I, The Villainess, Will Seduce All The Heroines Instead
Chapter 74: Self-Progression Route

Chapter 74: Self-Progression Route

Honestly, at this point, with all the tiring heroines around her, who would even have her back?

"Me!" The snake chimed in, slithering around her neck.

Both Verena and Beatrice stopped for a moment. Right. She had brought her familiar along, just in case she got into trouble.

It wasn’t against school rules anyway. Familiars weren’t considered pets, they were more like equals, partners that sided with the student.

"Did you just read my mind?" Verena raised an eyebrow.

"We’re infused together, remember?" the snake replied smugly. "So yeah, if you’re having dirty thoughts, I can totally see them if I want!"

"Should I just throw you out, then?"

Beatrice gasped, her hands flying to the snake. "No! Don’t throw it out!" She cradled it carefully, her eyes gleaming with excitement. "What’s their name?"

"Don’t know. Didn’t ask."

"Then... how about Saphira?"

"Not bad..."

"This feels nice... naming the snake together... it’s like we’re parents!" She beamed at Verena, totally unaware of the absurdity of her statement.

Verena’s cheeks flushed red.

The audacity of this girl!

Was she really saying this with a straight face?

It was exactly like one of those heroines who had the annoying habit of saying things that made male lead’s heart skip a beat. And somehow, that made it even more annoying!

[System Notification]

[Focus Shift Activated!]

[Priority Alert: SELF-PROGRESSION ROUTE INITIATED.]

[Now is not the time for flirtatious distractions, emotional entanglements, or spontaneous co-parenting of magical reptiles.]

[Current Mission: Strengthen your magic, refine your skills, and unlock new abilities!]

[Romantic subplots: TEMPORARILY LOCKED]

[Personal Growth Arc: ACTIVE AND EXPANDING]

[Progress now to shape your future. The plot won’t wait forever.]

Personal growth, huh?

Honestly, it was about time.

Before she got yeeted into this ridiculous romance novel, she’d barely recovered from a breakup that had emotionally dropkicked her into a spiral.

Now she was stuck playing emotional janitor to every heroine with daddy issues and trauma backstories.

If she was ever going to actually fall in love again, if that was even allowed by the system, she needed to clean up her own emotional clutter first.

Step one: self-reflection.

Step two: boundaries.

Step three: no more emotionally unstable bitey girls. For now. Until the system demanded it again.

"Lady Verena!"

A voice sliced through the crowd like it had a main character complex.

A tall woman burst through the sea of students, her House Terranova uniform catching the sunlight like it had its own lighting crew. Golden hair flowing, violet eyes gleaming...

No.

It couldn’t be...

Clarina?!

Was this her healing era afterall?!

"What are you doing here?" Verena asked, grinning way too widely.

Ugh. She was trying to play it cool, but her face had other plans.

"Your mother enrolled me here," Clarina said, dropping to one knee like a knight out of a romantic drama. "I’ve been tasked to protect you."

She took Verena’s hand with full ceremony.

Around them, the crowd exploded.

"IS SHE PROPOSING?!"

"IS THIS A LOVE DECLARATION?! RIGHT HERE? AT THE GATE?!"

Verena’s smile twitched. Oh, how she longed for a mute button for the entire student body. Even Beatrice looked scandalized, and then giggled like this was delicious tea.

"Clarina, stand up!" she hissed, yanking her up by the arm. "You’re making people get the wrong idea!"

"Oh... I see..." Clarina said softly.

But then, across the crowd, Verena saw her.

Evelyn.

Standing there like a ghost of relationship drama past, watching with big watery eyes and emotional damage. Verena stiffened.

Nope. Nope. Not today, Satan.

Clarina might’ve been dramatic, but at least she was competent.

"Let’s just go," Verena muttered, grabbing Clarina’s arm like an emergency exit.

But as they made their way inside, Verena noticed an unusual buzz in the air and a suspicious number of students crowding around classroom doors like it was Black Friday.

"What’s going on?" Verena asked, squinting at the chaos.

Beatrice blinked. "Uh... it’s the exams? Remember?"

...

"EXAMS?!"

The word echoed through her brain like a slap.

She’d been so caught up with Penelope’s birthday drama and emotional whack-a-mole with Evelyn that she’d either completely forgotten or just blatantly ignored it. Honestly, both felt true.

The classes so far had been all theory. No fun, no magic explosions, no chance to duel someone in the hallway. It was like reading a textbook on how to yawn.

Naturally, she assumed none of it mattered.

Big mistake.

"I suppose this doesn’t apply to me yet," Clarina said calmly.

"Yeah, you’ll probably have some kind of special exam," Beatrice nodded thoughtfully.

"An exam, huh?"

They turned and there she was.

Vivienne.

Smiling like someone who just remembered a dream where she was a spoon.

"Do you think if I fail the exam hard enough, they’ll let me retake kindergarten?"

There was a pause. A long one.

"That’s not how it works, Vivienne," Verena said slowly, already regretting asking the universe for comic relief.

On the other side of the hallway, a line of students had formed in front of... a storage room?

It definitely wasn’t an exam room.

In fact, it looked suspiciously like the place where broken chairs went to die.

Dim lighting, mysterious aura, faint smell of dust and old wood polish.

"Why is there a queue for that?" Verena asked, squinting.

"Oh?" Beatrice smiled. "You don’t know? Some students get their tarot cards read before exams. It’s kind of a tradition now. Helps them feel more... cosmically prepared."

"Tarot, huh?" Verena murmured.

It probably wouldn’t help her cram a semester’s worth of theoretical nonsense into ten minutes, but hey, she could use all the divine guidance she could get.

"What time is the exam?"

"In ten minutes."

"Perfect. I’ll gamble my fate with the stars, then."

The line wasn’t too long. Most students had either chickened out or rushed ahead to meet their academic doom.

When it was finally her turn, she stepped inside.

The door closed behind her with an ominous click.

Suddenly, the room flared with starlight, tiny pinpricks of constellations spun lazily across the ceiling.

A chair awaited her like a throne, and across the small table sat a figure cloaked in velvet shadows.

"Welcome, Conduitor," the voice purred, soft and hypnotic like honey laced with danger.

Verena sat down slowly, locking eyes with them.

Her brain short-circuited.

S-She’s... GORGEOUS?!