Chapter 245: His Highness the Prince’s Balancing Act Ends in Total Disaster!

“The more pleasure you felt beneath me just now, the more she’ll feel double the happiness~”

Wendy’s brain completely crashed the moment he heard those words.

What?

Double?

Happiness?

He stiffly turned his neck, mechanically looking upward.

Laxana, suspended in midair, was still trembling faintly and unconsciously.

Her side profile, barely visible beneath her disheveled golden hair, was flushed an unnatural red. At the corners of her tightly shut eyes, traces of un-dried tears still hung.

That look wasn’t so much painful… as it was lost in the lingering afterglow of some extreme pleasure, unable to pull herself out.

Wendy’s Adam’s apple bobbed with difficulty.

He finally understood where that subtle sense of restraint and strange tingling he’d felt earlier had come from.

The empathic link…

Could it be used like this?!

“Astreia, you…”

Wendy felt his worldview being shaken like never before. He looked at the princess beside him, who wore an expression of “I did that, so what?” and couldn’t form a complete sentence for a long time.

“What about me?”

Astreia extended her slender fingers, tracing circles on his chest. Her emerald starry eyes were filled with sheer self-righteousness.

“I’m helping her.”

“Helping her?”

Wendy was numb.

“Hanging someone up, right in front of them, having their way with their beloved… and then making them experience it all twice over? That’s ‘helping’?”

This was the most vicious torture in the world!

“Of course I’m helping her.”

Astreia sat up, completely unconcerned that her perfect body was exposed in the air.

She looked down at Wendy from above, a mocking curve on her lips.

“Wendy, you don’t understand Laxana at all. I’ve grown up with her since we were little. The moment she sticks her butt out, I know exactly what she’s thinking.”

“When she made up that lie, what she had in mind wasn’t some search for the truth. It was about keeping you trapped forever in that false memory.”

“She wanted you to always see her as that gentle, considerate ‘Xi Ya,’ so she could enjoy your admiration and intimacy with a clear conscience.”

Astreia’s words hit the mark.

Wendy couldn’t refute them.

Because Laxana’s behavior that afternoon already proved everything.

“She wanted a perfect dream, but she didn’t have the ability to play the role in that dream. So of course I have to give her a hand and make her face reality.”

The princess stretched out a finger, pointing upward.

“Now, she should understand completely. Whether it’s acting or… her skills at making you happy, she lost miserably in both.”

“She’s been indulging in the lie she wove, enjoying the double betrayal of body and spirit. Now she’s suffering double the torment. Isn’t that deserved?”

Wendy fell silent.

The logic made sense.

But looking at the miserable figure above, he couldn’t feel good about it.

“Still… this is too much.”

He grabbed Astreia’s hand as she continued to mess around on his chest, speaking with a hint of pleading.

“She already knows she was wrong, and she’s been punished. Let her down first, okay?”

“No.”

Astreia pulled her hand back, a feigned anger appearing on her face.

“Wendy, get this straight. I’m not just doing this to punish her.”

“I’m doing it to teach her a lesson!”

The princess leaned close, almost whispering into his ear, enunciating every word.

“And that lesson is: in your heart, I come first! Her, Laxana, at most… she’s second!”

Wendy felt his head spin.

He covered his face and let out a helpless sigh.

Not this again.

Weren’t the jealousy dramas ever going to end?

“What? We’ve already shared a bed, and you’re still getting jealous over this?”

The prince couldn’t hold back and blurted out.

“Jealous?”

Astreia froze, her emerald starry eyes filled with big question marks.

“What does ‘jealous’ mean?”

“Ah…”

Wendy realized he’d slipped up and used a word from his past life.

He quickly waved his hands, explaining haphazardly.

“Uh, no! It’s a dialect from my hometown! It means… envy!”

He thought his explanation was clear enough, so he pressed on, continuing to persuade.

“What I mean is, between us, arguing about who I like more—that kind of thing is pointless.”

Wendy thought that this emotionally intelligent, “balanced” statement would satisfy Astreia.

But the moment his words ended.

The confusion and amusement on Astreia’s face vanished instantly.

Replaced by a cold, almost freezing fury.

The temperature in the room plummeted.

The romantic, ambiguous atmosphere from moments ago was utterly shredded by an overwhelming pressure.

“Pointless?”

Astreia repeated those two words, each one soft yet emanating a chilling danger.

Her eyes locked onto Wendy.

She no longer looked like a cat playing with its prey, but a dragon whose scales had been touched.

Wendy felt a chill run down his spine from her stare.

What’s wrong?

Did I say something wrong?

Before he could react.

Astreia reached out abruptly.

An irresistible force slammed him back down onto the soft bed.

“Astreia! What are you doing!”

“What am I doing?”

The princess leaned down, her hands braced on either side of his body, completely enveloping him in her shadow.

Her smooth golden hair fell, scattering across his cheeks and chest with a slightly ticklish sensation.

But her actions were the complete opposite of that tempting posture.

Cold, and full of fury.

“You think I risked getting disciplined by the academy and used such drastic measures to help you break that mind control, just to compete over a rookie like Laxana?”

“You think everything I’ve done is meaningless?”

Wendy was left speechless by her questions.

He could feel that Astreia was genuinely angry.

Not the fake, mocking, teasing anger from before.

But a deep, heartfelt fury born of being wounded.

But he really didn’t understand why.

“Since you think it’s meaningless…”

Astreia slowly lowered her head, her hot breath brushing against his lips.

Those emerald eyes, blazing with anger, were now inches away.

“Then I’ll make you experience it firsthand!”

“I’ll show you whether everything I’ve done has meaning or not!”

Without another word, she kissed him forcefully.

This kiss held no gentleness or lingering affection.

It was full of aggression, full of possessiveness, full of a sense of punishment.

“Mm…”

Wendy felt his breath and his thoughts being completely stolen from him in that moment.

He let out a weak protest, trying to push her away with his hands, but Astreia easily pinned them above his head with one hand.

When the forceful kiss ended, Astreia pulled back slightly, looking down at the man beneath her, his face flushed from lack of oxygen, and curled a dangerous smile.

“You want to save her, don’t you?”

“Fine.”

“Then serve me well.”

“Serve me until I’m satisfied, and I’ll let her go.”