Ascension Of The Villain

Vyan was on his way to the dining hall wh he saw Iyana climbing up the stairs, her gown all tattered and muddy. She looked like she had just wrestled a swamp and lost.

Iyana spotted him and immediately cut off his impding commt. "If you are going to say 'I told you so,' save it. I know. This was a catastrophically bad idea."

She pouted, surveying the wreckage of her once beautiful gown. "My poor dress. It never stood a chance."

Vyan rolled his eyes, descding the stairs at a leisurely pace. "No, that's not what I was going to say. I was just curious how your gown got so tattered from cleaning a simple stable."

"A simple stable?" she gasped dramatically, freezing mid-step. "In what twisted universe do you call that godown a simple stable? You have twty horses, Your Grace! Twty!"

"And here I thought I needed more," he mused, shaking his head in mock disappointmt.

"You could already start a business with all those horses," she grumbled.

"Actually, I do have a business—"

She shot him a withering glare. "I don't care!"

"But you are the one who suggested the idea," he remarked, a smirk playing on his lips as he relished her irritation.

"I don't know why I did that!" she exclaimed. "I don't ev know why I am talking to you in the first place," she huffed, resuming her climb up the stairs, leaving Vyan chuckling behind her.

Vyan suppressed a smile, ready to let her off the hook for now, but th he spotted a gnarly wound on the back of her shoulder.

His heart twisted and he grabbed her arm as she was passing by. "Hey, how did you get that injury?" he asked, his neutral voice barely hiding the concern.

"What injury?" She furrowed her eyebrows, guinely perplexed.

"Here," he pointed, and she twisted her head to look, her mouth forming a perfect O.

"Oh, this! I slipped and crashed into one of the wood pillars at the stable," she said nonchalantly, as if recounting a minor inconvice like stubbing her toe.

Vyan's eyes wided as he examined the wound more closely. "It looks like you got impaled by a nail or something."

"Now that you mtion it, I did feel something sharp. I thought it was just a splinter."

"How are you so blasé about this?" he shrieked.

"Well," she shrugged, "after a year on the battlefield, you get used to worse wounds than this."

Vyan's heart gave a sympathetic lurch.

"Anyway, thanks for pointing it out. I will slap on some ointmt and catch some sleep. I will be as fit as a fiddle by morning!" She pumped her fist with a grin.

He let out an exasperated sigh. "Ointmt isn't a magic potion, you know."

"What can I do? It's not like I have a stash of an elixir like healing water lying a," she quipped.

"Well—" Vyan paused, weighing his options. Th, with a resigned shrug, he decided to spill the beans. "Actually, I have a stash of healing water."

Iyana's eyes wided like he had just confessed to a national secret. "Wait, do you literally mean a stash of it?"

Vyan nodded.

"Do you know how rare and precious that stuff is? Tell me one thing. Just how much wealth did your parts leave you with?"

"Beats me," he replied with a nonchalant shrug. "But we get t perct of the healing fountain water every year."

"I get why you would have access to it since the fountain is on Ashstone territory, but why do you keep a stash just lying a in your room?"

"For minor scratches and all," he lied smoothly, waving off her concern like it was a pesky fly.

The truth was, Vyan's feeble immune system demanded constant help from the healing water after his grueling routine of sword fighting, working, and magic practice.

It was an unfortunate truth that despite his soul being blessed with immse power, his body was cursed with fragility. But he had come to terms with it by now.

However, letting Iyana know his biggest weakness? Not a chance.

"You are unbelievable." Iyana gave him a side-eye.

"Thank you, I try," Vyan smirked, casually motioning her to follow him to his room.

They reached the double doors of his bedroom, and with a flourish, Vyan pushed them op.

"There is the bathroom," he said, pointing to a particular door. "You will find a bottle of healing water on the counter to the left. Just add a few drops, and presto, injuries gone."

"I am really craving a warm bath. Is the water hot?" she inquired.

"Yes, the maids make sure it's always warm. It is practically their life's mission at this point," he informed. "I will have one of them sd your clothes up. Can't have you wandering a in robes, can we?"

She nodded, and as he turned to leave, she asked abruptly, "Where are you going?"

"To have dinner," he replied, as if it were the most obvious thing in the world. "Bedict has be nagging me for half an hour."

"Oh, right, you don't dine with me," she remarked, feigning nonchalance. She didn't know why she hoped he would have dinner with her today. "Okay, th. You should get going."

Watching her head to the bathroom, Vyan felt bad seeing her wound once again and mtally kicked himself.

Geez, why am I feeling so soft for her ever since I acknowledged her memories were gone?

He closed the doors with a self-annoyed sigh and started heading back to the dining hall.

"She ev told me herself to keep considering her my emy, but why can't I do it? Why can't I feel the same hatred for her as I used to?" he muttered, running a hand through his hair in frustration.

"I seriously need a distraction from all this drama. So… what should I do now?"

Torturing Lyon was always an option, but getting his hands dirty wasn't really his style. He preferred to delegate that kind of thing to the cell guards.

Now, he was stuck with nothing interesting to do.

Once he reached the dining hall, Bedict gave him a disapproving look and said, "Your food has gott cold already, Master."

"That's alright," Vyan mumbled, rolling his eyes. Not the first time he was going to have chilled leftovers. Although it had be a while since the last time he did.

He plopped down at his usual seat at the head of the table and asked, "Where's Clyde?"

"Lord Clyde has already retired to bed. He was utterly exhausted from all the preparations for the monster hunt festival," Bedict replied.

Vyan pouted slightly. Clyde's dless prattle would've be a perfect distraction. "Great. Just wh I needed a human noisemaker."

"Is something troubling you, Master?" Bedict asked, his concern evidt. "You usually let Lord Clyde have dinner with Lady Iyana these days so she doesn't get too lonely while eating."

Vyan's cheeks flushed crimson. "I don't do it for that reason!" he snapped, feeling the indignation rise. "They are both equally annoying, and avoiding them keeps my sanity intact."

"Indeed, Master," Bedict played along, "Your self-preservation instincts are commdable, indeed."

Vyan huffed dramatically and stood up from the table. "You are annoying me too now, Bedict. I will eat later."

"Later wh?" Bedict inquired, his voice laced with the patice of a saint.

"Um, just let me know wh Iyana comes down to eat," Vyan grumbled before he stomped out of the dining hall.

As Vyan was done fuming, he wondered what to do next. Practicing the magic spells he had be working on was next on his task list, but...

"I just don't feel like it. I…" His longing eyes drifted to the second floor, toward the direction of his bedroom.

The words swirling in his heart didn't dare reach his lips. Rather, forced himself to head down to his magic chamber.

He tried pushing down the voice in his chest that whispered, I want to spd time with her.