I’m a Villainess but So Popular

Editor : Aru

The monster’s body caught fire in an instant.

‘That’s enough. Let’s keep going.’

Judging from the speed of movement, it seemed to be a similar kind to the one I missed during the last raid.

It might be a little too much, but it was worth trying.

I stepped back, growing the flame more powerful and bigger.

A blazing blue flame swallowed the monster as a whole.

“It’s useless.”

I could hear Iker’s voice from below.

‘What…?’

It was just then.

I could see the shape of a monster flying directly toward me through the blue flame.

I immediately turned away, but almost brushed against the monster’s sharp teeth.

And not long after I avoided the attack, the monster attacked again, and I fired flame magic without stopping.

‘That’s ridiculous……!’

The monster was definitely burning little by little and sometimes twisted its body as if it were in pain.

Nevertheless, the speed of movement was unchanged.

It was still fast and intimidating.

‘I can’t stand this.’

Although I did not use the maximum flame magic, the monster was exposed to high-temperature flames quite a few times and for a long time, but it didn’t avoid my attack, nor did he seem to have suffered much damage.

“He’ll be different from the ones you’ve ever seen. I’ve improved it.”

“I was wondering how the hell it broke into the palace, but you were the culprit.”

I gritted my teeth and snapped back.

“I guess you didn’t have confidence in yourself. You even thought of stealing other people’s mana.”

]-[[“I don’t think it’s the right time to talk like that.”

Iker replied with an arrogant look.

“Even if you use fire magic as your maximum mana, that guy won’t die easily.”

The monster twisted his body again and chased me. I gritted my teeth and ignited a flame with maximum mana.

I’ve never raised the temperature of the flame magic like this in a short period of time.

Gradually, my left eye hurt.

Then the monster stopped moving and fell without force.

“Unexpected. I didn’t think you’d kill him.”

Iker muttered, kicking the monster’s body.

Taking advantage of the gap, I quickly came down from the air and brought my fiery right hand to his neck.

“Where’s Cassius?”

Nevertheless, Iker did not blink.

“I’m so jealous. You’re still looking for that stupid guy even in this situation.”

“Don’t be ridiculous, just say it quickly. I have to go report to the imperial court, so don’t relax.”

My eyes were sore and I was a little out of breath.

It seemed that it was because I was afraid that he would get runaway, so I kept on alert and consumed a lot of mana.

“The imperial family? That’s funny.”

Iker burst into laughter.

I didn’t understand that he could laugh like that in a situation where the blue flame might touch his face at any moment.

To my eyes, it only looked like madness.

“What’s so funny? You’ll lose your crown for treason.”

“Yerine Spade, there’s one thing you’ve got wrong.”

Iker twisted the corners of his mouth and smiled sly.

“You said it would be faster to be a direct wizard of the present emperor than to wait for me to become an emperor.”

Behind the swaying flames, I could see his golden eyes covered in madness and lust.

“Wrong. I was the emperor first before you became the wizard of the present Emperor.”

The moment I heard it, my head went blank.

“What…?”

“The Emperor is dead already.”

When I faced his eyes of arrogance and madness again, I saw the image of the devil in him.

The devil can’t be purified even with the blue flame.

“Now I’m the new emperor, and everyone will kneel before me.”

Then he flicked his right hand lightly.

The whole hall seemed to get dark in an instant.

My flame magic seemed to fade in the bleak air.

“Everyone, including you.”

When I looked up, numerous monsters came out of a circle and surrounded Iker.

It seemed to be dozens.

The battlefield of the hall was almost invisible because it was covered by a black monster.

“As soon as you set off a flame, all these monsters will come at you. You know what will happen next.”

“…….”

“You can kill one, but you can’t kill all these alone.”

Iker talked with an expression that looked joyful as if laughing.

“You won’t be able to move in a second.”

I can’t believe the Emperor is dead.

There must have been a high-ranking knight around the palace.

The fact that Iker killed such an Emperor was that there might be hundreds of such monsters in the palace now.

What about Cassius?

Even now, Iker smelled like blood.

‘No.’

His face, smiling at me, passed through my head.

“Turn off the flame magic.”

I chewed my lips still.

For the first time, I thought I wanted to attack someone sincerely with fire.

“You really don’t listen. I don’t want to hurt your cute face, so listen to me.”

My left eye had already heated up.

My mana seemed to have run out.

The possibility was even.

Either I’m going to be wild or being subjected to a monster before I run out of mana.

“There’s no one to help you. The rest of the seven Housekeepers have already been caught. Of course, that stupid Cassius can’t help you either.”

Eventually, I put out the flame.

“Good job.”

