Villainess in Love

Chapter 2

His recently washed hair smelled of fresh wood. The familiar scent triggered Yunifer’s memories of last night.

Ha-ha. He couldn’t mean...?

“You’re joking, right?” she asked. “How can we do it again?”

“Don’t worry,” Ishid reassured her, smirking at her shocked expression. “I still remember everything, even if you don’t. We’re already in the same starting position as yesterday.”

With that, Ishid took Yunifer’s hand and sat down on the bed, pulling her toward him.

Yunifer found herself straddling his thighs. She must have gotten on top of him last night.

“We met for the first time on the terrace,” Ishid explained. “You walked right up to me and kissed me out of nowhere.”

Yunifer blanched. “What—”

She tried to think of a retort, but her mouth just gaped, opening and closing slowly like a fish.

Suddenly she recalled something.

“Wow... hello, and what might your name be?” Yunifer asked, fluttering her lashes “I’ve never seen a gentleman quite like you before. Actually... Maybe I have? Maybe this isn’t the first time?”

“You seem very drunk,” Ishid said, raising one eyebrow. “Shall I call for someone?”

“Me? I’m not drunk,” she slurred. “But hey, did you know? Apparently beautiful people give off their own sweet scent. And you... You smell incredible. That’s how you know I’m not exaggerating when I say that you’re really handsome.”

Before Ishid could turn to leave, she took his hand and pushed him onto the nearest chair. She gripped Ishid’s chin to keep him still, leaned over him, and bit down on his lip.

Taken by surprise, his mouth fell open, and then…

“You asked for my name first,” Ishid continued. “I offered to call for someone since you seemed to be drunk, but then you started talking about how beautiful people give off a scent...”

Ishid then reached for Yunifer’s chin, slightly pressing down with his fingers to part her lips.

Compared to the brute force Yunifer had used on him the previous night, Ishid’s touch was quite gentle.

Despite that, Yunifer couldn’t hold back a yelp.

“Ahhh! Fine, let’s talk it out!”

Make it stop! This was all so embarrassing, she could die!

“Calm down, Ishid. We can discuss all of this calmly. Come on, we’re both smart people, right?” Yunifer tried to reason as she tearfully clung to Ishid.

She couldn’t handle any more of this.

They say that you become a completely different person when you’re drunk, but it was clear that Yunifer had been anything but a person last night.

She had certainly acted more like a dog in heat.

“Very well,” Ishid replied.

Yunifer felt a soft fabric being draped around her shoulders. It was her cape. Having picked up the fallen garment, Ishid wrapped her up in it before buttoning the first clasp and looking at her pointedly.

“Let’s talk then.”

His voice was kind, but she could hear the undertone to his words: “Oh so, now you decide to talk.” It seemed that he would have preferred to discuss this from the start.

Yunifer was the one who had tried to ignore everything and run away.

An indescribable feeling welled up inside her. She almost felt... sorry for how she’d acted.

Seeing Yunifer hesitate, Ishid let go of her before standing up.

“Sit here,” Ishid said.

He took a cushion from one of the chairs and placed it gently before her.

He gestured for her to sit on it, his expression expectant. Hesitantly, Yunifer walked over and gingerly sat down.

“...!”

A flash of pain shot up her back as soon as her bottom touched the cushion. The muscles in her thighs throbbed in response.

As Yunifer fluffed out the cushion to make it more comfortable to sit on, Ishid walked to the other side of the room.

Should I try to run away? She dismissed the thought as soon as it came.

He would definitely catch her before she’d gone more than a few steps.

Even if she could manage to get away, she had already told him her name; he could easily find her if he put his mind to it.

Besides, running away was not an option. That was something only the lowest of the low would do.

Whenever she’d dated men before, she’d always made sure the break-ups were clean. She was scared that if she just ran away, things would only get worse.

She knew that she shouldn’t run away, but still... man, she really wanted to.

Just then, as if he had read her mind, Ishid said in a low voice, “Hold on.”

Concerned, Yunifer whirled around.

“Aah!”

Why was he taking the towel off?!

She quickly turned back around, but the image was seared into her mind. Yunifer ducked her head to hide her flushed face.

