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As soon as I get ho from the Royal Palace, I hole myself up in the library. My goal is to throw myself into practicing magic so that I can keep elevating my rank.
Though unfortunately, the progress these days has been extrely slow. Ever since reaching level 80 it’s been quite difficult to raise my level further. Could I be experiencing a slump…..?
“Nothing’s happening,” Gilles notes cheekily, looking up at in curiosity. He had kindly agreed to tag along with to the library for my magic practice, but instead of cheering on, he’s been sitting next to with his nose stuck in a book this whole ti.
“Why isn’t this going well? It’s not working at all,” I sigh, frustrated.
“I don’t know. But I think it’s already plenty amazing to have reached level 80 at your age.”
“This isn’t nearly enough! The saintess has finally appeared! Who cares if I’m level 80 at 13. My abilities need to be awe-inspiring for to even have a chance to overshadow her re existence,” I complain loudly.
Gilles looks at for a mont, amazed at my outburst. Then he sighs.
“If that’s how you feel, then fine, do whatever you want. Just don’t even think about forcing your way up to level 100 just cause things are moving too slowly for you.”
“I know. I know.”
I still rember what Grandpa Will had told . Jumping levels could an that I might never be able to use magic again……
I need to make sure to level up just one rank at a ti. I know.
And with that understanding in mind, I’m about to resu my magic practice when another thought strikes . Sothing that Gilles had said at the Royal Palace pops into mind.
“Hey, Gilles…..”
“What?”
“Is it true that the saintess is supposed to marry the next king?”
“That’s what I read in a book,” he tells and then he walks off sowhere.
Hm? Where could he be going right in the middle of our conversation like that…..
Huh. Oh well! I also need to concentrate on getting stronger anyway.
I try to focus completely on my magic practice again. Taking in a slow, deep breath, I clear my head and calm my heart. And then I imagine it….. I imagine myself turning into a lion.
I’m currently trying to attain magic that will allow to shapeshift into animals. Because, for so reason, shapeshifting is lumped in as one of the specialties of darkness magic.
Honestly, the more I learn about magic, the more confused I beco as to how the divisions between elents were decided. Why does darkness magic, which is supposedly based around destruction and healing, also contain shapeshifting?
….Sigh.
As I thought, it’s just better not to question it. Thinking about it is literally pointless.
But you know, the further I delve into magic, the more I’m convinced that darkness is a good-for-nothing, everything-but-the-kitchen-sink elent. It’s like those stupid gamakers just threw all the leftover spells that aren’t particularly useful into one elent and called it a day. I can completely feel their love for darkness magic in their total disregard for spell continuity.
But it’s fine. This is what I have to work with. I’ll just have to turn this trash elent into sothing actually useful! I can do this…. No, I will do this! And now, I’m going to break through to the next level!
I concentrate all my senses on myself. Trying to feel my body and imagine it shifting. And just when I manage to shut out everything else around and focus…..
“Ali~” I hear Gilles’s voice calling for . I’m snapped out of it once again in an instant.
For my concentration to be interrupted this easily, as a villainess I still have a long way to go it seems.
“Uwagh!! What the hell!? Why do you look like that!?”
The mont Gilles sees he jumps nearly a foot in the air in surprise.
Look like that? What do I look like?
I walk over to the floor length mirror that I had placed against the bookshelves. I seem to be walking like normal, so what could have changed for him to….. What the heck!？
“My ears, nose, and mouth have all beco like a cat’s! And are these…. whiskers? …I even have a tail!”
When I finally see my reflection, my heart feels like it’s been given a shock.
So this sort of thing can happen when magic’s been interrupted…? Only a couple parts of have beco like a lion.
My new ears are pitch black in color…. does that an that your hair color designates what color fur you’ll have when you transform?
….But, fur color aside, I still look way too human. From this travesty I can tell just how lacking my magic abilities are.
“This look is kind of familiar….. Ah! I look like I’m cosplaying!”
“Cospuraying?” Gilles asks blankly, tilting his head to the side in confusion.
Oh yeah, cosplaying isn’t a thing in this world.
“It’s nothing. More importantly, what did you want to tell ?”
Gilles is staring at hard. Is my appearance really that absurd? It’s like he’s so distracted by it that my words aren’t even registering to him.
“Gilles?” I say a little more loudly. At the sa ti, I also undo the transformation spell.
He flinches, his breath hitching in surprise, and finally his eyes flick to mine. After a mont more of just looking at each other, he finally rembers that he had been in the middle of telling sothing.
“A-ah. Right. It’s written in here,” he says, walking over to with a book in his hand. He flips open to the page that he had marked by shoving his finger into the book. “Right here.”
I read the paragraph that he is pointing to.
『The saintess exists to marry the king and bring peace to his country.』
Oh. So it’s true.
Wow. That’s the whole reason that the saintess exists? I guess the heroine and Duke-Sama really are fated to be together then.
“To be unable to change your fate… I almost feel bad for her now.”
If the saintess and the king didn’t get along, how awful a life would that be? Especially since I’m not so sure that Liz-san and Duke-Sama are actually seeing eye-to-eye at present.
