The Villainess’s Guide to Winning the Male Lead

Surprised by his words, I turned to face the manager again.

Contrary to his stern tone, there was a hint of concern in his expression.

“You’ve been wearing yourself thin, I’ve noticed. But continuing like this, with no end in sight, do you really need to keep going?”

“…….”

“You’re essentially performing for them, reincarnating over and over. With the assassin around, you’re not making any progress with the points. Do you want to keep doing this indefinitely, or wouldn’t it be better to give up sooner?”

His words stung, and I retorted, feeling a surge of defiance.

“And if I don’t reincarnate, then what?”

Was he suggesting that I just fade away? After everything we’ve been through, how could he say that so casually?

“I will survive, no matter what.”

I had to survive, by any means necessary.

I didn’t plan on giving up. I wanted to live as myself, not borrowing someone else’s body.

The manager sighed.

“I knew you’d say that…”

“And it’s not my fault.”

“…What?”

The manager furrowed his brow.

“It wasn’t me. I was enchanted by magic.”

“Magic, you say…”

I calmly recounted what had happened.

The manager mulled over my words. After a moment of deep thought, he ventured a guess.

“Could it be, the crown prince is behind this?”

“…What?”

Why was the crown prince being brought into this?

But the manager seemed sure of his theory.

“Except for the first poisoning, it’s all been magic. He’s been getting too close to you, suspiciously so.”

“That’s true but…”

Now that I think about it, he did directly ask how I came back to life after dying.

And he was indeed a prodigy in magic. Narrowing down the suspects, Irmin was indeed the most likely candidate as the manager suggested.

The manager was in deep contemplation. As brusque as he could be, the only angel who truly pondered over my issues with such seriousness was the manager.

Realizing this, I felt a bit guilty for my earlier outburst. He had every reason to be upset with me, and there I was, behaving childishly.

I looked at the manager and, feeling a sudden urge to tease, I called his name.

“Hans.”

“……?”

The manager’s eyes widened, startled by the sudden use of his name.

But that was only for a moment. Soon after, he frowned.

“Who told you that?”

“I wonder. Some stranger.”

The manager probably thought I was making it up, but it was indeed a stranger who had told me. Not a lie at all.

The manager scowled and said,

“…Don’t call me by my name.”

He put up a strong front. It was no different from when he pretended to be Bates.

“Why? We’re colleagues, after all.”

“Being called by a human name feels weird,” I remarked with a flick. As if tears had never welled in my eyes, I smiled my usual grin.

“But you know, I’m seriously in debt with points right now.”

“What?”

The manager looked at me with an expression that screamed, ‘So what do you want me to do about it?’ I spread my thumb and forefinger with one hand, and with the other hand, I extended my index and middle fingers and said,

“I think I need to receive about one hundred and twenty thousand points. Can you pretend to like me just for once?”

“Now you’re resorting to scams?”

“Well, I do have a loyalty to the viewers.”

“Human…”

The manager swept his face with one hand, his demeanor returning to normal. After heaving a sigh, he relayed the situation.

“For now, I’ve handled it by reporting to the temple that I brought you in with just a minor scratch.”

“I fell from the fifth floor, can that really work?”

“There were no witnesses, so I lied that it was from the second floor.”

A world without CCTV is quite convenient. In the current situation, it was rather a relief.

“Then, can I stay one more day before returning?”

“Why?”

Do I really need to explain something so obvious? I quietly answered,

“Because… it’s embarrassing.”

“Right…”

The manager looked at me, his eyes showing understanding.

* * *

After the sun rose and lunchtime passed, I turned on the broadcast. As expected, the alarm sounded, and the donation window popped up.

[Ian donated 20,000 points!]

An astonishing amount of points right from the start, and my debt vanished in an instant.

[OnlyFinley donated 2,000 points!]

– Our Jiha♡

[PleaseShakeACarrot donated 5,000 points!]

– Why did you leave without saying anythingㅠㅠ

[Isaac donated 1,000 points!]

– Long time no see

Several other donation windows popped up as well. It seemed like an unspoken rule of our broadcast. The king of point donations after a comeback.

Meanwhile, the chat topic shifted to Ian.

[Manager: Why is that guy using his real name alone?]

[Ian: It’s a nickname]

[PleaseShakeACarrot: asdf where did you go lol]

[Ian: That was a carelessly chosen nickname]

[OnlyFinley: True, we never thought we would get this addicted when we chose our nicknames]

Ian seemed to have abandoned his original nickname altogether. He even revealed his real name to me, and since the angels knew our real names from the start, there was no need to hide. As Ian said, asdf was indeed a hastily chosen nickname.

I wanted to greet each one, but the show was busy, so I moved on.

