I’m a Villainess but So Popular

“Cassius.”

He raised his hand toward my cheek, resembling a tiger looking at me with his swaying eyes.

His cheeks, which seemed cold, were warmer than his hands.

The moment his finger brushed my face, Cassius looked at me with a puzzled but somehow sad look.

“I’m sorry. I think I was a little short-witted.”

Cassius bit his lips at my words. Like a person trying to suppress the overflowing emotions that pierce their throat inside.

“How Cassius thinks of me……I can’t say I know it right, but I should have been a little more careful if I knew you were worried about me.”

Without me knowing, Cassius must have had quite a few moments when his heart was pounding for fear that I might die.

And, frankly, when swallowed by a monster, I thought that even I would die for a very short time, so he must be so afraid back then?

“But-

I said, sweeping the flowing black hair behind his ears.

“I won’t stop helping others.”

It was a little reckless to go forward and fight alone before we could even figure out what the monster was in front of us.

But I didn’t want to save myself in every situation. Because I had an ability, and I wanted to live like this.

“I really… I wanted to use my powers to help others. Even now.”

When asked why I had nothing to say.

Still, one thing was certain that this is what I want to do.

“That’s not to say I’m going to sacrifice myself up as I did earlier. I’ll keep in mind that if I get hurt, you’ll suffer great pain.”

Cassius’s eyes grew and then became smaller for a very short time.

Then he soon smiled and said, gently bending his yellowish shining eyes.

“Yes, that’s really your answer-like.”

“Is that so?”

“Yes.”

A deep, resonant voice spread out in the dark.

As I lay still and stared at his face, as if possessed by the voice, Cassius gently grabbed my right hand, which had been stretched out on the bed, and pulled it up before me.

“Thank you for listening.”

It was when I was staring blankly at the golden eyes blinking in the dark.

Cassius slowly and carefully thrust his face close to my wrist.

“Wa, wait…”

By the time a warm breath passed through the skin of my wrist, he closed his eyes still and kissed my wrist. When the soft yet soft lips touched my wrist, I came to my senses. Suddenly, my heart began to beat like crazy.

After a while, Cassius opened his eyes and removed his lips from my wrist, and gently placed my hand back on the bed. But the place where he touched his lips was as hot as a fire, even though there was nothing.

‘What the hell, this….’

Suddenly, I was embarrassed by my heart beating so fast that I couldn’t control it. But unlike me, Cassius rose calmly with a still lingering smile on his face.

‘Hmm?’

I lay still waiting for Cassius, who disappeared from sight, thinking that there might be more, but there was no response.

Eventually, I got up and asked Cassius, who was sitting on the side of the bed, gazing at him.

“Is that’s it?”

“What?”

Seeing Cassius looking at me with a curious look on his face, he really seemed to have no intention of going any further.

Is it a good thing among the misfortunes? I was thinking about what to do because I thought he’d do something more today.

“Don’t you have anything else?”

“…Ah.”

Only then did Cassius nod and burst into laughter.

“Think about it, Yerine, I’ve been terrified you’re going to die, and there’s no way I’ll come upon you without your consent.”

“Hmm… well, that’s true but somehow the atmosphere…….”

“And you, if I do something like that, you’ll use air magic in a single gourd and blow me up. I don’t want to be stuck in the wall again.”

“Oh, stop talking about it……… I said I’m sorry for that……….”

Cassius’s whispering and giggling sound made my cheeks inflated and expressed displeasure.

“And I still don’t have the confidence to beat you. If you use magic, I’m done. And also I don’t want to be hated by you.”

‘Looking at this side of him, there seems to be an honest side…….’

Well, I really couldn’t tell. But then, I thought something was wrong.

‘Come to think of it…….?’

As I tried to bring my hand to my mouth, I hesitated and put my hand down again.

“Cassius.”

I called his name quietly in the darkroom.

“Why?”

I asked him while throwing an oblique gaze toward him, with those yellow eyes shining looking straight at me.

“Are you hiding something from me?”

“Huh? What do you mean?”

I slowly approached him, frowning, and fixed my gaze on his yellow eyes.

“I’ve been feeling a little weird since last time, but……… you just said you’re not confident you can beat me with magic, are you?”

“Huh? I did.”

“Before, didn’t you even say you couldn’t beat me before the 2nd round?”

Cassius’s face was slightly hardened by my remark. As if he was a little nervous.

“How can you be so conclusive when you haven’t fought me in person?”

“You have to be so good. You entered the Academy as the top.”

Cassius replied, arm in arm as if nothing had happened.

“That’s not all.”

Very slightly, I saw Cassius’ eyebrows go up.

“When the monster hit us earlier. You reacted faster than anyone else. You were the first one who shouted to run away.”

“That’s it because it looked dangerous to anyone.”

“You know what? Those monsters came around the corner. I’m sure I remember you shouting to run away even before the monster showed up.”

“I saw the shadow reflected through the window. From the shadows, I could see that they were never familiar creatures to us.”

It was a valid excuse, but he couldn’t get out of here. There were still a few more questions left.

“You said to me after we got rid of the monster, didn’t you? That even how strong I am, I could even die.”

“……”

“I know it could only be a guess, but I can only think that you knew the information about the monster before we fought them and even before they attacked us.”

“Yerine, that’s not -”

I took out my finger at Cassius, who hurriedly brought up his words, and said,

“Cassius, I’m not doubting you. I’m not pushing you, so please listen to me until the end. I really want to ask you something.”

At the remark, Cassius clenched his two fists and nodded his head.

“In the previous case of DXellaria. Do you remember?”

Cassius looked aside, nodding his head still.

“You say you knew that the DXellaria was fake because of the bubble, but is it the truth?”

“……”

“You took the vial back later and took a closer look, but somehow I think you were expecting it to be fake from the beginning. That’s why you were able to actively help.”

Cassius, who listened quietly to my story, sighed and asked me.

“So, what do you want to ask?”

Then I looked him in the eye and answered back.

“If it’s a problem that can’t be answered, you don’t have to answer it.”

And took a step closer to him.

“You, I don’t know how that’s possible, but–”

If this hypothesis is correct, then maybe we can figure out the cause of the disturbance.

It may also prevent this from happening again in the future so that Cassius wouldn’t worry about me or about anyone else getting hurt.

“Aren’t you able to grasp and identify the other’s mana?”

As my voice resonated in the room where a ray of moonlight poured down, Cassius looked at me with half-opened yellow eyes.

“…….”

For a while, Cassius looked at me with a soft look.

But there was no sign of him opening his mouth.

“Well, again, if it’s hard to answer, you don’t have to.”

Then Cassius burst into a rambling smile and retorted.

“…..as expected you’re too sharp, Yerine.”

He said, sweeping his black hair like the night sky.

“Is it true?”

“Well… you’re right. I can see mana insight.”

“Is that possible?”

“Yes. But it’s not always visible.”

“But can I, uh, say anything? I think you’ve kept it a secret, given what you haven’t told me so far.”

Cassius put his finger around his mouth for a while and made a face while pondering something.

“It’s okay because it’s you. I think you have a heavy mouth.”

The eyes blinked with golden light. The straight look at me, and the absolute trust I felt there, somehow made my heart tickle.

“Of course I don’t mean to talk about it here and there, but… Anyway, thanks for telling me.”

“Yeah… you’re gonna keep what I told you a secret, right?”

“Of course.”

I didn’t know it was really possible to see mana.

When I read the original story, there was no explanation that Cassius had that ability.

“Cassius, then do you think… You can see my mana?”

“Huh?”

Cassius asked back, staring at me.

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