“Gu-ying…”
The suffocating feeling wrapped around her like a python.
Hualí felt as if she was about to die, her whole skeleton disassembled and then reassembled, ready to fall apart at any moment.
She struggled to open her eyes, her consciousness hazy and muddled, as if she hadn’t fully awakened.
Hualí couldn’t even remember when she had fallen asleep.
All she knew was that Sidella was holding her tightly from behind, not even willing to leave the slightest gap.
There’s a saying: a full belly brings drowsiness.
Even as the Blood Queen, Sidella couldn’t escape this law.
The sound of steady breathing echoed in Hualí’s ear, calm and deep—it seemed the sleep was profound.
Suddenly, Hualí felt an urge to cry.
She remembered—she had come here today to get Sidella to sign her Leave Note.
How had things spiraled so far off course?
Wasn’t it just supposed to be a simple bloodsucking?
No one said anything about mugwort again!
Under Sidella’s masterful plot—on par with Zhongli’s fake death and Dora finding the troublemaker—how could the foolish human girl Hualí possibly escape this vortex?
How could she ever defeat the evil Blood Queen and keep her underwear dry?
“Damn you, Sidella!”
Hualí’s silvery teeth bit her lower lip as she finally recognized her own powerlessness.
Previously, she had chosen to stay by Sidella’s side as a personal maid, looking for a chance to defeat her.
But she could find almost no chance of victory— even if Sidella was weakened, she was still an opponent beyond Hualí’s strength!
So, the clever pink-haired girl made her choice…
“If I can’t win, can’t I at least run away?”
Hualí whispered quietly, choosing to retreat for now.
This wasn’t cowardice!
She repeated: it absolutely wasn’t cowardice just because of too much mugwort!
It was simply tactical retreat!
It was a strategic withdrawal!
When September eighth comes, I’ll bloom and all the other flowers will wither after me!
“Just wait, Sidella! I’m a Hero of humanity! I’ll come back to deal with you once I’m max level!”
“Who are you planning to deal with?”
At that moment, Sidella’s teasing voice sounded from behind.
Hualí’s delicate body trembled, her face turning pale with fright, and she scrambled to explain.
“No! I didn’t say anything just now… Can we not use mugwort?!”
Yet even as her body tensed, ready for another round of suffering, she clenched her eyes and waited.
But nothing happened for a long time.
Cautiously, she opened her eyes.
Her bright eyes blinked as she realized she couldn’t see Sidella’s face behind her.
After a moment, she confirmed that Sidella was still asleep, and let out a long breath of relief.
“Seriously, how can this girl talk in her sleep too!”
She’d almost been scared half to death.
No, she had to escape quickly!
Hualí’s heart tightened.
With Sidella still in a midday nap, wasn’t this the perfect chance to sneak away?
Think and act!
Hualí struggled to free herself from the arms of the girl behind her.
Her body was as soft as a caterpillar, wiggling and crawling out.
Standing by the bedside, her legs felt weak.
But Hualí had experienced situations like this many times before.
She had plenty of coping experience.
Holding onto the bed for support, she waited until the discomfort faded.
However, having lost the warmth in her arms, Sidella’s beautiful brows furrowed, her hands instinctively patting the empty space beside her, searching for Hualí’s presence.
Hualí panicked.
She couldn’t let Sidella wake up so soon!
She grabbed a pillow from the bed.
When she noticed the damp spot spreading across it, she paused, memories flooding back.
It must have been when she complained of a sore waist, and Sidella put the pillow under her.
The water stains on the pillow…
No, now was not the time to be thinking about such things!
Hualí shook her head forcefully, scolding herself.
If she kept doing bad things, she wouldn’t be able to focus at all.
If this continued, she would be ruined!
Hualí shoved the pillow into Sidella’s arms.
By chance, the damp spot pressed against Sidella’s pretty face.
Smelling the familiar, pleasant lemon soda scent, Sidella’s tightly furrowed brows slowly relaxed.
Her face burrowed deep into the pillow.
A strange emotion rose in Hualí’s chest.
She forced herself to look away, lips pressed tight as she muttered quietly.
“Hmph! Sleep all you want! Best if you never wake up! You won’t find me when you do anyway~”
Taking advantage of the opportunity, Hualí began rummaging through Sidella’s sleeping palace.
She finally found a stamp, the size of a rice cake, in a desk drawer.
A thin sheet of A4 paper was taped onto the stamp, with bold black letters printed: ‘Leave-Approval Seal’.
Below the big characters, a line of handwritten notes in pen read:
“If I (crossed out) If the Blood Queen is asleep, this seal may replace the Blood Queen’s handwritten approval for leave.”
Signed: A passing Leave-Approval Hero with nothing better to do.
At this, Hualí’s hand holding the seal trembled.
Tears almost welled up.
“Wuwuwu… Compared to that hateful Sidella, there really are more good people in this world. Thank you, Leave-Approval Hero!”
