I will not die a Villainess's death

"Where do you all keep coming from? You don't even have a brain to respawn on your own but you sure are annoying."

Eve rarely cursed someone out but she was getting annoyed after being jumped for the third time in the span of a few minutes.

These annoying shadowy creatures were easy to deal with but were also time-consuming. Every time Eve tried to move toward a new location, these annoying blobs of shadows caused her to change location.

"I wish I had a map for this place. It would make things so much easier. Why does Adam get a built-in Elysia radar and not me?"

Eve was still annoyed at the fact that Adam could sense Elysia from even far away. As long as Eve had known the pair, that had been the case.

Those two might not be close physically but there was a mental connection they shared and it made Eve jealous.

'Then again, I get to spend more time with Elysia so it's a fair trade-off.' This had been a topic that had made Adam turn his head away.

Elysia used to feel closer to Eve than she did to Adam.

"Are you still not done here? These Bauk do not take long to die. Just how weak are you to find them troublesome?"

'Think of the devil and he shall appear.'

Adam's taunting voice caused Eve to lose control of her spell. Light energy flashed all around her and eradicated all the shadows.

Eve had been trying hard not to kill all these shadows off just in case she would need one later as evidence.

But that plan went down the drain as soon as Adam stepped up in her line of vision.

"Somedays, I cannot help but wonder if the gods send you down to torment me. My plans never go the right way when you come along."

Eve complained as she tried to calm her temper down. Getting angry at the Crown Prince would not help her out.

The situation was as bad as it could be. Eve had lost sight of Elysia a long time ago and she was lost in the castle as well.

"By the way, do you know where Elysia is? Can you sense her now?"

"Not yet. Elysia needs to recover her magic for me to be able to sense her. But I do feel somewhat uneasy about things. It would be better for us to hurry up and find her."

Just as Adam finished speaking, Eve felt a panicking figure make her way toward the pair. Eve readier her staff to defend herself but there was no need to.

Sara's face flashed in front of the pair and the female stopped all of a sudden as soon as she saw Eve.

"Hey, are you alright? You need to take in deep breaths and calm down first."

Eve tried to talk Sara out of her panic but nothing seemed to be working. Instead of calming down, the elder grasped Eve's sleeve and her desperate eyes looked back at Eve.

"Elysia needs your help. Please, you need to hurry up or she'll bleed out."

Eve felt a wave of coldness submerge her. Her ears rang with what she had just heard coming out of the other female's mouth.

Elysia was going to what? Surely Eve had heard wrong?

Her body felt powerless and Eve felt her legs give way beneath her. She knew she needed to move if she wanted to help Elysia but her body was in shock.

Strong hands picked Eve up and she felt her body being thrown on top of someone's shoulder.

"Pull yourself together. You need to be in your right mind if you want to heal Elysia. I won't forgive you if you let her bleed out due to your weak mindset."

Eve wanted to protest and tell Adam that she did not have a weak mindset. But that protest felt almost hollow when she considered her current circumstances.

Eve could not even pull her head up to look at Adam or her surroundings.

The first thing she felt after being dropped in front of Elysia's body was a deep-seated feeling of fear. She did not want to lose Elysia but the possibility was becoming more and more certain.

"Eve, pull yourself together. You need to look at Elysia to heal her."

'Look at her? Yes, I need to look at Elysia. B-But the blood?'

Eve's hand shook as she reached toward Elysia's unconscious body. She accidentally jerked her harder than it was needed and instantly felt two growls aimed her way.

"D-Don't push me. It's not easy for me to see Elysia like this as well."

Lord Sorias quietened down but Adam's stare did not lighten up. He was judging Eve and seeing how well she would perform.

As for Eve, she finally pulled herself together to not fumble her spell. It was still difficult for her to cast magic on someone this close to dying but Eve was sure she was making progress.

"Good, the bleeding stopped. Elysia should be able to survive now."

For some reason, it took everything Eve had to heal Elysia. No other person had been this difficult for Eve to heal.

It had almost felt like Elysia's body was a black-hole and constantly draining the magic Eve poured into her.

"W-What do you even mean? Elysia has not healed up fully yet. I need to heal her further-"

"Don't waste your energy on her. You won't be able to do any more than this with your light magic. I will take Elysia back to Lord Dirac's mansion to heal up."

