I, The Villainess, Will Seduce All The Heroines Instead
Chapter 78: To Get Bitten Or To Bite Back?

Chapter 78: To Get Bitten Or To Bite Back?

It was painfully awkward.

The kind of awkward that made every sip of tea feel like a slow descent into madness.

Penelope, who had tried to publicly ruin Verena just a week ago, was now sitting at the same table, pinky raised, daintily sipping floral oolong like she hadn’t tried to emotionally suplex her.

The development was way too fast.

It felt like the story had skipped a few pages just to throw them into a "tense tea party reconciliation" arc. And yet, Verena had invited her.

Clarina and Beatrice were frozen like background NPCs, their teacups hovering mid-air.

Beatrice looked like she was calculating the square root of betrayal, and Clarina was seconds away from launching her biscuit at Penelope like a throwing star.

"Care to explain why we’re babysitting her now?" Clarina whispered, holding a hand beside her face for cover.

"Yeah, why are we doing this again?" Beatrice joined in.

"What do you mean? I’m just making new friends," Verena said, flashing them an overly cheerful grin.

Verena, for her part, wasn’t fooled for a second.

Oh, she knew Penelope was up to something.

The girl practically oozed "I’m-pretending-to-be-civil-but-will-100%-stab-you-later" energy. But keeping your enemies close was a classic HR strategy.

If they’re going to sabotage you, better they do it where you can watch with popcorn in hand.

The tea came from a nearby campus stall. The snacks weren’t bad either. Little finger sandwiches, sweet buns, and betrayal.

If Verena had to guess, Penelope’s reasons for being here were as petty as they were convoluted.

Maybe she was sent by her dear daddy to "repair her image" or maybe she was just angry Raphael dumped her and was projecting that rage onto Verena.

Either way, it was deliciously messy.

Sure, Verena knew it was idiotic to keep her around.

She’d just "broken up" with Evelyn, and here she was, cozying up to Penelope—the other major villainess.

But no one had seen Penelope’s face yet. Besides, Verena had just unlocked a new goal:

If Evelyn wanted to gather the heroines into one fluffy friendship circle, then Verena would rather gather the villainesses.

Why? Because they had the same fate as her, such as being stuck in this rather cliche and stereotypical romance novel.

Some were just bratty women with abandonment issues, others were misunderstood anti-heroines, and a few were just so poorly written they didn’t even know they were villains.

Verena was going to whip them all into a found-family-from-hell whether they liked it or not.

First, Verena had to test her. It was the standard HR villainess evaluation protocol.

For the next entire week, she committed to what she dubbed: Operation Friendship Harassment.

It was friendship, with just enough passive aggression and chaos to make a grown noblewoman cry.

Every day, without fail, Verena appeared beside Penelope like a judgmental ghost.

Day one, she sat beside her in every single class. Even the ones they didn’t share.

"Oh, look at that. My seat’s magically next to yours again," She leaned in close. "Destiny’s funny, huh?"

Penelope blinked slowly, probably already rethinking her life choices.

Day two, she sent her notes. But not just normal, well-organized ones. No. These were annotated with motivational insults.

"Stop being dramatic – this theory isn’t about you."

"This part is highlighted because I know you’ll fail it."

"Pretend the magical flux is Evelyn’s attention span. Unreliable."

Day Three, Verena started making friendship bracelets.

"It’s enchanted," she claimed sweetly as she tied it around Penelope’s wrist, "so I’ll know where you are. For bonding. Definitely not surveillance."

Penelope tried to chew it off by the afternoon.

Day four, she organized a group lunch hangout and insisted Penelope join.

The lunch turned out to be Clarina’s aggressively silent glares, Beatrice humming unsettlingly, and Verena asking penetrating questions like, "So when did you decide to weaponize beauty as a coping mechanism?"

Day five, Verena showed up to Penelope’s dorm at 6 AM.

"Morning jog. Character development starts with cardio."

Penelope tried to slam the door in her face.

Too slow.

Verena had her foot in.

By the end of the week, something cracked. And not just Penelope’s already questionable composure.

"WHY are you doing this?" Penelope finally snapped after Verena had braided her hair for the third time while psychoanalyzing her over scones. "Are you torturing me?!"

