My Villainess Ex Won't Leave Me Alone

Chapter 224 224: 6.33 - Death Sentence

Lucian dropped onto the bed, face first, his hair still damp from the bath. The blond tail was hanging by the fireplace to dry as he thought about how he would never live this down.

He watched Celine put on a robe from the corner of his eye. Her skin was flushed, and her lips were swollen from all the kissing. There were a few bruises on her bottom and wrists, his handiwork.

She looked so satisfied that he couldn't get mad at her anymore, and even decided to compliment her, "You always look beautiful after we make love, while I look like I have been chewed and spat out."

Celine stopped in the middle of tying her robe, "Mm, you look thoroughly debauched, like a feast I have enjoyed to the last bite."

He burrowed his face into the pillow, grinning at her response. He shouldn't be happy about being compared to food, but her words made him feel wanted in the weirdest way.

The hair pulling and slapping didn't feel like 'I want you to suffer', but more like 'I want to imprint myself on you, so you would never be able to move on from me'.

So many courtesans knew the art of flirting and how to please their clients, but only she could make him crawl to her on his knees. He knew that it drove her wild to see him allow himself to be vulnerable with her.

She began cleaning up the liquid he had sprayed over the place. As for the rest of the mess, it could be blamed on her throwing a fit. Then she went to bathe herself, grabbing their son's journal to read while soaking in the water.

"Don't mothers usually want to hear about their children?" he asked.

"Getting attached to something that will be snatched by another person in the future seems like a waste of emotions to me," she replied from the bathroom, "But I will still fulfill my duty as a mother, if that's what you're asking. I don't wish my son to resent me."

Lucian was a bit chilled by her response, thinking about how his own mother loved him more than anything. He thought that's how it should be between a mother and her child.

In Celine's world, children were raised to be political tools and carry on the bloodline. She liked the idea of having a child with him, but it was a similar detachment she carried when she broke her brother's bones.

Lucian should be reprimanding her that their son was not a tool, but his mind went on another tangent, 'Well, the less competition the better, right? I can have her all to myself.'

He smiled with a self-satisfied nod, then decided to get up and help her tidy up the place, putting on his pants. The bottle of lubricant was quite a jarring sight in a lady's bedroom, so he opened a drawer to put it back.

That's when he noticed an extra layer at the bottom of the drawer, thinking that's where she hid her secret stash of toys. He pried it open and saw a crumbled piece of paper inside.

She must have been in a very bad mood to just throw it into the drawer like that. Curiosity got the better of him, and he unfolded the letter to read it.

'...Engagement with the Crown Prince is set to be announced in the upcoming Fall Festival. Be ready to move to the palace as his fiancé and future queen...'

It felt like the air had been sucked out of the room, leaving Lucian breathless. The handwriting was similar to her father's.

The fall festival was in a week. Celine's repulsive "brainless shrew" act was a failure. She could have made the Prince despise her to his very core, but her father still owned a quarter of the kingdom's land.

He tried to calm himself down, but it felt like he had been holding his breath underwater and just came up to the surface, gasping for air.

He threw the letter back in the drawer and slammed it shut, making a loud sound. Why was it so hard to breathe? Why was the room spinning?

'It's fine. It's fine. She won't let it happen,' he stumbled towards his bag, taking out a syringe, 'I'll take her away just in case...yes...I'll take her with me.'

He filled the syringe with the drug and leaned over the bathroom door to observe Celine's relaxed figure in the bath.

"So, what is the plan for the future, My Lady?" he asked casually, giving her a chance to ask him for help. He waited for her to say she needed an escape plan and he would immediately come up with one for them, "I will be leaving tomorrow morning, and we won't be able to meet for a while."

She put the journal on the stool next to the bathtub, then rested her head on the rim, her eyes closed, "I'm not having a secret lover while being engaged to another man. I'm not a cheater, if that's what you expect me to do, so don't ask me to."

Lucian approached her and kneeled by her side, the syringe behind his back, "What are you talking about?"

"I failed to bring father a better marriage candidate, and now I have to pay the price for it. It's a deal made by the Rocheforts, and I have to honor it," she explained, a resigned smirk on her face.

A better candidate than the Crown Prince…

Lucian always said that her overconfidence would be her downfall one day, and now that day had come. He realized that he was the reason she failed.

"Why didn't you tell me sooner?" He kept chasing more power because as long as he was "preparing" for their future, he didn't have to face the terrifying reality that he could never actually give her that future. Yet, he continued to be delusional, "We could have made a plan together."

Her eyes finally opened, "What is there to plan? My escape? Not even the great Crown Prince has the political power to reject marrying the woman he hates the most. If you knew that I'm already promised to someone else, you would have given up on me, Lucian. That's what you do best, right? You leave me behind."

She lifted the ring on her necklace. She looked at the ring and then up at his shattered expression, the tears they had fought so hard to hold back finally began to pool in their eyes.

Celine quickly blinked them away, "Even if the Crown Prince died, even if my father gave us his blessing, and even if you had all the gold in the world... you still would have hesitated."

Lucian's head was pounding from the anger he was trying to swallow down. The urge to stab her and get away from all this was overpowering.

It was not even about the marriage. It was about her status being too high to be left alone, and he, of all people, should have known that her freedom was nothing but a lie.

They didn't fail because they didn't try hard enough; they failed because their love was a literal death sentence from the very beginning.

"What─" Celine's eyes widened, looking down at the syringe sticking out of her neck.‎

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╔═══ Author's note ════╗

Thank you all for 1 million views!

Hopefully, I'll be able to do a small mass release this weekend.

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