I'm in Love with the Villainess!

"Good."

Marcellus finally let himself collapse, the last of his light magic sputtering out as the pressure of my domain became too much for him to fight. I caught him with a shadow tendril before he hit the ground, lowering him gently against one of the cracked pillars.

Valtor remained on his knees, trembling, broken, but alive.

For now.

"What do we do with him?" I asked.

Marcellus wiped blood from his lips, his golden hair matted to his forehead with sweat. "We take him with us. He’s too valuable to kill."

"He’s too dangerous to keep alive."

"He’s too informed to waste."

We stared at each other across the dark cavern. The domain still pressed down on everything, but without me actively feeding it, the pressure was already starting to ease. The reinforcements remained unconscious. The pillars continued to crack.

"We don’t have time for this argument," Marcellus said finally.

"Bind him. Bring him back to our estates. I’ll handle him."

"And if he escapes?"

"He won’t."

Marcellus looked at me with something I hadn’t seen before. Not quite trust and not quite fear. Something in between.

"I know what to do with him."

"Fine..."

[Dark Manipulation]

Shadow tendrils coiled around Valtor’s wrists and ankles, binding them tighter than any rope or chain. I added a second layer around his throat—not enough to choke, but enough to remind him what would happen if he tried to speak a spell.

"Can you walk?" I asked him.

Valtor raised his head. His mask had cracked during the interrogation, revealing one wild, hate-filled eye.

"I’ll crawl through the fires of hell before I help you."

"I didn’t ask if you’d help. I asked if you could walk."

He said nothing.

I sighed and hauled him to his feet with a tendril. His legs buckled immediately; the domain had done more damage than I’d realized. Or maybe the nerve manipulation. Either way, he wasn’t going anywhere on his own.

"Fine. You’re cargo."

***

The walk back through the building was slower than the way in.

The pressure of my domain had faded completely by the time we reached the stairs, but the damage remained. Inquisitors lay scattered throughout the hallways, unconscious or catatonic. The workers, the women and men who’d been servicing some of them, had fled or hidden. Doors stood ajar. Tables were overturned.

A mess.

But not our problem.

"That beast," Marcellus said as we climbed the stairs, supporting himself with one hand on the wall.

"How long have you had that?"

"A while."

"How long is a while?"

"I’m not telling."

"Then at least tell me how you managed to make a contract with that thing."

"Classified."

"You’re ridiculous, Arden..."

Marcellus let out a slow breath the moment we stepped out of the structure. A few minutes away from my domain had been enough for his light magic to start working again, and now his skin and body were healing rapidly under its effects.

"I need you to train for the next few weeks," he said.

"Train? We don’t exactly have time for that. Are you planning to attack them on the day of the ritual?"

"Exactly."

"I knew you were dumb, but not that dumb," I replied. I didn’t realize he was that much of a risk-taker.

"Don’t worry. That Jayden guy you mentioned? I know where he is. As long as he’s alive, we have as much time as we need. And if he somehow disappears under my watch, I’ll make sure to get him back as many times as it takes."

Wow... really expecting me to trust him blindly, huh?

But...

[Photographic Memory]

Considering Marcellus’s actual role in this arc in the original novel, there’s no reason to believe he couldn’t back up his own words.

"Y’know what... I trust you."

I snickered, flicked my hand, and tossed him Valtor’s now-unconscious body. Marcellus barely caught it with both hands, still slightly unresponsive from the effects of [Shadow Domain].

"Don’t need me to explain the details?"

"You’re not exactly a nobody, unless you expect me to believe you don’t live up to your title as the imperial prince and heir."

"Don’t be ridiculous."

"Then that’s it... fine, I’ll train, but if anything goes wrong, I’m permanently crippling you."

"Sounds like a fair deal."

***

The estate gates came into view an hour later, a different one from the mansion the academy assigned him, looming black against the grey pre-dawn sky. Marcellus’s family had owned this property for generations, a sprawling manor tucked away from the main roads, surrounded by walls that had been enchanted to repel scrying and unwanted visitors.

Perfect for housing a captured High Inquisitor.

Two guards flanked the gate, snapping to attention when they recognized Marcellus.

I didn’t recognize them here before when Evelina and I went to his side of the outer district. Guess he pulled some strings while we were in the academy.

"Your Highness. We weren’t expecting you back so soon."

"Plans changed. Open the gates."

The guards obeyed without question, their eyes flickering briefly to Valtor’s bound form before looking away. Smart men. They knew better than to ask.

The courtyard was empty at this hour, the fountain silent, the gardens dark. Marcellus led me through a side door and down a narrow flight of stairs into a basement that had clearly been designed for exactly this purpose.

Stone walls. Iron rings set into the floor. Runes carved into every surface, glowing faintly with containment magic.

"In here," Marcellus said, nodding toward a cell at the far end.

I tossed Valtor inside. His body hit the stone floor with a dull thud, and he didn’t stir.

"Those bindings will hold him until the runes wake up," Marcellus said, already tracing his fingers along the wall to activate them. "After that, even a High Inquisitor won’t be able to cast so much as a spark of light."

"You sound confident."

"I’ve tested them."

I didn’t ask on whom.

"Report everything to your mistress. I’ll do the same for Julius and Lillian. This is something far beyond anything we could have imagined. If possible, I’d even like you to bring in Illinalta and Vivianne."

"Really?"

"Don’t worry. I’ll handle the paperwork and the secrecy. Evelina won’t even need to use her own pawns."

"You’re being quite generous."

"An entire realm that I’m about to inherit is at stake. Of course I wouldn’t hold back."

"Does the imperial family know?"

"...No, this stays between us and our allies, that’s it."