in? 

Kairen had the qualities of a master patissier—and in fact, he was preparing a completely new kind of dessert that no one had seen before. 

Reflecting on Astraea’s words, Lowe thought that even if they were in the same club, she would keep her distance.

Just like with the situation where she met Drew out in the market, there was no need to sell herself to him in order to earn the money she lacked.

There were alternatives—that was what Astraea likely implied from the gift she gave. 

“Done,” Kairen finished plating the last batch of chocolate custard. The original club members gathered around curiously to judge his creation. “It’s a lava cake. The warm chocolate cream inside should be paired with the cold vanilla ice cream on top.”

Glenn, who couldn’t contain his curiosity left Lowe’s side to see for himself.

“Oh my god! It’s delicious!” 

“W-What is this… the balance of temperature… it’s perfect…!”

The response was phenomenal.

“May I try some?” Glenn asked.

“Sure.” He was confident that everyone would want a taste, so from the very beginning, he had prepared additional servings. 

Scooping a generous amount of vanilla ice cream on top of the custard filled ramekin, Kairen passed it to Glenn.

The custard was cut right through the middle, and true to its description, the creamy chocolate inside poured out as if it were a volcano.

He took a taste, and upon its entry into his mouth, the flavors exploded, his expression melted.

Witnessing that, Lowe suddenly found herself drooling…

“This one is for you.” In the midst of her hesitation, a serving of the well received lava cake was held out to her. 

“I-It’s fine,” Lowe, who kept returning to Astraea’s words, tried to refuse.

“Really now? I chose this recipe because it’s your favourite.” Kairen himself had prepared one for her personally. 

She tried to avert her gaze. And then something other than the cake caught her attention… the bruises on his arm.

“Just take it.” He shook the cake, her attention fractured. 

The sweet chocolatey fragrance dancing around her nose stimulated her desire. Feeling guilty for rejecting, she yielded. “T-Thank you.” 

She took a bite of the lava cake, and her tastebuds exploded.

It was… delicious. 

Before she could begin spewing all sorts of praise, Kairen had already wandered off. Meanwhile, in the eyes of those who barely got to taste the cake, Lowe looked incredibly pampered. She was the only one who he had given an entire cake solely to enjoy.

Was he giving her preferential treatment on purpose? For a second, Lowe thought Kairen was bullying her again. 

In the end, Lowe decided that since Kairen had offered her an entire serving to enjoy, it meant he wanted her to finish it.

…Not that she hated it.