Ascension Of The Villain

Easton tackled Fred to the ground, pinning him with a move that left the bigger man struggling beneath his weight. Easton pressed his hand against Fred's back, a faint glow emanating from his palm as he used his magic to keep Fred immobilized.

Fred snarled and writhed, but the magical pressure was too much for him to overcome.

At the same time, the barn door burst open (Easton got in through the window), and several imperial guards stormed in. Without missing a beat, they surrounded Fred, securing him with heavy-duty handcuffs designed to restrain even the most unruly captives.

"Why the hell are you here so fast? I told you people to come an hour later!" Fred shouted.

"Do you think we are stupid? If two people happened to look suspicious to you, why would we wait around for them to commit a crime?" Easton let out, dusting his hands.

On the other hand, with a calmness that belied the chaos around him, Vyan discreetly reattached his handcuffs. The last thing he needed was Easton—or anyone else—asking too many questions about how he had broken free in the first place.

As he clicked the cuffs back into place, his mind raced. Easton must have been searching for Princess Maria in Ditrole with his team, Vyan thought, piecing it together. So the 'imperial guards' Fred mentioned were actually Easton and his men…

"You will regret this! All of you! You have no idea who you have saved!" Fred spat, his voice laced with a mix of fury and madness.

"Well," Easton glanced at Vyan, annoyance appearing on his face, "I think I have a good idea of who I have saved."

"What's with that sarcastic tone, Your Imperial Highness?" Vyan let out, his tone playful. "Do you think I was actually doing something suspicious around here?"

"Who knows? Only further investigations will tell," Easton responded. "So, you better have a good reason prepared for lurking around this place—so far away from your territory."

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"Please, I am clearly the victim here," Vyan scoffed, while some knights carefully unlocked his handcuffs and untied the ropes that had been binding his legs.

"Sure, you are, Your Grace." Easton walked out of the barn, rolling his eyes.

Fred continued to shout incoherently as he was dragged out, but his words were lost in the flurry of activity.

"Uh, can any of you tie my hand? My shoulder is hurt," Vyan asked, and the knights obeyed, tying his dislocated shoulder with a lung.

He offered them a nod of thanks before making his way over to Clyde, who was still slumped on the ground. He was unconscious but breathing.

Kneeling beside his aide, Vyan gently shook Clyde's shoulder. "Hey, Clyde… wake up. Come on, don't leave me to handle all the drama by myself."

After a few moments, Clyde stirred, his eyelids fluttering as he slowly regained consciousness. His eyes met Vyan's, and he was completely confused. "What happened?" he murmured, his voice weak.

"I will explain everything later," Vyan whispered. "For now, I need to go to see Harvey."

Clyde sat up, clutching his throbbing head. "Why…" He finally noticed Vyan's impromptu sling, his eyes widening. "What the hell happened to you?"

"A lot of things happened, and yeah, I got a dislocated shoulder, perhaps," Vyan grazed his cheek lightly and casually added, "and some nail scratches on my cheeks, apparently."

Clyde's jaw dropped, unable to believe. "Are you insane? Why did you let it happen to you? Why—" He stopped from scolding further as he finally noticed the other people present in the barn. Taking a deep breath, he shot Vyan a glare. "Let's go home now.

I will send over a message to Harvey."

Vyan nodded, and they both stood up as Clyde whispered, "But don't think for a second that this lecture is over."

"Haha, thanks, Clyde. Due to you, I never feel the absence of my mother," Vyan joked, only earning another glare from Clyde.

As the two of them walked out of the barn, Vyan glanced over his shoulder at the place he had spent almost an year as a child.

Now that he finally knew his past, the events that led to it, he was content. He could happily say goodbye to the confusion and pain that came from the blurs in his memories.

"Your Grace, where would you like us to drop you?" inquired an imperial knight.

"Oh, it's alright, we have our own carria—" Vyan's words died in his mouth as his eyes fell on the charred carriage and the fainted carriage man being picked up by some knights. He turned back to the knight and said, "The nearest teleportation portal, please."

"Alright, you can sit in the back of one of our horses as your shoulder is injured," the knight said with a kind smile as they were on a quick mission so they didn't have a carriage with them.

"That's alright—" Just then, Vyan heard the sound of more incoming horse steps and looked to the road to find another team of imperial knights approaching them at a quick pace. "What are they doing here?"

"Ah, it's because we had less members in the team, so we had informed the nearest team to rendezvous with us here. So that must be them."

"I see. That's… great." Vyan smiled tightly as his eyes met the person leading that team. "I guess I should prepare for another round of lecture."

He started to speak with a casual smile as soon as the first horse arrived to a stop in front of him. "Hello, Vice-Comman—" His words once again died in his mouth as Iyana threw her arms around him, engulfing him in a tight hug.

Everyone around them gasped loudly.

But she couldn't care less about any of their reactions. She thought she was going to die in that one minute from worrying since she met with a knight from Easton's team on the way here and got the situation update. Then again, she didn't even stop to listen to the latter parts after hearing Vyan was held hostage in a barn.

With her heart thumping erratically, Iyana breathed out, relieved, "Thank goodness you are okay, Vyan."

Meanwhile, everyone else, including Vyan, were shocked.