Chapter 48
Vil run down the corridor for a while before he stopped and took out his phone.
“Mira, Mira. Tell me something.”
“What would you like me to look up?”
“Who, at this moment, is the most beautiful of all?”
“Displaying results for "account with the most comments using the word 'beautiful'": Roxana Lestrange.”
“Nnnnngh... ROXANA !!!” Vil shouted in rage.
*Roxana’s Dressing Room.*
Roxana paused before she continued to take off her outfit.
Someone knocked on the door and Roxana didn’t take long to open it.
“Oh Vil, did you need something ?” Roxana asked.
“We didn't get much of a chance to talk before rehearsal. I was hoping we might chat a bit more.” Vil said.
Roxana raised her eyebrow, she looked in Vil’s eyes and read his surface thoughts, the witch smirked. “Oho~? Do tell me.”
“Your rehearsal performance was splendid. You have a way of captivating everyone around you.” Vil said.
“Well, it’s necessary am a woman after all, with the way I live captivating people is a necessity you see ?” Roxana said. “Your performance was incredible too, am sincere about it.”
Vil looked a bit out of place by her first comment. “Well... Thank you. I suppose we both want what we don't have. Say, Roxana. Are you thirsty at all? I brought you some apple juice.”
“Oh my~ How nice of you.” Roxana took the juice and opened the bottle to take a sip.
I will amuse you~ Roxana smiled.
“MISS ROXANA !!” Rook shouted as he run up to them.
But Roxana ignored him and drunk some of the juice in the bottle. “How refreshing !”
“I … I am late…”
Roxana turned to see a horrified Kalim. “Oh Kalim you’re here.”
Rook looked at Kalim. “Roi d’or…”
“You’re….You’re…” Vil started to step away. “You’re fine…how…”
“Oh Vil darling.” Roxana smiled. “You can’t poison someone who is immune and a holder to the deadliest venom in the world.”
“Vil, do you have any idea how foolish that was?! If Roxana wasn’t…” Kalim didn’t even want to say it ! “You said every other team here would look like spuds compared to us... You said we were going to have the best performance in the world! After all of that, why stoop to this?!”
Vil went into hysteria. “Ha... Aha ha... That's what I want to know. More than the rest of you, even. But you see, I've come to a realization. That I ! Can ! Never ! Win ! Against ! Neige !” He then pointed at Roxana. “Then she came along and raised in popularity like it was the easiest thing to do in less than two months and I became third best that's why…I'm going... TO HANDLE NEIGE AND ROXANA MYSELF!”
Blot started to ooze from Vil, and poisonous smoke started to appear from the bottle Roxana had in her hand.
Roxana looked at the bottle in interest.
“What's this smoke?! C-can't...breathe…” Kalim coughed.
“Roxana ! Kalim! Don't inhale that mist! Vil's signature spell is Fairest One of All! He can use it to curse any object. The mist is the evaporated form of that cursed liquid. If you breathe it in, you'll be immobilized. Yet would one glass of juice truly have such a drastic transformation? Ah... You didn't!” Rook looked at Vil with horror.
Vil flinched. “Please. Don't look at me… Don't look at me with those eyes! Why? I want to be the fairest one of all, so why am I so...so...ugly? Ugly?! UGLY?!”
“Roi du Poison, you are far from ugly!” Rook said.
Kalim coughed. “You haven't hurt anyone yet. So please, Vil, snap out of it...Roxana is fine !”
Roxana in question ignored everything around her as she drunk the last of the juice. “Hmm spicy…”
“Silence! What do any of you know?!” Vil shouted. “What does it matter who forgives me?! I can't... I can't forgive myself!”
Roxana casted wind magic to clear the air, this strong wind was enough to distract Vil a bit for her to blast him into a wall.
“Can the children in this school for Overblotting for one second ???” Roxana sighed. “And for the record I know more than you do, you think yourself as a villain but you’re not, alright yes you tried to poison me, but you are regretting it now, sure you acted on your anger, bah people make mistakes, sure you’re far from a hero, but still not a real villain, a real villain wouldn’t regret what you did now and will try to do something worse.”
Vil stood up with difficulties and looked at her. Others thought she had forgiven him…
It was far from that.
“You want to know what a real villain looks like ?” Roxana’s grin was terrifying. “Let me show you !”
“AAAAH !” Vil cried in pain as he got blasted again.
“VIL !!” Kalim shouted in horror.
Rook tried to run up to Vil but was stopped by an invisible barrier. “LET HIM GO !”
Roxana glared at them. “Sleep.” She raised Vil in the air again an invisible force started to squeeze him, enough to hurt him but not enough to crush him. “Tell me Vil are you able to do this to people ? Will you be able to torture them without remorse ?”
Vil fell on the floor and started to catch his breath, Roxana started to make her way up to him, the blond tried to get away from her terrified.
“Answer me.”
“You…You’re a monster !”
Roxana rolled her eyes. “Tell me something I don’t know darling, let me tell you something I am the villain who puts on the mask of the hero who everyone worship, I took over the role of a hero mostly for my own selfish reasons till I got attached to people, then I decided that what I am doing will be for them, but you want to know what I found out about myself ?”
