"THEY ARE knights. You're making the honorable knights do the construction." Tori's deadpan voice snapped Zeno who was following her silently ever since they left the Rozenreff estate.

The moonlight was helping the knights with the construction but the torches around them aided them as well. Clad in her infamous baggy coat with her hood on, Tori was watching the construction site from the sideline with Zeno in tow.

"You are using the knights. What are you hiding?"

Tori turned to Zeno, her red eyes were taunting him. You brought me here carelessly. It only means one thing; the reason behind the plague is not here in the construction site. But what is it? Where is it?

"You can't come closer. Only authorized personnel can come here. I am breaking the rules when I brought you here." Zeno gently grasped my elbow to lead me away from the site and hid behind the Willow tree.

Tori manipulated the sway of her body to pin 'accidentally' Zeno to the tree with her body pressed to him. "Then tell me, smart sir. Why are you breaking them?" Tori looked up at his flustered face.

Are you breaking them for me? If you are indeed doing this for me, what do you expect from me?

Zeno gently let go of her which shocked Tori. She was so used to teasing Cory that she expected Zeno to act as the second prince. She expected him to be aroused like Prince Corean. But looking at him right now with his sharp cheekbones blushing like a teenager, Tori could not help but smile for real this time.

You're such a genuine person, Zeno McMillian. What pushed you to betray the House of Larat?

"I will not betray the noble faction but I will not condemn the innocent."

"So you are saying that only one must die and I'm assuming that it will be the one person that the noble faction hates." Shrugging like nothing at all, Tori linked her arms to his.

"Since I can't explore the site, why don't we explore the river that will overflow to the dried streams?"

"Wha-what? But it's late-night already, Lady Victoria!"

Smiling at him as if she did not hear him at all, Tori practically dragged the poor Zeno McMillian. Without torches to guide their way, the shrubs made it difficult for them to walk faster especially with Tori's outdoor dress. Zeno, on the other hand, was busy making way for Tori which the latter did not mind at all. She was busy observing the riverside with the little help of the moonlight.

"I don't know what I'm doing here," Zeno grumbled. His sweats covered his face while his smooth hands were pricked by thorns from removing the shrubs using his bare hands.

Tori gave him a sugary smile that was accentuated by the moonlight's glow giving her an ethereal look that stunned Zeno McMillian. "You're here because you're curious about what I'll do."

"Yes. You're right. I am curious why you're doing this when you can ask me instead to stop this."

Tori dropped her smile. "But you won't give me an answer that will satisfy me. And I'm tired of playing mind games with people right now."

The plot is rolling as we speak and even if I secured the second prince right now – I must stop that from happening again. I have hundreds of thousands of lives on my shoulder. Like me and the second prince, they existed to die in this plague for the female lead and the male lead. They're people with no names for the viewers who watched the Netflix series, but I know that they're real people with real lives and with families.

Family, huh. Tori touched her swollen cheek.

Tori showed real emotions for the first time since she became Victoria Rozenreff. She's exhausted but she needed to fight.

This life and my past life, nothing changed. My mom, though gentle, was struggling to make ends meet. So I had to step up. I climbed the social ladder while maintaining my scholarship. I refused to be at the bottom just because I had a single parent who worked at the canteen. And now, it's the same vicious circle of to eat or be eaten.

I once thought that if I found my perfect one – everything will be alright. But that stupid idea vanished into thin air when I inherited the original Victoria's memories of her life. She once loved the first prince but what she got back caused her death. I owe it to Victoria, this life. So I am not dying again helplessly like in the car crash or dying stupidly because of love. No. I will play this life like I always do, by devouring all those who stepped on my path.

Raising her walls again, Tori gave her best-wicked smile to Zeno. "It's the Vervain." Her words snapped Zeno from his reverie. He was frowning like he was calculating her momentary slip of emotions. Tori decided to put Zeno's name on her hate list. She disliked his expressive green eyes that peeled her layers every time their eyes met. She loathed that feeling.

"I'm sorry. What?"

Picking the lilac flower hidden by the shrubs that surrounded the riverside, Tori stared at the flower with curious uneven ground made Tori deduced that these plants were newly planted around the area. They were strategically placed behind the shrubs for diversion.

"The Vervain is a type of plant from the eastern continent. Someone from the Ming Country supplied these plants to you. They looked harmful but when planted in the wrong why they release toxic from their roots. If a human drink it even once, diarrhea will result continuously. The Ming doctors prohibited this plant to be used but I guess that you got this in an underhand way."

"You deserved to be the top 1 in Trifecta Academy. You knew that by just one stroll." His expressive green eyes sparkled dangerously under the moonlight. His steps towards Tori were threatening but she did not move nor ran from. She stayed rooted in her spot even when she felt the cold touch of his blade to her neck.

