How to Survive as the Academy’s Villain

Chapter 194

The two individuals entered the study and headed straight toward the bookshelf at the back, as instructed by the elderly butler, Sihen. They quickly found the small switch located at the bottom.

“Is this it?”

At Cecilia’s murmured question, Rosen nodded in agreement and said, “Go ahead, press it.”

Without hesitation, Cecilia cautiously pressed the protruding switch.

And then—

Whirrrrr, creak!

A large pulley system began to turn, and the bookshelf in front of them slowly started to slide to the side.

“There was a hidden space like this here?”

Cecilia, who had visited her father’s study many times before, was naturally surprised by the sight she had never seen before. Rosen Ravenia, on the other hand, remained cautious, his eyes serious and alert as he carefully watched the situation.

Soon enough—

Thud, rumble!

The entire bookshelf shifted, fully revealing the hidden space behind it belonging to the Duke of Romanoff.

“Let’s go inside.”

“Yes.”

Rosen Ravenia, speaking with a somewhat tense tone, nodded solemnly. Cecilia, too, nodded back with a determined expression.

“We just need to find an artifact that can connect with the outside world. Then, we can immediately request help from the academy. Got it, Cecil?”

“I already know.”

With one last reminder from Rosen about their objective, the two began their search of the room at a fast pace.

In the midst of their exploration—

“Huh, what’s this?”

Cecilia’s eyes caught sight of several letters, as if exchanged between multiple people. She approached them quietly and began reading through their contents.

“Rosen, hold on.”

“Hmm?”

Rosen, who had been eagerly searching the surroundings, quickly moved over to Cecilia’s side upon hearing her call. She handed him the letter she had been reading.

“Hmm, it looks like things are more serious than we thought.”

Rosen Ravenia’s face showed an awkward smile of disbelief as she absorbed the contents of the letter. It contained a report detailing the failed assassination attempt on Princess Francia, who was currently attending the Flance Imperial Academy.

“So, this means… my father was involved in that?”

“We can’t be sure with just this one letter.”

Rosen Ravenia tried to stay calm and analyze the situation, though she too was clearly shocked.

‘If we act rashly, we could all end up dead.’

This involved an attack on the imperial family—specifically, the emperor’s daughter.

“The mere fact that he received this report means he’s deeply involved, right?”

“Cecil.”

“Ha, really…”

Cecilia let out a deep sigh, closing her eyes tightly. The realization that her father had been one of the conspirators in the plot to attack Princess Francia seemed to hit her hard.

“Why the hell would he do something so stupid?”

“Cecil, wait. We can’t be certain about anything yet. Calm down, for now…”

Rosen Ravenia’s voice remained calm and measured as she tried to reason with Cecilia.

“This is not something we can afford to react to emotionally. You need to calm your mind and think things through slowly.”

Given that her own father was already allied with the Romanoff family, it was likely that the Ravenia family was also entangled in the matter. For that reason alone, Rosen had to fully understand the situation.

“But…”

“If we aren’t careful, both you and I, and even our families, could be wiped out in an instant. So, even if you have questions, we must stay calm. Let’s do what we need to do first.”

‘Why the hell did they leave this kind of letter lying around?’

Rosen Ravenia couldn’t help but silently curse the Duke of Romanoff. Loyalty to the imperial family? Allegiance to the princess? Sure, those things mattered, but not more than the survival of herself and her family.

Now that they were already caught up in this mess, Rosen knew she had to act with cold logic and resolve.

But unfortunately, the situation had escalated because Cecilia had been the one to find the letter first.

Sigh ‘First, I need to calm Cecil down. Fixing this comes later.’

“Cecil?”

Rosen tried her best to shift Cecilia’s focus onto something else.

Did her efforts work?

“…….”

Cecilia, after tucking the letters exchanged between her father and others into her coat, nodded with a serious expression.

“You’re right, we need to contact the outside world first. We can deal with this later.”

“R-right. Let’s do that.”

It was a somewhat ambiguous resolution, but for now, Rosen had managed to defuse the situation. She gave an awkward smile and nodded.

Shortly after—

“Here, I found it.”

“Huh?”

“The crystal ball that connects with the outside.”

At last, they had found the tool they needed to send a request for help to the academy.

***

I dreamt.

Or rather, it was as if a vivid scene was unfolding right before my eyes.

Magnificent magic filled the sky, spreading in a dazzling display. In the midst of it all, a boy stood, staggering as if barely able to hold on.

‘Kyle?’

The boy was none other than Kyle, the protagonist of the original story.

And the one unleashing this overwhelming magic was—

‘…Kamon Vade.’

With a cruel smile on his face, Kamon was dominating Kyle. To one side, I could see Princess Francia lying unconscious, collapsed on the ground.

It looked like a continuation of the dream I had seen some time ago.

