Page 32 of Villainess's Redemption
“Yes, Mother, I’m eating well. No, Mother, I’m not overexerting myself. Yes, Mother, I’m getting enough rest. No, Mother, I haven’t been consorting with any nefarious characters lately.” Well, aside from myself, but that was neither here nor there.
“Where’s Sebastian?” I asked Mother as we walked down the sunlit corridor, my eyes scanning the familiar space.
Mother smoothed her skirts, a habit she’d never quite broken. “Oh, he waited for you yesterday, but since you couldn’t make it, he had to return to his duties today. Don’t worry, dear. He’ll be back tomorrow.”
A pang of guilt twisted in my gut. While I’d been playing the fainting damsel, my brother had been waiting to see me. At least in this timeline, he wasn’t breaking his back in the mines or lying dead in our hovel. The thought of seeing him tomorrow, alive and whole, sent a wave of relief through me so intense it nearly brought tears to my eyes.
“I see,” I managed, fighting to keep my voice steady. “That’s good. Very good.”
Mother tilted her head, concern creasing her brow. “Ilyana? Are you alright?”
I smiled, perhaps a bit too brightly. “Never better. Just thinking about all the ways I’m going to torment my dear brother when he returns. Someone needs to keep his ego in check, after all.”
But inside, my determination burned hotter than ever. Sebastian was alive. My parents were alive. And this time, I’d make damn sure they stayed that way.
Now, if I could just figure out how to explain to Father why framing Lord Bellrose for treason might not be the best idea without sounding like I’d lost my mind.
Finally, we reached the sanctuary of my childhood bedroom. I stepped inside, and it was like being slapped in the face with a bouquet of memories – some sweet, most embarrassing.
The room was exactly as I’d left it, frozen in time. Pale pink walls adorned with fanciful paintings of mostly myself in various ages. A canopied bed draped in diaphanous white curtains that I’d once thought made me look like a fairy princess but now realized just made me look like I was hiding from the world. Which, to be fair, wasn’t entirely inaccurate.
Bookshelves lined one wall, filled with an eclectic mix of romance novels, treatises on political strategy, and the occasional book on exotic poisons, purely for academic purposes, of course. My writing desk still stood by the window, its surface covered in a fine layer of dust. How many schemes had I hatched at that very spot? Too many to count, and not nearly enough to save me from my own idiocy.
A vanity mirror dominated one corner, surrounded by an impressive array of cosmetics and hair accessories. I caught my reflection and winced. Good lord, I really did look like death warmed over. No wonder Mother was in such a tizzy.
“There now,” Mother said, guiding me to sit on the bed. “You just rest here, and I’ll have some tea sent up.”
“Mother, really, I’m fine,” I protested weakly, but she was already halfway out the door.
Left alone in my childhood sanctuary, I flopped back on the bed with a dramatic sigh. The ceiling, I noted with some amusement, still bore the faint scorch marks from that time I’d tried to conjure a love spell.
Oh, Noah! The things I had done for you.
I lay there, staring at the ceiling and contemplating the cosmic joke that was my life. Here I was, Lady Ilyana D’Arcane, once the most conniving debutante in all of Aetheria, now reduced to hiding in my childhood bedroom like a scoldedpuppy. Oh, how the mighty have fallen. And by ‘fallen,’ I mean ‘spectacularly face-planted into a pile of her own bad decisions.’
Before I could further wallow in self-pity, my mother bustled back into the room, trailing a parade of maids laden with enough food to feed a small army. Or one particularly hungry woman. Same difference, really.
Since I had decided to sneak out of the palace this morning, I had skipped breakfast..
“Ilyana, darling,” Mother cooed, arranging herself on the edge of my bed like a hen settling onto her eggs. “I’ve brought you some refreshments. You must keep up your strength, you know.”
I eyed the spread with a mixture of a starving villager and mild horror. There were delicate pastries, finger sandwiches, and at least three different types of tea.
“Thank you, Mother,” I said, reaching for a cup of tea. “I’m sure this will cure all that ails me. Who needs doctors when you have such great food, right?”
Mother completely missed the sarcasm. “Exactly, dear! Now, tell me,” She leaned in conspiratorially, “when can we expect the pitter-patter of tiny feet?”
I choked on my tea, barely managing to avoid spewing it across the pristine bedspread. “I beg your pardon?”
“Grandchildren, Ilyana!” Mother clasped her hands together, eyes shining with unbridled enthusiasm. “Surely you and Lord Noah have discussed the matter?”
Oh, we’d discussed plenty of matters, alright. Like how good the weather was every day. Somehow, I didn’t think that was quite what Mother had in mind.
I almost snorted, thinking about how Noah and I had never even shared a bed, let alone baby-making activities. The closest we’d come to ‘discussing children’ was when I’d pretended to sleep with him while he was black-out drunk. Ah, marital bliss.
“Well, Mother,” I said, plastering on my best ‘dutiful daughter’ smile, “Noah and I are taking things… slowly. We want to enjoy our time as newlyweds before we think about children.”
Mother’s face fell faster than a soufflé in a thunderstorm. “But darling, you’re not getting any younger! And think of the family name!”
