(For the best experience, it is recommended to search for “Lacrimosa dies illa” from Mozart’s Requiem as background music before reading this chapter. The author personally tried it and found it very fitting~)
Astreia’s mind was buzzing, trembling uncontrollably.
Just a few hours ago, this Prince was still on the city wall, sharing a kiss with her.
That soft, gentle sensation, the teasing with that mischievous smile, those peach blossom eyes reflecting the starry sky and herself…
Everything was still so vivid, so searing.
But in the blink of an eye, he was about to elope with another woman?
Why?
Was it because I didn’t do well enough?
Was I too clumsy and let him down?
Or… was all that tenderness before just a charade, an act he put on for revenge?
“You… you two… what on earth are you doing!!!”
Boom!!!
A golden afterimage tore through the night sky.
Astreia, like a cannonball fired from the barrel, drove her fist—wrapped in a terrifying gust—straight at the White-robed Priestess’s bewitching, enchanting face!
Yet she still had a shred of reason left.
Priest was the rarest class on the continent of Erathia, with no direct means of attack—their only assets were Divine Arts and Barriers.
So, she didn’t use her war lance, but wanted to flatten this vixen who was bewitching Wendy with her own fists, then demand an explanation!
However, on that breathtakingly beautiful face of the White-robed Priestess, there was not a trace of panic.
Instead, she curled her lips into a playful, intrigued smile.
In Astreia’s suddenly contracted pupils, the woman actually caught her unstoppable blow with just one fair hand, as if it were nothing.
Fist met palm—there was no sound at all.
Astreia’s strength, powerful enough to shatter a city gate, vanished like a mud ox sinking into the sea, without a trace.
“Princess Royal, your attack… is really so weak~”
The White-robed Priestess’s voice was soft and sultry, sounding right by her ear, full of the taunting tone of a cat toying with a mouse.
In the next instant, Astreia felt a wave of excruciating pain shoot through her wrist, as an irresistible force surged up her arm.
Then, the world spun!
The White-robed Priestess grabbed her fist as if swinging a ragged sack, lifting Astreia’s whole body up and slamming her hard into the ground!
Bang! Bang! Bang!
The famed “Northern Lioness” of Sunset Fortress, at this moment, was like a broken toy, being smashed left and right in a frenzy by her opponent!
The hard ground was pitted with one deep crater after another, and the muffled sounds of impact echoed far into the dead silence of the night.
“Ugh… pfft!”
After being slammed down hard once more, Astreia spat out a mouthful of blood, her face filled with disbelief.
Impossible?!
A Priest… how could a Priest have such terrifying strength?!
At this moment, she regretted deeply—why had she let this woman of unknown origin into Sunset Fortress so easily?
“Princess Royal, are you surprised~ Hehehe~”
The White-robed Priestess finally let go of Astreia’s now fractured and twisted arm, then, as if flaunting her trophy, she cupped Wendy’s handsome face, stuck out her lilac tongue, and wantonly licked him right in front of Astreia.
“You! You… let go of Wendy!”
Seeing the Prince she treasured so much, whom she even kissed with utmost care, now being treated so wantonly by another woman.
Such a sight, in Astreia’s eyes, was no different from a heartbroken lover watching her cherished college boyfriend being wildly kissed in public by a greasy, ugly old man.
“I’ll kill you! I’ll kill you!”
“You deserve to die!!!”
Astreia struggled to get up, but her broken bones and torn organs made it impossible to move even a finger.
She could only writhe on the ground like a worm, letting out powerless roars.
Seeing the Princess Royal’s eyes bloodshot, the White-robed Priestess laughed even more delightedly, her voice dripping with cruelty: “Princess Royal, why are you angry? Only the strong are worthy of having beauties, don’t you think?”
These words, like a dagger coated with deadly poison, stabbed straight into Astreia’s heart.
The White-robed Priestess slowly crouched down, looking down at her from above, beginning a thorough mental torment.
“Look at how ridiculous you are,” she tapped Astreia’s broken arm lightly with her toe, “Still thinking of holding back? Did your Knight’s Code teach you to be a sandbag in front of your enemy? You’re so stupid it’s cute~”
“And your brute strength—are you proud of it?”
The White-robed Priestess sneered.
“But in front of me, it’s as powerless as a kitten waving its claws. You can’t even protect yourself, so how can you protect him?”
“Uluuluulu…”
Astreia glared at the White-robed Priestess, teeth clenched so hard they creaked, hair standing on end, her whole body trembling—not from pain, but from humiliation that cut to the bone.
“That ridiculous Chivalry of yours—can it make you stronger? Can it help you win back the man you love?”
The White-robed Priestess stomped on Astreia’s face, grinding her heel back and forth.
“No, it only makes you end up like this, lying on the ground, barking like a dog! Honor? Justice? Those empty things are just poison for the weak to numb themselves!”
“And Valoran Kingdom’s number one Princess Royal—this is all you are?”
She leaned in, her voice a devil’s whisper, “No wonder your Queen sister tossed you like trash to this godforsaken border, to rot among a pile of broken stones. A good-for-nothing even her own kin can’t stand—what makes you think Wendy would like you?”
“Impossible! You’re lying!”
Astreia, under the pressure on her face, forced herself to raise her head stubbornly.
After these days together, she was sure Wendy liked her—at the very least, he definitely liked this body that others found ugly.
That longing gaze he gave her would never lie!
“Hehe, I know what you’re thinking,” the White-robed Priestess seemed to see right through her, “You think Wendy only likes your type? But don’t forget…”
With that, she gently unfastened her own buttons, slipped off the sacred white priestess robe, and revealed her body, clad only in undergarments.
Snow-white, voluptuous, seductive, enchanting…
Staring at a figure even more (enticingly) ugly than her own, Astreia’s vision went black, and the last bits of her self-confidence began to collapse and crumble.
That’s right…
If Wendy liked her type, but someone else was even more voluptuous, even more to his tastes… wouldn’t Wendy like someone else?
No!
That’s not possible!
Wendy definitely doesn’t just like me for my body!
We have feelings!
I truly love Wendy! Wendy definitely loves me too!
“Tsk tsk tsk, Princess Royal, do you really think Wendy truly loves you?”
The White-robed Priestess crouched down, slapping Astreia’s face hard with her palm, mocking, “Seeing how narcissistic you are, I almost want to puke!”
“Hmph, no matter what you say, I believe in Wendy!”
Astreia snorted, but for some reason her confidence was much weaker than before.
“Wendy agreed to you only because you used some evil spell to charm him into becoming like this!”
“Oh? Princess Royal, haven’t you noticed something?”
“What?”
“Prince Wendy first gave you Gunpowder to blast the mountain, then gave you Cement to build the walls, helping you defend Sunset Fortress… But you? What did you give Prince Wendy? Secretly groping him, or publicly forcing a kiss on him? Does he really like being treated that way?”
Boom!!!
If the earlier words were knives, this line was an Alchemic Explosive detonating right in the Princess’s heart.
Astreia was suddenly plunged into a spiral of self-doubt.
That’s right…
Wendy gave me so much, but what did I give Wendy?
Nothing at all!
I only indulged my own desires, forcing a kiss on him in front of everyone, making him embarrassed!!!
YO THE MUSIC ACTUALLY FITS SO WELL