The relaxed atmosphere from a moment ago instantly turned tense, like swords drawn and bows bent.
Laxana spoke firmly, leaving no room for doubt, as if she had already seen through everything.
“Lying?”
Wendy blinked in mock surprise, spreading his hands with an innocent expression.
“Miss Laxana, you can eat recklessly, but you can’t speak recklessly. I’m simply stating a fact—a fact even your Mother acknowledges.”
“Heh, a fact?”
Laxana scoffed, crossing her arms over her chest to form a formidable barrier.
“Save it! The only reason you fooled my Mother is because that blockhead can’t fit anything but magic formulas in her skull! But you can’t fool me!”
She flicked her glowing finger, pointing straight at Astreia, who was avoiding her gaze and looking so guilty she couldn’t meet her eyes.
“Look at her! Just look at that face! Before the test, she was as nervous as a prisoner headed for the guillotine! If this thing was really some forbidden secret art passed down by your Cavalier Kingdom, would she be that scared?”
Laxana’s accusation pinned Wendy again.
Her violet eyes narrowed dangerously, pressing closer.
“This so-called forbidden spell of yours—it’s definitely related to witches, isn’t it?!”
The air froze, and the temperature seemed to drop to zero.
The playful smile on Wendy’s face finally faded.
He knew that in front of this sharp, stubborn, love-rival Miss who was obsessed with Astreia, outright denial and evasion were meaningless.
Laxana ignored the silent Prince, striding directly to the Princess, placing both hands on her dear friend’s sturdy shoulders.
The aggressive aura softened, replaced by a hint of pleading.
“Astreia, look at me.”
“I want to know everything! The whole truth!”
“I’m really worried about you!!!”
Astreia trembled all over. Under her friend’s persistent gaze, the defenses in her heart began to crumble bit by bit.
She looked helplessly at Wendy, panic filling her emerald eyes.
The Prince gave her a reassuring look and nodded almost imperceptibly.
It seemed that this love rival Miss wouldn’t give up without getting to the bottom of things today.
In that case, rather than let her keep guessing, it might be better to bring her onto the same sinking ship.
And then… find a chance to straighten out her XP!
Wendy believed that, based on Laxana’s dependence on Astreia in the game and her recent protective behavior, even if she learned that Astreia had fallen into witchhood, she would never betray her…
With her lover’s permission, Astreia took a deep breath, as if making a huge decision, and finally spoke.
“You’re right… Laxana.”
The Princess bowed her head, her voice hoarse.
“It is indeed related to witchification.”
“I’ve already… gained initial control over the ability to enter Witch State while maintaining my sanity.”
She still kept some cards hidden, attributing this ability to the ‘Initial Hero’s Forbidden Art’ Wendy had just fabricated, rather than truly being able to fall at will.
Upon hearing this, Laxana’s body swayed visibly, her delicate frame trembling.
But her face showed little surprise, as if she had already guessed the answer.
“Then… what’s the price? The side effects?”
Laxana’s voice quivered uncontrollably. She gripped Astreia’s arm tightly, pressing further.
“To annihilate over a hundred thousand Orcs, such a powerful forbidden spell must have a price! Is it—does it cost your lifespan?”
This was the issue she feared most!
As soon as the words left her mouth—
Astreia’s face instantly flushed crimson.
Consume lifespan?
No.
Not exactly…
It’s just… a bit of a drain on the Prince.
She subconsciously glanced at Wendy, who was looking up at the sky, whistling with a ‘the weather sure is nice today’ look.
Unbidden, her mind conjured up the late-night ‘Purification’ scenes that had left her cheeks burning and tongue-tied in embarrassment…
Wendy also felt that scorching gaze, as if it could roast him alive, and signaled desperately with his eyes:
Hold it together! Don’t let anything about ‘Purification’ slip!
Astreia quickly averted her gaze, forcibly suppressing the storm in her heart, and stammered,
“No, it’s not as serious as losing lifespan… It’s just… it makes my temper really volatile…”
The vague answer, paired with her wish-to-dig-a-hole-and-hide shyness, only deepened Laxana’s suspicions.
Her mind instantly filled with a thousand scenarios.
This level of embarrassment…
Could the side effects be some even greater torment than losing lifespan?
Like having your soul torn apart with each use, or enduring hellish agony?
The thought twisted Laxana’s heart into knots, and her wariness toward the ‘innocent’ Prince beside her shot to its peak.
It must be this damn man, seducing Astreia with sweet words and luring her into such pain!
Suddenly.
A fierce battle spirit ignited in the love rival Miss’s eyes.
“If the side effects aren’t too bad, then let me see for myself…”
The staff in Laxana’s hand buzzed, crackling with dangerous electric light.
“Astreia, I want to fight you!”
“Let me personally confirm—this so-called rational ‘Witch State’!”
***
Half a day later.
The wind in Sunset Canyon was bleak and chilly.
Not far away, the collapsed mudflow from the earlier explosion stretched across the ground like a jagged scar, still not yet dried under the setting sun.
“Li-Little Shanna, let’s make it clear—I’m really strong in this state, so you don’t have to hold back…”
Astreia couldn’t withstand her friend’s stubbornness and was dragged to this empty field for a ‘friendly’ duel.
“Yeah, yeah!”
Laxana jabbed her staff into the ground with a huff, sparks of lightning dancing around her.
Eyeing her friend, who was ten steps away and avoiding her gaze, she felt inexplicably stifled.
“If anything goes wrong, you—you’d better surrender right away! I just got the hang of this, so I might lose control…”
The Princess fretted anxiously.
“Astreia! Are you looking down on me?”
I exploded.
“I’ve been number one at the Academy every year! Enough talking—let’s get started!”
“O-Okay…”
Astreia replied guiltily.
She just hoped for a quick battle, so that during ‘Purification’ with Wendy afterwards, Laxana wouldn’t stick to her like a tail.
Otherwise, if her friend caught wind of the absurd things she and Wendy had done, would she be seen as a shameless, debauched woman?
The thought alone made her toes curl in shame.
“Then… I’m going into the state now…”
Astreia slowly closed her eyes, adjusting her breathing, and began conjuring in her mind the image of the unnamed White-robed Priestess tormenting Wendy before her eyes.
She had tried many different female forms as jealousy ‘tools,’ but ultimately, the pure and seductive White-robed Priestess struck her nerve best.
Yet today, for some reason, the mental image wavered.
The Priestess’s face, in the swirl of her mind, slowly morphed into her friend Laxana’s features…
It felt…so strange…
Astreia tried desperately to turn the face back, but failed.
Suddenly.
In her mind’s eye, the White-robed Priestess with Laxana’s face smirked at the bound ‘Wendy,’ stuck out her tongue, and licked his innocent cheek!
Then, with the triumphant laugh of a victor, ‘Laxana’ thundered in her mind.
“Astreia… thank you so much for letting me meet Prince Wendy…”
“He’s absolutely wonderful…”
“From now on, he belongs to me!”
“!!!”
In an instant, the Princess’s heart was crushed as if by an invisible hand!
Jealousy, anger, fear, betrayal… Countless negative emotions surged like a dam bursting, overwhelming all reason!
Uncontrollably, Astreia began picturing her friend and her beloved tangled together in wild passion upon the bed…
Darkness seeped into her emerald eyes, like ink spreading through clear water.
Boom!!!
Terrifying magical power exploded from her, cracks spiderwebbing across the ground as a black storm whirled upward.
Witch Queen—returns!
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