Unfortunately, instead of confirming her final vision, Prince Artem just looked at Regina… in complete bafflement.

"The stands of a horse race,” he slowly said as his tone grew more heated, “are the opposite of an ideal place for frolicking! How could anyone frolic while pretending to care about tiny men riding around and screaming… and that is not even counting the jockeys!"

Regina did not even bother feeling confused or shaken. 

She already understood what was about to happen.

"In spite of terrifying tiny men," said Regina calmly, "you went to a horse race recently, did you not?"

Artem frowned for a second before his face brightened. 

“Well,” he cheerfully said, “it was not exactly the race but that lovely green in the middle of the track that was so delightful for dancing and had all those lovely pink flowers with lacy interiors-"

"Who won?" Regina interrupted, intently staring the prince in the eyes. "Who won?"

Artem blinked, his throat bobbing as he swallowed, even as his gaze never left hers.

"Prince's Charm," he softly stated.

Regina had to laugh harshly at that before she could speak once again.

"When," Regina said cynically, "does the prince not win?"

It appeared that she had finally met the very shiny blonde man of her literal dreams... and it would not help her in the least. 

Too tired to pretend to be social, Regina murmured, “Never mind. Who knows what this meeting even means? Maybe you just cast some strange magic to disrupt your elder brother’s inheritance and I was caught in the middle.” 

Yet any remaining cynicism she had about the prince’s motives died when he surged forward to stand barely a breath from her, his own gaze suddenly burning.

"I would never," Prince Artem said in a voice so serious and sincere that it made the hairs on the back of Regina's neck stand on end, "dream of challenging Aaron for his position. Whatever else you know of me, my lady, know that this is real.” 

When Regina gazed into Prince Artem’s serious but sincere blue eyes… Regina knew that no one could be that good of an actor.

So, ashamed of her unfair accusation towards a man who had done her no wrong besides showing up in her dreams, Regina mumbled an apology.

Prince Artem just shook his head in turn, looking both sorrowful and resigned.

“I should be the one to apologize,” he said, his voice so gentle and kind that Regina had to fight back tears. "After all, I know that you wish to frolic with me… but are upset that our joyful bounding can never be. I only wish I could help you without hurting my brother. Perhaps I can-”

Yet Regina would never know what Prince Artem intended to offer because they were interrupted by the sudden sound of a large number of rapidly approaching footsteps-

“So you thought,” said one of them with a large sneer, “that you could get away with harassing the future bride of your elder brother?”

The goldfish had a surprisingly blank look on his face as Regina watched in horror as another-Regina was pulled out from the group of men.

Regina suddenly remembered why she had initially planned not to go out into the garden.

With strength she had not realized she possessed, Regina grabbed Prince Artem by the shoulders before throwing the poor man into the nearest hedge like a sack of potatoes…

…and dove right in after him.

There were, Regina realized as she crammed herself on top of Prince Artem in an ornamental bush, a lot of ways two bodies could fit together… and all of them seemed to be very uncomfortable. 

Regina had not been this close to another person since her sister’s death, but she was discovering that trying to find a way to stay within a hedge and not get jabbed by one of Prince Artem’s sharp body parts was a more challenging exercise than she had expected.

“I am honored, my lady,” said Prince Artem, now a very becoming shade of pink, “but even if I am also too enchanted by you to care about the consequences, perhaps we could join together somewhere other than a bush-”

“Be quiet,” said Regina.

Prince Artem was instantly quiet.

Regina precariously balanced herself above his surprisingly firm chest, barely daring to breathe as the footsteps grew louder and louder… 

…and suddenly stopped.

Through the very thin veil of the neatly manicured bush, Regina could see some very expensive shoes, clustered mere feet from her face.

“Where is she?” said a very distinct whine that Regina recognized as the watery blond who had been trying to lure her out to the garden in the first place.

An annoyed low voice replied, “Well you were the one who said that someone told you they had seen the country miss leave and you claimed she had fallen for your charms and obeyed you, even if belatedly. It appears Lady Regina obeys you just as well as your horse and dog.”

“You leave Honeypuff alone!” cried the watery blond. “My valet was specifically marking the back exit and he knows better than to lie to me!”

