Just as Katarina Claes celebrated avoiding another one of the Catastrophic Bad Ends reserved for villainesses, a new threat appears on the horizon. Only days after escaping a gang of Dark Magic users—and losing control over her own magic in the process—she learns that she has been selected by the Magical Ministry to help investigate unrest in the borderlands between Sorcié and Xiarmah. Though she can’t help but worry about how similar this sounds to a previous perilous assignment, her trepidation is overcome by temptation at the thought of getting to eat Xiarmah cuisine, which is identical to the Japanese cuisine she remembers from her past life. Since the fall harvest has just arrived, she might even get to eat fresh rice! However, she will be traveling with Maria, the main target of the recent gang attack, and Cyrus, who has a crush on Maria—a fact only Katarina knows. Will romance bloom between them? And what of Cyrus’s beautiful childhood friend, who hails from Xiarmah?
