I Don't Know The Playthroughs Of The Returned Villainesses - Chapter 25

“Hmm~ Hmm~”

Just before the first class of the day was about to begin, Vivian strolled down the hallway, humming a cheerful tune. She was acting so unlike herself that she even wondered if her master, Merlin, would be genuinely concerned, thinking she had finally lost her mind.

“His first class is in this classroom, right?”

She was filled with anticipation. Her memories of their first year together, attending magic class side-by-side, were vivid. A faint blush colored her cheeks, a rare display of excitement for the usually stoic Vivian.

“Where should I sit…?”

She muttered to herself, arriving at the classroom. The moment she appeared, the chatter of the students, audible even from the hallway, ceased abruptly. A momentary silence followed, then a multitude of gazes, like hyenas spotting prey, fixed upon her, their avarice unconcealed. The eyes of the future mages, practically dripping with covetous intent.

However, Vivian paid them no mind.

‘Aaron… Aaron…’

She slowly scanned the room, dismissing each student one by one as she searched for Aaron. Normally, she could have easily located him with a simple mana detection spell…

‘But I want to see him with my own eyes.’

It was sentimental, but…

‘Huh?’

Aaron wasn’t there.

‘Again.’

He wasn’t there.

In this classroom, where they had met again after arriving at the academy together from the Magic Tower.

Aaron was nowhere to be found.

‘Mana Detection.’

With a silent incantation, she lightly tapped the floor with her staff.

‘…He’s not here.’

Aaron was gone.

At that moment, a voice spoke from behind her.

“Vivian, are you coming in? Class has already started.”

The instructor’s voice brought her back to reality.

“I apologize.”

She quickly took the only remaining seat and waited for roll call, a sliver of hope clinging to her.

*

Roll call began as soon as class started. The result:

“Hmm, it seems everyone is present.”

“Wait a moment!”

“What is it, Vivian Carulla?”

“There’s a student who hasn’t been called yet…”

“I’ve called everyone.”

Aaron’s name wasn’t on the roster. She suddenly remembered Aaron during the entrance test.

‘Aaron used a sword during the test.’

A piece of information she had overlooked while she was simply observing him. He had wielded a sword, not magic, in the mock battle. Since he hadn’t used magic, it made sense that he wasn’t in Advanced Magic class.

Only…

‘But Aaron was in my class before?’

She distinctly remembered attending classes with Aaron. But he wasn’t here.

‘Aaron… is in a different class?’

This realization sent her mind reeling, and she spent the rest of the day staring blankly into space, lost in thought. Only by evening did she manage to organize her thoughts.

‘The present has changed.’

Reality had diverged drastically from her memories. She faced the truth and focused her thoughts.

‘Aaron isn’t in my class…’

‘I can’t sit next to Aaron…’

‘I wanted to sit on Aaron’s lap…’

Those were the fantasies she had entertained on her way to the academy.

After a period of reflection (and fantasizing),

“But Aaron is alive.”

Yes. That was enough. Even though they weren’t in the same class, and the connection through the Magic Tower was gone.

That was enough.

He wasn’t lying in her arms, cold and half his body missing, like last time. He wasn’t stroking her hair with a foolish smile, his body broken beyond repair, like last time.

“I can do this.”

She had finally returned to the past. She couldn’t just lie around feeling powerless because she wasn’t in the same class as Aaron.

‘Think positive.’

That was Aaron’s mantra. She still remembered his insane positivity, even when his arm was being severed, but now she understood. He had to think positively to keep going. He had to constantly remind himself that it was more important to stand up and move forward, even if it meant going crazy, than to succumb to despair and give up.

“Such a fool.”

Now that she thought about it, he really was a fool.

“He should have leaned on me instead of shouldering everything himself.”

She had been able to stand up precisely because he had forced her to rely on him when she couldn’t be positive. But he hadn’t leaned on anyone.

She now understood why he had constantly repeated that mantra, etching it into his mind.

“This time will be different.”

She wouldn’t let him become like that again. Never.

Therefore…

“This is for you… Aaron?”

