Chapter 1 – The Reversal

With deliberate steadiness, Lucius pulls out his sword while Tiana stares blankly at him, clearly trying to understand what just happened. Her eyes dart back and forth between Lucius and the dark outline of the blood on her shirt.

She coughs out a mouthful of blood and groans. “What… Why!” she screams in disbelief.

With a sheepish smile, Lucius goes down on his knees and holds her hand, wrapping it around the hilt of his sword. Without hesitation, he pulls her hands towards himself, burying the blade in his heart.

“Ah!” He lets out a whisper of pain.

“Why!” Tiana’s eyes grow wide in shock.

Behind Lucius, a bewildered Rael and Angelica watch helplessly as blood drops from the crook of their joined hands. Lucius pulls Tiana into the warmth of a cold-blooded embrace with the little strength left in him. Having already lost most of her strength, she falls heavily into his arms.

“You never loved me until the end,” he sighs. “I wanted to see that smile again.”

Tiana allows herself to fall into oblivion as she listens to his fading voice, relaxing all her weight on Lucius as he too closes his eyes when he feels her breath begin to cease.

“I am still… happy…” His last words did not reach anyone.

*

“Oh, Lucius.” She takes her eyes off the laptop screen and sighs. Even after seeing it a few times, the shock and sadness feel fresh.

In almost every other novel, the author eliminates the villain with a tragic end. She just never thought that it would be with suicide.

The one good thing about Lucius’s death is that it was together with Tiana, his foil. What ending was more stimulating than this? She becomes enveloped with emotions she is unable to understand.

“If my beloved die this way, I”m screwed!” For recompense, the story was not ending there. She sighs continuously thinking about what she was supposed to expect.

‘The Dangerous Situation of The Emperor’ is a popular web novel serialized on a paid platform accumulating a wide fan-base within a short period.

The story is a common narrative. A story centered on a contract marriage between a cold tyrant, Emperor Rael, and his only weakness, a Count’s daughter, Angelica. Their dangerous, yet sweet marriage appeals to many readers.

Of all the characters in the novel, the most popular are the protagonists, Rael and Angelica, although not as popular among readers as Lucius, the greatest villain in the novel, who is also her personal favorite.

Lucius Eyal Roderick seeks to overthrow his stepbrother, Rael, with the support of the aristocrats who oppose the Emperor. He openly displays a twisted desire for Rael’s lover, Angelica despite being married to Tiana.

However, this did nothing to diminish the love readers have for him. His physical attributes are utterly attractive, leaving readers wishing he was not the villain.

“Ah, yes. The book!” She grabs one of the two books sitting beside her laptop. It is volume two of the novel, wrapped in plain black and embellished with gold letters.

Lucius’ face fills the front cover of the book with his smooth black hair which contrasts his pale white skin and his golden eyes are reminiscent of melting gold. She is captivated by the ethereal reflection of his strange glowing golden eyes and cold emotionless gaze.

She sighs with longing, tracing the outline of his face before looking back at the screen.

Lucius is a villain, but it wouldn’t be so strange to have a side story about him, because he was just as important as Rael. There seem to be many readers like her who wanted the same thing and soon enough, comments began to flood in like a volcano about to erupt.

[It’s already been a month, why hasn’t the next chapter been released? Give us a side story at least!]

[That’s weird. It’s a month already, so why isn’t the next chapter up?]

Readers had been put on hold since the deaths of Lucius and Tiana.

[Is the author thinking about a perfect ending? I mean, what is there to worry about… Now that the biggest villain is dead, there could only be a happy ending for the protagonists.]

Lucius had taken care of the aristocrats in support of him before killing himself, so there was no one getting in the way of Rael and Angelica.

The happy ending everyone hoped for was close, but she couldn’t hide her bitterness towards Lucius’s dismal end.

“Happy endings are good, but this one is so sad.” Despite being the villain, there was so much more to him that it wasn’t fair that he had been killed off. It made his death seem meaningless.

“I hope it’s completed soon with a side story. Then, I can stop feeling this way.”