Divine Villain Concealed From Fate

Chapter 17: Relieved

She eventually entered, closing the door behind herself as he walked over the blood from his body, down to his supposed resting spot, where only that shoddy mat lay and the carved brick.

"How is your body feeling? And that Zhao whatever one, he returned your dagger, right?"

"... Yes, master. He did." She hadn’t responded immediately, still taking in the scene, "And my body is fine now. The pill healed me completely. Thank you for asking."

"That’s good," Qianye hummed faintly, "I would have had to call them back here if they didn’t give you one that was good enough to fix everything."

For a few moments, she didn’t respond, then he heard the faintest sound in agreement from her.

Meanwhile, his attention for the most part remained forwards.

Towards the side of Ouyang Qianye’s bed, was a box with a small stool. The box itself had some small amenities that he had brought back from his core disciple courtyard when leaving. Standing on top of it right now was a clean tea set.

"Are you... okay?" she suddenly asked hesitantly. frёeweɓηovel.coɱ

The blood stirred and squelched beneath his feet, and he replied, "Comparatively, yes. But I wouldn’t say I’m totally satisfied with the outcome of everything."

Ouyang Qianye finally arrived by his bed. He turned as he sat himself down, laying the sword down to the side, resting it against the wall.

"You seem very hesitant," Qianye began, and then laughed a little. "Is it that you’re curious or worried about why I changed so much?"

One of his legs leaned down to lay over the brick he had been using as a pillow, and the other leg standing with its knee folded in to his chest. His back comforted itself against the wall and his other arm outstretched over the top of his folded in knee.

She had been following him in, and now stood before him with a conflicted glimmer in her eyes and her lips pursed. Her feet stood over the edge of the pool of blood.

With all of the commotion dealt with, the both of them had begun to calm a lot more. The urgency that had plagued the air had been lifted a lot, and the tensity in his shoulders had loosened. However, she had not quite been relieved yet.

The difference between the original Ouyang Qianye and him were far too stark to not bring doubts despite everything that happened.

And for those several moments, none of them said anything.

’Of course...’ he sighed mentally, ’Master and servant propriety, especially for an elf, demands that she cannot be prying into my personal affairs. If I ever reported her for it, she could very easily be punished for it. At worst even be executed.’

"I am the one the brought it up. You may speak freely."

Once more, she hesitated for a few moments, and then eventually she spoke:

"...Yes, master." Her gaze lingered over him for a moment longer before she continued:

"You are rather... different, and I can’t quite seem to reconcile it with what I have observed of you all these years."

’After that performance...’ he chuckled reluctantly to himself, ’There is no way I could have kept up the image of Ouyang Qianye. The original would not have done anything remotely close to that. And when you spend so long with someone as smart as her...’

He sighed mentally again and his gaze drifted, down the shack against the wall where the door was, over the clothes of his and hers that were hung neatly along a makeshift wooden rack bound with rope.

Then his gaze drifted back over to her, his voice humming with intrigue, "Oh? And what is it that you’ve observed of the kind of individual I am all these years?"

"..."

Qianye’s brows fell a little, seeing her still hesitant to speak, and he urged: "I’m telling you, you may speak freely. You won’t get into trouble for it."

"..."

"You are—" she hesitated once more, holding his gaze and searching within his eyes perhaps any sign that he didn’t really want to hear what she had to say.

"My lord," she committed herself, taking a deep breath as she closed her eyes tightly, and releasing it through her words, "I have only known you to be reckless, inconsiderate of your actions when offended, vicious, often unlawful, rude and cold."

Then, they opened slowly, welcoming themselves to the sight of his silent, calm and... understanding look.

"At the same time..." And thus, she continued with a less urgent voice as her eyes fully opened, "from how you have chosen me as your maidservant, relieving me of that place, and in how not once, even now as you are crippled, have you abused your authority over me with my slave seal to take advantage of my body for your benefit, I have also seen your capacity for kindness. At least towards me."

Qianye gave way to a faint smile that seemed to relieve the nervousness in her, "Its rather refreshing to hear the opinion of you that someone that has spent so long watching you has."

Everything that she had said about Ouyang Qianye was nearly faultless.

The one correction that he would have made is that, rather than calling Qianye kind, he would have used a different descriptor now that he had assimilated his experiences and memories.

The man was desperate.

He might have seemed extremely talented to many, and the truth was that he was. However it was not as much as he presented it to be.

Not to mention that from what he knew of the wider world, he was really not at all.

After all, the reason that he achieved the status of second best core disciple was more due to the fact that he functionally shoved resources into his body to progress faster.

It left him weaker within his realm, however he was in many cases able to bridge that gap with ruthlessness and scheming, or some other external method like an artifact or a supplementary pill that boosted ones capabilities for a time.

Living like that for his years in the sect left constantly stressed out. Compounding onto that was the fact his nature left him utterly isolated from having true friends or any sworn brothers or sisters.

To address that issue, where you had no family or friends, what was the next best thing for someone like him? A servant.

’However, having grown up on the streets with death lurking at every turn or someone searching for you because you owed them money, or you stabbed them when stealing from them before, and suffering through those harsh winters... its only natural your emotional intelligence is in the negatives.’

By consequence of that, there was never any true connection between the two of them.

However, there was one great kindness that he had done for her. It was his greatest expression of affection, for the sake of not making an enemy of someone who he was certain would not betray him.

He kept her entirely at arms length, and was almost always indifferent.

"I should apologise. This time I’ve been selfish. I haven’t been as kind as you suggest that I am," Qianye smiled a little and confessed, "because I only wanted to hear what you thought of me. Unfortunately..." He shook his head faintly, "I can’t explain to you why I’ve changed because..."

Her eyelids fell a little, and he watched her breathing shallow. Then she freed a sigh and her hands went behind her back, clasping together.

Once she finally looked at him properly, he continued:

"Within the next few days you will be relieved of your duties to me."