SEVL 2

Chapter 2: The Return of the Villainess

“Senpai? Senpai!”

Someone was shaking me awake.

I shot upright and looked around. A modest, shabby student laboratory, with cheap experimental tools scattered about…

‘What…? I was just in a prison cell a moment ago.’

“You can’t sleep here. I understand your dedication to your degree, but please follow the student lab hours.”

A junior spoke up in a blunt voice after waking me.

‘Wait… this junior…’

She was the one with no real skill, but because she was related to the dean, her name always appeared as my co-author on research projects.

Feeling a little dazed, I responded reflexively and timidly:

“Who are you calling a little PhD nobody? Get out before I beat you with epithelial cells using simple harmonic motion—”

“You call yourself a PhD…? Haven’t you fully woken from your dream yet?”

The junior clicked her tongue and left the lab.

‘What the…? What’s going on?’

I checked the lab coat I was wearing.

‘Wait… this is the one I wore back in my PhD days?’

…Maybe I shouldn’t have called her a “little PhD” just now…

I blinked and, almost on impulse, rushed to the newspaper lying by the lab door.

<Breaking News> Melissa Prellai Returns, Renounces Prellai Estate, Enters Erloa Monastery as a Novice

“W-what… is happening?”

She had declared she would dedicate her life to service.

The date on the newspaper was surprisingly exactly one year prior to my last memory.

“I’m going to turn back time. I’ll take all these memories and go back one year. I’ll enter the monastery immediately and live a life unrelated to the Prellai estate. I will never die so pointlessly again!”

‘What… did Melissa really turn back time using her divine power?’

I was utterly stunned. In any case, this was incredible, so I immediately sent a letter to the monastery where Melissa was staying.

Because it involved the conspiracy story, I kept my words to a minimum to avoid leaving any loopholes.

‘Since I said “afterwards,” she’ll probably realize that I also retained my memories after regression.’

I figured that level of communication would be enough.

‘Just the fact that I sent her a letter is already remarkable. She’ll definitely understand.’

After sending the letter to the monastery, I locked myself in the dorm room to plan my next steps.

‘…So all of this is because of Prince Hiton, right?’

I decided to wait for Melissa’s reply before making any major moves, thinking through as many strategies as possible.

A few days later, while I was holed up in my room like a hermit, working on my 184th plan, there was a soft “tap tap” at the window.

“Hm?”

Covered with notes detailing countless scenarios, I peered through my glasses at the window.

“What… are you…?”

I mumbled, recognizing the source of the tapping.

“…Could it be Piyaki?”

Melissa’s yellow songbird familiar, Piyaki, had arrived carrying an envelope.

The moment I took the letter, Piyaki flapped its fluffy wings and chirped happily.

<Kiana, this is a letter from Melissa…>

I gently told Piyaki:

“Calm down a bit and zip it for now, okay? Read everything first, then you can chirp.”

<Hrrrmm!>

I carefully covered Piyaki’s beak and opened the letter.

Kiana, it’s been such a long time. You always acted grumpy toward me, but I know you really cared a lot.

What…? I furrowed my brows.

‘The wording is a little off… “long time” and “cared a lot”? What’s going on…?’

Others all said you were a spoiled noble brat who drove everyone crazy with jealousy. But I always believed that a tiny bit of goodness existed within you.

Even if your last words were threats like, “Next time we meet, I’ll remove the seeds from the strawberries you eat,” I still believed in it.

I quickly skimmed the rest of the letter.

One morning, I suddenly thought I should become a novice and enter the monastery. Isn’t this divine guidance?

Hmm? Didn’t she say before, “I don’t want to die, so I’ll run off to the monastery alone!”?

Now, I’m off to do volunteer work with other novices, so I won’t be in contact for a while. Goodbye.

The letter ended there, with only a postscript.

P.S. Finally, I deeply admire the tiny goodness in you that only I could notice, so I’ve enclosed a meaningful gift for you.

My eyes widened.

‘A meaningful gift?’

Could it be a notarized document saying, [I hereby transfer all my future wealth to my damn cousin Kiana]? I quickly flipped the envelope.

<Ta-da!>

Piyaki, who had obediently zipped its beak beside me, stretched its short wings and interrupted.

<This gift is me, Kiana!>

It had even wrapped the messy ribbon lying on my desk around its neck.

<Melissa no longer belongs to the Prellai name, so she decided she doesn’t need a familiar anymore. That’s why she sent me to you.>

“What?”

