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Her mouth opened for a hearty laugh, her eyes wide with a crazed emotion behind them, blood dripping out of her mouth from her teeth.

She seemed like such a typical villain.

Evie Luxiere gritted her teeth as even her strongest attack did not kill Corlissa, she raised her hand again.

“With the aid of the Blessed Child of God. Osmond, I command thee to return the world to its pure state!”

A gentle smile adorned Corlissa’s face but her hair shadowed her expression.

‘If I take one more hit, I might die. I can almost hear the Crown Prince scolding me, asking why I would want to die.’

“HAHAHAHAHAHA!” Corlissa screamed out, her throat reverberating rapidly.

The large giant of light thrust their sword down once again.

It was approaching Corlissa who was simply standing there with no intention of moving nor defending herself. For Duke Veronique, he couldn’t bear the sight so he looked away, catching the gaze of Corlissa.

‘Turning away again. Am I being a hypocrite for wishing he had taken my side even though I became the villain? I want to call him a coward but he is still my father, I don’t have the right to do so,’ Corlissa had surprisingly let a teardrop down her face, glistening in the morning light.

But when the blade of light came deathly close to her, the being was stopped by chains that came out of the ground.

This had caught the attention of Duke Veronique who had decided that it was finally time to face any possible situation that might’ve occurred.

The light creating the being began dissipating into a fainter figure with every passing moment.

Evie was confused, extremely confused. She looked at the being with anger laced with questions.

In a sense, she was betrayed by her summon, her orders were not fulfilled.

“Why didn’t you kill her?! Why didn’t you deliver the punishment she deserves?! OSMOND, ANSWER ME!”

A faint deep voice was emanating from the slowly disappearing figure of light.

“This child is innocent, she is making a noble sacrifice for people like you who have sinned. This child may not be blessed but they do not take what they have for granted, they make their own fate. This young one is a selfless hero. I am proud of you, young child, Corlissa Veronique, I hope all ends well. We would prefer it if you don’t meet the end you are planning. On behalf of the gods, we apologise for not helping you, there are some things that we can’t meddle with so thank you for making it here by your own strength.”

To Corlissa, those words were what she didn’t even know that she wanted to hear so she couldn’t help it. Despite wanting to keep her facade of a villain consistent, tears were flowing out abruptly without her knowledge.

It was like a never-ending stream that was becoming increasingly more visible as the sun was shining in her face, her tears emitting a shine of light. A small grateful smile made its way onto her face as she gazed at the being of light with hidden happiness.

The glow of her tears constantly flowing down her face, the small yet visible smile resting on her face, it was all visible to Duke Veronique. Rather, it was all visible to everyone there, all her enemies aside from the ones still lying on the ground at that moment believed that possibly she wasn’t the villain.

Yet when the being of light had finally dissipated, she raised her hand to her face only to find that there were tears. She furiously rubbed her eyes, wiping her face to get rid of the tears as the smile she once had was no longer evident. She felt like something was stuck in her throat, her chest felt tight like it was being suffocated, she couldn’t take a big breath anymore.

Her eyes did not return to the coldness they had before, surrounding her eyes was only redness and puffiness, no matter how hard she tried, she couldn’t change what had already happened.

She kept on telling herself that she was a villain. That she needed to uphold the mask she had intricately laid out since the beginning.

The roles of the hero and villain were shifting, but Corlissa didn’t want that, it was the last thing she needed. The worst scenario possible would be to have two heroes, her and Evie, but for the roles to switch, that was out of the question.

A world can only have balance when there’s darkness, but as she read the expressions of everyone there she only felt dread creeping up her spine.

The people that had been dead set on killing her were now silent, perhaps they were reflecting on their actions but Corlissa didn’t want that.

She stood still in their air with a calculating gaze set on everything around her, she never wanted this.

“Don’t look at me like that. I am the villain, never misunderstand. Never think otherwise. I have taken your Crown Prince, I abducted him. I will make you pay for everything you have done to her. She was an innocent kind soul, you all are rotten,” her voice boomed with as much strength as she could muster.

“You will never have a happy ending.”

‘That’s a lie, everything was so you all could live happily with who you want.’

“I will take everything from you.”

‘That’s a lie. I want to give you everything you desire without conflict.’

“You will pay with blood for what you have done to her.”

‘That’s a lie. She is a kind soul, she would never want you all to suffer.’

“My hatred for you all exceeds your expectations. I despise every one of you.”

‘That’s not true, I want to live happily with everyone. I don’t want to hurt people.’

“A future of chaos and turmoil, that will be your future.”

‘All of it is a lie. I don’t like being the villain. I just want to be happy with everyone.’

When people began changing their thoughts with only a tiny inkling in the back of their minds that Corlissa wasn’t the villain, voices began chanting.

“Kill her! Rid the villain! Kill her! Bring justice!”

Corlissa’s face dropped, her eyes burning, she wanted so badly to cry yet she blinked the tears away.

‘Was it too much to ask for you all to take my side?’

With their voices chorusing together, students from every magic academy created a joint attack of a ‘Sword of Justice’ as they like to call it. Her fellow classmates, the people she had grown up with, everyone had turned their backs on her.

But their attacks were too weak, it’s not like True Mana couldn’t stop the attacks effortlessly but sometimes, a challenge is necessary.

She merely stood there as the sword grew closer to her head.

A flicker of brown hair was vaguely seen before a cloaked person stood in front of the Veronique. Quickly nulling the attack that was incoming at her.