I will not die a Villainess's death

'H-Huh? W-What is going on here?'

Elysia's mind was a mess but her body seemed to be enjoying her current predicament. It did not help that her body felt the heat's effects.

The deeper Elysia was kissed, the more she felt her mind sinking into that empty darkness of before. It made her want to pull the person kissing her closer.

"Adam, that's not fair. You need to let her breathe."

The man kissing Elysia did not let go. He deepened the kiss, not allowing Elysia to break away or to even breathe.

'I'm going to suffocate.'

Elysia knocked on the chest behind him to be let go. Her neck was being held at an awkward angle that made breathing difficult for Elysia.

Not to mention, it was embarrassing to be kissed like this in front of Eve.

'I…this shouldn't be happening. I need to make Adam let go.'

The growls that were coming out of Adam's mouth sounded inhuman. Elysia was more than sure that the smoke from before had affected his common sense as well.

'Maybe he's feeling the same heat I am. That must be why Adam is like this.'

The lack of common sense coupled with those instincts must be the reason Adam had jumped at Elysia like this. She was likely the first thing he saw to relieve himself.

But there was no need for Adam to behave like this toward her. Not when he had Eve with him to help him out.

Elysia had not seen this coming in her visions but she had known that Adam and Eve were supposed to begin developing feelings toward each other near this time period.

"Adam, she's turning blue. Let her go now."

Elysia's mouth was released in an abrupt manner, her lack of breathing forcing Elysia to take gulps of oxygen.

"Stop bothering us. Can't you see that I am busy right now?"

Even Adam's voice had the inhuman growl present in it. A normal person would have backed down with fear but not Eve.

She stood her ground in front of the Crown Prince, her eyes blazing. Elysia half-expected Eve to cook Adam right then and there.

But the taller female did not do so. Instead of raining down on Adam for his unfaithfulness, Eve chose to pull Elysia up and cup her face.

Elysia couldn't even put off resistance against Eve's hands. Nor could she turn away from the burning blue of Eve's eyes.

"Darn. Did that smoke affect you as well? If you give me such seductive eyes then it will become difficult for me to hold back either."

"Hey, I can help her out. Outsiders need not butt in our relationship. I am the one engaged to her, not you."

The two voices reached Elysia's ear one after the other but it was difficult to make much sense of what they were saying.

All Elysia knew was that her body was boiling and Adam seemed to be suffering from the same heat.

'I should leave them alone. I need to find the antidote for myself.'

Elysia tried to stand up on her own but her legs gave in. Her body sank to the ground but her head did not hit it.

Instead, Eve found herself being pulled into a soft place.

"I made it in time. Elysia, you need to stop scaring me like this."

Eve was the one holding on to her body. Her familiar and soft hands massaged Elysia's shoulders and it felt really good.

Everywhere the hands touched, a wave of coolness seemed to be seeping in. It drove away the heat Elysia was feeling.

Maybe that was why Elysia let out a moan which caused the other two to pause.

"..."

"..."

Two pairs of heated gazes met Elysia and her mind blanked out. She reached out toward Eve's face to pull her down but their lips never met.

Before Elysia could initiate the kiss, her brain reminded her of a few facts.

'I cannot kill Eve again. This is not right. I need to leave right now.'

The sudden stroke of clear-headedness was like a ray of light in a dark tunnel. It finally reminded Elysia about the reasons she could not allow herself to sway.

Getting involved like this with Adam and Eve was asking for disaster. It was a sure-about way to die a painful death and Elysia needed to avoid it at all costs.

It took everything Elysia had to pull her body away from the cold wave Eve was pouring into her body. But this was a luxury Elysia could not allow herself to experience.

"Elysia, what are you doing? You cannot leave this room in your current condition."

Eve's sounded angry and worried. It was nice to see someone showing such emotions for Elysia but she hated the reason Eve had ended up here.

Elysia refused to look at Eve or Adam's burning eyes at her side. The man might have kissed her outright and with passion but that was likely a fluke.

Elysia needed to give the fated pair some room to figure their feelings out.

