The Charming Villain Just Wants To Be A Salted Fish

The Twelfth Night Part 1

Joyce wrapped her arms around the falling girl.

She carefully protected her and together they fell all the way down the dark hole until they landed on the ground somewhere.

Joyce managed to stand up firmly and helped the girl up.

“Are you all right?”

As a vampire, Joyce had strong night vision, but the girl in front of her obviously did not. She fumbled around and then pulled out a candle that she carefully lit.

The cave was once so dark that they couldn’t see their hands, but now it was tinted with a layer of warm light.

Joyce's eyes moved to the girl's face and she stared at her curiously with a look of surprise.

Her eyes made the girl's face slightly flush.

“Thank you.”

The girl lowered her head when she thanked Joyce. Her soft voice made Joyce's eyes sparkle even more. The girl raised her head cautiously, and saw that Joyce's eyes were still on her. She was a little shy and continued to look down.

“Have… Have we met?”

Joyce observed the girl in front of her more carefully. Using the faint candlelight to help her, she confirmed the identity of the girl.

“You don't know me, but I know you.” Joyce's tone was full of pleasant surprise. “You’re Aretha, right?!”

All of a sudden, the girl’s hands clenched enthusiastically, something she did not expect. She awkwardly wanted to take back her clenched hands.

“You… You have mistaken me for someone else.”

But Joyce insisted. “I've seen your statue so many times in the city. I wouldn’t mistake you for someone else!”

The girl in front of her lowered her eyes dejectedly. “I’m not really… that Aretha.”

The look in her eyes made Joyce hesitate, but she looked at the girl in front of her again and again. She felt that she could not have made a mistake. How could anyone in the world look exactly the same as the former God of Light?

The young girl looked further into the cave using the faint light. A trace of surprise flashed through her eyes, and she walked deeper into the dark cave.

“Where are you going?” Joyce hurried to catch up with her. ꜱᴜᴘᴘᴏʀᴛ ᴛʜᴇ ᴛʀᴀɴꜱʟᴀᴛᴏʀ ᴀɴᴅ ʀᴇᴀᴅ ᴏɴ ꜰᴏxᴀʜᴏʟɪᴄ.ᴄᴏᴍ

The young girl gently pressed her finger against her lip to signal her to be quiet. Seeing that Joyce understood and no longer spoke, she grabbed the candle tighter and whispered, “This passage should lead to the School of Magic.”

Joyce thought about the direction of the school and nodded solemnly. “Are you going to the School of Magic? Are you in some kind of trouble?”

“No…” The girl pursed her lips and walked forward with the flickering candles. “I ju-just want to go to the School of Magic… Today is the last day for new students to sign up.”

Joyce was speechless. “New students sign up? But aren't you once the God of Light? Why do you need to sign up as a new student?”

“I… I'm not her.” The girl looked down and her eyes were gloomy. “Why do you all think I am her…”

“You all?” Joyce grasped what she meant. “Who else is there? Is it the man who just chased you? Who is that man?”

Although she didn't see anyone in the forest, the strong aggressive aura of the wind made every single one of her nerves sense danger, felt from the finest hair that was transmitted to the brain.

“We have to move faster and get to the element test before he knows about it.” The girl frowned slightly and seemed reluctant to mention the person's name. “I have to pass the element test in order to stay in the School of Magic.”

“The element test?” Joyce was surprised. “Are you really going to study in the School of Magic again? Why?”

The young girl did not answer for a long time. Joyce was about to say something to ease the atmosphere or simply take back what she had just said when she heard the girl speak in a soft but determined voice:

"I want to rely on myself to learn magic, not… through the shadow of someone else.”

Joyce turned her head and looked at the girl with surprise.

At this moment, she seemed to see some kind of light in the girl that was similar to hope.

She rubbed her eyes and everything seemed to be back to normal.

She really is… a girl with a dream.

Joyce could not stop herself from looking down and sighing. The girl wasn’t like her. Although Joyce was curious about magic, she was just curious and that was about it. She was curious about how the element test was completed and what the School of Magic was like… All this seemed like a sudden trip or adventure for her.

She followed the young girl aimlessly through the deep cave until they came to a narrow cellar.

The girl's eyes lit up, and she hurried to carefully open the door of the cellar. After making sure that there was no one around, she turned around and put out her hand. “Let's go.”

Joyce was stunned.

She quickly reached out and took the girl’s hand.

“Who are you?! You are not from the school!”

“Somebody! Someone broke into the School of Magic!!”

……

As soon as they were about to go through the cellar, they ran into students who happened to be passing by, who then began to shout loudly without bothering to listen to any explanations first.

Joyce was the first to regain her senses. She swiftly pulled the girl around the students blocking them and rushed into the dense forest surrounding the school.

Joyce was very fast. In no time, they were far away from the students who had just entered the school.

The girl had blown out the candle in her hand and sprinted the entire way to follow Joyce. When they finally could not see the students behind them, they stopped at the corner of a long hallway, gasping for breath.

The young girl looked around the strange surroundings. “D-do you know… where the element test is?”

“Of course not,” Joyce answered in a matter-of-fact tone.

“…”

Joyce also followed the girl's eyes to the place in front of them.

“What is this place?”

As they looked suspiciously at the dormant building in the middle of the night, there was a noise behind them—

“This way! I saw them running this way!”

Joyce and the girl glanced at each other. They quickly opened the window in the long hallway and went through it at the same time.

“It looks like…” The girl did not dare to light a candle and used the faint moonlight to look at the magnificent and mysterious place. “Like a library?”

“Mhm.” Joyce saw how they were surrounded by bookshelves. The voices of the students chasing them were heard from behind them again, and her eyes landed on the stairs to the side. “Let's go up and have a look.”