Giving Every Yandere Villainess Her Happy Ending!

Annabele took the chair beside my bed. And by then I’d already resumed channeling light magic to my forehead before she’d even finished sitting down.

Multitasking wasn’t optional anymore.

If I could train while talking to a beautiful woman, I’d be killing two birds with one stone.

And both of those birds were extremely important to me.

”Are you feeling better now—?”

She stopped mid-sentence.

Her pink eyes flicked to the warmth distorting the air above my scalp, then to the faint glow pulsing beneath the bandages. She definitely noticed the mana investment too.

For a healer of her caliber, it must have been obvious.

”Reyn!”

She seized both my hands and pulled them to her chest before I could react. Pure, unfiltered pride radiated from her face.

”You started training your magic already? Without me even suggesting it?”

Her grip tightened.

”You really were serious about changing!”

I opened my mouth to thank her, then paused.

Wait.

Since when were we on a first-name basis?

”Thank you, Lady Rose. I wanted to make sure that by the time you saw me again, I’d already begun improving.”

I tilted my head.

”But... you’re using my first name?”

”Well...”

A faint blush crept across her cheeks.

”We’re friends now, aren’t we? I thought it would be appropriate. Shouldn’t you use mine as well?”

Well, look at that.

Already doing half the hard work for me herself.

”You’re right... Anna?”

”Mhm, that sounds perfect!”

Okay, she was way too easy. No wonder the original rejection broke her that hard. I’d known her for what, a few minutes of actual conversation? And she was already this invested.

As for the protagonist, he had known her for years.

Years!

Yeah. No wonder she snapped.

I kept my expression warm and gave her hands a gentle squeeze.

”I meant every word, Anna. I’m going to change. And I’d like you to be part of that journey.”

Her blush deepened.

God, this was almost too easy.

Annabele pulled her hands back slowly, though her fingers lingered against mine for just a moment longer than necessary. She folded them in her lap, pink eyes still bright.

”I’m happy to hear that... most people talk about changing but never actually do it, y’know? But you? You’re already putting in the effort.”

She gestured at the glow on my forehead.

”Light magic isn’t flashy like fire or lightning, but it’s special. It’s the attribute of preservation. My family has studied it for generations.”

Then her expression softened.

”It makes me feel... less alone. Knowing someone else values what I value.”

I nodded along, making sure my face did something appropriately touched.

Inside, I was grinning. Not that I wasn’t listening to her; I was, of course. The two weren’t exactly mutually exclusive.

I wasn’t a total lunatic. Even I could feel empathy for a normal woman, despite my preferences.

But back to her...

She had just said she was less alone. She’d just handed me the blueprint without even knowing it. The protagonist had been her only anchor, and when he left, she capsized. Now I just had to make sure I was the anchor instead.

Easy.

”That’s exactly why I want to train it.”

I said, leaning into the theatre training the military required of its high-ranking soldiers, the kind meant to turn us into sharper tools of propaganda.

I could still remember some of the recruitment commercials I made when I was still at my absolute prime...

”Light magic isn’t about destroying your enemies. It’s about protecting what matters. I never understood that before, but when you saved me...”

I let the sentence hang. Let her fill in the blanks.

Her breath caught.

”Reyn...”

”I still have a long way to go, though. I can barely maintain a basic spell for a few hours. Compared to you, I’m an infant.”

”No, don’t say something like that!”

She immediately launched into a volley of reassurance: everyone starts somewhere, she struggled too, and oh, would I like her to teach me her family’s breathing technique?

Hook, line, and sinker.

”You’d do that? For someone like me?”

”You’re my friend, Reyn! Of course I would! So it’s settled then?”

”Then yeah... I’d love that.”

”Great! Let’s start tomorrow then, right after my classes. Actually scratch that, let’s start now.”

I nodded, but something nagged at me. Hadn’t Lucius said ”we” when he dragged her off earlier? The guy made it sound like they’d both be back. Yet here she was, alone.

Not that I was complaining. This was definitely better than him being present. But that didn’t stop me from digging for information.

So I obviously asked.

”Oh, Lucius? He’s preoccupied. The academy assigned him to introduce the new transferee around campus. I heard he’s still touring her until now.”

Talk about foreshadowing...

But Annabele didn’t even look concerned. Not even a flicker. Guess she was confident enough in her position beside him that some new girl didn’t register as a threat.

Oh, if only she knew.

But enough of that.

”Well, if I were in his position, I’d find any excuse just to spend more time with you.”

”Don’t be ridiculous. Lucius cares about me, but even he has his own duties.”

She waved off my flirtation as if it were nothing more than a joke, barely seeming to consider me a romantic possibility at all.

Easy, but not that easy.

Noted.

”Anyway, since I’ve already finished my homework, how about I help you with some more light magic? In your condition, it’s the most productive thing we can do.”

”That sounds great. Though, uh... I’ve only ever read up to Chapter five of a basic textbook. You okay with starting past that?”

”Of course! Let’s start with something easy.”

✧ ✦ ✧

Easy, as it turns out, had been a surprisingly ridiculous overstatement.

”S-Should we move on to page twenty?”

Even Annabele looked surprised. Her eyes were so wide I could’ve sworn spirals were forming in them from the sheer confusion of what she’d just witnessed.

She had just watched someone go from casual healing to summoning a literal ball of light between his two palms.

And while that alone wasn’t that impressive...

The ball of light I had summoned was somehow strong enough that it completely lit up the entire room the moment Annabele told me to pour all my mana into it.

Something that both of us...

Undoubtedly thought would be far lower than this...

”Y-Yeah.”

I said, still staring at my own hands.

”We should move on...”

Turns out, I really was a prodigy. Either that, or my training was already working wonders way ahead of schedule.