The Villainess Wants To Retire-Chapter 265: A crack in reality

But almost immediately, she remembered.

There was one person who never looked at her like that. Not even in her first life.

She glanced sideways at Soren riding silently beside her, alert but lost in his own thoughts. Him. He’d never looked at her with fear or hatred. Curiosity, yes. Like the way one watched fire without touching it. Just simply admiring. Attraction, certainly. Respect and challenge and something warmer that she was terrified to name. But never fear.

She could feel exhaustion clinging to him like second skin, see it in the slight slump of shoulders he thought he was hiding. Once again she felt lost on how to help him.

Usually he’d just do whatever he wanted... pull her close, kiss her all over, lick, bite, whatever made her breathless, demand attention... and she’d let him. But now she didn’t know how to reach him first, how to offer comfort he might not want.

She buried the worry. Soren would be fine. He’d always been fine without her before, had survived years without her presence or concern.

There were others who needed her worry more. Like Mira.

Eris remembered the last time she’d seen the girl... the morning of the Star-Shard ritual, she seemed unusual. Eris had assumed overthinking, paranoia born of stress. But now she wondered if she’d been wrong, if Mira had been trying to tell her something without words.

She hoped desperately that Mira was fine. Because if not... if something had happened to that shy girl who’d followed her empress to foreign land...

She didn’t need to complete the thought in her mind..

They dismounted at the main reconstruction camp where Ryse had established command center. Soren immediately shifted into Emperor mode, accepting reports about progress and setbacks, issuing orders with precision that came from years of ruling.

There were hindrances... beasts from the forest drawn by the fire and chaos, attacking workers on the district’s edges. Supply shortages for certain materials. Disagreements about reconstruction priorities. 𝘧𝓇𝑒𝑒𝑤ℯ𝑏𝓃𝘰𝑣ℯ𝘭.𝘤ℴ𝘮

Soren handled each issue methodically, making decisions that balanced immediate needs against long-term planning.

He arranged comfortable chair for Eris near the command tent. "Sit. Rest. I need to scout the surroundings, assess the beast situation personally."

Then he left with half the guards, expecting obedience.

Of course Eris didn’t listen.

She stood the moment he was out of sight and started walking through the camp with Ryse trailing behind like exasperated nursemaid.

"Your Majesty, His Majesty specifically said... "

"I know what he said." Eris watched workers hauling timber, mages using ice magic to stabilize damaged foundations. "I’m just looking. Not interfering."

Ryse made sound that suggested he didn’t believe that for a second.

Eris observed for several minutes, mind working through problems she could actually solve. Fire magic had useful applications beyond destruction... heat for forging, controlled melting for water access, thermal energy for keeping displaced families warm through winter nights.

"I can help," she said abruptly.

Ryse looked alarmed. "Your Majesty, that’s not necessary... "

"I have fire magic that’s currently going unused while people freeze and reconstruction slows." She turned to face him directly. "I can create controlled heat sources for metalwork. Melt ice for water without damaging infrastructure. Provide thermal shelters for families who’ve lost homes."

She could see him calculating... political risk versus practical benefit, danger of citizens reacting badly versus genuine need for help he couldn’t refuse.

His fear of her won the internal debate. "Fine. But carefully. And if anyone reacts badly, you stop immediately."

They started with metalwork. The forge had been damaged in the attack, but smith was still working with makeshift setup that couldn’t generate proper heat. Eris stood at safe distance and channeled controlled flame, heating metal to exact temperatures needed for reforging tools and structural supports.

The smith watched nervously at first, then with growing appreciation as work that should have taken hours was accomplished in minutes.

Next came water. Ice blocked several wells and natural springs that survivors needed. Eris melted it carefully, precisely, channeling heat into specific points rather than flooding everything with uncontrolled fire.

Workers began gathering to watch. Some still fearful, backing away when she approached. But others started warming... seeing genuine care, seeing power used to help rather than harm, seeing the Fire Queen working alongside them rather than commanding from distance.

She created thermal pockets in temporary shelters, small sustained heat sources that would keep families warm through nights without requiring constant fuel. Nothing fancy, just practical magic applied to practical problems.

A tiny fraction of citizens began looking at her differently. Not with love... that would take more time, more proof. But with something less hostile than before. Cautious acceptance. Tentative gratitude.

It was more than she’d expected. More than she’d had in Solmire despite ruling there for years.

Meanwhile, Soren scouted the forest surrounding the outer districts with his remaining guards.

Beasts had been reported... wolves grown bold from the chaos, possibly drawn by scent of blood and fear. But Soren wasn’t particularly concerned about normal wildlife. They usually kept to themselves, and the fire from the demon attack would have driven most deeper into the woods rather than toward human settlement.

His horse moved carefully between trees, hooves crunching on snow and fallen branches. Guards spread out in formation, searching for tracks or signs of recent animal activity.

Then Soren heard it.

Faint sound, like ice cracking under pressure. Sharp. Unnatural. Coming from deeper in the forest.

"Did you hear that?" He pulled his horse to stop.

The guards looked at each other, confused. "Hear what, Your Majesty?"

"That cracking sound. Like... " He listened again. There. Definitely there, growing slightly louder. "You don’t hear it?"

They shook their heads, expressions suggesting concern that their emperor might be hallucinating from exhaustion.

"Keep scouting," Soren ordered. "I’m going to investigate. Regroup at the camp in an hour."

Before they could protest, he urged his horse forward, following the sound that apparently only he could detect.

The forest changed as he went deeper.

Subtly at first... trees seeming slightly wrong, shadows falling at angles that didn’t quite match the sun’s position. Then more dramatically... reality itself appearing to bend, space feeling compressed and stretched simultaneously.

His horse started acting up, ears flat, nostrils flaring, dancing sideways as though sensing something profoundly unnatural ahead.

Soren dismounted, leaving the horse tied to sturdy tree. Continued on foot.

The cracking sound grew louder, more insistent, pulling him forward like summons he couldn’t ignore.

Then he saw it.

A veil. Thin, translucent, stretching vertical like invisible wall. And running through its center... a crack. Jagged, spreading slowly, edges glowing with light that hurt to look at directly.

Soren froze.

He’d seen this before. Once. When he was much younger... ten, maybe eleven. Memory wasn’t clear, fogged by time and the way children’s minds processed impossible things. But he knew with absolute certainty this wasn’t the first time he’d witnessed crack in reality itself.

Every sense he possessed screamed wrong. Like a crack on reality itself. This shouldn’t exist. Couldn’t exist. The laws governing their world didn’t permit holes between realms, between what was and what shouldn’t be.

But simultaneously he felt drawn to it. Compelled. Like recognizing something that had always been part of him, calling across distance to be reunited.

Magic activated without conscious direction... ice flowing from his hands, frost spreading across ground, his entire being resonating with whatever power emanated from that crack.

He stepped closer. Raised one hand toward the glowing fissure.

Just before his fingers touched...

A scream.

Distant but clear, coming from the direction where he’d left his men.

Soren jerked back, torn between investigating the impossible thing before him and protecting his guards from whatever had made them scream.

Duty won.

He turned and ran back through the warped forest, leaving the crack behind, unaware that it pulsed once... brightly, hungrily... before fading back to dormancy.