NOVEL NEXT Chapter 20: Stay with me.
Chapter 20: Stay with me.
"You're the pretty villainess... that I like..."
These words rang around the villainess' head. Was she playing with her emotions? Toying them? Or is she just hallucinating at the effects of the fever?
The villainess was thinking of why she was even caring for Analissa Blanchet at this much effort.
All she needed to do was come close at a decent distance where she can just check up after her if she's getting close to the crown prince.
"What's wrong with me..." (Lady Evelyn) muttered feeling that her sense of duty is being dwindled by this girl.
Was it because that blonde hair figure gave her reassurance that she won't tell anyone her embarrassing hobby? And the fact that she was even willing to talk about it... it has been a while.
Her mind wandered off to the time where she cried and Analissa Blanchet held her close... she remembers her faint smell of flowers and soft skin pressing against hers. That was a day ago but still... It feels so surreal.
"..."
The villainess' face felt hot and she decided that it must be the room. Perhaps it was time to go check on the blonde girl and her maid assigned to take care of her.
After getting some fresh air from her study feeling the night has moved so slow she decided to go back and check upon the girl who she presumed to be done with eating.
She also noticed that their little egg is cozying up warmly near the chimney fire. She decided to leave it there thinking the warm temperature would be better for the little egg.
"Hmm..."
When Lady Evelyn came to see the scene, three of her maids stood beside the table trying their best to feed Analissa's face twists and turns looking at the spoon filled with bitter medicine.
Liara Fischer, the eldest maid of the three, was holding the spoon trying to coax the heroine to drink the medicine. "Miss Blanchet, medicine is good for you. Please do drink it-"
Analissa takes the cotton blanket and covers her whole body with it, hiding from the scary lady with the scary spoon. "Your medicine sucks! Too bitter! I don't want it! I want the orange flavored one!"
The other two maids snickered behind her back. This commoner girl was truly a ruckus but she was really hilarious to say the least.
The second maid, Melody, who was done snickering, sighs, stepping up and trying to pull the blanket away from the girl feeling her patience running out. "Come on! Miss Blanchet, drink your medicine! It's good for you!"
“No!” The sick girl was putting up a fight not letting go of the blanket and she intends to hide forever just to get away from the scary spoon.
"Pfft!" Nayeli the third maid snickered some more and suggested to her eldest sister- "If you shove it up to her mouth maybe that will work?" she tells Liara who furrows her eyebrow and angrily glares at her youngest sister at the horrible suggestion.
"That is not how we treat a guest- and a patient in this case..." (Liara) puts down the spoon filled medicine and stares at Miss Analissa Blanchet who was being difficult.
"She has no problem with the soup so there shouldn't be any problem with swallowing the medicine." she continues, thinking the blonde girl is perhaps too childish when she's sick.
In the back, near the door Lady Evelyn's figure was watching everything unfold. Finally she couldn't hold herself and entered the room.
"What is going on here?" she asks the three who turn to the direction of their lady feeling embarrassed to face her. They all fixed their posture and curtsied.
Liara was the first one to speak of the situation at hand. "Milady, as you can see she has finished eating but she has a disdain for medicine and refuses to drink what Melody has bought." she explains, the villainess nods in understanding.
Melody looked away awkwardly, all the medicines were bitter and she was sure there wasn't an orange flavored one in the store.
"You've tried everything that you can?" (Lady Evelyn) crossed her arms looking at the silly heroine who was still covering herself with a blanket. Is she this afraid of medicine?
"Milady, we have tried everything-" (Liara)
The third maid spoke up, "Not everything-" (Nayeli) pouted at her suggesting shoving the medicine to the girl's mouth but that was not method was not graciously accepted by her sister for good reason.
Lady Evelyn sighs, shaking her head and rubbing the side of her temple. "I'll go talk to her and see if I can make her drink the medicine. I would like for us to be alone for this to work." she tells the maid to which they immediately got the order to get out of the room.
"Certainly, milady." The three said in unison with a small curtsy and walked in one line out of Lady Evelyn's quarters.
Finally the both of them were alone again. The villainess takes the chair that she used before and sits on it properly like a true lady should.
She stares at the girl who was still covering herself with the blanket and faintly smiled, anyone else might find it annoying but for Lady Evelyn it was sort of charming. "Miss Blanchet, would you mind letting me see you?" she asks.
Analissa grumbled, "Pretty villainess... Is the scary lady gone with the scary spoon?" she asks further, cowering into the side.
Something rang out of the villainess' chest and she was not sure what it was.
It appears Liara, despite her caring nature, managed to scare Miss Analissa Blanchet to this extent.
"Yes she's gone, I assure you it's just the two of us again." (Lady Evelyn) tells Miss Blanchet in a reassuring tone.
