Not The Villain

Chapter 92

The following morning, the chest was the first thing I looked at.

It sat on the small wooden table beside my bed exactly where I'd left it, looking as innocent and infuriating as ever. I narrowed my eyes at it.

"You know, for an ancient magical artifact, you're remarkably committed to being unhelpful."

"Open."

Nothing happened. I frowned.

"I said open."

Still nothing.

I cleared my throat dramatically and placed both hands on the lid. "I, Cassiane Ardentia, future owner of whatever questionable treasure you're hiding, hereby command you to open."

Silence. "...Please?"

The chest remained profoundly uninterested. I narrowed my eyes. "You're being difficult."

It continued existing in an annoyingly chest-like manner. I lifted it, turned it upside down, and gave it an experimental shake. Nothing rattled inside. Either it was empty, or whatever was inside had an excellent sense of balance.

"Maybe knock?" I muttered, rapping twice on the lid. "Anybody home?"

Still nothing. Then I remembered the ugly compass Benedict had given me. I took it out of my satchel and tried placing it near the wooden chest, hoping it would stick to it like a magnet. Nothing at all.

Taking a slow breath, I let a thin stream of silver magic flow from my fingertips. It slipped into the carved runes decorating the lid. For one hopeful heartbeat... nothing. The magic fizzled out as though the chest had swallowed it whole.

"Hm."

I tried again, this time with a slightly stronger pulse. The carvings shimmered faintly before falling dark once more. I frowned harder. "Come on..."

Another attempt. Then another. Each one ended the exact same way. The chest accepted every trace of magic without the slightest intention of opening.

I leaned back in my chair. "Fine. Be mysterious."

The chest, unsurprisingly, declined to comment. I sighed, picked it up, and carried it to the dining.

Benedict was already awake, humming to himself while stirring something in a pot that smelled suspiciously like burnt herbs. Muffin trotted faithfully behind me, stopping every few steps to investigate invisible mysteries that only foxes apparently understood.

"Morning," Benedict said cheerfully.

"It smells like something died."

"It did."

I blinked. "...That wasn't the answer I was expecting."

"It was the herbs."

"That somehow makes me feel worse."

Before he could elaborate on his culinary crimes, the front door opened. Rhaevan stepped inside, his gaze immediately finding the chest tucked under my arm.

"You're carrying it everywhere."

"I've developed separation anxiety."

He furrowed his brow in confusion, totally new to the terminology, then shook his head, refusing to entertain the thought further.

I placed the chest carefully on the table. "Any luck?" Rhaevan asked.

I shook my head, disappointed. "I've tried everything. It won't budge an inch."

Rhaevan studied me quietly before speaking. "In the mine, following the explosion, you said it was calling to you."

I nodded. "Yes, it did. I felt it..." I paused, placing a hand on my chest. "...in here."

He thought for a moment. "That happened after your magic awakened in the mine..."

I looked at him. "I've tried magic. It didn't work."

He folded his arms. "When your magic awakened..." His eyes met mine. "Were you casting a spell?"

I shook my head. "No."

"Did you know what you were doing?"

"No."

A pause. "What were you thinking?"

His question hung between us. What was I thinking?

For a brief moment, the cottage disappeared.

I was back inside the collapsing mine: the deafening roar of crumbling stone, the Solithium weapon humming with terrifying power, and Rhaevan standing between me and the explosion with his arms around me.

I remembered the fear that had clawed its way into my chest, and the desperate thought that had drowned out everything else: Please... please don't let him die.

The memory hit me with startling clarity. Heat rushed to my face.

Absolutely not. There was no universe in which I was admitting that aloud.

"...Cassiane?"

I blinked and forced myself back to the present. "I..." I cleared my throat. "I panicked."

Rhaevan waited.

"I don't really remember thinking about anything specific," I shrugged, trying very hard to appear casual. "Everything was collapsing. I just... reacted."

His eyes rested on me for another moment. After a long silence, he simply inclined his head. "I see."

That somehow made me feel even more guilty.

