the Villainess they took for granted

Chapter 281: v3 Chapter 42: a new beginning III

Robert did not stay quiet for long.

”I still can’t believe it.”

He laughed, shaking his head.

”We made it out alive.”

Cassian began setting his things down.

”And not only that,” Robert continued, ”the term was shortened.”

Cassian glanced at him.

Robert’s expression was almost disbelieving.

”You know what, Carlo? I never thought this would happen to me.”

He looked around the room.

”I thought I’d finish my contract in the Arena. Hopefully in one piece. Then I’d get my hundred gold coins, my savings, and walk out with whatever strength I had left.”

He gave a short laugh.

”But look at us.”

Cassian smiled faintly.

Robert stepped closer.

”And do you know who our patron is?”

Cassian paused.

He already knew.

Robert, however, had no idea.

”The Crown Prince.”

He said it almost reverently.

”The Crown Prince, Carlo.”

Cassian looked at him.

”Do you know what that means?”

Robert didn’t wait for an answer.

”We’re men of the Crown Prince now.”

His face lit up.

”Do you understand how fortunate we are?”

Cassian found himself smiling.

”Yes.”

Robert laughed.

”Exactly!”

He seemed unable to contain himself.

”I’ve spent my whole life thinking about how to survive. Now I’m going to serve the Crown Prince.”

He shook his head.

”I don’t even know what comes after this.”

Cassian looked around the room.

”Neither do I.”

”But we’ll find out.”

Robert grinned.

”And we’re having dinner with him tonight.”

Cassian nodded.

”I know.”

Robert stared at him.

”You don’t sound nearly excited enough.”

Cassian’s smile widened slightly.

”I’ve had a rather eventful day.”

”That is true.”

Robert laughed.

”There’s still so much I want to tell you.”

He suddenly remembered something.

”Oh, and there’s something else.”

Cassian looked at him.

”Do you know what people are saying about you?”

Cassian frowned.

”About me?”

”You’ve been here for one day.”

Robert shook his head.

”One day is enough, Carlo. You know me. I’m very quick to hear things.”

Cassian gave him a skeptical look.

Robert continued.

”Do you know who you defeated?”

Cassian’s expression remained calm.

”Marcus.”

”Yes.”

Robert leaned closer.

”The man who escorted you here?”

Cassian nodded.

”He’s the son of a duke.”

Cassian’s eyes shifted slightly.

Robert lowered his voice.

”He’s a Marquess in his own right. And he’s the Crown Prince’s right-hand man.”

Cassian said nothing.

”He commands these men.”

Robert gestured vaguely toward the courtyard outside.

”And you defeated him.”

A grin spread across his face.

”Everyone is talking about it.”

Cassian sighed softly.

”I see.”

”Everyone wants to meet you.”

Robert laughed.

”I think half of them are wondering what kind of monster you are.”

Cassian gave him a flat look.

Robert immediately raised his hands.

”Not my words.”

Then he laughed.

”Anyway, there’s too much to tell you all at once.”

He looked at Cassian more carefully.

”I know this is a lot.”

Cassian nodded.

”It is.”

”So I’ll let you absorb it.”

Robert gestured toward the washroom.

”In the meantime, you should clean yourself up.”

Cassian glanced toward him.

Robert pointed at his face.

”I’m serious.”

Cassian touched his beard.

”You need to get rid of some of that.”

A laugh escaped him.

”I have scissors in the bathroom.”

He walked toward the door.

”There’s water, soap, everything you need.”

Robert looked back at him.

”And Carlo?”

”Yes?”

”We’re meeting the Crown Prince.”

”I know.”

”So please don’t go in there looking like you just crawled out of a cave.”

Cassian stared at him.

Robert grinned.

”I’m only saying what everyone else is thinking.”

Cassian shook his head.

Robert laughed.

”I’ll go tell Alex and Gary. They’ve been wandering around since yesterday like they don’t know what to do with themselves.”

He reached the door.

”I’ll come back for you.”

Cassian nodded.

”Very well.”

Robert opened the door.

”Take your time.”

Then he disappeared into the corridor.

The door closed.

Silence returned.

Cassian stood alone.

For several moments, he simply looked around the room.

Then his gaze moved toward the washroom.

He walked inside.

A basin.

Clean water.

Soap.

A comb.

A pair of scissors.

