Villain (Part 1)

Liana followed the red haired man with eyeglasses so thick, you'd wonder if he could really see under it. His shirt was untucked and he held stacks of papers close to his chest to prevent it from falling. He was walking ahead and quite fast too.

"Can I ask for your name?" Liana's voice echoed as she tried her best to follow him along the grand hallway to reach the emperor's side of the castle.

The emperor's aid visibly slowed as he waited for the empress to catch up on him.

"You don't need to talk so formally to me, your grace. I am only the emperor's aid. I am called Ruru."

"Ruru..." Lia repeated his name. Yup, she's never heard of it.

"-Uhm...nice to meet you."

Ruru looked at her and lightly bowed. "Ah yes..." he replied awkwardly as though he did not want to talk any longer so Liana stopped initiating a conversation anymore and just focused on looking around as they walk.

They passed by a beautiful garden but even though she wanted to stop and look, she found it hard to approach Ruru as he seemed to not like talking at all. Obviously.

She felt as if she was an extra and unnecessary work to him when he already has a pile of duties to do seeing how he brought all those paper with him.

"You seem to have a lot of work to do. You should go and do what you have to do so just tell me where I should go and I can walk there on my own."

Ruru was going to disagree but the empress' offer was quite tempting to not accept so he nodded his head in agreement. "I shall accept your graciousness, your majesty."

After pointing the direction where Liana should go, Ruru bid his goodbyes and thanks, "I was told by his majesty that your grace has lost her memories. Please call for me if I can be of any service to you, your highness." Ruru smiled and gave another bow to Liana and finally went on his way.

As Liana came close to the end of the hallway that Ruru pointed for her to go, loud screams and groans were heard as she neared the castle's audience hall. A stench of vomit and sweat caught her nose and she couldn't help but gag because of it. There was also a scent she couldn't quite describe but it sure was off like a meat that had gone bad.

She should have just forced Ruru to stay and keep her company until she reached her destination. She regretted her decision of letting him go to do his other pending works. If she just endured the awkward atmosphere for a little bit.

Stupid.

The door to the audience hall was slightly open so it must be the reason why Liana kept hearing voices from the inside.

"Forgive me, my lord! This won't happen aga-Ahhh!"

Liana wanted to deny what she heard but she couldn't. She swore she heard the sound of bones breaking.

gods. Whatever is happening inside, she really did not want to know. She could always meet the emperor later. Liana's not in a hurry anyway. He should take his time with whatever he's doing.

As Liana turn her back to the doors of the hall, a creak sounded and the large entrance opened some more, "The empress is here, your majesty." A knight announced.

Shit.

Liana was preparing to bolt and run but a hand stopped her from doing so.

"Your grace, His highness, the emperor is waiting."

Liana froze.

"I see. Then could you tell him for me that I'm suddenly not feeling well so I'm going back to my room now."

The knight nodded, "The empress says that she's not feeling well and will be going back to her room to rest!" he announced so loud Liana thought that her eardrums were gonna pop.

What the actual fuck?

As soon as the news reached the emperor he hurriedly walked out of the audience hall and saw the empress looking down while touching her forehead as if in pain.

"Call for the royal physician right now!" he ordered and the servants present quickly ran to obey.

Liana wanted to face palm but decided against it so she just massaged her temples instead.

"I'll take you back to your room." he started pulling her gently back to the hallway Liana just passed.

Where is Ruru? He's supposed to be with her. Khail silently mumbled to himself.

"No-" he suddenly stopped midway and started walking back to the opposite side of the hallway. "-my personal quarters is closer after all. Rest there instead." the emperor finally declared.

Realizing what he said, Liana tried to pull her hand away from his hold. "H-hold on, your highness." she struggled.

"S-sir...your majesty..." she called but he did not budge.

Sigh.

"Khail."

He finally stopped and turned to face her.

He stared at her for a moment before letting out a sigh.

"I'm sorry you had to see that." he apologized while he take the tips of her golden her and landed a light peck on it.

Liana's body stilled from the gesture.

"I was going to finish what I had to do before you came but it took a bit longer than I expected." he explained.

Liana somewhat knew that if she were a different person, the emperor wouldn't care about explanations. Still, no matter how genuine he sounded, Liana could not deny the fact that he was killing someone just a few moments ago. One wrong move and she could be the one at the receiving end of his blade. It's her blood that would stain his clothes.

She shivered in the inside. She hoped he did not noticed that as he was still holding her hand.

The emperor waited for Liana's reply. He knew how much she hated him in the past. His plans to have her see him in a new light must now be going down the drain since she just saw him executing a person. And he was going to use this opportunity to build a better image of himself for the empress. Tsk.

"I'll make sure that this won't happen again." he continued but he was only replied with silence.

