A Villainess Should Be Strong

"You are awake," Heine gave her a delighted grin, which amounted to nothing but a creepy approach to Estelle.

She was beginning to feel scared of Heine. How did she not notice this man's atrocity throughout the years? Was it because she took him for granted? Thought that it should be a given that she is helped by him?

Estelle began regretting accepting Heine's help from the start.

Indeed, a series of coincidences keep happening. She would always fall into trouble, and get out somehow. From the start, from the moment she entered Estelle's body, was all of that predetermined.

Estelle gnashed her teeth despite the restrictions on her that made her not be able to speak freely. Hatred incurred within her eyes. She was most afraid of her freedom being stripped away from her.

"Oh, that look in your eyes, how pitiful of you," Heine kneeled down and stroked Estelle's face with nothing but gentle touches.

But to this simple gesture, Estelle felt an uncontrollable disgust.

This was a man she had been living for years with. Spending countless amounts of time. Helping each other.

In fact, if she thought deeper, she would've found out that her knowledge of Heine was extremely shallow. She did not possess any personal info on the man. Instead, it was as if he was masked behind an indescribable shield. She hadn't known much about this man.

She only knew that he was the reigning Fae King and that he was summoned by the Spirit Tree to be her guide.

But doubts sprouted inside her mind. She thought the relationship they had was at least genuine.

Were all of that false? When she approached the dying tree, when signs of purification emanated from her, when Heine cried because he saw hope for his kind in Estelle, were they all false?!

Those tears, those sobs. His loyalty towards the spirit kind. His diligence and aptitude.

Estelle, who was more than once overcame with sympathy couldn't acknowledge everything.

Which ones were real, and which ones were just faux sentiments?

Estelle wanted to shout and scream at the man who was looking at Estelle with glee.

"Don't worry," Heine said, dragging his words. "You are going to succeed. It's your fate... your destiny,"

Estelle widened her eyes in disbelief.

Somehow, she felt like the current Heine that kneeled in front of her wasn't the same Heine she knew for years. It was a different entity.

That day, she remembered clearly. Heine saying that there were no 'roles' set for people, that fates were intangible, yet easy to be disrupted at the same time. That the slightest change would then lead to a greater change, creating a complex paradigm that perpetually evolved every passing second.

That the world was a bundle of abnormal 'somethings' that could not be explained by one's mind.

However, this Heine's words contradicted that same statement.

That Heine who had a vast mind and perspective on the world, where was he?

Where was the man that cared and guided Estelle throughout her years, dispelling all unsolvable questions Estelle had? The man who always stood by her side while supporting her silently, where on Earth did he disappear into?

Compared to the person before her, who had a sinister look to him, they seemed to be completely different people that couldn't be associated together.

"Estelle, oh Estelle. Do you know how long it took for me to get to where I'm at? I had to work alone because I knew no one would support my cause. No one would understand. Not even you," Heine snapped his fingers in front of the restrained girl multiple times.

With it, Estelle's sight was returned. She could only see parts of Heine's figure, because her vision was still a bit blurry.

Heine did not wait for Estelle to react before he continued his speech.

"But her," Heine sucked in a cold breath of air. "Only her would. My dearest sister, my beloved person,"

Heine's tone sounded like a deranged person's lament. He had a melancholic look to him, from which it slowly degraded to something much more deluded.

"I will never lose her again. Not to this measly world affairs. To that wretched man, who thinks that his plans would work, that everything would go back to normal just because he said so," Heine lifted Estelle's chin up forcefully, making the girl face the ceiling.

Estelle was confused.

Who on Earth was Heine talking about? Heine's sister, who was she? And how was she able to impact Heine to this extent?

The unknown man that Heine mentioned. That caused Heine to lose his sister.

What was the catalyst behind all this? The perpetrator that made Heine be pushed to this extent?

Estelle couldn't comprehend it all. How was it possible? For Heine to keep up all these pretenses for years.

Did Minerva and Yulia know about this too? Was every interaction Estelle had actually fake?

Distrust that stemmed from despair slowly filled Estelle. Over a decade of memories. How could all of it be a mirage?

Estelle was lost. Lost in the world's ways.

She knew that the world had many secrets, but one of the places where secrets were most abundant was actually in her close quarters.

Herself, and her surroundings. Places that she would've never thought to check in her early years.

Clearly, her views on the world were being distorted with every passing second.

"Let us start the initiation before everything is too late," Heine whispered lowly. His face was distorted, as if he was trying to hold back some sort of pain.

Estelle got even more disturbed. What was it?

This strange feeling that called out to her.

She felt a different vibe and emotion stemming from her interactions with Heine. Estelle pinned her gaze on the man, whose expression became uglier with each blink of an eye.

Was this really Heine she was facing?

Her intuition told her that everything was a half truth.

But what was the truth, and what was the lies.

[Think, Estelle, think.] Estelle scrunched up her face in an attempt to complete her thoughts.

When did it all start? When did the casualties spike, when Heine was absent and out of reach? When was he not in her scope of eyesight, and how would it connect to Heine changing completely like this?

Immediately, Estelle's focus was brought to a certain point in life where she first faced a strange aura from Heine.

If she recalled correctly, it was before Sylvania's monarchy collapsed. Before the Spirit Tree got corrupted and Kalis was put on the throne.

Heine was busy, but she did not think much about it.

If she really tried hard enough to remember, she would see the possibility of Heine averting his focus to his own plans.

The hints Heine gave were little, but not zero. Estelle just accepted everything Heine did because she recognized that the man had a separate life from her that needed to be respected.

But behind her back, was this man actually a dangerous being who kept progressing on his own deranged path?

Estelle sought to see the relation between her and Heine. His sister and the man who was claimed as the one who brought everything down.

Estelle wanted answers.

"I will give you the answers soon. Definitely," Heine scraped Estelle's forehead with his thumbnail, drawing blood from the skin.

Estelle winced at the sudden pain and wanted to shirk away, but the restraints combined with Heine's own applied force made it impossible for her to dodge.

Heine's nail was dipped in Estelle's blood. With it, he drew a strange pattern around her glabella.

With her senses, Estelle tried hard to imagine what Heine was creating, or rather, writing on her face.

It must have something to do with the initiation.

Estelle's ring shone. The one she obtained in her father's study, the one that would allow her to prove her own worth, according to the Ruler.

As expected, Heine really knew everything in regards to the Constellation.

What did Heine seek by making her the leader earlier? For him to be appointed as the Constellation member?

She would've appointed him nonetheless just solely based on his worth. Heine was more than worthy to accept the position as a former ruler and someone who Estelle was deeply indebted to.

He also mentioned something about Estelle's existence collapsing, just like the Ruler. Then, if that was the case, Heine truly did not mean any harm towards Estelle.

But why would he be so adamant about it? If he talked straight at Estelle, she would've tried hard to understand him.

Heine's actions must be propelled by some reason. Or else, why would he be so exasperated and hurried when even the Ruler did not tell her to be so panicked?

Estelle was aware of the Ruler's omniscient ability, and truly believed that so long as the Ruler did not strictly warn her, she was going to live on.

Why? There were so many questions that floated around her mind and no answers to quench her confusion.

But all of those thoughts were all collectively swept away as Heine continued his work on Estelle's forehead, drawing blood from the wound that got enlarged and creating more inscriptions.

With it, Estelle was able to feel her forehead heating up. Then, the same burning feeling spread out to Estelle's fingers. It sourced from her ring.

The ring she wasn't able to detach.

Estelle felt weak. Strength drained away from her body, making her powerless.

Like always, the same pattern of collapsing after struggles. Despite all the efforts she tried to be strong with, she was still weak.