Too Lazy to be a Villainess novel Chapter 203

Chapter 203: Where Power Does Not Bow

[Emperor Cassius’s Pov—Imperial Palace—Later]

Rey lounged across from me, draped in shadows as though the darkness itself bent to cradle him. His lips curved into that infuriating smirk—half amusement, half blasphemy.

"The tea is... fantastic," he drawled, swirling the cup lazily. "As expected, the royal palace never fails. Your desserts, your tea... truly the best in the Empire."

Ravick scoffed, folding his arms. "As if you’ve ever had the desserts of the palace."

Rey’s smirk deepened, eyes glinting with mischief. "Oh, I have. The princess always feeds me... whenever I visit her."

"What—?!" My chair scraped against the floor as I surged up, hand flying to my sword. My voice thundered like a storm breaking over stone. "You dare—YOU DARE wander around my daughter’s chamber? YOU FILTHY—PERVERT!"

Rey didn’t so much as flinch. His tone was flat, maddeningly calm. "Both father and daughter have already given me the ’pervert’ title, it seems."

Ravick quickly stepped forward, bowing. "Your Majesty... please, calm yourself. He is only provoking you—"

"Calm? You dare speak of calm, Ravick?" My glare snapped to him, my fury a blade honed to kill. I inhaled slowly, forcing the tremor of rage into cold, deliberate words.

"Listen well. Post dozens of knights beneath Lavinia’s balcony. Day and night. No one—NO ONE—sets a foot near her chambers without my command." My voice dropped, sharp as a guillotine. "And if a single shadow crosses her window... drag it into the courtyard and burn it alive."

I turned back to Rey, letting him taste the weight of my wrath. "No perverts," I spat, each syllable drawn like the stroke of an executioner’s blade, "will ever crawl their way into my daughter’s chamber."

Rey blinked once, then had the audacity to murmur, "...Then how am I supposed to meet her?"

A cold laugh tore from my throat. "That," I sneered, leaning forward, "is your problem." My gaze sharpened, my voice a hiss of death itself.

"But understand this well, Rey—NO. MEN. WILL. EVER. STEP. INTO. MY. DAUGHTER’S. CHAMBER."

Rey tilted his head, that insufferable smirk tugging at his lips. "Don’t you think you’re being a little... overprotective of your daughter, Your Majesty?"

I leaned back into the couch, crossing one leg over the other with a slow, deliberate motion, my gaze never wavering.

"Overprotective?" I repeated, tasting the word as if it were venom. "When the world is filled with men who see innocence as prey? When serpents coil in shadows, fangs dripping, waiting for a single slip of her guard?"

My hand curled into a fist. My tone sharpened into an icy decree.

"No. A father does not think of overprotection. He becomes the shield, the sword, and the executioner. Where there are men circling my precious daughter—" I bared my teeth in a smile that wasn’t a smile at all. "—a father has no choice but to become a tyrant."

Rey chuckled lowly, as though testing how far he could lean into the flames.

"And what about the day I marry her, hmm?"

The words hadn’t even left his tongue before my hand was already upon my sword. The blade whispered against its sheath, a deadly promise half-bared.

"Say that again," I growled, my voice dropping into a pitiless abyss, "and I shall carve the breath from your lungs before it stains my air."

For the first time, Rey faltered, a nervous chuckle escaping him as he lifted his hands in mock surrender.

"I... I was only joking. Put the sword down, Emperor. Your daughter needs me alive."

I held the blade steady, its steel catching the firelight like frozen lightning. Then I leaned closer, voice low, venomous, and final.

"My daughter needs no one but me. And if you think otherwise, Rey... you are already a dead man walking."

I let the silence drag, the tension coil tight, before I exhaled slowly. My tone shifted into something quieter, far deadlier.

"Now—answer my question. And if you dare riddle your words, I will throw you into the deepest pit of the dungeons. You’ll rot there until even the worms refuse your flesh."

Rey only smirked, infuriatingly calm. "I am always honest, Emperor. And—would you really throw the one who brought you and your precious daughter back... from the dark?"

I smiled coldly, almost lazily. "That is precisely why I haven’t killed you yet. Consider it mercy that I have not carved your tongue out already."

He blinked—slowly. Then said flatly, "Yes... you’re right. Thank you... for your mercy."

My eyes narrowed, sharp as steel. "Now, why does Osric recall the past?"

Rey hummed, tilting his head as if weighing my words. "Perhaps... because he was guilty."

My brows furrowed. "Guilty?"

He nodded, lips curving faintly. "Just like you. Just like Sir Ravick. You both recalled through nightmares, didn’t you, Emperor? Osric too—except his nightmare was guilt. Guilt for failing to protect her."

I stilled. Was that the reason?

Rey’s smirk sharpened. "Do you truly think the power of Rakhsar is so feeble? No. Only those who truly sought to protect her—but failed—were given that chance. Rakhsar does not waste its blessing on cowards... or conspirators."

"Because..." Rey’s words uncoiled slowly, heavy as chains dragged across stone, "...she is the master of Rakhsar. And everything tethered to it—its power, its curse, its consequences—all of it... belongs to her. Remember this well, Emperor: nothing in this world comes without a price. Not even the mercy of a second chance... not even the luxury of reversing death itself."

VERIFYCAPTCHA_LABELVerify