Clarissa Beheads The Villainess

[8] Rose, Note, Drawing

"They're back!" One of the men from the smithy yells as he rushes into the main hall.

Vixen who was about to head to the smithy comes running outside of the castle, Katherine following. Orias sleeps soundly in his quarters.

"Clarissa!" The man grips onto her shoulders, examining her. She stares at him and Katherine blankly, then to Astaroth who held a cocky smirk on his face. She wondered why.

"There goes the chatty Clarissa."

"What do you mean by that?"

"You talk a lot to me, compared to the others."

She notices his eyes steal a glance at the man still gripping her. "Let us head inside, me and Clarissa had a rough couple days." Astaroth continues knowing the lady wouldn't respond to his statement.

"My bad..." Vixen takes his hands off her. Katherine stood at a distance struggling to formulate words, but manages a greeting.

"W-welcome back you two!"

Neither responded to her, it felt like another jab at her self-esteem.

As they returned inside, Vixen notices Clarissa's new outfit, and the necklace. "You both have a lot of explaining to do, for leaving abruptly. And whatever happened the past days."

"Of course. But there's not much to tell you about because our fine maiden here beheaded the princess again for the second time before she had the chance to open her mouth."

"We should let them rest and clean up first! There's a lot of time to talk about this..."

I agree with Katherine, if it weren't for diving into a river and getting new clothes I would smell putrid by now. Clarissa held back the urge to sniff herself. Still, she and Astaroth ran from the center of the golden kingdom all the way back here under harsh sunlight. She smells far from clean.

Briefly lowering her head at them, she returns to her room. There, a dry rose was left on her bed. A note with a drawing was also present. The lines were shaky, but it appeared to be a shorthair cat with a long, sausage-like body. The note read:

"I heard you lost your cat. Unfortunately I don't know what your cat looked like, but I hope you like this."

Clarissa easily guessed that it was from Vixen. He's the only one who would make these types of things, other than Astaroth who grew more soft towards Katherine in the webnovel.

She almost smiled at the note and drawing, hell, even let a tear slip.

When she lost Peanut, she cried. It was the first and only time she cried for one that lived.

"I should thank him for this later."

Clarissa carefully takes off the necklace Astaroth gifted her and places it by the Note before undressing herself to shower.

Everything else in the room was untouched, the bedside drawer already gathered dust. She placed her blades there, the only thing she didn't abandon as she went to save Astaroth from drowning.

Looking at weapons always made her miss the blades she had in her past life. To that extent, she really couldn't care about losing all the weapons she made in this one because none of them ever felt the same.

She took a cold shower, heating water the way this world does is too much of a hassle for her. But she enjoyed how her skin grew accustomed to the coolness of the droplets.
  
   
    
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     Clarissa managed to take a good nap before being awoken by urgent knocks on the door.

"Sorry to disturb you, Clarissa! Th—Oria... I mean." Katherine stops and takes a deep breath. "The others are waiting at the meeting hall. Orias requests your presence."

She follows her to the meeting room. Vixen, Astaroth, the duke who got his beauty sleep, Peter, and a few other faces were there.

Clarissa takes a seat across Astaroth.

"You're still wearing the necklace."

She nods her head.

"Alright, lets hear what you have to say." Vixen begins.

"We encountered the princess outside the Golden castle's walls as if she expected us. Clarissa beheaded her before she said a word, so we still cannot rule out any possibility of necromancy or some magic being involved. No information was gathered regarding the princess' revival." Astaroth explains.

Vixen looks to Clarissa with disappointment. "I do wish to respect your personal wishes, Clarissa. But if we encounter Freya the third time around refrain from killing her immediately please."

Clarissa is puzzled.

"Is this an order?" She asks and the others are taken aback.

"Order!? What, no! It's... How would I put it. A request from a friend?"

"A request..." The drawing Vixen made for her pops up in her mind. "I accept this request. Next time, I will instead capture the princess for interrogation."

Those words made Astaroth wonder. This individual who claims to be from another world, who was she in this other world?

"I'm not asking you to do anything. Please keep yourself away from harm—"

"I've lived my life facing harm. A pathetic princess is no harm to me at all."

Is she mad? Astaroth looks at Vixen who seems to withdraw from the conversation and doesn't respond.

"I see. Did anything else notable happen while you two were away?" Orias asks the next question.

"We visited Clarissa's home. And burned it down. That is all."

"Burned it down? Was that your stupid idea Astaroth!? I did not instruct you to be burning down any houses! We aren't erasing any trace of Clarissa's existence, you don't have to go that far!" He slams the table.

"It was her idea."

Clarissa nods her head.

"Oh..."

The meeting was filled with an awkward silence, quiet murmurs from others that were there just to listen in on the situation. It was agonizing, enough so Astaroth had to conclude this meeting himself.

"And that ends this discussion." He gets up and leaves, followed by Clarissa and then the rest.