Out of all the men she’d ever known, Ishid definitely had the best body. He was Adonis in the flesh. His chiseled physique reminded her of a marble sculpture.

How was it possible to have a body like that?

No wonder she was sore from head to toe after sleeping with him.

Even his proportions were amazing. Average people were not built like that!

Though he had some natural talent, Ishid was known more as a man of diligence and hard work. Everyone said he was an oaf that only cared about Raelle and sword fighting. But all Yunifer could think about was how she had managed to take what was rightfully Raelle’s.

“Have some of this,” Ishid said. “Your hands are cold.”

Having finished dressing, Ishid came back and handed over a steaming mug. Yunifer accepted it and took a sip. She was too thirsty to refuse. The warm water gently flowed into her parched mouth and down her throat.

This strangely felt familiar.

She remembered that Ishid had passed her water multiple times the night before—though he had done it with his mouth rather than with a mug then.

“You... it’s so hot,” she mumbled.

“That’s because I’m a fire mage,” he replied. “Is it too much?”

“No, I... I’m a water mage, so it feels good—aah!”

She cringed at the memory.

She had even revealed that she was a water mage! Did she even deserve to live anymore?

“You feel cool, despite it being summer,” he commented. “Are all water mages like this?”

Sitting across from her, Ishid reached out and pressed their palms together. His longer fingers pressed up against hers, as if amused with how her hand was so much smaller than his own. She could tell that he found her hand cool and refreshing to the touch.

Though water mages could be quite different from one another, this was one characteristic they all shared.

Yunifer knew why Ishid continued to keep his hands pressed against hers.

Raelle was a water mage too, and she remembered reading about the first time Raelle and Ishid had done this very same thing.

Ishid was a very strong fire mage. But unlike swordsmanship, magic was something one was born with.

Just as Yunifer felt cold as a water mage, Ishid felt hot.

Since he had a large amount of mana, his body temperature was higher than the average person. The part of his body with the highest temperature was also the part where the mana concentration was the highest—his heart.

The few degrees of difference between his heart and the rest of his body were nothing to scoff at, however. For living organisms, those few degrees could mean life or death.

Ever since he’d been born, his heart had burned.

Like the sun itself—bright but sweltering. No matter how accustomed he was to his high body temperature, he could not claim it was a comfortable existence.

Yunifer was skilled at controlling her magic; however, she didn’t have a lot of mana. But even though she didn’t have as much mana as Ishid, her heart always felt frozen over every winter. So the fact that he could easily move around in the midst of such a sweltering summer day despite his large size was truly amazing.

While it was true that Ishid was a mage, he didn’t use his magic very often. He usually turned to sword fighting.

Yunifer couldn’t bring herself to push away his hand because she knew all too well what it felt like to be born with a power that she didn’t even want in the first place.

She sympathized with how he had no choice but to despise it.

“Just as fire mage’s bodies are hot,” she said, “ours are cold. I’m nothing special myself, but there’s a classmate of mine who’s a very talented water mage. I’m sure she feels even cooler than I do.”

Raelle Carnia—the heroine that Ishid was supposed to meet—was a powerful water mage.

She was Ishid’s water. His lake, his ocean.

Yunifer was sure that Ishid would be much more comfortable with Raelle.

“Shall I introduce you to her?” she asked.

Though she spent her days avoiding Raelle, they were still classmates. Even if she herself had no plans to meet up with Raelle, she could at least write a letter introducing Ishid to her.

If that’s what it would take to fix last night’s mistake, then she would be more than happy to write the letter this very second.

“While you’re the first water mage I’ve ever held hands with, you’re certainly not the first I’ve met. There are water mages in the Order,” Ishid said testily.

There was no way he hadn’t caught onto why she was offering to introduce them, given how his face had immediately stiffened.

Realizing that he knew what she was trying to do, Yunifer cringed slightly. She didn’t notice it before when he was smiling, but now she could see that his resting face was rather cold.

Still, unable to give up, Yunifer watched his face closely as she casually pushed on.

“I feel like she’ll be different though... You’ll definitely understand when you meet her!”

She’s your water! Your savior and your happiness!

