The Villain's Apocalypse-Chapter 45: Meeting

Chapter 45: Meeting

He had some experience with drawing so, he sketched a few creatures on the paper–creatures he had seen or experienced firsthand during his travels. After finishing with the papers, he took out some artifacts that he had taken from Uravis’ Grave and started wrapping them with those papers.

Finally, he added a red ribbon on top, giving it the finishing touch.

"Perfect." With a satisfied smile, he stored the gifts away, feeling excited about Amelia’s reaction to these gifts.

"Brother, what are those?" she asked, blinking her eyes innocently towards him.

"Go ahead and open them."

She nodded after hearing his words and gently lifted one of the boxes among countless others.

"Waa–! This is so cool–!" her eyes were sparkling with curiosity and excitement as she gazed at the drawings that were sketched on the wrapping papers. The drawings were cute and comical, utterly different from their original inspirations. Cassian didn’t like the idea of simply replicating the creature’s appearance as some of them were simply too ugly or disgusting. So, he opted for a more creative approach and decided to draw cute versions of those creatures.

"The gift is inside, my lady." He chuckled at her antics, finding them quite cute.

"Bu-But I loved the drawings."

"You can take that too. The entire thing is yours."

"Yay–! Thank you, brother–!" A cheerful smile spread across her face as she delicately opened the box, trying her best not to tear apart the wrapping paper.

The box was slowly unboxed, revealing what was hidden inside.

"What’s this?" she tilted her head with a curious look.

It was a small hairpin with beautiful butterfly-shaped carvings etched on it.

"It’s a protection charm," Armes answered, gazing at it curiously. He felt the runes etched on the hairpin to be quite ancient and peculiar, different from the current runes.

"Where did you get that?" He turned to Cassian with a questioning look all over his face.

"It’s a long story, Uncle. I will tell you tomorrow, for now, I just need some rest and relaxment."

His voice was quite weary and tired, similar was his body language. Armes immediately nodded his head and led him toward his room with Amelia following closely behind them.

"Amy, I will rest for a while, till then, try unboxing those boxes, alright?"

"Mmm..." she replied absentmindedly, her eyes completely focusing on the boxes littered around the floor.

Cassian shook his head with a defeated look and exchanged glances with Armes.

They talked for a while and after reaching their destination, Cassian bid him farewell and entered inside, immediately feeling the fatigue and tiredness creeping down his body.

With a plop, he fell on his massive bed and lost himself in the dreamland, too tired to even change his clothes.

—

Knock knock

"Your Highness, the food is ready."

"I will be there in a minute." He replied, taking his sweet time to freshen up and get dressed. Although he had maids to help him with this stuff, it felt quite weird and uncomfortable, to let others touch his body.

"Thank you for your offer but I would like to do things myself." Feeling embarrassed, he declined the maid’s help and did everything by himself.

"I should meet up with Father today." He pondered, recalling all the preparations that needed to be done before the Academy truly began. "They should be hosting an Entrance test currently." He thought, finding the entire Academy ordeal quite amusing.

The Academy was an independent institution with its own way of operation and management. Although proclaimed as a righteous organization, it still valued its connections and support from royals and nobles. So, they provide direct admission to wealthy and influential individuals while for the commoners, they conduct a separate test, to filter out the best from the rest.

"Well, being a prince has its benefits too." Chuckling to himself, he exited the room and made his way to the hallway, where breakfast was being served.

Amelia was already there, fiddling with her food while Father was not present today.

"His Majesty will arrive late." Armes responded, noticing Cassian’s gaze at the empty seat.

"Uncle Armes, Can you tell him that I want to talk to him about something?"

"Absolutely, your Highness." Armes nodded his head and left the room, leaving the siblings all alone.

"Brother, Tell me stories about your adventures–!" Amelia excitedly sat next to him, her eyes twinkling with anticipation.

Noticing her gaze, Cassian smiled and gently patted her head. "Hmm...Where should I start?"

A harmonious atmosphere spread around the dining room as the siblings chatted with each other. 𝚏𝗿𝗲𝐞𝚠𝕖𝐛𝗻𝗼𝐯𝕖𝚕.𝚌𝗼𝗺

"Umm...I miss mother." Amelia suddenly remarked, her head dropping down with a sad and longing look.

’Don’t worry, you will be able to see her soon." He muttered, a knowing smile stretching across his face.

"Really?!" Amelia’s face instantly brightened up, upon hearing his response.

"Yes." He replied, and he truly meant those words. He had already obtained the temporary cure for her curse from the dungeon and although it wouldn’t fully heal her, the cure would certainly diminish the curse’s effect by a lot.

’I hope she awakens successfully before my departure.’

He doesn’t want to leave Amelia alone in this entire castle all by herself. A child like her needs proper support from her parents both mentally and emotionally. Since The Emperor was always busy dealing with the empire’s affairs, she really needed someone to express her thoughts and desires with and who best knew her, other than her mother.

"Brother, did you draw those things yourself?" Amelia’s sweet voice brought him back to the present. He cleared those negative thoughts away and nodded his head, "Yes, Why? Did you like it?"

"I love it–! I want to see more of those drawings–!"

"Hmmm...Do you wanna see a drawing of yourself?"

"Yes!!"

"Alright, I will create a special one for you."

"Promise?"

"Promise." He lightly flickered her nose as she giggled happily after getting a promise from him.