Secrets of the Villainous Empress

Chapter Thirty-One: Someone Like You

Azalea Oleander Cursix

“Do you mind?”Henderson snapped at the beautiful man behind us, who had interrupted our argument.

“Oh?” the man turned his golden gaze to Henderson, “I beg your pardon.”

He said, then withdrew his hand from above Henderson’s seated position and went around to the uniformed girl.

“Luc, can we talk?” he asked, but the girl turned her face to the side.

“I’m sorry, we…” he began despite the apparent sign that she was upset with him, “we shouldn’t have done that, but-,”

“But? An apology that has a but?” the girl asked.

Frustrated, the man tried again, only before he could utter a word, his gaze met mine.

A confused frown, almost the same as the one I wore, dressed his face.

“Do we…do I know you?” he whispered wistfully as though I was his long lost lover, as though I was the one he had obviously run up and down in search of and not the girl in the uniform.

I know, I know that at this moment, I should ask him to focus on his predicament, but my pulse had leapt the second his gaze landed on mine. It’s been a little over two thousand years since that has happened.

Not since my first knight…so more than logic; I was curious…

I mean, I appreciate beauty in all its forms, so that is not to say that I have never been attracted to anyone. However…their ‘beauty’ had never hit this much.

There was attraction, and then there was lust; what I felt at the moment was…a mixture of lust and…loneliness.

But perhaps I am feeling this way because the body I am in is sexually deprived, so I am simply conjuring relations with no basis.

Still, too easily, my eyes traced his tanned face; his lashes were so long that each time they swept down and covered the golden gems in his eyes, I held my breath for their opening; his jaw was high and well defined, his lips…but gods how they pulled me in invitingly.

He felt like Oberon, the knight from my first life that I adored wholly and utterly to the point of madness. However, his features did not resemble his.

While Obreron was decidedly hairier and more mature, the man before me maintained somewhat of a boyish charm. Their body sizes were the same, though, Oberon had always been a goliath of a man, and well, perhaps that is what drew me to the sexy man before me.

His body, scent and…his eyes(?) were the only things similar between the two.

Back when I had been a Saintess in another continent by the name Dia, I came across some ancient writings that indicated golden eyes were symbolic of a contract with the Gods.

Does that mean he-

“Simon?” Henderson called, waking me from my rampaging mind.

“Wha- what?”

“The…scary man is asking if you know him.”

-Scary?-

-Only if he doesn’t take off his shirt.-

I turned my gaze back to the man and nearly melted in my chair as I pressed my core harder to the metal to dull its throbbing.

-f**k-

I was literally about to dry hump a chair in public just because he resembled Ob-

“Aleu?” a soft voice from the girl who sat before us called, drawing back his focus. “I was ignoring you, but that doesn’t mean that you can just go ahead and flirt while….”

The ringing in my ear grew louder, dulling the rest of their conversation.

-Aleu?-

 My blood ran cold, and unmistakable bile rose in my throat.

-ALEU???!-

“f**k!” of course, the first man I want to climb like a feral beast was the one who would have my head on a pike in three years.

I stood from my chair so fast that I almost knocked it back.

“Simon?”Henderson called, confused.

“We should get going,” I said hastily, then turned to Aleu, “No. I don’t know you. However, if that is a pickup line, I’d be happy to reconsider.”

My words were partly a joke, mainly because my relationship with Aleu needed to be strictly professional to ensure that everything would go smoothly.

-I know that…but, at this moment, I am not the empress…and..-

-No, I can’t-

-Wait, what about Fuscia?-

No, their relationship problems should not concern me.

Still, It will be a pain in the ass if I get in between them and they break up. As much as I keep saying that their relationship is not my problem, I am the one who will get hurt in the end; this is my last quest and my chance at freedom…

-Just a quicky? I mean, he’d never know who I am, and the quest never specified that they should end up together.-

“Oh gods,” I murmured to myself, almost certain that if I looked to my shoulders closely, I would spot an angel and a devil discussing the pros and cons of a hypothetical hook up that…I had not even been propositioned…I mean unless…

“But I feel li-” he rose from his bent position before the uniformed girl, then rushed to block my path.

His scent…but gods, I could inhale him to kingdom come.

When was the last time that I had smelled such a mixture, unclouded by strong cologne?

“I know this might sound crazy, but-,” he reached out for my hand; however, Henderson stood abruptly from his seat.

“Watch yourself.” He warned.

Oh yeah, he was this close to leaving me to head back to the palace unescorted, but when I am being propositioned for s*x by a terrible pickup line, he is all cape and superpowers? Unbelievable.

“Okay,” Aleu responded quickly, raising his hands in the air where Henderson could ascertain their position easily.

-Wow, he gets intimidated easily.- I noticed.

I do not mind that in a partner because b**m is also an untapped fountain, however on him, the next Emperor, to me, the evil in his life that would hasten his growth, his comfortable admittance felt…reckless.

Hmm, that’s more work for me.

“I really do feel as though, as though I know you, as though I…” he paused then leaned in close, “As though I need you.”

-Well well…-

If he hadn't completed his last few words…a cheeky smile would have snaked a position on my visage; however…he did-

“As though I could take you to the corners of the world.” He finished.

My heart dropped.

-…without a doubt, Oberon.-

-Why?-

I tried to process my emotions, but I could not get past the ‘why’ threshold.

