Saving The Unfortunate Villainess: Chapter 5

Chloe

I truly hate being alone, but it was something I’ve had to face all my life. No matter how hard I tried, I always ended up on the back foot. Family, friends, fiancée—not one of them ever truly supported me.

When it came to my family, I knew from a very young age that my life wasn’t going to be a great one because of the curse placed on our hearts. Every generation of women on my mother’s side could only live up to the age of thirty. Most of them died even before that.

Our bodies have an overwhelming amount of yin energy inside of us, and its epicenter is our hearts. Your emotions are highly affected by the speed at which the heart will be frozen over. Once that happens, you will just straight up drop dead.

That’s why any female from our family would always try to have children as soon as we came of age. But, in my case, the prince refused to go through with the wedding because of the Saintess. So my body was just withering away as I couldn’t change anything about my current circumstances. Everyone around me was trying to make sure I failed.

When I tried to attend noble events, I would get pushed to a corner, and I would get ignored as if I were a literal outsider. Of course, I know why that was. For some reason, the Saintess was always out to get me because of my current status as the prince's fiancée. The saddest part about all this was that I felt nothing for him in the first place. I was just forced into this marriage because of my family. They wanted the benefits of having their daughter be the next queen of the kingdom.

I’ve always been on the lookout for my counterpart. My mother had said, “If we can find that person, we can break our curse, and each of the following generations will be free of it.” That’s the main reason I was always attending social events. But they were all in vain and instead got the full wrath of others instead.

As I was sitting in that cage about to go up on stage to get auctioned off to the highest bidder, I had completely given up. I could tell from the current condition of my heart that I wouldn’t last more than a few years. That was, of course, until I met Atlas Ignis Langston.

There is something mysterious about him, and at the same time, he warms me up like nothing has ever before. It wasn’t just in an emotional way but also physically. I could swear my whole body, on first contact, started radiating heat as a shockwave of warmth enveloped every part of my body.

I was so astonished at this response that I couldn’t help but stare at him for a long while. Could this young man really be my counterpart? The one our family has been searching for these past few centuries. He showed up out of nowhere like a knight in shining armor and whisked me away from my own personal hell.

While I can’t say my trust in his words is one hundred percent, on the other hand, it’s hard not to get my hopes up.

Thinking back to our conversation today about how he actually saw me in his dreams is something really amazing to think about. I know this world has unexplainable things, with me being one of them. How unfair is it to be born with a much earlier expiration date than everyone else?

The words he spoke about my life were dark secrets I’ve kept within me for a long time. My family would never tell outsiders of my treatment, and I only ever saw two maids completely controlled by my stepmother. There’s no way they would leak any of this information. I’ve also never seen him at any high society events, yet he already knew everything about the saintess's actions towards me.

It honestly feels like some kind of higher power is at play here. All of my praying over the years has finally paid off and brought someone into my life that can create real change. He didn’t even beat around the bush about what he expects out of me. There’s absolutely no reason to deny his requests because I literally have nothing else to do.

Also, on the other hand, this is what I want. The second I came into contact with him, from the auction house to our conversation and then to the dinner with his family, he kept radiating a hotter heat. I wonder if that was normal for him.

After Atlas had wished me a goodnight, I saw his face, and he didn’t seem to be well. I didn’t say anything at that time, and I hate myself for being too scared to speak up. In all honesty, earlier, when he had jokingly offered me to sleep in his room, I probably would have gone through with it. My whole body calms down around him, and it’s a very comforting feeling.

Crackle, Fizzle, Snap

“What is that?” I’m getting some really weird vibes coming from the direction of Atlas's room, as if something is happening to him right now.

As I was having those types of thoughts, my body started being enveloped by a blue glow. Mist starts permeating out of my body. What is going on? I can feel it. At that moment, my body temperature started to drop quickly. But I thought I had more time! Why would this happen when everything was starting to look up?

Swish

Blinking my eyes a few times, I see a little figure in the air. I can’t tell exactly what they are, but I’m having this overwhelming sense of drive to follow it. It flies over to the door but stops before exiting the room. There was a barely visible face, and it seemed to scream at me internally to hurry up!

Since whatever this thing is came from out of my body, it can’t be bad, right? After hesitating for a few seconds, I decide to follow it and find out what’s going on. I’m pretty confident I know where it’s going to lead me. After exiting the door, it beckoned me over to the front of Atlas's room, where I felt an excess of extreme heat.

