I'm in Love with the Villainess!

Chapter 265: Lust In Dangerous Situations

We reached the wooden door, and I paused with my hand on the iron handle. Behind us, the massive doors we’d entered through had already swung shut, blending into the wall like they had never existed. No handle on this side either.

"Sense anything?" Evelina asked.

I closed my eyes and reached out with [Dark Manipulation], sending thin tendrils of shadow through the cracks around the doorframe. The magic slipped through easily enough, but what it found on the other side made me frown.

"Nothing."

"Nothing as in safe, or nothing as in—"

"Nothing, as in I can’t feel anything dangerous."

Evelina’s hand found my shoulder. "Hopefully you’re correct, a break sounds nice right about now."

I snorted, turned the handle, and pushed.

The door swung open onto a garden.

Not the hostile forest from before. Not the artificial banquet hall. A real garden, or as close to one as magic could create. Grass that swayed in a warm breeze. Flowers that actually smelled like flowers. A stone path that wound between flowering bushes toward a small pavilion at the center.

And above us, a real sky.

Blue and filled with clouds. With a sun that felt warm on my face and cast real shadows.

"This doesn’t look like a trial," Evelina said softly.

"No," I agreed. "It’s a break."

"A break?"

"The place isn’t all death and danger. Even the mad archmage who built this place still needed a place to hang out while compiling knowledge in his library."

I stepped onto the grass and immediately felt the tension in my shoulders start to ease. The forest’s hostility, the constant alertness, the strain of keeping my magic ready, it all began to fade, replaced by something that felt almost like peace.

The novel wasn’t wrong; this place definitely did feel like heaven.

Evelina walked past me, her bare feet—when had she taken off her boots?—sinking into the grass. She spun in a slow circle, taking in the flowers, the pavilion, the small pond at the edge of the garden where fish the color of sunset drifted through clear water.

"This is... nice," she admitted.

"High praise coming from you."

"After where we’ve been? Makes sense that my standard for comfort became lower."

I followed her toward the pavilion, my own boots feeling heavy and wrong on the soft grass. I stopped at the edge, bent down, and unlaced them. The moment my bare feet touched the grass, I understood why she’d taken hers off.

It was warm and unnaturally soft.

And even better, it was alive.

I half expected to step on synthetic grass, but I didn’t expect actual vegetation.

"This place is healing us," I said.

Evelina looked back at me, one eyebrow raised.

"I have eyes, Cael. I can feel it all fading. This garden’s actually pretty neat, think we found a new date spot other than the Emperor’s Tomb."

"I like the idea."

"You like all my ideas."

We reached the pavilion at the same time. Inside, two chairs faced each other across a small table, and on that table sat a teapot, two cups, and a plate of small cakes that looked freshly baked.

I sat down. Evelina sat across from me.

Neither of us touched the tea or the cakes.

Despite the garden’s obvious restorative properties, neither of us trusted anything that appeared this perfectly.

The novel didn’t really describe Julius touching the food either, so it’s better if we just leave them alone, even if they were somehow real. I’d rather not risk both our lives.

"So," Evelina said, leaning back in her chair and crossing her legs, "while we’re resting, you can explain exactly what you’re expecting from this training."

"The trials will make us stronger. Each one we complete unlocks something. Knowledge, artifacts, enhancements. By the time we finish, we should be able to stand against the church’s best, or anyone really."

"And Kevin and Vivianne?"

"I’m sure they got themselves into trouble right about now."

"You sound like a father."

"Want me to be one?"

"Maybe after I inherit my father’s title or take the throne. Like I said, life is far too vast for children right now."

"Disappointing." I chuckled.

"You’re the last person I expected to want children, Cael." She smirked.

She uncrossed her legs and stretched, her arms reaching toward the painted sky above the pavilion. The movement pulled her ruined shirt taut across her chest, and I watched, openly now, as the fabric strained against curves I’d memorized long ago but never tired of seeing.

Evelina caught me looking.

Her lips curved, slow and knowing.

"See something you like?"

"Always."

"Always," she repeated, rolling the word around like she was tasting it. "That’s sweet. But also..." She uncrossed her legs fully, letting them fall open just slightly, just enough that the hem of her skirt—what was left of it after the forest’s abuse—rode up her thighs.

"You could do more than look."

The healing warmth of the garden suddenly felt less like restoration and more like hunger.

I leaned forward, resting my elbows on the table between us. "We’re in the middle of a trial."

"We’re in the middle of a break."

"The others could show up any minute."

"The others are probably fighting for their lives right now. And neither of them has any idea where we are." She tilted her head, white hair spilling over one bare shoulder. "We have time."

I didn’t argue.

I stood, walked around the table, and pulled her up from her chair. She came willingly, her body pressing against mine before I’d even fully straightened, her hands sliding up my chest to curl around the back of my neck.

"Your shirt’s ruined," I murmured against her lips.

"So is yours."

"Fair point."

I kissed her.

Not gently. Not the way I kissed her when we were slow and patient and had all night. This was hungry, desperate, the kind of kiss that came from nearly dying in a forest of hostile trees and then finding yourself alone in a garden that felt like a dream.

Evelina made a sound against my mouth, low and approving, and her fingers tangled in my hair.

The table was still between us—or it had been. She solved that problem by hopping onto it, knocking the teapot and cups aside. They didn’t break. They just... disappeared, fading into nothing before they hit the ground, like the garden knew what we wanted and was making room.

"Convenient," I said.

"Very."

Her legs wrapped around my waist, pulling me hard against her. Even through the layers of our ruined clothes, I could feel the heat of her, the way her body fit against mine like it had been made for it.

"This has become quite a routine..."

"You’re the one who made it a routine." She replied.