Reincarnation: I am the Villainess and Love Target?!

Chapter 22: Mindreader

"Urgh..."

I fought back the urge to spit out the food in my mouth. Concentrating hard, I chewed the mouthful I took from the salad that came with my lunch. After some time, I was finally able to will my body to swallow the food.

Ever since inheriting Vain's body, there have been times when I've had to 'fight' with this body in such a way. Vain's soul or spirit is attached to me somehow, so whenever I switch to Vain his ego sometimes shows up and I often find the body's actions going against my will. One of those 'conflicts' is currently happening. I know because I can eat a salad just fine in my body but Vain's character seems to really disdain vegetables, and so I end up struggling to help Vain's body get all the food and nutrients he needs.

Frustrated, I internally chastised Vain. Look, if you don't at least take care of your body by having proper meals, what makes you think that we can even fix our current 'condition' as spiritually attached siamese twins?!

Letting out a sigh, I couldn't help lamenting over whether or not I'd gone mad. Arguing with my supposedly not-so-dead twin brother whilst also possessing his body was not on the list of things I'd imagine happening in my second life, yet here we are. Vain also bothers me in my dreams by insisting on going through my previous life's memories. I can only whine to myself about the various breaches of privacy since, between the two of us, Vain is experiencing a worse situation.

Why don't you distract yourself with one of the anime shows or various manga I've read in my previous life, it's not like you have to be active every time I'm in your body... 

I continued my almost one-sided internal conversation as I stuffed another mouthful of salad. Almost instantly, I experienced a feeling of exasperation that was most definitely not my own. Making a point to chew the food, I was glad that Vain couldn't communicate to me in any other way at the moment. It really took some time for the both of us to realize that Vain couldn't 'speak' to me with literal words, he could only basically sign to me in his spirit form or make me 'feel' things whilst I'm possessing his body.

I know, I know. Your situation sucks, but it's not like you're even able to wipe your own ass...

After essentially telling him that I take care of his 'diapers', an almost palpable silence could be felt. Silently basking in immature smugness, I knew that I had won this 'conflict'... Not that I could ever lose against Vain who couldn't talk back to me even if he wanted to. That initial dream when we first 'met' was the only time Vain could speak.

Once I was done with the meal, I got up to meet with a certain irritating individual.

I took my time walking to my destination since I had just finished a meal. However, a large part of me also wanted to mildly inconvenience the midnight-haired porch climber who would no doubt be a pain in the ass once I interact with him.

As I leisurely made my way, my wandering gaze caught a glimpse of azure-lilac hair through a third-floor window. It was Virgil, and he was in the middle of a lecture with Aunt Vera. The content of their lesson was most likely on healing magic theories and techniques since that's Virgil's most prevalent interest. Even in the otome game, when he was formally recognized as a professor, he still busied himself with research to the point of missing meals and sleep.

Leaning against the trunk of a lofty willow tree that had recently ended its flowering season, I observed Virgil's expression, his face scrunched in concentration as he discerned the words that Aunt Vera spoke. And so, for a few minutes, I silently watched. No thoughts ran through my mind, I just simply let the time pass and kept my gaze trained in the same direction despite the light breeze waving the willow's branches in and out of my field of view.