I will not die a Villainess's death

<anno data-annotation-id="f35642c7-9bf4-46a5-456f-69f3f301b801">"Let's start with our first lesson of the day, the history and antique section. Lord Dirac has told me that there is no need to engage you in weapon practice or magic techniques. So we shall start with what is important next."</anno>

Elysia nodded as her teacher took a seat on her left.

The man had a gentle glance but something about his attention was disturbing to Elysia. She wanted to creep away from him as far as she could.

And it was not even about his 'evil' aura. Something about the man was just 'off' to Elysia's senses.

"You need to start from here and then progress slowly through…woohhhh, be careful with that knife. It could have just hit me."

Elysia flinched as a knife embedded itself between her hand and her tutor's. Sora's glaring face forced her teacher to straighten his back with a forced laugh.

"You are here to teach so don't make unnecessary advances. Do not forget your place."

Sora's mood was volatile today. And it was also not the first time he had tried harming Victor and this didn't look like the last either.

Truth be told, Elysia was also not a big fan of the excessive body contact her tutor was used to. She was just thankful that he was not doing it actively.

Tying to touch Elysia's hand once or placing her finger at the right spot seemed like an unconscious action on the man's part.

He was also quick to apologize once he was caught. Like right now, the apologies were flowing out of Victor's mouth.

"I'm sorry I slipped again. I will try hard to control my actions next time. It's just, Lady Dirac is beautiful and I am a sucker for beautiful things."

'Wow, what a smooth talker. I think it would have made anyone else's heart skip a beat.'

The man had a silky smooth voice that excluded charm and power. But it was too bad that Elysia was not attracted to him at all.

She had lived her life knowing that she would need to dedicate it to her survival and the 'chosen pair'. So she was not interested in pursuing anything romantic.

"If you continue like this then your face will suck soon as well. Do not test my patience or I will leave you to the wild beasts once the petrol starts."

Sorias's annoyed voice was back. It was also accompanied by a glare and a lightning spell right behind Elysia.

Victor yelped as he forced his arm away from behind Elysia. She had not even realized that her tutor had an arm behind her like that.

The maids that looked on from afar were gossiping about this incident between themselves but they quietened down as well when Sora turned his attention toward them.

"Ouch, this hurt. I think I will need to step out for a few seconds."

Victor forced a smile on his face as Elysia watched him leave. She knew that she should not be glad to see someone hurt but Elysia felt relieved to see the man leave her side.

"You should tell Lucas about Victor and what he is trying to pull. I can see that you feel uncomfortable with him so you should speak up. I am sure your brother will not ignore your words."

Well, it was not like Elysia would need to speak with Lucas. Sorias would take that honor himself and see to it that this man was thrown out of the house asap.

Victor was already crossing boundaries he should not and Elysia was just uncomfortable at this point.

"I don't think now is the best time to do so. I mean, Victor is someone recommended by the Head Butler and if I accuse him without any proof then it might sour the relationship between my brother and the Head Butler. I don't want that."

Ah, so it was not about trusting Lucas but about his well-being? This did make more sense to Sorias even if he did not agree with Elysia's thinking.

But then again, the thing about proof would be a big issue. The maids were turning blind eye to everything that happened with Elysia. Lucas would believe them but the Head Butler might not.

And the rumors would become a problem for Elysia if the servants did not control their tongue. But still…..

"I am sure your brother would rather see you being comfortable than save a doomed relationship finally falling. You should not compromise on matters such as these."

Elysia just sighed at her familiar's words. She did acknowledge that fact in her heart but her head was more sensible.

"I can still endure and I am sure that nothing bad would happen to me with your around. All we have to do is to stick together for this week and we will get through this mess."

Elysia was not one to be optimistic but having someone at her side did massively for her confidence.

Things would be alright. Things had to be alright.

…..

Things were not alright once the Soldier's drill started that evening. Everything was disorderly and it consumed all of Lucas's time and effort. Sorias had hardly seen him moving around the place.

And then there was the mess with the living arrangement.  Whosoever had made the room assignments would find himself six feet under the ground once Sorias was done with them.

They had not only placed Elysia at the far corner of the camp which was a vulnerable area, but they had also not placed any servants nearby.

Compared to Elysia, Sorais and Lucas have their camps near the center of the establishment with other soldiers.

It would have been one thing if Elysia would have been placed with the female soldiers but she was put even further from the servant quarters.

