-Master.

Caliburn spoke to me with a worried voice as I returned to the dormitory.

-That woman named Kaila...

I smiled slightly and nodded.

"Yes, I know."

Because I knew what Caliburn was going to say.

-Click. Clack.

I, who was unbuttoning my tie pin and cuffs as I walked towards the chair, began to answer Caliburn's concerns with a faint smile.

"She used black magic."

-...Did you know?

"Yes, I couldn't not know. Since she can't use magic, it seems like she used a very tricky black magic..."

-...

"I was lucky. I was able to confirm that she couldn't use magic on the way back, so I also obtained definite proof."

Caliburn said with concern.

-It seems she has already crossed the line.

'Line'.

I, who had lightly brushed the rim of the glass on the desk with my finger, filled the empty glass with water and said to Caliburn.

"Do you know what kind of black magic it is?"

Unfortunately, there was no answer from Caliburn.

"That's a shame. If I knew what kind of magic it was, I would have found a way."

I knew.

That Kaila had used black magic.

The unfelt magic.

Yuria, who was not her usual self.

And Kaila's actions.

Even a fool would know.

-Why did you let her go?

At Caliburn's questioning voice, I shrugged and leaned back in my chair.

"Hmm... I wonder."

Why did I let her go?

If I had wanted to, I could have subdued her, collected evidence of her using black magic, and punished the person named Kaila. I could have let her die.

"I watched to see how she would change."

-...

"The young lady changed, so I thought she might change too."

"..."

"I let her go, thinking that if I gave her a chance, she would at least repent, but I don't know."

-...

"Well, I did give her a warning, so now it's up to her."

I let out a lazy breath and squeezed my eyes shut, thinking that the rest was up to Kaila.

-Master...

Caliburn asked me in a low voice.

-You seem to trust people too easily. You could be betrayed.

Caliburn's voice was mixed with a lot of concern and emotion.

As if to say that the life she had lived was not smooth, her hostility towards others was openly revealed.

At Caliburn's concern, I smiled slightly, waved my hand, and answered.

"Do you think I trust people easily?"

-Yes, the master I have seen has accepted everyone without fear of betrayal.

"..."

-Even the apostle of the heretics, the traitor of the academy, and the villainess.

I waved my hand and gave a negative answer.

I admitted that I had a gullible side at times, but I carefully replied that I was not the type to trust people so easily.

"No. I'm very suspicious."

Hans.

Elishia.

And even Caliburn were people with potential, and were under 'restrictions'.

"I'm not as good a person as you think, Caliburn-ssi."

-No. I have never seen a person like master in my life. You have a good and upright character...

"Haha... is that so?"

I looked at the brightly shining moon in the night sky and smiled.

"I'm a worse person than you think. I am."

1. Before the midterm exam begins, find the villain who is trying to harm 'Shartia'. (2/3)

[Gortabun Kaila, Leogard Truller.]

·

·

·

Kaila, who had entered the room breathing heavily, swallowed as she recalled what had just happened.

Because she hated the impertinent advice of someone who knew nothing.

"How did you know...!"

She had definitely checked that no one was there. How did that guy know?

"No.. it can't be..."

Kaila, who had been caught using black magic, was feeling extreme anxiety.

'He must have just guessed...?'

'Yes, there's no way he could have known. He's not a god...'

'Still... why did he suddenly say that...!'

If she were to report Ricardo's behavior to the faculty, the matter would become bigger. If that guy were to find fault with her for using black magic, an investigator would surely be dispatched...!

-Grind.

Kaila, who was annoyed by Ricardo's impertinent behavior of crossing the line, gritted her teeth and suppressed her anger, forgetting the situation where Ricardo had just saved her life.

Yes. Only herself.

In her standard, there was no room for others to enter.

"Why... are you ruining everything when it's all done... so annoying...!!!"

Kaila, who had disliked Ricardo from the beginning, clenched her fists with great hatred for Ricardo, who always interfered with her plans.

-Greed harms the body.

'Impertinent...'

In the first place, Kaila felt no guilt for what she had done. Of course, she had not listened to Ricardo's advice either.

To her, Ricardo's advice was nothing more or less than the nagging of a professor who was just saying unpleasant things.

He was no better than her, and he was not even a noble, just the butler of the Desmunt young lady.

Yes, just a mere commoner.

He was a nobody except for being a little more competent than the other students, so what was he so proud of to be so meddlesome?

-Grind.

She was fed up.

It was the same with Yuria.

