The Obsessive Villainess Vol. 1 ✔

11. Two selfish fools

Chapter 11:  We are perfect, aren't we, my dear? Two selfish people.

"...Hi." I breathed out.

He removed the familiar small notebook and pen from his pocket and my eyes widened. I had dropped them when he'd shook me off... he must have gone back that time to pick them up.

My eyes glanced over the words written on the page he'd opened, and my mouth slightly fell open before I gave him a huge smile.

"I'm sorry."

I wrung my hands and looked down, suddenly feeling shy and not knowing what to say. I'd been waiting for today for how long now...

He cleared his throat and I looked up to see more words on the page.

"I will help you, but I have a question."

He asked me why I was going to die. Thankfully, I expected this so I had prepared an answer long ago.

"I received an anonymous letter prophesizing it. I didn't believe it at first but then other things started coming true and now I'm scared for my life." I couldn't afford him suspecting a thing so I made sure my expressions and shaky voice matched what I said.

I looked at him with fearful and sad eyes. "You know how everyone is with me, right? I have no one... no one at all to rely on."

His so far expressionless face began to show a tint of pity. I bit my cheek to hold back the relieved grin that was bursting through.

You see, both of us had one thing in common:

We both were abandoned like stray dogs to this mansion. Nora wasn't blameless but neither was she guilty enough to warrant this; Risor on the other hand was completely innocent. He had his tongue cut out and his nobility snatched through no fault of his own.

From the moment I had heard about his tragic tale from the plants, I knew I had to use it to my advantage. Pity or comradery or whatever; this could surely help bring us together. Of course I felt like a bitch to see it as a good thing but I had to take a chance when I saw one. I couldn't change what had already happened anyway. Besides, I was planning on paying him back for his help.

And I picked my flower well.

The next few days, Risor and I spent around an hour together each day. He told me that to be able to grow a plant with our flowers, we need to have first touched it and absorbed its unique energy; our bodies would naturally remember that print and be able to grow it when we wish.

This meant flowers like Phrixios couldn't be grown by us, because after all just a touch of that is enough to kill; whoever manages to absorb its energy wouldn't be able to live to use it anyway.

Since I hadn't awakened to that strand of my power yet, Risor just taught me the basics of gardening and grew medicinal plants and taught me their names and uses.

Sometimes, I'd bring some of the cookies I'd been saving from my teatimes to share with Risor. He never accepted them at first, but I was nothing if not persistent! It was a lesson I've been taught since forever in my past life: the way to a person's heart is through their stomach. Bribery is key!

So, although painful for me to share my precious cookies, eat them! Eat them and favour me! I sniffled, hiding my pained heart as we sat across each other by the tea table placed in the garden.

He picked a butter cookie, bit into it and used his finger to position it under his teeth so that he could chew.

The fact that he'd decided to finally accept them was taken as a win for me and I smiled at him. He awkwardly scratched his cheek and averted his eyes, after wiping his fingers on a napkin. As a former noble, his manners were impeccable, right down to the way he held and sipped from his cup.