Villain's Second Chance

8 - The Site Of Worthless Ruins

"Welcome back, brother." I sneered as he passed me in the hallway. "How did your expedition go?"

"It went quite well, brother." Pakhom replied with a tight smile. "Site 7 was full of interesting things."

"Really now?" I scoffed. "I heard that nothing of note was found. This 'rumor' has been spreading all across the palace. I wonder how father-"

I was cut off as I was suddenly slapped. My head jerked to the side as Pakhom glared at me, hand extended.

I quickly looked towards the servants around. He clearly hit me! He clearly slapped me by himself!

But they didn't care. They were either looking away, or they were frowning at the situation. Or to be more exact, at me.

Why?! Why?!

"Have you forgotten your place, brother?" Pakhom spat. "Because I'll gladly remind you if you make another snide insinuation."

And with that he turned on his heel, walking away. The servants continued on with their business as well, leaving me alone in the hallway.

Bastard!

Bastard! Bastard! Bastard! Bastard! Bastard-!

"Here are the known ruin sites." The servant placed down the map on the table, shaking me out of a strangely vivid memory of my past life.

I sat next to Princess Sun Ying in the library. She had informed me that we were apparently due to explore one of the ruins today, before suddenly dragging me here.

Eman stood by the door while the other servant stood in front of the table, waiting patiently with a neutral look. He was assigned by father to deliver all information about the ruins for the first expedition from the alliance with Tiānshān.

It would be nice if I could know if this map was truly accurate or not. I never saw it in my past life. I never explored one of the ruins. Everything I know is simply what I had heard.

But as unreliable as father is when it comes to me, I am working together with Tiānshān's princess. Surely he wouldn't risk giving false information to her? Doing such a thing would shake the alliance formed between our nations.

"Eighteen different known sites..." She murmured as she traced her finger along the map.

"Yes, Princess." The servant nodded with a smile. "Each known site has been assigned a number. As of today, there are eighteen known ones."

"And which ones have already been explored?" I questioned.

A dirty glare was sent my way. "None of them."

"I can't believe none of them have been explored." Princess Sun Ying spoke to herself. "How could no one be curious as to what lies within them?!"

"Is there any other information about the ruins you can provide?" I asked.

"No." The servant simply stated.

I should take your head, you worthless buffoon. The audacity to treat a prince like this is utterly ridiculous. Such a thing is something I should not have to be used to.

I looked back at the map. In the bottom left corner was a portion of Solus' wall that surrounded the city. The rest of the map showed how far the ruins were relative to that point.

I tried to remember the sites that had been explored in my past life. Of course, there was number seven. I also remember numbers two and four having been explored as well.

Five, possibly. Definitely one. I believe eight might have been as well. Do I remember any past ruin ten? Only eleven. The rest of them, unfortunately, I cannot recall.