“That is even worse for you,” said the low voice. “We could have sent out Cousin Enid who would have done exactly what we needed if she knew what was good for her. You were the one who insisted that the stupid country girl would be fool enough to go smell the flowers near Artem and it was worth the risk to have him ‘compromise’ his brother’s intended.”

“She was that foolish,” said the watery blond in distinct irritation. “She did not even know how to enter a door! The only reason she was slow to exit was because she was too stupid to find the back entrance!”

Even in the midst of her dawning horror, Regina was rather impressed by the watery blond’s level of self-confidence. She wished she could have spent her life convinced that everyone else in the world was too stupid to breathe. It would have saved her a great deal of stress.

Before she could process that thought, Regina involuntarily swallowed a gasp as the steps somehow drew even closer to the bush.

“Look you fool,” said the lower voice menacingly. “Either this country idiot has vanished into thin air or she somehow warned that greater fool, Artem, and the two of them managed to escape past the sixteen servants we have stationed around every possible exit. Neither of which is possible!”

“However,” the voice continued, as the hairs on the back of Regina’s neck started to stand on end, “do you know what is possible?”

The man took another step and Regina realized that if she moved even slightly she would roll right onto his shoe.

“There is no unmarked exit,” the man continued slowly, almost musingly, “but there are a lot of obscure… corners in this garden where two fools might attempt to hide… and if dear Cousin Artem has found a little nook to conceal himself and a very foolish lady… Well, that is exactly the kind of compromise we are looking for anyway, is it not?”

While Regina knew she was an inbred shut-in with little knowledge of the wider world, she was unfortunately well acquainted with the notion of family that would murder you as soon as it became expedient.

As she carefully looked down at Prince Artem, the resigned look on his face showed that he seemed to know it also.

‘I suspect,’ Regina grimly realized, ‘that these ‘cousins’ of Prince Artem are the non-royal Alpins who wish to disgrace him for political reasons… and want me to be their tool. Yet I will be damned if I let that happen, especially when my own family will destroy me for getting caught up in an Alpin conspiracy!

‘Yet what am I supposed to do?’ Regina frantically wondered as she heard more probable Alpin ‘cousins’ begin to enter the clearing, bickering with one another as they began to investigate the garden. ‘Neither the prince nor I can defeat all these people and the exits are all guarded. Yet if all we do is sit in this hedge, they will find us eventually. How can I get out of this mess?!’

That was Prince Artem minutely shifted and one of the glittering brooches on his chest caught the sparse light… and gave Regina an idea.

After all, even Regina knew that the royal Alpin family were renowned for their ability to use metallurgic magic to shape and even create metal as they liked. In other words, they could move and summon metal at will.

So what if Regina could use Artem’s ability to create and manipulate jewelry to save their hides…?

Since Regina knew she could not speak without alerting all the lesser Alpins who might be near, she instead grabbed at the shiny brooch on Artem’s chest, biting back a hiss as she felt it slightly tear into her skin.

Prince Artem’s eyes went wide and then, to her confusion, he puckered his lips up as if he were anticipating a slice of lemon cake.

Though she sympathized with his hunger pangs - after all, Regina had spent the day fueled by nothing more than the white of an egg and sheer fear, Regina responded by yanking off his strangely sharp brooch…

Then as carefully as she could, Regina began to mime what she wanted him to do while mouthing her words to him.

‘I want you,’ she told him through exaggerated lip movements and much smaller hand gestures, ‘to send your brooches over to some of our pursuers so that they seem to have caught you. If your other ‘relatives’ believe that you are already caught but their ‘cousins’ will not share you with them…’

There was something that seemed almost to burn in Prince Artem’s eyes as Regina drew a line across her neck. 

‘They will turn on each other… leaving us to make our escape.’

Regina had never previously tried to explain something to someone by mouthing and wiggling her fingers, so she was a little concerned that Prince Artem would misinterpret her and do something that would get them both in trouble. 

In fact, even with what she had asked for, a brooch flying through the air would be instantly visible to the mass of apparent Alpins outside, who all seemed to be muttering darkly about ‘Cousin Artem’.

Regina had never previously wondered if someone else could have as bad a relationship with their family as she did, but before she could feel too much sympathy for Prince Artem, he flicked his wrist in a surprisingly confident gesture and the brooch started to… scuttle across the ground, slowly and almost imperceptibly. 

