I Am The Game's Villain Chapter 803: Jeanne SS [1]

Inside Royal Dorian Castle, in the lavish quarters reserved for the highest-ranking noble guests, there now lived a rather peculiar woman.

She stood alone near the tall windows, dressed in a blue-and-white pinafore-style uniform, the uniform of Royal Eden Academy. On anyone else, it might have looked simply elegant. On her, in these royal chambers, it only deepened the strangeness of the sight. She was a very beautiful young woman in her early twenties, with chocolate-brown hair cut to her neck and tied slightly back, and blue-green eyes that now stared past the glass and out into the castle grounds.

Beyond the windows stretched a beautiful courtyard, carefully arranged with pale stone paths, trimmed greenery, and fountains that shone under the daylight with almost unreal clarity. It was the kind of view people dreamed of when they imagined royalty. A place too beautiful, too grand, too still to feel entirely real.

And yet it was real.

That was the part Jeanne still struggled with.

No matter how many times she stood there and looked outside, the scenery never changed. The same courtyard. The same distant walls. The same armored guards crossing below. Every glance confirmed the same impossible truth: she was living inside a royal castle in another world.

She still could not understand why it had happened.

She had never once imagined such a thing was even possible. Two weeks ago, she had been doing something ordinary, spending time with friends, talking, just living ordinarily. Then, without transition, without explanation, she had found herself standing in a ceremonial hall surrounded by people dressed in clothes that belonged to another age entirely.

At first, she had frozen.

Her mind had lagged behind reality, refusing to catch up. The hall had been too large, the air too different, the faces around her too intense. For several long moments she had felt as if she were trapped inside someone else’s dream, unable to force her body or thoughts to respond properly. If not for the First Princess of the kingdom stepping in and speaking to her with a degree of calm, Jeanne doubted she would have even managed to understand where she was.

Even then, understanding had not meant acceptance.

She had demanded to be sent back almost immediately. She had a family. A life. People who would worry. People who would look for her. She had said all of that, and more, with all the disbelief and anger of someone who had just had reality stolen out from under her. But the answer she received had remained the same every time: it was not possible.

That was the part she had the hardest time believing.

If they had brought her here, then surely they could send her back. Wasn’t that the obvious conclusion? But apparently whatever ritual had summoned her could not simply be reversed. Or perhaps it could not be repeated in that direction. Either way, every explanation she received ended in the same wall: no one knew how to return her.

Jeanne had wanted to get angry.

But she had chosen not to.

It was not because she accepted any of this, and certainly not because she trusted them completely. It was because she understood that if she truly could not go back, then this place might become her reality for much longer than she wanted. In that case, making enemies of the people around her, especially the royal family who had taken her in, would have been foolish. So she bit back much of her frustration and did the wiser thing instead: she remained polite, observed everything, and kept her composure as best she could.

That decision had only become more complicated when she learned who, or rather what, had summoned her.

A god.

Lumen.

Even now, the thought felt absurd in a way her mind could not fully digest. Yet the people here spoke of it with complete certainty. To them, this was no metaphor, no religious symbolism, no poetic explanation for something beyond understanding. A literal god had chosen her and drawn her into this world.

Jeanne did not know what to do with that.

Part of her wanted to reject it outright. Another part, quieter but more persistent, wanted to know why. If this really had been done by a divine being, then surely there had to be a reason. People did not simply get torn from one world and thrown into another for nothing.

Or at least she hoped not.

They had told her she had been summoned as a Hero of Eden, a figure meant to stand as a symbol of strength and protection for the kingdom. The title itself sounded grand enough to belong in a game or a fantasy novel. But standing here now, feeling everyone’s expectations pressing against her, there was nothing amusing about it.

Slowly, Jeanne lifted one hand and stared at her palm.

A golden glow spread across it at once warmly.

Magic.

That was what it was, however absurd that word might once have sounded on her own lips.

Since being summoned, she had felt the changes in her body almost constantly. She was stronger than before, far stronger. Faster too. Her senses had sharpened to a degree that was sometimes frightening. Sounds came to her more clearly. Movement felt lighter. Even the way she inhabited her own body had changed, as if every part of her had been refined and rebuilt into something beyond what she had once been.

And apparently, that was not far from the truth.

She had been told that the Divine Summoning Spell used on her had been crafted by Lumen himself, and that through it her body had been reconstructed down to its very foundation. Jeanne did not know enough about the workings of this world to fully grasp the process, but the result was easy enough to understand. By this world’s standards, she now possessed power equal to an Eighth Ascension.

She still remembered the expressions on their faces when that had been confirmed.

Shock first.

Then awe.

Now, two weeks later, the shock had not entirely faded, but it had transformed into something else.

