The Tyrant's Pet

Two days before the coronation…

Princess Agnes was granted mercy and was only to be banished from the empire and never step her foot back in here. After the trial, she had become a figure of mockery and disdain. With what she had done to the east district, and the admittance of her vile plan to even implicate the west district, people weren't happy with the sentence she received.

They thought it was too light, but knowing the empire was about to welcome an empress, no one appealed. So the princess and that kingdom she came from were considered 'lucky.'

Still, the people wouldn't let her leave this empire and give her any lingering feeling of returning. They might've not planned to kill her due to many reasons, the people still gathered outside the imperial palace to throw whatever they could throw at the carriage she would be riding.

The people's cruel shouts pervaded the air and street, throwing pebbles into the enclosed carriage. Some even brought buckets of feces and piss, showing zero respect to the once esteemed princess.

"How scary," Aries crooned, watching the carriage in the street from the balcony of an establishment situated in the heart of the capital.

The carriage couldn't move properly because people were surrounding it, yelling harsh criticism, calling the princess names, and not carefully selected profanities. The number of angry folks who came was unbelievable. Some weren't even angry and just joined in throwing things. Surely, these people wouldn't miss the opportunity to mock someone who was born privileged.

"My father sent a letter telling me if I step foot in his home, he would behead me on the spot for the shame I brought upon our land." Aries snapped her eyes away from the street below the balcony to the woman sitting across from her. "I have nowhere to go."

Princess Agnes slowly lifted her eyes at Aries. Her complexion was pale just one day after the trial because of the amount of stress. If not for Aries ordering her men to sneak her out and use decoys, she would be inside that carriage to experience a nightmare. She would be grateful, if not for the fact, that it was Aries's doing why her life was brought to shame.

"I… didn't mean to harm you, Lady Daniella." Her voice shook, almost choking in her own breath. "Why would you go this far?"

"I told you, Princess. You wished to have freedom, and I'm granting you one."

"This… isn't the freedom I wished!" Princess Agnes raised her voice for the first time to Aries, but she quickly calmed down with her next remarks. "You shamed me."

"Would you push the blame on me again?" Aries cocked her head to the side, reaching for the teacup in front of her. "I vividly remember asking you to attend the trial, but I didn't tell you to admit it. Did you think I'd feel the slightest guilt if you do that?"

Princess Agnes's jaw tightened, clasping her skirt tightly. At this point, she was already aware Aries was definitely someone very cruel. Although the latter had a point, Aries felt no shame in twisting someone's words to her own advantage.

"I thought you were different," she muttered, keeping her exhausted eyes on Aries. "But you're just as cruel and vile just like everybody else. I don't think surviving your sickness made this world a better place."

"I know, right?" Aries chuckled with her shut lips, placing the teacup back on the saucer. When she straightened her back, her eyes fastened with amusement.

"Just like everybody else, you and I don't make this world a better place. However, just like everybody else, we all want to survive," she continued, folding her arms under her chest as she leaned back. "Can you blame me? Can you blame them? If you can't even blame yourself for trying to survive, how can you blame others when their actions are fueled by their eagerness to outlast?"

"I was not your enemy."

"You weren't."

"You… had secured the throne," Princess Agnes stressed firmly. "You didn't have to go this far."

"But you know her." The princess's breath hitched upon hearing Aries's quick yet emotionless response. "The woman you're looking for. You knew her and want to find her. I won't go this far if you approached me with a different intention."

Princess Agnes opened and closed her mouth, but her tongue kept rolling back in her throat.

"I… didn't have a bad intention," she breathed out heavily when she recovered her voice. "All I want is to know whether she's safe now or whether she lost her life."

"She had lost her life every single day after the fall of Rikhill, Princess." Aries's tone grew icy. "Every day, she fought for her life, but died over and over and over — you cannot even imagine how torturous it was to open her eyes the next day, knowing she would die yet another cruel death."

"Whether she survived or lost her life… shouldn't be a matter you should be poking your nose in, Princess." She shook her head, her burning eyes locked with the princess. "No one talks about her anymore; everyone forgot about this enslaved fallen princess of Rikhill. Why would you, someone who knew nothing about her and had never done anything for her, would dare reopen the scars and bring back the trauma she painstakingly mended?"

Princess Agnes's breath hitched, staring at the growing fury in Aries's eyes. It was as though Aries was speaking about her own scars, angst, and experience.

"You…" she trailed off as realization struck her. The time the lady of the House Vandran recovered was almost the same time Aries was still in the empire. Was it possible that Aries, the enslaved fallen princess, who just suddenly vanished in this empire was…

Aries blinked, and the fury in her eyes slowly vanished, reaching for the teacup to her lips. When she put it back and licked her lips, she faced Princess Agnes again.

"Davien was a good man, Princess. There were times he was quite mischievous — foolish," Aries broke the momentary silence building up between them. "He had always told me he would marry his pen pal."

"You were that person, correct?" she cocked her head, and that second, the princess's face stiffened. "And also, the person who broke his heart after giving him false hope."

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