‘Warden Grayscale.’

Warden Grayscale was a very sought after character in the book called ‘The Crimson Hero of the West’. People even made illustrations of him according to the description in the book.

He became famous among the young girls population for one particular reason, that was, he who was a dark wizard, who irrevocably fell in love with a young light mage, and at last, to protect her from his enemies and from all the condemnation of the world, he died in her arms, promising her his next life.

Yes, he was a heroic ‘Villain’ who was loved by the readers even more than the lead protagonist. Even his merchandise was sold in the stalls at a sky-high price. So, how could Tania not recognize the famous Him?

But, recognizing him really did not bode well to Titania, for she fell into an even more troubling predicament. This man called ‘Warden Grayscale’ was the right-hand man of the biggest villain Boss of the novel.

The Villain Boss who would be brutally defeated in the end of the novel and the ending of his subordinates was just as bleak as him. Now Titania could not help but gulp in fright.

When Tania found out that her online lover was the great King Eganius Cline, the disaster in the mouths of all mages, she had an inkling of doubt of his real identity in the novel ‘The Crimson Hero of the West’, but she deliberately decided to overlook that terrifying notion as she did not know what she would do if her daunting conjectures came true.

But now, looking at the same Warden Grayscale, whose merch she once bought with great enthusiasm, her countenance could not help but fall.

Her boyfriend was the said Big Villain whose ending was destined to be bleak. And she, the designated girlfriend of the big Villain, a cannon fodder, what will become of her, she didn’t even want to imagine.

In her horror, Tania kept staring blankly at Warden who in turn was staring back at her with a complicated expression, his vertical pupils growing big and small according to his internal conflict.

Everyone around them was speculating this odd situation with their hearts in their mouths, nervous and anxious about the next development of the situation.

After about what felt like forever, Warden finally retracted his gaze away from Tania and asked the guard around him, “How many more are left in total?” It was obvious what he was asking about.

He wanted to know how many more are left for the evaluation to be Eganious Cline’s royal concubine.

“My lord, four thousand more.” Was the guard’s answer, and Titania almost rolled back her eyes in disbelief.

For Egan to personally inspect this amount of girls to be her, won’t it take at least five to six more years? And she was also shocked that there were so many girls with the nickname Tania or Nia. Were the numbers really genuine that there were about four thousand girls with the same nickname as her?

In the ancient times, it is said that kings and emperors did have a lot of beauties in their harem, but Eganius Cline’s four thousand beauties with the same nickname as her did choke Titania.

Although she was serious with Egan when they were dating online, but for Egan to spend almost five to six years of his life in search of her who he dated only for two years, Tania felt, wasn’t it a bit much? Did he like her so much? Or was he just bored and did not know how else to spend his long-ass life?

She wondered.

Here, on the other hand, Warden Grayscale’s eyes couldn’t help but twitch when he heard the large number of beauties who had the same nickname as his King’s lover.

He ordered the guards to lock up the people once more and after passing a peculiar gaze towards Tania, he left the dungeon without much commotion.

Alania, who had her knees turned into jelly by Tania’s side, half crawled, half-walked towards her, and mumbled while patting her chest, “My God! That wizard general was so scary. I almost thought he would kill you on spot when he roared into your face so fiercely just then. Thank God he did not dare to touch the beauties of his Monarch. Otherwise, I cannot even begin to imagine what such a violent person would do to soft little girls like us. But, weren’t you afraid just then sister Tania? You looked like someone who could not be shaken even in the face of death. I really admire you for your awesome forbearance.” She grinned with a pretty but pale face at Tania.

“...Afraid? Not really. But, a bit hungry maybe.” Titania mumbled absentmindedly while she was still left in a daze about his supposed villainous lover.

Alania, “???”

The appearance of the wizard general Warden was just a small episode, but it made the originally tense atmosphere even more tense. One wrong move, and all could die without even knowing how.

The people in the dungeon started panicking, seeming like fishes in disturbed water, their faces pale and their expressions scared.

Whereas for Tania, it took her a long while to calm down her messed-up emotions. After she came in terms with the cruel reality of her situation, she became extraordinarily calm and collected.

Now, all she did was sit quietly in a squalid corner of her cell and observed the current state of affairs.

Out of the corner of her eye, she seemed to have caught a glimpse of some familiar figures and had to narrow her eyes dangerously.

Some of the girls who recently came in and were locked up in the same prison as her were seniors of her mage tower. If she remembered correctly, none of their magic tiers were as low as her, nor their ages were fifteen and they weren’t nicknamed Nia. So, how could they suddenly appear here?

She suddenly felt that she had been underestimating the elders of her mage tower too much.

I'm a Boss Lady at the top of the food chain HEHE! (EvilSmile.jpg)