Iker said, folding his eyes like a crescent moon.

“That’s right, I just remember this, but I’m the only one who can teleport from the palace now. As soon as the Emperor died, I took that power.”

Just listening to Iker’s voice made me sick.

The smell of blood stabbing my nose made my head dizzy.

“I’m sorry that you miss him, but Cassius will die soon. I just wanted you to know.”

I clenched my fist so hard that my nails dug into my palm.

Blood was already flowing from the left hand.

“Forget about him. What do you think about joining me?”

If it weren’t for the monster, I’d burn him with flames.

“You don’t like it, do you? Well, you have only one option, though.”

I rolled my eyes to explore the surrounding area as much as I could.

It couldn’t end like this.

‘If the number of the monsters was just a little bit smaller, I could have escaped right away.….’

“Look up.”

A strong hand clenched his chin.

Iker, who forced my head up, took a long look at my face.

“As expected, the mana came out from that eye.”

The heat still lingered in the left eye.

Iker, who smiled at my eyes, came closer and put his right hand on my face.

“Apart from mana, it’s really pretty eyes.”

The fingers that were touching the eyes slowly moved to the ends of the eyes and eyelashes.

“It’s shining. Is it because of the massive magic? I really like the colour of blood.”

His fingers then pressed lightly on the eyelids, and I closed my eyes reflexively to the creepy sensation and twisted my body.

“Oh, you can’t avoid it.”

Iker held my face, so I couldn’t avoid Iker’s touch.

“Really, I want to have it.”

Iker’s low whispering voice, licking his lips with his tongue, gave me goosebumps.

He was staring at me with his gold eyes, which seemed to be pickled in honey.

It was the same colour as the eyes of the person who truly loves me.

Despite the same golden colour, those eyes were unpleasant.

“This is what it’s supposed to be like, you should’ve listened to me from the beginning.”

I didn’t listen to what Iker said.

‘Think, the way out of here.’

If Iker catches me like this, I’m done.

He wanted my mana.

If I, who had a large amount of mana, fell into Iker’s hands, the forces fighting against him would lose considerable power.

Cassius.

I have to take Cassius out.

For Iker, who had even killed the Emperor, Cassius must have been the most annoying thing for him at present.

‘If I keep dragging on like this, Cassius will be in danger.’

“As long as you refuse my offer to the end, you can’t afford a Trump position. Oh, there aren’t even 7 Imperial Families left anyway.”

I didn’t know for some reason, but Iker seemed to be planning to launch a coup and attack all the forces that were already in control.

‘He didn’t mean to leave any Housekeepers from the very beginning.’

If the Housekeepers all gathered together, they might be able to defend to some extent.

But Iker said the rest of the Housekeepers were caught.

‘Of all things.’

“Well, I’ll be as good as I can be. It’s been a while since I’ve had someone I like you.”

“I’m not very happy.”

“Really? You may live a life that you will never feel happy about in the future.”

Iker said with a mean smile.

“Maybe again. If you act cute, I’ll give you a prize sometimes.”

“Too self-conscious. Who would do that to a guy like you?”

“You did it to Cassius, didn’t you?”

I snorted.

He seemed to care more about Cassius than anyone else, even though he was looking down on him.

As if he’s secretly aware that he’s worse than Cassius.

“No. No way.”

Even under the dark night sky, his eyes shining brightly like the sun passed by.

I felt like crying for some reason.

I wanted to see that brilliance shines again.

“Even if I didn’t do that, Cassius liked me just the way I was.”

When Iker heard the words, he immediately hardened his face.

“I can do that much.”

I missed Cassius.

I missed Eugene, Erica, Rachel, Astra, and Rayl.

I missed everyone.

I suddenly remembered the day when the two of us were standing under the mistletoe.

His kiss, his smile, and his voice came to mind.

‘Huh?’

For a moment, Casius’ words passed through my mind.

‘Your mana, I think, is a kind of mana that doesn’t exist within the Empire.’

I smiled faintly.

It was like gambling, but it was worth trying.

In fact, I was pretty sure.

“No, you can’t.”

In an instant, Iker’s eyes turned cold.

I felt like he was going to hit me from the bottom of his heart, but I wasn’t scared.

“You’re not that much of a human being, are you?”

Iker opened his mouth in anger with a distorted face.

But before his words came out of his mouth, I thought of the teleportation magic circle in my head.

I imagined the magic circle in my head and the path to the entrance of the palace site in as much detail as possible.

“You–”

His hand couldn’t reach me.

I closed my eyes because I felt like I was being sucked into the air.

When I opened my eyes, I stood at the entrance of the palace site, which was darkened by heavy rain clouds.

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