Villain's Odyssey: Enslaving heroines, Conquering Villainesses
Chapter 46: A Variable

Chapter 46: Chapter 46: A Variable

"HAHAHAHAHA!" Natalia laughed uncontrollably for several minutes until her stomach hurt from the effort.

"Argh," she groaned, glaring at the young man who had just returned to his seat with an innocent expression. "You’re evil," she muttered, then turned to see the waiter approaching with their order.

"Uh~ Thanks a lot," Asher smiled at her complaint.

"That wasn’t a compliment," Natalia replied firmly. Even with her face flushed red, she wasn’t going to give in just because he looked ridiculously cute when he grinned like that.

"I know," he said, looking down at the steaming dishes before them.

"Here," Natalia handed the waiter her card, who promptly departed.

"Wait, does she know your pin?" Asher asked with a puzzled frown.

"No."

"Then how can she deduct points without knowing it?" he pressed.

"She can’t," Natalia responded matter-of-factly.

Asher waited for further explanation, but Natalia had already begun devouring her food as if she didn’t have a care in the world.

"O...kay," he said, realizing she was now more interested in her food than explaining further.

He picked up his cutlery and examined the dish before him. It glistened with oil, clearly fried to golden perfection. He wasn’t entirely sure what it was—some kind of meat mixed with vegetables, shaped into a square and fried. The presentation was... unique.

The second dish was a soup that was distinctly blue in color—not exactly inviting at first glance. He could see small lumps floating in it, possibly chunks of meat or vegetables. The third item appeared to be sliced bread with some kind of sauce.

There were several other dishes as well. None of them looked particularly appetizing, but since it was free food, he decided to take the risk.

"!" The moment a piece of the square, meaty dish hit his taste buds, it felt like lightning struck his brain.

"WHAT THE HELL?!" His genuine shock was impossible to hide.

"Told you so," Natalia said with a knowing grin, catching his expression perfectly.

"Here," she said, gesturing for him to lean forward. She dipped a piece of bread-like substance into the blue soup and fed it to him directly.

At that moment, two thousand words wouldn’t have been sufficient to describe what Asher experienced. It was as if he’d been eating dust his entire life. By all the gods, how was food this incredible even possible?

.

.

.

"What exactly are we supposed to be looking for here?" Cole asked with poorly concealed frustration. It had been a full hour since Maria had begun searching for some mysterious book in the library.

This wasn’t the first time either. She’d been at this for two days straight, always giving up after failing to find whatever she was seeking. Today, Cole had neither the time nor the patience for this routine. He really wanted to go eat—he’d missed dinner for two consecutive days, always following her around with invitations to the cafeteria, only to end up waiting until roll call.

"I didn’t ask you to come. You might as well leave," Maria’s tone was uncharacteristically indifferent.

Cole had grown accustomed to this coldness, though he certainly didn’t like it. She’d been this way since the academy session began—always so distant. She would sit silently in classes and clubs, only speaking when directly addressed.

It wasn’t that she’d ever been a chatterbox like Tracy, Anastasia, Rebecca, and others, but she had been naturally gossipy. Whenever she was with her friends Isabella and Carmella, she would usually relax and open up. But all of that had changed after Azalea’s expulsion, when her friendship with both Carmella and Isabella had soured. The strangest part was that she didn’t even seem to care.

Something was definitely going on with her—something Cole desperately wanted to understand. That’s why he’d been following her around since school resumed, using concern as his excuse. But she didn’t seem to appreciate his efforts at all.

"Can you at least be grateful that I’m here? I really am worried about you," he said with a weary sigh.

Maria stopped searching through the aisle of books and looked him directly in the eyes.

"I don’t need your care. I didn’t ask you to be here," she said, pushing back her lustrous black hair. Her almond-blossom eyes met his with unsettling intensity.

"Why are you like this? You know how much I care about you, yet you keep treating me like a fool," Cole said, his annoyance finally breaking through.

"Cole," she said quietly.

He didn’t respond, waiting.

"I told you from the very day you asked me out—I don’t love you. Never have, never will." Her expression remained perfectly cold as she delivered this devastating reminder.

Cole gritted his teeth. "Fine then. But I hope the day never comes when you regret this decision."

"It never will," Maria replied simply, then walked toward another shelf of books.

Cole stared at her retreating figure for a long moment, then turned and left the library without another word.

Maria tilted her head slightly, noticing his departure from her peripheral vision.

"Finally," she murmured with relief, "Quite the persistent fly,"

She retraced her steps until she stood before a particular shelf she’d been avoiding while Cole was present. Her eyes found the book she’d been seeking.

[Arcane Resonance]

That was the title.

"Hmm," she hummed, then nodded, this was it.

"This goes against the whole plan, but... to hell with it. Something happened this time, something ’he’ didn’t know would happen. Some... Variable, Sighs, I have to find him, fast," she whispered to the empty library, carefully removing the book from its place.

As she walked out of the library with the book hidden properly to avoid the Liberians, Maria’s mind was already spinning with simulations of the future. Things were certainly about to get very interesting indeed.

...

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A/N- Your gift is the motivation for my creation. Give me more motivation! Also, if you have enjoyed the story so far perhaps you can try dropping a review, the author would appreciate that, thanks!

Villain, out!