I won't fall for the queen who burned my world-Chapter 280: You’re insane

The silence had teeth.

Veylira stood still in the chamber, her posture perfect, glass dangling loosely from her fingertips, though her eyes never left the woman slumped on the bed.

Lucindra lay across the velvet sheets, one arm flung to the side, her breathing shallow, uneven. The goblet still glistened on the bedside table, half-empty.

She’d swallowed the poisoned wine with no hesitation—no question, no suspicion. Not even a flicker of doubt in her crimson-gold eyes.

That part was... off.

Veylira narrowed her gaze.

Lucindra had always been suspicious. Paranoid, even. She’d built empires on distrust, on backhanded schemes and triple-layered betrayals.

So why had she accepted a drink from the woman she abandoned ten years ago without even a second glance?

Why had she looked—hopeful?

The room was warm. Firelight crackled behind her. The air still smelled faintly of lilac oil and bloodroot. She hadn’t moved for several minutes, not since Lucindra’s body had gone slack.

But something was wrong.

This wasn’t over.

Veylira took a careful step back, setting the glass down with a soft clink.

She’d only made it halfway across the room when Lucindra moved.

No warning. No twitch.

Just motion.

A blur of red and black.

Veylira gasped as a weight slammed into her, knocking her onto the bed with brutal force.

Her back hit the mattress hard, her breath knocked out of her lungs as Lucindra pinned her, one hand closed tightly around her throat, the other bracing her weight near Veylira’s shoulder.

Her face was inches away.

And her eyes—bright, lucid, angry.

"Did you really think," Lucindra whispered, voice trembling with rage, "that I wouldn’t taste the poison?"

Veylira tried to move, but Lucindra pressed harder against her throat—not enough to choke, but enough to make it known.

"Then why drink it?" Veylira rasped, not struggling, not yet.

Lucindra’s mouth twitched. "Because I missed the taste of you."

Veylira spat in her face.

Lucindra didn’t flinch.

Instead, she smiled. Slowly.

"That’s the woman I remember," she said.

Her grip tightened. The pressure shifted, grinding Veylira into the mattress, her limbs pinned beneath the taller woman’s weight.

It wasn’t about power—no, it was domination. Lucindra wasn’t trying to kill her.

She was trying to remind her. freewebnøvel.coɱ

"I could have come back at any time," Lucindra said. "I could have marched in, torn the kingdom down, burned your little daughters to cinders. But I didn’t."

"You’re so noble," Veylira hissed.

"I stayed away," Lucindra continued, ignoring the venom. "Because I thought... maybe you needed time."

"To forgive you?" Veylira barked out a laugh.

"You walked out. You stole everything. I raised Malvoria and Lara alone. I rebuilt the council, I dealt with your enemies, I bled for your throne—and you thought I needed time?"

Lucindra’s smile cracked.

"You always did dramatize," she murmured, almost tenderly. "I left because I couldn’t take it anymore. You were suffocating. Always perfect. Always in control. There was no room for me."

"You’re delusional."

"You’re cruel," Lucindra snapped. "You say I abandoned our children, but you’re the one who taught them to hate me."

"I didn’t have to teach them," Veylira growled. "They learned from what you left behind."

Lucindra’s hand loosened just slightly on her throat.

"You know," she whispered, voice lower, "I thought maybe we could start again. Not with thrones or crowns. Just... us."

Veylira seized the moment.

She slammed her forehead into Lucindra’s nose with a sharp crack.

Lucindra reeled back with a grunt, and Veylira rolled, throwing her off.

She was on her feet in a flash, sliding one of the concealed daggers from her thigh with a whisper of metal.

Lucindra was up too, blood trickling from her nose, grinning like a wolf.

"Always so dramatic," she purred.

Veylira lunged.

Their blades clashed in the tight space, silver on silver, ringing like a bell tolling for something sacred.

Veylira ducked low, slashed upward—Lucindra twisted just out of reach, sending a pulse of magic that scorched the bed linens behind them.

Veylira answered with a gust of shadow from her palm, the spell slicing like razors through the air.

Lucindra winced, blood blossoming on her shoulder.

"Still using the old tricks," she taunted.

"Still vulnerable to them," Veylira retorted, spinning with a whip-crack motion that slashed Lucindra’s thigh.

Lucindra hissed, but her smile only widened.

"I missed this."

"You’re insane."

Lucindra waved a hand and the entire side of the room ignited in crimson flame. Not real fire—illusion, meant to distract. Veylira didn’t fall for it.

She moved in, drove her knee into Lucindra’s abdomen, and slammed her blade down toward her chest—

Only to be flung backward by a sudden wave of force.

She hit the far wall hard, the breath knocked from her again. Before she could rise, Lucindra was there, crouching over her, eyes wild, lips parted.

Her palm touched Veylira’s chest.

Magic surged.

Veylira’s limbs locked.

Her muscles spasmed once and then went still.

She couldn’t move.

She could barely breathe.

Lucindra leaned close, breath warm against her cheek.

"I always knew," she whispered, "that you’d rather kill me than love me again."

Veylira couldn’t speak. Her throat was frozen, her tongue heavy.

Lucindra brushed a blood-streaked strand of hair behind her ear.

"I really did think," she murmured, "we could start dating again."

She leaned in, lips almost brushing Veylira’s ear.

"But it looks like no."

And then she stood, turning her back on her paralyzed former lover as if the conversation had merely ended.

Veylira strained against the paralysis, every nerve screaming for release, but her limbs remained locked useless.

Her magic pulsed beneath her skin, muted, as if smothered by layers of wet silk. She could barely twitch a finger.

The door was still open. The others: Malvoria, Elysia they were in danger. But she couldn’t warn them. Couldn’t shout. Couldn’t whisper.

Damn it, not like this.

Lucindra’s footsteps echoed as she left the room, each one a drumbeat of dread.

Veylira’s thoughts burned with fury.

They won’t know. They’ll walk right into her trap. And I can’t stop it.

She clenched her jaw, helpless.