The Villainous Me Turned the Losers into Blackened Bosses-Chapter 155 - Dancing in a Minefield

—

“Who… is she?”

“Why…”

“Why is Will looking at her like that?”

Standing in the middle of the street, Leah tightly gripped the newspaper in her hands, crumpling its edges. The large photo printed on the front page was now marred with creases and cracks.

Calm down. Stay calm.

She repeated this to herself over and over in her mind.

It’s nothing. It’s just a photo of some… unknown black-haired woman! And this woman matched Eir’s description perfectly—it’s something she already knew!

Surely…

No. Absolutely! It had to be her who lured Will away. Just one look at her and you could tell, right? She didn’t seem like a good person. Will, being so… so kind, would definitely… definitely have been tricked by her.

The more Leah thought about it, the less certain she felt.

—You know that’s impossible.

—Will is clean and composed. They even gave an interview to reporters.

—Look at how happy he looks in the photo.

—Do you really believe it? That Will, who handled bullying at school so skillfully, would be easily deceived by a woman?

Thump thump thump thump thump.

Leah could hear her heart pounding wildly in her chest.

She could feel the rapid thrum of her heartbeat echoing through her veins and magical circuits, a relentless rhythm she couldn’t calm.

“Huff… huff… huff…”

The more she thought about it, the heavier her breathing became. On the quiet streets of this small town, it made her stand out all the more.

“Miss, are you… are you alright?”

Even the newsboy who had handed her the paper looked worried.

There wasn’t anything wrong with this newspaper, was there?

Today’s story was so positive and uplifting, far less stressful than recent headlines about dungeons being cleared, local property values plummeting, or new dungeons causing nearby buildings to collapse.

It was the kind of “feel-good” story that made you think, “The world isn’t so bad after all!”

So why did she look like this after just one glance?

“I’m fine, perfectly fine, absolutely… fine! It’s none of your business, why do you care?!”

Leah snapped, her voice sharp and loud.

The newsboy caught sight of her fiery red eyes. Though he didn’t know much about the various races or the common “abilities” of dungeon adventurers, just looking into her eyes sent chills down his spine.

She…

She wasn’t mentally unstable, was she?

She had seemed… normal just a moment ago.

The newsboy decided it was best not to get involved.

“S-sorry, miss! It’s… it’s my fault! I shouldn’t have meddled!”

He bowed deeply and ran off as fast as he could.

After being addressed by a stranger, Leah seemed to calm down a little. She looked at the now-empty street, her breathing steadying.

She covered her eyes with one hand, peeking at the newspaper with the other.

“Yeah… what’s wrong with me?”

For a brief moment—just one or two seconds after seeing that headline—Leah felt the same rush she used to get from using crimson mint essential oil.

“The newspaper… right, I should keep it. It’s Will’s newspaper. It must have information about him.”

She clutched the newspaper tightly, rolling it up in her hands, but she didn’t have the “courage” to open it again.

“I’ll… I’ll take it with me for now.”

Leah now looked like a deflated balloon, her energy completely drained.

—

“Miss, your room is ready. Here’s the key—it’s the first door on the left on the second floor.”

“Thank you.”

“Miss… there’s a clinic nearby. You don’t look well—your face is so pale. Would you like to get checked out?”

“No!”

Leah’s refusal was immediate and harsh, her tone unusually sharp.

“Oh, I… I mean, I’m not sick. I feel fine…”

She staggered to her room.

Lying on the bed, she placed the newspaper on the bedside table and the box of mint essential oil at the foot of the bed.

What was wrong with her?

Just a few days ago, she had felt “drained,” as Will had described it—her heartbeat slow, her blood sluggish, her magical circuits silent.

But…

The moment she saw the newspaper, especially when she saw Will’s glasses in the photo, that old feeling—once sustained by the mint essential oil—came rushing back.

Leah rolled onto her side, staring at her golden hair, which had split ends from not being treated with hair oil for so long.

She twirled a strand of her hair around her finger.

“So strange…”

“Will…”

“Alright, I admit it… maybe I do… miss you a little.”

Three days wasn’t the issue.

There were plenty of times during breaks when she wouldn’t see Will for a few days.

What mattered was that he had gone “completely silent.”

It was like when your favorite snack shop near the school suddenly put up a “temporarily closed” sign without saying when it would reopen.

The things you took for granted disappeared in an instant.

After all…

After all, Will was the first person to bring her from the “witch’s” world into the “human” world. He was the one who quietly supported her, helping her become a good teacher at the magic academy.

Since the day she trusted his words and opened her heart to the human world, he had always been by her side.

The sudden absence of such a familiar presence was terrifying.

That fear of not knowing what the future would hold…

It was like…

The fear that one day, he would no longer be hers, no longer the good student who only looked at her…

This… this feeling…

Leah could only describe it as…

Missing him.

“Every time I come back, I don’t want to do anything. My head feels foggy, and I’m completely out of it.”

“My body rarely feels like this…”

Leah sat up, her gaze once again falling on the crumpled newspaper on the table.

“Maybe… I should figure out what Will’s been up to.”

This chapt𝓮r is updat𝒆d by ƒreeωebnovel.ƈom.

When she first saw the front-page photo, she had felt so uncomfortable that she couldn’t read further.

The content…

The content seemed to be an interview after their dungeon victory.

She looked at the newspaper on the table, feeling her heartbeat quicken.

Leah realized that only when she looked at the newspaper did she feel a bit more energized—or rather…

More “normal.”

She stared at the crumpled newspaper and finally reached out.

—Just one more look, just one more.

—After all, it has his photo on it.

—It’s the only clue about him she has right now.

“An interview… an interview…”

“What would he say in an interview?”

Leah carefully unfolded the newspaper, smoothing out the page with Will and the unknown black-haired woman on the “headline.”

She didn’t read the content right away. Instead, she placed the newspaper on her lap and used her fingers to smooth out the creases on the photo.

Then…

She began to read the description below—

“But… I have to thank her. After all, I wouldn’t have been this strong without her…”

“Her support…”

“Oh?”

Sitting on the bed, Leah tilted her head.

She didn’t even notice how hollow her gaze had become, or how her tilted head looked as if it might snap.