It's Overwhelmingly Convenient That the Female Lead Has Darkened - Chapter 26

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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A female protagonist gone dark is overwhelmingly convenient.
#26
Chapter 8. Herbalism Practicum
“Come now, everyone breathe in!”
“Mmmph.”
“And exhale deeply!”
“Haaaaaah…….”
“Don’t you feel it? The fresh wind sweeping clean through your lungs?”
Well, I suppose…….
The students, not yet fully awake, bobbed their heads mechanically with puffy, sleep-swollen faces.
A short, stocky herbalism professor who had been watching them with obvious affection adjusted the turban wrapped around her head and opened her mouth.
Beneath the turban, a large bandage was visible across her forehead.
“That is the true joy of herbalism! Everyone says herbalism is boring, but that’s only because they don’t understand it at all. Herbalism means roaming this vast earth, breathing clean air, encountering adorable and charming creatures, and searching for beautiful plants…….”
The herbalism professor’s beady black eyes—like a beetle’s—suddenly gleamed.
If even a single student were caught not pretending to listen, she looked ready to seize them and force-feed them red bean tea or mung bean tea.
But unfortunately, as the professor continued speaking, the students’ eyes grew progressively more glazed.
It was hard to believe her words when they’d just crammed until dawn last night from “10,001 Medicinal Herbs Even an Incompetent Herbalist Must Memorize (illustration to be inserted)”—and it had been unbearably tedious.
The title alone said it all.
An incompetent herbalist has to memorize 10,001 herbs?
Then how many would a competent one have to memorize?
“Excellent question!”
Which idiot just said that out loud?
“The memorization ends at 10,001 herbs! Because becoming a competent herbalist means knowing how to blend those herbs appropriately to achieve excellent results. However, in order to do that, you must first develop the ability to carefully distinguish and harvest these 10,001 varieties, and to do that, you must first…….”
“Professor, when do we set out?”
“Oh dear, where’s my head?”
Fortunately, thanks to the student who had cut her off at precisely the right moment, the professor gathered her thoughts and resumed the lesson.
“Now then, you’ll all be conducting a full day of collection practice. Right here in Seymour Forest!”
The professor stretched her short frame and gestured toward the forest sprawling behind her.
And the students gasped with delight.
“Wow, it’s even prettier up close!”
“I’ve always wanted to go in there.”
The forest, unfurling pale white like seafoam, looked like something out of a fairy tale.
“Here you’ll each find and collect the herbs you’ve memorized. Gather one of each type, bring them to me, and remember—you must tell me both the name and the properties of each one.”
The professor blinked one of her round, dark eyes, and her long white lashes fluttered.
“Professor.”
A student raised her hand.
“Is it safe to wander around the forest? My mother told me never to enter a forest I don’t know…….”
“Oh, don’t worry! Seymour Forest is completely safe, I assure you! Of course, if any of you have a phobia of rabbits or larks, that’s another matter entirely—hahahaha!”
As always with professors, the joke fell flat.
99% from sheer unfunniness, and 1% from…….
‘Please stop lying. There’s a polar bear living over there.’
Daisy Sablehart stared at Seymour Forest with a pale face.
She never expected to come back here.
Cold sweat broke out as she remembered being chased by the polar bear last night.
But she couldn’t bring herself to raise her hand and ask, “Isn’t there a polar bear here?”
If she did, the professor would scold her, every student would remember her name, civilization would crumble, society would collapse, the nation would fall, and her quiet, peaceful academy life would vanish forever.
So Daisy subtly tried to signal with her eyes.
‘Hey, you say something.’
‘…….’
A classmate in herbalism, a fellow survivor of the polar bear chase, a villain who had no need for image management whatsoever.
But the moment Felix’s eyes met hers, he simply turned his head away.
Then he made a small clicking sound with his tongue.
“Tsk.”
Seriously? Him too?
“It looks like everyone’s bodies are tingling with excitement to start collecting.”
The professor spoke with a benevolent smile.
“But before you enter the forest, there’s something we must do first.”