Hualí pressed the seal firmly into the ink pad, stamping a bright red ‘approved’ mark onto the Leave Note she’d gotten from Jeilinfa.
The plan went so smoothly that Hualí nearly burst out laughing.
She thought: Sidella probably never imagined I could escape this way in her whole life!
Bang——!
The bedroom door slammed shut.
Hualí walked out without a trace of nostalgia.
The vast sleeping palace was left with only Sidella’s peaceful sleeping breaths.
No one knew how much time passed before the door slowly opened again.
Maid Chief Jeilinfa stood outside the door, speaking softly.
“Your Majesty, it’s time to wake up. Hualí is about to leave.”
Moments later, the sound of clothing shifting on the bed followed.
“Mm, I know.”
As if remembering something, a wicked smile rose on Sidella’s face.
“Let’s go see that little fish Hualí off~”
***
“Here you go, Lilith, my ticket!”
The setting sun in the west was about to dip below the horizon.
Hugging the Saint Sword in her arms, Hualí finally caught up with the departing Dragon Carriage at the last moment, handing the Leave Note stamped with the Leave-Approval Seal to Lilith, who was arranging the preparations.
The Dragon Princess showed no surprise at Hualí’s possession of the Leave Note.
She took the thin slip of paper and smiled, nodding.
“Alright, get on.”
As soon as Hualí boarded, she felt the floor sway violently beneath her.
She grabbed onto the wooden handrail in the carriage.
At the front of the convoy, a horde of tamed Magic Beasts Red Dragon flapped their broad wings, kicking up dust.
With a rumble, they pulled the cargo convoy through the clouds and into the sky.
Standing at the rear of the carriage, Hualí opened the door.
Fierce winds howled into the compartment, so strong she had to cling tightly to the handrail to keep her balance.
Her waterfall-like hair danced wildly, whipped by the wind against her cute little face, tickling her.
Is this what it feels like to fly in the sky?
A smile blossomed unconsciously on the girl’s cheeks.
The last rays of sunset painted her face a fiery red—beautiful beyond words.
“Bleh~ Bye-bye, Sidella~”
“Bye-bye, Demon King Castle~”
“Bye-bye to a life worrying about mugwort every day!”
The pink-haired girl waved happily, bidding farewell to the place she’d lived for nearly two months.
But as the Dragon Carriage was about to leave the Demon King Castle, a girl’s voice, seething with rage, thundered across the entire royal city.
“Hualí! Who allowed you to leave!!!”
Sidella had changed into the silver-white ceremonial dress she wore at her coronation, standing on the balcony where the ceremony took place.
Her gaze pierced the heavy clouds, locking onto Hualí’s pale face in the Dragon Carriage.
At the moment her words fell, an enormous wave of magic erupted from within her, forming a night-dark curtain that blotted out the sky over the Demon King Castle.
The flying dragons panicked and scattered.
Hualí lost her balance and fell to the carriage floor, staring as Sidella’s face, cold as ice, summoned the magic sword ‘Bloodnight Rosemi’ and slashed a blood-red arc toward her—a strike powerful enough to tear the sky apart.
“Wha—Whaaa! If I can’t have it, destroy it? Sidella, you’re not playing fair!”
Hualí gripped the Saint Sword in her hand, cursing.
She braced herself to meet the overwhelming blow, though her legs were limp as boiled noodles.
But as the blood-colored slash, strong enough to shatter the carriage, drew near, all its power dissipated less than half a meter before Hualí, as if it had reached its limit.
It shattered with a roar, dissolving into a storm of blood-red rose petals that rained down—onto the Dragon Carriage floor, onto the girl’s pink hair, and onto her delicate nose.
As if her strength was sucked away in an instant, Hualí collapsed onto the floor in a duck-sitting posture, face full of relief at her narrow escape.
“That was close… Luckily Sidella lost her strength at the end, I almost died.”
“Not that safe.”
Lilith walked over from the carriage’s connecting passage, reaching out a hand to the slumped Hualí.
She smiled.
“If the Dragon Carriage had been any slower, I probably would have died with you. So, can you still stand?”
***
Sidella watched the Dragon Carriage carrying Hualí soar beyond the Demon King Castle, disappearing into the distance, then finally withdrew her magic sword.
“What a pity. That Hualí still managed to escape.”
“Your Majesty, is this really okay?”
Jeilinfa was puzzled by Sidella’s actions.
“Letting Hualí leave today, she might never come back.”
Sidella didn’t answer Jeilinfa’s doubts.
Her deep gaze remained fixed on the direction Hualí had departed, and after a long silence, she asked another question.
“Have the powers behind the two groups chasing Hualí at the Black Market that night been investigated?”
“Reporting to Your Majesty, one was the Minister of Armaments. As for the other…”
“Mm, I understand.”
To become a qualified new Demon Queen, sheer strength was far from enough.
There were countless matters Sidella had to deal with, and it often left her overwhelmed.
Until all the hidden threats within the royal city were resolved, the Demon King Castle was still too dangerous a place for that foolish Hualí.
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