Reincarnated As The Villainess's Best Friend
Chapter 32: She’s Been Here All Along

Chapter 32: She’s Been Here All Along

Theo stared at me, eyes wide in disbelief.

If I were him, I’d probably have the same reaction.

A magic-wielding assassin... Sounded like a legend straight out of a folktale.

The idea was pretty hard to believe, and saying it out loud didn’t make it any more believable.

"It’s not possible," he finally said with a tone of certainty. "Mages don’t work as assassins. It’s a violation of the Tesseract Treaty."

"I know that. But this one does."

"You can’t know for sure."

"She used a spell, Theo," I snapped, my voice barely concealing my tension.

I was hardly bothered when the assassin first came, but now that I realised she could use magic, fear slowly creeped into my heart.

"It wasn’t just any spell," I added. "She was able to reverse time."

I didn’t expect Theo to understand, but he nodded.

"That sounds bad."

"It is."

I stood up and paced around the room.

"She was able to track me down, and when I tried to stop her, she trapped me in a time spell."

Theo sat on the bed and pulled out a dagger from his cloak. Carefully, he began to sharpen it with a smaller blade.

Shink...

"Why didn’t she kill you?" he asked.

I had been wondering the same thing since I first realized she wielded magic.

"I don’t think she could. Else, I would have been dead by now."

Shink... Shink...

"How do you intend to stop her? You have no magic."

He was right. I had no magic, but I had my instincts, and something else a bit more practical.

The element of surprise.

"We need to find her first before she attacks again."

"Hmm..." Theo pondered. "What about your tournament?"

"It can wait. I’m probably going to lose the next fight anyway."

Shink... Shink...

"Alright," he said. "How do we find her?"

"Retracing her footsteps."

I pulled my chair right in front of Theo.

"You’re an assassin, Theo..."

"Was..." he corrected.

I scratched my forehead. "Just help me out here. You’re the only one who knows how an assassin thinks."

I stood up, grabbed the scroll from the bed, and returned to my seat.

"We know that Doll-face came to Viridale two weeks ago, around the same time I arrived in Viridale. What does that tell us?"

"She already knew her target was in Viridale."

"Which means..."

"She received the kill order earlier."

"Yes... She knew I was headed to Viridale. She knew I was coming to the academy. But why did she wait?"

Theo paused for a second. "She needed a perfect chance to kill you without being seen."

I snapped my fingers.

"She’s been watching me, Theo. All this time, she’s been observing my movements, trying to figure out the best time to kill me... Which means?"

"She’s in the Academy."

"Exactly. She’s been here the whole time!"

The realization was baffling. I stood up and paced around the room again to organise my thoughts.

"It could be anyone," I exclaimed.

"No..." Theo replied, sliding his dagger back into it’s sheath. "It’s not easy to infiltrate this school. Her options are limited."

"Well... Even if we knew how, it’ll take a while to narrow down suspects."

Doll-face could be a tutor, student, maid, or guard. It was going to be difficult to figure out which, and finding out who exactly she was even more difficult.

And time was not on our side... Literally.

"We can’t tell who she is," I pointed out. "But we can predict where she’ll be."

Theo’s eyes returned to me, beaming with curiosity.

"She’s already tried to kill me twice," I stated. "and failed..."

"She violated the assassin code."

"True, but tell me... If you were in her shoes, what would you do next?"

"I’ll give up."

"No..." I rubbed my temple with my fingers. "That’s not helpful, Theo."

He folded his hands and lifted a brow.

"That’s the ideal option. It’s foolish to try again when the target is already aware of you."

Then, it struck me.

Theo was right!

"She’s not going to attack me again. But she has another target, who’s completely oblivious."

His eyes suddenly lit up.

"We need to find Lucy..." I yelled, reaching for the door. "Now!"

*****

By the time we arrived at the arena, it was already daybreak.

Just like the day before, the entire school was packed to the brim with visitors. The air was dusty, filled with the voices of a thousand men, women, and children.

Theo and I made our way through the sea of people, carefully glancing at each of their faces for any sign of evil intent.

