Page 7 of The Villainess Chose Naps Over Death Flags

Current Disposition Toward You: Cold Hostility

Carol stared at the list of terrifying titles.

"The Butcher of the North," she said weakly. "I'm married to someone called THE BUTCHER OF THE NORTH."

Missy shrugged. "Yeah, but he mostly ignores you! Plus, he gives you whatever you want as long as you stay in your wing of the castle. Pretty sweet deal, if you ask me."

"My wing of the castle," Carol repeated. "We have separate wings."

"Well, yeah. After that time you tried to—"

"DON'T," Carol interrupted quickly. She didn't want to know. She absolutely did not want to know what Original Caroline had tried to do to "The Butcher of the North."

She looked around the insanely opulent room with new understanding. This wasn't luxury born from affection. This was hush money. This was Caspian Vanthorn throwing material goods at her to keep her away from him.

Carol pressed her hands to her face.

She was three months pregnant.

She was married to one of the most dangerous men in the kingdom.

She had seven active death flags.

She had fourteen months until her scheduled execution.

And for the past ten years, she'd been taking advice exclusively from a chaos-loving devil sprite while the angel sprite was literally tied up in the corner.

"This is fine," Carol said to herself. "This is totally fine. I just need to... not do any of the things that get me killed. How hard can that be?"

The angel sprite made desperate, muffled noises from her corner.

Carol looked at her, then at Missy, then made a decision.

"Okay, new plan," she announced, standing up. "First: we're untying the angel sprite."

"WHAT?" Missy shrieked. "But she'll just—"

"Missy," Carol said firmly. "I have a TWO PERCENT survival chance. TWO. PERCENT. I think maybe, just maybe, we should listen to what the ANGEL has to say."

She walked over to the bound sprite, whose eyes went wide with hope.

"I'm going to untie you now," Carol said gently. "And I'm really, really sorry about the last ten years."

As she reached up to undo the magical bindings, the game interface chimed again:

ACHIEVEMENT UNLOCKED:

"Breaking Free" - Released the bound angel sprite

Reward: +10 Karma, Angel Sprite Companion Unlocked, Missy is Very Confused

NEW SKILL AVAILABLE:

"Maybe Don't Listen to the Chaos Gremlin" - Common Sense +5

Carol couldn't help it. Despite everything, despite the death flags and the terrifying husband and the execution looming in her future, she started to laugh.

She was going to survive this.