I Like Villains, so I Reincarnated as One
I first became aware of Zeus’ divine protection when I was ten years old. One day, I heard a prophecy in my dreams. The god told me that heresy would soon spread throughout the empire and asked me to stop it… He said He would grant me the power to do so… And as if to prove it, I found myself able to use sacred magic.
When I showed this power to the priest at the village church, he was astonished, calling it divine guidance, and contacted the capital on my behalf. That’s how I ended up going to the capital.
My parents had passed away from an epidemic, and as an orphan who had been taken care of by the village, this turn of events suited me just fine.
Thus, I enrolled in a special school that only accepted girls with unique abilities. Though I wasn’t particularly interested, I heard that top students could even be scouted to become close aides to the Twelve Apostles.
There, various things happened. I made my first friends of the same age and gender. Among them, Angela, my roommate who always took care of me, was especially close. She wasn’t very good at expressing herself, but she was incredibly kind and supported me since I wasn’t good at talking to people.
For an orphan like me, she was like a real sister… I sometimes thought that maybe this is what having a family feels like.
But such happiness didn’t last long. One day, when I was helping an elderly person in town with directions, they suddenly raised their hand, and I lost consciousness.
That’s when it started. People began to look at me with disgust. The power Zeus gave me was incomplete – I could identify the curse, but I didn’t have enough strength to prevent it.
It was painful when close friends suddenly started avoiding me. It was hard when strangers yelled at me for no reason. Sometimes when I ordered food at restaurants, I’d get tongue clicks and receive soup with bugs in it.
The only salvation was that Angela graduated before me. If she had rejected me too, I probably wouldn’t have been able to endure it. While hiding my situation from her, I continued to avoid meeting her. As a result, we maintained a twisted relationship where we exchanged letters but never met. It was terribly lonely… but better than meeting and seeing her look at me with disgust.
Because of the curse, I couldn’t stay in school anymore and moved between various churches. There too, I faced terrible treatment. When I complained, I was yelled at for being noisy. When I looked pained, the abuse got worse. So I learned to never show my emotions. Since I was never good at expressing feelings anyway, it wasn’t too difficult for me.
Every time I felt like dying, I remembered God’s voice and kept living. I convinced myself that this must be a trial, and that there would surely be salvation after overcoming this curse. I had to think that way or I would have gone mad.
Ah… but being rejected even by animals I loved was really tough…
I was remembering those painful times from before. But finally, those days seemed to be coming to an end. Thinking about him with the divine beast made my heart feel warm. He must be my savior.
Though I had doubted him and done terrible things, he forgave me with a bitter smile. As expected of a divine beast contractor – he was magnanimous. Moreover, the divine beast was so cute. I prayed to God with gratitude, feeling that this long trial was finally ending.
*KNOCK KNOCK*
As I was feeling warm from this rare happy event, I heard a knock. No one but him ever visited here, so I wondered who it could be?
When I cautiously opened the door, there stood Keith, half-crying. What could have happened? And then he…
“Astesia… please help. The priest is injured… and Catalina has disappeared somewhere.”
I didn’t expect an apology for his past rude behavior. Frankly, it didn’t matter to me. Maybe because I had touched him while he was with the divine beast, the curse had weakened? Though Keith still showed some aversion towards me in his eyes, I was happy that he asked for my help for the first time.
Because it had been so long since anyone had sought my help… That’s why I was truly happy.
