I Woke Up as the Villainess's Friend. I Don’t Want to Be the Next Dark Queen

There's no room for clumsiness or shyness now.

"Yes, of course I want to," I hear myself tell him like I'm in a dream.

They're sincere words that come from deep inside me.

I see nothing in his eyes but a quick flash of realization. His lips hover over mine and he kisses me.

Finally!

I've been wanting this for so long...

And they're soft, firm, and masculine all at once. I part mine slightly and our breaths mingle. I feel his hands on my face, caressing it. I lose myself in the sensation. It's magical and I'm not even casting a spell.

The magic of the heart.

I enjoyed so few of these precious moments in my life on Earth; I was too busy studying for my degree.

I think I let out a soft moan, though he doesn't press against me or let me taste his tongue.

He pulls back and tucks a loose strand of my hair behind my ear.

"You know I really like you, right?"

I can't help myself—I smile at him like an idiot.

The butterflies have resumed their fluttering, frantic now; I think they've gone crazy.

"Vincent, I actually couldn't sleep because I didn't feel right about going to the ball with my fiancé when I don't feel anything for him. But let me contact him to break off the engagement. Let's not announce we're going together until then."

The prince smiles.

"You're going to be free?"

"Completely."

His lips move toward mine again, but before he can reach them, I hear someone clearing their throat.

Berta stands in front of me. How quiet she is; I didn't hear her approach. Or see her, but that second part is normal since I only had eyes for Vincent.

"Miss, it's late. You should go to bed."

And it's not proper for you to be alone with a gentleman in the gardens, the sternness of her tone seems to tell me.

"Thank you, Berta. Sorry, Vincent, I'll see you later."

"See you later."

As I walk away followed by my maid, I feel his eyes fixed on me. I sigh, I can't help it. Neither can I help the ear-to-ear smile.

"So, is the engagement official?" she asks me in an amused tone once we're in the hallway, in front of my room door.

I blush.

"Not yet. I'm going to go to the ball with him, but first I have to break up with Marco. How do I do it?"

"Send a messenger. Or a message through a messenger bird."

Even though she says bird, it's not a dove like the ones on Earth. Rather, it's an entity created with air magic whose only essence and purpose is to fly to its destination and whisper a message.

"That's very impersonal."

I mean, I've only seen Marco once and this body didn't even react; it was totally indifferent to him. Still, I try to put myself in his shoes and I wouldn't like to be dumped like that. In fact, one of the few people I ever dated—seriously, you can count them on one hand— actually did the same thing. Broke up with me through a damn text message. It made me feel like crap, like I wasn't even worth the trouble of being told in person.

What Beatrice told me was that he was the shit and that I had to kiss a lot of frogs to find my prince.

My prince... Vincent's gentle golden eyes come back to my mind.

"Miss?" Berta asks, waiting for my instructions.

"I'd better go see him in person. Can I use the portal?"

"They don't allow the use of the academy portal for personal reasons."

"And by carriage, how many hours away is it?"

"Hours? Days."

Oh.

"Wait for me a moment, I'll be right back," I tell her and enter my room quietly so as not to wake Judith.

I have a map of the kingdom. I look for it. Yes! It's in my desk drawer. Aha. Here's the village where I train and Marco's lands... yes, they're pretty close, I don't think more than half a day on horseback, and I'm sure Ronan can lend me something faster.

No, not the dragon.

I go back out.

"I'll go from the village where I train because of the special student thing. Don't worry, I'll handle it."

"As you wish, miss," she says, looking amused.

"Good night, Berta."

I go back to the room and to bed. I need to sleep to recover my mana. Oh, but it's not that simple. My head and heart won't stop thinking about Vincent.

Can I really have a joyful life in this world?

This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.

Go to the ball with the guy I like, marry him, find a solution for the goblins, and become strong enough to face that danger that threatens me, the seed, and I think the whole kingdom.

Yes.

I sleep and have sweet dreams, ones where I'm happy.

And the truth is, on this journey in this new world, every day is a reason to smile.

New dawn, more dungeoneering!

I wake up fresh as a daisy with a huge smile on my face.

Vincent, my Vincent...

I get ready trying not to wake Judith, have breakfast, and head to the portal room. Ronan is already waiting for me.

"Ready to do the dungeon twice?" I ask him.

"Of course."

"Good."

I don't know if he'll be surprised by how euphoric and full of energy I am this morning. The dungeon certainly goes smoothly. And the thing is, that arrogant third-year's group doesn't even come around here anymore, since they disbanded.

(I don't know whether to feel sorry for the tank or be happy—I liked her.)

You can tell from our accumulated experience and that it's the fourth time we've cleared the first floor that we conquer it more easily now. I use fire bolt instead of channeling with my quiver on the golems at the entrance. It's not as effective and doesn't explode, but I end up getting what I wanted:

Congratulations, your low fire dart has leveled up. It is now intermediate fire dart. The bolt's movement speed increases by 10%. There is a chance of explosion on impact.

But not just that, something even better:

Congratulations, your intermediate fire dart spell has evolved into lesser fireball. Lesser fireball's base damage is double that of lesser fire dart. There is a chance of explosion on impact. Cost: 2 MP.

Yes! They'd told me in class that this could happen, that the fireball spell was learned by leveling up the dart. And now I have both: intermediate bolt and lesser fireball. Plus, I know that when I level up the fireball it'll have effects where the flames spread to multiple targets and cause burning damage over time.

