The Villainess' Fate Defying Story - Chapter 24

She moved slowly like a zombie.

Behind her, the spray of the fountain scattered like mist, covering her expression.

Slowly, Rize, who had stood up, took a look at the whole situation and then let her shoulders drop with an exaggerated gesture.

Her gesture seemed to express her inner voice, and not only Cassandra, but also Miranda’s group was shaken.

They couldn’t guess what Rize was going to say, and Cassandra also closed her mouth and watched the situation.

She hoped she wouldn’t grab her and punch her, that was the only thing that made her nervous.

If she resorted to violence, it would negate the meaning of restraining Rita.

“I know it’s bad to say this after being protected by Cassandra-sama so much.

But I don’t like to leave things unresolved between us… can I make it clear?”

She looked very calm, as if she hadn’t been dunked in water until a moment ago.

No, she was angry.

Her expression, tone of voice, showed irritation that she couldn’t hide, and she emitted a tense atmosphere.

“Um, you see.

I was happy to go home with Jake-sama yesterday, of course.”

“Wha…

Ah, you…!”

Miranda opened and closed her mouth like a fish, looking for words to complain.

“But don’t misunderstand me.

I’ll say it clearly too, just as Cassandra-sama said earlier, it was a perfect accident! Coincidence! Random!

It’s not like I planned it or anything, it was a chain of accidents!”

Rize declared loudly and snapped at the girls who had tormented her.

They had already lost their initial momentum, and they were completely intimidated by Rize’s aura.

“Rather, if I could aim for such a situation, I would do it anytime, but don’t worry, I can’t do such a coincidence!

First of all, do you think I’m Jake-sama’s type?

As you can imagine, out of his sight! He’s nothing more or less than a classmate I saw for the first time on the day I enrolled!”

Was that something to say with confidence?

Everyone’s eyes widened at her frank attitude.

“Oh, do you know your place?”

“Of course I do, I’m not that naive.

But I’m curious about him, that’s true. I’ll gladly join him if I have the same opportunity.

Ah… It was such a fun time!

But then you came and ruined it, and it’s very unpleasant.”

She glared at Miranda with a sullen expression.

Her red ribbon had unraveled and fallen into the fountain as a result of the attack she had suffered earlier.

The red ribbon floated and disappeared on the water surface, being toyed with by the fountain’s flow.

“Well, I was wrong too.

I was cursing you guys like ‘I hope your house goes bankrupt’, ‘I hope you trip and fall’ and stuff like that.

But don’t you think it’s meaningless?

This kind of thing doesn’t make any sense at all.

It’s the opposite. He hates this kind of thing.”

She kicked the edge of the fountain lightly with the tip of her shoe.

“It’s Jake-sama who chooses, right?

Do you think he’ll escort you at the graduation party by doing this kind of outrageous thing?

No, it’s not about me or anything.

It’s very irrational! Instead of wasting time with this kind of commoner-bashing with a bunch of people, don’t you have anything else to do?”

At the school-wide party after the graduation ceremony, there is an implicit understanding that the first priority for escorting the graduating women is their fiancé or lover.

The same goes for the male students, of course, who are supposed to enter with their fiancée as their escort.

Even if they have already graduated from the academy, if Jake “invited” a partner to the graduation party, he would escort them and they could participate in the party.

Unfortunately, those under fifteen years old are not eligible to participate, but basically it has become a showcase for the graduates’ fiancées.

That’s why it’s so attention-grabbing.

What happens in that place, where influential people from all over the country gather, will spread throughout the kingdom as a public fact. If Cassandra is condemned in such a scene, she will have no place to stay in the kingdom. Would she be protected by her father to the fullest extent, and become a sister and live in confinement for the rest of her life?

By the way, there are also rare cases where couples from different grades end up escorting or being escorted by different partners later, and they become topics of conversation for the after-party, such as “Did they break up?” or “Did they cheat?” So most people try to avoid that at all costs.

Also, there are students who are married while still in school and attend as a couple. The academy is tolerant of that.

If Jake chooses Miranda as his fiancée when she graduates two years later, he will naturally escort her, and she will be able to attend the party with dignity a year later.

The fierce competition for the fiancé has already begun. For the senior ladies, this year is their first and last chance.

