Chapter 72: Villainess Princess × Slave (35)

Two weeks later.

"Ayra? Darling, could you put those boxes out?" an elderly, warm voice called from the back of the cozy, sunlit shop.

"Sure, Grandma!"

A girl wearing a dazzling, carefree smile ran out from the back storeroom, her arms loaded with neatly stacked wooden crates. As she set them down by the front porch, she used the back of her wrist to wipe her hands, accidentally leaving a light smear of dust right across her soft, fair cheeks.

Lyra- who was now known to everyone in the village simply as "Ayra" stood up straight, stretching her arms high above her head with a satisfied sigh.

"Phew! All the heavy work is finally done! It’s time for my well-deserved break at last," Lyra muttered happily, patting her hands clean. She poked her head back inside the shop. "Grandma, I’m heading out for a little walk!"

"Okay, Ayra! Be careful out there!" the old shopkeeper replied with a loving wave.

Lyra nodded brightly and stepped out onto the cobblestone path of the quiet countryside village.

This place was tiny- so small, remote, and insignificant that even the tyrant Emperor’s tax collectors and imperial scouts rarely bothered to check its borders. It was the ultimate, perfect hiding spot. When Lyra had first stumbled into the village weeks ago, she had found an elderly, lonely grandmother struggling to manage her small apothecary and dry-goods shop. Taking pity on the old woman, Lyra had offered to stay and help out.

Within days, her bright personality and hard work won over the entire village. Everyone adored her, and not a single soul suspected that the cheerful village girl used to be the infamous, arrogant villainess princess of the empire.

As she strolled peacefully down the sunny village lane, a group of local women chatting near a water well caught her attention, their voices carrying over the breeze.

"Have you heard the news from the capital?" one auntie whispered, her eyes wide with shock. "The new emperor is such a terrifying tyrant..."

"Oh, I know!" the second woman gasped back, shaking her head. "They say he slaughtered his way through the palace, overthrew the old royal family, and chopped off all their heads, leaving no one alive! The whole dynasty is completely wiped out!"

"Goodness gracious... And what about that mischievous, wicked princess? The one who supposedly ran away on her wedding day?"

"Hah! They still haven’t found her yet, but people say that if the new emperor catches her, he’s definitely going to chop her up into a million pieces!"

Lyra froze dead in her tracks.

Cough! Cough!

Lyra suddenly started choking on her own saliva, her face turning bright red as she violently coughed into her fist.

The two aunties spun around in alarm, quickly rushing over and patting her back while handing her a clay cup of water. "Oh, goodness! Eat slowly, Ayra! Don’t rush like that!"

"T-Thank you... I’m fine..." Lyra squeaked out, taking a gulp of water to clear her burning throat. She forced a nervous, awkward smile and hurried away from the well before they could say another word about the terrifying "new emperor."

She walked past the clustered houses and kept going until she reached a distant, open green field at the edge of the village.

A crisp, cold autumn breeze swept across the open meadows, rustling the golden grass. The seasons were changing, signaling that winter was right around the corner. Lyra let out a long, peaceful sigh, walking over to a soft patch of grass beneath a large, shading apple tree and lying flat on her back, staring up at the vast, clear blue sky.

"System..." Lyra whispered quietly in her mind. "Cassian got his absolute victory. His revenge is fully completed, and he even has his precious Female Lead, Mabel, trapped right there in the palace... So why isn’t my mission still finished yet?!"

[ ... ] the System remained completely silent in her mind, displaying a frozen blue screen.

Lyra rolled her eyes, her frustration bubbling up. "Don’t tell me I have to die a miserable, tragic death just like the original villainess now?! The whole plot is completely altered and broken anyway, so I refuse to die like that, hmph! Just teleport me to a brand-new world already!"

[ Can’t do that, Host. Sorry. You have to wait for the next plot trigger, ] the System finally replied mechanically.

Lyra rolled over onto her side, resting her chin on her hand as she glared up at the empty sky. "Unbelievable..." she muttered under her breath, closing her eyelids. The warm afternoon sun and the gentle breeze made her drowsy, and within minutes, she drifted off into a deep, peaceful sleep.