Near worship if she had to say it.

Wherever she went, people looked at her as though she were not merely a guest, nor even a summoned champion, but some kind of divine messenger sent by Eden itself.

That only upset her more than anything.

Because no matter what strength now lived in her body, no matter what glow answered when she raised her hand, Jeanne still felt that she didn’t belong here.

With a quiet sigh, Jeanne pushed aside the thoughts of what had happened and turned away from the window. There was no use standing there any longer, staring out at the same courtyard and hoping reality might somehow shift if she looked at it from a different angle. It never did. So, gathering herself as best she could, she stepped out of her quarters.

The moment she did, she found someone already waiting for her.

Aurora Avia Celesta stood just outside, composed as always. Jeanne had seen princesses on television, in magazines, in all the images the modern world liked to produce, and she had known beautiful women all her life. But Aurora was something else. To Jeanne, she seemed like the very image of what a true princess had to be, graceful without trying, elegant without coldness, with a presence that felt both noble and gentle.

More importantly, she was the person Jeanne trusted most in this world.

Jeanne was not naive. She had never been the sort to place her faith in others too quickly, and being dragged into another world had not exactly made her more trusting. If anything, it should have made her more guarded. Yet after two weeks here, she had come to recognize that Aurora was sincere. Kind, patient, trustworthy, and thoughtful in ways that were difficult to fake for long. Whatever else could be said about this kingdom, Aurora had never once treated her like a burden.

Officially, Aurora was her caretaker, though Jeanne thought the word sounded far too cold for what the princess had actually been doing. Since the day of her summoning, Aurora had been the one looking after most of her needs, guiding her through customs, answering her questions, calming her panic when it rose, and making sure she did not feel abandoned in this new life.

When Jeanne had first arrived, disoriented and barely able to process where she was, Aurora had been the first to truly speak to her, not as a symbol, not as some sacred hero, but as a perturbed person who needed someone in front of her. She had comforted her as much as she could, and even now, days later, she still seemed to know exactly when Jeanne was feeling overwhelmed. Because of that, Jeanne had long since stopped seeing her as just a royal assigned to watch over her.

If she was being honest, she considered Aurora a friend.

And Aurora kept proving that friendship in small ways, day after day. She made sure Jeanne was as comfortable as possible, always accompanied her when she could, and never let the stiffness of court swallow every interaction between them. Even now, a week after Jeanne had started attending the academy, Aurora was still the one accompanying her there each morning.

"Lady Jeanne," Aurora said with a smile the moment she saw her.

"Jeanne is enough," Jeanne replied as she approached.

She was still uncomfortable with the way everyone here insisted on addressing her with such respect and worship. She had told them more than once to stop. Every title, every careful bow, every extra layer of respect felt strange on her skin. It made her feel as though they were not seeing her at all, only the status forced onto her by the summoning. As if Jeanne herself mattered less than whatever role they wanted her to play. She hated that feeling.

Aurora, at least, was trying.

"Jeanne," Aurora corrected, her smile softening. "Shall we go? The car is already waiting."

Jeanne nodded and followed her.

Together they made their way out of the castle and toward the front gates. Waiting there was one of this world’s cars, similar enough to those on Earth to be recognizable, yet different enough to remind Jeanne once again that she no longer belonged where she came from. The general shape was familiar, but she had already learned these vehicles ran on mana rather than fuel. This one looked closer to a luxurious limousine than an ordinary car.

Of course it did.

Ever since her summoning, luxury had surrounded her whether she wanted it or not.

"Oh, Jeanne. Good morning."

At the sound of the voice, she turned.

Standing nearby was the handsome crown prince of the kingdom, Aurora’s twin brother, Alfred.

He greeted her with a smile, open and charming, and Jeanne had to admit that on most women it probably would have had exactly the intended effect. Not because it felt manipulative, but because Alfred simply looked every bit the prince he was meant to be. That had been her first thought when she met him, just as Aurora had immediately struck her as the perfect princess. The two of them seemed almost unfairly suited to their roles, as if they had stepped out of some idealized royal portrait.

"You’re coming with us, brother?" Aurora asked.

"No," Alfred replied. "I’m going to pick up Milleia."

He gestured toward another waiting car as he spoke.

At that, Jeanne noticed the faint shift in Aurora’s expression. It was small, so slight that someone who did not know her might have missed it completely, but there was a brief twist there, a touch of displeasure or perhaps resignation, before she smoothed it away and let out a quiet sigh.

"Jeanne," Aurora said, turning back to her just as the driver opened the limousine door wide.

For a moment, Jeanne glanced toward Alfred again as he moved toward his own car, then she ducked into the limousine, Aurora following in right behind her.

And just like that, another day in this new world began.