“He’s already changed his fate, though? Duke, I an,” Gilles says smiling. He seems to be watching particularly closely as he says this. “Although you didn’t do anything, Alicia, you still slept in the sa room as him, you know?”
“Was that really such a bad thing?”
Gilles sighs heavily as if he can’t believe that I have to ask about sothing so obvious.
“You know, Alicia? For soone so smart, you’re really dumb sotis.”
“Whatever. Just hurry up and explain what you an.”
“You’re not denying it,” Gilles laughs, gaping at in mock surprise.
“Just tell ,” I say while glaring nacingly at him.
“Do you even realize that you’re a young lady belonging to one of the five great noble houses?”
“Ohh! So that’s what you ant.”
“Do you really understand what I’m trying to say?”
“Yeah, of course. But, isn’t everything fine? It’s Duke-Sama we’re talking about, you know? I’m sure he’ll explain everything properly to everyone. He won’t let there be any misunderstandings.”
Gilles gapes at in actual disbelief this ti. If his eyes were to open any wider than that, his eyeballs would be in danger of falling right out.
“So that’s how it is, huh? Alicia, you’re actually just really dense,” Gilles mutters as if he just had an epiphany.
….Dense? That’s the one thing I don’t want to be called the most.
Agh, what a lousy feeling. I can’t believe Gilles would call dense…. ! Of all people!
“Dense…!? I’ll have you know that I at least realized that Duke-Sama has romantic feelings for . But, if he’s fated to marry the saintess, then there’s nothing that can be done about it,” I snap while glaring daggers at him.
So people might criticize for getting so angry with a child much younger than , but I don’t care. Villainesses are supposed to have short tempers. Moreover, he dared call dense! I’m not dense. It’s the heroine that’s dense!
“You don’t have to get that mad about it. I was just trying to say that I think Duke’s actions were preditated, that’s all,” Gilles says. He doesn’t seem to be cowed in the slightest by my big show of anger.
…..Preditated? Like, he had sleep in the sa room as him because he already knew that the next king and the saintess would be expected to get married in the future?
No way. Are you telling that he’s been thinking from one step ahead this whole ti?
“So, do you understand my point now?” Gilles asks , peering up into my face.
This… might actually beco a huge issue. If Duke-Sama and I were to get married, then won’t that an that Liz-san will never listen to again? I an, Liz-san likes Duke-sama, right? If we get married, forget being able to confront her, she’ll probably end up just ignoring completely!
That’s the equivalent of not being able to pick a fight with her anymore! I can’t let that happen. It’s precisely because I can stand opposite the saintess that my evil deeds as the villainess will be able to shine!
Wouldn’t this sort of developnt completely shatter my chances of making my dream co true?
….Don’t you dare try to ss with on this! I am going to show this whole world just how splendid of a villainess I can be.
Duke-Sama may have already made it loud and clear through his actions that he harbors romantic feelings for , but he has yet to say it out loud that he likes ….
So for now at least, I should be fine…!
….Right?
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T/N: Lol, I love how defensive Alicia gets when Gilles calls her dense XD And Gilles, bless him, he knows just how to push her buttons. He truly is MVP of this story hahahaha!
Ch. 102 Poll Results:
Which is a great segway into the fact that literally 100 people chose the option that Gilles is the true saintess from last chapter’s poll XD Oh my word, you guys are hysterical. You made my day hahahaha. That’s 13.7% of everyone who voted!! Do any of you actually believe that? Or was that option just too funny to pass up?
On a more serious note, I was surprised by how many people think the whole saintess thing is just a load of crock! 318 people, 43.6% of all voters, said the saintess is just made up. I wouldn’t be surprised if that was the case with the flimsy reason for her existence that was written in the book in this chapter, but still. That’s a huge plurality. Even if we put the 70 votes from the people that are pretty sure that Liz is the saintess, and the 70 votes from people who are adamant that she is the saintess for plot purposes together, that doesn’t co anywhere near 318. It’s not even half. Even if we add the 129 votes for Alicia being the saintess in we are still short 49 votes. It’s Gilles’s votes that finally shove the scale over the edge XD Again, what an amazing result HAHAHA!
As for write-in’s, quite a few people think that the true saintess might be Rebecca (the girl from the impoverished village). That would a super cool developnt! Though I’m still heavily shipping her with Henry…. Sorry Gilles x Henry fans lol. Another idea I saw a couple of tis was that there might actually be more than one saintess! I feel like that really gives food for thought. And a third idea that made laugh every ti…. “It’s obviously Duke.”, “You thought it is Liz? It is I, Duke!”, “Plot twist: Duke is the saint. He marries himself lol”. The image of him marrying himself…. is just too funny hahaha! And as a bonus, maybe imagine the wedding with this in mind: “Alan is secretly a genius and the true saintess. He will reveal his master fall plan of how he pretended to be incompetent.” What do you think of Henry Alan x Duke!? Hm? Hmm? XD
There’s a lot of different theories floating around and I for one would love it if the stereotypical ones weren’t true for once! But only ti will tell~ 😉 Thanks again for playing!
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