I Became the Academy's Worst Villain

My eyes snapped to the source.....because. The poison detection isn't coming from my own glass.

What the fuck? My head slowly turned.

Adrian's.

Time seemed to slow.

I watched Adrian bring his glass to his lips, still smiling from the toast. Watched the wine, the very much poisoned wine, reach the edge of the crystal.

My mind raced through the implications in a fraction of a second.

Someone poisoned Adrian. The real assassination target wasn't me, it was him!

Or it was both of us, and this was the first attempt. Either way, if Adrian died, I would be blamed.

The perfect frame job. The villain finally succeeding in killing the hero, and after we've had such a loud clash before.

Not only that. The protagonist is the very central of a plot line....what happens when they die? Is this the work of the Council? It has to be!

Adrian tried to kill me and someone tries to do the same to him.

But.

The Council's real plan crystalized in that instant. They didn't just want me dead. They wanted me to destroy myself by becoming the thing everyone already thought I was.

No.

"STOP!"

The word tore from my throat, amplified by desperation. My hand shot out, knocking my own glass off the table. Crystal shattered on stone, wine spreading like blooming blood.

Every head turned with shocked expression.

Adrian froze, glass still raised.

"The wine is poisoned!" I shouted into the sudden silence. "Don't drink it!"

For one heartbeat, no one moved, and my word seems to sink like a stone.

Then chaos erupted.

Students screamed. Faculty leaped to their feet. Guards rushed forward from their positions along the walls.

Adrian stared at me, his glass still hovering inches from his lips. His expression was pure shock, of genuine and unfiltered surprise. Not the face of someone who'd planned this.

He looked down at his wine. Then back at me.

"Put the glass down," I said, quieter now but no less intense. "Slowly."

He set it on the table like it might explode.

Guards surrounded us immediately. Professor Helena materialized at my shoulder, hand on her sword. The Headmaster pushed through the crowd, his usually jovial face hard and cold.

"Someone get that wine to the alchemy lab," he barked. "Now. And seal the hall, no one leaves until we understand what's happening."

A guard carefully collected Adrian's glass using a cloth. Another collected the shards of mine from the floor.

Uncle Victor appeared beside me, his presence like a shield. "Are you alright?"

"I'm fine. I didn't drink any."

"How did you know?" The Headmaster's eyes were sharp, suspicious. "How did you know the wine was poisoned?"

Good question. One I'd prepared for.

"I didn't, not for certain at least." I met his gaze steadily. "But I've been receiving threats lately. Assassination attempts are occupational hazards for the Ravana family. So I took precautions." I pulled out the amulet, letting it hang visible. "Poison detection charm. It activated right before the toast."

Technically true. Technically not mentioning Marcus's elaborate ward network or the system's alert.

"It detected poison in his wine?" The Headmaster gestured at Adrian. "Not yours?"

"Apparently whoever tried this wanted him dead. Nobody....came for me." Then I looked at Adrian. "Lucky for you I'm paranoid."

Adrian still stared at me like I'd grown a second head. "You saved my life."

"Don't sound so surprised. I prefer my enemies alive and beatable." I keep my own bitterness hidden from my voice. The bastard also tried to kill me!

The crowd muttered at that. I could see them processing what just happened, the villain, saving the golden boy. Then the villain, making a joke about it.

Good. Let them think. Let them question their assumptions.

A commotion near the servant entrance drew everyone's attention. Guards were wrestling with someone, a server in academy livery, trying to bolt for the exit.

Lucille appeared from seemingly nowhere, blocking his escape route. Her dagger was pressed against his throat before he could react.

"Going somewhere?" she asked pleasantly.

The server—no, the assassin, because that's obviously what he was went pale. Lucille's blade was steady as stone.

"Bring him here," the Headmaster ordered.

They dragged the man forward. He was young and unremarkable-looking with the kind of face that disappeared in a crowd.

The Headmaster pulled out a small vial from his spatial ring. "There's no time to waste on petty things. This is a truth serum."

"Last chance to talk willingly," he said.

The assassin's jaw clenched, glaring in silence.

The Headmaster sighed and uncorked the vial. "Hold him."

Three guards pinned the assassin while the Headmaster forced the serum down his throat. The man struggled, but against three trained fighters, it was useless.

The serum took effect quickly. The assassin's eyes went glassy and his resistance crumbling.

"Who hired you?" the Headmaster asked.

"Don't know." The words came out slurred, mechanical, like a controlled puppet. "They are anonymous. They made payment in advance in gold coins. A lot of them."

"What were your orders?"

"Poison Adrian Celestius, he's my primary target. Make it look like accident or natural causes."

Gasps rippled through the hall. Adrian's face had gone white.

"Any secondary targets?" Uncle Victor asked, his voice deceptively mild.

The assassin's mouth worked for a moment, fighting the serum. Then: "Hadeon Ravana. If primary target survived or if opportunity presented. Either one dying was acceptable. Both dying was preferred."

The hall erupted in shouting.

I felt cold. Both of us. Someone wanted both of us dead. The Council wanted to wipe out their hero? And the Villain they set up as stepping stone for him?

I frowned deeply.

"Who benefits from killing both of them?" Professor Helena asked the question I was thinking.

No one had an answer.

The Headmaster turned to the assassin again. "What poison did you use?"

"Shadowbane. Imported from western territories, its an xpensive herb. Thirty thousand gold for this quality."

More gasps. Thirty thousand gold. That wasn't student money. That wasn't even most nobles' discretionary funds. That was serious resources behind a serious plot.

"Why both targets?" Uncle Victor pressed.

"Anomalies. Instructions said... eliminate the anomalies. Restore the....I can't remember..."

I felt ice in my veins.