A student of the healing department.

Just because she broke a commoner girl, the world wouldn't collapse, so there was no need to feel guilty. The curse she had cast on Yuria was not that great either.

Walking in the opposite direction of the person she liked.

Kaila had thought, how great a dream could a man Yuria liked have?

At best, he would be a commoner, and only slightly better than a stone rolling on the ground.

If Yuria liked Theo, then her own wishes had been fulfilled even more accurately.

-Click.

With the sound of her biting her nails, Kaila hid her anxious heart.

Are you afraid?

"No."

I'm not afraid.

I don't know why I should feel fear.

It's all mine.

I don't even know who else in this world deserves to be loved if not me.

"It's mine.. all of it."

She hated those who tried to pull her down by finding fault with her.

Yes, that's all that matters.

Because I am right.

So.

-Grip.

"I don't regret it."

Kaila's stubbornness began to grow stronger, without even remembering Ricardo's last words.

-I have given you a chance.

-...

-You should take it. Otherwise, you won't be able to do anything.

Her stubbornness was growing, swallowing the emotion of greed.

----------------------------------------

Yuria's madness was getting worse.

-Kill.

The voice she heard in her ears felt even sweeter.

-Stop Shartia from becoming king... no, kill her!

Desire began to boil in the opposite direction of Ricardo's dream.

-Kill Shartia...! Kill the students...!

Ricardo's wish was to make Shartia the empress. Furthermore, he wished for the happiness and peaceful happiness of the main characters of the novel, but because the dream he harbored was so great, Yuria's black magic was manifesting even stronger power.

Naturally, the black magic planted hatred for Shartia in Yuria.

-Kill...

Yuria began to have a passion for breaking the peace.

Yuria, who was cooped up in her room, was pressing her ears and holding her breath.

"Stop."

With the desire to be freed from the tiresome sound, for the strength to overcome the incurable disease that she didn't know when it would end...

Just as Yuria's emotions, which were nowhere to be seen, were gradually heading towards darkness.

-Ding.

With a cold ringing sound, the sound that had been distorting Yuria's ears disappeared.

It had been a long time.

[Q. Time of Choice.]

The appearance of a blue window forcing a choice.

*

In a space that no one knows.

"Isn't that too harsh?"

The woman who had brought a mug of steaming cocoa spoke to the pink-haired woman who was looking at the world beyond the window with a worried voice.

"Blocking the favorability window seems harsh."

At the woman's question, the pink-haired woman gave a faint smile and shook her head.

"It will be fine. He will know. And he doesn't seem to use the favorability window I made much anyway."

The woman's voice was filled with disappointment. Like a scientist who was disappointed in someone who didn't use her invention.

"Are you drinking cocoa again?"

"Yeah."

"You shouldn't drink only sweet things."

"It's fine."

The pink-haired woman let out a low sigh and put on a cold expression as she looked at the world beyond the window.

"Still, that person is still kind. I thought he would be different this time."

"..."

"He never abandons anyone. Not me, not you."

"That guy has always been a fool."

"..."

The woman holding the cocoa said to the pink-haired woman with a calm expression.

"So what are you going to do?"

"..."

"Are you going to kill him? Or save him?"

The woman shrugged and said.

"Hmm..."

Malice for malice.

"We have to leave it to his choice. We can't interfere."

The woman was smiling.

"You know, too."

The woman's eyes were languid.

"That he's not just kind."

I looked into Kaila's eyes.

"Ha...?"

The eyes of a villainess.

Kaila's eyes were like seeing the young lady just before she used black magic.

"I'm going to die?"

"..."

"Professor... what are you talking about?"

The expression of one telling a lie.

A furrowed brow.

Awkwardly twitching lips.

Her gaze, which seemed to go beyond simple dislike to hatred, made me feel like I was looking at someone familiar.

Strangely enough.

I know.

That there is no reason for me to save Kaila.

To put it crudely, she was the one who bullied Yuria, and the one who, after the young lady, who didn't know how to treat people in her academy days, was coaxed, blew up the rumor from 'a villainess who beats up anyone' to 'a villainess with a nasty personality'.

There was no reason for me to save Kaila.

"Haa..."

I know very well that my current actions are meddlesome and unnecessary.

And yet, the reason I called her is.

"Be honest."

It must be because I don't want to repeat that nightmare again.

Because one person suffering from black magic is enough, I looked at Kaila with a complicated heart and opened my lips, hoping for the truth.

"Black magic."

"..."

"Did you use it?"

