Somewhere in the Eastern Empire, Anna sneezed five times in rapid succession.

Who’s that bitch talking shit about me?

"Your highness, do you need to rest?" Tristan asked.

Anna shook her head. "No no. We keep going. The sooner we get to our destination, the sooner we can fix this shit and go back home."

"We need to stop. We’ve been on the move for hours and now it’s dark."

"We keep going."

"Cutie, would you like a beautiful beast to show up and have us all for dinner?"

Anna turned to Kai, her eyes narrowing. "No?"

"Exactly. Neither do I. We stop, get a room, and continue our journey in the morning."

Anna looked around their small party. Ray looked unbothered, his arms folded and his eyes closed. One would think he was sleeping but Anna saw his ears twitching and knew he was listening for threats. Kai had been hyper the entire ride, poking his head out of the window and yapping her ears off. And Tristan had been the cool, collected dad of the group. His posture rigid and a permanent frown of displeasure stamped on his face. Inbetween checking his sword and correcting his posture, he was mostly silent.

"Fine." Anna huffed. "We can rest. But we move at the crack of dawn."

They found an inn for the night and Tristan checked them all in.

Sadly, only two rooms were free.

His initial idea was to have Ray and Kai share a room while he got one with Anna. The idea which was immediately met with backlash from all of them. Anna included.

"How about you three share a room and I get one? After all I’m the Princess." Anna offered with a smug smile. It tasted good, using her position and authority to her advantage.

The men agreed, and it was all settled. The rooms were close to each other in case of any emergencies.

Anna walked into her room, frowning at the sight of the single bed. "Wow. Very original." She grumbled darkly.

The first thing she did was throw open the windows, cold air and moonlight flooding the room. Finally alone with her thoughts, she exhaled all the stress away and threw herself onto the bed. Her entire muscles ached, especially her back from all the sitting and bumpy rides.

If only I could get a massage.

[Hostie, I have an announcement to make.] The System’s voice dinged in her head.

Anna raised her head up, groaning with deep displeasure. "What is it?"

[As we near the completion of your villain points, you have but two tasks left.]

Anna jumped to her feet. "Just two?!" Excitement rushed through her veins, boiling away every trace of exhaustion. "Wait, you mean I have two tasks left and I’ll be done with pretending to be this fake ass villainess?"

[That is correct.]

Anna screamed, kicking her feet and punching the air. "Yes yes yes! Tell me, what are the tasks? Oh tell me let me get to them immediately!"

[They will be revealed in due time. However, keep it in mind that these tasks are extremely crucial. Failure to complete either of them will lead to an immediate point reset and goal change denial.]

Anna’s excitement dampened, like water thrown on fire. "That serious huh? Fine. I guess so. Are they something I’ll be able to do?"

[You’ll see when the time arrives.]

Anna sat on the bed, her elbows on her knees, her body propped forward as her thoughts raced.

[Hostie, you’ve done well. Although your performance has been lower than average, you’ve successfully held on till now. Permit me to say I’m excited for the things you’ll accomplish in this world.]

"Wait...hold on. The things I’ll accomplish in this world? What do you mean? I’m going home. You said I could get to go back home!"

[You want to go back home?]

"Yes! Fuck yes! You said I’d go back to a perfect version of my life. Look, I know I’ve not brought it up a lot and I barely seven think about my old life but I want to go home. I don’t belong here! I’m not some fantasy princess with—"

[You missed the whole point, hostie. Did you forget? You were to get five million points and you’ll be allowed to go home. You requested a goal change, and your point goal was halved. You still have half a goal to complete in this world before you can go home.]

Anna gasped, her pupils trembling. "Bullshit! That’s utter fucking bullshit! You’re saying that now?! A-after I’ve come this far?!"

[Calm down, Hostie. You should have asked for better clarification but you didn’t.]

"Oh so it’s now my fault that you lied to me and deceived me?! It’s my fault for being gullible huh?!" She asked, jabbing her index finger against her chest.