Vil gulped. “W-What…”
“I-Will-Never-Be-The-Hero, so I accepted that the only way for me to destroy a monster will be by becoming a bigger monster, a hero hesitate to kill, a villain doesn’t, I was bred and born a villain and I made peace with myself about it.” Roxana put her hand on Vil’s chest and started to heal him, she looked at the boy’s face then sighed. “And it’s time to make peace with yourself too, but we will talk about it later.”
Vil took a deep breath to calm down and looked at Rook and Kalim who are still unconscious.
“Don’t worry, they are fine, when they wake up the only thing they will remember is the fact that you were going to overblot and nothing other than that, you better keep what happened here to yourself.”
Vil glared at her. “You were trying to kill me !”
“Oh trust me Vil, if I wanted you dead you wouldn’t be talking to me right now.” Roxana said.
Vil stayed silent for a moment and took all his courage to ask the fallowing question. “…Why are you the way you are.”
“Trust me, you do not want to know.” Roxana said.
“KALIM !” Jamil came running followed by others. “What happened here ?”
“Nothing much, Vil was going to overblot and I stopped him, but they did knocked out from the poisonous smoke.” Roxana turned and gave Vil a look. “If its captivating the public and having more popularity then Neige is what you want then I can help you with that, but this is not the time to talk about this, another time and another place, you all need to take a break.”
The witch walked away not sparing a single glance to any of the boys, Rook stood up from where he was laying and watched Roxana walk away.
No matter how strong that poisonous smoke was I am careful enough to not inhale it, yet Roxana says that it is how we got knocked unconscious, something doesn’t add up. Rook frowned.
“…K…Rook !” Vil called.
Rook snapped out of it. “Roi du poison ! Are you alright ?”
“Yes I am.” Vil sighed. “It is you to whom I need to ask that question, are you alright ?”
“Oh my fair Vil ! I am completely okay !” Rook said with his usual smile, before his expression turned serious, he looked at Vil’s face for a while before he opened his mouth. “Vil is there something you want to tell me ?”
Vil hesitated. “…No…there’s nothing I want to say.”
Rook nodded and let it be for now. Something is missing and I feel that I forgot something important, yet I can’t recall it.
They all made their way to the stage but there was a clear somber expression on Vil and Rook’s faces.
“Well, well. What have we here ?” A voice said suddenly appearing.
Everyone turned their expression full of shock at the person that suddenly appeared.
Even Vil didn’t hide his surprise. “You're—"
Malleus smirked. “Now why the somber look on your faces ? Isn’t this supposed to be a happy event ?”
Roxana suddenly appeared and walked up to Malleus. “Early as always Blackie, it’s nice to have you here.”
“B-BLACKIE ??????” Everyone screamed in shock.
“Oh, hey! You're that guy who’s always around Slytherin Dorm garden late at night. Saw you being lovey-dovey with Roxana ! It’s cringe Myah hah hah—MRAH!” Suddenly a hand was put on Grim’s mouth.
Deuce grabbed Grim to keep his mouth shut. “Grim, are you nuts?! Y-you can't just talk to an upperclassman that way!”
Even Ace was taken aback. “Roxana ! You're really calling THIS guy Blackie ? Do you have a death wish?!”
“Don't ya know who this is?!” Epel asked.
Roxana just smiled.
“Roi des Dragons, how did you get into the coliseum?!” Rook asked.
“I was invited, by Roxana. I have my invitation right here.” Malleus said while showing his invitation.
“Ah...” That was the only thing Rook was able to say.
“Hmph. I see you've taken advantage of Roxana's ignorance to have a bit of sport.” Vil said, like he forgot what Roxana did to him a moment ago. “Housewarden of Diasomnia, the dorm based on the lofty spirit of the Thorn Fairy... Malleus Draconia!”
“Dear god, I should have explained since the beginning.” Roxana sighed. “Ahem Malleus these are the people am currently … associating with, boys as you already know this is Malleus Draconia and he’s also my lover.”
The other’s mouth opened with shock and Ace blinked. “Lover…”
“My boyfriend.” Roxana helped.
“YOUR BOYFRIEND !!!!!!!!” Ace screamed. “YOU’RE NOT SINGLE ???”
“No.”
Ace swore. “Dang it !”
“When did that happen ????” Deuce asked. “When did he ask you ???”
“You got it wrong.” Roxana smiled. “I am the one who started the relationship by showing my interest in him.” She took Malleus hand in hers, the dragon smiled gently at her. “And he returned my feelings.”
“Balls.” Ace said without shame.
“I knew about his identity for a long time, just like how he knows…” Roxana looked straight into Vil’s eyes. “Everything about my past and me in general, we are taking this relationship seriously so there isn’t a single secret between us.”
“BALLS !” Ace said again.
Deuce slapped him. “Will you stop saying that !”
“I don’t know if this is a match done in heaven or hell…” Jamil said under his breath.
“They look cute together !!” Kalim grinned. “Congratulations !”
Malleus smiled at the white haired boy. “Thank you.”
“Well you guys go and have fun ! Malleus and I need to catch up a bit~” Roxana said before the couple disappeared.