"Ah." Liana reacted when the emperor's hold on her hand tightened so much that she flinched in pain.

He did not notice that he was clenching his hand so when he heard her, he immediately let go of her hand.

He stared at her beautiful face. Is it really alright for him to love such a delicate person?

"I-I'd like to go back to my room." she finally said so Khail nodded his head and called for Sanzo, his right-hand man, to accompany the empress back to her quarters.

Staying with her right now might only frighten her away from him even more. He'd wait. No matter how long it'd take him.

Liana shut her eyes for a second. gods. She must have been crazy when she even thought of the possibility of doing Seri's plan in the emperor's room. She must be going crazy to even think that Seri's plan would work. He'd smash her head into the wall. Oh gods. Going back to her room to make another plan would be the best idea for Liana right now. They'd both think of another way to get out of the novel without losing their lives.

The knight called Sanzo, opened the door for Liana when they reached her quarters then they heard glass shatter.

In an instant, Sanzo pushed Liana behind him and he unsheathed the sword on his waist so fast, Liana wasn't sure when he did that.

He took on a fighting stance so Liana, in curiosity, tilted her head to the side to peek at the scene unfolding in front of her.

Seri immediately dropped the tray of tea cups she was holding when she saw the man accompanying her best friend.

good lord. Liana may be blessed with exceptional beauty but she sure is gifted with extraordinary luck. Seeing her favorite book's characters in a day is a gift but seeing her ultimate crush is heaven sent.

Thank you gods! Seri prayed happily.

Was her clothes wrinkled? Does she look okay? Seri made sure to straighten her apron down and brush some invisible dust from her shoulder. She quickly fixed her straight black hair.

The knight in front of Liana soon covered his silver sword upon confirming that there was no intruder nor assassin in the empress' room. Only a clumsy maid who acted strange when she saw him. Ever since Sanzo entered and trained for knighthood, his gut feeling always saved him from different dangers. His sister also once said that his gut feelings have never been wrong so he should never doubt it. ever. And now, his gut is telling him that the maid in front of him screams danger so he bowed his head to the empress in goodbye and immediately went on his way back to the training grounds.

Seri stood dumbfounded. He did not even look at her. Not even a glance. gods. She's taking back what she just said. She has no luck or whatsoever.

Liana glanced at the closed door the knight, Sanzo, disappeared to and then looked at her friend whose face was gloomier than a ghost.

Seri sigh still dejected from what happened.

"Did you know Sanzo?"

Seri let out an even deeper sigh again.

"Was he the crush you've been going on about?" Liana asked in a sing song voice.

Seri rolled her eyes and huffed. "He's not my crush anymore. I just moved on. There's plenty of fish in the sea in this book."

Liana laughed but stopped when she remembered what she had to say to her friend. "Speaking of fish, I've seen the emperor kill a person today. Like a fishmonger chopping off a fish's head!"

Liana knew that this world they're in is just fictional yet she can't help but shiver again just by remembering what happened. Although Seri did not seem to be fazed with the information.

"That should be a given since villains are supposed to be like that."

huh?

"What do you mean by villains?"

"Uhh the story's antagonist? the person who make the life of the main leads a living hell? the bad person? do I need to say mor-"

Liana's eyes widen and grab her friend by the shoulder to shake her,"Why didn't you tell me that from the start?"

"You wouldn't have agreed with the plan if I told you."

"Still! he's the villain in the story, Ser! He could've killed us both if he wanted to."

"Exactly." Seri started, "If he really wanted to kill us then he would have done so from the beginning."

"Is there anyone other than him maybe?"

"The male lead could have helped us but since he's dead, The emperor is our last best option right now."

"He's the villain, Ser!"

"Beggars can't be choosy, Li. It's either him or I start looking for a husband to settle down with, in this worl-"

"Okay, Fine. I get it." Geez. "But you have to tell me what he's like so I won't step on a land mine if I talk to him again next time."

Seri nodded. She took out a piece of paper and a quilt once they were both seated. "What do you want to know?"

Liana silently pondered before slamming her palms on the table between her and Seri. "Everything. Tell me everything."

Seri excitedly smile and gave her friend a thumbs up. "Okay!" she said before starting to draw a stick person on the paper in front of her.

"What's that?" Liana asked her friend pointing on the ugly stick person her friend drew obviosly trying to hold back a laugh.

Seri stopped drawing and glared at Liana, "Do you want me to do this or not?"

Liana laughed lightly, "Sorry...go ahead with your story telling... and drawing."

Seri sigh deeply and continued.

Alessandro Mikhail Joaquin Waldorf. The current emperor of the Wolven Empire and the ultimate villain of the story, The Empress' Magic.

"It doesn't seem to be noticeable at first but he's the reason why the female lead, Liana, eventually suffered in the book." Seri began saying.

To be continued_