The Maid's Tyrant Prince

7. A Sense of Self

TW: this chapter contains scenes of violence, abuse, and blood. I'm serious. 

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C H A P T E R   7

A   S E N S E   O F   S E L F

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"I'm a what now?" Rose shook her head, as if she could swat away the Head Maid's words. 

"You are a magician too," the maid repeated, her lips curling into a dull, humourless grin. "How amusing it is that you have truly forgotten." The grin faded, her eyes darkening with a haunted intensity. "And how it grieves me to think that I would gladly trade places with you, just to forget our suffering, if only for a fleeting moment."

Rose'd heart pounded in her chest. Was that Mishka's secret? The one the Head Maid threatened to leak in her letter?

That I. . .that this character is a sorceress in a world where they're put to death?

Rose's mind raced as memories from the opening scene of The Tyrant's Pet Magician flashed before her eyes—a fleeting sequence, illustrating Evan Ryzen's raw rage and hatred.

She recalled the cold, lifeless look in Evan's eyes as he wiped the blood from his sword. A thin line of blood trickled down from his own mouth, but he ignored it, focused only on the scene before him. There, at his feet, lay the body of a faceless maid, her limbs twisted unnaturally in death. She had poisoned him and he had ended her life with brutal swiftness.

But now, Rose could remember the vivid, spiralling red hair soaked in a pool of matching blood. Her breath caught in her throat.

That was Mishka, Rose realised, her stomach twisting. That's who my character was.

She slowly turned her palms over, staring down at her hands as the weight of it all sank in. Mishka tries to kill him, and he ends her life. That was my future. But now. . .

"Tell me what I've forgotten," Rose said in a low, even voice. "Please."

The Head Maid paced slowly before her, her steps measured, her voice low and deliberate. "You know, Miss Blackwood, you are but a feeble magician, possessing scarcely a trace of mana. I once tasked you with lighting the kitchen fireplace, and you nearly fainted from the exertion."

So, I'm not much of a threat—

"But even one as weak and powerless as you would be sentenced to death in this Empire," the Head Maid continued, her tone turning bitter. "That is the tyranny under which we live. This is why we have banded together—to bring about change, to uproot the evil curse that has bound this empire."

"But. . .Evan Ryzen isn't the reason why this is happening," Rose interjected. Though Evan's story ended in tragedy, she knew he had opposed his father's cruelty and tyranny over magic users. His love for Adrianne turned him staunchly against his own family, leading to the great revolt where he kills them and takes the throne. If anything, Evan was the only one in the royal family who stood against his father.

"Why are you trying to kill Evan and not his father?" Rose asked. "Emperor Ryzen is the one waging war against magicians. The Crown Prince—"

"The Crown Prince is far worse than you or I could ever fathom with our feeble minds." The candlelight flickered, casing frightening shadows on the Head Maid's face. "There is a rot festering in our world, Miss Blackwood."

"A rot?" Rose echoed, her voice barely a whisper.

"Mages who peer into the murky depths of the future are united in their visions. They all agree on one thing—Evan Ryzen is the end of this world, the doom of us all. This land rots under his presence. He leads us all toward bloodshed and ruin."