I will not die a Villainess's death

Somewhere inside the mansion Baron Pheros smiled as he thought about the day he would gain the world. He had done a lot for this day to come and he had made countless sacrifices to find a way to immortality.

He had even let that 'witch' near his beloved treasure and had risked losing everything just for a glimpse of attention and fulfilling his goal.

Many people might think that he wanted to gain immortality for the sake of living forever but that could not be further away from the truth.

In reality, Baron Pheros did not seek immortality but a resurrection to bring his most important person back. He wanted to revive the only human to have shown him kindness, his stepmother.

His stepmother had been a person of a low birth his father had brought in when Baron Pheros's mother had died. He had still been young and had not understood why people had not liked the gentle lady.

His new mother had been a young lass of around 18 years old then. It had been a disgraceful marriage and had left Baron Pheros awe-struck by his stepmother's beauty.

He had fallen hard for that face and that gentle smile that said that everything would be alright. Baron Pheros had ended up giving in to his desire around the age of fourteen and that had gotten his stepmother killed.

Because Baron Pheros was the last Baron's blood-related son, he had gotten away untouched because these people needed a sacrifice to keep their family line going.

None of the family branch wanted to inherit the curse of the Baron's house but they wanted to reap the benefits. So they had pushed the 'stupid kid' to take on the burden. Once he was dead, his kids would take on the burden, and so on.

That had been their plan all along and Baron Pheros had followed along without showing his true colors. He needed his extended family to be comfortable before he started snapping away at them.

It had not taken long for them to arrange a noblewoman as his consort and he had taken her in. He had tried loving her but nothing had filled in the hole he had inside him.

The person he wanted was dead and her body was being preserved by Baron Pheros with the help of a magic spell.

The poor woman who had been his first wife had tried hard to love him as well but he had not made it easy.

In the end, she lost her life during an experiment and her life added a few years to Baron Pheros's life span.

It had also been the time when the magician from Akatsuki had arrived. Their neighboring kingdom was famous for magicians and extremely dangerous magic so it did not surprise Lord Baron when he had been caught.

He had been prepared to be turned in and serve his sentence when the magician had made an offer to him. The magician wanted to study the effects of magic and the blood pool. He also said that Lord Baron could resurrect the dead if he did as was being told to him.

Lord Baron had been skeptical at first but he had nothing left to lose anyway.

So he followed as the magician had said and created a blood pool. At the same time, his wives and staff members began going missing one by one. They were adding to the blood pool and their bodies were being occupied by shadow puppets.

In the end, no one knew what was happening around the Baron's mansion and no one would until his mother makes a comeback.

But by then, both Baron Pheros and his mother would be immortal and no one would be able to tear them apart.

______________________________

Sleep was hard to come by that night for Elysia. She kept on remembering the owner of those orange eyes. They held a sadness to them that was heart-wrenching and Elysia found herself unconsciously thinking back about them.

Was that how she looked to people around her? Most of them would not have cared too much but it did make sense why both Adam and Eve had focused on her back them.

Maybe their love had been born out of sympathy for her pathetic self rather than it being a genuine feeling?

Elysia wanted to talk to them and clear things out but she also felt afraid to do so. The other two had bared themselves to her and she had run away from them. Elysia was sure that they would be angry at her.

'Just a little more time. I am sure I will be ready to face them in time for the hunting festival.'

Elysia was not sure if she wanted to face her fears so soon but the time was running out for her.

And just like that, the night passed away but Elysia did not look any more well-rested than before. If anything, the dark circles under her eyes were even more prominent than before.

She used magic to erase them for now but that did not stop one from seeing how tired she was.

"Elysia, have you woken up? Isn't it too early?"

Sorias knocked at her door as soon as Elysia was done getting ready. He seemed to have woken up only seconds ago and was still yawning.

Elysia felt envious of his ability to have such a full-filling sleep when she was out here worrying about herself. But then she felt bad about thinking like that.

It was not Sorias's fault that Elysia had such a hard time sleeping yesterday night. It was all 'Mr. Fairy's' fault.

Elysia would show him how things were done once she met him again in the future. And she was sure that they would meet again.

She had a feeling that the other man had recognized the similarity between them and he would be curious to know more as well.

If nothing else, Elysia would use her magic to track the man down for no other reason than to satisfy her curiosity. She was sure her brother would be interested in that man and his circumstances as well.

"G-Good morning. How did the both of you sleep? I slept fine, really well. Thank you for asking."

Elysia turned around, only to find someone who had an even worse night than her. Enma had dark circles and his face was pale as well.

The lack of sleep was making his body sway a little and he was barely managing to walk straight as it was. His body was even shivering due to the lack of sleep and it made Elysia feel bad for him.

the poor kid seemed to be going through something and it was hitting him hard. She hoped to help him but she had her problems to face.

"I see that you did not have a good sleep yesterday night. Did something keep you up?"

Sorias sounded amused as he asked Enma this question. Elysia had a feeling that he was enjoying teasing Enma more than he let on.

And Elysia could kind of see why Sorias had a nice time teasing Enma like this. Enma gave the most amusing reactions to his words, his face going red at the provocation but he did not have enough energy to retaliate back.

"Fuck you. I will speak back to you once I am a little more alert. For now, I really want food to stuff my face with. I am so hungry."

Now that Enma had said that, Elysia felt hungry as well. Yesterday night had been a rollercoaster of emotions and activities. How Elysia's hunger had gone unnoticed until now was a mystery to even her.

Enma's stomach growled at the right time and the kid went red before he excused himself to go and freshen up.

It was only once he was gone did Sorias turn toward Elysia and his eyes turned serious.

"You went out yesterday night, right? Did you happen to find something of value?"

Sorias sounded serious when he asked that and Elysia blurted out most of what happened. For some reason, she kept the presence of that 'Mr. Fairy' a secret from Sorias and even she was not sure why she did that.

But she wanted that man to be a secret that only belonged to her and no one else. Elysia had never felt possessive over a person's presence like this and she did not like it one bit.

"I see a blood pool. It is a much bigger problem than we first thought. Have to written to Lucas yet? You should just be safe and he will make a report for us."

Elysia did not argue with Sorias on this topic. She knew that she would have to inform Lucas about what was going on down here sooner or later. And the sooner she did, the better.

She had already send her report to the temple so she was covered on that topic.

Just as Elysia was about to make a comment, the door to their room was knocked and then opened without any warning. A maid entered the room and bowed to show her courtesy. But her actions were anything but courteous.

"Baron Pheros had invited Lady Dirac and her company for breakfast. Kindly let me know when the Lady will be ready. Baron Pheros would also like to know the Lady's preferences beforehand for next preparation."

Elysia was ready to head down but Enma was still taking a bath and freshening up. She did not want to leave the kid in this mansion alone. Not after what all she had seen in here already.

It was not safe for the kid to have to go through everything on his own.

"I will be down shortly. You can take your time and arrange what you want to. Also, we are not picky about food so anything you make will be good for us."

Elysia quickly dismissed the maid as she felt those sharp eyes on her. These maids were beginning to give her the child and she could not even imagine what they liked in their Baron.

"They all have blind loyalty for the Baron. Such fools they are."

They were but Elysia was sure they had their reasons for doing so as well.