The assassin could be any one of them.

We were ready to spend hours glancing at their faces, but right now, our priority was to make sure Lucy was safe.

"Do you see her anywhere?" I raised my voice to overcome the noisy crowd.

"I don’t think she’s here," Theo replied.

"She should be. She has to be."

I couldn’t bear the thought of losing Lucy, not when I had finally made up my mind to protect her from all harm.

But slowly, I began to consider the probability that the assassin might have gotten to her.

No... Even if the assassin got to her, Lucy could easily protect herself.

Right?

"I don’t see her," Theo said, finally giving up.

My heart raced, cold sweat gathering on my forehead.

"Uh... let’s try the girls’ dorm," I suggested. "She might be there."

"Who are you looking for in the girls’ dorm?"

I flinched in fright at the unexpected voice. But then, I turned around, quickly recognizing it.

"Lucy!" I exclaimed.

On instinct, I picked her up, embracing her tightly. Then I realised what I had done, and let go of her immediately.

Too late.

Her face was reddened, and as soon as I released her, she kicked me hard in the shin.

"I told you not to grab me like that again!" She fumed.

Yup, I deserved it.

"I’m sorry," I said, scratching the back of my head. "I’m just glad you’re safe."

Lucy frowned. "Why wouldn’t I be?"

"There’s an ass..." Theo replied.

"Assignment..." I cut him off. "There’s an assignment I need your help with."

"Al... right," Lucy replied, staring at Theo. "Meet me after the tournament."

She turned around, but I quickly held her back.

"Be careful," I pleaded.

Once again, she gave me her ’what’s wrong with you’ stare. Then walked away without saying another word.

Theo moved closer to me. "The girl deserves to know."

"No..." I shook my head. "It wouldn’t be right. She has enough to worry about already."

"You choose to keep her in the dark?"

"For her safety, and for all of ours."

Just then, the large bell rang.

*****

"Welcome to the second day of the tournament!!!"

Sasha seemed more cheerful than she was yesterday, her voice radiating louder than ever. The audience matched her energy, cheering louder than before.

I sat in the students’ section, with Theo right beside me.

"Keep your eyes peeled," I said. "She’s here. I can feel it."

Sasha’s floating platform appeared in the centre of the arena.

"Yesterday we were able to witness some of the most interesting fights we’ve ever had in this arena. And today, we’re going to see even more interesting fights!!!"

After watching Lucy’s fight with Freya, I returned to the healing camp and therefore wasn’t able to witness the next two fights.

But from what I had heard, both winners were formidable wielders, who were able to defeat their opponents in less than a minute.

I swallowed. My thoughts had been occupied by the assassin, and I had almost forgotten that I was participating in the tournament.

I had no idea who I’d be facing next, but I knew it was going to be pretty difficult.

And if I were unable to win or cast a spell, I was going to be expelled from the school.

My head hurt at the realisation of how fucked I was. But then I sighed and prepared myself to face whoever was against me

And do whatever it takes to survive.

"Without further ado, let’s call on our next fighters."

The crowd went wild with anticipation.

"Our first participant needs no introduction. Welcome back, Lucy Daevalia."

The noise in the arena diminished significantly. Whispers erupted once again, with an occasional boo here or there. Despite this, Lucy calmly walked out onto the arena.

Not wanting to linger on the tense mood, Sasha quickly moved on to the next name.

"Her opponent today is... the formidable princess of House Lin, all the way from the eastern city of Xindao... Si Ya Lin!"

Another girl calmly walked onto the stage, amidst wonderful cheers from the crowd.

She was about the same height as Lucy. Maybe taller – I couldn’t tell from where I sat.

She was dressed in an academy uniform, but her blazer was a dark shade of orange, and her head was a long, wavy crop of red hair.

I observed her for a while, overwhelmed by a sense that I had seen her before.

As I tried to figure out where, the pieces of the puzzle began to fit, slowly but perfectly.

Then finally, it hit me.

I turned to my left and tapped Theo twice on his shoulder.

"What is it?" He asked, turning to me.

"I’ve found her. I’ve found the assassin."