The Villainess Wants To Retire-Chapter 271: THE EMPTY BED

SOREN

I entered my chambers expecting warmth.

Not literal heat, though that too, given Eris’s natural temperature ran hotter than normal humans, but her presence. The way she made spaces feel occupied even when sleeping, the subtle shift in atmosphere that said someone important was here.

But the bed was empty.

Undisturbed sheets, pillows arranged exactly as servants left them, no indication anyone had been there at all. Confusion hit first, followed immediately by disappointment sharp enough to surprise me with its intensity.

Had I truly driven her away that completely? One evening of distracted conversation and she’d decided my chambers, our chambers, really, since she’d been sleeping here lately, were no longer where she wanted to be?

I caught a guard stationed outside my door before he could fully retreat. "Lady Eris. Have you seen her?"

He bowed slightly, uncomfortable. "Yes, Your Majesty. She returned to her own chambers approximately an hour ago."

Her own chambers. The temporary rooms in the guest wing that she’d barely used since arriving at the palace. Cold, formal spaces meant for visiting dignitaries rather than future empresses.

"Thank you," I dismissed him and stood alone in my doorway, torn between conflicting instincts.

Should I seek her out? I wanted to, gods, I wanted even a glimpse of her, wanted to apologize properly for being absent during our earlier conversation, wanted to explain without making excuses.

But maybe she needed space. Maybe I’d upset her more than I realized and going to her chambers uninvited would only make things worse.

Maybe she was finally sleeping, properly resting for the first time in days, and disturbing her would be selfish indulgence of my own needs rather than consideration for hers.

The internal debate lasted approximately thirty seconds before the pull became irresistible.

I was already walking, boots echoing through empty corridors, heading toward the guest wing where temporary chambers housed nobles and foreign visitors. Guards nodded as I passed, none questioning why their emperor wandered the palace well past midnight.

I reached her door and knocked softly. Once. Twice.

No answer.

"Your Majesty." A different guard, stationed at the corridor’s end. "Lady Eris isn’t in her chambers. She went for a walk approximately twenty minutes ago."

Of course she did. Because sleeping at reasonable hours was apparently optional when one had political wars to wage and missing maids to locate.

But I knew where she’d gone. Intuited it with the certainty that came from... what? Knowing her? Understanding how her mind worked? Or just recognizing that when I needed to think, I sought cold and silence, and maybe she sought beauty and solitude.

The Eastern gardens. Where ice roses bloomed year-round and frost-touched flora created landscape that looked mythical under moonlight.

I found her seated on marble bench among the flowers, moonlight painting everything silver and shadow. Her pale hair caught the glow like captured starlight, making her look less like woman and more like something from ancient stories, ice maiden, winter spirit, goddess who’d descended from frozen heavens to walk among mortals briefly before returning to divine realms.

The scene felt impossible. Mythical.

It reminded me viscerally of the first time I’d seen her like this in Solmire, sitting in her garden surrounded by flame-colored flowers, firelight making her hair glow like winter fire. Same ethereal quality. Same sense that I was witnessing something I had no right to see.

She appeared lost in thought, utterly still except for slight movement of her chest with each breath. There was a button in her hand, turned over and over with absent focus.

I froze, breathless from her beauty alone. Not the superficial kind that faded with familiarity, but the sort that hit harder each time, recognizing intelligence behind those eyes, strength in that posture, fire contained in human form.

I approached slowly, boots crunching on frost-covered path. She didn’t stir, didn’t acknowledge my presence even though she absolutely knew I was there. Eris always knew, had that predator’s awareness of everything in her environment.

I cleared my throat dramatically when I reached the bench. "You’re up late."

"You’re not one to talk." Her response came without looking at me, voice flat and uninviting.

The jab landed despite, or maybe because of, its accuracy. I chuckled despite the tension, settling onto the bench beside her. Close enough to feel her warmth but not touching, leaving space she could claim or close as she chose.

She still wouldn’t look at me.

I opened my mouth to apologize, to explain about the archives and the spiral and everything that had made me distant earlier,

"Tell me about House Ravencrest," Eris cut me off cleanly.

The shift caught me off-balance. "What?"

"House Ravencrest. Their history, political position, power structure. Everything you know about Isolde and her brothers." She finally turned to look at me, expression unreadable. "I need information."

So I told her.

About the Ravencrest lineage, old blood, ice-blessed like most noble houses but with particular specialty in shadow-weaving magic that made them excellent spies.

About their political maneuvering over the years, always backing winning sides, always positioning themselves for maximum advantage.

About Isolde specifically, Vetra’s lady-in-waiting, ambitious, ruthless beneath the elegant façade. Her brothers Daemon and Kael, military and charm respectively, both dangerous in different ways.

"Is Ravencrest your next target?" I asked when I’d finished.

"You’ll see." Her smile was cold, predatory, the expression she wore when planning someone’s systematic destruction.

I felt it viscerally, an actual chill down my spine that had nothing to do with ice magic. Threat radiating from her like heat from forge, promise of violence wrapped in two simple words.

She was going to destroy them. Completely. And part of me, the part that understood revenge, that knew what it meant to carry justified fury, wanted to help. 𝗳𝚛𝚎𝚎𝘄𝕖𝕓𝕟𝕠𝚟𝚎𝕝.𝗰𝕠𝐦

"Eris, about earlier, " I tried again.

She stood abruptly, cutting off whatever apology I’d been constructing. "I’m retiring to my chambers Your Majesty."

She didn’t wait for response, just started walking away like our conversation was finished, like sitting together in moonlit garden meant nothing worth extending.

I grabbed her hand before thought caught up with instinct. "It’s not fair that you don’t even allow me to enjoy your company."

The words came out more plaintive than intended, revealing hurt I’d meant to keep hidden.

Eris’s response came cold enough to frost the air between us. "I’m sure you don’t need that. You’re probably occupied with other important things rather than indulge in pointless chat."

Pointless chat.

The words hit like blade between ribs.

She pulled her hand free with easy strength and walked away, leaving me sitting alone among ice roses that suddenly felt less beautiful, more like accusations blooming in frozen soil.

I stayed there for several minutes after she’d gone, trying to understand what had just happened. Was she angry at me specifically? Or was the coldness about the Ravencrests, about Mira’s disappearance, about everything piling up until she had no warmth left to spare?

But the hurt lingered regardless of cause. She’d called our conversation pointless chat. Had dismissed my company like it was burden rather than something I desperately wanted, something I’d been craving since pushing her away earlier.

My self-loathing intensified, familiar darkness rising like old friend I’d tried to keep buried. I hated myself for creating this distance.

But I couldn’t even blame Eris for her reaction. If I’d been distant first, why wouldn’t she respond with coldness? Why would she waste warmth on someone who’d already proven he might not appreciate it?

I sat in the garden until moonlight shifted toward dawn, surrounded by beauty I couldn’t properly see anymore, wondering how to fix something I didn’t fully understand was broken.

And hating every second of not knowing how to reach her when she’d decided walls were safer than vulnerability.