I, The Villainess, Will Seduce All The Heroines Instead
Chapter 85: I... Killed Her?

Chapter 85: I... Killed Her?

Verena stood over Evelyn’s lifeless body, her hands trembling.

She had done it.

She had killed her.

Her knees buckled, collapsing onto the cold floor. Why was everything falling apart? Why had it come to this?

The room was a mess.

A haunting blend of blood and betrayal. Evelyn’s body lay beneath her, the life drained from it. Her heart was obliterated.

"I... I killed her," Verena whispered to herself, barely able to comprehend it.

How was she supposed to love something that wanted to destroy her?

How could she ever understand love if that love led to destruction?

Saphira finally detached from her, and with it, the strength that had briefly returned to Verena slipped away. She collapsed onto the cold floor, feeling an unbearable weight pressing down on her chest.

"I feel so weak..." she murmured, barely able to lift her head.

One day passed.

Then two.

Three.

Four.

Five.

Five days had gone by.

Five long, agonizing days spent lying next to Evelyn’s lifeless body.

The room smelled of decay, the once-vibrant girl now fading into nothing, her body slowly rotting.

The silence was oppressive, the stillness unbearable. Verena had nothing left to cling to.

No strength, no will to move, no sense of purpose. Only the haunting image of what she had done.

"Maybe I’m the problem, after all?" Verena’s voice was faint, barely more than a whisper. She hadn’t eaten in days, and her body felt frail, weaker by the hour.

"What do you mean?" Saphira’s voice broke through the fog of her thoughts, but Verena barely registered it.

"I’m always so distant. So cold..." She paused, her chest tightening with the weight of her own words. "I kill everything around me."

To Verena, who had been told for so long that she was cold, distant, and unreachable, it felt like she had been slowly poisoning everything she touched.

No matter how hard she tried to do right, somehow, her very presence seemed to push people away.

"I kill everything around me," she repeated, her voice trembling.

She had always blamed others. Blamed them for not understanding, for not meeting her expectations.

But now, in the quiet aftermath of all that had happened, Verena couldn’t help but wonder if she had been the one causing the destruction all along.

Love...

Love...

What the hell was love, anyway?

If she dared to love, it would destroy her.

If someone dared to love her, it would destroy them.

It was a curse either way.

"Why isn’t the system intervening...?" Verena whispered hoarsely, her eyes blank.

Normally, there’d be a penalty. A warning. A debuff. The system was always watching, always ready to punish deviation. But now, it was silent. Like it had turned its back on her.

It felt as if even the universe itself had abandoned her.

Or worse, was quietly waiting for her to die.

"You’re on your self-progression arc, remember?" Saphira said gently. "This time, the system is being patient with you..."

"Is that so?..."

"That’s right. As much as the heroines need saving, you need to realize... you need saving too."

"Is this how the system fixes me?"

"No. But I can’t blame you for your state either. Look at yourself, Verena. So full of hate. So full of contradiction. You don’t hate those girls because they’re weak. You hate them because they reflect you, don’t they?"

And suddenly, it all made sense.

Evelyn—the doormat. Always agreeable, painfully devoted.

Just like Verena, once upon a time, when she believed she had to please everyone to be worthy of anything.

Back then, she couldn’t even cut off the people poisoning her soul.

Sera—the loud fool. The emotional mess.

Just like Verena when she used to hate herself for feeling too much. There was a time she would have done anything to silence her own heart.

Vivienne—the dense one. Naïve, oblivious.

A mirror to Verena’s younger self, when she didn’t know how to read people, when she hoped that if she were just kind enough, just lovable enough, people would soften for her.

Beatrice—the red flag incarnate. Indecisive, messy, confusing.

Like Verena, who still couldn’t tell what love was supposed to feel like. One moment cold, the next desperate for warmth.

Anastasia—the girl who lowered herself for love.

Just like Verena, who once bent and broke herself for people who never deserved her.

She always blamed them... but deep down, she knew. She chose them.

She saw the red flags and closed her eyes.

Rosalinde—the captive who forgave her captor.

The one who romanticized pain.

Like Verena, who once thought real love was measured by how much it endured, even when it became poison.

Cassandra—the pick-me. So desperate to be special, to be irreplaceable.

Just like Verena, who once wanted to be needed so badly she forgot to ask if she was wanted.

Celestine—the perfect one. Verena couldn’t even hate her properly.

She was the ideal. But even then, Verena saw herself in her too. The fixer. The martyr. The one who believed that if she healed others, they would stay. That love was earned through pain.

She hadn’t saved these heroines.

She’d been punishing them.

For being parts of herself she wasn’t ready to face.

"You didn’t just kill her, Verena... You’ve been killing yourself for a long time, over and over," Saphira said softly.

"...Is that so?"

Tears streamed down her cheeks without sound.

She looked at Evelyn’s lifeless body, bloody, rotting, still, and moved forward anyway. She wrapped her arms around her, held her close despite the stench, the decay, the guilt.

It was revolting. It was pitiful. But it was real.

And in that embrace, something came to light.

A tiny fire in her chest.

Her hate. It wasn’t as loud anymore.

Her questions. They weren’t as sharp.

She finally understood what love was.

But she had refused to give it. Not just to Evelyn. Not just to the world.

She had refused to give it to herself.

[SYSTEM NOTIFICATION]

[SELF-PROGRESSION ARC COMPLETE]

[REWARD UNLOCKED:]

[Temporal Skip Boost: Forward Progression Initiated][You may now advance to the Day of the Miting de Avance with full awareness of prior events.]

[Good luck, Knight of Ruin and Renewal.]

In the end, she was hurled into the timeline.

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