Verena just smiled sweetly. "No, silly. I’m being your friend."

And that’s when Penelope’s real intentions slipped out, right alongside her patience and last brain cell.

"Friend?... FRIEND?!" Penelope sputtered. "I never wanted to be your friend! Ugh! The thought of even pretending to be friends with you makes me—" She paused, a flush creeping up her neck as she realized she had just let a little too much spill out.

"It’s just that... I’m not here for friendship, okay?!" she snapped.

"Oh, really? So, you’re not here to... ’gather intel’ for your dear old father or anything like that, right?"

If looks could kill, Verena would have just been obliterated by the intensity of Penelope’s glare. But, of course, the truth was already written in the way Penelope’s face was twitching.

"You’re here for yourself, aren’t you? Trying to figure out how to... manipulate me into helping you get back in your father’s good graces?"

"You are disgusting."

Verena couldn’t help but chuckle, delighted at how quickly her little "test" had worked. "Aww, no need to act so dramatic. You did ask for this little test run. It’s not my fault that your plans were so transparent."

Before Verena could even blink, Penelope shot her hand out, aiming for her cheek.

SMACK!

But in an almost too casual motion, Verena caught her wrist mid-swing, her eyes twinkling in amusement. "Oh my, that was a bit aggressive, don’t you think?" she said with mock sweetness, not even breaking a sweat.

Penelope’s eyes burned with fury as she tried again, swinging her other hand at Verena’s face, but once again, Verena caught it faster this time.

"Are you quite done?" Verena asked, an amused smirk playing on her lips.

But Penelope wasn’t done. Oh no.

With a growl of frustration, Penelope tried again, this time with both hands, trying to slap Verena as if she could release all her pent-up emotions in a single hit.

It was almost laughable.

"You think you can just—!" Penelope hissed, clearly beyond the point of no return, and swung once more, aiming for Verena’s face.

"Honestly, you’re really starting to bore me."

Suddenly, a wicked grin twisted on Penelope’s lips as she leaned in, narrowing her gaze at Verena. "Oh, I see... You’re in love with Evelyn, aren’t you?"

Verena felt countered against almost immediately. "W-What are you talking about?" she stuttered, immediately regretting her reaction.

Penelope was clearly onto something, but Verena was not prepared for this turn of events.

She tilted her head as if the pieces had finally fallen into place. "So, you are in love with her, huh? That’s cute."

Before Verena could protest, Penelope took a step forward, her hands suddenly pushing Verena back against the wall with a surprising amount of force.

Verena’s heart skipped a beat at the proximity, but her pride wasn’t about to let her show any weakness.

Then, without warning, Penelope leaned in, far too close for comfort and kissed her.

It wasn’t exactly a soft, romantic kiss.

No, this was more like an overconfident, revenge-driven peck, as though Penelope thought she could claim something precious by force.

Verena blinked in disbelief, her mind scrambling to process what was happening.

She pulled away with a sharp gasp, eyes wide in utter shock.

"...Did you just—?" Verena stammered, her voice trailing off as she tried to make sense of Penelope’s ridiculous behavior.

"There. Now I’ve stolen what’s hers, I guess."

Verena couldn’t believe her luck. Another cliche, another stereotypical scenario coming her way. She was so done with this.

Honestly, it was like she was living out some kind of bad fanfiction at this point.

In the novel, when Penelope found out that Raphael was helplessly, hopelessly in love with Evelyn, the script was clear: She’d try to swoop in, all possessive and dramatic, like some kind of rom-com villainess trying to claim her prize.

If she’d been keeping track, she would’ve already predicted this scene because, let’s be real, it was a carbon copy of the first volume, all about claiming what’s "rightfully hers" and throwing in some good ol’ fashioned sexual harassment for good measure.

She’d seen this kind of thing happen so many times in the trashy romance novels she used to read.

The only difference was now, she was in the middle of it. And let’s just say, Verena had no intention of letting this play out like a poorly written drama.

She glanced over at Penelope, who was still standing there, looking like she had just won some twisted game of "Who Gets to Be the Villainess Today."

"Well, congratulations, Penelope. You’re officially the most cliché character in this entire narrative. Shall we get on with it, or are we going to stand here all day pretending like this is original?"

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