I will not die a Villainess's death

Elysia watched as the troublemaker kids boldly left her group. They did not even look back to confirm the other's safety as they fell from Elysia.

'I never thought that the reason I was not able to click with these children was that they considered me an adult. And I guess I am a 'grown-up' for them."

Since Elysia had a limited experience with children, she did not know what was normal for them and what was not. So Elysia found it difficult to treat them right.

Her childhood at this stage in life had been concentrated on getting stronger and learning more. Head priest Yohan had also started sending Elysia on missions at this point but they had been solo.

Elysia did not have a rebellious phase in her life but she had heard that young teens generally had a hard time accepting decisions made by others.

"Don't take Serina's words to heart, leader Elysia. Serina is only behaving like that because she used to be the oldest before you came around and she had a lot of authority as the oldest. Your presence all but dethroned her."

"Yeah, that is right. But we also like your decisions better. Serina often takes unneeded risks and it causes a lot of injuries on our part."

As the children tried to make Elysia feel better she could not help but find them to be cute. They all were good children, unafraid of a monster like Elysia.

"Yeah, I get it. You all should start heading toward the back and gather what you can. We have a limited amount of time so hurrying would be the best."

Elysia hurried the children up to go to the test site. She genuinely wanted them to do good and pass on their first try.

Elysia would be keeping an eye out for dangers since she was the most powerful person in their group.

"We will be heading out now but what about you? Won't you be coming along with me?"

"I am worried about the group that just separated from us so I will go out to see if they are alright or not."

The children asked Elysia and she could not help but compare them to tiny chicks who were following their mother's instructions.

'Although I know that these children are only pretending to like me because I am beneficial to them for now, I cannot help but be happy. How pathetic of me to feel happy from this.'

Elysia would have taken these smiles for real delight had she not heard their conversation beforehand.

Many of the students who had sided with Elysia were also the ones who had criticized her at first for agreeing with the decision to be the back group.

Not only that. Elysia had heard many children present in front of her laughing out loud at Elysia's age and the fact that she had to go to school like them.

"Oh, I see. Then you should take care to not overdo it. You also need to come back alive so that we don't lose points."

Her teammates did not try to stop Elysia. They could not be bothered to help someone like her who had Lexus's back.

"Tsk. Who does she think she is? What gives her the right to act all high and mighty like that just because she is a little older than us and Lord Lexus has her back."

"Right! Not to mention, her powers are so weird. Have you seen her use her core? It doesn't seem like she even has one when she pulls the power from it."

"She's creepy but Elysia is someone with connections. We should just play nice with her for now so that we can reap benefits later."

Elysia did not leave all at once when she had said that she would. She had started walking when she stopped to hear those words being uttered.

Elysia was angry at these words but there was nothing much she could do about them. These children had already formed an opinion about her and there was nothing that could change their perspective about Elysia.

'Not like it matters much to me. I will be getting out of this world soon enough and going back home. These kids mean nothing to me.'

Elysia tried to convenience herself of this fact and it worked for the most part. But there was still a part of Elysia that felt hurt and annoyed by those words that these kids had uttered so easily.

They did not know how these simple words could end up crushing someone completely.

"No, don't think about it. I should concentrate on finding Serina and make sure nothing happens to her."

Serina might not like Elysia's interference but Elysia did find herself to be fond of Serina. Mainly because Serina did not bother showing a false front to Elysia.

'Compared to these dishonest children, someone like Serina is far better. At least she doesn't pretend to like me so that she can reap benefits from me.'

It might be shallow of Elysia to feel like this but her feelings were pretty much set at this point.

___________________

"That stupid bitch. How dare she come out of nowhere and join our class all of a sudden. And not only that, she had to be good in her classes as well. She took my top spot due to her sudden appearance."

Serina bitched about how she felt about her group. Most of the kids who had followed after her were ones her family-owned.

As a noble herself, Serina had a lot of advantages and one such advantage was to have a lot of other families in her debt.

The children of those families had stuck to Serina like glue and that had made Serina's position in the academy solid.

"Ugh, Serina! I regret to inform you that you were never in the top 10s ever and….I'm sorry."

Serina refrained from hitting the foolish idiot who spoke without thought. But Serina held her temper back. She would not hit the foolish child.

Yet.

But that did not mean that Serina should not educate this poor and ignorant child.

"I might not have been in the top 10 yet but I was on my way there. I was so sure that I will earn a top spot this semester for sure but then that bitch comes out of nowhere and secured the top spot in a single test. Do you know how frustrating it was for me to witness?"

Serina had been dumbfounded when it had first happened but she had understood pretty easily that Elysia was a prodigy.

According to the rumor mill, Elysia had only started practicing with her core a year prior and did not know what a core was before then.

The story was that she had been picked up by Noble Lexus from a back-ward tribe who had no concept of what a core or soul energy was.

For such an ignorant person to come out on top was akin to insulting the very system their society was based on.

And Serina could not accept this insult on her honor.

"Serina, are you sure we should be doing this? Elysia was right when she said that we are not ready to take on these beasts on our own. We all might die if we try."

One of her followers finally decided to open their mouth and speak about what they wanted to for a long time.

Frankly, Serina was surprised that it took this long for him to come out and say those words.

And it was also time for Serina to tear him a new one. Once she put this kin in his place, no one would question her again.

"You are free to go back if you want to but you likely won't graduate this year if you do not get enough points. And isn't your family really poor? Can they afford to send you to school if you don't earn a scholarship?"

The child panicked hearing Serina say all that. He knew his family's condition better than anyone else.

And they really could not afford to send him to school if he failed. So he had to grind his teeth and take this chance.

"I guess no one else has any complaints about accompanying me now? Good, then we should hurry up and get moving now. I can feel the monsters nearby."

By feeling, Serina meant that she could hear the sound of the monsters battling it out on the other side of the bush.

It was generally difficult to kill these monsters but it was possible if these monsters ended up injured first. This was what Serina was counting on.

"On the count of three, we will attack the beast and take its head. Then we can split the points between us. Are you all ready to…"

There was no noise coming from Serina and that was her first clue that something was wrong.

She turned behind, only to see everyone freeze up at seeing a high-level beast ambushing them all of a sudden.

'O-Oh no. We are all going to die.'