“Thank you for the point donations. I have a prior engagement, so I’ll be moving on.”

[A suspicious viewer: What engagement?]

“With Davi. For a tea time.”

Last dawn, to continue our conversation that wasn’t properly concluded, I had made a tea time appointment with Davi.

It was something I had asked Davi early in the morning. Surprisingly, Davi readily agreed.

As the topic shifted to Davi, Ian was the first to react.

[Ian donated 10,000 points!]

– Be good to Davi

[Poppopo: Did he really spend ten thousand points just to say that?]

[PleaseShakeACarrot: I lost…]

[Stress: Don’t give up, Carrot lol]

Even Carrot, who was a big spender, seemed to despair at Ian’s wealth. How well does Ian actually work?

Davi’s obsession was intense. It didn’t match the person I had seen before. What exactly is the relationship between a god and a saintess?

Regardless, I arrived at the appointed place with Davi.

It was my first time visiting the garden in the temple. Each place had its charm with gardens to visit. They seemed similar but were all different.

Davi was already sitting, waiting. The expression was not so good. It was closer to being downcast.

“Hi, Davi.”

“…Hello.”

Davi greeted me in a downhearted tone.

The desserts looked like the ones you would find in a temple. Even ordinary desserts felt sacred because they were served in the temple.

As soon as I sat down, I brought up the main topic.

“Let’s continue our conversation from yesterday.”

“What?”

“I asked why you dislike me.”

“…”

I almost heard the answer yesterday, but the conversation was cut off by the manager. I was curious enough about Davi’s reply to lose sleep.

Davi looked down and hesitantly started to speak.

“It’s nothing special.”

“You’re not denying that you dislike me.”

“It’s embarrassing to say but… since Venecia insisted that I should be honest, I’ll tell you.”

Ian?

I wondered if it was really necessary to go that far, but it was a relief that I could satisfy my curiosity thanks to him.

“Attention was diverted.”

“Huh?”

I couldn’t understand what that meant.

Whose attention? It was incomprehensible.

Davi, perhaps having held it in for a while, poured out a flood of words.

“The saintess, like me, can communicate with Venecia. Moreover, you have better abilities to communicate with gods, so it’s natural for the priests’ attention to be directed towards you.”

So, it was jealousy.

It must have been a serious concern for her, but to me, it seemed rather cute.

Being the only saintess, she would have received a lot of attention in the temple, but the appearance of someone like me must have been an eyesore.

I decided to be understanding of Davi’s feelings.

“You’re free to hate me as much as you want.”

“You really are strange…”

Davi seemed to find me peculiar.

Then, she straightened her posture and, with a serious expression, started to speak.

“Now, can I ask something I’m curious about?”

Davi’s interest in me? That was rather welcome. I nodded in response.

“Is the engagement for real?”

That took me by surprise.

The news of the engagement should only be known to the people of the duchy, not even to the Duke of Erpeso. I shuddered at the thought that the news might have already spread in the social circles.

“…How did you know about that?”

“Venecia told me.”

I glared at the chat window, wondering why even such detailed information had been shared.

[Ian: ;; What am I supposed to do about this now]

[Poppopo: What do you mean? It’s just a chat]

[Gold2: Anyway, it’s your fault]

[Ian: This is ridiculous]

Since the other viewers had already given Ian enough flak, I decided to let it slide.

Davi, still full of curiosity, kept throwing questions at me.

“Why would you do something like that suddenly? Did you fall for him or something?”

“That’s unlikely.”

There was no way I had fallen for Kabir. After all, it was Kabir who had made the proposal first.

After some thought, I replied.

“I received an oracle.”

It was true, considering I did it because of Ian. It wasn’t a lie.

The points I just received were much more than the acceptance points, but still, I was supposed to receive ten thousand points, so maybe it turned out to be a good thing after all.

“What?!”

As expected, Davi was shocked.

The idea that the engagement between the Duke and the saintess was due to an oracle was enough to turn the empire upside down.

[Ian: Hey]

[Stress: Well, it’s not a lie lol]

[Something: So who’s betting points now lol]

[PleaseShakeACarrot: lololol]

[Ian: Now I have to clean up this mess]

[Manager: You think you’re the only one?]

[Ian: Sorry]

They were partners in crime, both suffering together. It seemed like they were reaping what they had sown.

Just then, one of the priests approached.

“Oh, Shailo.”

It was a familiar face, the priest I had exchanged greetings with before.

Shailo was still keeping his eyes firmly closed. He approached with a somewhat urgent demeanor.

“What’s the matter?”

Davi asked Shailo.

Shailo calmly began to speak.

“His Grace, the Duke, has come to take the saintess.”