I nearly dropped the letter in shock.

Everyone in the Prellai household could summon familiars. Usually, they summoned their familiars around the age of eight. Each familiar had unique abilities to assist its master.

‘Except me…’

But that wasn’t the main point right now…

‘Abandoning the Prellai estate and even the familiar— isn’t that a bit extreme?’

<Turning back time with divine power is incredibly difficult. How could it have gone perfectly just because Melissa wanted it?>

While I was still dumbfounded, Piyaki slinked onto my bed and said:

<At that time, you and I were in contact, and something went wrong, so it seems only you and I retained the memory of regression, not Melissa.>

“My goodness…”

<I don’t know the details of divine power, but this is what I roughly understand.>

I recalled the scene. Piyaki had been collapsed at Melissa’s feet, and I had been shaking Melissa’s shoulder to bring her back to her senses. Right… it was contact.

“So, what about Melissa?”

<She didn’t even realize she had regressed. But her final decision to become a novice and leave the Prellai estate seems to have been a kind of mental conditioning.>

Piyaki flapped its wings and explained.

<So she entered the monastery immediately after regression.>

That explained the content of the letter, which had seemed like she was wandering in some flower garden.

She had no memory of regression, and simply believed she had suddenly realized her path and become a novice.

Apparently, we regressed at the same time, but I had been asleep, so Melissa acted faster.

“So, Piyaki, you didn’t tell Melissa about the regression?”

<Nope.>

Piyaki nodded confidently.

<Melissa no longer belongs to the Prellai name. Familiars don’t serve someone who isn’t a Prellai. If anything, it would make more sense to go to another Prellai, even if they’re cruel.>

Being recognized by Melissa’s familiar as a true Prellai felt… strange. But summoning a familiar is what really matters. So even if it was transferred to me, it didn’t mean I truly summoned the familiar as a Prellai.

I sighed, and Piyaki tapped the bed with its small wings, grumbling.

<This bed is really terrible. The room smells all musty. Did sixteen-year-old Kiana really cause such havoc and run off from the Prellai estate just to end up in a place like this?>

It already had a sharp tongue. I calmly gave some advice about living with a familiar.

“Piyaki, you can’t flop around in front of your master. Stand up straight immediately.”

<Oh my, calling me “master” already shows such a bossy attitude. Just as expected.>

But Piyaki was no ordinary bird.

<Poor Piyaki is exhausted from coming all the way to this rural backwater. At least here, on this crappy cheap bed, I need to rest a bit.>

That sharp-mouthed songbird… Truly, we were two equal beings, neither giving way to the other. Thanks to Piyaki, I finally understood the situation.

The only ones aware of the future are Piyaki and me. Hmm, then…

<But Kiana, what is all this?>

While I was lost in thought, Piyaki looked at the wall covered in notes and commented:

<Just looking at this makes me dizzy. You really look like a hermit in the corner of the room.>

I looked at Piyaki and answered:

“This… these are just traces of my thoughts about what to do next.”

<…Thoughts?>

“If things go on like this, the Prellai estate will be helplessly crushed by Prince Hiton again. Then I’ll be helplessly executed too.”

<And…?>

“So, the only solution is for smart and capable me to somehow rescue the estate directly.”

<But… you’ve thought about this so much?>

Piyaki looked around the room, uneasy.

“Yeah. I’ve always been a bit of a hard worker.”

<Hmm… But can Kiana really save the estate? You’ve been holed up in the countryside and know nothing about the Empire’s affairs. Right now, you only know one behind-the-scenes fact. The road ahead is too long.>

“Exactly. As your arrogant observation says, I know nothing right now.”

I agreed obediently.

“So I was at a complete loss, but now I have a pretty good solution.”

<A solution?>

I smiled at Piyaki and tilted my head.

“You’ll know what’s going to happen in the Empire, right? You were with Melissa, so you’ve been there the whole time.”

<…Wait, so the solution you’re talking about…>

“Here.”

I pulled out a new piece of paper and a pen.

“Tell me everything you know. Anything, no matter how trivial. I’ll add it to the notes and reanalyze the situation. Should take about two weeks.”

<Two weeks?> Piyaki gaped, stunned.

<Two weeks? Kiana, how can you be so determined? It’s like you’re made entirely of obsession…>

“Piyaki.”

I cut Piyaki off, scowling. My field is magical engineering, based on math and science, and I couldn’t stand such nonsense.

“I’m made of cells.”

<…>