Reincarnated as a Villainess: All Eyes on Me

Chapter 11

[Chapter 11: A grandma..?]

•>>———∘◦❁◦∘———(3rd Person's POV)

'It's so boring!' Elora thought with her head rested on her palm while her elbow was placed on her desk.

They were currently tackling English Literature, but since she wasn't her past 27 self anymore, all her works and lessons from before are being tackled all over again.

She wasn't the brightest out of the bunch but with the thought that she already graduated and had already received her diploma brings an uncontrollable feeling of disdain to her.

'It's like high school all over again!' She thought with a disgruntled sigh.

"Hey are you okay?" She heard someone whisper along with a tap brought on her shoulder.

She looked behind her only to notice a girl with black hair and hazel colored eyes. She was very pretty, just like everyone else in this place.

"Yeah..." She whispered back and gave her a grin, "Just bored is all."

"Why? The teacher says this is an important lecture." The girl said but Elora just shrugged.

"I know, but I know all this already!!" She whispered, saying the last word rather loudly.

"Ella? Is everything okay back there? And you, Vanessa, stop bothering other students." The teacher scolded with a firm tone and Vanessa couldn't do anything but just bow her head.

"Oh, miss Kruntz! She isn't bothering me at all." Elora waved her hands dismissively causing Vanessa to look up with furrowed brows.

"Very well then, mind explaining why you two are chitchatting back there instead of paying attention to class??" The teacher said with a neutral voice this time around.

Elora searched her brain for something to say, since she didn't want to say she wasn't feeling it because she already knows what the teacher is tackling. Wait that's it! She wasn't feeling it!

"Oh.. uhm... I'm actually not feeling very well and Vanessa here noticed the state I was in and asked me if I was doing okay." She said whilst acting sickly.

If there was one thing Elora and Brianna has in common, its acting; Brianna using that to escape other people probing her life, while Elora using it all the time to trick everyone around her.

"Oh dear.." Was all the teacher could say, "Ok then, if you're not feeling well... Vanessa, go ahead and escort her to the infirmary." The teacher said.

Vanessa couldn't do anything but oblige, or else they'll get in trouble once the teacher finds out that they were actually lying and not talking about sickness, but about the class being boring instead.

Once they were gone, the classes resumed and outside, the two walked closely with interlocked arms.

"Hehe. Finally! It was an easy escape!!" Elora grinned and fist-bumped the air, Vanessa loosened one arm around her to look at her with wide eyes.

"Wait that was an elaborately thought out plan?" She asked with a baffled expression.

"What?" Elora asked dumbfounded.

"What you said.. back in the class." Vanessa said but still, Elora was looking at her with furrowed brows, not understanding where she's getting at.

"I thought that the reason you said that was to save ourselves." Vanessa stated and Elora's brows shot up in understanding.

"Ohh.. hehe, yeah you're right. I said that to save ourselves and to get out of that boring class. Hitting two birds with one stone yeah?" Elora gave her a toothy grin, their interlocked arms long gone.

"B-but what are we gonna do now? I'm gonna have to go back in a while since I'm only suppose to 'escort' you to the infirmary. What are you gonna do then? You ain't really sick right??" Vanessa asked slowly starting to get nervous as she dwelled on their situation further, but Elora's face was placid and didn't even seem bothered at all.

"Wanna skip classes with me??" Elora turned to Vanessa with a wide grin on her face, as Vanessa stared back at her with horror.

"Are you crazy?! I haven't skipped classes.. l-like ever!! Not even once!" Vanessa exclaimed and looked as if she was almost hyperventilating.

"Oh come on! It'll be fun I promise!!" Without warning, Elora grasped Vanessa in her hand and firmly pulled her away.

Vanessa had her eyes wide but due to shock, she remained unresponsive as Elora started dragging her away towards who-knows-where.

"W-wait!" Vanessa huffed and so Elora finally stopped running to look back at her, but still, she didn't let go of her firm grasp.

"What?" Elora gently responded.

"I-I don't wanna get in trouble." Vanessa mumbled.

"Hey.. its okay. I'd send you back if I actually didn't like you. But so far, I can see that you're fun to be around with." Elora flashed her a smile that seemed too bright for Vanessa.

"B-but, even so--"

"Tell you what. Let's just have fun, and I'll handle your absence! You don't have to worry about anything!"

"No, you don't understand. I come from a very influential Marquez family who values education greatly. I don't think they'll handle one absence lightly, especially my mom..." Vanessa scratched her arm.

Before Elora could respond, Vanessa added, "What can you possibly do?"

Elora scoffed at that, "Oh you don't even want to know!" She gave an inkling smile upon saying that, "From what family are you?"