Benedict scratched his chin thoughtfully. "So you found the chest after your magic emerged."

"But not to the magic itself," Rhaevan added quietly. "It reacted to whatever caused it."

I looked down at the carved lid. "So..."

"...we don't know what that was," I finished quickly.

Rhaevan's gaze flickered toward me again. "No." His answer was calm. "If you don't know... then we'll have to find another way."

The conversation ended there. Benedict returned to his herbs, and Muffin-having decided none of us were interesting anymore-curled into a sunny patch on the floor and promptly fell asleep.

I, on the other hand, spent the next hour glaring at the chest as though sheer annoyance might intimidate it into cooperating. It didn't.

By evening, I admitted defeat.

I carried the chest back to my room and placed it beside the bed with considerably less care than an ancient magical artifact probably deserved. It remained perfectly unimpressed.

"You're impossible," I informed it.

Silence.

"I've met stubborn people before." I thought of Rhaevan. "...Actually, never mind."

The chest was winning.

I sat on the floor with my back against the bed, pulling my knees close. Outside, the last rays of sunlight faded beyond the trees, and the cottage grew quiet. For the first time that day, there was nobody asking questions, nobody watching-just me, and a remarkably difficult box.

"You know," I muttered, resting a hand on the lid, "I don't even know why I'm talking to you."

A pause. "Maybe because everyone else keeps expecting me to know what I'm doing."

I let out a quiet laugh. "They're going to be very disappointed."

My fingers traced one of the silver carvings. "I don't understand this magic. I never asked for it. I don't know why it keeps choosing the worst possible moments to appear."

I swallowed. "And honestly... I'm scared of it."

The room remained silent.

"I keep thinking... what if next time I lose control? What if someone gets hurt because of me? What if..." I smiled bitterly. "What if I really am the disaster everyone keeps expecting me to become?"

My hand tightened slightly over the lid. "I don't want that."

The words were barely above a whisper. "I don't want anything bad to happen to this kingdom because of me."

I closed my eyes. "If you're connected to whatever Theo wanted me to find... then please. I don't need power. I don't need answers. I just..." The words caught in my throat. "...I just want to find a way to protect everyone."

A soft warmth spread beneath my palm.

I frowned. "...What?"

The silver carvings beneath my hand shimmered. One after another, the ancient runes awakened, glowing with the same gentle light I'd seen inside the mine. The glow travelled across the lid in delicate lines.

A quiet... click.

I froze.

Very slowly, the lid lifted on its own by the smallest fraction.

I stared. "...You've got to be kidding me. It opens to emotions? What logical bullshit?!"

The tiny gap between the lid and the chest was unmistakable. It had opened.

I stared at it for exactly three seconds, then shot to my feet. "I did it!"

The words came out far louder than intended. I snatched up the chest and bolted out of my room, my footsteps thundering in the hall until I reached Rhaevan's door, hammering vigorously against it.

"Rhaevan! Rhaevan! Open the door!"

He opened it hurriedly, looking alarmed. "What is it? Are you okay?"

I pushed him aside, entered the room, and excitedly blurted out, "I opened it!"

"What?" he said, locking the door behind us. He looked at me. "Well?"

I blinked. "Well... what?"

"What's inside it?"

"..."

I looked down at the chest, then back at him. "...I didn't look."

He raised an eyebrow.

"I opened the lock," I pointed accusingly at the lid. "But I never actually... opened it. I... I..."

A beat of silence. Then, despite himself, the corner of Rhaevan's mouth lifted.

"You ran here before looking inside."

"I got excited. I thought we could open together...."

He chuckled, "Alright, let's open it together."

Taking a slow breath, I placed the chest carefully on the large oak desk. Rhaevan stood opposite me. For a brief moment, neither of us moved. It felt strangely significant-months of secrets, Theo's mysterious mission, the hidden chamber beneath the mountain. Everything had led here.

"You should do it," Rhaevan said quietly.

I nodded. Resting one hand on the lid, I slowly lifted it the rest of the way.