THE VILLAIN's APPRENTICE ✔

🗡 PROLOGUE

There was total darkness and silence. Dana felt like she was being pulled toward an unknown destination, and she could not do anything but pant heavily in fear. It was as if she had no control over her body as she floated in the limbo. Is this death? Her heart was beating rapidly, and she could feel chills running down her spine.

How did this happen? She was just in the restricted section of the library a while ago when a blinding light appeared from the pages of the mysterious, ancient book she was inspecting. She couldn't remember what happened after that.

All of a sudden, she felt like she was being hurled downwards and the next thing she knew, she was sitting on a chair, darkness still impending her vision. She was breathing through her mouth as she listened to her surroundings, nervousness gripping her.

It was totally silent at first. Then, the noise around her gradually grew in volume, as though she just woke up from a deep slumber. But there was something odd. She heard loud cheers of men as well as the steady clinking of what she presumed were coins. There was an abundant sound of rustling metal and a distinct scent of wood and wet dirt. She could not understand what was happening and where she was.

Dana tried to move, but her body was tightly strapped on the chair. She also realized that she was blindfolded. She opened her mouth to scream for help, but her words were frozen when she felt a huge hand grip her shoulder.

"This slave is formerly from the manor of the witch. You can sell her to a slave trader or to a brothel. I originally planned on making her my bedservant, but my wife wanted me to sell her to a brothel instead. Who knew I would encounter such misfortune today." The deep voice of the man was heavy with spite and his grip on her shoulder tightened, making her whimper in a mixture of pain and horror.

Slave? Witch? Brothel? Bedservant? Her lips trembled as her mind struggled to process the insanity that she was experiencing.

"Old Hai, you know the rule of this gambling house. Since you lost our bet, you should pay. I don't need a slave. And who is to say I would receive a good bargain if I sell her to a merchant or to a brothel? Looking at this maiden, she appears to be a low-rank slave." Another voice, which was laced with arrogance and amusement, entered Dana's ears.

She swallowed painfully, her throat clogging up as she willed herself not to cry. At that point, she knew that screaming for help would be of no use. She was in a situation that was completely unfathomable. The feeling of helplessness enveloped her, and all she could do was to sit there and pray that it was all a dream.

"Young warrior, surely you are jesting. Brothels will pay a hefty sum for her. She is nineteen, yet unmarried. She might be average-looking, but those places of pleasure can still make use of her. Look, her face seems younger than her actual age, but her demeanor is worthy to be a concubine."

Dana felt the man tugging a knot behind her head, then the black cloth covering her eyes slid down her face. Through her blurry vision, she saw a man across the table in front of her, his chin propped on his palm. She blinked once...twice, and every time she opened her eyes, the scene before her slowly became clearer.

The first one she saw was the guy across the table garbed in ancient, swordsman-style clothes. He was wearing a faded black, long-sleeved inner clothes with black outer clothing and with a black fabric tied on his wrist. There was a strap of leather across his body, and the hilt of a sword was protruding from his back. His long hair was tied with a black fabric, the edges of which flowing down behind his head. He was also wearing what looked like a thick, dark brown cloak that was fastened around his neck.

Her eyes went wide as she met the eyes of the man who was scrutinizing her with indifference. She then darted her gaze around, and upon seeing that everyone was dressed like the olden times and carrying weapons that she only saw in museums, her face became ashen with fright.

Dear heavens, did I travel back in time? she thought as her chest heaved up and down in anxiousness. She still could not believe what she was seeing.

The gambling house was dimly lit with oil lamps which were lined up on the walls, and there were candles on each table. Almost all the men had their weapons strapped on their body, with the exception of the servants who were taking care of the customers. Everything looked unreal, as though she was plunged in the middle of a movie filming.

She jerked in surprise when the group of burly men on the other table roared in merriment, probably winning the bet. Dana bit her trembling lips and brought her gaze back to the man across the table who was now frowning at her. His brow furrowed even more when he saw the unshed tears that she was struggling to hold.

"Old Hai, are you certain that this maiden is a former servant from the witch's manor?" he asked. "The witch was rumored to pile up corpses of those who slight her, and her servants were said to have seen death daily that almost nothing could even scare them anymore. There isn't even any dead body here, yet why does she look so frightened?"

"Frightened?" The man, called Old Hai, shifted his gaze at Dana, and the girl visibly shivered when she finally took note of the man's appearance. This short, heavy man with protruding stomach, ugly face, long beard and with a sour smell claimed to want her to be his bedservant a while ago. How disgusting!

Old Hai pondered while looking at the girl who seemed to have completely changed as compared to when she was locked up in his house after purchasing her from the local town official who imprisoned all the former servants of the witch. The girl he took home was fearless and had a proud bearing, which was why he thought of making her his bedservant. But his main wife threatened to leave him if he decided to take another concubine, so he planned to sell the girl in a brothel instead. He passed by the gambling den and he thought he could win a few coins before going to the brothel so that he could have extra money to be the girl's first customer. But luck was not on his side and almost all his money was wiped out when he played against the young warrior who introduced himself as one of the guards of the traveling merchants.

Old Hai continued staring at the slave in confusion. The girl beside him looked timid and insecure, and she was looking at him as if it was her first time to lay her eyes on him.

B-bedservant? Dana realized that if the young man across the table would continue to refuse taking her, her fate in this unknown world would be much darker. Just imagining the things that Old Hai would do to her made her stomach churn in disgust.

She abruptly turned her head toward the young warrior who was now lazily sitting with his back leaning against the chair and with his arms across his chest. In a shaky voice, Dana forced the words out of her mouth. "P-please...help me," she pleaded.

Anger consumed Old Hai as he felt humiliated by the girl's plea. Just a mere servant, but she dared to embarrass him and act as though she could not stand being with him – her master?

"You wretched woman!" he hollered. "What act are you trying to pull?"

Dana shrieked in terror when Old Hai raised his hand, intending to slap her. She tried to scoot away, but the ropes around her body tightly held her in place. She shut her eyes, waiting for the pain on her cheek, but seconds passed and the pain never came.

"Enough," she heard the young man's firm voice as she slowly opened her eyes. What she saw made her gape in shock – there was a small ball of fire hovering near the face of Old Hai. Even the old man was frozen on his spot, utterly dumbfounded.

Slowly, she shifted her gaze toward the warrior across the table who was signing a paper using a brush and black ink. He then threw the document unceremoniously toward Old Hai.

"She now belongs to me."

When Dana read the ancient writing in the paper, she felt nauseated upon seeing the young man's name.

Yong Jie. He was the male lead in the ancient book that she was reading. If he was Yong Jie, then that meant she was...

Da Xia – the maidservant and the villain's apprentice who was destined to be killed in a brothel.