I, The Villainess, Will Seduce All The Heroines Instead
Chapter 172: The Trial (29)

Chapter 172: The Trial (29)

The courtyard was buzzing with low music and laughter, a rare moment of reprieve in a school known for surviving trials more than hosting parties. Floating crystal lanterns bobbed overhead, glowing faintly with the colors of their casters’ magic. Food tables lined the cobblestone edges, brimming with exotic dishes: fried starfruit slices that shimmered on the tongue, constellation-stamped mochi, and mugs of milky comet cider that fizzed slightly like champagne.

Verena sat back down on a velvet-cushioned bench beneath the arbor, watching as Sera challenged Clarina to a drinking contest with the intensity of a duel. Clarina, for her part, looked one sip away from a migraine, while Evelyn was already pulling out a scroll to chronicle "how not to flirt while drunk."

"They look like they’re doing okay," Beatrice said, leaning beside her, arms crossed and expression unreadable.

Verena exhaled, her fingers tapping lightly against her knees. "I wasn’t sure they would."

"You weren’t sure you would either," Beatrice added.

Verena winced. "Yeah. I’m working on that."

Beatrice tilted her head slightly. "And you’re always the one fixing everything for everyone else."

"Well, someone has to," Verena said, perhaps too quickly. "If I don’t, things go off the rails."

"But do you trust anyone else to take the reins?"

Verena paused.

The answer was no. She didn’t. Not entirely.

But she also knew Beatrice wasn’t asking out of criticism. It was concern, gentle and probing.

"I’m learning," Verena admitted.

Beatrice nodded once, as if that were good enough. "Good."

A silence fell between them, not awkward but weighty. Like something had been acknowledged.

Then:

"I saw your mimicry spell during the Trial," Beatrice added, changing the topic just enough. "Your control’s improved."

"Still can’t copy mid-tier Zodiac spells without frying something."

"You fused with your snake."

"Saphira prefers ’mysterious cosmic terror wrapped in scales,’ thank you."

Beatrice cracked a smile. "Of course she does."

They both watched as Vivienne stumbled past them with a slice of cake larger than her hand. She waved at Verena with enough enthusiasm to almost fall over, her cheeks puffed full of frosting.

Verena deadpanned. "My burden has become sugar-fueled."

"She adores you."

"She doesn’t even remember me half the time!"

"Still adores you."

A laugh bubbled out of Verena’s chest before she could stop it.

It was genuine. And it felt strange, but in the good way.

For once, she wasn’t laughing as a defense. She wasn’t preparing for the next fire to put out. She was just... there. In the moment.

She turned to Beatrice. "How long do you think this peace lasts?"

"Not long," Beatrice said honestly. "The Grand Astral Shift is coming."

The smile faded slightly from Verena’s face. "Yeah."

Twelve years. Every twelve years, the heavens realigned and the ley currents of Irasios pulsed in full bloom. It would be beautiful. It would be catastrophic. And the closer they got to it, the more volatile everything would become.

Zodiacal signs would invert. Powers would fluctuate wildly. Prophecies would crack open.

It was, quite literally, the time where stories unraveled and rewrote themselves.

"I’m afraid," Verena admitted in a whisper.

Beatrice didn’t answer immediately. Then, softly, "Me too."

That was it. Just honesty. No bravado.

And somehow, that helped more than any comforting words ever could.

The stars pulsed gently above them.

Verena looked back at her friends—her team. Her chaos crew of broken archetypes and unpredictable heroines.

Penelope was now attempting to wrestle a spellbound chicken that Evelyn had accidentally conjured in her drunkenness. Isolde stood beside them, horrified and muttering that she’d disown them all. Sera had somehow gotten a crown of fire conjured on her head and was declaring herself the Zodiac Queen.

And Vivienne was twirling in circles, trying to make the sugar stars land on her tongue.

They were a mess.

But they were hers.

And maybe, just maybe... they’d make it through the next volume too.

Verena leaned back against the cool marble pillar, hands tucked behind her head, as the glow of the celebration flickered like fireflies all around her. Somewhere in the background, someone had started playing a lute badly—probably Raphael—and the sound of drunken off-key harmonizing from Penelope and Sera echoed across the courtyard like war cries wrapped in song.

She couldn’t help but smile.

It wasn’t perfect. Hell, most of it had been complete chaos. But in a strange, soul-deep way, it felt earned.

Her thoughts wandered to the Trials, to the moment she stood alone in the Labyrinth, fearing she’d lose it all. And yet, here she was. Still standing. Still Verena. Whatever that meant now.

