Too Lazy to be a Villainess novel Chapter 300

Chapter 300: The Tyrant’s Pride

[Emperor Cassius’s POV—Everheart Estate, Grand Hall—Continuation]

The hall was still trembling when she walked out.

The scent of fear lingered heavier than the perfume—nobles frozen in their silks, breaths caught, as if one wrong movement might summon her wrath back through the doors. My daughter’s wrath.

I stood there, unmoving. The Emperor of the Elorian Empire—yet for the first time in a long while, it wasn’t my voice that held the hall hostage.

It was hers.

The echoes of Lavinia’s command still clung to the marble, sharp and alive. Disown your daughter before midnight. I almost smiled.Almost.

Around me, courtiers exchanged frantic whispers, some pretending to look away, others trying to guess whether I was furious... or amused.

They didn’t know me well enough.They never did.

My gaze followed her retreating figure until the doors shut behind her. Then I exhaled—slowly, deliberately—hands clasped behind my back.

Cassius Devereux did not often feel pride. Pride was a foolish, dangerous thing for a ruler.But tonight... I allowed myself a taste. Because my daughter hadn’t just silenced Count Talvan.

She’d silenced everyone.

A smirk tugged at my mouth as I heard the whispers growing again, cautious, trembling.

"I can’t belive her highness...order to Disown Lady Eleania...""She humiliated Count Talvan publicly—""Did you see His Majesty’s face? He must be furious!"

Furious? No.They wouldn’t understand.

I turned slightly, my eyes sweeping the room—each noble pretending composure, each terrified of meeting my gaze. Even Regis Everheart looked pale beneath his confident smile, pretending this hadn’t just become my daughter’s stage instead of his son’s coronation.

Pathetic.

Count Talvan still knelt, trembling faintly, his face ashen. The man who’d dared to speak against the Crown Princess—against my blood.

And yet... she hadn’t needed me to lift a finger. She’d crushed him on her own.

A deep, satisfied hum stirred in my chest.

"You seem very happy, Your Majesty," came Ravick’s voice from behind me—steady, familiar, laced with that quiet amusement only he could afford in my presence.

I didn’t turn. I just smirked, eyes sweeping over the stunned nobles below.

"Of course, I’m happy, Ravick. Look at them." I gestured lazily toward the crowd. "See how they tremble? Shocked, terrified, wondering if they should clap or crawl."

Ravick chuckled softly. "She is your daughter, Your Majesty. Fear was never meant to knock at her door." Then, after a pause, "But... forgive me, I feel there’s another reason for that smile."

I leaned back in my chair, resting my chin on one hand, my voice dropping to a murmur."You know me too well, Ravick."

He smiled faintly. "I’ve served you all my life, Your Majesty. I’ve learned to read your silences better than your words."

A low laugh escaped me—quiet, sharp. "Yes, I suppose you have. And you’re right."

My gaze flicked toward the dais, where Osric Everheart still stood frozen in place—his jaw tight, his composure cracking.

"Yes, Ravick," I said, voice rich with satisfaction. "I’m happy because my clever daughter just stopped an engagement announcement... without even realizing it."

Ravick’s brows lifted slightly. "But, Your Majesty, Her Highness loves Lord Osric. One day she’ll surely marry him—and I doubt even you can stop that."

"Hmm." A smile curved at my lips—slow, deliberate. "No, Ravick. I have a feeling she won’t."

He tilted his head. "A feeling, Your Majesty?"

"Yes," I said quietly, eyes narrowing in Osric’s direction. "Because my daughter doesn’t belong beside someone who bends to the will of others. She was born to stand above them."

Ravick studied me for a long moment, then said softly, "You must be proud, then."

My gaze lingered on the door where Lavinia had disappeared. For a heartbeat, the sharp edge of my expression softened. "Proud?" I repeated. "No word in the Empire feels enough for what I feel when she raises her head like that."

He smiled faintly but then added with a sigh, "Still, I pity myself, Your Majesty. I thought I’d finally rest after decades with a sword—but you didn’t bring that new law when I was captain."

I let out a low laugh. "Because you didn’t need it, Ravick. People already feared you."

Then, with a glint of something colder, I added, "But I want you to make Haldor the same. He is Disciplined, yes, and loyal, yes... but he is not merciless."

He blinked. "Merciless, Your Majesty?"

"I wasn’t aware," I said softly, dangerously, "that you’d been granted permission to instruct my daughter."

"Or," I continued, rising from my throne, my voice low but cutting through the air like thunder through silk, "that you’d somehow earned the right to teach me what my bloodline can and cannot command."

"My daughter," I stopped him with a glance, "is the Crown Princess of this Empire. In five years, she will take my throne—and when that day comes, her word will not need my approval. It will be the law itself."

"So learn, Talvan," I murmured, taking another step closer, "and teach your heirs well... what it means to bow before the law made flesh."

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