And then it solidified.
The night was thick, and the air in the study solidified from a single gentle touch.
Wendy’s body went completely rigid.
The scent of lavender, the soft sensation lingering on his lips—cool, faint, fleeting—pierced through all his defenses.
His mind stopped thinking, dissolving into a blank chaos.
His heart pounded wildly in his chest, each beat so heavy it made his ears ring.
This wasn’t any step in his plan.
This wasn’t any possibility he had envisioned.
This sudden intimacy, even more impactful than any of Astreia or Laxana’s rough dominations, shattered the logical fortress he had just built.
Outside the door, Astreia and Laxana’s faces—their anger, their tears—were pushed into the distant background by some stronger force, becoming blurry.
Xi Ya withdrew.
Her movement was natural and elegant, as if she had simply brushed away a petal that had fallen on his lips.
She sat back down on the sofa across from Wendy, the coffee table covered in ancient books between them.
The administrator’s expression remained unchanged—still that gentle understanding.
Her purple eyes reflected the dim light of the magic lantern, pure and devoid of any impurity.
“You… this…”
Wendy’s throat was dry.
He barely managed to recover his speech function.
“This is also part of ‘control,’ Student Wendy.”
Xi Ya spoke lightly, categorizing the act of offending the prince as part of the lesson.
She picked up the spoon from the coffee table and toyed with it between her fingers.
“When the persuasive power of words reaches its limit, you need to use action to break the other party’s psychological defense.”
“An unexpected move, an intimate contact that exceeds expectations, can instantly dismantle the other’s rationality, giving your words the power to implant themselves into the other’s subconscious.”
Her words were light, yet each one struck Wendy’s blank mind, forcibly filling in his disordered thoughts.
“Are you teaching me how to deal with Astreia and Laxana?”
Wendy felt his breathing hadn’t calmed yet.
“You…”
“I am teaching you how to control people’s hearts.”
Xi Ya corrected him.
She gently placed the spoon into the teacup.
“Whether it’s a man or a woman. Controlling emotions is always the highest-level strategy.”
The prince’s mind began to race.
After a brief moment of disorientation, some sharp emotion finally pierced through the fog.
It was guilt.
He remembered Astreia’s wounded emerald eyes, remembered the tears sliding down Laxana’s cheeks.
He had chosen Xi Ya, leaving them outside in the darkness and cold.
And now, he was with Xi Ya again…
This feeling was unmistakably betrayal.
As if she possessed the ability to read minds, Xi Ya pierced through the prince’s struggle with a single sentence.
“You’re feeling guilty.”
“You think you’ve betrayed them, so your heart wavers, and you even start to doubt whether your choice tonight was correct.”
Wendy said nothing, but his tightly pressed lips said it all.
“But, Student Wendy, have you ever considered that this guilt is meaningless?”
Xi Ya leaned forward slightly, her purple eyes watching him seriously.
“What is your goal? Completing On War—that is your core interest.”
“To achieve this goal, you need an absolutely quiet, undisturbed creative environment. You need a steady stream of inspiration, a guide who can resonate with you spiritually.”
“Can they give you these?”
The series of questions left Wendy with no rebuttal.
No.
They can’t.
They only bring arguments, desire, and endless tearing—that will only drain my energy and exhaust my stamina.
“Their love is possessiveness, is taking.”
Xi Ya continued her analysis, her words cold and almost cruel.
“They want you to become their accessory, to satisfy their desires and emotional needs. But I am different.”
“I want you to become your true self—a strategist who plans from a tent and overturns the world.”
“I am helping you realize your freedom and value.”
“For this great goal, isn’t it only natural to sacrifice some unnecessary emotional entanglements?”
A smile of encouragement appeared on Xi Ya’s face.
“In the art of war, this is called ‘Sacrificing the Chariot to Save the King.’ Haven’t you forgotten the theories you just wrote?”
Wendy’s body jolted.
Sacrificing the chariot to save the king.
A necessary means to achieve the final end.
Wasn’t this the very theory he had just written?
This woman was using his own logic to dismantle his guilt.
Yes… he was making necessary sacrifices for a greater cause.
Astreia and Laxana, they… they were the sacrificed ‘chariot.’
This realization quickly replaced the guilt in Wendy’s heart with a strange sense of mission.
He wasn’t a betrayer; he was a pioneer forced to be heartless for the sake of his ideals.
All his actions were rationalized.
“I see.”
Wendy picked up his pen, feeling that the blocked flow of thought had suddenly opened up.
He felt he had found the door to ‘truth,’ and Xi Ya was the guide holding the key.
He bent over the sheepskin parchment again, the nib scratching across the surface with a rapid, smooth rustling sound.
[How to differentiate and control the emotional attachments of multiple targets, making them check each other, thereby creating the optimal environment for the main strategic goal.]
Step One: Establish irreplaceability.
By providing unique spiritual value, become the core need of the target group.
Step Two: Create external conflict.
Redirect the targets’ attention from internal competition to confronting a common ‘enemy.’
Step Three: Give small favors, maintain distance.
While the targets are fighting the ‘enemy,’ timely provide affirmation and comfort, strengthening their dependence on the core, but never get deeply involved.
He wrote with great pleasure.
Every word flowed, and his pen felt divinely inspired.
This feeling… was amazing.
A pleasure born of creation washed over his entire body.
He was completely immersed, forgetting the time, forgetting the world outside the door, forgetting the two women still waiting for him.
This tiny study was his divine kingdom.
Xi Ya sat quietly across from the prince, her chin propped on one hand, watching him like that.
Watching his furrowed brow relax as his thoughts flowed.
Watching the unconscious upturn of his lips as he wrote brilliant sentences.
Watching the satisfied, intoxicated expression of someone completely absorbed in creation.
The warmth and understanding in her gaze gradually faded, replaced by the calculation and anticipation of a hunter admiring a precious prey that had fallen into a trap.
A little more.
Yes, just like that.
The gentle smile on the administrator’s face had disappeared without a trace, turning into a deep sense of possessiveness.
Become even more addicted.
Give me your pride, your wisdom, your soul—all of it.
I will carve you into the most perfect piece of art in this world.
A masterpiece that belongs only to me.
Outside, those two young girls are still trying to find a way to snatch you back.
How adorable.
They don’t realize at all that the harder they try, the further they push him away from them… and the closer they push him to me.
Prince Wendy, you should be enjoying this peaceful harbor that belongs only to us now…
The night is getting deeper~