Chapter Thirty-Two: Villain Arc

Fair warning. This is going to be a longer chapter than normal. :')

Poppy's POV

'Poppy! Are you stupid! You can't even do a simple multiplication problem? Your sisters were already doing Algebra at your age!' Evan Art slapped his ruler on my desk.

I just learned what numbers were last week. Stop screaming at me.

•

'Hey Princess? You gave Pricilla this potion that healed her sprained hand? Um, can I have a little bit of that? I cut my hand doing laundry earlier.'

'Of course!'

Though I know the truth is that you're going to sell the potion for money.

•

'Happy Birthday Poppy!' My parents hugged me. 'How old are you turning?!'

You say it like it's a compliment, but I know you've actually forgotten. 'I'm this many,' I held out a full had of fingers and the other with only three. 'Eight years old? Oh you're getting so big!'

I won't see you again until next year. Better make the most of it now.

•

'Poppy! Do you know that you won't be able to get married if you keep up such brutish hobbies?' My brother nagged.

I don't care. It makes me happy.

'You can't even cast magic without getting hurt anyways. What's the point of trying so hard. Go learn something more useful as a princess. Like sewing!'

I did learn how to sew after that day. It didn't change anything. No one cared about what I sewed. They just cared that I was acting more 'princess like.'

•

"I will now announce your birthday present." The king glanced at the man beside me. "Princess Poppy you are here by betrothed to the Duke, Loki Frost." My whole body went cold. 'Loki Frost?'

Tears brimmed in my eyes. 'They hate me. They really hate me!'

What was father even thinking?

•

Wilbur calmly stood up and walked to the entrance of the room. I was about to ask were he was going but then Loki popped up in the entrance. He looked at me and then out the window. I stood up to follow the Duke but then he and Wilbur were gone in a flash.

He had left me there.

I-

He abandoned you princess.

Yes, but-

•

I put my hands in front me and braced myself for the recoil. "Tornado." A rush of wind twisted and flung half the monsters into the air, cutting them into pieces. My arms felt like they were being stabbed from the inside out. 'Not enough.' I touched my palms together, and with the tips of my fingers I made a gap. "Dragon Breath." Fire burst through my finger tips. Scorching my hands. I knelt down in tears from the pain.

I raised my hands. "Ice storm." Icicles the size of trees filled the sky. I curled me fingers into a fist and all the icicles shot down and killed the last of the monsters.

You could have died that day. He left you there to die Poppy.

•

The world was black. I was in the middle of the void with a spotlight shinning in the middle. The table in the sky was now in the center of this spotlight. I didn't know why but I felt like I needed to sit down. So I did.

"All you have to do is eat this." Aries puffed into the chair across from me. He held up a chocolate cupcake. "Eat this and you will have the power to take revenge on the people who hurt you. Who abandoned you."

•

"What's happening," Aries looked around frantically. The room was now white and the table and cupcake was gone. "We are in my head right?"

•

The room was now yellow. "So I'm going to show you something."

•

"What are you doing?" I eyed the box of cookies at the steps of the lab. Loki was standing far away from the lab when I opened the door to grab the container. "Steven told me you don't like it when people go near your lab. So I'm standing here." Loki pointed to the ground to prove he was standing far away.

I eyed the cookies wearily. "They're not poisoned right? Like another weird way of trying to kill me?"

What's the point of this?

To prove how much of an idiot he is.

Huh?

He is an idiot who doesn't know how to apologize properly. But if he knows he was in the wrong he will try and fix things.

He apologized for almost getting you killed with cookies?

That's why I said he was an idiot! Hahaha!

Oh.

•

Loki led me down the hall. I looked at the blank wall we had stopped at in confusion. "My father used to spend most of his time in here so I had it sealed off after his death." He placed his hand on the wall and crushed the concrete. The weak wall slowly crumbled away. I coughed from the ash and Loki hurriedly apologized.

A door was revealed behind the wall. Loki pushed it open and stepped in first. He offered a hand to me which I gladly took. I held onto him as I climbed over the broken concrete. When I made it inside my eyes widened. It was a library. The roof was a glass doom. The light from the sun overhead made the room look magical. The library was covered in dust and cob webs but the tall book shelves that towered over me were stunning. There were stairs leading to the several floors of books I couldn't wait to read. My heart pulled with anticipation.

I knew that the Duke's father was a sore spot for him. Meaning I also knew that opening this library to me must have been a tough thing for him to do. "Thank you." I grinned up at him.

"I really am thankful. It must have been a hard thing to do by showing me this." Loki looked around the library. "If it makes you this happy then I'm fine. If you want I can have a few maids start cleaning it up now." I nodded against his chest.

•

I showed Erin all the memories of Loki telling me about his past. Him opening up to me so that I could learn to trust him.

•

We were back in the dark room with the table under a spotlight.

"I do agree. I definitely deserve to have my own villain arc. But the thing is. In the times I was hurt I also learned how to heal from it all. The maids who used to bully me learned who I truly was and eventually warmed up to me. Many even came to me apologizing in tears. I may not have gotten apologies from everyone who hurt me but I don't need it to forgive and move on."

"..."

"Once you have burned the world to the ground, what then? You'll be left with a burning world and an empty heart. Doesn't that sound so boring? Just fire every where. Ugh, I get anxious just thinking about it. And what about your sister?"

"What does Angelica have to do with this?"

"She told you that she didn't want to join you because she had already gotten her revenge. But even those memories of the past didn't bring her joy. She doesn't smile when she remembers the pain she caused. She cries. Guess why?"

"..."

"Common, guess!"

"Just tell me."

"No you have to guess. It's more fun that way."

"Fine. Um, because she is weak minded?"

"Wow you do not know you sister at all. She is probably the most strong minded person I've ever meet. She was crying because all revenge did is leave a void in her heart. But she did it so you didn't have to."

"..."

"Anyways you made big mistake going in my head. I'm in here everyday. Do you think I don't have complete control over it?"

"Wha-"

"Prepare to learn what someone who has spent eighteen years talking to herself can do!"