"You're not lying are you- cough..." (Analissa) coughed for a moment finally lifting her blanket showing her face.
"You don't hear anyone else now do you?" The villainess couldn't help but laugh. Miss Blanchet with a cold is truly interesting, her honesty and childlike demeanor has always been there but this much?
Analissa wraps the blanket around her like the skin of a little peapod. "Are you going to make me drink that medicine like that scary lady did?"
“I see you don’t like medicine.” (Lady Evelyn)
“I just don’t like the way it tastes…” (Analissa)
"Well then now it depends, what would it take you to drink the medicine? Name any price and we'll see to it that it'll be met." the villainess negotiated with the heroine who coughs some more. Surely someone who's bedridden won't make any complicated wishes.
Analissa with a runny nose thought for a bit, what could be the right equivalent exchange for drinking the thing she hates the most.
"Read me a bedtime story... cough... I'll drink the spoon." she tells Lady Evelyn who tilts her head with a smile but immediately hides it away.
"The spoon? Don't you mean the medicine-"
"No, the spoon. Cough... I don't like medicine." The heroine repeated the same words of negotiation with a grin feeling like it was a good deal to make.
Lady Evelyn's patience was being tested, her feet tapped into the floor and she crossed her arms telling the girl once more, "Bedtime stories are only for good girls who drink their medicine. If you can't drink it, then I'm afraid I won't be able to tell you a bedtime story for tonight. You wouldn't want that now, would you?"
"..." (Analissa) looks away.
A moment of silence was heard, Analissa's shoulders slumped and finally she nodded looking disgusted with herself for even agreeing to drink that sloppy bitter liquid. "Okay... cough... give me the spoon."
"The spoon is not for eating. Only drink the medicine now, Miss Blanchet." (Lady Evelyn) reminded and Analissa stuck out her tongue at the villainess bossing her around.
If it was any other commoner, that would have been treated as a form of insult and immediately Miss Blanchet would be punished. Thankfully, the villainess didn't take it to heart and was enjoying taking care of someone for the first time in a while.
"Blergh... cough-!" (Analissa) was shoving the medicine to her mouth and swallowed the bitter liquid hastily. "Cough...!" the blonde girl coughed loudly, quickly covering her mouth.
"I'm sorry... for coughing... do you have a mask..." she turns to Lady Evelyn who was confused once more.
"I only have ballroom masks- if that's what you need." (Lady Evelyn) has kept a few around her room somewhere, but she wonders for what reason Miss Blanchet would be needing them at a time like this.
"Ah... No- you don't have medical masks... cough-" she replies hoarsely and Lady Evelyn guiltily shakes her head, she doesn't even know medical masks were something invented nowadays because people would just conjure spells or potions of immunity.
Analissa being tired has decided to just lay her head down into the soft pillow not wanting to talk anymore but smiled when she turns to the villainess and is reminded of her deal to read her a storybook.
"I've drunk the medicine and didn't eat the spoon... cough... can you read me a story now please?" the tone of her voice when she giggled was like a child's.
"Miss Blanchet, are you truly sick or are you fooling me? It appears your memory is good even when you're sick." (Lady Evelyn) tells the girl who giggles again in reply. The villainess was one to not break a promise so she stands up from her seat and takes a few steps towards her drawer with a magic lock and a physical lock.
"Reseravi." she chants and a faint blue glow came out of the keyhole and it was safe to fiddle with it now.
"Inventorium." (Lady Evelyn) chants another spell and takes out a warded key holding it in her hand before carefully inserting it into the keyhole. The drawer opened and showed a few treasured storybooks that she got from her nanny.
The other storybooks that were lying around were important but not enough to lock it away.
She takes the three most favorite one she has and presents them to Analissa. "Which one would you like for me to read?" (Lady Evelyn) holds them out for her to pick one.
Analissa eyed the three books and recognized one of them, the tale of the crow and the chick who can't fly. In the game it was briefly mentioned how the villainess liked birds the most and her love for them all started from her nanny's present.
Anything with birds in it was surely to be Lady Evelyn's favorite!
"Your favorite one- this one-" she points at the book, to where she was right. It was Lady Evelyn's favorite book out of all of her collections.
It surprised her for a moment, clearly no one but her nanny would be able to know which book was her favorite one. It raised a few suspicion flags on Analissa.
"How did you know it was my favorite?" (Lady Evelyn) couldn't help but feel something was amiss.
"I think you like birds... remember the duck one last time?" (Analissa) despite being sick, managed to not blow her cover.
"Ah right... I like the lost duck as well." (Lady Evelyn) breathed a sigh of relief thinking that perhaps it was all a coincidence. "Now rest as I tell you the tale of the crow and the baby chick."
Lady Evelyn flipped the pages on each one of the books, telling the short story of how the baby chick kept clinging onto the crow until it fell on its claws.
