After the Villainess Failed to Overthrow the Gods

Chapter 23

I received a scolding from the god of order as soon as I opened my eyes. As expected from the god who liked giving long and torturous lectures. I just tuned out his lecture just like many times before in these three thousand years.

"Shouldn't you praise me instead?" I asked as I twirled my hair with my finger. "I solved your problem."

"You didn't solve the problem. You just delayed it," he stated.

I shrugged. "Well at least it's not going to be your problem for a few hundred years. Rachelle is definitely going to carry out the catch me if you can plan."

The god of order looked at me with a frown on his face, clearly not understanding what I was suggesting. 

"Rachelle is definitely the kind to run away and hide from the god of light because she believes she does not deserve the love of Lucian once she realized she's the one killing him off in the past," I tsked. "I wonder how long their hide and seek would last?" I chuckled. 

"You not only didn't solve the problem but further injured yourself in the process. Is it worth it?" 

"Of course!" I giggled happily. "Nothing makes me happier than seeing that lucky, gods blessed Rachelle suffers."

The god of order looked at me with judgement in his eyes. Finally, he turned around and picked up a glass from the bed-side table. Deep silver liquid sloshed inside the glass. He handed me the glass in silence. 

"No, I am not going to take that." With just a look at what's inside the glass, I rolled over in my bed and stuck my back to him. I had drunk that when my soul was deeply injured after my escape last time. It looked quite pretty, but it had the worst taste ever. 

"You have to drink it," he said calmly. 

I ignored him. 

He sighed and called again, "Lorelei." 

I refused. 

In the end the god of order said, "I would bring you out again if you drink it."

I turned to face him again and raised my eyebrow in surprise. I clambered up and placed my hand on his forehead and said, "Are you ill?" That's when I realized I could not move. I was frozen by a spell, I could not even blink. 

He then placed his fingers under my chin. Unable to do anything to stop him, I saw him poured the potion into my mouth. Once I had drank every single drop of it, I was able to move again. 

"You!" I screamed in anger. I gagged as the bitter and tangy taste from the potion filled my mouth. "You! Do you know that you become more and more ungentlemanly lately?" 

"So?" He fed me a macaroon. "I'm just following your guide. As long as the problem is solved." 

I chomped on the macaroon and glared at him. This was so unlike him. When did he start to change? From the time I escaped? When he directly pushed my soul into my body without persuading me with long lectures. Did I finally anger him? Because I escaped? 

Was he angry? 

"Are you..." I stopped abruptly. What was I doing? I shouldn't care if he was angry or not. If he was, then hadn't I succeeded in annoying him? 

"You said you'd bring me out if i drank that stupid potion. The god of order won't lie, right?" I smiled daringly at him. 

"I don't lie," he said curtly. "But are you sure you can handle the trip now?" He raised his eyebrow as he released his hold on my shoulder I had not realized was there till now. 

As soon as his hand left my shoulder, all energy left me and I fell back. Before I flopped onto my bed uncontrollably, the god of order pulled me back up. 

"I can bring you out now," the god of order said calmly. 

I didn't realize I had been relying on him for energy to sustain even basic activities like sitting up. He had been silently supporting my worn out soul with his own power. I pursed my lips and looked away from him. 

"I'm just reminding you to uphold your promise. I'm looking after your reputation." I smoothed a non-existent crease on his shirt. "We don't want bad rumors to spread, do we?" 

"No one dares to spread rumors of me, except you, Lorelei," he said softly. "Aren't you tired?" 

The short conversation just now had already exhausted me. I knew it, but I insisted on putting up a strong front. I refused to answer him, but my head had already leaned onto his shoulder.   

I felt his hand on my hair, gently stroking it, as if putting me to sleep. 

"Lorelei, it's not worth it, harming yourself in the process to achieve your goals. Remember that." 

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When I opened my eyes, the top of a four poster bed greeted me. This was not my room. I looked around to try to understand my current situation. It's a huge and well furnished room. The ceiling was painted in deep shades of blue while the walls in a lighter shade. The quilt and pillows around me were also in different shades of blue. A gentle breeze entered the room from the huge windows on my left, bringing with it a salty scent. The sea? 

I was close to the sea. The realization dawned on me. I tried to climb out of bed, I wanted to take a look at the sea. Our family once lived close to the sea. Before everything that had happened. Before the gods and the mortals invaded our lands. The scent in the air reminded me of home, reminded me of my long lost childhood and family. They imprisoned me in a lake because the Forbidden Woods was on the other side of the continent, far away from my home town. The only body of water in the Woods was the lake. 

But in my excitement I forgot I no longer had legs and I was no longer in my lake, I nearly fell out of bed when the god of order caught me just in time. 

"Are you this happy?" he asked. 

"Of course," I said without thinking. I caught myself from further expressing my excitement. After a pause, my usual smile was plastered on my face again. "You're not here, it's my chance to escape." 

"Of course," he answered nonchalantly as if he did not believe me one bit. 

He carried me to the balcony. 

What entered my eyes was something I thought I would never in my life be able to see again. This was my hometown. 

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Author's note

Lorelei: Another trip out of prison????