Occasionally flames would come rushing out from different spots around the doorframe. I looked down each hall to see if anyone was around, but I saw no one at all. Should I open the door? His flames don’t actually harm me in any way, but I’m sure if anyone without my particular physique came into contact, they would be burned up instantly.

With absolutely nothing to lose, I open the door and get completely consumed by flames; at least if I died, it would be on my own terms, not in someone else’s hands.

Click

Shoving the door open after turning the handle, I got a firsthand view of a literal storm of fire raging inside Atlas’s room. The little blue entity flew over to right above his head. I once again got that same look asking me to come over right now.

My heart was an absolute mess as I inched closer and closer to Atlas’s current location. At the same time, my body temperature was rising the closer I approached. I noticed the blue emanating from my body as it started to mix in with the storm of crimson heat throughout the room.

Gasp

“What? You can’t mean it?” My anxiety started to go through the roof with what the little blue entity was implying I should do. I mean, he’s already said he planned on having that type of relationship with me, but isn’t this a bit too soon? At the same time, I see he’s struggling; his whole body is sweating buckets. Also, does he always sleep like that?

I couldn’t help but have a huge blush on my face because, as soon as I got right above his body, he was completely naked. There is also a possibility of his clothes being burned away by this fire. Yes, let’s go with that. It’s much better to think that way. He really has an erotic body, though, I unconsciously thought.

My whole body was frozen as I was still trying to comprehend what the blue entity wanted me to do. It was currently jumping up and down, pointing at Atlas's lips. I mean, it looks like he’s really struggling, and this could help him! I’m sure he wouldn’t mind! 'Yes, everything is fine!' I told myself.

“To think my first kiss would be in this type of situation.” I couldn’t help but mumble to myself. At the same time, I felt excited.

With one hand blocking my vision of everything below his neck, I put the other on his face as I started to lean down. The closer I got the more havoc the room was currently experiencing. It seemed like the ice and fire were mixing with each other, but at the same time I knew I was in no danger. Both of the elements felt friendly, as if they had always been one.

All of my reservations about what I was about to do were completely thrown away as I saw Atlas’s face start to relax. But I couldn’t help but hesitate as our lips were only a few inches apart.

He’s given me more hope than I’ve felt in my whole life in under a day. Of course he just couldn’t stop with his surprises. Before I was about to close those final few inches, I saw Atlas's eyes snap open and stare at me intently.

I couldn’t help but jump back, and at the same time, I felt myself being grasped by the arms I’ve felt at least a few times today. Something my body enjoys, but my mind is still a mess. Looking at his now crimson red eyes, I could swear they were originally more of an orange color. I couldn’t help but be enraptured by the flames dancing around in his irises.

Not having any kind of chance to consider my options, he plants his lips on mine, and for the first time in my life, I got to feel fireworks going off inside my head. As we continued our passionate kiss, the room started to become more stable as the two elements melded perfectly together, coming to a perfect homeostasis.

After what felt like forever, as if I were in a dream, there was a giant shockwave. It radiated out with us being the epicenter, destroying everything in the room and blowing out every window. At the moment, the red and bluish silver enveloped both of our bodies, with some kind of foreign text being imprinted onto my very soul. To my understanding from what was written, my ice power had finally manifested thanks to my connection with Atlas.

Once both of us came into contact earlier, it had already started a countdown to where we would have to join together. If we had failed tonight’s trial, I would have been frozen solid, and Atlas would have burned to death. Talk about some stiff rules. Mine and Atlas’s power naturally seeks out each other once its close enough.

We both kept our eyes locked onto each other. There was also no doubt in my mind that I could now feel the way Atlas truly felt about me. It’s as if we were just bound together by some kind of cosmic force. Even if I wanted to take it back, it was now impossible. Not that I planned on doing that, anyway.

As if on cue, we both disconnected our lips and gazed down at our left-hand ring fingers. There was now a ring with two bands, one red and the other silver. Mine had a ruby at its center that seemed to have flames within it, and Atlas had a sapphire the same color as my eyes.

Before I could speak any words, Atlas beat me to it.

“Did we just get married?” I tilted my head at Atlas, contemplating his words, and at the same time I couldn’t refute them. We both had rings that literally connected us in every way, much deeper than a normal marriage.

Instead of having a noble marriage with empty words and the possibility of betrayal around any corner, we were just bound by our very being. I looked at Atlas, who was now showing a bright smile; it made me feel all tingly inside. My heart was so full, and for the first time in my life, I replied with a genuine smile towards someone else.