Too Lazy to be a Villainess novel Chapter 198

Chapter 198: Secrets in the Air

[Lavinia’s Pov—Dawnspire Wing—Rose Garden—continuation] 𝙛𝒓𝓮𝒆𝔀𝒆𝙗𝓷𝒐𝙫𝒆𝙡.𝒄𝓸𝓶

The silence stretched like a blade between us. My nails pressed into his throat, and a fine line of red bloomed where his skin surrendered to me.

Caelum didn’t flinch. He didn’t beg. He didn’t even raise a hand to stop me. Instead, that damned smirk of his curved wider—mocking, daring.

"I see..." his voice slithered out, smooth, low, and dangerous. "So the little princess enjoys playing with sharp edges."

I tilted my head, letting my crimson gaze bore into his. A slow smile spread across my lips.

"Play?" I scoffed softly, tightening my grip around his neck until his breath hitched. "That’s what children do, Caelum. I don’t play—I end things. And you see..." my smile sharpened. "I have very little patience for people who act in shadows behind me."

His eyes glimmered with something unreadable before he chuckled. Chuckled—while my hand still threatened to crush his windpipe. The sound curled in the air like smoke.

"Ah, how delightful," he murmured, catching my wrist with both his hands.

Instead of pulling me away, he brought my blood-stained nails to his lips, pressing a mocking kiss against my skin as if performing some twisted courtly gesture.

"You are becoming far more dangerous than His Majesty himself," his smirk deepened. "Perhaps the hidden emperor ought to stay hidden... for his own safety."

I yanked my hand free, my smile never wavering. "NO."

His brows knit. "No?"

I glided back to my chair, settling in with deliberate grace. Crossing one leg over the other, I leaned back like a queen on her throne and smirked.

"He better come out," I whispered, my voice like velvet laced with poison. My gaze flicked back to him, sharp as a dagger. "Because if I find him myself... I won’t kill him quickly. No, I’ll keep him breathing—long enough to die a little every single day. And I’ll enjoy watching it."

Caelum’s gaze remained fixed.

"You see..." I smirked, my finger tapping the table in a slow, deliberate rhythm, each sound like a ticking clock before execution. "I love watching traitors suffer beneath my hands. The way they break, the way their pride rots away—ah, it’s... exquisite."

The air thickened, heavy, tense. His stare clung to me, unblinking, unrelenting. For the first time, I could feel it—the words had pierced deeper than I intended. His smile was gone. The tension in the air shifted... as though my words had reached directly to the hidden emperor. Someone hiding beneath that mask.

And then—

"What’s going on here?"

Osric’s voice shattered the silence as he stepped inside.

Caelum’s lips curved once more, his mask sliding back into place with practiced ease. "Ah... Lord Osric," he drawled smoothly, like nothing had happened. "It’s been far too long."

Osric’s sharp eyes flickered between us, suspicion clear in the furrow of his brows. "...Yes. It has."

Caelum rose, brushing invisible dust from his clothes, his smirk still intact but his movements stiff. "I should leave," he said lightly. "It’s been too long since I’ve practiced my sword."

He turned on his heel. I didn’t see his face as he walked away... but I saw his fist. Clenched so tight, the veins stood out pale against his skin.

"Hmmm... suspicious," I muttered to myself.

"What?" Osric asked, brow arched.

I tore my gaze from Caelum’s retreating figure and looked at Osric instead, my crimson eyes gleaming. Then I turned back toward the door where Caelum had vanished, tilting my head like a predator tracking prey.

"Did you see it?" I asked softly, almost lazily.

Osric frowned. "See what?"

I leaned back in my chair, one leg crossing over the other in deliberate grace, nails tapping the armrest in a slow, teasing rhythm.

"His fist," I whispered, savoring the words. "He clenched it so tightly... as if my words crawled under his skin. As if I stabbed something deeper than flesh."

Osric’s frown deepened. "I don’t know what you’re saying, Lavi, but I did see his neck. He was bleeding. What happened?"

I sighed dramatically, stretching my arms before rising from the chair and heading toward my chambers. "It was nothing; I just grabbed his throat... and squeezed until he remembered his place."

Osric snapped, "You did what?"

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