I'll guide the Villainess's happiness

Vol.1 Chapter-3

Figure under the gazebo

It's been around a few hours since I've returned to the past. Right now, it was lunch time.

I headed to the cafeteria with a close friend of mine, Laura Hessan. I'll admit, rebuilding friendships I've been through feels nice. Just talking to someone feels nice in general now.

She's a noble, but from a merchant family. she's basically well off, better than a regular commoner, but not as grand as Lady Catherine, that's the daughter of the Prime Minister.

Laura is nicer to commoners than others, since she lived as a commoner once too, before her father struck gold and earned a spot becoming a noble.

"What are you gonna eat, Aya?"

"Hmm, I don't really know."

I answered honestly. I've been eating monster meat in the dungeon in which I've just cooked over a flame, I've already forgotten what normal food like pork, beef and chicken tasted.

"You'll probably decide when you get there." she says and hits my shoulder lightly.

Arriving in the cafeteria, I was met by the rustle and bustle of students ordering their food. Here it was mostly commoners to low class nobles, since high ranking nobles had their own food prepared by their maids.

"Can't really decide. What do you think I should go for?"

"How about a chicken sandwich for now? We have magic class later so I think eating a light meal would be best."

Ah, right, we had magic assessments, where it was said it was to assess each others strengths. But in reality it was the thing to decide the hierarchy of the classroom. And on the girls side, both Sophia and Lady Catherine stood on top of it.

"Right, I'll take that then."

Ordering my food, I sat down with Laura.

"Aya, what's up? You look like you've never seen a chicken sandwich before."

"Maybe I haven't." I replied half jokingly, but looking at the chicken sandwich, It looked like the best thing to me right now.

I bit in to it. The softness of the bread, the crunch of the lettuce, followed by the tenderness of the chicken, then it had the sauces. It was amazingly delicious.

"This is good!" I say, to Laura who was eating pumpkin soup.

"It's just a chicken sandwich, though?" she replies, confused while raising her eyebrow.

"Well yeah, but still it's delicious."

"You're enjoying yourself so much, it makes me kinda jealous and I want a chicken sandwich now." she laughs, while covering her mouth.

Some time pass and we both finished our meals, we still had time before magic classes started, so I asked Laura what she wanted to do.

She said that she would just wait for classes to start then headed for the classroom, but I had other things in mind.

"It was around here, right?"

Looking around the school's courtyard, I spotted the place I was looking for. The gazebo where Lady Catherine usually ate.

I approached the gazebo with the blonde girl inside, she was eating biscuits and beside her was a maid pouring tea into Lady Catherine's cup. A breathtaking sight and a clear line that Lady Catherine was out of my league.

Well, here goes nothing.

"Lady Catherine! Good evening." I say while bowing my head.

With my sudden appearance her eyebrows furrowed, Good grief, she must've whispered that under her breath when she saw me.

"What is it, why is a commoner like you calling me out during the lunch break?"

She raises her cup to her lips drinking her tea. Clearly showing she wasn't interested.

"I just wanted to talk to you about something."

"Mind your speech when talking to me, I do not wish for a commoner to speak to me so casually." she reprimands me, her high pitched voice were music to my ears.

"Nevermind that, but can I join the bet you made with Sophia?"

"!, How do you know about that?"

She asks, surprised. And I don't blame her.

"I just heard it when I was in the hallway." I said, though that was a lie.

In reality I found out from Sophia herself after she got wedded to the crowned prince, in their reception party.

"If I never took the bet with Lady Catherine, back in the academy, on the first day to be exact. I wouldn't be here."

So she said in her speech.

Thinking about it makes my blood boil, it was just too... How do i say it, forced? Like she wanted us to hear that she beat Lady Catherine, and she did. By one point.

"Let me ask you, why would you want to join a bet you are most likely to lose?"

She asks, Ahhh, I just remembered, in the academy since I got a free pass to the A class, I was belittled a lot more than Sophia.

"It seemed interesting." I answered bluntly, though that wasn't the real reason why.

A chuckle from behind Lady Catherine, it was her maid.

The maid looked older than Lady Catherine, although by not that much. I'm guessing around three years older?

"Forgive me for laughing, Lady Catherine. But this person just seemed interesting. Picking a fight with the prime minister's daughter because it seemed interesting. It makes me laugh." the maid says, smiling ear to ear.

"It's no problem, Carol, it certainly does seem foolish. A mouse trying to fight a lion." Lady Catherine adds, sipping her tea.

"What do I gain from this competition with you?" Lady Catherine asks.

"A nosy commoner would leave the academy." I replied back. I'm taking advantage of my knowledge of Lady Catherine disliking commoners, or rather people that don't know their place.

"Very well, then! If you somehow win, which would be rarer than a red moon. Your prize shall be a favour from me, the same prize as the other commoner." she says, when saying other commoner, she's probably referring to Sophia.

"Got it!" I thought to myself, although Lady Catherine dislikes commoners she would definitely never back down from a challenge especially when the prize of the challenge is something that would preserve the nobility of the academy.

"Carol, do you mind serving as a witness to the competition that would take place here?" she asks, looking at the maid at her side.

"I do not mind. But may I ask, why does Miss Aya seem very confident? Lady Catherine isn't a push over."

That's right, as far as Sophia, in the academy Lady Catherine boasted a high aptitude for fire magic. And as far as I've heard, in her elementary school days she was the top magician.

"Well, I have a few tricks up my sleeves." I say, shrugging my shoulders. Though the "Tricks" I speak of I don't really know if it would work. This is a gamble on my part, but hey you gotta live life with a bit of gambling, right?

"How very commonerlike, to be using tricks in order to win, however, I do not mind." Lady Catherine declares confidently. While she laughed a hearty "O-hohoho!".

"I see, then. Miss Aya, Lady Catherine, do you both swear to the Goddess that you would compete equally and fair?"

"Certainly, I swear to the Goddess!"

"Yeah, I swear to the Goddess too."

In the kingdom, swearing to the Goddess isn't something like a simple promise, if you break it you would be held in heavy contempt, regardless of status.

And with that, I started my movement of changing the future.