The cold, echoing words began to fill the quiet park.

Various emotions could be seen in Kaila's expression, and for a fleeting moment, her fingers twitched like a child lying to their parents.

Kaila opened her lips with an awkward smile.

"Wh-what are you talking about? Professor."

"...Student Kaila."

"No... honestly, this is too ridiculous."

I cut off Kaila's words and continued my warning. Because a villainess has a characteristic of pushing her stubbornness if her words aren't cut off.

"You must not touch black magic."

"..."

"No matter what."

"..."

"No matter what happens."

The moment the word 'black magic' was repeated from my lips, Kaila spoke with hostility, short and intense.

"I don't know why you're saying that, but you're gravely mistaken."

"Magic."

"..."

"It seemed you couldn't use magic."

Kaila's eyes begin to waver greatly.

"You... must have seen wrong."

I didn't avoid Kaila's eyes and continued to speak while staring at her.

"There are generally three phenomena that appear in those who have used black magic."

"..."

"First, a body that healing magic doesn't work on."

"..."

"Second, a body that avoids holy power."

"..."

"And the last, the third, is losing 'something' in a short period of time."

Kaila began to tell me the knowledge she knew. Because when she decided to use black magic, she had also studied it.

"That's just the 'general' case."

"..."

"Half of the black mages in the asylum can use magic."

"Then why didn't you use magic? It was a sufficiently dangerous situation."

"It's because I used too much mana during class. You know it too, professor. That magic can't be used when mana is depleted or due to psychological factors."

"Then."

I picked up the blade of the dagger that had fallen to the ground with the tip of my finger and looked at Kaila.

-Flinch.

"If healing magic doesn't work... what excuse will you use to gloss that over?"

"..."

"You won't be able to use the excuse that healing magic doesn't work due to psychological factors."

"..."

"And I'm sure you know that the excuse of the healer's lack of skill won't work either."

The moment a brief silence fell, I let out a small laugh, put the dagger I had picked up in my breast pocket, and shook my head.

"Don't be too scared. I'm not that crazy."

"..."

"I was just hypothesizing that if the previous situation were to actually happen, you could die without being able to do anything."

The atmosphere, as if standing on thin ice, began to approach Kaila as if to swallow her.

"...It's not true."

So coldly that the mask she was wearing was about to break.

"It's not true...!!"

She was suppressing her fear.

Kaila, who had shouted, glared at me with the face I knew well.

"What do you know."

Right.

"What do you know about me... If I say no, then it's no, why are you pestering me!"

With the face of a villainess who had thrown away her pretense.

That is the Kaila I know. Not a person who fawns on the outside, trying to seem bright.

"You'd better listen when I'm being nice...!!!"

The face of a villainess asserting her stubbornness.

"..."

Maybe because we have the same red hair, I feel a sense of affection. If Kaila had green hair like Ruin, I wouldn't have even glanced at her.

Of course, if she were a beauty, I would have done the same as now.

I let out a lazy sigh and gave Kaila a lecture with a faint smile.

"Kaila-ssi."

A lecture that came from the heart, not a false one.

"Black magic is not a means of creating miracles."

Kaila, at my attempt to teach her, let out a sigh full of annoyance and spoke.

"Who do you think you are?"

She shot back at me, telling me that I, who was nothing, had no right to judge her.

"Don't make assumptions."

"..."

"It's disgusting...!"

Disgusting... I wash twice a day.

"I know very well that what I'm saying is wrong."

"..."

"If Kaila-ssi were to officially file a complaint with the department, I could not only lose my temporary professorship but also be legally thrown in prison."

"Right... so!!"

"I know."

"What do you know...!"

"The expression of a cornered person."

I kept telling myself not to meddle, but maybe because I'm a kind person at heart, I can't leave Kaila alone.

Because the arrogant thought of a transmigrator, that I could save at least one more villainess, was welling up.

"You..."

It's not good to lecture for too long...

"Kaila-ssi."

"..."

"I am a person who has experienced the worst once."

"..."

"At first, it seems like you can achieve everything."

"..."

"You can grasp what you couldn't achieve.... You can go back to how things were. No, you think you can draw a better future."

"..."

"Because the person I've seen was like that."

"..."

"But, do you know something?"

I looked at Kaila's eyes intently and opened my lips, which were tinged with sadness.

"Greed harms the body."

"..."

"The moment you're blinded by greed and can't do anything."

"..."

"You collapse."

"..."

"No matter how strong the castle walls are, they will collapse."

