"Anna!" Leon yelled, grabbing her wrists in a bid to pry her off him. "Calm down!"

"Calm down?!" Her spores flared, a dark violet red. "You’re telling me to clam down?! You think one flimsy ass apology is going to make everything right?!"

She continued to hit him. Each blow a physical manifestation of her anger and frustration and pain.

Leon caught her wrists and held them firmly. He was weakened, but still stronger than her.

"Stop," he said.

Anna struggled to pull her arms free. When that failed, she rammed her forehead into his.

He grunted, cursing under his breath.

The next thing Anna knew, her back was on the cold marble floors, Leon’s bloodied and bruised face hovering over her, her body trapped underneath his.

He pinned both her hands over her head and held them there. "Anna, you need to stop."

Blood from his forehead slid down his face and dropped onto her cheek. Even his blood was hot.

Anna’s chest heaved.

She felt like she was about to combust from sheer anger alone.

"Let me go," she hissed.

"Ray, get the doctor. The Princess is injured." Leon said, not looking away from Anna’s face as he spoke to Ray.

Ray, who had been watching the cat fight with a mild look of surprise and worry, was eager to leave. He hurried off, yet inside his heart, he was happy. Finally the Princess stood up to Leon.

Meanwhile, Anna was beginning to truly feel the subtext of their position.

Her cheeks warmed up, and it didn’t help when Leon’s heated gaze traveled from her eyes down to her lips, lingering for the faintest second.

Her mind went to unwelcome places. He’s able to hold both my hands using just one of his...and there’s wiggle room left.

This is kinda kinky. Fuck no! What am I thinking?! Is he...is he leaning down?! What’s he going to do? Oh no! No!

"Back off!" She screamed.

He jumped back, as if he had been shocked. Anna paid him no heed as she got to her feet, even ignoring him when he stretched out a hand to help her get up.

"Don’t ever talk to me again." She snapped, glaring at him. "And your men, put them in order. I won’t be so merciful next time." She gathered her gowns so he wouldn’t see how much her hands were feeble.

"Why did you lie?"

She froze but didn’t turn around to face him.

"Back then. You said you told Ray to do it. Why did you lie?"

"Bold of you to accuse me of lying."

"Are you growing soft, Anna?"

At that. She spun around and stormed up to him. Her hand struck him square across the face. The sound of the slap echoed through the empty hallway. He barely flinched. His eyes glinted and a slow smirk came to his lips.

The bleeding on his face had stopped. Even the bruises were fading.

Anna’s satisfaction of leaving marks on his face started to fade too.

"You are growing soft." He chuckled, rubbing his cheek. "It’s not a good look on you, Princess." The look in his eyes terrified her.

It was one she’d seen on a specific brand of people, mostly in the crazy movies she used to watch.

Psychopaths.

"Fuck yourself, General."

His brows lifted. "There. There it is. You never used such language before. What happened?"

Anna could hear the mocking bleeding from his words. Again she wondered what the real Anna even saw in this man.

"The next time you make a pass at my life, I won’t hold back."

His eyes shone with interest. But he didn’t say anything. With one last cruel smile, he turned and walked away, leaving her alone with her aching fists and restless mind.

Anna returned to her room, ate more strawberries, each bite angry and tense. "That prick! Urgh! System, can I kill him?"

[Yes.]

That made Anna still.

"You’re lying?"

[No. You can kill him. You’re the Princess Orchid. She has power now, more power than you’re aware of, hostie.]

"Maybe now’s a good time to give me that manual?"

The System went silent.

Then it gave a soft, almost invisible sigh.

[I’m sure I can do something. Because at this rate, you’ll blow your cover.]

"You really sound human sometimes."

[The task for the Villainess Guide will be available in twenty four hours.]

"Why not now?"

[Even I have rules, hostie. I don’t operate in a space. I have guardrails imposed on me by my creator.]

"Who created you?"

[I’m not allowed to reveal that information, hostie. Do you accept the extra task?]

Anna tapped her chin whilst nodding to herself. It made sense that someone created the System, after all it was an AI, something Anna was familiar with from her old life.

"Fine! Tomorrow it is. The task better not be something I can’t do."

To that, the System didn’t reply. Anna called out again and got no response. With a soft sigh, she plopped onto her bed and continued munching her strawberries.

Meanwhile.

Leon tracked Ray down.

Ray, who had already heard the General’s silent footsteps and distinct heartbeat, prepared himself for a fist flying into his face, or something.

Instead, the General smiled.

The sight of it made Ray queasy. The husbands of Princess Orchid weren’t close, not even on the acquaintance level. They all stayed out of each other’s space as much as possible. There was Kai who always broke that unspoken rule, but lately he had been scarce too.

So, Ray turned to Leon.

"What do you want?" Ray asked.

Leon invited himself in, his nose turning up with disgust as he surveyed Ray’s room. "You live here?"

"Not all of us are opportuned to have fancy rooms in the Barracks." Ray replied casually. "What do you want?"

Leon chuckled. "Fancy rooms indeed. I’ll keep this brief, for your sake."

"If this is about me poisoning you, she had nothing to do with it."

Leon’s thick brows quirked up. "Liar."

"Why would I lie? To you of all people?" Ray folded his arms, leaning on the bare wall. His eyes tracked Leon, and his ears twitched as he listened.

The General was calm. Oddly so. Ray doubted he’d start throwing fists anytime soon.

