"Kya!" Abigail exclaimed.

Just now, Eurielle poured tea on her and expressed her hate towards Abigail like usual.

The other noblewomen also saw this and gossiped in the sidelines.

"That's what you get for seducing the prince. How dare you get close to him?"

Eurielle looked at Abigail with a face of disgust.

"I- I'm sorry." Abigail cried precious tears.

Somewhere far from the scene, a hooded man was hiding in the shadows.

Ever since earlier, he's been watching Eurielle's action with fierce anger.

'How dare she hurt Abigail.'

Blonde hair and jeweled amber eyes...

There was only one person in the entire continent who had a description like that.

It was Asterion Ford, the master of the magic tower. A high class mage. A hidden villain in the novel who kidnapped the heroine.

In the original novel, Asterion regarded the heroine as his savior.

There was a time in the novel that before Asterion discovered his skills, he was severely injured.

Then a very cliché thing happened and the heroine took care of him.

Basically later on, he fell in love with the heroine's kind and loving character, so much that he became obsessed with her.

And seeing Abigail getting bullied by someone, hatred rose up within him and he swore to make that person pay.

"Eurielle Deidamus huh.." He grinned.

Based on his observance from earlier, the Eurielle in her eyes right now seemed like a despicable and spoiled woman.

Vicious plans processed in his mind and he decided that Eurielle must at least experience torture once in her life.

And so after that day, he followed Eurielle and observed her from the shadows.

Everyday was the same. He found Eurielle as a toxic and extremely annoying person.

He was waiting for the right time to destroy her.

But after a week, he noticed strange behaviors from Eurielle after that incident from the garden.

Eurielle was wandering thoughtlessly in the mansion and she pricked herself with the rose's thorns. And then she screamed in pain.

Asterion found it confusing when he saw that scene. But he also liked seeing Eurielle in pain. She deserved more for hurting Abigail.

And so, Eurielle changed. A lot.

She rarely went out from the mansion, she never went to tea parties nor go shopping anymore. Even the way she acted and dressed also changed.

It was like another person possessed her body.

'Strange.'

Her presence.. it felt different.

Since that day, he found Eurielle always wearing the same expressionless face and the same emotionless tone.

She was like a doll.

Then one time, she finally decided to go out.

She attended a tea party and her attitude was different from before. She no longer bragged about anything and her toxic personality disappeared.

She remained calm and quiet the whole time.

There was only one thing that Asterion felt at this time.

Curiosity.

'I need to know more about her.'

But still, he couldn't forgive Eurielle for doing those evil things to Abigail in the past. Her change doesn't mean anything to Asterion.

One day whilst following her, he saw Eurielle going to an auction.

It was at that moment that he knew that some things would never change.

The past Eurielle loved collecting precious things from auctions. She always lusted for beautiful things.

Maybe that's why she fell immediately for the prince.

Then there's this one plan Asterion thought about that made him grin.

Eurielle Deidamus...

He'll make fer fall for him and break her apart when that happens. He will seduce her- in short.

After that, she'll make him feel the most terrible pain that a person can suffer. Quite a good plan he might add.

When the auction began, it wasn't that hard for Asterion to disguise as a slave. He was sure that Eurielle was there to buy something or someone.

While the bidding for the man-slave started, he was waiting for Eurielle to make her call. But she never did.

She was just looking from a certain room like she was watching a show.

It was a miscalculation on his part. So he just blew up the whole place instead. He was also sick of those kind of auctions anyways so he didn't mind it.

Asterion noticed that Eurielle stood up and was about to leave the place.

But he was quicker than her.

Before she left, he used teleportation magic and appeared in front of Eurielle.

"Hello." He smiled innocently at her.

It was a facade. He started wearing a mask in order to lure her in.

But of course, in order to seduce her--

"Please take me in." He begged in a pitiful tone as he hugged her.

--Acting is required.

***

Eurielle was a bit surprised of the man's gestures towards her.

Why did he suddenly blow up the whole place and why he is doing this to her- are the main thoughts of Eurielle right now.

This man who's currently hugging her asked her to take him in.

'Take him in...' She blankly stared at the ceiling.

But Eurielle... has no plans on taking in anyone right now.

She doesn't know why but she just doesn't want to do it. A part of her tells her that it's a pain to take someone in, especially if that person is a stranger.

She doesn't know what to feel about this situation.

"Why?" A soft, yet emotionless tone escaped from Eurielle's mouth.

"I don't have a family or someone to rely on right now. I will do anything you want-"

"Why me?"

"I- It's because.. of your.. eyes." Asterion was caught off guard there. He never imagined that Eurielle would ask him the 'why' question.

'My eyes?'

Eurielle pushed him a bit and took off her mask.

The moment she took it off, her bare face was revealed.

It was the first time that Asterion saw her face up close.

*Thump*

"Please leave me alone. There are many other nobles out there who have more beautiful eyes than me. Then, I'll leave first." Eurielle responded as she started walking.

The place was about to collapse because of the explosion earlier so it's better to leave fast.

"Ah-"

Before Eurielle could walk farther from him she felt herself being carried. He was carrying her.

Asterion smiled at Eurielle.

"I'll take you home miss."