A crow that flies above the sky, flapped its wings everywhere it went. How lonely it was to travel alone perhaps it was a good time to stop somewhere to rest- but how can it be, the place the crow sought to rest was occupied by a small little chick that pecked all the seeds in the ground.
The chick who was all alone saw the crow and immediately wanted to befriend the prideful bird.
It walked on its tiny little feet and approached the crow, "Would you like to be my friend?" the little chick asked. The crow laughed looking down on the small thing who doesn't even have the wings to fly and accompany it to the sky.
"You cannot be my friend, you don't have wings and I- am someone who's higher than you." The crow replied, truly he longed for company but not the company of those who the crow thinks is weak.
The chick didn't understand what the crow meant but if it is what the crow wanted then who was the chick to judge, "If you ever need a bird to talk to. I'm always here by the pond. Have a nice day, crow."
The crow didn't think much of it, but slowly as it flapped its wings from north to the south traveling to find a companion there was no one. The bird found its way again to the same pond where the chick fulfilled its promise to wait.
"You actually waited." it told the chick who was pecking the seeds out of the ground.
"I don't like to break promises. Someone who breaks promises, is someone weak." the chick replied and invited the crow to sit down at the side and have a friendly talk with one another.
Soon in the end the crow fell in awe with the chick's charming personality and didn't judge the bird for her physical capabilities. Finally the crow found a friend and was not lonely anymore until the painful death of its friend, the chick.
When the story ended Analissa was thinking of the book's plot. "The ending is... dark. Is it really a children's story- cough." she asks, Lady Evelyn was smiling.
"I haven't read these in years. I suppose you're right- this is why you should never underestimate things that were supposedly made for children because they can be quite dark once you look back on it as an adult." (Lady Evelyn) tells the blonde girl who nods in agreement.
The villainess looked at the window and realized it must be getting late. "We should sleep, since you are taking the bed I might have to sleep in my study."
Analissa shakes her head, reaching out to hold the villainess' hands in hers. When she managed to hold it gently her blue eyes sparkled looking at Lady Evelyn who has kept her company all this time.
She didn't want the girl to leave her behind- alone in this room. Analissa pleaded with all her might doing the most convincing puppy look she has made all her life.
"No... I don't want you to leave me, please?"
"..."
.-.-.-.-.
The sunrise of today rose up, the Heroine yawns looking around feeling so skittish on the nice cold breeze of morning.
"Mm... yawn..."
One of her hands covered her mouth as she yawned while the other wiped the morning stars that were in her eye feeling refreshed.
The blonde girl certainly can't remember a thing as she squinted her eyes feeling a bit drowsy but nonetheless was in a better condition than yesterday.
Analissa's hand felt something smooth running along her finger. It traveled along the way to the side of 'her' bed.
It was someone else's hair, it was similar to a string worthy of admiration to play in an instrument and that dark purple color that's just so gorgeous to look at.
Analissa blinked a few more times.
"Eh-? Eh? Eh... Hold on... Oh it's Lady Evelyn."
she double checks to see that it was actually the villainess- with the top of her body laying on 'her' bed! She was breathing so peacefully and looked tired."Oh holy macaroni there's a cutie in my bed and it's Lady Evelyn-" the Heroine covers her mouth feeling like a cough coming out but thankfully it stopped.
The three braincells was having a meeting.
Logical braincell was at a loss trying to think of ways to how they managed to get the villainess into their room. "Perhaps its a misunderstanding! Yes! We had no recollection of what happened yesterday!"
Horny but brave braincell was just simping looking at Lady Evelyn's sleeping face wishing she could take a picture. "Kuhhh! Lady Evelyn's face is just so pretty, hot and gorgeous it should be illegal!"
Meanwhile, the normal braincell was just there being normal, casually picking her nose looking at two of herself and laughing.
"Actually if you look around some more this is not our room. We didn't take the villainess into our room- she's the one who took us into her room." she tells the other two braincell whose mouths formed an 'o'.
"Hold on a moment- why am I in the villainess' dorm room?" (Analissa) tries to recall the last memory she can remember.
However, it was all foggy but still wasn't the last event supposed to be Lord Ein's route? The event being the girls will trap her into the bathroom- Lord Ein who was following her all morning heard of the commotion saved her by going inside the bathroom and breaking her out.
"But the thing is... he's not that much obsessed and crazy about the Heroine wanting to do things to him anymore." she frowns, clearly the game is changing and she's not sure if it is a good change or a bad change.
The thing about otome games, is that there's already a laid out plot of what will happen such as events and who'll be in it.
Our Japanese streamer had all the knowledge she needed. That's why she was confident in finding a way to save the villainess.