"Why did you do it?" Leon asked.

Ray looked up and met his eyes. He expected to see anger or annoyance or something close to it. Instead, all he saw was amusement. Interest.

Ray listened closely again.

The General was...excited. Not just any kind of excitement, then one that manifested itself physically. In a specific region of the body.

To the outward eye, it would have impossible to detect. Afterall, Leon hid his emotions under layers of military regalia. But to Ray? Who had been trained all his life to see and perceive beyond the physical? He was shocked at what he found.

His thin brows knitted and disbelief filled his eyes. "You liked it." He whispered, shocked at the word he was saying. "You...you’re pushing her, on purpose?"

Leon didn’t deny.

His stance didn’t change.

Instead, the light in his eyes grew brighter. Like a candle flame.

"I was disappointed," he said. "She never resorts to violence. Never. Poisoning? Unheard of. Imagine my surprise hearing she finally did it. And then my disappointment finding out it was you."

"If you wanted to be poisoned so bad why didn’t you do it yourself?"

"Because it’s boring, silly. What’s the fun in that?"

For the first time in a long time, Ray’s heart skipped a beat. A beat of fear.

Leon didn’t hide his excitement. It glinted in his eyes. It showed in the flash of his pointy fangs. And he moved closer, closing the distance between them until Ray had nowhere to turn to.

"So I’ll ask again, why did you do it?"

Ray listened, his body on high alert in case he needed to fly away.

Leon’s heartbeat was elevated. Levels that Ray hadn’t read from him before. His beast surged to the surface, slowly but it was there.

The craziest part was, Ray couldn’t tell anymore. Was Leon angry or just excited?

"It’s nothing personal," he said, choosing his words carefully. "You’ve been acting strange yourself. You know she loves you and you still treat her this way."

Leon laughed.

A full bellied laugh that made Ray’s skin crawl.

"What am i supposed to do with her love?" He said, wiping fake tears from his eyes.

Ray wanted, in that moment, to blurt the truth out. The truth that The Princess no longer had any love for Leon. The truth that her fondness was gone and in its place was a murderous anger.

Ray had thought that today’s beat down would have opened Leon’s eyes to the truth of Princess Orchid’s feelings. She didn’t go easy on him at all, even though by now his injuries had healed.

Yet as it turned out, the General, who was exceedingly smart in military matters, was a dumbass in emotional matters.

And Ray didn’t feel the need to get himself involved.

"How about we skip to the part where you take your anger out on me?" Ray said tiredly.

"Take my anger out? What do you think no I am? A barbarian?"

"You act like it sometimes."

Leon nodded slowly. "You’re quite mouthy these days, Aren’t you? What happened to lurking in the dark like a forgotten shadow? Don’t tell me you’ve fallen for her?"

Ray remained silent. He was wrong. So far wrong. But again, Ray did t want to get involved.

"First it was Azul. And now you? And now what next? Is Kai also falling for her? Are you guys so quick to forget the pain she dealt you?"

"And what about you? If anything you suffered at her hands the least compared to us."

"Someone needs to take revenge for you guys. You make it sound like a bad thing, like I’m the bad guy."

"I don’t understand you, General. What do you want? Why are you here?" Ray pleaded, on the verge of just telling Leon to leave him alone.

Listening to the General’s signals always made Ray overwhelmed. And now it was worse.

Leon took a step back, noticing how uncomfortable Ray was getting. "I need you to do something for me. Think of it as a job."

"What?" Ray sighed.

"The Princess. I want you to listen in and report back to me. Everything. Who she talks to, where she goes, what she does, every single detail."

Ray frowned. "You want me to spy on her?"

"You do that all the time anyway."

"That’s—"

"If you don’t do it, I’ll have one of my men handle it. But it will be easier and much better if one of her husbands does, don’t you think?"

Ray couldn’t believe what he was hearing.

"You’ve lost your mind."

"Being married to a demon does that to a man." Leon said and turned to leave. "And, for Drax, tell him to mind his business. If he wants to play here, he should break out."

"How do you know—" Ray started to say but Leon left, slamming the door behind him.

Ray paced the floor, his eyes wild with terror as he scrubbed his palms over his face repeatedly. Leon’s words echoed on repeat in his head.

Job.

Spy.

Husband.

Princess. My flower wife...

Ray couldn’t understand what was going on. It wasn’t that the princess had changed drastically, so what was triggering all these ripple effects?

First it was Azul, staying more than a night in the East.

Then it was Kai, now living 70% of the time out of confinement.

And now Leon. The General. The same man who tried to kill her three times, getting excited over her.

What was happening?

Ray had done his best not to listen in on the Princess. If he could turn off his heightened senses, he would.

But even then he couldn’t deny what he had heard over the days.

Something was wrong. Something was changing. With the Princess. With everyone else.

Ray didn’t know what it was, but it was affecting him too.

He dug into his pockets and held up the vial of Drax’s venom.

"Why did I even do this?" He muttered to the empty air. His hands trembled as he held onto it. The questions flooded his mind.

Why did I step in?

Why did I want to save her?

Why don’t I just let Leon do whatever he wanted?

Why do I care for her?

He gripped the bottle tightly in his shaky hands. He had sworn, not to long ago, to never forgive the Princess. The collar around his neck seemed to tighten, strangling the air out of him.

With a flick of his thumb, he uncapped the bottle.