Yandere Villainess Will Die!

Crickle Crackle.

The fire hissed softly as Leonidas poked it with Blush’s edge, orange light reflecting off its shiny surface. He couldn’t poke too hard, though, mostly because he was in enormous pain, as if he had drunk poison, which again, he had.

But also because just on the other side, sat Willow, roasting a bird on a stick, rotating it slowly. Leonidas had grown a relatively large flower over their head, the size of a tree.

Its crimson petals fell downwards, creating a natural wall of crystalline ruby. Willow had modified his contract, making the petals soft and droopy, instead of the hard rock they were before. Solid from the outside, velvety from the inside, they made the perfect doors.

He had bandaged his clothes from the very same material that made their doors. Willow had fashioned his flowers into tough cloth, yet miraculously, it was soft and flexible at the same time. Like rose petals that could hold a bull.

The poison had long left his body, but the damage had already been done. His insides were a mess, burned to a crisp. Thankfully, he had avoided fatal damage thanks to Willow’s intervention, but his shoulder had been done for good.

He wouldn’t be able to use it at full strength for over a month.

Have I ever had a day this bad?

Probably not. 𝘧𝓇ℯ𝑒𝓌𝑒𝑏𝓃𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘭.𝒸ℴ𝓂

Leonidas sighed and focused his attention back on Willow. She sat straight, attention focused solely on the process of cooking.

I need to ask her too.

Shaking his head, he walked over to her. Without asking for permission, Leonidas grabbed one of the sticks from her hand and sat on his rock again.

Without hesitation, he bit into it, then immediately made a sour face.

"This tastes worse than shit. And mind you, I’ve eaten shit before."

Willow still stared at the fire, but replied to him evenly.

"Of course it does, it was poisoned flesh an hour ago. Now it’s just burnt flesh. "

Leonidas clicked his tongue and went back to eating. It was hard and chewy, bitter juices spreading in his mouth with every bite. If he hadn’t eaten for over a day and a half, he would have spat the disgusting bird out.

Unfortunately, finding a good meal out in the middle of the Realm of Madness was a hard endeavor.

If only I had the ability to grow seasoning. A little salt would do wonders.

He knew salt didn’t grow on trees, but in matters related to the Labyrinth, logic rarely mattered. A few minutes later, all that remained in his hand was a stick, wet with meat juices.

He threw the branch away and looked at Willow, who was still eating, not even halfway done.

"Now then, do you mind explaining whatever the hell you did to save my life. Is controlling poison and fire your mark? Which god gave it to you? What’s it called, and more importantly, can you teach it to me?"

She paused mid-bite, food hovering around her lips, frozen in place. Her eyes stayed on the piece of meat for a long moment before she stared back at Leonidas.

"I already told you I had a fruitful encounter in my first trial. But..."

"Yes? But what?" Leonidas’s voice was strangely eager, maybe because of curiosity, or maybe as a way of getting his mind off the horrific pain ravaging his body.

"Let me first tell you about my awakening trial. If you had any brains, you must have noticed that I’m not seventeen. If you have congratulations, I am actually near my 19th birthday. It might happen in a few months now."

Almost 19...no wonder she’s so much better than me. But that must mean...

A look of pity took upon Leonidas’s face, one that he didn’t even try to hide.

"Yo-you...how long have you been in the Labyrinth..."

Did she actually...

Unfortunately, her next words confirmed his thoughts.

"Almost two years. I haven’t seen proper sunlight for almost two years. It is almost pitiful how badly I miss mundane things. But that isn’t important. And stop looking at me like I’m a kicked puppy, it’s pissing me off."

The shift in tone was almost refreshing, from somber to annoyed in a matter of seconds. He raised his hands in surrender, though the pity never left his eyes. In a way, it was his revenge.

She had looked at him in the same way when he had taken his shirt off, and now it was his turn. The great tree of fate never failed to surprise him.

"Around a year and a half ago, I entered the Labyrinth with a group of ten others. I had just had a minor disagreement with my parents the day before. In my hastiness, I had forgotten a simple fact...the Labyrinth was cruel."

Her gaze turned distant, as if remembering the horrors she had endured with each word she spoke, reminiscing about the past.

"As you can see, they are all dead, and only I’m alive. As for what happened inside that nightmare, I would rather not say. Just know that halfway in, I met Contract—the God of Contracts, family, betrayal, sacrifice, and finality."

Willow smiled at Leonidas’s reaction, the smile she gave him most often, a mocking one. He immediately closed his mouth on that, but the damage was done.

"Stop gawking like an idiot at everything I say. You’ve already seen a god in your vision, not that I know which one. Anyway, we had met on the first floor of heaven and formed quite a bond."

So she got her Mark from Contract? But the first floor of heaven, huh? Lucky woman...but I guess not, especially considering she spent nearly two years there.

There were a total of seven floors to heaven, home of the gods. While the 27 creators spent most of their time with humans, down in the surface world, their actual home was in the sky, high above their creations, always watching.

The higher the layer, the less frequently the god visited mortals. Contract lived on the lowest layer, meaning that he spent most of his time on the surface.

Now that I think about it...didn’t Peace also live on the 1st floor?

Before Leonidas could sink deeper into his thoughts, Willow’s voice broke him out.

"How sad that I had to kill him."

What...?