The Villainess Wants To Retire Chapter 137: Memory

He did.

Spent the next ten minutes creating increasingly elaborate ice sculptures. Animals. Buildings. Abstract shapes that caught light in interesting ways. Each one more complex than the last. Each one demonstrating just how much control he had over his elent.

I watched.

Asked for specific things. Made him create a dragon just to see if he could. Laughed when it ca out looking more like an oversized lizard than anything divine.

He pretended to be offended. Created a better one. More detailed. With wings that actually looked like they might work for flight if ice could sohow beco alive.

Eventually I got bored.

Not of watching him. Just of sitting still. Of being in the alcove when there was an entire cave system we hadn’t fully explored yet.

"Let’s go sowhere," I said.

He looked at . "Where?"

"Anywhere. Walk around. See what else is here."

He considered this.

Then nodded. "Alright."

Stood up with still in his arms. Set down carefully. Made sure I was stable before letting go completely.

We walked together.

Through the cave system. Past the alcove. Deeper into passages I hadn’t noticed before when I’d been unconscious or distracted or focused on not dying.

Hidden chambers opened up the further we went. Smaller spaces carved into stone by ti or magic or divine hands. Ancient carvings covered so walls. Runes I didn’t recognize. Symbols that probably ant sothing if you knew the language.

The river’s patterns were visible too. The way water flowed through channels carved centuries ago. Paths that made no logical sense but clearly served so purpose.

"How did you find this place?" I asked eventually.

Genuinely curious. The river was supposed to be myth. Legend. Sothing scholars debated and priests claid didn’t exist anymore.

But Soren had found it. Known exactly where to go when I’d been dying. Brought here without hesitation.

His expression changed.

Subtle shift. Like I’d touched sothing he didn’t want touched. mory he didn’t revisit often.

"I’m not sure," he said slowly. "It’s always been a mystery."

Paused. Looked at . Seed to be deciding sothing.

"I was a boy," he continued finally. "Ten years. Maybe eleven. My powers had started manifesting properly under Vetra’s watch. Growing stronger. Harder to hide."

I stayed quiet. Let him tell it at his own pace.

"Sohow Soreth discovered them." His voice went flat. "His paranoia had gotten even worse. Seeing shadows everywhere. Trusting no one. When he found out his slave borne son who was supposed to be worthless could wield ice magic at levels that rivaled his own..."

He didn’t need to finish that sentence.

I understood. Paranoid rulers didn’t keep threats close. They eliminated them.

"He ordered my execution," Soren continued. "Publicly. Made it a decree. Every Winter Knight in the palace ca after . Hundreds of soldiers hunting one boy. Not even Vetra could stop him. She tried. Argued. But when Soreth gave orders..."

He trailed off.

Started walking again. I followed.

"I ran for days," he said. "Fought when I had to. Fled when I could. Made it deeper into wilderness than anyone expected. Lost most of the guards eventually."

Paused at one of the carved walls. Traced a symbol with his fingers.

"But I’d pushed too far. Used too much magic. My small body couldn’t handle it. Just like your fire. The ice started turning inward. Freezing from the inside. Veins. Organs. Everything."

His hand dropped.

"I collapsed in the forest. Under a full moon. Just... waiting to die. And the strange thing was..." He smiled slightly. "I wasn’t worried. Wasn’t scared. Just lay there admiring how beautiful the moon looked. How peaceful everything seed at night."

Sothing in my chest ached.

"My vision started blurring," he continued quietly. "Everything going dark. And I saw soone in the distance. A figure. She looked like my mother. I’d forgotten her face years ago. Couldn’t rember anything except the na she gave . But I knew her silhouette. The way she moved."

He was silent for a mont.

"And she called by that na," he said finally. "The one I’ve never told anyone. And then..."

Pause.

"My lungs gave out. Everything stopped. I was dead. Should have stayed dead."

He looked at .

"But I woke up in the river. The guardians all around . Confused why a dead boy was suddenly breathing. I remained in the cave for almost a year. Communicated with them. With the river itself. Learned half of what I was. What I could beco."

His expression turned lancholic.

Lost in mory. In the weight of everything he’d carried alone. Child hunted by his own father. Boy who’d died and sohow co back. A child who’d spent his days in isolation learning to survive.

Just like I was...

At least I had Caelen for a short while... But he didn’t.

I reached out without thinking.

Touched his face. Gentle. Just my fingertips against his cheek.

He leaned into the touch imdiately.

Eyes closing. Smile appearing despite the sadness in his voice.

"Do you pity ?" he asked softly.

"You must have been so lonely," I said.

Not answering his question directly. Because pity wasn’t what I felt.

Understanding maybe. Recognition. The knowledge that he’d survived sothing that should have broken him and sohow co out stronger.

"Living like that," I continued. "In the palace. Hunted. Alone. No one to trust."

He opened his eyes.

"You didn’t have it any different."

True.

We’d both survived childhoods that should have killed us. Both learned to be weapons before we learned to be people. Both carried scars that no one else could see.

"You said she called your other na," I said, catching sothing in his earlier story.

His expression shifted. "I did."

"You have another na?"

"It’s a secret." He said it lightly but I heard the weight underneath. "I’ve never told anyone. And the river said It was tied to sothing inside . Sothing I don’t fully understand yet. But—"

I pressed my hand over his mouth.

Stopping him before he could continue. Before he could share sothing he wasn’t ready to share. Before trust beca obligation instead of choice.

"If it carries that much importance," I said, "I don’t need to know."

He froze.

"When you’re ready to tell ," I continued, "you will. Until then, it’s yours to keep."