Tori's smiled slyly. She walked towards him, pressing the sharp blade to her neck. "Why are you stepping backward, kind sir?" I dare you to kill me right now.

His frightened eyes were for her. Zeno McMillian was scared for her safety. "Why are you doing this for someone who already loves someone else?"

Tori finally stopped walking forward. "That word again. Is that also the reason why you betrayed the House Larat? Because you allegedly love my sister?" Her mocking red eyes sharpened like a predator's eyes in the night.

"Love is a sentiment that can even ruin an empire and I did not betray my family for that. I did it for something bigger – an obsession that kept me awake at night." He whispered his last words but Tori heard them loud and clear from him. She did not like the way he looked into her eyes so she went back on track to what they're talking about.

"The dam construction is not your whole plan. You're using the dam to have an excuse to overflow this side of the river, haven't you? This part of the river is already contaminated but this does not ensure his death so you needed it to reach the capital. And the dam construction is the best diversion. You stupidly thought that everything ends when he dies. Do you believe that's enough to kill him?"

The noble faction will not kill Prince Corean through the plague but hundreds of thousands already died and you will realize it too late. Poor you, the deaths caused by the Vervain will not kill him but will give the noble faction something to blame with the second prince's death. They will assassinate him.

"I will stop this plan of yours, Sir Zeno McMillian. No one, not even death, can take my fiancé from me."

Tori saw the second prince in Zeno's gentle smile. She trembled upon realizing that she missed those golden eyes smiling at her. Shaking her head from her stupidity, Tori dragged her fingernails to his right cheek. Zeno was still holding his dagger in his hand which Tori was secretly wary of. It was true that he was no killer but amateur ones were scarier than the veterans, they're just unpredictable for Tori. "You are right. Everything you deduced is right. I am stupid and naïve and hypocrite, name it all. But one thing is for sure, we will succeed in killing him. If sacrificing hundreds of thousands of lives will take to kill him, I will gladly close my eyes and do so." His grip on her shoulders was gently but firm.

What? Just a moment ago, he's feeling guilty. Why?

His smiling face scared Tori. Without meaning to, she stepped away. "Why are you willing to fall into depravity just to kill the second prince?"

The hesitation in her eyes showed Zeno that she was astounded by his sudden change so he chose to elaborate. "It is not about Prince Corean. Honestly, I have no bad blood against him. I like him compared to the first prince."

"Then why? You could be an asset to the aristocratic faction." Tori offered her right hand to Zeno but the latter just stared at it while slowly shaking his head.

Zeno took her hand and kissed the back of her palm before letting it go gently. Realizing what he meant, Tori's eyes widened. "I am willing to fall into depravity just to see your face when you lose. I have yet to see your losing face, Lady Victoria. Until I see that face, I am your enemy."

Why? Why is this place so twisted?

Tori steeled herself by giving Zeno a mocking smile. "Too bad, I don't plan to lose-"

"You are accusing Tessa, sentencing her for a life of solitude, but you are in cohorts with the enemy all along." The deadly voice of Prince Corean cut Tori off.

Zeno and Tori sharply turned to the newly arrived unwanted guest of the night. Standing two meters away from them, Prince Corean was openly glaring at them. He was with his knight who already drawn a sword against them.

I am saving your damsel ass so shut up. Tori returned his glare with a blank look. She clenched her hands once before relaxing.

"Are you jealous, your highness?" Tori stepped closer to the second prince and when she's already a step away from him, he grabbed her harshly by the arms.

"How dare you confine me? Are you still doing this because of Tessa? How low can you get, huh." Prince Corean shook her body like a doll. Tori was staring back at his eyes the whole time.

"I can get lower, your highness. But I don't think we need an audience for me to do that. I prefer doing it with you in private," Tori whispered with a husky voice. Her red eyes burned with temptation.

His hands crawled to her slender neck which alerted Tori. She feared for her life for the first time from the second prince – and not the first prince who was supposed to kill her.

Zeno stepped in by grabbing Tori away from him. He hid her from the grumpy-looking prince thus shielding her from the icy glare of Prince Corean. "Our business is our own, your highness. You are laying your hand to the future Duchess of the Rozenreff House, your highness. We don't want this to add to your long list of scandals."

Zeno's threat snapped the second prince. He did not dare answer the young lord as he left them with a warning look.

Tori realized later that her hands were shaking even when her face remained emotionless when Zeno's gentle warm hands grasped them as if her hands were cold even if they're not.

His expressive green eyes lost their crazed look replaced by a worried one which astounded Tori.

"You are an oddball, Sir Zeno McMillian." Tori raised her brows as she pried her hands away from his.

"Why are you protecting that bastard?"

Tori smiled without any lace of humor and shrugged before leaving Zeno wondering.

Simple. I need him for me to live.