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

At dinnertime, in the dining hall, we all meet up.

I glance around the entire room after greeting my friends and heading toward the food station and trays. Sol and her entourage aren't here. I notice that the third-year mage and swordswoman I can't stand are still sitting alone, but the rest of their party now has two more members. I assume they're also third-years.

Hmm... maybe they're finally going to head to the dungeon to do the worm egg quest?

The tank girl catches me looking at her and gives me a slight nod. From the way she moves her lips, it seems like she wants me to come over. I grab my food and walk over for a moment.

When I'm almost within reach, she stands up and greets me with exquisite elegance and manners. Just like Sol when she's not being a harpy.

"Hello, thank you for coming over. I don't think I introduced myself properly. I'm Erika Laltiery," she says while giving me a slight bow of her head.

My gosh, what a contrast to the tank who faced her twin and hurled insults at Ronan's skeletons and zombies. I wasn't expecting this.

I quickly bow my head as well, deeper than hers, since her family outranks mine in terms of nobility.

Seriously, with all this etiquette stuff I still get nervous—like right now—wondering if I'm responding to the greeting inappropriately. But I don't think I need to curtsy or kneel. After all, the only royalty here are Vincent and Lily, and when I asked Berta for help with the royal audience, she gave me some really useful advice that I've been able to apply in other social situations as well.

Besides, I've observed academy life enough to notice that among students, especially friends, etiquette rules relax and interactions become more casual.

"Bianca L'Crom," I tell her.

"I don't want your food to get cold," Erika comments while letting her eyes rest on my tray for a moment. "I just wanted to mention that during these last few days of trials, we're returning to the dungeon. We've finally completed our party. We've told the new members about you and your necromancer friend. We know you're still doing trials, but not the worm one anymore, so I don't think you'd mind sharing the dungeon."

"No, of course not."

"I'd like to know if we can expect there won't be any bear."

"Bear?"

Oh, I get it. The one Ronan placed to keep them from entering. I smile.

"No, there won't be any bear. In fact, if you want a troll village all to yourselves, no problem. We'll leave it untouched. Are you guys also doing two runs per day? You can't do more than that because the creatures don't regenerate."

"You do two runs per day?"

I nod.

"Why do I feel like I shouldn't be surprised? My dear Lady L'Crom, I don't think you realize that what you're doing isn't even within reach of the best third-year teams. When the trials are over, I'd like to invite you to my next tea party."

And here I'd managed to avoid those boring parties where young noble ladies gather and forge their alliances... I'd rather face a furious yeti a thousand times over than play politics, especially since I haven't had the etiquette education that Bianca no doubt received as a child growing up.

"It would be an honor."

I don't want to attend, but what else can I say? I like the girl, and as the daughter of Count L'Crom, refusing would be an insult to her family.

"Your presence will be most appreciated. As for the troll village, we'll go tomorrow morning. If you enter before us, please leave us one village intact. That way we can put the strategy we've planned into practice."

"Consider it done."

"Thank you very much. Now, I wouldn't want to be the cause of your food getting cold."

"Same to you all," I say, since her party members had stopped eating while she and I were talking.

I say goodbye and head back to my table, where Lily is looking at me with a questioning expression. The others are too, but it's the princess who approaches me as soon as I set my tray down and take a seat.

"What did that third-year student want? Did you know she used to be grouped with her twin brother, and they had a falling out after a failed trial in a dungeon?"

I burst out laughing.

"Oh, really? That was you guys? Of course, that makes perfect sense. You had that confrontation the day the trials started, in the auditorium."

"Yes. Though I'm not entirely clear on what the rumors say about what happened afterward."

"First, that they found an enormous beast that shouldn't have been in that dungeon, and second, that they had a disagreement about Octavius's leadership style. The rumors don't clarify what actually happened in that dungeon, though some say Ronan did something to them. But I don't believe half of what they say about Ronan anymore."

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The aforementioned keeps eating, as if the conversation doesn't concern him or isn't worth clarifying.

"Well, it was more like they attacked us," I tell her. "So we left. After all, we were there to defeat mobs, not fight other students."

"Did you humiliate them?" she asks, practically buzzing with curiosity.

"Please, sister, you love gossip way too much."

"It's fine." I smile. "The truth is, Octavius humiliated himself—he didn't need any help."

"Oh, I have to hear this. I promise it won't leave this table, at least not from my mouth," Lily assures me.

I'm not sure I believe her...

I tell her the whole story in detail.

Karina is present. She doesn't say anything. I hope when the trials are over, she goes back to her friends and stops hanging around our table.

"And what did the twin want?" Lily asks me after hearing everything.

I look toward Ronan and Mary.

"They're going back to the dungeon. Tomorrow, we'll leave them a troll village as is so they can do their mission."

"They'd complete the mission more easily if we don't leave any enemies alive," Ronan tells me.

"Yeah, but they want to gain experience and feel like they're actually doing the trial. Taking a stroll through a dungeon whose occupants have already been eliminated isn't exactly a challenge."

"I understand."

"If we get there before them, maybe we should stay inside until they finish? In case they need any healing," Mary asks.

"They'll have health potions, don't worry," Ronan clarifies.

"True. It's just that, from what Bianca told us, her brother didn't mind causing her serious burns. I don't like the idea of a woman suffering."

