[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"origin-i-m-in-love-with-the-villainess":3,"chapter-i-m-in-love-with-the-villainess-i-m-in-love-with-the-villainess-chapter-44":6},{"origin":4,"title":5},"english","I'm in Love with the Villainess!",{"chapter":7,"nextChapterSlug":19,"prevChapterSlug":20,"totalChapters":21,"novelImage":22},{"id":8,"novel_id":9,"title":10,"slug":11,"index":12,"content":13,"wordcount":14,"created_at":15,"updated_at":15,"volume":16,"translator":17,"content_hash":18},894980,1171,"Chapter 44: A Glimpse of Attraction...?","i-m-in-love-with-the-villainess-chapter-44",44,"\u003Cp>\"Enough!\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Julius screamed, the tendrils completely disintegrating from the sheer aura that his spell was emitting.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Light Guardian... an advanced defensive light spell that allowed someone to passively block attacks as long as the spell was maintained.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>And along with it came a special new look of big, glowing translucent wings that radiated from his back, along with a halo.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>An angelic look, a perfect fit for light magic.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Unbelievable...\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Evelina muttered, crossing her arms. Did she literally just see someone achieve a breakthrough using the power of love or something?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>She thought she had already seen enough of that through me, albeit twisted; what she didn’t expect was for someone like Julius to also do the same.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Literally growing stronger just to protect Lillian.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>[Dark Fireball]\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Evelina finally had enough of playing around, sick of having her fun ruined by Julius.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>It was time she now used actual spells instead of just relying on simple manipulation.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But Julius wasn’t fazed one bit; his spell casually destroyed the fireball before it even got a chance to touch his uniform.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>An advanced light spell against a basic dark spell, of course, he would win.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But even if Evelina wanted to crush Julius with her full strength.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>She didn’t want to reveal her full power just yet... her entire persona and influence came from secrecy and fear.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>If she were to show even the slightest bit of effort here, it would make anyone who hated her see a small glimpse of weakness.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Because if she were really as powerful as she claims, even a simple basic spell should beat Julius, even with the attunement counter.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>And of course... I’m here to fix that problem.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>She didn’t need to show actual effort if she could order someone else to do it for her.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>And if her pawn was shown to be already significantly powerful? What would that mean for his master?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Cael, take care of him.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Evelina ordered without hesitation, snapping her fingers, and by instinct, I moved with it.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Too bad I still couldn’t use my profaned attunement here, one shot would probably take out Julius faster than I needed to.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>I still needed to make this look like a show.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>[Dark Serpent]\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The serpent coiled around me just like it always did, but this time, its focus was on empowering the gadget on my wrist.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"You have no chance of winning, Arden!\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Julius braced himself, confident in his breakthrough.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>[Light Spears]\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>ZING!\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>ZING!\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>ZING!\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Good thing for me that the dark serpent was an all-in-one spell for both offense and defense, just like you would expect from a special book that almost no one could decipher.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>HISS!\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The serpent hissed, my dagger launcher responding to its call.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>All I needed was to reload, and it’ll do its job.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>[Bottomless Daggers (S)]\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>CLICK-FWOOSH!\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>One simple dagger controlled by the serpent, it acted more like a drone, to be honest.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Intercepting each light spear heading my way like an automated defense system.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"You have vastly underestimated me, Julius.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>I tilt my head in mockery, reloading my dagger launcher once more.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>CLICK-FWOOSH!\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Julius stared at the dagger heading straight toward him, having full trust in his new ability that it would block it like the rest.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But... that was not happening.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>FWISH!\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The dagger pierced the air and passed through Julius’s aura of defense.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>And the moment it got even an inch beyond the defense radius.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Julius immediately panicked.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>No one in the world would expect a random noble nobody had heard about to have enough control of dark magic to pierce through an advanced light magic spell.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>And even if there was... he should have heard about them as he did for Kevin!\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"H-How—\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Julius didn’t have time to react anymore; he couldn’t solve a spell formula in time to block it with another spell.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>All he had was his hands, and hope to the gods it was enough.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Enough!\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>CLING!\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The dagger fell to the ground harmlessly.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>It was Corvus, removing the barrier and depowering the dagger with a satisfied smirk.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"The victor goes to team darkness!\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He declared proudly.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Despite being a professor, he didn’t have any qualms about being biased about those from the same attunement as him.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Even dubbing us as team darkness with a prideful declaration.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"And Julius, see me after the tournament later.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>His face quickly changed into a scowl, despite his rather excited mood about the entire thing.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He still had to act like a professor, even if it was forced and fairly useless.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Y-Yes, Professor.\" Julius barely even whispered, still feeling the fear of almost getting stabbed by a dagger moving at the speed of an automobile.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Are you okay?\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Lillian managed to stand up with heavy effort, consoling Julius.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Anyways... enough of those two.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>What was more important was Evelina.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>And how well I did in her eyes.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Did I do well?\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>I approach her with a slight skip to my steps.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>I was hoping she thought that I did well.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>And even better yet, finding my performance impressive.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Well...?\" She smirked, then looked at the bleachers where everyone was sitting, murmuring and discussing the results of the match.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"You did better than well... look at them.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>She laughed.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"I bet they’re thinking about how powerful we both actually are.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>She stepped closer to me, grabbing my chin and looking straight into my eyes.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"You were having fun the entire time, showing all of them you weren’t going all out, following my lead perfectly.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Evelina spoke with heavy satisfaction before leaning closer to my ears, close enough that it’ll make people talk.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But not too much that it’ll cause a scandal.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"I think you should finally deserve your reward...\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>She whispered, remembering what the succubus had said before, and also... something else, hidden deep beneath her expression.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Was it... attraction?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Attraction to my power? Attraction to my efficiency? Or to me as a person?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Every option would be great.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But I wasn’t even sure if I was correct; even my practiced gaze had a hard time reading her motives.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But... her talk about the reward and now this.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Maybe... maybe I was finally getting to her? Even if it was just one small step.\u003C\u002Fp>",1040,"2026-06-03T05:52:53.471Z",1,"novelbin.me","750aed633f844e911fd54a558c638d12b11b071ccd22a85fc1c753ce34565054","i-m-in-love-with-the-villainess-chapter-45","i-m-in-love-with-the-villainess-chapter-43",324,"https:\u002F\u002Fnovelzhen.com\u002Fimages\u002Fcovers\u002Fi-m-in-love-with-the-villainess-cover.jpg"]