-Tremble..

Kaila, who was looking at me with trembling eyes, bit her lip, her fiery red hair scattering.

"Don't lecture me just because you saved me once."

"..."

"You filthy commoner."

"..."

"You commoner who knows nothing!"

"..."

"Don't act all high and mighty and lecture me."

Her voice was tinged with fear. I could see a fear that she herself didn't know.

"Who do you think you are..."

Even if the favorability window wasn't working, I could tell that much.

"I'm different."

Because I, who knew better than anyone the characteristics of a villainess who tried to appear strong in front of others dozens... no, hundreds of times, was a villainess connoisseur.

A villainess.

"What do you think I'm lacking to use black magic?"

Is a coward.

"Just because you're treated like a professor after being kicked out of the academy, you think you're a real professor?"

"..."

"Get a grip."

"..."

"Do you even know what the other kids are saying about you before you try to lecture me?"

When a villainess is cornered, she tears people down. She finds weaknesses and lists irrefutable words, then shuts her mouth, just like now.

A normal person would have left, cursing her, but for me, who had served a villainess far worse than this for 13 years, there was no damage.

To be honest, I was fine because I had heard countless insults about myself. I, who was attending the academy with a thick skin without needing to be told, was not hurt by Kaila's words and just smiled faintly.

"Everyone is saying, 'Why did they bring him here, lowering the quality of the academy?'"

"..."

"They say, 'He's teaching economics when it doesn't suit him at all, and do you, who used to skip class at the academy, have the right to teach us?'"

"..."

"Do you think the students like you because you teach well?"

"..."

"No. It's just to get good grades...! Because if they butter you up, one semester will be comfortable, that's why!"

"No."

I smiled faintly and shook my head.

"I am lacking. Even I would say I don't want to take my own class."

"...Ha?"

"My academic background is not good. I'm a commoner. All I can do is roll people around in the training grounds."

"..."

"Furthermore, more than 40% of the students have refused to take the course, saying they don't want to listen to an economics lecture, so I'm a failure as a professor."

"..."

"I was once the butler of a villainess, and a person who was put on trial for leading the bullying at the academy..."

"..."

"I'm also a person with feelings, so it's hard for me."

"..."

"But."

I opened my lips towards Kaila.

"I am at least teaching with all my conviction."

"..."

"No matter what, I am trying not to create any casualties as long as I am here."

"..."

"Students who disappear without a word. Students who fall behind in dungeons. The sudden academy fire..."

Between a gentle smile, my eyes were shining.

"I am now fulfilling my duty as a professor and a teacher at this academy, and I am protecting you all. In my own way."

With a lazy smile, advice for Kaila is carefully uttered from my lips. I arrogantly say what might be my last lecture, with concern.

"That's why I, who knows nothing, am giving you this arrogant advice."

"..."

"If you've started, tell me."

"..."

"If you feel like you're going to go astray, talk to me and seek my advice. The person standing before you is a person whose lips are so heavy that he will take a secret to his grave."

"..."

Despite my kind words, Kaila, like a hedgehog afraid of human touch, asserted her firm stubbornness and spoke.

"I'm not like that."

"..."

"I don't do crazy things like your master."

At Kaila's healthy words, I let out a dry laugh and waved my hand.

"Then that's fine."

If she says she's not, then I have no right to say anything.

"If you're having a hard time. Please tell me anytime."

I turned my back on Kaila's stubborn face and took a step forward towards the dormitory.

"Let's go."

"...Where are you going?"

"I will escort you."

"What?"

At Kaila's eyes, which were cold as if she had heard something she shouldn't have, I gave an awkward smile, made an innocent expression, and tilted my head.

"You must be scared, so I'll go with you."

"Go away."

"Really?"

"I said go away."

I took another step forward and smiled.

"But I will still escort you."

"..."

"Because that is the virtue of a butler."

I thought of the young lady, who must be eating chocolate somewhere, and said to myself.

'There is no one as kind as me.'

That there is no villainess like the young lady.

In a good way.

And in a bad way.

*

"Daddy."

Olivia picked her ear as she looked at Darvav.

"My ear is itchy."

Darvav nodded as if it were natural and replied.

"It seems someone is cursing you."

"Eeeeeeeeek?"

"It's alright. My ears are often itchy too."

The father and daughter, who were the most cursed in the empire, continued their journey, scratching their itchy ears.

"Eeeeeeeeek!!! It's itchy!"

"I'm itchy too."

"...Eeeeeeeek!!!"