"You look thoughtful," came a low voice.

It was Clarina, walking toward her with her usual stiff elegance, though her cloak was slung lazily over one shoulder. Her hair was slightly mussed. For Clarina, that was practically a scandal.

"Trying to figure out why Penelope’s wrestling a chicken enchanted with flame resistance," Verena replied. "Also reflecting on the possible end of the world, but, you know, casually."

Clarina’s lips twitched. "Multi-tasking. Impressive as always."

Verena gave a one-shouldered shrug, but the levity faded a little. "Have you noticed it too?"

Clarina nodded. "The sky’s too quiet. The stars... are moving wrong. And the Zodiabeasts have been restless. You’re not imagining it."

"And the students," Verena murmured. "They’re changing. Rapidly."

"You included," Clarina said pointedly.

Verena glanced down at her hands. The mimicry lines on her wrist shimmered faintly—residual echoes from her fusion with Saphira. "Yeah. I’m not who I was."

"None of us are," Clarina said.

A beat passed. Then Clarina added with a ghost of a smirk, "Though I’d still prefer if you didn’t adopt strays mid-Trial. I nearly decapitated Vivienne by accident."

Verena groaned. "I swear, I’m not building a harem."

"I never said you were." Clarina turned, her cloak catching the wind. "But if you are, at least be dignified about it."

The joke caught Verena off guard, and she let out a laugh—light, surprised, unguarded.

They stood there in the calm before the storm, under a velvet sky stitched with constellations.

And then it shifted.

Literally.

The stars above trembled—just a fraction, like a string being plucked.

Verena felt it. In her bones. In her breath. Her Zodiac Weave tingled.

Others in the courtyard did too. Heads turned. Conversations dropped. Even the chicken stopped clucking.

From the distant towers of the academy, the great clock chimed midnight.

And then—

DONG.

The constellations above moved. Just slightly—but it was wrong. No, not wrong. Re-aligning.

The first signal of the Grand Astral Shift had begun.

A hush fell over the academy grounds. Professor Sirius appeared atop one of the northern balconies, his robe billowing as if caught by the currents of starlight themselves.

"All students," his voice rang through magical amplification, clear and low, "heed the call."

Magical glyphs burst across the sky, forming the symbol of the Twelve Zodiacs—and at the center, a thirteenth spiral.

Ophiuchus.

Verena’s blood ran cold.

Saphira stirred inside her, coiled tight.

"I was afraid of this," the serpent’s voice whispered. "The center is breaking."

"The what?"

"The Weave’s balance. Ophiuchus is not content to stay hidden."

Verena looked around, heart hammering. Her friends stared up, confusion and awe written across their faces.

Then Evelyn stepped beside her, eyes wide and shining. "It’s beginning."

Beatrice joined them next. "The Shift."

Isolde was not far behind, arms crossed. "And we’re not ready."

"No one ever is," Verena said quietly.

The symbol burned above them, pulsing like a heartbeat.

And Verena, despite the ache in her bones, despite the exhaustion threading through her soul, smiled.

Because damn it, she’d come this far. They all had.

And even if fate was about to tip the scales again, she wasn’t going to back down.

The sky didn’t settle. If anything, it thrummed—alive with tension, constellations flaring and twisting ever so slightly, as if breathing for the first time in centuries.

Students around Verena murmured, their expressions cycling from awe to apprehension. Even the arrogant duelists from House Ignis looked uneasy. Something primal stirred in all of them. The Zodiac Weave was shifting—and it was not a subtle shift.

Professor Sirius’s voice once again echoed, this time lower and steadier:

"Prepare yourselves. The Grand Astral Shift marks the recalibration of the Weave. Currents will change. Affinities will waver. Power will bloom... or fracture."

Verena felt a shiver crawl up her spine. Her mimicry glyphs flickered erratically, as if her magic, too, was holding its breath.

She glanced to her side. Evelyn clutched her staff with renewed determination. Beatrice’s hands were clenched. Vivienne looked... confused, but dreamy, as always.

And Clarina? Clarina drew her sword.

"For what it’s worth," she murmured, "I’m with you."

Verena gave her a sideways smile, heart thudding. "Good. Because I think fate just hit the reshuffle button."

Somewhere above, Ophiuchus pulsed in defiance.

And the war for alignment had begun.

The ground quaked subtly. Magic tingled in the air. Verena exhaled, steadying herself. "Alright then," she whispered. "Let’s survive this."

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