So she’s going to chase away the polar bear first, naturally!
“Form groups.”
Groups? What do you mean?
“Four to five members per team. Oh, and just so you’re aware—the groups you form today will continue working together in the advanced herbal studies course as well, so I’d recommend choosing carefully! Of course, that’s only for those who pass this foundational herbal studies class.”
Continue? What do you mean?
Daisy, who’d held her tongue until now, shot her hand up in desperation.
“Alone,”
“Surely no one wants to work alone, do they? Group assignments aren’t just about acquiring knowledge! They demand cooperation, responsibility, and understanding toward your teammates. In that spirit, anyone who attempts a group assignment solo—no matter how well they perform—will receive a zero.”
“…….”
Crisis had descended upon her peaceful solo strategy.
* * *
Group assignments.
Another name for the hell Daisy had been cast into.
「”Daisy, could you look into this research for me? I have a family event I really need to attend this week.”
“Daisy, did you finish the report? Since you understand the content best, I think you should present it too. That’s okay, right?”
“Daisy, if you could just handle this…….”
“Daisy, about this assignment…….”
“Daisy…….”」
A flood of requests.
Daisy’s answer to every single one was, naturally, the same.
「”Yeah, sure.”」
Sure? Sure about what, you absolute—!
Kwon Do-yo read through every letter with the urge to grab Daisy by the collar and shake her senseless.
‘You! Now’s not the time for that! Didn’t you have an individual assignment as a final exam substitute to do first?!’
She hadn’t.
So Daisy’s grades were never good.
Naturally, her reputation among professors wasn’t much better.
She always submitted assignments at the last minute—if she submitted them at all. What respect could she expect?
‘I should go with her when she submits it! Lydia and she are close friends—why would she trust her with that report? That girl’s going to take Daisy’s name right off it!’
She did.
Even crying as she told the professor how difficult it had been without Daisy’s participation.
The professor believed her.
Because Daisy’s reputation was poor.
‘Why are you doing all the herb gathering alone? Aren’t you the only student? If you get poisoned by toxic plants…….’
She did.
While Daisy hovered between life and death, those who completed the assignment with the herbs she’d gathered scrubbed her name from the report entirely.
「”All she did was dig in the dirt. What did she actually contribute?”」
That was their argument.
“…….”
Have you ever possessed someone and died of high blood pressure?
It could happen. Brace yourself.
And that wasn’t even the worst of it.
Daisy had been stabbed in the back during various events in every conceivable way.
She’d even seriously wondered: ‘Is there actually another true heroine somewhere else?’
So ever since possessing Daisy, she had done her utmost to avoid group assignments.
If something could be done alone, she did it alone. If two people were required, she still did it alone.
But now.
‘Zero points? That can’t be real…….’
And he’d even said it with a kind smile—then his expression turned stern only for that part…….
Daisy sighed as she stared at the professor’s round, puffy turban—a head or two shorter than her own.
Should she just drop the class?
Not that she hadn’t considered it, but Daisy couldn’t decide hastily.
Because,
「”Herbal studies is the most fun.”」
She remembered those words—whispered as a secret to a friend (though they weren’t really friends) at some point in the past.
Daisy might have become a herbalist.
If she hadn’t barely scraped through the Academy.
If she hadn’t been rushed into marriage.
If she hadn’t died.
“…….”
Throb.
Wait—throb?
What’s there to feel wistful about?
Daisy clenched her fists.
At this point, there was only one thing she could do.
‘Daisy, watch carefully.’
This was what a successful group project assignment looked like.
* * *
‘Daisy, if you’re watching, close your eyes.’
Five minutes after the group assignments began, Daisy understood.
The black nameplate pinned to her chest was poop.
Walk around wearing poop?
People avoid you.
Walk around wearing poop and ask them to do a group project with you?
People avoid you with all their might.
Um, would you like to be in a group with me?
…….
Um?
…….
So here’s what happened:
“Two people are left. Let me see—their names are… Daisy and Felix!”
That was it.
Only two people wearing poop remained.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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