By the way, graduates who don’t have a partner until the last day have to wait on the second floor corridor after the party starts.

They are allowed to descend to the ballroom one by one after the fiancé-lover group enters and dances one song. The gap between classes lasts until the end.

This is another reason why students try to arrange their partners while they are still in school.

They must choose a suitable partner, because it means publicly acknowledging them as their lifelong partner in society.

Sirius would never understand how anxious the ladies without partners feel.

The wish of all the ladies here, and Rize, is one.

They want to walk beside Jake as his official partner on the big stage of their once-in-a-lifetime graduation party.

That’s why this terrible situation has erupted.

“And think about it!

It’s the same with studying, but pulling down someone you don’t like doesn’t raise your own score, right?

If you want to get a passing score, you should work hard yourself. This kind of thing is unconstructive!”

The girls pondered over her earnest expression.

In fact, even if their rank goes up, it doesn’t mean anything if they don’t reach the passing score.

Rather, harassment and trapping someone is completely negative in terms of grading criteria.

They are literally moving away from their goal with all their might.

However, she was impressed by Rize’s sharp rebuke.

Sirius and Ralph aside, she felt that Jake would choose to live alone if he couldn’t become a couple with the protagonist.

He would say something like “I don’t care if I don’t get married”.

When she was playing her as a game character, he was normally lovey-dovey with her, but if that didn’t come true, he wouldn’t care about anyone at the graduation party either.

He’s a little different from the other two who value their reputation and family name.

This means that no one can become his bride by eliminating others and getting rid of rivals. That’s a fact.

She realized when she was told, oh, that’s right, it doesn’t mean anything to him unless it’s a perfect score. It was an eye-opener.

If they didn’t get together with protagonist, Ralph and Sirius would choose the woman who was ranked higher by the relative evaluation of the surroundings according to their family’s wishes. In fact, there is a possibility that they would say that they were actually treated as concubines after the normal good ending! They might have a future where they are forced to have a legal wife by their parents who were furious that they chose a commoner later.

They might say something cool like “until death do us part”, but maybe their happy life won’t last long.

On the other hand, Jake would probably say “I don’t need a wife if I don’t like anyone” honestly.

After all, he has a half-brother, Grimm.

“Dragging down your opponent or forcibly dunking their face in water is rather a minus point, you know?

Are you okay with that?”

She understood what Rize wanted to say, but it was not a value system that was easily accepted in this society.

They were all used to the way of the world where they raised their own position relatively by lowering their opponent’s rank.

It’s easier that way.

“……….sigh……

It’s fine.

It seems you understand your position well.

It was our misunderstanding.

I’m sorry.”

She apologized…?

Miss Miranda, who had such high pride, even though she reluctantly looked away!

She apologized… in a voice that seemed to disappear?

Cassandra was shocked as if she had witnessed a historic moment, but of course the triplets wouldn’t know that this was a rare situation.

“……No, it doesn’t matter what you say now, what happened won’t change, right?

I was really angry at first.

But I just felt pity for you guys who are doing this kind of thing while having no prospects… like you’re so stupid.”

When she said what she wanted to say, her head cooled down and she could judge the situation objectively.

Rize had probably gone beyond anger, as she said herself.

She was amazed that she could be so detached after such a terrifying experience of almost drowning.

Of course Miranda was very angry and clenched her fists and swung them up and down.

“How rude, you!? First of all, I have much more prospects than you!”

“Eh? Oh, is that so…”

For some reason, Rize looked at Cassandra.

No, to be precise, she looked at Rita who was watching the situation nervously.

Rize stood in front of Miranda and gently placed her hands on her shoulders.

With eyes full of pity from the bottom of her heart, she smiled faintly.

“Let’s do our best fair and square as people with no prospects.”

Huh!? She couldn’t close her mouth that opened.

But she must have understood that it was useless to say anything to Rize.

And this time, she made a blunder by overstepping herself. She was frustrated that things didn’t go as she wanted.

She didn’t have the patience to deal with this any longer.

Her heart was narrow because she caused this situation, but it was only natural.

“Ladies, don’t you think it’s a waste of time to deal with such a rude person?

It’s a precious lunchtime, let’s prepare for the afternoon lecture.”