And then—

Drip!

Kyle Perion, who had been struggling to withstand the massive wave of magic, finally collapsed.

‘What… what the hell?’

I couldn’t help but be baffled by this completely unexpected outcome, which was nothing like the original storyline.

Wasn’t Kyle supposed to defeat Kamon and save Princess Francia?

Kamon Vade was laughing maniacally, while Kyle Perion lay unconscious, his body battered and bruised.

‘Then what the hell happened?’

In the original novel, Kamon Vade was supposed to attack Kyle out of jealousy, but due to a misunderstanding, it led to the attack on Princess Francia. That was the plot I had read.

But in the dream I just had, Kamon Vade truly aimed to harm Princess Francia. He wiped out everyone who tried to stop him and, in the end, fought and defeated Kyle in a one-on-one duel.

But why…

‘Why was Princess Francia unharmed?’

That question surged uncontrollably through my mind as the real Kamon Vade, who had been laughing hysterically, suddenly started moving.

He approached the fallen Princess Francia and stared down at her for a moment.

Then—

Rip!

‘…?!’

Without hesitation, he grabbed the collar of her dress and tore it open.

I blinked, stunned, as Kamon reached for her neck, showing no real interest in her appearance.

And what he pulled out was—

‘Wait, that’s…?’

A silver necklace with a red ruby.

It looked almost identical to the artifact Beatrice had given me, the one from the Red Mage. The only difference was…

‘The ruby is significantly larger.’

With a greedy smile, Kamon Vade stared at the necklace in his hand.

“I’ve finally got it. At last, this is mine…!”

At that very moment—

Crack!

Kamon suddenly screamed and collapsed to the ground, trembling as if he had been struck by lightning.

‘What… the hell?’

The ruby necklace in his hand seemed to melt and then absorbed into his body.

‘What?’

And just then—

Tap, tap.

“Kamon.”

I felt a light tapping on my cheek, followed by the sound of Chelsea’s voice, pulling me out of the dream.

***

“Chelsea?”

“Kamon, are you okay?”

Chelsea’s worried expression and concerned voice brought me back to reality. I shook my head, trying to process the vivid dream I had just experienced.

‘What the hell was that?’

My mind was spinning, overwhelmed by confusion. But one thing was clear—if what I had seen was real…

‘Is that necklace the source of the curse?’

It dawned on me that the reason Kamon Vade’s mana pathways were all messed up could very well be connected to that necklace.

And beyond that…

‘Why does Beatrice have a necklace so similar to it?’

More questions piled up in my head. Of course, the necklace could have been an artifact crafted by Anne, the previous Red Mage, and Beatrice might have some involvement with it.

But then why did she give it to me without saying anything?

As I quietly stared at the necklace hanging around my own neck, Chelsea called out to me again.

“Kamon?”

I snapped out of my thoughts and reassured her.

“Yeah, I’m fine. Nothing happened.”

“Really?”

“Yes, really. I’m okay.”

I stood up from my seat and immediately called out to Airsya and Frilla.

‘What were you two doing? Didn’t I ask you to wake me up if something happened?’

[Well, um…] Frilla looked flustered and trailed off.

[Are you crazy? We tried to wake you up a bunch of times! You just wouldn’t wake up!]

‘What? Me?’

[Yeah, both Frilla and I called you so many times!]

‘…’

It seemed that I had been so deeply engrossed in the dream that I hadn’t heard them. I shook my head, realizing that the dream wasn’t the important issue right now.

I had a clue now, and I knew I needed to leave this place and confront Beatrice as soon as possible.

So I said, “Chelsea, let’s get out of here.”

“Huh? Now?”

“Yeah, it’s time to leave.”

I looked into Chelsea’s eyes and added with a grin, “And of course, we’ll settle the score for what happened, too.”

***

“Still no sign of them.”

“…There’s no trace whatsoever.”

The reports continued, and Duke Romanoff’s expression darkened even further. Despite searching for any trace of them, there were no signs of the intruders leaving his estate.

“Search more thoroughly. They must be hiding somewhere.”

“Yes, sir.”

As the knights scattered to carry out his orders—

“Is it true that there’s no trace of them?” Duke Romanoff asked into the empty air.

A voice responded from nowhere, “Unfortunately, yes.”

*Bang!*

“Damn it!”

Duke Vitell Romanoff slammed his fist on the desk, his anger boiling over.

“Use whatever means necessary. If we can’t find them, tell Anne to come here herself!”

“…”

The invisible presence did not reply to his outburst.

At that moment—

Boom!

A massive explosion echoed in the distance.

“…?!”

A thick plume of black smoke rose far off in the distance.

Simultaneously—

“We found him! Kamon Vade has been located!”

At last, the news Duke Romanoff had been desperately waiting for arrived.

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