Reincarnated As The Villainess's Best Friend

"There's no point. They can't hear us."

Unlike the rest of the buildings in Greenhold, the prison was made entirely of stone. The cell we were locked in was one of many, lined across a narrow hallway. It was spacious, roughly the size of an inn room.

On one side of the cell, a large gate was fixed, made of wide bars that ran crisscross over each other, with a door fixed in the middle. The other three sides of the cell were made entirely of stone, with no openings whatsoever, leaving the entire room in a state of near-darkness.

It would have been dark, save for a dim orange torch fixed in the hallway, which barely lit the cells.

The entire floor was loosely covered with hay, the smell of which filled the air, along with the old familiar musty stench. If I had to guess, I'd say we were in the basement of a large castle.

I sat on a small bed, placed near the wall on the opposite end of the gate. Lucy on the other hand, paced near the bars. Before that, she had been banging on them for the past seven minutes.

At the rate she was going, she was sure to tire out pretty soon.

"It's no use," I said.

However, Lucy persisted with her motion, though her movements slowed down a bit after every minute.

After the Queen's knights detained us, they confiscated the items we had on us, including the permission slips and Lucy's wand.

And all the gold I had on me.

It would have been easy to defeat the knights and escape, but that would be a violation of the Tesseract Treaty. This was Viridale, and so long as we were in it, we had to respect the laws of the Queen.

Then again, I thought about breaking out of the cell, but there was just one tiny problem.

The entire cell had been enchanted with a mana-draining spell.

In other words, casting even the tiniest spell would drain large amounts of mana from the wielder. Rendering them unconscious.

It was slight and subtle, and barely detectable. But I sensed it the moment we were dragged in here.

To be honest, I could still break us out, despite the huge mana I'd have to spend. But I was rather curious to know what fate awaited us, so I decided to save my mana for then.

A few minutes later, Lucy ceased her pacing. Visibly spent, she returned to the bed and sat down beside me.

I took a deep breath. The air down here was getting colder by the minute, and Lucy's thin skirt wasn't going to do much to protect her legs. I took off my blazer and placed it over her thighs.

"Thank you."

"No worries."

The sound of a creaking metal broke through the silence, but then again, it ceased, now replaced by a dripping sound coming from somewhere in the prison hall.

"We shouldn't be here," Lucy said.

"No, we shouldn't..."

"It's all my fault."

"No, it's not..."

"I shouldn't have touched that wand."

"You couldn't have predicted how the old man would react."

"I should've. It's how everyone reacts when they learn who I am."

"So you do what you've always done. You ignore them."

"You're right. I don't know why I attacked him."

I suspected the wand had something to do with it, but it was too early to draw a conclusion.

Lucy fell silent, her eyes staring blankly into space. I imagined she'd stay silent the whole time. But then, without looking at me, she spoke.

"You know, for a very long time, I didn't even know what the word meant."

"What word?"

"Darkblood."

Her voice had grown soft, but not in the way she usually spoke. It was a somber tone, like she was afraid of saying her thoughts out loud. Eventually, she conquered her fear.

"The elves who raised me," she began, "always referred to me as the darkblood child, though not in a hostile way. I actually grew up thinking it was their... pet name for me. I heard it so often, that I smiled whenever someone from Erentha said it to me."

Her voice grew heavier the more she spoke, like she was trying to keep it from breaking.

"When I was nine, my adopted parents took me to Pentra. They wanted to find a mage to teach me fire manipulation spells. At some point, they left me to play with other kids, while they went to visit someone... I don't really remember who it was.

"While I was with the kids, we started playing with magic. I wanted to impress them, so I summoned... a hellspore."

She paused, taking in a slow breath.

"As soon as they saw it, they began to scream. They all ran away, terrified. Within minutes, I was surrounded by people, armed with swords and spears. I still remember the terror in their eyes when they looked at me, and all of them kept repeating the same name..."

"Darkblood," I muttered.

Her fingers curled into her sleeves. As she went on, her voice reduced to a whimper.

"I was only nine. I didn't know how to read properly. I couldn't even brush my hair on my own. Yet, everyone looked at me like I was some kind of evil waiting to be unleashed on them. Even my parents... They all look at me the same way, like I'm a curse. Just because I'm a Daevalia."

She paused again, then let out a sad sigh. "I never should have been born."

"That's not true," I replied. "Your existence is not a mistake."

Lucy shook her head, like she didn't believe me. "You wouldn't understand. You don't know what it's like to be hated by everyone your entire life."

If only she knew...

"Maybe not," I replied, "But I know what it's like to be told you're nothing. And I know what it's like to prove them wrong. So that's what you're going to do."

Her gaze softened a little.

I leaned forward, palms resting on my knees.

"You're not just a Daevalia, Lucy. You're a beautiful, smart, kind-hearted young girl who cares about people. You've lived among people who hated you, yet you turned out better than half the noble brats I've met.

"The people who hate you, don't know anything about you. All they see is the past, a past you had no part in. But I know you're a good person, and once they get to see you the way I do... once they try to understand you, they'll definitely grow to like you."

"What if they don't?" she asked.

"I know they will."

Lucy's lips twitched, and she looked away. I shifted closer to her... close enough to see her fingers trembling faintly. Without thinking, I reached out and rested my hand over hers.

I expected her to pull it away, but to my surprise, she didn't pull away.

The torch in the hall flickered, casting long shadows on the wall and rendering the whole cell dark for a second.

"Do you really think... I'm beautiful?" she asked, almost inaudibly.

I didn't hesitate to reply. The answer was pretty obvious.

"Yes, I do."

In the quiet, with the cold pressing in, her fingers slowly curled around mine. Slowly, she turned back to me.

"You're the only one who's always been nice to me," she said, her eyes twinkling.

Without realising it, our bodies had moved closer to each other, until our faces were almost touching. I could hear her breathing – short and quick, like she was anticipating something. She closed her eyes and leaned in closer until her perfumed scent wafted into my nose.

For a moment, I hesitated, wondering if it was right to fulfill her wish. But saying no to her now would only ruin the bonds I had repaired with her.

Lucy squeezed my hand again, soft but firm. I made up my mind.

I was going to give her her first kiss.

Suddenly, the footsteps of a guard cut through the quiet prison. It grew louder, but just as it came, it faded away.

Lucy jolted out of her trance, retreating back. Her fingers remained interlocked with mine.

Another time...

Silence ensued once again, only interrupted at intervals by the dripping in the corner.

"So... you wanted to impress nine-year-olds, and you summoned a baby Hellspire?" I asked jokingly.

"I didn't know it'd scare them," she said. "Just wanted to show off my magic."

"You showed it off alright. You're lucky it didn't bite them."

"No, it won't. Hellspores don't have teeth or claws."

"They do bite."

"No, they don't."

We both laughed, glad to shake off the tension from earlier.

I scanned the cell, wondering when the next guard would appear. It felt like we'd been locked in here for days.

"How long have we been in here?" I asked

"An hour."

I turned to Lucy, eyes widening.

"What?" she replied. "I've been counting."

A loud banging noise echoed through the hallway. Three guards, all armed with spears, marched into the prison hall, their iron boots clanging on the hard floor. They stopped in front of our cell and pointed a torch within.

"The Queen requires your presence. Now."