"Sevilla." Vanessa answered tersely.

'Sevilla...' Elora nodded while diving in deep in thought.

'Yeah, I don't know them...'

"Oh yeah! I totally know that! But tell you what! We'll keep this a secret, just between you and me. For once just act carefree and break just one little rule..." Elora wiggled her eyebrows while watching Vanessa hesitatingly think about it.

"It's not fun if you're just always gonna abide by them!"

"Yeah, but--"

"Shh!" Elora held her pointer finger on Vanessa's mouth, "No buts. It'll be fun I promise."

Vanessa thought about it, glancing at the strange and brazen girl in front of her every now and then. Just thinking about them breaking a rule had her heart racing from fear. But there's also that feeling besides fear... something like mirth?

She had always wanted to see how her mother would get mad at her anyways. Always having to follow what her mother had told her, she wondered what it would be like if she broke one.

'Would mother stop bragging me to her friends about how good and perfect of a child I was? Would people my age finally treat me like normal instead of treating me as some kind of perfect loathsome doll??' She thought with revulsion.

Well there's only one way to find out.

"Okay. I agr-- whoah!" Before she could even finished her sentence, she was yet again dragged by Elora.

There was always so much to see as they ventured to different parts of the big Academy. Since Arcane Academy was almost bigger than the Aeanthra Kingdom, they didn't get bored roaming around.

Even if they came back to the way they had come from, they didn't turn around— too busy chatting with one another as if they were already long friends who haven't seen each other in a long while. It was pure bliss for Vanessa, she felt as if her worries were droned out at the moment as she chatted happily with an equally mirthful looking Elora.

No one was around the halls since there was still half an hour away before lunch break came. The class that they first escaped to was the second to the last class before lunch break, meaning they had successfully skipped two classes. But at that moment, they were too carefree to care.

"It feels great!" Vanessa said after a few seconds of silence.

"What?" Elora was grinning as she asked Vanessa the question.

"This. I don't know, there's just something about rebelling even if its just one time." Vanessa sighed, relishing in the moment.

"See?? I told you right? It certainly does feels great!" Elora grinned, remembering all the times she had skipped classes on high school. 'Always makes me wonder how I even graduated. Heh.'

"Whoah! What class is this?!" Elora stopped in her tracks, peeking at the door that had a window on it.

The room was empty, but the books stationed on the desks, and even at the teacher's table was the only indication that the room was still in use and is still having classes. Though she doesn't know where the people went, she could only guess as she stared at the hanging and displayed weapons all around the room.

"Oh this?" Vanessa peeked through the window as well, "This is the combat class. Every guy has this class since it's important to know that they know a little bit of fighting." Elora's brows furrowed.

"The guys?" Vanessa nodded at that, "Why can't the girls be in this class? Isn't it important that the girls know a little bit of fighting as well? Since girls are considered.. ahem, weak.. then shouldn't they at least have an inkling of knowledge about this as well??" Vanessa pondered deep in thought, even pinching her chin with her thumb and pointer finger as she thought about what Elora had said.

"Well," Vanessa started as she thought of a reasonable explanation, "it'd be inappropriate for us to fight don't you think? We aren't supposed to be straining a muscle so we won't be strained and will still keep our youth for our future husbands!" Vanessa said confidently with one finger raised.

"What kinda hypocrisy is that? That doesn't even make any sense." Elora scowled and so Vanessa thought about what she explained as well.

"Well.. that's what my mother always told me..." Vanessa muttered.

"Well, I don't about your mother, but do tell her sometime that if anything ever happens to you, or us girls, and no guy who's trained to protect us are around then there's no one we can rely to other than ourselves. It doesn't take that much to learn some simple self protection!" Elora explained and Vanessa thought about it.

'Indeed she's right...' Vanessa thought and she looked back to Elora who was looking back at her waiting for her to process what she had said. 'Where is she getting all this? First being wild and carefree, and now, being a badass girl? Who are you Ella..?'

"Hey! What are you doing outside of class!!" Both their eyes widened and they turned to see two guards, wearing a red metropolitan uniform, chasing them.

"RUN!!" Elora screeched and they both dashed away.

ヽ( ˃̶͈̀ロ˂̶͈́๑)ノ=3=3 ∠(-᷅_-᷄๑)┐=3=3=3

ヽ(^▽^✿)ノ=3=3=3 Σ(ಠ_ಠ)=3=3

Both of them had different looks on their faces: with Vanessa being that of trepidation, while Elora where that of pure glee. Of course, she found this exhilarating and not at all scary. Both of them knew that they would face consequences once the guards catches them— only Elora didn't know the particularity of it —but they were all too determined to not face those.

