With Lean taking no interest in Dante, it seems she is safe from any attempted kidnapping. And that’s good news for Cecilia as well. But now that Dante knows Cecilia’s secret, he can’t help but hang around this interesting girl. And just as interesting is the reactions he gets whenever he’s around “Cecil”.
But Cecilia’s days as Cecil may be coming to an end — well, rather, her days as Cecilia may be coming to an end, because she ends up kidnapped by Dante’s former group!
According to the end-of-volume notes, this volume brings readers up to the end of the first light novel, and this does have that “climatic moment followed by with new arc” feel to it that would have made me guessed that anyway. Cecilia reveals her true identity to Lean when the latter is about to be abducted, so since Cecilia is of a higher rank, the kidnappers take her instead. She knows Lean would have informed Oscar and Gilbert, but whether they can act because of their positions and/or know where to find her is another story.
Kidnapped-Cecilia is, without a doubt, the best version of Cecilia. Dante’s former group, led by his mother, hold her for ransom. While being escorted to a cell, Cecilia spots a dropped knife near the dining area and manages to stash it in her shoes. She manages to knock out a guard and steal his stuff. She bluffs about Gilbert’s sacred treasure in order to save the person helping her. Yes, she does make a dumb blunder, and she isn’t alone when escaping, but otherwise, it’s hard to believe this is the same ditzy protagonist who doesn’t realize Gilbert and Oscar are both in love with her and thinks flirting with schoolmates in guy’s clothing is the best option to save her life.
But of course, post-kidnapping Cecilia reverts to her normal self, but at least there is one new development to help shake up Cecilia’s school life: Lean. As readers undoubtedly figured out, Lean is also a reincarnater — Cecilia/Hiyono’s best friend from her former life, in fact. While Lean could go for the full heroine experience, like Cecilia, Lean has no intention of becoming the Holy Maiden. So now the two girls are looking for another candidate to take up (read: foist on) the position.
I don’t know how that will go, but I’m glad the truth about Lean is out in the open. Lean acts both in her own interest (BL fangirl) and as Cecilia’s best friend, and she already has someone she wants to date. So the heroine-villainess dynamic here is going to be refreshing compared to most similar stories, and I give Cross-Dressing Villainess Cecilia Sylvie two thumbs up for that.
I’d keep those thumbs up if we could see more of the Cecilia who tries to keep a level head when Lean is attacked and even when surrounded by her biggest fear. I know there’s no shortage of villainess tales where she has trained to be strong, but it’s not so much physical strength I want to see Cecilia demonstrate. For as big of a secret she’s carrying, several people have already found out. Kidnapped-Cecilia shows she does have brains and talent, which makes her lack of foresight with the whole Cecil thing even more bizarre than before.