That said, it hurt my mana spending. I have to ask the pup for a lick before moving on to the bat cave. Except for my use of fire dart, we clear the rest of the floor as always, even giving the pup the bats to finish off. The labyrinth goes without incident, as it should if we don't approach the lake. The troll villages too. When I run out of mana, I take a potion that Ronan gives me. I don't want to waste the second lick (I'm not even sure if I can because of the time; maybe 24 hours haven't passed yet) or lose time meditating, which is very slow (2 points every 20 minutes). Even though we don't have a mission, we still collect the worm eggs—they'll give us something for them, even if it's just a few coppers per pouch. Yesterday afternoon, Ronan stocked up on everything we might need, like pouches and flasks. And from what he told me, he also acquired sword mastery during his training.

The truth is that the techniques we've used before still work well for finishing off the trolls. Between the second and third village it starts snowing. The wolves attack us with their alpha, though this one doesn't seem as strong as the alpha from the first encounter. I let the pup fight against the wolves that Ronan exhausts, and I imbue my sword with water channeling, since that's the one I still haven't managed to level up.

Five troll villages and a pack of wolves whose alpha I fight one-on-one. It doesn't disappoint me:

Congratulations. Your level of channeling with the water element has increased. Water element channeling goes from minor to low.

Water element channeling costs two mana points and lasts 3 minutes.

When we finish the second floor, we take a break to eat something and rest a bit. An hour, no more, which I use to meditate.

"If that spell weren't from a different school of magic, I'd imitate you. It would be extremely useful to be able to learn it," Ronan tells me.

I smile at him from my lotus position and close my eyes.

An hour and six mana points later, we go down to the third floor. And what can I say—it's more of the same. The truth is Ronan did practically everything last time, and Vincent's absence is barely noticeable.

No way, we finished even earlier than yesterday.

The loot from the chest this time is, apart from a similar amount of gold and silver coins, gems and potions, a frost ring that I keep, a helmet of the immortal, and once again the cloak of the snows.

Ronan doesn't want the cloak because, as he already mentioned, he prefers items more aligned with what a necromancer mage should have. Something that gives him wisdom or intelligence.

"Keep it, my lady, that way you'll match Vincent," he tells me.

And I'm left stunned, I didn't expect that from him. I smile.

"You're absolutely right."

As for the helmet, it's not what you'd call very aesthetic. It's metallic and plain, lined inside with leather.

Helmet of the Immortal. +3 Con.

No luck, the third set item didn't drop. It'll come eventually.

"Ronan, can I keep the helmet or would that be greedy?" I ask him.

"Of course, my lady. I'm not interested in melee combat. Besides, I already kept the yeti skull."

I don't quite understand the yeti skull thing. Whatever. I thank him and put on my new helmet, which makes me feel healthier.

Definitely, the coins, gems, and potions are for him.

I take a look at my status screen:

Bianca L'Crom

Race: Human

Age: 18 years

Level: 10

Constitution: 11

Strength: 8

Intelligence: 8

Agility: 9

Wisdom: 11

Health Points: 13

Mana Points: 2 of 10

Why didn't I get anything for reaching 11 Constitution?

Wait, I did get something, I have a pop-up window behind my stats one.

Congratulations, you have reached 11 points in constitution. Starting at 10 CON, you gain +1 HP for every 2 CON.

Warning: Your 11 CON is item-based. Unequipping items will remove all CON bonuses gained from CON ≥10.

Oh my God! And here I was expecting to reach 10 agility first... In any case, this is brutal. I have 11 constitution and 13 health points from the embedded gem +2 HP. If I put on the immortal claws, I gain two more constitution, which would give me 3 hit points when my constitution reaches 13.

I have to try it, I'm carrying the claws in my backpack.

As soon as I do it, another pop-up window appears:

Congratulations, you have reached 10 points in strength. You learn the mastery Explosive Strength.

Warning: Your 10 STR is item-based. Unequipping items will remove the Explosive Strength mastery.

Explosive Strength: Your muscles have developed enough to allow you to double your strength for 15 seconds.

Oh, what if I put on the cloak?

Bianca L'Crom

Race: human

Age: 18 years

Level: 10

Constitution: 15

Strength: 11

Intelligence: 8

Agility: 9

Wisdom: 11

Health Points: 19

Mana Points: 2 of 10

Wow. Okay, I'm even wearing the claws equipped but, oh my gosh, how my health points have gone up! And I feel super strong. However, I don't look like a bodybuilder. I look at my biceps and they're well-defined but not excessive. Maybe it's because my agility also has a high value.

And the best part: 19 hit points! Nothing like the measly 6 from a few months ago. However, the seed is still smarter than me.

With the +1 buff from the frost ring and it still beats me...

Wait, it had INT 9 before but what if it leveled up?

"Let me see your stat sheet," I ask.

Seed of Darkness. Level 7.

Progress to level 8: 29%

Constitution: 16

Strength: 15

Intelligence: 10

Agility: 11

Wisdom: 7

Health Points: 16

Mana Points: 7

Holy shit! Even smarter...

"Is something wrong, my lady?"

"Nothing."

What do I tell the smartest living being of everyone here? (Because I suppose the dragon will have the highest stat.)

"By the way..." I continue, "do you feel if you've leveled up?"

Because the pup has.

"No, not yet."

"Well, it's more than 8000 XP for level 10, but you practically cleared the third floor alone, thanks for letting me get assist from the yeti."

With everything sorted out, we head back to the second floor, where we don't need to bury Myrthaxya since we're going to re-enter the dungeon ourselves.