Despite knowing that they somehow might get punished, Elora didn't care but instead relished in the feeling of thrill. The feeling she had never yet felt in this life time— well at least not before this one.

Vanessa was staying behind due to lack of exercise and so Elora did the honors of pulling her hand as she ran fast with all her might. Vanessa was breathless but she didn't stop nor did she complain as she let Elora drag her away.

They soon outran the guards as they both ran inside the greenhouse, but both of them knew that the guards were far from giving up. So with one last look around, Elora nudged Vanessa mumbling, "Hide!", as she jumped and reached up on one of the branch. In one swift motion, she yanked herself upwards and positioned herself on the branch, all while Vanessa eyed her with wide eyes from shock.

Vanessa contemplated on doing the same but then thought that she wasn't as fit as she sees Elora so she settled on hiding in one of the big bushes instead.

Grayson, who was on one of the trees outside the see-through greenhouse, watched the events with wide eyes. Elora turned in his direction as she was examining her surroundings so he swiftly jumped on one of the hidden branch as he hid from Elora's view.

'Shoot that was close!' Grayson thought, his heart hammering inside his chest.

His mission consisted of staying from one branch, and one branch only, from atop the trees day by day. It was risky to keep moving from place to place since getting past the highly protected gates was already tricky enough, and so the only way to get intel was through a spy, that he of course paid.

'*sighs, why is this even necessary prince Arthur?' He thought with trepidation. He was highly skilled with these types of things, but what got him feeling fearful was the obvious fact that he was getting jealous towards multiple amount of guys that are getting close with Elora— even though he has no right to be jealous —and he doesn't know when his self resistance might break and he might just actually jump from his hiding spot just to shield Elora away from all the prying eyes.

Thankfully, his spy seems to be trustworthy... even though he gets jealous over him too, he has no choice but to leave all the spying to him. Grayson sends letters to Arthur weekly, just like what he had asked, with the updates of the two siblings. Alistair's well-being stayed the same as he gathered more friends and followers to spike up his famousness so part of the letter about him was uneventful and only consisted of only one paragraph. It wasn't the case for Elora though since everyday, there seemed to be lots of interesting things happening to her so most of the letters consisted of her being the main topic. Arthur didn't mind...

The letters weren't detailed as much since the spy Grayson hired didn't resort to following them, and instead asks others around him instead to which he then sends the intel to Grayson. He has, after all, duties of his own so he can't always keep track of Elora and Alistair.

Footsteps can be heard which caused the three's attention to be alert. It was Grayson's third time to be watching Elora firsthand so he wasn't gonna miss on this event as he turned his direction towards the greenhouse. Elora all but looked beneath her as she hugged both her knees with raising heart; partly from fear and partly from exhilaration. Vanessa on the other-hand was shaking from fear, partly from the guards approaching and partly from the bugs all over the place. She hated bugs.

The guards were coming closer; Grayson watched intently, Elora waited impatiently, while Vanessa was holding her breath and closing her eyes.

"Where'd they go??" Asked the other one with red hair and fiery amber eyes.

"Just keep running!" The other guy with faded blue hair and black colored eyes huffed in annoyance, "Damn brats."

Their footsteps faded and Elora was slowly releasing the breath she was holding as she thought that they finally got away.

All is well but not before...

"AAAAAAAAAHHHHHH!!!" Vanessa screeched when she felt something graze her arm. She had her eyes closed after all, so feeling something foreign had her scared.

The two guards came back and peeked behind the bush to see Vanessa shivering. She looked up and her eyes widened upon seeing the two guards.

'Oh shit.' Was what Elora thought as she watched the two drag Vanessa out of the bush.

She opted on jumping down and saving Vanessa, or whatever she can do, but Vanessa saw her shifting and knew what she was thinking so she pressed her lips in a thin line and shook her head. Her eyes held authority as she stared at Elora and the latter couldn't do anything but instead found herself complying.

They were soon gone and Elora thought of what to do. She then furrowed her brows when she remembered seeing something white creep beside Vanessa; right next to her arm that was laying on the ground.

'What was that anyways?' She pondered and decided to check it out.

She braced herself to jump down, but unfortunately, her dress got stuck on the bark making her lose balance and instead came toppling down backwards.

'Ah.. I'm gonna die again.' She thought and closed her eyes but nothing came.

She didn't feel the muddy ground hit her and instead felt two pair of arms holding her.

Her hands were covering her face and so she pulled them away and looked up at her savior. What she saw had her gaping her eyes. She saw a woman with pale and milky white skin, along with straight and long white hair, and red eyes that seemed to be staring into her soul.

'Beautiful...' She blushed under the scrutinizing stare of the beautiful lady. But she just can't shut her mouth after all...