'They're just confused right now. I should leave them alone.'

"Eve, you should help Adam out with his problem. I still have some work to do as the Dirac representative so I will leave first."

"Elysia, you are in no condition to.."

"Let her go. We cannot force her to stay here if she doesn't want to."

Eve started to protest but Adam stopped her before Eve could finish her request. The Crown Prince's eyes were burning into Elysia, asking her to back down.

But Elysia would not allow herself to. It was not right for her to be with the fated pair at such a delicate time.

The pair watched Elysia run away from the room in a hurry. But no words were exchanged until Elysia was gone from the room.

Only once she was gone did Eve turn toward Adam with a mad expression.

"What did you do that for? Elysia needed our help. She is as bad a shape as you are."

Eve's thunderous voice echoed inside the room but it did not seem to be phasing the Crown Prince.

Instead of looking intimidated, Adam looked thoughtful.

"She did not reject our touch so she must not find us disgusting. I do not want to press her into anything she doesn't want to do. But I have noticed that Elysia seems hesitant to close the gap between us and her."

Eve had a few words to say but even she quietened down at Adam's words. This was something she had noticed as well but did not know how to bring up.

Every time Eve tried to bridge the gap between her and Elysia, the black-haired girl just made excuses to put even more distance between them.

It had been challenging at first but it was just annoying now.

The worst part of it all was, that Eve could see that something was bothering Elysia a lot but the other girl never came to Eve with her problems.

It was like she did not consider Eve trustworthy to help her out.

"Sooooo, what are we going to do now? Hey, don't give me that look. I am offering to help you for Elysia's sake so don't get any twisted ideas inside your head."

Adam had a disgusted look on his face at Eve's offer. He did not have to look at her like that since Eve was not asking him to cooperate for the fun of it.

Had it not been for Elysia, Eve doubted if she and Adam would even see eye-to-eye on any matter.

"Fine. I will take this tentative truce for now. But the second you become a burden to me, I will end this truce."

"Fine by me. I have no intention of playing nice with you my whole life as well. And also, d something about that erection of yours. Looking at you is making me uncomfortable."

Eve got a poisonous glare for her efforts and a fierce 'Get out' before she felt the main door of the room close behind her.

She had an idea what the Crown Prince would be doing to help himself out but Eve had no intention of staying behind to wait for him.

They might be cooperating, for now, to figure out why Elysia was breaking away from their friendship but that did not mean they were in it together to woo her together as well.

Eve did not want to share Elysia with Adam and the other teen likely had the same idea as her.

'I should use this time to find Elysia. Her complexion did not look good when she left the room. She might need my help with her condition.'

For a second, the image of that heat-flushed gaze flashed across Eve's eyelids and her face went red. Her lips tingled at the reminder of the kiss she had shared with Elysia as well.

She could still not believe that had happened. Everything had happened so fast that Eve had not even gotten to bask in the moment before it had been pulled away.

But if she found Elysia right now, then maybe it could lead to something more and deeper. Maybe Elysia would allow Eve to help her ride out the drugs?

'Don't think useless thoughts. We need to solve this case first. The people of Kelvin town are counting on us to save them. We cannot disappoint them.'

Eve found her mind torn between duty and desire. But in the end, she decided to help solve this case before anything else.

She knew that would be what Elysia want from her and Eve did not want to disappoint her.

_________________________________

Meanwhile, Elysia ran through the corridors without any purpose in mind. She could not feel where she was going without her magic.

And that made navigation much more difficult for her. She had no idea what kind of place she was in and what kind of difficulties she would face.

Elysia did have an advantage over the others in her situation and that was her body. Elysia was so thankful for the Head Priest's harsh training that allowed her to still stop the small trick and attacks that were trying to stop her.

And it was because of these fast reflexes that Elysia managed to twist her body in time to stop the Dhampir's teeth from sinking into her arm.

The knife Elysia was using was bloody and embedded in the Dhampir's jaws. But the creature just pulled it out and gave Elysia a bloody smile.

"I am back. Did you miss me?"