And, above the basin, a mirror.

Cassian stopped before it.

He looked at himself.

For a long moment, he said nothing.

The man staring back at him hardly looked familiar.

The beard had grown far beyond anything he would once have tolerated.

His hair was a tangled mess.

His face was thinner.

Harder.

Older.

He looked like a man who had spent two years fighting simply to remain alive.

Cassian raised a hand and touched his reflection.

Twenty-one months.

Nearly two years since he had disappeared from the Empire.

Nearly two years since the world had believed him dead.

And now—

He was standing in a proper room.

In the household of the Crown Prince of Milicia.

He had pledged his loyalty.

He had been given a way forward.

Perhaps, for the first time since the cliff, he was no longer simply surviving.

Perhaps he was finally beginning to live again.

Cassian lowered his hand.

Then he reached for the scissors.

For a moment, he simply held them.

He looked at his reflection again.

Then, slowly, he gathered a portion of his beard between his fingers and cut.

The first lock fell into the basin.

Cassian stared at it.

He cut again.

And again.

He worked slowly at first, almost cautiously, as though he were unsure of the face hidden beneath it.

More hair fell away.

The shape of his jaw began to emerge.

His hand stopped.

Cassian looked at himself.

He had almost forgotten.

He lowered the scissors and touched his chin.

Then he continued.

The beard came away in uneven sections until only a shorter layer remained.

He reached for the shaving tools.

The blade passed carefully over his skin.

When he finished, Cassian rinsed his face.

Then he looked up.

He froze.

For the first time in nearly two years, he could see his own face.

Not the face hidden beneath a wild beard.

Not the face he had deliberately allowed to disappear.

His face.

Cassian stared at the mirror.

His features had changed.

There were sharper lines around his eyes.

His cheeks were leaner.

His skin was darker from months spent beneath the sun.

And yet—

It was still him.

His hand slowly rose.

His fingertips touched his cheek.

His hand trembled.

Cassian swallowed.

He looked at himself as though he were seeing a stranger who somehow carried his eyes.

Twenty-three months.

He had not seen this face in almost two years.

He had almost forgotten what he looked like.

He remembered, suddenly, how people used to look at him.

The attention.

The whispers.

The absurd reputation that had followed him wherever he went.

The most handsome man in the Empire.

He had never thought much of it.

Not then.

Not when his life had been full of other things.

Now, standing in front of the mirror, he almost found the memory ridiculous.

What was left of that man?

Cassian reached for his hair next.

He cut it carefully, removing the tangled ends until it fell into something more orderly.

Strands dropped into the basin.

He continued until the wild mass was gone.

When he finished, he stepped back.

His hand remained on the edge of the basin.

His eyes had begun to grow glossy.

He blinked.

Once.

Then again.

He had thought himself long past tears.

Apparently, he had been wrong.

He looked at his reflection again.

Could she still recognize him?

The thought came without warning.

Marian.

His chest tightened.

What would she say if she saw him now?

He could almost hear her voice.

She would probably stare at him for several seconds.

Then—

You’ve become rather ugly.

A faint smile touched his lips.

It was such a ridiculous thought.

And yet he could almost hear her saying it.

Perhaps she would complain about the scars.

Perhaps she would tell him that his hair was terrible.

Perhaps she would laugh at the fact that he had spent nearly two years looking like a wild man.

The smile faded.

Would she recognize him?

Would she still look at him the same way?

Would she even want to?

Cassian lowered his eyes.

He had survived because he believed he would see her again.

For almost two years, that belief had been enough.

Now, for the first time, the possibility of actually returning to her no longer felt like something buried beneath impossible circumstances.

It was still distant.

Still uncertain.

But it existed.

He looked back at the mirror.

The man staring back at him was no longer the same man who had fallen from that cliff.

But he was still Cassian.

And somewhere beyond these borders was the woman he had never stopped loving.

His fingers tightened against the edge of the basin.

”I’ll come back,” he whispered.

He did not know how.

He did not know when.

But for the first time in nearly two years, the words no longer felt like a prayer.

They felt like a promise.

--

Tbc

AN: are my tears too shallow??? I kept crying in this scene. I mean i just feel like it especially knowing that Marian already married adrian. And all his hardships... huhuhu cassian i love you so much (my favorite male lead in all my novels now hahahaa).