He even appeared to have done something to keep it from shining in the already lowered evening light and Regina watched with bated breath as it reached a pair of shoes and then started nimbly proceeding up the leg.

It was soon out of sight, but less than a handful of seconds later a familiar deeper, menacing voice said “Ouch! Which of you fools tried to prick me?”

“Prick you?” said the watery blond, “What are you-”

There was a sudden ominous silence.

“Oh I see,” said the watery blond, suddenly sounding less whiny and more menacing. “I see!”

“You see what?” said the deeper voice, still sounding annoyed.

“You think I am too great a fool to realize your game?” said the watery blond. “To not realize that you plan to take the credit for discrediting Cousin Artem and thus put yourself as the best candidate to move into the direct line for the throne?”

“How-” said the deeper voice in what seemed like genuine shock, as a murmur of Alpins rose around him.

“You did not conceal Artem’s brooch in your pocket well enough, cousin,” said the watery blond. “I do not know where you have stored him with that girl to ‘discover’ them yourself once you have sent the rest of us on a wild goose chase, but I at least will no longer be fooled!”

Regina’s eyes widened as she realized that Prince Artem had not only implemented her plan, but done it in the most effective way possible.

“What?” said the lower-voiced man, interrupting Regina’s thoughts. “What are you talking about?”

There was a brief rustling noise and a sudden savage yell.

“You fools,” said the lower-voiced man. “I have never touched one of Artem’s brooches. This means that Artem is close by, watching us. He is trying to make us fight one another so he can escape! If we move now, we might quickly surround him and the girl!”

To Regina’s horror, she started to see a distinct body shape start to loom over the bush, almost within sight range of the face and she started to pull even closer to Artem, prepared to scratch out that Alpin monster’s eyes if necessary when-

-the body suddenly disappeared.

“Do you think,” said the watery blond, a strange menace added to his whine, “that we will let you fool us once more?”

There was a muttering of agreement around him and Regina held her breath as the feet started moving.

“Come cousins,” said the watery blond, “let us take our dear cousin away from this place and see what other ways he has betrayed us. Cousin Artem can wait for another night.”

Just as Regina thought she could breathe again, suddenly the dark shape was right over top of the bush once more, looking directly down at her.

“I will not be held back by you fools,” said the wild-eyed face above her, so close that Regina knew he would notice her within seconds. “We have spent months looking for an opportunity and I will not let you destroy it.”

As he started to reach into the bush, Regina braced herself --

Only to be shocked when there was a brief flash of light and the man above her stiffened and fell backwards.

“Another brooch,” said the sneering watery-eyed blond. “You cannot even make your own, so your greed meant that you could not hide your treachery. Now, you even pretend to have fainted, you traitor. You just spared us the effort of trying to determine how to sneak you out of the party. We will just tell them that you were in your cups… Let us see if you ever get out of them again!”

With that, there was the sound of people hoisting the body and the footsteps retreated from the garden.

Author's Note: What our villianess Regina lacks in magical ability, she makes up with the ability to create clever plans at top speed -- as well as her ability to boss around a prince with metal-manipulation magic.

Both of those abilities are about to be tested in the chapters to come. Regina might have dodged one death - but she's got a couple dozen more coming. Even worse is that her future assassination attempts will make this one look like amateur hour...

To clarify an important world-building point - each noble family in Carcosa specializes in their own form of magic. So while the Sheridans have precognitive visions that require a focus (such as Regina's dreams being focused on Artem), the Alpins have metallurgic magic that allows them to control and even create metal in different ways. Artem makes all of the gaudy jewelry he loves to wear - though to be fair, that is not all he is capable of...

If you want to know what magic other powerful families like the Nevilles, Kuzeys, and Burens wield, or what happens to commoners who manifest magic, or where magic even comes from, you'll have to keep reading...

Thank you again for tuning into another chapter. We've decided to start updating this story 2x a week - on Tuesdays and Fridays - so stay tuned for more! Please also consider supporting our game.

Save the Villainess' Pre-Campaign Page on Kickstarter: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/565568843/save-the-villainess-an-otome-isekai-roleplaying-game