The villainess will survive!

Part 54: And so The Tournament begins!

I covered my ears as the announcer yelled in his to horn speaker to announce the beginning of this event. 

Instead of listening to him, I looked around to study the audience and the participants. 

This otome world wasn't only limited to the country I lived in.

There were plenty other societies, lands and cultures. 

None of those really mattered to me in the long run....but if I were to beat Ivy, its not like she was my sole opponent. 

Actually, I'm interested in how Ivy would pass those obstacles too. 

The actual order of the participants had obviously changed, thanks to the addition of me. 

In the past few days, I had been mainly studying herbs and how other countries did medical treatment. 

The fighting part wasn't much of an issue, since I educated as a future queen. 

And in this country, that title wasn't simply a pretty status. 

You were required to support the King from all sides when he needed it, as well as be a subsitute for him when he couldn't lead the Kingdom. 

I should at least know a few war tactics and their way of battling from all the countries, in case of going war with them (the country hoped that I wouldn't need to put them to use in the future, but just in case). 

Obviously, I took the lessons anyways because it wouldn't improve the respect people would give me if I hadn't. 

It hadn't occurred to me then that  I would actually use this knowledge in the future. 

                                                                       ***

I sweated nervously as the round before my turn ended in a hard-earned victory by some knight from our country, but not for the fight. 

'What if Onii-sama didn't come to our designed place? What if he decided to ignore me?'

I couldn't find him anywhere in the crowd, but I could barely make out anybody's faces as they blurried from distance. 

I prayed that he had taken the letter I gave him recently seriously, and didn't crumple it to be thrown away later. 

The thought of him reading the contents made me a big embarrassed, hence it had been so long since I've contacted him. 

He might not want to see my face again, but I wanted to say goodbye at least. 

I was sick of lying, sick of hiding behind a facade to all the people I cherished. 

I had decided to tell him the fact that I was not his real sister. 

He would surely hate me after this, and hate that I had been dishonest with him for the entirety of our lives. 

But I knew this would also break any guilt of him leaving me, so at least he wouldn't live with the responsibility of caring for me. 

Hopefully, he would live the rest of his life happily without the existence of his 'sister' bothering him. 

But that would wait after I finished this fighting competition, and also the first part of the medical one. 

To be honest, I wasn't really confident in winning. 

Undermining the enemy wasn't my style of fighting, but rather improving myself. 

Although I had an idea of how talented Ivy was, her skills were not to be determined based on that summary. 

I don't know how much she had improved from the beginning of the year, but at some point, she had started to progress like she would have in the story. 

I didn't like it, but its not like I expected her to be untalented the whole time. 

I looked at the time, and took a deep breath. 

There were still 5 minutes before I was to go on stage, and I would use this time to check the mana of the crowd. 

It was rather a cheat—No, more of a precaution, but it would determine how much magic I would have to use in this tournament. 

I didn't want to attract attention to myself, but I needed to win this.

I flinched as I sensed a large amount of mana, hidden somewhere in the crowd. 

My eyes widened as I rechecked, feeling how this amount was no joke at all. 

'Where?', I asked myself. 'Where was this abnormal amount of mana, and who exactly possessed this much?' 

It couldn't be Ivy, since even though she possessed more than average, it wasn't this ginormous.

 Which person in this country would possess this much?

It was one-in-a-century find, and very, very rare. 

Focusing harder, I pinpointed the mass of mana to one person among thousands. 

A person in a cloak......?

I noticed that there were a few other people surrounding that one person, and came immediately to the conclusion that this person had a high position somewhere. 

I squinted my eyes as I used magic to improve my sight, and jolted back in shock immediately. 

I rubbed my eyes in case of them malfunctioning, but it was the same result. 

That pure white hair, and those white pupils.....it couldn't be, could it?!

Those were the famous features of the High Priest that lead the holy organisation, which almost half of this country were loyal to. 

Well, it would make sense for the High Priest to contain this much mana, but what exactly was he doing here at the tournament?

This event had nothing to do with him, so did he come here for some entertainment?

The men he brought with himself tells me otherwise. 

Whats so important about this tournament that would require the High Priest himself to come?

My mind clicked as the only answer possible came out. Were they going to scout Ivy as saintess? 

A saintess was a representation of the church, one that many people seeked healing and advice from. 

Supposedly reffered as 'God's daughter', many people regarded them as pure and holy beings. 

These were known as a 'messenger from God'. 

And they had obviously set their eyes on Ivy, who had healing magic. 

And this healing magic was known as some special magic given to humans favored by God, but that was clearly a misconception. 

Ivy? Pure and innocent? Not in a million lives of hers. 

I bit my lip thinking that things were going to get much more difficult from now on. 

 Which is why I cannot let Ivy win this tournament. 

Deep determination filled me as I stepped on the stage. 

A smirk spread across my face, as by then, I had already decided that I would win this tournament.