🖤 The Villainess Just Wants to Sleep

Chapter 15: Grace at the Cost of Hunger

> “Some girls grow thorns. Others grow hollow.”

— Unknown Healer's Notes

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The sun had begun to dip behind the hills, casting a warm orange glow across the Herbal Courtyard. Lysa and Kaelaira sat under the flowering vine archway, flipping through medicinal texts.

Lysa had laid out a small napkin of bread rolls and apple slices beside them, her usual after-lesson snack.

> “Here,” Lysa said cheerfully, “you have to try this—my family’s cook makes the best honey butter in the western provinces.”

Kaelaira shook her head politely. “No, thank you.”

Lysa tilted her head. “You sure? You haven’t eaten anything in the last two hours.”

Kaelaira didn’t respond. Her fingers stayed steady on the page.

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Then, just as Lysa laughed softly at a line from the book—

> Kaelaira swayed.

Her hand slipped.

The book fell.

And so did she.

Lysa gasped, catching her just in time before her head hit the stone floor.

> “Kaelaira?! Kaelaira!”

Her skin was ice-cold. Her lips, pale. Her body, far too light.

Lysa placed her hand over Kaelaira’s heart and cast a pulse of healing magic — enough to restore circulation, not enough to revive fully.

After a tense moment, Kaelaira stirred, blinking up at her through dazed eyes.

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“…I’m fine,” she whispered, trying to sit up.

“You fainted,” Lysa said, heart racing. “You’re not fine!”

Kaelaira looked away. “It’s nothing. I was… careless.”

Lysa stared at her. “When was your last proper meal?”

Silence.

Then, Kaelaira replied calmly — too calmly:

> “A noble lady must be slim.

And a warrior must be strong.

Hunger keeps both truths alive.”

Lysa’s eyes filled with tears she didn’t let fall.

> “That’s not truth,” she said softly. “That’s punishment.”

Kaelaira looked at her, as if trying to process the words. Then turned her gaze to the sky.

> “It’s what my mother taught me. I was allowed no softness. No weakness. No flesh out of place.”

> “That’s not motherhood,” Lysa whispered. “That’s cruelty.”

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She helped Kaelaira sit upright and unwrapped a roll.

> “Eat,” she said firmly. “Not for court. For you.”

Kaelaira hesitated.

Then — slowly — she took it. Bit into it like it might betray her.

But the warmth of the bread… the honey… the kindness —

It made something ache inside her chest more than any sword wound ever had.

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Later that night, Kaelaira stood before her mirror.

She touched her reflection’s face gently.

> “If I vanished… would they notice the space I leave behind?”

Her fingers curled.

> “But she noticed. Lysa noticed.”

And for the first time… Kaelaira didn’t feel entirely alone.

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End of Chapter 15

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