"A grandma..?" She mumbled, and without warning, the beautiful lady dropped her making her yelp and groan in pain.

She sat up and rubbed her back that hit the ground and she threw an annoyed glare at the lady; all admiration gone.

"What was that for?!" She hissed but the lady continued staring daggers at her.

"Who you calling grandma, skunk?!" The lady sneered and Elora stared at her with wide eyes.

"Y-YOU'RE A MALE?!!!" She said aloud from shock.

"What'd you think I am, imp?!" The guy scowled at her but then grinned to himself when Elora struggled to get up on her feet due to her aching back.

"Ughh.. who are you anyways? And where did you even come from??" Elora looked around only to see that they were right at the middle of the greenhouse, meaning the guy couldn't have just entered... unless....

Her eyes zoned in on the bush and she looked from the bush and back to the longhaired guy, to the bush and back to the guy again. But then figured that she saw no one there other than Vanessa earlier so she shrugged it off.

'Oh right! Vanessa!!' Her eyes went wide when she recalled Vanessa, so she dusted off her dress and started running towards where the guards dragged her friend away.

"Hey! Were are you going??" The guy shouted back from behind her and Elora couldn't help but roll her eyes when she remembered the guy dropping him to the ground and even grinning when she struggled getting up.

"Who cares about you? You background character!" She sneered from afar and continued on running.

She was physically fit from her training and exercising back at Aeanthra Kingdom, but due to her back aching from the impact of the fall earlier, she only got to the greenhouse entrance before stopping and holding the wall for support as she bent over to ease the strain on her back.

She panted slowly and willed herself to quickly get use to the pain when she heard snickering from behind her. She looked around and saw the guy coming closer and she all but glared at him; which didn't look intimidating nor scary at all. If anything, she only looked like a pouting cat, with the way her mouth puckers whenever she's glaring, making the guy blush from the thought. But he quickly brushed it away.

"Hey, I'm sorry. I just got pissed when you called me grandma." The guy said gently while scratching the back of his neck but Elora didn't falter and instead ignored him as she continued on with her way.

"Hey, wait up!"

"..."

"Stop ignoring me!"

"..."

"I said I was sorry."

"..."

"I can help you get to your friend." Elora halted in her tracks making the guy smile triumphantly, but he quickly brushed it away when Elora turned to look at him.

"How would you know?" Elora's brows were raised as she prompted the guy to talk.

"Well, I was the one who drove he away after all.." He trailed off and turned his head guiltily. He was just joking around, and always found delight in scaring people. He never meant to hurt anyone. This was the first time that he actually injured someone, although not as much, but he still did something.

The guy was looking away and so he didn't see the fist that was coming to him. All too soon, he felt pain on his gut and he hunched over, groaning while clutching his stomach in pain.

He looked up at Elora after a while and saw her clenching her fist to her side. He then saw that Elora wasn't scowling anymore, but now had her lips pulled up in a smile.

"Uggh... what was that for??" He groaned in pain while still hunching over.

"Heh. Now we're even." Elora grinned evilly and stuck her tongue out before turning on her heel and strutting away leaving a groaning white-haired man behind.

"Whatchu waiting for, loser?! You said you'd help me right?" He looked up to see Elora standing from afar with both hands on either side of her hips like a reprimanding mother.

He furrowed his brows but then remembered what he told her so with a disgruntled grunt, he straightened his posture and slowly walked over to Elora.

What an unexpected twist of events. He didn't plan to help a savage woman. He just wanted to slack off, skip classes, while hanging out at the garden and hide from everyone's view. He also didn't mean to drive Vanessa away only to have him getting her back instead. It was only a small, harmless prank and yet here he is following behind Elora begrudgingly as he rethinks what happened and what he could've done that wouldn't lead him up to this predicament.

He could've just caught Elora and not drop her down therefore not bearing the aftereffects of feeling guilty in the end.

He could've also not just scared Vanessa away therefore making the two friends leave his place as he continue with his slacking off.

He could also not just help Elora because that's how cruel he is. But somehow, he felt that that wasn't right.

Or he could've just not skipped classes therefore changing the fate of them meeting at the first place.

'Nah! The last one can't be an option.' He thought and sighed.

Whatever it is he could've done, it was too late now. All he has to do is let fate prevail and find out what happens next.

'Maybe after this, I can finally go back to my eternal peace... I'll just help this woman once and then go back to my cycle again!' He thought with a placid smile.

But little did he know, he wouldn't be able to go back to his usual routine anymore. Unbeknownst to him, he would be dragged into Elora's school of fishes as well.

It is, after all, growing without any of them noticing...

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