“Yes, yes. Please wait Miranda-sama.”

Miss Miranda turned around beautifully and her long, straight, copper-colored hair fluttered in the wind.

She walked away from the courtyard with her followers in tow.

She stopped with her right hand on her hip and looked back over her shoulder.

It was so sudden that everyone was surprised.

Even Rize jerked her shoulders.

“Oh, you.

You better change quickly, or you’ll catch a cold.”

She looked down at her and snorted, then left a parting remark and headed for the lecture hall.

The girls watched her back disappear, then Rize raised a vein on her forehead.

“You! You did it, didn’t you…!”

She wrung the hem of her soaked uniform.

Even in this state, water dripped down like an unwrung rag.

“Rize, I’m sorry!

It’s because I did something unnecessary at that time…!”

It was a matter of moments in terms of time.

But it must have seemed like an eternity to Rita, who was told to watch silently.

“Ah, it’s okay, it’s okay.

But can you get me a towel?

I’m seriously going to catch a cold.”

“There’s a medical office ahead!

I’ll go get it!”

After bowing her head to Cassandra, Rina ran out of the courtyard with a patter of footsteps.

Her chestnut-colored hair flew lightly in the wind and disappeared in an instant.

“Ah, Rina wait!

Let’s go together, let me borrow a change of clothes if you have any.”

There was no such thing as a student who carried a spare uniform around all the time. She had to go back to her room to get a spare one.

But it was too far to go back and forth from the dormitory now, and walking in this wet rat state was like shouting “something happened” while walking. She couldn’t show this to the teacher.

She wanted to end this quietly, just within their own hearts.

Rize and Cassandra had the same feeling.

If there was a teacher in the medical office and they could borrow some supplies, that would be fine, but if the teacher came to see the situation themselves, it might be hard to cover it up.

But she couldn’t help it, she had to hope that Rina would come back before Rize caught a cold.

“Haah, what a terrible thing to happen.”

Rize took off her wet blazer jacket as if she couldn’t stand it any longer.

It was more like peeling it off than taking it off.

She tried to guide her to a bench at the edge so that she wouldn’t stand out too much.

Rita and Rina would be back soon, but she had been through such a terrible ordeal. Cassandra was also worried that she might not have any strength left.

“We can’t leave you like this.

Let me lend you my jacket.”

“……Miss Cassandra, what are you doing!?”

Eeeeh!?

A chill ran down her spine and her hair stood on end.

The blood drained from her fingertips and toes like a tide going out.

What was Sirius doing here?

Wasn’t his fate power too strong?

And he showed up at the perfect moment when Rita and Rina were gone, wasn’t it proof that he had some kind of target correction?

“Sirius-sama”

She wished she had misheard, but the figure with jet-black hair and eyes, and glasses that suited him well, was unmistakably Sirius, the vice-president.

“I saw a group of girls from Lombardo forming a line and gathering nearby.

I was curious and came to see what was going on, and this is what I found. Did they do something to you?”

It wouldn’t be strange if he came to check on the situation after seeing the conspicuous ladies’ group leaving in a hurry.

It wasn’t strange, but Cassandra felt like she was dying.

“You’re so wet, are you okay?

Don’t tell me you…”

His sharp gaze pierced Cassandra’s body.

He clearly doubted her, and it was a very difficult situation.

She didn’t want Sirius to know about Miranda and the others, but it was also strange that Rize’s upper body was soaked in the courtyard.

“I slipped and fell into the fountain water by myself.

I have poor motor skills, so it happens a lot. Thank you for your concern.”

Rize’s words didn’t have any direct thorns, but her expressionless face showed that she didn’t want to talk much.

She was dealing with him out of obligation because he was a big shot, as if to say.

“Even though it’s spring, the wind is cold.

Use this.”

Unbelievably, he gently draped his blazer over her shoulders.

…Cassandra had thought that the target should come to capture the protagonist.

But the situation was different now, and that was also troublesome.

Because the person the protagonist wanted wasn’t the same…!

A man who is usually cool and doesn’t talk much, and sometimes seems indifferent to others.

But now he was worried about Rize with a sad face…?

The invisible attraction to ‘the protagonist of his preference’ is scary.