Villain's POV: The Heroines Want Me!

Chapter 71: Chapter 71- Knowing Your Enemy

Chapter 71- Knowing Your Enemy

’I’m so screwed. Why did I even try to sneak behind The Royal Phantom of all people? I’m so stupid!!’ He screamed in his head as he cleared his throat. "Well, if you will excuse me, ma’am."

He then tried to move past her and end the conversation quickly. He didn’t feel comfortable enough to talk to Yelena at that point or any point, really. She was a woman he would rather stay as far away from as possible.

However, before he could even take a step, Yelena put her hand forward, blocking his path casually. He looked up with a rather difficult expression. "So, um... Can I pass?"

Yelena looked at him coldly. They were both of the same height, and yet Rize felt like he was being looked down upon by a divine being. Rize didn’t notice that he gulped a mouthful of saliva quietly.

"So, why were you staring at me?" She asked calmly.

"Haha, was I? I didn’t notice, Hahaha..."

"..."

"Haha..."

"..."

The silence was killing Rize as he tried to find a way out of this sticky situation while Yelena simply watched his behavior. Each passing second of silence felt like added weight on his shoulders as he tried to remain calm before Yelena.

Eventually, she broke the silence.

"You’re Rize, aren’t you?"

"Yeah..."

"Mm, Her Highness told me a lot about you," Yelena said calmly. "She views you very highly."

’Venera? She talked to her about me? Why would she even do that?!’

"After what happened in the recent attacks and what you did, I can see why. You saved many lives, kid." Yelena said calmly. "Not many have the guts to pull off what you did."

"Haha, it’s not that big of a deal. I just went with my instincts."

"Hm, we do lack that quite a bit in our ranks. People who are ready to go out of the ordinary and try things that others wouldn’t try. I commend your efforts." She said.

Rize blinked slowly, taken aback by her surprisingly nice words. He never expected the Royal Phantom to give him his flowers in such a manner, and he would be lying if he said that wasn’t a huge ego boost.

After all, getting praised by such an esteemed Awakened was simply not something many could ever experience.

"Thank... you?"

"Mhm. I’m Yelena, by the way." She said.

"Miss Yelena."

"Just Yelena." She replied with a bored tone. "Hearing people call you Miss and Admiral the entire day kind of makes you forget your name. I don’t like that."

"I see... Well, nice to meet you... Yelena."

’Saying her name like this is so weird!’ He thought to himself.

"Likewise." She said as she looked over her shoulder. Some gardeners were staring at them, but nobody dared to approach them. "It seems we are gathering unwanted eyes here. Follow me, there is something I need to tell you."

"... Eh..."

"Move." She repeated coldly, making the boy nod and follow her. The two cut through the garden as they headed to the western side of the palace’s outer areas. Eventually, they reached one of the patios of the palace where they sat at a table that had a nice view of the garden and the city beyond.

"Sit down," Yelena said to the boy, to which he obliged. "Do you want something to drink? Maybe tea or coffee?"

"No, thank you."

"Suit yourself." Yelena then called for one of the maids. "Coffee, 6 cubes of sugar and a piece of chocolate cake."

’Right... I forgot that she had an insane sweet tooth. One of the many details I always deemed useless about characters, but damn does it feel completely different seeing it in person.’

Yelena then turned to Rize and looked at him for a second, her eyes so mysterious that even he couldn’t read them. Then, she sighed and tapped her hand against the table.

"You honestly joined us at a very rough time, Rize."

"Hm?" Rize frowned.

"The attacks that transpired lately were... A big problem, to say the least."

"Yeah, I don’t think I’ve heard of something like this happening before."

"It never did. It was a complete breach of our national security." Yelena said. "The damage done won’t be easily fixable even with all the efforts put into it. The people are rightfully angry, and they ask for a proper answer from His Majesty."

"Did the king- His Majesty not come out with a response?" Rize asked.

"Not yet. He is still weighing his options, which are, in hindsight, not many. We either retaliate or we don’t." Yelena said calmly. "Both options are pretty tricky."

"Why is that?"

"It’s very simple." Yelena sighed as she looked at the maid while she put the coffee and the cake before her. "If we choose to retaliate and attack the Zatharis with even more strength, our enemies will use that to tarnish our reputation. This entire time, the operations we conduct in those mountains were kept under a veil so nobody would care."

’She has a point. Now that people want an answer, lying even further would risk making things worse. The King needs to reveal the truth to the people and let them decide.’ Rize squinted his eyes.

"But if we don’t retaliate, that will present us as people who would get disrespected and attacked and wouldn’t respond to those threats. That can’t happen."

"The strongest empire can’t show weakness, you mean?"

"Exactly. Whatever His Majesty decides to do, it won’t be easy, and its ramifications will be immense." Yelena said as she sipped her coffee after pouring all the sugar into it.

"I see..." Rize fell into deep thought for a moment. ’This major change in the story won’t pass easily. Whatever decision the King makes, it will create huge ripples in the Plotline. The Empire has suffered a major hit early on!’

But something didn’t make sense to Rize.

"Umm, Yelena?"

"Yes."

"Why are you telling me all this? Isn’t this secret information?" He asked after much contemplation. The fact that Yelena had just met him and she was already telling him important details about the political state of the empire was odd.

"For two reasons," Yelena said calmly. "The first one is that you’re now the official Escort of Her Highness Venera, so you must be aware of the threat looming over her. We can’t afford to have her under attack potentially, like what happened in the amusement park."

Rize looked away for a second. Even if nobody expected that situation, Rize still could be considered to have failed at his very first test in protecting Venera. He simply can’t hide from that fact just because he pulled off a heroic move.

"I see... What’s the second reason then?"

"Hm." Yelena looked at him before she took a bite of her cake. "I can tell you have a decent head between your shoulders. Be ready for the future, boy. Who knows what kind of mess is awaiting us."

Rize nodded faintly. "I will try my best to protect Her Highness from anything that could-"

"Try your best?" Yelena stopped sipping as she looked at him. "You seem to be getting something wrong, Rize. There is no ’trying your best’. You either do it perfectly or you’re out. You only get one shot at this job. The moment you screw up, nobody will back you up."

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