The Birth of a Villainess

[M.a.t.u.r.e Content]

Water dripped from the cracks of the walls. The moss and vines felt earthly to her as she stared at the man mounted to a makeshift cross that the foreign countries would use to mount their sinners. But this cross was not to show mercy to a sinner but to torture them.

Standing before Yu Fangzhu, a silent tear fell down her cheeks that she didn't bother wiping away. This was the last tear she will shed for this man. This tear was not because of him but an offering to all that fell from his hands and her fellow prisoners in this man's schemes and lies.

The guardsman went out to take the rest of the items that Lin Xiaofei requested of Gu Yan. He returned with a tray of clippers, leather whip that had thorns around it, and several others that could turn any strong-willed man to become as weak as a sheep in the gallows.

Lin Xiaofei took a short wood piece as thin as parchment and long enough to be disguised as a nail but strong enough for its purpose. She admiringly looked at it before walking towards Yu Fangzhu.

"Wha-what are you doing? No! Don't come any closer!" Yu Fangzhu turned livid as soon as he saw that piece of wood in her hand.

"You look scared." She softly told him. "Isn't this one of your favorite? You used to ask the torturer back in your dungeon to use this on me. I'm only trying to do the same."

"But this time, I will be doing it."

"No! Xiaofei!!!"

"Don't do it!"

Yu Fangzhu shook his head vehemently. His face grew paler as Lin Xiaofei finally stopped near his left hand.

"The hammer." She told the guardsman.

The guardsman took the hammer on the tray and handed it to her. Lin Xiaofei received it and looked down at Yu Fangzhu's fingers expressionlessly.

"No…" Yu Fangzhu whimpered. 

Lin Xiaofei didn't seem to hear him at all as she touched his index finger and positioned the wooden piece inside his already grown nail. 

With bated breath, Lin Xiaofei's heartbeat started drumming in her ribcages, threatening to burst out of its containment. She bit her lips as a drop of sweat formed in her hairline. Then, she raised the hammer, disregarding the scream of protest and curses that Yu Fangzhu was throwing at her, and directly driving the piece of wood inside his nail.

"Ahh!!!" 

"One." 

Amidst his screams, Lin Xiaofei softly declared. "19 nails to go."

The guardsman behind Lin Xiaofei looked at her back. His eyes shook in both fear and amazement, and his hands trembled in excitement. He had participated in torturing his master's enemies but never watched someone, let alone a woman whom his master married had directly performed before his eyes. 

When he was stationed here to guard this prison room, the guardsman was reluctant to leave his post and didn't want to waste his time just stand here without doing anything. However, after witnessing this, he couldn't wait to go back to the tower where his brothers were and boast to them.

Several rumors rotated in the tower. One of the rumors was that Lin Xiaofei used enchantment to entrap their master into this marriage, and many believed this. However, after looking at how Lin Xiaofei didn't even flinch at the sight of blood and gore, he finally understood that it wasn't the case.

That Lin Xiaofei was not your ordinary fragile and innocent woman, you'd come across any noble courtyards. She was the anomaly to a doll dressed and taught to wait for a man to come and take her away.

"Give me another piece of wood." Lin Xiaofei's voice fell.

Yu Fangzhu, who was already hurting, whipped his head to look at her in disbelief. "What do you mean by this? You're going to continue? One nail should be enough!"

"Enough?" She titled her head in an askance manner. "You took all of mine when I was kept in that dungeon. You let them grew back, then take them away again. This cycle repeated three times."

"And you say it is enough?"

Lin Xiaofei smiled.

"It'll never be enough, Yu Fangzhu."

The guardsman handed her the wood, and Lin Xiaofei didn't have to wait for Yu Fangzhu to repeat a word of protest as she drove it to his nail. This repeated a few more times till all nails on Yu Fangzhu's hands started to bleed, and only a string of flesh and tissue was attached to them.

"Arghh… You wh*re!!! How dare you do this to me after I gave you everything you could ever want?!!"

Lin Xiaofei scoffed. 

Memories flooded her. 

Yes, that's right. Yu Fangzhu did give her things. Jewels that shine even under the darkness, warm and rare delicacies spread on the table, fine dresses that hang on her body. But all of that was at the cost of the lives of the people precious to her. 

At the cost of the innocence that was long stripped off her and her life, her heart died countless times and bled.

Times of war, times of sadness, times of happiness, and times of fortune. 

Turning around, Lin Xiaofei took a bottle of liquid on the tray that the guardsman was holding. The dark liquid seemed to shine under the warm yellow light from the lamps in the wall. 

'Pop!'

She took the cork off the mouth of the bottle and smelled it. The smell of oil entered her system, and she closed her eyes as if it were perfume.

"I don't wish to bow down to you and take the nails on your feet." The thought of kneeling before him and personally take his nails off from his feet didn't appeal to her. "However, I can make it hurt so much that you could faint from the pain."

She poured the contents inside the bottle to his fingers. Yu Fangzhu flinched and ached at the cold touch of the liquid. He still hasn't realized what she put on him, but he will soon know.

Lin Xiaofei walked to the nearest wall and took one candle attached to it. She went back to where she originally stood and lit his fingers on fire.

Soon, Yu Fangzhu's howl of pain rocked the whole dungeon.

"Ahhh!!!!"

...

Author has something to say: I pity Xiaofei's past experiences. 

Qu Xing Xu: Why am I not here again? Can I join in the party?