“Way to rub your relationship in our face…” Ace pouted.
“I think…” Vil sighed. “I think I had enough shock for today…”
Roxana only returned later to perform her part after the NRC and RSA boys.
“Remember what I said if you lose ?” Roxana said to Vil.
“Don’t remind me.” Vil groaned.
“Coming to you live from the National Arcane Academy Culture Fair at Night Raven College… The Vocal & Dance Championship teams have all finished their performances! Let's have all our entrants step out on stage!”
The people cheered.
“The winning team is put up to a vote, and everyone in the coliseum gets to cast a ballot. Which team did the best job of expressing the world contained in their song through singing, dancing, and production? Every team put on an incredibly high-level performance... So all of you choose which team you think shined the brightest! Use the QR codes you were given at the gate to vote on your smartphones!”
Everyone pulled their phones, there was the Night Raven College logo, the Royal Sword Academy logo, and the Slytherin logo.
“We have a real-time vote tabulation tool here... Brought to you by Olympus Inc., doing their part to support all our students.”
“There, picked Night Raven College, and...voted.” Epel said. “M-my heart's pounding outta my chest...”
“Vil was right when he said that it takes guts to vote for yourself.” Deuce said. “There were a ton of other really good schools.”
Kalim nodded. “Agreed. And all of them put on fantastic shows. But…I'm still voting for the NRC Tribe!”
Ace nodded as he voted for NRC too. “Absolutely! After all that hard training, I deserve that prize money!”
“Someone's getting ahead of themselves.” Jamil said. “But we're definitely top contenders, both performance-wise and popularity-wise. Vote with your head held high.”
Vil nodded. “Yes. We've exerted every bit of power we have. This time, I'm going to be number one.”
Rook stayed silent.
“Thirty seconds until the polls close! Ten, nine, eight, seven... Three, two, one... TIME!”
*DING-DING-DING*
“We are now getting the final tally...And the results are in! M-my goodness... Is this really possible?! Would you believe that the difference between first and second place is ONE vote?!”
There was a murmur.
“A one-vote difference?! If we lose this by one lousy vote, I'm gonna riot!” Grim shouted.
“These highly talented students have gathered here from all over the country. Each of them put on a performance that shone brighter than the most radiant jewels. I wish I could give every team here a winning trophy, but sadly, I only have one to give out. Who takes home the honor of being the world's greatest in this year's Vocal & Dance Championship? The winning school is...”
*Drumroll*
“The Slytherin of Night Raven College !”
The public cheered.
“What a wholesome performance it was! The entire stadium was drawn into a world of fairy-tale fantasy! Second place goes to Night Raven College and third to Royal Sword Academy ! The boys of NRC lost out on first place by just one vote, but their vocals and moves were a tour de force.”
Roxana looked away and hid her phones…
A girl gotta do what she gotta do, no she didn’t vote for herself, she voted for the boys.
“HEEEEEEEEEELLLLLLLL YEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEESSSSSSSSSSSSSSS !!!!!!!!”
Everyone turned around.
“Was that… the headmaster ?” Epel asked unsure.
"Yep." Ace confirmed.
Roxana walked up the stage to take the trophy.
The host smiled as he gave it to her. “Here's your trophy. Congratulations!”
“Thank you everyone.” Roxana bowed as she gave the audience a dazzling smile.
“EEEEEE SHE’S SO BEAUTIFUL !”
“ROXANA MARRY ME !!!”
“I LOVE YOU !!!”
“Now, let's have an encore performance from our winning team! Take it away !”
“You know what ?” Vil said. “Am not even mad, am quite satisfied actually.”
“Why ? We lost !” Epel pouted.
Vil smiled. “Neige is in third place.”
“You're taking this in stride, Vil. Are you just used to this by now?” Jamil asked.
“Calm? Used to this? Heh…” Vil eyebrow twitched. “OF. COURSE. I'M. NOT. I am glad that Royal Sword lost to one of our own, but I still want to beat Roxana ! Why, I'd love nothing more than to hex all the people who voted for her...”
“Oh, fair Vil. Our Roi du Poison.” Rook looked ashamed. “I must apologize, for my choice has brought you much anguish. But I simply couldn't lie to myself.”
“...Huh? What are you talking about?” Vil asked.
“The one most deserving of your ire...is moi.”
“””“What...?”””
“I … I voted for Miss Roxana.” Rook said while showing his phone.
Vil nearly fainted.
“I couldn’t lie to myself you see ? At first I was going to vote for Neige, but Miss Roxana’s emotions in her song moved my heart !” Rook nearly cried.
“That funny.” Roxana said as she appeared with Malleus. “I voted for you guys.” She showed her phone.
“But why ?” Vil asked.
“Believe it or not Vil I acknowledge your hard work.” Roxana said.
“Your performance was good.” Malleus said.
“I … er… thanks…” Vil looked away.
Roxana smiled. “Now how about we all sing together yes ?”
Music started and everyone started to sing Once Upon a Dream.
At the end of the song Vil started to tremble.
“SOMEONE KNOCK ME OUT !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!” He shouted to the world.