"Are you going to let go, or do you want me to bite you?!"
Even after blurting out something that ridiculous, I tried my best to keep a serious expression.
I met Charles's eyes, somewhere between disgust and shock.
"What are you, a dog?" Of course he'd say that.
Excuse me?! I was trying to tell him he didn't deserve my respect, and he calls me a dog? How does that even connect?!
"You're being unfair. Dogs aren't the only animals that bite."
"What?!"
"It's obvious you want to get bitten since you're still not letting go of my arm!"
He frowned. "I'm not letting go until you listen to me."
Ugh, classic male-lead behavior!
Except… he's not even the male lead!
"You're definitely a masochist. Do you really want me to bite you that badly?"
He finally released my arm and stepped back. "Do you even realize how ridiculous you sound?!"
Oh, I realize it perfectly.
I ignored his words and changed the subject.
"Anyway, what did you want to talk about? Hurry up! I don't want to waste my time on you."
I wasn't speaking to him formally, and he didn't seem to care.
He crossed his arms and leaned against the wall. "I'm not going to let you keep bullying Tia…"
As he spoke, my eyes lingered on him—and I couldn't help but notice how attractive he looked.
Not that it was surprising. I'd written him that way, after all. And that muscular body, ugh. Not overly bulky, but just enough to make every line stand out…
"Hey! Are you even listening to me?!"
His raised voice snapped me back to reality.
"Ah, sorry. I zoned out. Can you start over?"
"You're mocking me, aren't you?"
I said nothing, averting my gaze.
He sighed, muttering under his breath. "Repeating a threat like that feels ridiculous."
…Wait. Threat? Was he threatening me?
If I remembered correctly, he'd mentioned "Tia" earlier. He must be talking about Tiana, the heroine of my novel.
"If you're telling me to stay away from Tiana, you don't have to worry. I'm not interested in bullying her anymore."
"What…do you mean?" He looked genuinely confused. Fine, I'd put it in words he'd understand.
"Messing with that village girl has gotten boring, so I'm not going to bother with her anymore."
His expression shifted from surprise to anger, his gaze sharp enough to kill. "Tia isn't some toy you can play with and toss aside when you're bored!"
He wasn't even trying to hide his hatred for me.
Great...just perfect!
I'd managed to thoroughly piss off my future murderer.
This wasn't a game world, but I could almost see my life bar dropping to zero.
I smiled anyway. "Telling that to the villainess is pointless," I said, then turned on my heel or rather, ran.
I walked quickly-no, practically sprinted-down the school corridor without looking back.
"Hey, wait!" he shouted.
I ignored him and ran faster.
What Heather didn't realize was that someone else had overheard her conversation with Charles.
~
Once I was far enough from Charles, I finally stopped running and glanced behind me. No Charles.
I put on an indifferent expression and decided to dig into Heather's memories.
If I could gather information about Charles that wasn't in the novel, that would be amazing.
Sure, this was the world of my book, but it wasn't just the book, it was a fully living world.
There were people here who hadn't even appeared in the story, living their own lives. I wasn't the god of this world.
At best, I was a fortune teller who knew the future.
But no matter how much I searched Heather's memories, I found nothing useful about Charles.
Not that it was surprising.
Heather had only ever cared about one person since she was little: the crown prince of the Lytton Empire -the male lead of my novel- Julius Lytton.
She'd been obsessively in love with him, willing to do anything for him.
Her obsessive behavior had annoyed the crown prince so much that he tried to avoid her as much as possible.
To him, Heather was nothing but a troublesome nuisance.
So, unsurprisingly, I learned nothing new about Charles.
By the time I reached the classroom door, I took a deep breath to steady myself. I didn't want to admit it, but…I was nervous.
I opened the door, and silence instantly fell over the classroom.
Yeah, being the villainess meant getting used to this kind of thing.
It was obvious I wasn't welcome. But since I was the duke's daughter, no one dared say anything.
I walked to my seat and sat down quietly. Also, I couldn't even use magic. Why was I even in this school?
Well…I knew the reason, of course.
The Royal Academy only accepted people who could use magic or wield a sword.
Tiana, the heroine, was a village girl but thanks to her rare holy power, she'd been able to enroll.
Heather, on the other hand, had begged her father to pull strings once she found out the crown prince would be attending. Nepotism at its finest.
I'd written it that way myself to make Heather the perfect villainess.
Wow. I was such an annoying author. And now? I kind of wished I could use magic too!
After a while, Charles entered the classroom, walking to his seat with a stormy expression.
Please don't be mad at me. I didn't even say anything that bad. Maybe he really is a masochist, what's so wrong with that?
Right after him, the last person I wanted to see walked in.
The male lead, the Lytton Empire's crown prince, Julius Lytton.
Heather's first and only love. The man she'd do anything for.
But the crown prince had never cared about her, not even once.
As he entered, Julius gave Charles a mocking smile before turning his gaze on me.
The moment our eyes met, his smile vanished. I looked away, pretending not to care. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw him sit down.
Why had he looked at Charles like that? It was normal for love rivals to dislike each other, but that look had been…strange.
Could the crown prince have been eavesdropping on us?
Was the crown prince the type to listen at doors?!