She had been isolated on purpose and it was obvious why.

Everyone was hoping that something would finally happen to her and she would die. The soldiers and the servants, everyone seemed to be in on the plan.

But not on Soriass's watch. He would not allow their plan to go through.

_________________________________

"Lucas, are you looking at this shit! How did this manage to get past our noses."

Lucas was nursing a small headache inside his tent when Sorias barged in on the scene. The familiar had a pissed-off expression which indicated that something had gone extremely wrong.

'What is it now? I swear that these servants are getting on my nerve. There are too many mistakes this time around.'

The military drill was a yearly event and the servants knew how to handle and budget it. Heck, Hector could take care of this event on his own as well if it was needed.

Then where in the world were these mistakes coming from? Mismanagement of numbers, food supply lacking, and even people quitting left and right.

Someone was deliberately messing around with their arrangements.

"What happened now? Things could not get any worse at this point."

"Look at this."

At that point, things began to deteriorate. For so long, Lucas had been preoccupied with other matters that he had forgotten about the tenting arrangements and had left them to the soldiers.

And what did he get for his trust? Utter failure to complete his orders.

"These are the same camping arrangements from last time. Did they dare to push Elysia to the outskirts like this just because it would be extra work for them to make space for her near me?"

Lucas wanted to tear apart the quarter map he held in his hand.

He did not need to recheck the map to know that Elysia had been placed right on the outskirts of their camp. It was the more vulnerable position one could be in.

"That's not all. That *bastard*, I mean Victor's tent is nearby her as well. Didn't we specifically ask for that not to be the case?"

Lucas sighed as he put the paper down. This was something he needed to address immediately.

"Call the Head Butler here as soon as possible. I need to have a word with him."

As much as Lucas did not want to fight with Hector, he had to make things clear to him. He had trusted his Head Butler to look after things but this was a breach of trust.

If the man could not even be trusted with this small matter of housing arrangements, then how could Lucas ever ask him to look after Elysia?

"Lucas, you need to calm down and deal with this situation with a calm head. We don't know who was responsible for this mess."

It was hypocritical of Sorias to say this when he went off the rail as soon as the Head Butler entered the tent.

"YOU! EXPLAIN THE MEANING OF THIS TO ME?"

The paper was snatched out of Lucas's hand and handed over to Hector in a matter of seconds.

The Head Butler looked surprised to have the paper suddenly in his hand but he soon had a face of understanding when he looked at his Lord.

"I can explain what happened Lord Dirac-"

"I don't want an explanation, I want this fixed. Locate Elysia near mine and Sorias's tents in the next hour or I will fire you."

The Head Butler had a pinched expression on his face. Lucas was sure that his demand must be looking quite childish to Hector but Lucas did not care.

What did these fools know of the 'real' him? All they saw was the mask of the 'perfect' duke he put up for their sake.

"My Lord, you need to calm down. The reason we separated Lady Dirac from you was that she causes your emotions to fluctuate. I'm afraid that the drill will not go smoothly if she's nearby."

"My emotions have nothing to do with this drill. Hector, do you think I am so incompetent to not be able to control myself? Don't look down on me."

Lucas knew that he was not displaying the most stable behavior and he was only proving Hector's point.

But surely he was not in the wrong here. These people had dared to isolate Elysia and that was an offense to the Dirac name as well as Lucas's pride as an elder brother.

Hector's complicated expression made it seem like it would not be possible to do.

"My lord, we are mostly males here. I am afraid that the central clearing is not a 'safe' place for my Lady's reputation. And the female camp side is already over-flowing. We cannot make any space there as well."

Lucas had to give it to these servants. They had made this plan work out flawlessly.

"Then, let me relocate near Ely. I can see that Victor's tent is nearby her so I am willing to change with her. Won't it be alright with you, Head Butler? Lucas?"

Sorias's suggestion was outrageous as well but it was marginally better to have him near Elysia than to have Victor near her tent.

"That is something that can be arranged. Then, I will go and make preparations soon."

Lucas took on a deep breath as he heard the Head Butler agree with him so easily. So this was why Hector had played along with the servant's plans.

He wanted this outcome to happen from the start.

<annotations style="display: none;"><ol class="tinymce-annotation-container"><li data-annotation-id="f35642c7-9bf4-46a5-456f-69f3f301b801">For anyone wondering how Elysia is able to read her despite not having a good vision - she's using brail here for now. She learned to adapt.</li></ol></annotations>",