I Am a Villain, So What?

Chapter 241: The Mid-Semester Exhibition

The Imperial Academy’s Mid-Semester Exhibition was supposed to be a celebration of the Empire’s future.

Instead, it felt like I was standing in the middle of a brightly decorated powder keg.

The sprawling academy courtyards were absolutely packed. Banners bearing the crests of the Four Great Ducal Houses and the Imperial Family snapped in the wind. High-ranking nobles, visiting dignitaries, and wealthy merchants mingled around the elaborate magical displays and sparring rings.

It was loud. It was crowded. It was a tactical nightmare.

"You look like you want to murder someone," Ariana noted, adjusting her glasses as she handed me a cup of tea.

We were sitting behind the designated booth for the Gourmet & Ecology Exploration Club.

"I just hate crowds," I lied smoothly, taking the cup.

My eyes constantly scanned the perimeter. [Detection Lv. 8] was running on overdrive, mapping out the thousands of mana signatures flooding the campus.

I knew Infernus and the Valemont remnants were planning to strike here. I just didn’t know exactly when or how they were going to bypass the Academy’s formidable outer wards.

Since I couldn’t evacuate the campus without sounding like a lunatic, I had to prepare for ground zero.

"President."

The voice was stiff, laced with a heavy, uncomfortable hesitation.

I looked up. Kael stood before the booth, clad in his pristine combat uniform. Behind him stood Bordon, Elisha, and Mariella. Unlike his usual righteous confidence, the Golden Boy looked incredibly awkward, his hand nervously rubbing the back of his neck.

Ever since our brutal fistfight following the Marquis Vance terror incident, Kael had been desperately trying to find an opening to apologize. He had finally realized his blind justice had been aimed at the wrong person, and the guilt was clearly eating him alive.

I, however, had absolutely zero interest in a heartfelt, teary-eyed protagonist redemption arc. I just wanted him away from my booth.

"Lucien," Kael started, his golden eyes dropping to the table. "About what happened during the vacation... I was completely out of line. I swung my sword without thinking, and I—"

"I’m busy, Kael," I interrupted flatly, not even looking up from my ledger. "If you are here to buy wild garlic, it’s two silvers. If you are here for club duties, say so. Otherwise, you’re blocking paying customers."

Kael flinched. But he didn’t get angry. Instead, he looked almost relieved to have a clear objective to help smooth things out. He straightened up, eager to make amends.

"I’m here for club duties," Kael said firmly. "Just give the order. I’ll handle anything."

"Fine," I sighed, pulling out a map of the campus and tapping a few specific locations. "The crowds are getting too dense. I need you to patrol the Western Courtyard. Bordon, take the main gate plaza. Do not let the crowd bottleneck."

The Western Courtyard and the main gates were the most critical tactical chokepoints on the campus. If an invasion happened, holding those lines would save hundreds of lives.

Kael nodded grimly. He didn’t see a mundane crowd-control task; he thought I was subtly trusting him with a hidden battlefield. "Understood. I will not let anything slip past me."

"Elisha," I continued, looking at the archer. "Take the northern clock tower. The club needs a vantage point to monitor the... ecological exhibits. Keep your bow ready."

Elisha’s cheeks dusted with a faint pink, but she offered a crisp salute. "I-I won’t let you down!"

"Mariella, stay near the medical tents in the central quad," I finished.

"Yes, Cadet Lucien!" she squeaked, clutching her six-shot revolver tightly under her robes.

With a unified, overly dramatic nod, the protagonist party dispersed, marching off to secure the exact defensive perimeter I needed.

"You are blatantly using his guilt to turn them into your personal guards," Ariana pointed out, sipping her tea.

"I am fostering leadership and responsibility," I corrected dryly.

"Lucien."

A cold, melodic voice sent a chill down my spine. Princess Celestia stepped up to the booth. She wore a stunning, ice-blue formal gown that naturally commanded the attention of every noble in a fifty-foot radius.

"Your Highness," I said, offering a lazy nod. "Shouldn’t you be at the VIP podium with the faculty?"

"It is boring up there," Celestia replied, leaning slightly over the table. Her ice-blue eyes locked onto mine, carrying that familiar, calculating spark. "Besides, I find the atmosphere around you much more... stimulating. You are planning something, aren’t you?"

"I am planning to sell these herb bundles for a premium markup," I deflected.

Celestia let out a soft, elegant scoff. "Liar."

She didn’t press the issue, but she didn’t leave either. She stood near our booth, acting as an unofficial, immensely powerful deterrent to any noble trying to bother us.

I checked my pocket watch. It was past noon.

So far, nothing.

I just had to hope Alicia was staying put at the estate.

She wasn’t.

Back at the Ashborne estate, the halls were suffocatingly quiet.

Lily was in the kitchen. Merle and Nero were in the basement training room.

Alicia sat on the edge of her bed, her hands gripping her knees so tightly her knuckles were stark white.

"We will slit his throat, drain his pure royal bloodline, and tear open the dimensional rift."

The Chancellor’s cruel, victorious sneer echoed relentlessly in her mind.

"Your brother is an idiot. He is a naive, brainwashed puppet."

Lucien’s harsh, pragmatic words followed immediately after.

Lucien was right. She knew he was right. If she went back down there, she was walking into a meat grinder. The Valemont remnants were seasoned veterans, and Infernus had laid out anti-magic suppression fields that made her Level 9 Fire Magic useless.

Lucien had ordered her to stay. He promised he would handle it.

But as the grandfather clock in the hallway chimed noon, something inside Alicia snapped.

Leon was her brother. The boy who used to weave flower crowns for her in the palace gardens. The only piece of her family, her blood, and her history that hadn’t been turned to ash.

If Lucien went down there, he would prioritize stopping the ritual. He would prioritize the Empire. He wouldn’t prioritize a brainwashed prince who was actively trying to destroy the Academy.

Lucien would kill Leon if he had to.

"I can’t," Alicia whispered, her voice cracking in the empty room. "I can’t lose him again."

She stood up. Her crimson eyes, usually so hollow and dead, burned with a desperate, reckless fire.

She stripped off her maid uniform and pulled on a dark, fitted combat tunic. She strapped her rapier to her waist and secured a belt of throwing knives across her thigh.

She didn’t plan to fight the entire army. She just needed to get in, grab Leon, and drag him out before the ritual started.

Alicia opened her bedroom window. She knew the exact blind spots in Lucien’s perimeter wards.

With the silent, lethal grace of a ghost, the Crimson Witch slipped out of the estate and vanished into the bustling streets of the Capital, heading straight toward the subterranean access grates.

Back at the Academy, a sudden, violent shiver ran down Lucien’s spine.