"Don't worry, Mary," I tell her. "I'm sure they have a better strategy now. After all, the fire mage is out of their group."

Then Alistair asks Lily how her new plant-collecting mission went, and I take the opportunity to eat. Not the first course, which is a salad with marinated fish, but the second, roasted meat, got cold while I was talking.

"Very well. It was simpler," the princess replies with a smile. "We handled it without problems. Of course, the reward was five points, one per person."

Ugh... I can see them dead last in the first-year rankings. I hope the redhead helps them out this weekend like he said.

"I'm glad. Don't worry, when I help you ladies, I won't let any beast get close to you."

Curiously, Lily's face pales a bit. She thanks him.

That "no beast" seemed too specific to me. There's something here I don't know, and it's probably related to her fear of combat.

I don't think it's any secret. I'll ask Vincent when we're alone.

Speaking of Vincent, I notice he's acting a bit strange. He's not joining the conversation as much as usual.

We finish dinner and I manage to get a few seconds alone with him when we all leave the dining hall.

"Everything okay?" I ask him.

"Aside from you not letting me go on missions with you?"

Yeah, everything's fine.

We quickly catch up with the others, leaving me no time to ask him anything else before we part ways.

This is a bit awkward because since we all leave at the same time, I'm walking next to Karina toward the female dormitory wing. Luckily Lily won't stop talking, and at a fork in the hallway, they go off together.

"See you tomorrow," I say goodbye to Mary shortly after.

"You don't know how much I appreciate you and Ronan's help."

"It's the least we can do for a friend," I downplay it.

Earlier, when we went to collect our points, Mary took the opportunity to buy mana potions. The truth is she's taking full advantage of every chance to level up her spells.

"Did your dress arrive? Today, when I got back from the dungeon, I had it in my room, along with the rest of the accessories we bought from the seamstress."

"Well, I haven't looked. If it arrived, Berta would have put it away. I'll check now. Good night, Mary."

"Good night."

I walk to my room, greet Judith, and go to my wardrobe. Well yes, I don't know how I didn't notice before. At the back, stored in a cloth cover, is the beautiful dress along with the shoes and other accessories.

Judith hears the completely undignified little scream that escapes me when I open the cover and lay eyes on the garment. It's just simply perfect.

"Your dress for the ball? Can I see it?"

"Yes, go ahead," I step aside.

"How beautiful! Those are Vincent's colors, right? Weren't you going with your fiancé?"

What?

Mary already told me this and I've seen the prince wearing a jacket in that shade of red a few times, but I hadn't given it much importance. As for the two colors of the silk lace on my dress, white and black, they're common on both Vincent and other students.

Now that two girls have told me this... well, maybe by wearing this dress I'm going to imply something, like that I'd like to be his partner.

No problem.

After all, our engagement will be official soon.

"Uh... yes, I'm going with Marco."

"What's he like?"

"Well, his father has an agricultural barony and I think he's working on improving it or something."

"Is he handsome?" she asks me in a dreamy tone.

I stare at her. What's our little bookworm, so modest and shy, doing getting so familiar? We've never chatted about dudes before. The closest we've ever gotten to talking about boys was her not having a date for the ball.

"I haven't noticed."

"You haven't noticed?"

Oops... that slipped out. I imagine Bianca, considering she'd been engaged for years, would have noticed.

"I mean, I don't have any romantic interest in him."

I notice Judith is looking at my left wrist. I look too.

The bracelet with the heart.

Ugh.

I put it on and forgot about it. You know, like any bracelet from Earth that you put on and it stays there until you decide to change it for another one that goes better with your new outfit. Or like a purse you leave out of place and that becomes its new spot. Or a box you move aside telling yourself you need to throw it away but then forget about it, and even though you see it every day you don't react because it's already part of the background.

Exactly. The bracelet doesn't weigh anything, doesn't get in the way—I forget it's even there.

My gosh, poor Vincent... Maybe that's why he was acting strange, because he saw it.

I hurry to take it off as if it were burning. I shove it into a drawer.

"Poor guy, giving you such a beautiful bracelet is romantic," my roommate complains with a sigh.

I think I know what kind of novels Judith reads in her free time, and I'm starting to imagine the story she's creating in her head.

I'm out.

"Do you have a date in the end?" I try to change the subject.

"No. I'll go alone."

Okay, now I feel bad, like Cruella de Vil.

I'd tell her that going alone isn't so bad, that it's better alone than in bad company; but in this society I think going to the ball without a partner is seen as a sign of failure, even though she told me the other day that statistically 15% of first-years go alone.

"There's still time to ask the guys in my group if they know anyone."

"Don't worry, I want to go alone."

Right.

"Well then, I'm going to close the dress cover again and rest, since tomorrow we're back to the dungeon."

I put everything away, close the wardrobe, and go to the adjoining room we share, which is the closest thing I have to a bathroom.

I wonder why they had a dress like that in the store. Maybe they were hoping to sell it to Sol or whoever the lucky girl going to the ball with the prince would be.

Then I realize: Vincent is going to go alone because of me.

Ugh, won't that be like a cold shower for his social prestige?

Although he's the prince, everyone knows he could have any girl he wanted.

Tonight, instead of assassination attempts, I dream about the ball. Vincent and I enter together, arm in arm, and it's a simply perfect night.