Clarissa Beheads The Villainess

[5] Headless Princess

   

!! TW FOR GORE AND DARK THEMES !!!
 
  

Midday had Clarissa waking up with a blanket of sweat, exaggerated. It was uncomfortably warm and Astaroth's head was rested on her shoulder, he still slept soundly.

Admittedly she didn't mind the situation, he was her favorite character in the webnovel after all. Perhaps if the webnovel wasn't so stupid she'd consider him a fictional crush. Not entirely fictional now.

There was no sense of urgency piling up for her to hurry to the King's castle, she just reminisced the times. Reality is so far away from her now, she's already lived this life nearly longer than what was real. The senselessness of it all kept her cynical, and sometimes she felt stuck between both worlds.

Living in one as if it's fake, will she ever accept what's true to her now?

"Oh ew, you've been getting saliva on me." Astaroth gets shoved off her promptly upon the realization that her shoulder isn't getting soaked in just sweat but other body fluids. "Gross."

"My bad. Shall I offer you some of my rations?" He pulls some out of his bag and she takes them without saying anything. "Did you even bring any yourself?"

"Sandwiches from Peter."

"So you force special treatment out of him." He sighs.

They continued their journey to the castle together after the short rest. It was no longer a competition and they were moving at the same pace. Once they get to the edge of the forest that hugs the king's castle, no guards were present by the back entrance often used to bring prisoners in. It was the negligent Princess napping where a guard would usually stand.

And her negligence had her headless for the second time in a fleeting moment. Clarissa sprung forward with her blades, sparing no second upon seeing the princess, she took her life again. The head just rolled to the ground, bleeding out. The body fell forward limp like a doll.

"Are you crazy! I was supposed to question her! You didn't even give me a second to check the marks around her neck and now she's a lifeless rag again." Astaroth scowled at his comrade and the bloody mess she's made.

Clarissa swiped her blades to the side to get some of the blood off and put them back into the sheaths and turned to leave.

"Now where are you going?"

She was already walking off in silence. Astaroth glanced at the head and body then back at Clarissa, wondering if he'd put the body in a sack and return to Orias' castle or follow her.

"Nah I'm not going to carry a rotting body with me all the way back. I'll see you again if you come back to life, Freya." He grimaced at her corpse and followed his comrade.

He was led to the town where Clarissa grew up in, carefully running through the area until she stops at a house on the outskirts. A small welcoming home with a smithy, and a riverbank.

Not so welcoming when she had to kick the door open and bats flew outside, spiders crawled back into hiding, and it was so dusty both had small sneezing fits and itchy noses.

She went to her room to get the rest of her belongings, stuffing them into her bag and getting another one for more things. Right after, she goes out to their smithy and takes a bunch of her old crafted weapons and tools, stuffing them into a third bag.

"You're going to have a hard time travelling with all that."

Clarissa continues to disregard Astaroth, taking the third bag and throwing it into the riverbank.

His face is filled with despair, watching so many good weapons get thrown into such a place to be lost for who knows how long, maybe eternity. "I could've helped you bring those to the castle!"

She heads back into her house and takes out a dusty box of matchsticks and goes back out, lighting one stick and throwing it at the house. Another to throw at the smithy. Her actions with absolutely no context was driving her comrade insane. Context might not even justify.

He didn't even want to bother stopping her, he just felt that he didn't have that power when she's around.

"She's... Crazy." He mumbled.

The two stood there for hours, watching the house burn down, the fire spreading to the forest. The light reminded her of city lights and forest fires that don't exist here. Because no one was unhinged enough to start a fire in this story.

Clarissa couldn't tell if the author of the web novel was out of touch or an idealist.

"I come to your home, and still find out nothing about you. Who are you Clarissa Wains?"

"A girl from another world." She turns to look at him, a petrifying smile adorning her face. An expression that was supposed to represent joy sent Astaroth through another planet of fear. Her figure and smile before the biggest fire he's ever seen will haunt his life and dreams.

"Do you believe me?"

He steps back as a foot steps forward, hot hands holding onto his wrists. "I know you Astaroth. You have a tiny crush on Katherine and you're jealous of Orias. That's why you go all this way to discard the princess. You're so mean to everyone because you want to keep everyone away, but you just want someone to love you. I know you were abandoned by your parents, that you tried to become one of the king's guards, do you want me to go on?"

Astaroth kept taking steps back until he fell into the river, unable to comprehend anything Clarissa was saying.

Water filled his lungs, and he quickly lost consciousness.