The Yellow-Haired Villain in Soaring Phoenix's Novels Also Desires Happiness

Drip. Drip. Drip.

Water droplets fell from somewhere, constantly, noisily, making it hard for anyone to sleep.

In truth, though, there was no need to sleep. In this dim, narrow place, there was nothing to do, and she had long since slept enough every day.

“Damn it... Is this how the Empire treats a ‘distinguished guest’ like me? I am pure royal kin. My father was the current king’s own brother. Although he is already dead, at the very least, I can call all the princes, those future kings, my cousins!”

Sevier tilted her head back, her hollow eyes wide open as she stared blankly at the cold ceiling.

This was a prison cell.

Although it was not the notorious Black Prison, famous for torturing prisoners, it was still one of Belrand’s highest-grade prisons.

Here, both battle aura and magic were sealed. All personal belongings had also been confiscated. Outside the cells, jailers patrolled twenty-four hours a day, and complex alert formations covered the entire prison. It could be called an inescapable net, leaving no possibility of escape.

Sevier had already been here for a full three months. Ever since Milne’s incident, she had been locked up here. Apart from a certain someone coming to visit her once midway through, no one had come to see her again.

No interrogation, no punishment, and no trial. She had simply been locked up here, as if she had been completely forgotten. The only benefit her identity brought her was that her cell was a passable single room.

It had a bed, a washroom, and a toilet.

She did not have to squeeze together with other prisoners, filthy and stinking, on straw crawling with lice and insects.

But no matter what, as someone who had once been a proud child of heaven, being locked inside this tiny cell all this time still made her feel that fate truly did love jokes. At the same time, loneliness and despair continued eroding her.

“I might... be locked up here for the rest of my life.”

Staring at the pitch-black ceiling and thinking about her miserable future, Sevier could not help revealing a bleak, bitter smile.

She did not know the current situation outside. Judging only from the information she had when she was imprisoned, the possibility of regaining her freedom was truly very, very small.

The Empire and the Kingdom should already be at war now. If the Empire won, then she would have absolutely no possibility of getting out, and the Kingdom at that point would basically have no strength left to rescue her.

If the Kingdom won, she might possibly be demanded for release, but the possibility was too small. Because even according to the most optimistic projections, the Kingdom’s victory over the Empire could not possibly reach the point where the Empire completely submitted.

At most, it would force the Empire to cut off some flesh and shed some blood. But that would make her even more dangerous, because when the time came, the Empire’s anger would inevitably be vented on a pitiful creature like her.

The best result would be both sides fighting to a draw, each winning and losing, then compromising with each other in the end and exchanging prisoners.

“Heh. I just hope the Kingdom will still remember this ‘meritorious subject’ of theirs when that time comes.”

Sevier curled the corner of her lips self-mockingly.

She knew her greatest problem was that inside the country, there were far, far too few people willing to save her.

Although her status was not low in name, she had no real position. Her father, the current king’s former younger brother, had died in a certain “accident” before she had even become sensible.

And the reason she had been able to live until now was entirely because her mother had merely been a maid in the prince’s residence. Although she could also be considered the daughter of some fallen noble, she had nothing but an empty noble title and posed no threat.

Later, she gradually rose to fame, and could even travel together with Milne. That was merely because the noble title kept her from suffering too much discrimination, and because she herself had been capable enough.

She understood far too well the nature of that king back home, as well as the whole crowd of nobles under him. To the former, her royal bloodline was something to detest. To the latter... her talent was not even worth mentioning.

A genius, before true authority, was still nothing more than one of the tools that brought profit.

Just like that pitiful cousin of hers, who had been relatively close to her.

Perhaps only in the final moment before death had he finally understood that even he, born with two hearts, had been nothing more than a pitiful chess piece.

“Tell me, can I still get out and see you?”

Thinking of this, Sevier could not help being overwhelmed by sorrow again. All she could do was stroke the doll she held in her arms.

It was a doll stuffed with straw and stitched together from torn cloth.

The doll’s shape was crooked and twisted. One could tell that the person who had made it was extremely unskilled. Only the face, drawn with a few lines, vividly outlined a handsome face.

“Will there still be a day when I can meet you... Muen?”

Her father was dead, and her mother had been properly settled before she left the country. Thus, to Sevier, what she missed most was seeing the person she loved.

That face echoed through her mind. She clearly knew this was a forbidden love that would absolutely have no result, yet she still could not restrain her longing.

There was no helping it. Who told him to be... so handsome?

Now, when she had no hope, that handsome face had almost become her only support.

As for the threats from those women back then...

I’m only thinking about it in my head. There’s nothing you can do to me, right?

“Miss Sevier, it’s time to eat.”

Suddenly, a jailer walked over and opened the cell door. And this time, rarely, he did not call her by her number, but by her name, and even added the respectful “Miss.”

Sevier stood up and looked over in confusion, discovering that the jailer was not one of the people who usually watched her. Judging by his clothing, he looked somewhat like one of this prison’s higher-ups.

“Eat? Isn’t it usually brought directly inside?”

“Today is different.”

The jailer said expressionlessly,

“Today is the last meal you will eat here. It should be a little special.”

“Last meal...”

Sevier’s heart thudded.

Could it be...

“Hurry up.”

The jailer gave Sevier no chance to think further and had already begun urging her.

Sevier could only temporarily suppress that doubt, grab the doll, and follow the jailer out.

The jailer merely glanced at the doll. After deciding there was nothing wrong with it, he moved his gaze away and led Sevier out of the dim detention area to a room emitting warm light.

