[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"origin-the-villain-s-pov":3,"chapter-the-villain-s-pov-the-villain-s-pov-chapter-185":6},{"origin":4,"title":5},"english","THE VILLAIN'S POV",{"chapter":7,"nextChapterSlug":20,"prevChapterSlug":21,"totalChapters":22,"novelImage":23},{"id":8,"novel_id":9,"title":10,"slug":11,"index":12,"content":13,"wordcount":14,"created_at":15,"updated_at":16,"volume":17,"translator":18,"content_hash":19},336872,598,"Chapter 185 185: Twists of Fate","the-villain-s-pov-chapter-185",185,"\u003Cp>–Frey Starlight's POV–\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>I never imagined I'd end up like this…\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Sitting between two girls, hiding beneath the princess's cloak.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Sansa had done exactly what I expected from the start.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>I was sure she had her own loyal students, just like Aegon.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>That made dealing with the third-years a much more manageable task.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But until all the second-years were gathered,\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>I had to stay here.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>With her.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Sitting beside the princess, I felt… strange.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>After days of fighting and running nonstop since the trial began, this sudden stillness was unfamiliar.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Adriana remained completely isolated.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>She hadn't said a word since Jessica left.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Everyone was quiet.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Only the sound of rainfall filled the space.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Is it always like this between you two, or am I the reason?\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The silence was starting to gnaw at me,\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>so I broke it with a question.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But Sansa simply shook her head.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"No… we've been like this even before you arrived.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Before I arrived, huh.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Does it have to do with the dead monsters outside?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The way those creatures had been slaughtered so violently—\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The injuries made it obvious that whoever killed them was far stronger.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>And that person was sitting right next to me.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>That power Sansa had unleashed…\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>It resembled shadow manipulation,\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>but something about it felt different—its essence was off.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Sansa… that power of yours…\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Don't talk about it.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>She cut me off sharply.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Please.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>So it was a sensitive subject.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Got it.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>I didn't pry.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>I wouldn't ask why she was using something that looked like a demon ability.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>I just… wouldn't.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>She shifted the topic almost immediately.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"But you… of all people… going against Aegon?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Did you finally decide to join the race for the throne?\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Given my influence within the Starlight family,\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>it was a fair question.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"I have no interest in interfering.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>I'll leave the choice to my sister.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Backing one heir meant making an enemy of the other.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>A 50-50 gamble.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>And Aegon had the upper hand,\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>thanks to his achievements—\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>and the fall of the Moonlight family, who had once supported Sansa.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>She, on the other hand, had a powerful story of her own—\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The princess who returned from hell.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>It earned her a lot of support,\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>especially from those who believed in fate.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Surviving something no one else had…\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>To them, it was a miracle.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>After all, everyone who had been with her… had died.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"So… you're staying neutral.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Sansa's expression remained unreadable.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Did I disappoint you?\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Maybe she expected me to support her—\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Especially considering our quiet, unspoken friendship.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But she was surprisingly understanding.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"No…\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>That's just the kind of person you are, Frey.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>You don't get involved in things that don't concern you.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"That's true.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Talking with Sansa was going… oddly well.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Much smoother than with most people.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Maybe it was because I didn't write much about her in the original story.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>I knew very little about her personality.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>In a way… she felt like me.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>An outsider in this world.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>I was someone who wasn't supposed to be here in the first place.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>And she was someone who should've died long ago.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>There was something refreshing about talking to someone whose mind I couldn't predict.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Even though…\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>She seemed to read mine most of the time.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Thinking about Aegon and Sansa,\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>there was something that had been bugging me for a while.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"What happens to the loser?\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"What do you mean?\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>She asked, locking eyes with me.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"The loser of the throne race.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>What happens to them?\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Would they be exiled?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Stripped of their title?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Sansa's answer was… something else entirely.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>She smiled.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>And I realized just how naive I'd been.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Naturally…\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The loser dies.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Dies?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Seriously?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Isn't that… a little much?\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>I mean—\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>They're siblings from the same family.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Sansa shook her head and began to explain…\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"The winner can't allow the other to live…\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>It's an unspoken law when it comes to this kind of battle.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>That's why Father forbade us from killing each other as long as we're inside the Temple.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"That's… too much.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Would they really go that far?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>To kill your own family over a title… even if it's for the Emperor's seat?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>It seemed like Sansa was reading my thoughts, because she continued:\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Even if we don't want to kill each other…\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Our allies will push for it.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>They can't risk letting a wildcard survive and undo everything they've built.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>That's what it means to be children of the royal family.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>We can blame fate for making us this way…\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Or we can blame our father, for deciding to have us both at the same time.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>She hugged her knees and stared quietly into the distance.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Whether it's me or Aegon…\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>At best, one of us will die after our time in the Temple ends.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>That's our fate.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>And what a fate it was…\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"That doesn't suit you, Sansa.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"What do you mean?\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>I looked at the girl sitting next to me.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>I didn't know much about her—only what I'd seen and heard so far.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"You just don't seem made for all that.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>If you ask me, you look more like an ordinary girl…\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Not some tyrant empress ruling from a throne.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>That kind of life suited her more—far more, honestly.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Sansa chuckled quietly at my last comment.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>She could've taken offense… but she didn't.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"I agree with you, Frey.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>I think I'd much rather spend my days lounging around the Temple gardens, playing with flowers… than any of this.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>She toyed with her fingers as if imagining that kind of life.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"But Frey…\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Things don't always go the way we want.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Sometimes, we just have to accept reality.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>She was right.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>I knew that.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But I couldn't accept it.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Because if I did, then everything I'd done until now would be a contradiction.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>If I accepted reality and sat still,\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>That would mean I'd resign myself to being Frey Starlight forever.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But I was working to shatter that reality—by force.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>That was my path.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>As for Sansa?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>I wasn't in any position to tell her what to do.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Maybe a real friend would have.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Sorry…\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>I made you talk about a lot of unpleasant things.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>I apologized, trying to shift the conversation away.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But Sansa didn't seem bothered at all.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"It's fine, Frey.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Talking with you is… welcome here.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>It was better than being trapped in her own thoughts.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Better than that suffocating silence.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Somehow…\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>She seemed like she was suffering more than me.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Maybe I had a light at the end of my tunnel.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Something I was chasing.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But the tunnel she walked …\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>It looked black all the way through.\u003C\u002Fp>",1107,"2026-05-30T03:41:22.346Z","2026-06-01T04:30:13.202Z",1,"novelbin.me","deb738acfb7d90b2f177890df8ae889985d3ba1d3448972b104e8113d0a4fb0d","the-villain-s-pov-chapter-186","the-villain-s-pov-chapter-184",866,"https:\u002F\u002Fnovelzhen.com\u002Fimages\u002Fcovers\u002Fthe-villain-s-pov-cover.jpg"]