"But these changes could be a hindrance to my mission- if I also don't pick a love route... The villainess will either be exiled or executed either way-" (Analissa) wanted to cry on the spot.
This is getting too complicated for her to handle.
All she wanted is to finally see the misunderstood villainess happy, was that too much to ask?
The Heroine looks at the villainess who was resting her face on the light purple colored sheets of her bed.
Analissa bites her lip looking at the loose strand of the other girl's hair. "Cough... I can't believe I'm the one being saved here. I'm supposed to save you, Lady Evelyn." she tells the girl who was still fast asleep.
Professing that she'll be the villainess' savior, it feels the opposite.
The villainess was the one saving the Heroine, this is not turning out like what she intended.
Analissa didn't know that this was the third time the villainess has helped her out.
The first time was from the crown prince's tight hold to her wrist, which ended up leaving a red mark.
The second time, the villainess secretly made her familiar bird deliver her new tailored uniform after hearing a bunch of girls tear her old one up.
Now this is the third time, the Heroine is truly grateful for saving her when she was- well out of it?
"I can't remember much... all I knew I was being carried... fed and I thought I was back in the hospital." she places her chin by her hands in deep thought. "I felt hot, dizzy and I'm suffering from memory loss- achoo!"
She sneezed, feeling that there was something blocking her nose.
"Did I get a cold?" (Analissa) noticed a wet towel by the side of her bed and a water basin not too far away. She holds out her hand to reach her forehead trying to see if she was still hot. "I don't feel hot anymore... cough..."
Has the villainess been taking care of her all this time?
"Ungh... You were quite the handful last night and I see you're still not well but at least now you’re in your right mind."
"?!"
The blonde girl was taken aback with Lady Evelyn's voice- it was deep and very raspy she felt her heart beating faster the moment the girl elegantly fixed herself to sit up straight looking so beautiful in the morning.
Analissa shakes her head trying not to simp early in the morning.
"L-Lady Evelyn- good morning- did I wake you up- cough..." she quickly looks away and covers her mouth with her hands. It would be troublesome if she catches her fever. Her throat felt dry and hoarse, Analissa grimaced, it appears all that talking to herself routine really took a lot out of her.
The villainess sighs leaning over the sickly figure planning to check her temperature.
"Talking to yourself now? Is that a common side effect of having a cold when it comes to you?" she asks Analissa who's face became flushed red being caught in the act of talking to herself.
When Lady Evelyn's hands were about to touch her forehead, bodies coming closer, perhaps the rush of excitement made Analissa's heart thump even louder making her think, could the villainess hear her trembling heart?
The blonde girl moved away putting her hands up front and waving them in a don't come any closer manner. "Ah-! Ah! Lady Evelyn you might catch my cold! Actually what are you doing so near me?! Please move away! I don't know what I'd do if you were to catch it!"
The villainess stops and tilts her head, "You don't have any recollection of last night?"
Analissa's eyes widened for a moment before staring at the villainess like she was an alien. "Last night? No... cough- I don't remember anything other than someone feeding me soup and medicine." she told the villainess honestly and even looked confused.
The three braincells immediately talked with one another and panicked.
"What did we do?!" (Logical braincell) scream placing her hands to her head in a panic.
"Maybe it's nothing! It can't be that bad! Whatever we did!" (Horny braincell) reassured the logical one who was on the verge of crying.
The normal braincell gritted her teeth and held horny braincell's collar, shaking her all over. "You have no right to say that it's nothing! You're the horny braincell surely you did something inappropriate!"
The horny braincell felt dizzy with all the shaking. "S-Stop! Ugh! I didn't do anything! I may be horny but I'm a woman who respects other women!"
The real Analissa was having a mid life crisis while her braincells fought with one another, she lowered her head showing the back of her neck, expression full of guilt. "I- I am so sorry whatever I did to milady- I am willing to make up for it! Anything you would like for me to do it will be done!"
The blonde girl's words made the villainess feel weird when she told her that she'll do anything.
Lady Evelyn wanders off to what happened last night, she can't believe she actually fell asleep and even followed the girl's orders to stay here. "No. It's alright. Since you're still coughing I suggest not going to school today. When you're fully recovered that is when you can come back."
Analissa nods. It's better to not come to the academy if she's sick and the fear of giving anyone else a cold is a good reason to not be stubborn. "Wait, what about the egg?! I forgot the egg in my room-"
"The egg is in my study, everything you will need is all been dealt with except for a notice in your part time job. Write a letter and give it to my maid, Liara. I will have my maids watch over you. Do behave this time, Miss Blanchet."
Author's note: Bad news my phone broke literally an hour ago while writing this chapter. I am afraid this will a toll on our updating schedule but I updated early today because someone donated! Thank you Andres!
Thank you to my patreon!
Platymage
Mis0
Anonymous
Andres Gtz