Chapter 424: Ancient History-2 (A Side Story)

Cylus had sent Bastien away from the cabin, not sure if he should believe his longtime companion or Willow, who he knew was no fan of the man. Because of her dislike, Willow could have seen whatever she chose, and Cylus did not want to lose a friend over a woman who had almost tore the group apart in the past. He was also livid with his girlfriend who had been the last person he saw with Mina, but her story made sense.

"Cylus I swear; Mina was being harassed, and I offered to help her find Willow. We started to check random rooms, and someone pushed us in and locked the door behind us."

Vanya was sitting on the ground when she spoke, she was not lying about everything. Thanks to Cylus, Mina was being bothered by men who saw her as a toy to be handed from one to the other. She had come with Cylus, was lusted over by Brayden, and had somehow ended up becoming the focus of Connor.

To people who did not know anything other than what their eyes told them, Mina was just like the other women around. When Vanya had shown up, offering to help, Mina was so eager to leave that she did not question her at all. At first, they had truly looked for Willow, but she was already gone, and Mina was worried about her friend, who had been drinking.

Vanya told Mina that they should check Bastien's room and as they did, they were locked inside. She coldly watched Mina spiral out of control, frantically looking for an escape, begging whoever had closed the door to let her out. Vanya had not known what to expect, but the woman looked so pitiful, that she almost put a stop to the stunt, but just when she was about to fold, Mina collapsed onto the ground, and Vanya went to fetch Olivia from the main hall.

The plan was for Olivia to find Bastien aiding Mina after he 'discovered' her locked in his room. At least that was what Vanya believed, so when she lured Olivia into the room, she was surprised not to see him. She told Olivia that she was going to get help, and she shut the door behind her, hoping that Bastien was just late.

----

Earlier in the night, Bastien entered his room and was almost tempted to have his way with Mina, who looked just as beautiful lying down as she did while standing. Setting temptation aside, he hid in the restroom, waiting for Olivia to arrive. When Vanya left the woman alone with the passed-out Mina, he used chloroform to help sedate her. When her flailing became less violent, he quickly covered her eyes and forced her to swallow a pill.

Unlike the first one he had given Olivia, the one Bastien used now would just make the woman very drowsy, and she would appear nothing more than drunk to outsiders. That did not matter to him though. All he needed to do was get her clothes off, penetrate her and give himself the same drug.

Eventually, someone would come looking, and Bastien planned to claim that all three of them were victims of a third party. He would place the blame on Vanya if necessary, but he did not think he would have to. What was important, was that he looked sorry and would ultimately offer marriage to the woman as penance.

Bastien intended to do those things, but he was struggling with Olivia's shorts and the drugged woman was no help. Her head shook back and forth as if she were dizzy and Bastien wondered if it were enough to just be seen naked in the bed with her. Unable to risk his plan failing again, Bastien continued to struggle. His father's company had one, two months left at best, and after that, they would no longer have the comforts they had grown accustomed to.

Bastien genuinely liked Olivia and he planned to treat her well. His career would literally depend on it, because for Bastien the phrase 'happy wife, happy life' would be literal. He stared at the woman's exposed chest, feeling like he had already succeeded, even though he still had not figured out how to remove her shorts, and he felt like he was losing valuable time.

Bastien's fear came true, and someone flung open the door. As if crazed, Willow rushed him, clawing at him like a wild animal, seeming not to be at all concerned for Olivia, who was still on the bed next to him. He threw her away, but a punch from Oric caught him off guard. He looked at his friend with a perplexed expression because the man had not spoken a word. It was almost as if he did not care to hear an explanation.

"You tried to f*ck Willow?" Oric asked, punching Bastien again. "You told her I sent you?" He hit the man again, and Bastien raised his hand to fight back. He had been caught off guard, but he was still fully dressed, and he was not without a backup plan. Fortunately, Oric seemed to not have seen him on top of Olivia and was instead focused on ancient history.

Way back, after everyone found out that Willow had slept with Oric, Bastien wanted to try his luck as well. Willow was the one girl they liked in common, including Cylus, and they were all low key bitter that she had chosen to stick by Oric, who, at the time, was the ugly friend.

Amid the backlash, Bastien's family had forced him to visit Willow's, saying that they were going through a rough time, and needed support. Bastien of course knew what the trouble was, but he feigned ignorance, wanting to play innocent for their parents. During that time, Willow refused to leave her room, so Bastien went to find her. She refused to open her door to him, but for weeks he kept at it, and eventually he was able to get her to leave.

Feeling as though Bastien was a nice boy, Willow's mother had stopped being strict with them, and they were left alone often. On one of those times, Bastien brought up Oric, and Olivia burst into tears. He hugged her, wanting her to stop crying, but then he found himself wondering if she had always had breasts or had he just ignored them. He aggressively tried to kiss Willow, who pushed him away in horror.

Not knowing what else to say, he lied, saying that Oric had sent him to sleep with her. To cover for himself, Bastien spread the rumor and a few other boys tried to use Willow as well. It was shortly after that when Willow's family left Pan.

At some point during the fight, Bastien ended up on the ground with Oric's hands wrapped around his neck. He knew the man was strong, but he had never seen the man angry enough to hurt anyone, and Bastien knew it had nothing to do with Olivia or Mina. Someone pulled Oric off and Bastien sputtered out a few curses.

While Bastien was still struggling to catch his breath, Willow was ruining his name, and without warning a foot came crashing down onto his stomach.

"I didn't do anything," Bastien coughed out from the ground. He could now see that it was Cylus who had kicked him. "They were already like this when I came in. I thought it was a prank." Willow looked at Oric, hoping that they had not misread the situation, but Oric seemed enraged by the man's words. He tried to attack Bastien again but Cylus stopped him, knowing that nothing could be learned until the women woke up. The difficult part was having them removed from the party without notice. So Cylus chose to remove Bastien instead.