Little did she know... far, far away from this quiet village, someone was spending their days and nights drowning in sleepless, unhinged madness.

Inside the grand, blood-soaked throne room of the imperial palace in the capital- now completely transformed into a foreboding fortress of absolute terror.

"Your Highness! Please, I beg for your mercy! I didn’t know anything about her whereabouts!"

A high-ranking imperial noble from the old regime was groaning and weeping on his knees, pressing his forehead against the blood-stained floor.

Cassian sat upon the obsidian and gold throne. He wore a black coat decorated with silver dragon dragons, his broad shoulders imposing and rigid. His face was stern, his eyes devoid of any human warmth.

Without a single word of warning, Cassian flicked his wrist.

CLANG!

A flash of silver light cut through the air. A sword pierced cleanly through the kneeling man’s throat, severing his head from his body in a single motion. The corpse slumped sideways, pooling blood across the polished floor.

"Clean this mess up," a cold, dead, and emotionless voice echoed through the vast hall.

Cassian stood up from the throne. He casually pulled a clean white silk handkerchief from his pocket, wiping the tiny speck of stray blood off his fingers before tossing the stained cloth carelessly onto the ground.

His eyes were bloodshot, dark, and utterly bloodthirsty.

In the short span of these two weeks, Cassian Draven had risen from a silent, tortured royal slave to become the most feared cold tyrant known to imperial history. Every single warlord, noble, and surviving minister bowed their heads in absolute terror when his name was spoken.

He ruled the entire kingdom with an iron fist. Yet, despite holding absolute power over the entire empire, his dark soul remained a raging, empty wasteland.

Cassian turned away from the throne room and walked slowly down the long, dim corridors toward his private bedchamber- the very room where he had preserved everything that once belonged to Lyra.

He pushed the doors open, stepping into the dark, scent-filled room.

He walked over to the grand bed where she used to sleep. He lay down on her mattress, pulling her soft pillow tightly against his chest, inhaling deeply to catch the faint, lingering sweet fragrance of blossoms and soap that still clung to the fabric.

The familiar scent was the only thing in this entire world that managed to temporarily soothe the violent, roaring beast inside his chest. His bloodthirsty eyes softened just a fraction, closing as the overwhelming exhaustion of searching for her day and night pressed down on him.

"Report," Cassian commanded in a low, raspy whisper into the empty room, knowing his shadow guards were lingering nearby.

Instantly, a dark figure materialized from the shadows near the doorway, dropping onto one knee.

"Your Highness," the shadow guard reported in a tense voice. "There is still no trace of Her Highness... We have searched every inch of the capital, every merchant guild, every forest, and every neighboring town. It appears... she successfully slipped out of the capital boundaries entirely on the day of the carriage swap."

Cassian’s eyes snapped wide open.

The peaceful, fragile calm vanished in an instant, replaced by a sudden surge of ice. His pitch-black gaze turned gloomy.

It had been two whole weeks since his bride-his precious, runaway princess had vanished completely off the face of the earth without a single trace.

"What about that maid?" Cassian asked, his voice dropping into a bloodcurdling. "Did she still not utter a single useful word?"

"No, Your Highness," the shadow guard replied, bowing his head lower. "The girl, Mabel, insists repeatedly that she has no idea where Her Highness escaped to. She claims she only agreed to the swap because she wanted to save the Princess from what she thought was a dangerous fate."

Cassian let out a dark scoff. He pushed himself up from the bed,

He walked over to his desk. Spread out across the desk was a massive detailed topographical map of the entire empire- every single province, mountain range, river, and remote settlement marked out in meticulous detail.

Cassian stared down at the map, his bloodshot eyes scanning the vast territories.

His large hand slowly reached out, his long finger tracing a path far away from the capital, moving past the main trade routes, and stopping directly over a tiny, isolated, insignificant little dot nestled deep within the eastern countryside mountain- nameless little farming village.

A slow smirk spread slowly across Cassian’s lips.

"Found you..." Cassian whispered raspy and low, his deep voice vibrating with an unhinged, obsession that echoed softly against the stone walls of the dark palace.