Her observation of Aaron’s room with her familiars was for his sake. To see if he was doing anything reckless that could harm him, so she could stop him. It definitely wasn’t for her own selfish desires.

“Go.”

A translucent, eyeball-shaped familiar appeared at the end of her incantation. It shimmered like a mirage before vanishing completely.

“With this, I can protect Aaron’s body…”

No, that wasn’t right.

“With this, I can protect Aaron…”

Suddenly, a fleeting image flashed through her mind, transmitted by the familiar sharing its vision. Then the connection was severed. The familiar, trying to enter Aaron’s room through the window, had been destroyed.

But that wasn’t important right now.

“A woman?”

For a brief moment, before the familiar was destroyed, she had clearly seen it.

A grey tail.

Perhaps Aaron was talking with a beastkin friend. It was late at night, but men sometimes stayed up all night drinking with close friends.

She had definitely seen curves that couldn’t belong to a man, but…

It had to be a man.

She gritted her teeth. If she knocked on Aaron’s door at this hour, after only exchanging a few words with him, his perception of her would change.

‘I don’t want that.’

Tomorrow.

She would check again tomorrow.

And if she saw her again tomorrow…

*

The next day, she summoned a familiar as soon as classes ended and ordered it to follow Aaron.

And finally, she saw her.

The identity of that damned bitch.

“Why is she here?”

Sephir Livris.

In her previous life, Sephir had been a major player in the Underworld, profiting immensely from the war by selling even corpses to necromancers. A greedy wretch who clung to them until the very end. There were even rumors that she had sold off her own fiancé like a toy.

“That beast… is approaching Aaron?”

As soon as Sephir left the dormitory, Vivian cast a spell.

“[Haste]”

She followed the familiar observing Aaron, running towards the back mountain behind the dormitory. However…

“Ugh!”

Vivian stumbled in the empty forest. The familiar sharing its vision with her was being spun around uncontrollably. The sudden dizziness, like being spun dozens of times, overwhelmed Vivian. She quickly severed the connection, but the information already flooding her senses couldn’t be stopped.

“That wicked woman who sold out the continent…”

She now understood what Aaron had meant when he called Sephir a wicked woman in their previous life.

A voice called out from the trees ahead.

“Why don’t you come out now?”

*

Present… 

“Yours? Aaron?”

She repeated the words in disbelief. That filthy beast dared to claim ownership of Aaron.

“Don’t speak my assistant’s name so casually.”

It was a clear warning. However…

“What’s it to you?”

Sephir tilted her head, dismissing Vivian’s words with a condescending smirk.

“I’m Aaron’s friend. What are you to him?”

“…”

Vivian’s expression remained unchanged. But…

“I’ve changed my mind.”

Seeing Sephir’s smug expression, Vivian snapped.

“I need to get rid of this filthy mutt before she infects Aaron with her disease.”

Runes flowed from her lips, interlocking like puzzle pieces, forming intricate patterns like clockwork gears. The blue fragments fell into place, one by one, creating numerous magic circles aimed at Sephir.

“I’m always up for this kind of conversation.”

Sephir lowered her stance, circulating her mana. Like a coiled spring ready to unleash. She drew a second dagger, different in shape from the first, wielding one in each hand. She channeled her mana into the blades.

Despite being a mage, Sephir chose to fight with daggers, not magic. Was it a provocation aimed at Vivian? Or a feint to conceal a hidden magic?

Vivian, also a mage, didn’t create distance. She began chanting where she stood. Was it simple confidence in her abilities? Or a trap to lure Sephir in?

For a brief moment, the same thought crossed both their minds.

‘It doesn’t matter.’

As more runes appeared behind Vivian, and the concentration of mana in Sephir’s daggers intensified, the murderous intent radiating from both women began to consume the surrounding area.

*

Meanwhile…

“Aslan.”

“Yes.”

“What’s that?”

Through my conversation with Aslan, I had gained a better understanding of my physical condition. But…

‘What is that?’

I sensed a massive collision of mana in the distance, on a scale I had never experienced before.

“Uh…”

Aslan, who had also sensed the mana fluctuations, responded with a dazed expression.

“A catfight.”

“…”

What was he talking about?