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🖤 The Villainess Just Wants to Sleep

Chapter 5: Let the Bastard Join

> “If a child learns to survive in the wild, the court will feel like a feast.”

— Empress Almyra

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The scent of burning sandalwood lingered in the air. The royal study was dimly lit, golden rays filtering through latticed windows onto scrolls of war reports and provincial tax scrolls.

The King sat behind a desk of black oak, his brow furrowed as he read through a stack of sealed letters. His crown — heavy and cold — sat on a stand beside him. He rarely wore it in private. Power didn’t need a symbol in a room he already owned.

Across from him stood the Empress Dowager, still and regal in a deep emerald robe. She needed no throne to command attention.

> “It’s time,” she said flatly.

The King looked up. “Time for what?”

> “The Royal Academy accepts heirs at the age of eleven. Elara is ready. The Crown Prince as well.”

The King nodded slowly. “Yes, their tutors agree.”

Then the Empress added, without blinking:

> “Send the bastard daughter too.”

The air in the room shifted.

The King’s pen paused mid-stroke.

“She is…” He hesitated, then chose his words carefully. “Unorthodox.”

“She is brilliant,” the Empress corrected. “And dangerous. Which makes her twice as useful — and twice as necessary to observe.”

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The King leaned back in his chair.

“You think the court will approve?”

“They will gossip, not oppose. Let them whisper — the Academy is already drowning in noble blood and fragile pride. It could use a little fear.”

The King exhaled.

> “She’s not like the others.”

“Exactly,” the Empress said. “Your daughter learns like a scholar, fights like a soldier, and smiles like a mask. I would rather keep her where I can see her.”

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The King was silent for a while.

“She looks nothing like her mother,” he murmured.

“Better that way,” the Empress said coolly. “Virelia was a fool with ambition she never earned. But the child? She earns everything.”

The King tapped his fingers on the scroll.

“She’s not a threat.”

The Empress’s eyes gleamed.

> “That’s what they always say… right before a bastard topples a throne.”

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And so the decision was sealed with wax — three heirs would enter the Royal Academy that spring.

1. Crown Prince Laerion: praised, pampered, prepared.

2. Princess Elara: elegant, loud, adored.

3. Lady Kaelaira: unnamed in announcements, but known to all. The concubine’s daughter.

And when the scroll was made public, the court did not protest.

But it buzzed like a disturbed beehive.

> “The bastard is going to the Academy?”

“What could she possibly gain from that?”

“What could she be planning?”

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Back in her cold chamber, Kaelaira read the royal letter in silence.

Then folded it neatly.

Her mother stood behind her, arms crossed. “You will not embarrass me among nobles.”

Kaelaira looked up with a tired expression that no child should wear.

> “I’ll do what I always do, Mother.”

“And what is that?”

“I’ll survive.”

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End of Chapter 5

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