-Why is he here? Why is he Aleu?-

-Reincarnation? That only answers for how, but…why?-

-Why?-

-Why? I don’t…I don’t get it? Why would the gods do this? Why?-

-Why? Would…why would the gods permit his…?-

-And as the male lead no less?-

I don’t….?

I don’t…understand?

What the hell am I missing??

“H..en..ds?” I called, and for a second, I almost could not believe that the puny sound that emanated from my throat was mine.

For nought, I hoped that nothing I truly felt mirrored on my face. However, if my voice had not given away my emotions, then…

In the oddest turn of events, Henderson’s arms wrapped themselves around me, and only seconds later, we were in an area covered in white, namely the teleportation space.

Vulnerability is not something that I feel often; I am a demigod!

However, even as I thought that, my arms found Henderson’s shoulders way too easily.

I should have denied it rather than leave loose ends that will make him pursue the matter. I should have done something rather than make him more suspicious that I was who he sought after…I should have….something else rather than…rather than…

A loud wail tore violently from my throat, and in a moment of complete despair, I squeezed Henderson tighter. I had no idea that I could cry again… yet the moisture pooling almost blindingly from my eyes to Henderson’s coat lingered mockingly.

Everyone says that crying helps you feel relieved; however, no matter how long I cried, the pain did not cease…it only sourced from somewhere else, somewhere so deep that even I could not reach.

So, in the end, I did not stop crying because I felt better, but because I fell asleep.

Aleu Diox Luciano

“Aleu, did you find…?” Calvin’s voice sounded in the distance. “Luc!”

The voice called, obviously having spotted Lucy. However, Aleu's mind wasn’t quite at the celebratory phase of finding Lucy unharmed, well not yet anyway.

His hands were still in the air as the image of the breath-taking golden-haired girl, absolutely crushed by his confession, replayed in his mind, shattering what felt like his very soul.

Either that or it was the sight of her seeking another man’s embrace for comfort that had utterly destroyed him.

-I’ve found you…I’ve obviously found you so…-

“What's up with him?” Calvin asked Lucy loud enough for him to hear.

“I think he came to apologize to me, but instead, got his heart broken by a total stranger?”

“He asked someone out?” Calvin asked, the surprise evident in his voice, “I thought he was crazy about Fuscia.”

“I guess you never really know a person,” Lucy responded playfully, matching Calvin’s tone.

“Amen to that.”

-I should say something, I should clear the air-

He thought, but the lump that clogged his throat felt too heavy to swallow.

So he began by placing his left hand down, then his right.

“Aleu, you good?” Calvin asked finally after all the teasing that he had done with Lucy.

“Yeah, yes, yes!” he repeated.

“Okay, one more time, and I promise that I will believe you.”

“No, really, I feel-,” Aleu paused then placed his hand on his chest, as though to confirm if the hole whose presence he could  vividly feel was there, “Yes.”

“Wow, I don’t even know if I am angry anymore.” Lucy said, walking towards Aleu, “Do you want a hug?”

“Yes?” he answered sheepishly as he approached her, but all too quickly, Lucy withdrew her hands.

“Well, that’s too bad. Let’s see, apologising with a but, ignoring me, and then flirting with a complete stranger, forgetting why in the hell I am so mad at you! ”

“Luc!!” he called as she turned, ready to storm off.

“How dare the both of you-,” Lucy began; however, Aleu interrupted her ready-made frenzy.

“She hasn’t picked me.”

“I know, I was here when-,”

“No, the Empress,” he whispered the title, “She hasn’t picked me yet. I realized suddenly when you were trying to encourage me that I had banked all those things on something that had no guarantee because I forgot that I was not the one doing the majority of the picking. Instead, she is.”

“Oh…”The anger in Lucy’s face visibly subsided, “That’s it?”

“Yes, that’s it. I just got really embarrassed.”

“Aleu, that shouldn’t embarrass you. You telling someone that you would take them to the corners of the earth and then them using a teleportation scroll worth your entire life should embarrass you.”

“Okay,” Aleu sighed at the unexpected sting in his chest. “See what you did, Calvin?”

“Hey, that’s all genetics. I couldn't have come up with that if you tied me to a pole and called me Sally.”

“What??” Both Aleu and Lucy exclaimed, turning to Calvin.

“What…no good?”

“No,” Aleu scowled.

“Please, Calvin, walk ten steps behind us on the way to school,” Lucy instructed as she boxed her hand in Aleu’s as they proceeded down the streets to the carriage station where they could all catch a ride that would drop Lucy back to the academy.

“Guys, come on!” Calvin yelled from behind as Aleu had safely erected a mana barrier that put a three-meter distance between them; otherwise, Calvin would randomly experience a muscle spasm.

With Calvin safely ostracized, Lucy had a moment alone with the one who meant the world to her.

“I am sorry for storming off.”

“It’s all right,” Aleu shrugged, “to be honest, you storming off reminded me that you are a person with your own independent wants, and you know… I almost forgot that because you always go along with what I say.”

“Yes, I guess, plus imagine if we hadn't seen how much of a womaniser you actually are?” she yelled loud enough for Calvin to hear.

“Ladies, beware!” Calvin yelled.

And though it had felt impossible, a smile crossed his lips.

-I will find you again…I promise-