[I am incapable of deception, hostie. I don’t have emotions. I am—]

"You know what? The moment I get back home, I don’t know how but I’m gonna make sure we pull the damn plug on AI. You’re a fucking monster."

[Calm down hostie. You’re exhausted, you need to rest. Get some sleep.]

Anna wanted to say more. She was too angry, too betrayed to just swallow the new information.

She’d done her best not to think about her old life. Doing so only brought her more and more pain. So she held on. She kept going. Hoping that soon she’ll have enough points to finally go back home.

It dawned on her that she didn’t even know what "perfect version" of her life meant.

I didn’t read the fine print...

Emotions and pride choked her up and she didn’t want to ask the system.

I’ll just take a shower, maybe I’ll feel better.

She wiped tears of anger out of her eyes and went into the bathroom. It was way smaller than hers in the palace, but it was clean. The water was lukewarm, and she glared at the shower head. "Can’t even have hot water."

And she was able to take a shower and get dressed for the night. As she dried her hair with a small towel, someone walked into her room.

"Hey! What if I was dressing?!" she screamed at Kai, throwing her towel at him.

He strode into the room like he owned the place, a seductive look in his eyes. Leaning on the doorframe, his liquid eyes scanned her from head to toe, dragging blue fire over her skin. Even though she was dressed, Anna felt naked.

"So, we haven’t had much time to talk have we?" Kai said, bringing his languid gaze up to her eyes.

Anna sighed. "Not exactly. I mean you ran off and left me all alone. And you rejected all my strawberries. After I told you my secret!" She said the last part in a loaded whisper. "What do you want now?"

He looked around the room. "I know this town. There’s a restaurant that processes AI beasts illegally, really good and solid food. You do understand how this world works right?"

"Mostly. I have her memories so, yeah."

Kai’s jaw tightened and he nodded. "Ah. Her memories. Is that why you’re trying to be good?"

"No. I’m not trying to be good. I’m actually trying to be evil. If I can be evil enough then maybe...or at least I thought that maybe I would go back to my real life."

"And her, would she come back?"

Anna wondered if she should tell him the truth. Ah, it’s not my place.

So she shook her head. "I don’t know. I don’t understand anything at all. and I’m sorry, I’m sorry I cannot be her."

Kai watched her closely. Then he walked up to her and took a damp strand of hair, rubbing it between his fingers.

When Villis did it, all Anna felt was revulsion. But with Kai? She wanted to bundle her entire hair and hand it over to him.

"If what you’ve been doing is you trying to be evil," he spoke, his voice a murmur . He met her eyes, clicking his tongue sharply. "Then it’s best for you to go back to where you came from."

Anna swallowed the hurt. "Wow. Thanks for the vote of confidence."

"I’m not trying to patronize you nor will I mince my words. You’re kind, Anna Carson. Too kind. This world will eat you up and spit your bones out. The Princess was evil, yes. But it’s how she got things done."

"Who says there aren’t other ways to get things done?" Anna asked innocently, blinking up at him. "There’s this saying in my world, kill them with a smile. Do you think evil is the only way to win?"

Kai let go of her hair and grasped the side of her face. "It’s the only way I’ve seen work in this world."

Anna inhaled sharply. Heat and desire bloomed inside her, and she subtly leaned into his touch. "Good thing I’m not of this world then?"

He chuckled. "I’m still trying to understand you. You’re kind but then you give me Villis’s head for a snack. Maybe you’re just like her."

"I am nothing like her."

"I know," he leaned closer to her, so close that she felt his breath warm her lips. "I know you’re nothing like her. I didn’t want to accept it. You’re different. Too different. I don’t like it, but at the same time..." his free hand came up, holding both sides of her face. "I want to know more of you, Anna Carson."

Anna’s heart fluttered. She grabbed into his shirt, tightly, not letting go.

"I..." she opened her mouth to reply.

The door burst open.