"Villainess No More: The Flight from Fate Begins"

CHAPTER 14

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Chapter 14: "Her Knight in Shining Armor"

"Azele, I bought you a drink!" Lucelio suddenly appeared behind me, placing the glass in front of me and taking a seat in the empty chair beside me.

"Azele, do you know Prince Lucelio?" Prince Leon inquired, his gaze shifting toward Prince Lucelio.

Facepalm Lucelio, why did you reveal yourself?

I pinched my forehead between my eyebrows, feeling a headache coming on due to someone revealing themselves.

In recent days, it wasn't just the capture targets bothering me; Lucelio had also been appearing whenever an opportunity arose. While it would be acceptable if it were Lucelio, the capture targets were a different matter. I felt as though my carefully laid plans might vanish into thin air. Just great!

"Sigh Your Highness, yes, I do know Lucelio. He's my friend," I introduced him, realizing that I had no choice but to admit our friendship.

I glanced at Lucelio, who was smiling broadly at me. He seemed delighted that I had finally acknowledged our friendship. I suspected this was his plan all along – to make our relationship as friends public. I had no other option. Over the past few days, he had been pushing me to reveal our friendship. It had almost felt as if we were secret lovers rather than friends, and that thought made me feel funny, so I decided to reveal it before my imagination ran further.

"When?" Prince Leon inquired, his attention fixed on Lucelio.

"When? Sarcastic Chuckle I became her friend when she finally distanced herself from you," Lucelio responded, surprising me with the coldness in his tone. I looked at Lucelio, who was now coldly regarding Prince Leon.

The prince winced, feeling a pang in his heart.

"Why are you bothering her? After she finally distanced herself from you, you started pestering her. Are you going to hurt her again? Humiliate her again?"

"I've heard about everything you did to her over the years, and I can't help but feel a deep anger toward the four of you. You readily accused people, accusing Azele so many times. As you accused her, you humiliated her. As you humiliated her, you hurt her! Why are you bothering her? Are you seeking forgiveness by doing this? Sarcastic chuckle What? Do you expect that by doing this, you can erase all the pain she felt when you all slapped her so many times? Stop bothering Azele! Stop causing her trouble! Stop hurting her!" He scolded the four men, capturing the attention of everyone, who ceased their activities to listen to his rant about how absurd the four of them were acting.

After all the suffering they had caused Azele, they were suddenly going to say, 'Hey, I'm sorry! Let's be friends from now on. Aren't you lucky?' That was preposterous! Even though they were making every effort to seek forgiveness, Azele had already forgiven them. Why wouldn't they leave her alone?

Why? Because they wanted to ease their troubled consciences. By attempting to befriend Azele, they hoped that the guilt they felt would gradually fade away. Did they think she enjoyed it? Was she satisfied being close to men who had repeatedly hurt her? Was she happy? No! Lucelio understood that Azele was extremely stressed due to these troublesome men who kept pestering her.

Lucelio felt uncomfortable watching his new friend being entangled with people who had hurt her so many times. He couldn't help but be protective of his new little friend.

"Let's go, Azele! And Azele, try not to get too close to them. If they continue bothering you, I'll always be there for you." He gently held my hand, causing my heart to race a few times.