“What… what did you say?!”
Yekaterina was rooted to the spot, all the color draining from her small face.
Sister put a… Soul Brand on Wendy?!
This word made her whole body tremble even more than simple violent punishment.
It wasn’t just physical harm— it was a mark of slavery!
Sister definitely found out!
She found out everything!
She was declaring her absolute ownership over Wendy in the cruelest way possible!
B-but even if she was found out, how could she do such a thing to a beauty of that level?!
“Pa!”
A crisp slap echoed.
Laxana, enduring soul-tearing agony, used the last of her strength to slap the Little Queen.
Her eyes were bloodshot, her voice twisted and hoarse from unbearable pain.
“Hurry up and save him! You idiot!”
This slap finally snapped Yekaterina out of her daze.
She didn’t care about the burning pain on her cheek, or about the dignity of a Queen being slapped by a subordinate.
At this moment, all her composure and calm collapsed, leaving only one thought in her mind.
Save Wendy!
The Little Queen lifted her skirt and dashed madly toward the tightly closed palace bedroom door at the end of the corridor.
But just as she raised her foot, ready to kick the door open, her body froze.
A deeper terror seized her heart, like a bucket of ice water pouring from head to toe.
If…
If the pain Laxana felt was real…
Then sister must have blackened, completely becoming the legend’s merciless witch.
If she barged in without care, facing a sister who’d lost all reason and was overwhelmingly powerful…
That wasn’t rescue.
It was suicide!
She, Yekaterina, Queen of Valoran, was she really going to die here for a man, without rhyme or reason?
But…
But Laxana’s agony and twisted expression was definitely not faked.
What to do?
What should she do?!
Cold sweat beaded from Yekaterina’s smooth forehead, sliding down her cheek.
She stood before the door, trapped between advancing and retreating.
A voice in her mind screamed for her to run— to get as far away from this dangerous vortex as possible.
But another voice, out of unwillingness and an emotion she couldn’t even name, pinned her feet to the floor.
After all…
Between them, there had already been intoxicating intimacy.
That man was infuriating, his mouth never speaking seriously, but the warmth at her side, the way he looked when bullied but not daring to protest— all of it was real.
At this thought, the Little Queen gritted her teeth.
She absolutely couldn’t just watch him get hurt!
Suppressing her fear, Yekaterina once again crept stealthily close to the door, just like when she eavesdropped by the bath before.
This time, the door was tightly shut, with not even a sliver of space.
She could only press her ear firmly to the door, holding her breath, trying to catch even the faintest sound from inside.
But just as she focused all her attention.
“Creak—”
The door opened inward.
Astreia’s heroic face appeared at the entrance without warning, barely a hand’s width away from Yekaterina’s.
“Little Lina.”
Astreia’s lips held a gentle smile, but her eyes were no longer pure emerald.
They were swirling gray vortices tinged with eerie purple, spinning madly, drawing in the soul.
“Sister is currently… having relations with your Wendy-nii. No eavesdropping allowed, okay?”
“Eh? Ah?! I—”
Yekaterina’s mind went blank with a deafening buzz.
Staring into those unfocused, unnervingly strange eyes, every hair on her body stood on end, her body trembling uncontrollably.
Having relations?
Liar!
What kind of ‘relations’ could leave Laxana in such agony she lost consciousness?!
This… this was definitely her sister in full witch mode!
It’s over!
She’d been discovered! She was going to die!
Extreme terror almost suffocated the Little Queen.
Survival instinct forced out a smile more miserable than crying.
“Y-your Majesty, I-I came to pass on a message from Laxana, she… she had urgent business with Prince Wendy…”
However, the expected thunderous strike did not come.
Astreia only reached out, as she’d done countless times before, and gently patted her head with endless affection.
The smile was so gentle it chilled the heart.
“So that’s it, little Shana really knows how to pick her timing.”
Astreia’s smile turned even more playful.
“Come, Wendy, my little sister wants to give you a message…”
As she spoke, Astreia’s face disappeared from the door gap, replaced by one as pale as paper.
“Prince Wendy…you?”
Yekaterina’s pupils shrank the moment she saw Wendy.
That handsome face, usually lazy and teasing, was now covered in cold sweat, lips drained of color.
Those beautiful peach blossom eyes overflowed with unspeakable pain and brokenness.
He looked like an artwork shattered and forced back together, exuding heartbreaking fragility.
Sister was lying!
She definitely did something unforgivable to Wendy!
This thought screamed in the Little Queen’s mind.
But all she heard from inside was Wendy’s voice, so weak it seemed ready to fade at any moment:
“Y-Your Majesty, I-I’m fine… Tell Laxana… If you faint, you don’t remember anything…”
Before the words finished, Wendy’s face vanished.
Astreia appeared again, smile undiminished.
“All right, the message is delivered, right?”
“I’ve missed Wendy so much these past two days. Whatever important matters there are, wait until we’re done.”
“Bang!”
The bedroom door shut.
That decisive sound severed all of Yekaterina’s questions and terror on the outside.
The Little Queen stood alone outside the door for a long time.
Her mind was a tangled mess.
So…
Did they find out… or not?
Sister’s state was off, Wendy’s was even worse, but sister didn’t kill anyone on the spot…
She slowly backed away a few steps, finally giving up her investigation.
Things had already spiraled out of her control.
Yekaterina turned, footsteps unsteady, and walked back into the hall to discuss countermeasures with her “accomplice.”
However, when she entered the hall, the scene before her chilled her heart anew.
Laxana’s eyes had rolled back, unconscious moans spilling from her lips as she lay limp on the carpet.
She was like a fish out of water, body convulsing violently, completely passed out.
The Empathic Link was still transmitting the pain from the bedroom to her body, unbroken.
“Someone! Help!”
Yekaterina could no longer think, letting out a terrified scream.
“Call the physician and priest, now!!!”