Fuluoxi finished the tasks she was supposed to complete today and stood up from her chair, stretching her slender waist.
Ivy should be awake by now.
Fuluoxi thought quietly to herself, then walked toward the bedroom.
Pushing the door open, the first thing she noticed was Ivy sitting on the bed, her hair messy and sticking up in various directions.
Hearing the noise, Ivy groggily turned her head toward the source of the sound, her eyes clear yet still carrying the dazed look of just waking up.
Ivy blinked at Fuluoxi as if booting up a machine, and after a few seconds, her initially confused eyes brightened.
She rolled off the bed and quickly scampered over to Fuluoxi.
Throwing herself into Fuluoxi’s arms, Ivy’s gesture was full of affection, but Fuluoxi didn’t reject her goodwill; her expression remained unchanged.
However, in Ivy’s eyes, Fuluoxi always looked like this, so she didn’t sense anything amiss.
From her perspective, since Amelia dared to openly come to her last night and even prepared a cover for her, there was no way Fuluoxi could know about the deal she had made with Amelia the night before.
Taking a step back, Amelia and Fuluoxi were rivals—who would confess to a competitor that they had a mole?
They weren’t sisters, after all; such a thing was impossible.
So Ivy was very confident that as long as Amelia still needed her, she would definitely handle the situation with Fuluoxi, and Ivy had nothing to worry about.
All she needed to do was continue to please Fuluoxi as usual. As for how to find Fuluoxi’s weakness…
Although this was a difficult problem, she couldn’t directly ask, so she would just wait for the right opportunity—at least until the deal with Amelia was finalized.
She shouldn’t be killed before then.
Next came the usual bloodsucking ritual.
But something about Fuluoxi today was a little different, which puzzled Ivy.
Ivy couldn’t say exactly what was different, but she felt that Fuluoxi’s actions were much rougher than usual.
Not only did she not soothe her, the time spent sucking blood was also much longer than normal.
Ivy felt her strength being drained from her body, the pain at her neck growing more intense.
At first, Ivy was able to hold back from making any sound.
But as time passed, she began to struggle—her instinctive reaction was to push Fuluoxi away.
Before Ivy could fully register her own actions, Fuluoxi was actually pushed off.
Without support, Ivy collapsed onto the floor, clutching her neck as her heart pounded wildly; tears still glistened at the corners of her eyes.
But this state lasted less than two seconds before Ivy snapped to full awareness.
What had she just done?
She had pushed Fuluoxi away!
A chill ran down Ivy’s spine.
Fuluoxi wiped the blood from the corner of her mouth—it was Ivy’s blood.
Looking down on Ivy from above, Fuluoxi didn’t wait for Ivy to say anything before a sharp pain erupted in Ivy’s stomach.
She was kicked over and tumbled across the floor.
Clutching her belly, Ivy’s face twisted in pain, tears dripping down one after another.
But she forced herself not to cry out, knowing she had enraged Fuluoxi; if she made a scene now, the consequences would only be worse.
Trembling, Ivy got to her knees and bowed her head to the floor. “Master, I was wrong…”
“I shouldn’t have pushed you away. Ivy was really wrong—please forgive me.”
Her voice trembled, and the pain in her stomach showed no sign of easing; in fact, it grew worse by the moment.
Ivy had to pinch her own hand, sending pain there to distract herself from the agony in her abdomen.
Fuluoxi slowly approached Ivy, then pressed her foot down hard on Ivy’s head.
There was no hint of mercy—Fuluoxi crushed Ivy’s head against the floor with ruthless force.
The floor was clean, with no small stones, but the pressure and friction caused intense pain.
Ivy could barely bear it; she clamped her hands over her mouth to keep from screaming, waiting for Fuluoxi’s punishment to end.
After a minute, apparently bored, Fuluoxi kicked Ivy down again.
Before Ivy could get up, Fuluoxi crouched down in front of her.
Grabbing a handful of Ivy’s light blue hair, she lifted her up until they were face to face.
Ivy’s forehead was red and broken in places, blood trailing down her face.
Several strands of her light blue hair stuck to the blood, creating a shattered, broken impression.
“Ivy, I remember warning you.”
“I said, as long as you don’t betray me, I will indulge you. Isn’t that right?”
When Fuluoxi said this, Ivy forgot even to cry. Her breathing froze, pupils contracting sharply, disbelief written all over her face.
But the expression lasted only a few seconds before Ivy masked it with fear, terror, and confusion.
“Ma-Master, what are you talking about? I don’t understand.”
“I have never betrayed you. Please believe me!”
Ivy pleaded.
She didn’t know where she had gone wrong.
If it was Amelia’s doing, why wait for her to wake up before settling the score?
Wouldn’t it have made more sense to kill her while she was asleep?
Could it be that Fuluoxi was magnanimous enough to let her have a good night’s sleep before killing her?
Who would believe that?
So it must be something else—but definitely not Amelia.
Fuluoxi’s current attitude seemed more like an interrogation, as if she suspected betrayal but Ivy hadn’t yet done anything.
Ivy analyzed the situation quickly in her mind, listing every reason why Fuluoxi’s attitude might have shifted.
Her survival instincts and adrenaline surge cleared her mind like never before, even dulling the pain as she desperately tried to defend herself.
“Master, please believe me. Besides gathering intelligence and communicating with other blood slaves at the blood slave camp, I haven’t spoken to anyone else.”
“Except for Princess Amelia. If I wanted to betray you, I wouldn’t have told you about Amelia’s intention to trade with me. I would have hidden it and used it to get the information I wanted, so I had no motive to betray you. My loyalty is as clear as the heavens, Master—please trust me.”
Ivy quickly spilled out her explanation, almost flawless.
But Fuluoxi chuckled softly, then calmly said:
“Besides those people, you haven’t spoken or communicated with anyone else, right?”
It sounded like the last step of this interrogation.
Without hesitation, Ivy answered, “Absolutely not!”
Fuluoxi nodded, grabbing Ivy’s hair with her left hand, then slapped Ivy hard across the face with her right.
“Little Ivy, it seems you had a great time chatting with my maid Lia. You even got a lot of information about me from her.”
“Should I compliment your social skills for easily gaining the trust of the maid who’s followed me for so long?”
“Little Ivy.”
“Do you really think I don’t know anything?”
“Hm?”