Sevier looked around. The light overhead was not from candles or kerosene lamps, but expensive magic stones. This meant the room was not ordinary, at least not ordinary for this prison.

There were also no defensive measures around the room. This room seemed to be outside the prison’s alert formations, and through a small window on the door opposite, Sevier saw a corridor.

She recognized that corridor, because when she had been imprisoned here, she had walked through that corridor.

So that was the direction leading out of this prison.

“Sit.”

The jailer in a high-ranking uniform personally pulled out a chair for Sevier, letting her sit before the dining table covered with a silk napkin. To her, who had already been imprisoned for three months, this clean dining table alone was something yesterday’s her would not have dared to hope for.

“When you followed the Kingdom’s envoy delegation to the Empire, the delegation once submitted a diplomatic note regarding the dietary preferences of the delegation members. According to its contents, the food in this meal should all be things you like.”

The jailer pushed over a dining cart and placed one plate after another before her.

When the lids were opened, fragrant aromas rushed out. After staying in a stench-filled prison for so long, every pore on her body seemed to open and breathe hard.

“Fresh-cut Favlan steak, medium-well.”

“Sahado caviar with Troviv venison cake.”

“Homestyle cream stew.”

“Lisf private brew from Saint Blancfazesiya’s southern district.”

“And what you like, two appetizer cherries before the meal.”

Dish after dish from her memories was placed before her. Among them was even the cream stew her mother had been best at making, as well as the private brew she used to secretly drink.

It was not cherry season now, but those two cherries were large and red. At a glance, one could tell they were juicy, sweet, and tart.

For her, who had eaten almost nothing but black bread and soup without even a trace of oil for three months, every single dish aroused an intense desire to wolf it all down.

But looking at all this, Sevier did not feel much joy.

On the contrary, the greater the attraction these unreasonable delicacies held for her, the stronger another emotion became in her heart.

It was fear.

Fear from the depths of her heart.

Because while seeing these delicacies that could make tears gather at the corners of one’s eyes, she also realized the purpose of this meal.

This was the so-called... last meal before execution.

She had heard rumors that in some prisons in the Kingdom, for certain death-row prisoners with names and status, the prison would specially prepare a table of fine food before they stepped onto the execution ground.

This was considered a kind of grace, demonstrating the Kingdom’s tolerance. She had not expected that the Empire had it too.

And now it had appeared before her.

It seemed the most terrible ending had still happened.

“The Kingdom... lost after all?” After a long silence, Sevier asked in a hoarse voice.

“...That’s right.”

The jailer looked at Sevier in surprise. He had not expected that she, whose information was completely cut off from the outside world, could actually guess this much.

“A crushing defeat. The Kingdom’s royal capital, Saint Blancfazesiya, has already been completely breached by our Empire’s army.”

“Wh—Saint Blancfazesiya was breached? It was actually such a disastrous defeat?”

Sevier froze, then gave a dispirited, bitter laugh. This ending was actually even more miserable... than she had imagined.

Under normal circumstances, she definitely would not have casually believed such an unexpected result. There was a possibility the Kingdom could lose, but how could even the royal capital have been breached? The difference in strength between the two sides had not reached that level at all!

But now, she believed it very quickly.

Because there was no need for the other party to deceive a dead person.

So... the Kingdom had now completely submitted, and she, the person who had intended to stir up turmoil in the Empire, naturally had no use anymore, so they would simply execute her directly?

The Empire truly left no room for sentiment.

Oh, no.

In a certain sense, the Empire was still merciful.

At least it had left her a little dignity, allowing her to have such a fine meal and walk the final stretch with honor. Instead of treating her as a symbol of the enemy nation’s crimes and publicly executing her before countless people.

“So... this is my final fate?” Sevier murmured bleakly in her heart.

Once a proud child of heaven, taking it as her duty to become the Kingdom’s sharp blade, giving who knew how much to the Kingdom throughout her life...

In the end, she could only die humbly in a foreign land.

This result was truly too tragic, and too helpless.

“Eat. Since you already know, I won’t waste words explaining too much. The people outside are waiting. If you have any other requests, you can tell me.”

The jailer’s tone was very gentle, as if he too pitied this tragic person.

“As long as it isn’t an excessive request, I can satisfy it.”

“I have no requests.”

Sevier sat down silently, her expression calm.

What else could she do? She could only make herself calm.

Calmly welcome her own death.

[She can still remain steady at a time like this?]

Looking at Sevier’s posture, the jailer’s expression carried admiration. It seemed the things he had carefully prepared had not been wasted.

“Then I’ll wait outside the door. Take your time enjoying—”

“Wait!”

But at the very last moment, Sevier suddenly called the jailer to a stop and said, “I changed my mind. I do have a request.”

“Oh?”

The jailer paused.

“What is it?”

“It’s about my doll.”

Sevier picked up the doll.

“I want you to give this doll to someone.”

“Who?”

“That person’s identity is very special... Come here and I’ll tell you.”

Sevier warily swept her gaze around. She could sense that there were other guards outside the door. She seemed unwilling to let those people know her secret.

The jailer did not think too much and leaned his head closer.

“Who exactly is it?”

“It’s... you!”

Sevier suddenly raised her head. The sorrow on that haggard face completely faded, leaving only determination.

At the same time, the doll she had embraced every day suddenly exploded. A ball of light burst out from within, then was seized in Sevier’s palm!

No.

She refused to just sit here and wait for death like this!