Lord Sorias picked up Elysia's unconscious body. The usually strong female looked small and fragile in Lord Sorias's adult arms.

"Wait! You should hand Elysia over to the royal family. She's still my fiance and she needs to be looked after by the Royal Physician."

When Adam stretched out to Elysia, his eyes glowed. Lord Sorias did not allow Adam to touch Elysia, but he also did not allow the youngster to kidnap Elysia.

Eve was sure that sparks were flying between that pair before Adam finally backed down.

"The Royal Physician won't be any help for Elysia - is that what you want to say? Fine, I will hand her over to Lord Dirac for now. But she better be alright by the end of this week."

"Physically, Elysia would be good to go in a few days but I don't know when she will wake up. Her constitution is unique so all we can do now is to wait."

Eve felt her heart sink into her stomach at those words. She had not expected this small mission to turn into such a huge problem.

Sara was still waiting outside the door, her bright presence mocking Eve. Elysia had chosen to help Sara over taking care of Eve.

'When did Sara become so important for Elysia to risk her life? What did I miss?'

Eve could not help but curse inside her mind at her lack of attention. She had never thought she had taken Elysia for granted but it seemed to have been the case.

Every time Elysia had canceled on her or Head Priest Yohan had taken Elysia away, Eve had never questioned their actions. She had blind faith in the other two.

But it was clear that they were hiding things from her. There should have been no reason for Elysia to be on this case with her without someone's orders.

'Did father ask Elysia to take this case up for my sake? I need to check with him.'

"For now, you both go back and tell the people that things will be alright again. I will take Andrew back to the Dirac estate and get him to confess. I hope the Royalty will not have a problem with this arrangement since this is the Dirac territory?"

"The credit for this task would have to be given to the church since we cannot reveal the truth of what happened here. And we should also keep Elysia's name out of this mess for now. Eve, you will need to take credit for what happened here."

Eve felt guilty for being made to take credit but she did understand why things had come to this.

Both Adam and Elysia's involvement in this case would get people talking. Adam was not supposed to be here and Elysia was a newly established noble who should not be heading cases this grave.

That meant, only Eve was left with enough credibility to handle this case.

"You should know that I am not happy with this outcome."

It stung to have solved the case like this but this was Eve's most optimistic outcome for her future.

"Your happiness doesn't matter in this situation. Just take the credit and move on. And only come to visit Ely when things have calmed down. We don't want people talking about this incident this close to the upcoming Dirac feast."

Eve wanted to protest but Adam held her back. The helplessness in his eyes was what convinced Eve to finally drop this topic.

If even Adam could not do what he wanted in this situation, then Eve would also not be able to do anything.

"I will make this clear now. I am only following along with your orders because that is what is best for Elysia. For now, she needs undisturbed rest. I will handle any clean-up that will be needed to be done so you both should head out now."

Lord Sorais nodded at Adam's words and he handed the leash controlling the city lord over to Eve.

As soon as Eve took charge, the unconscious body on the ground flinched and then gave off a small laugh.

"You fell for the world's trap and ended up helping its chosen one. Tell me Sorais, is this your betrayal toward us? Did you forget what the gods did to us? Why are you choosing to help these people?"

"Stop yelping unnecessarily. I told you before that I don't care about this world or its chosen ones. I am only concerned with my master's wellbeing."

The forest lord walked in front of the bound man, his expression neutral before he leaned closer to the man.

Eve could not hear what was said but Adam heard those words loud and clear.

And the bound man had the most shocked look on his face as soon as he heard Lord Sorias's words.

Even as he was dragged away by Eve and handed over to the Dirac guards, that look of shock and wonder did not disappear from his face.

It was only once the doors of the prison were locked behind him and Lord Sorias chose to visit him that the possessed man finally dared to ask.

"What do you mean the world's plans are already a mess? Its chosen people found each other and are well acquainted with each other. Won't that make your 'master' fall in danger as well?"

The possessed man was not wrong and Lord Sorias did agree with a lot he had heard. Still, he could not deny what he had seen happen in front of his eyes as well.

"The chosen ones will not let anything happen to Elysia and I know it for a fact. After all, they both fell in love with the 'villainess' of the world. And that information is enough for me to believe that things will be alright in the end."

Lord Sorias had faith and that was what he was betting the future on. He was betting it on Elysia's shoulders and her desire to survive.

After all, desperate people were the most dangerous in the world.