Yunifer opened and closed her hand into a tight fist, wondering if he would take the bait.

Ishid’s eyes grew cold as he watched her hand ball up.

“Why do I have to meet someone else?” he asked.

“Well...”

There was only one reason, but if she tried to tell him that he was the hero of a novel and that Raelle was the heroine that he was destined to end up with, he would think she was crazy.

“Umm... because the greatest fire mage deserves a water mage of equal caliber?” she said hesitantly.

“I don’t need that.” His dismissal was curt.

“What?! Why?!”

What does he mean, I don’t need that?! The only person who can make your nightmares go away is Raelle! Does he not realize how many tears readers have shed for him, the troubled hero?

The answer was right in front of him, yet the fact that he was turning a blind eye to it was infuriating her.

“Please, sit down.”

It was only after Ishid spoke that Yunifer realized she had sprung out of her seat in agitation, banging against the desk as she rose.

A wave of pain followed hot on the heels of this realization causing Yunifer to sit down, embarrassed and aching once more.

Ishid kindly adjusted the cushion so that it would be right beneath her.

“Just... why?” she asked.

The sweeter he was to her, the heavier Yunifer felt. She couldn’t help but feel pity upon seeing the futile efforts of such a nice and hard-working person.

That sense of pity only grew every time he treated her with kindness.

“I’ll say it again, but I don’t need someone I don’t know and have never met,” Ishid stated.

“If you meet her, I’m sure you’ll change your—”

“I will not change my mind,” he interrupted. “You’re the one I want to be with, Yunifer.”

Ishid pouted, as if he was unable to understand why this unknown person had to come between them.

She could almost feel his sadness through his expression. Realizing that she was trying to tell him how to feel, Yunifer looked away.

The Ishid in front of her wasn’t some words on a piece of paper. He was a living, breathing person with his own thoughts and feelings. He could be hurt, pained, and saddened by the words she said.

And Yunifer had hurt him for nothing more than the sake of her own gain. Not only had she already hurt him, but she was continuing to do so even now. She had been relentlessly attacking someone who had done nothing wrong. She couldn’t ignore the reality of what she was doing to him.

Just how low could she stoop?

Her vision started to blur.

After a prolonged silence, he asked, “Do you hate me?”

She could hear nothing but his quiet, listless voice.

Yunifer realized that she needed to be honest with him. He deserved at least that much.

“I don’t hate you,” she responded, “but I don’t like you either.”

He was too good of a person to hate, but he was too dangerous of a person to like.

Sure, the answer she had given him was ambiguous, but it was Yunifer’s true feelings.

“This may have been a mistake for you, but it wasn’t for me,” he said.

Yunifer’s throat constricted.

His placid tone stabbed at her conscience.

“I really want to get to know you,” he continued. “Is that too much to ask?”

She wouldn’t go so far as to call him selfish, but…

“If you find me revolting and unpleasant, then I’ll leave you alone,” he relented. “Though I value my feelings, I don’t want to pursue them at the expense of yours. If you really cannot stand the idea of being with me... you may go. I won’t stop you. I...”

“Ahhh!” Yunifer shouted suddenly.

Ishid’s eyes grew wide upon Yunifer’s outburst.

Unable to handle his pitiful confession, Yunifer had reached over and shoved a hand against his mouth.

He was so stunned by the turn of events that he didn’t even try to pull her hand away; he just watched her bow her head to him in silence.

“I’m sorry!” she wailed. “I acted terribly toward you!”

“No, you—”

Yunifer pressed her hand against his mouth harder to quiet him.

“Don’t try to deny it! I know I was being too harsh!” Yunifer was almost shouting, unable to hide her agitation.

She despised how her cowardice seemed to know no bounds.

It would have been nice if she had just avoided him entirely, but in the end, she had brought this mess upon herself.

There was no way she would be able to avoid him after this.

“There is such a thing as being too kind,” she chastised. “You should have just been harsh and told me to stop being such a disaster.”

With that, Yunifer ran her hands over her aching bottom and sat back down.

Trying to take the exact same route once you’ve changed course was impossible. The situation had changed, and now she needed to change her way of thinking.