“No, that’s not it, I didn’t…”
Wendy’s breath caught, his handsome face turning bright red.
“Liar!!!”
The Demonized Princess let out a furious roar, her arm swinging out fiercely!
Wendy was instantly slammed against a nearby tree trunk by an irresistible force.
“Bang!”
His back crashed violently against the hard bark, sending pain shooting through his body and making stars dance before his eyes—he nearly died on the spot.
The next second, Astreia appeared right before him, towering over him and gazing down as if judging an ant.
“So you like her that much?”
Astreia demanded coldly, each word laced with icy venom.
“So much that, even though I just killed her, you’d show such a heartbroken expression for her?”
Her slender fingers showed no mercy as they gripped Wendy’s fragile neck.
A suffocating feeling came crashing down like a tidal wave.
Once again, the shadow of death loomed over his heart.
But at that critical moment, Wendy caught a glimpse of Astreia’s eyes. In those demon eyes, burning with violet flames, alongside the rage and jealousy, there seemed to be a hint of… struggle and pain?
She really hasn’t fully turned into a witch!
Astreia must know the truth!
That White-robed Priestess is definitely hiding something huge—keeping her alive is a thousand times more valuable than killing her!
That’s what Wendy thought, but his hands could only futilely clutch at her wrists, unable to budge them at all. All he could do was wheeze helplessly.
“I was worried something had happened to you when I got Deputy Commander Kara’s report… worried that you’d been coerced, or were in some kind of danger…”
A cruel, twisted smile appeared on Astreia’s face.
That laughter sounded chilling in the dead silence of the rainy night.
“And yet… you were about to elope with another woman!”
No, big sis! Let go so I can speak!
Let me say something—so I can explain everything to you!
Just let go already!!!
Wendy watched helplessly as Astreia slipped into her self-pitying monologue, but the hand around his neck wouldn’t loosen at all.
Frustration and suffocation surged together, and his face was already turning a deep, liver-like purple.
“So, a King is destined to be alone after all… If that’s the case, tonight, let me personally send you on your way, my Wendy…”
The last bit of reason in Astreia’s eyes was devoured by the flames of jealousy. Her gaze turned savage, and her grip tightened sharply!
“Ugh…”
A short, broken sound escaped from between Wendy’s teeth, only to be swallowed by an even deeper wave of suffocation.
The air in his lungs was instantly stripped away.
The edges of his vision blurred and darkened first.
Before his eyes, Astreia’s face—twisted with hatred and pain—began to sway and distort, yet was seared into his retinas with crystal clarity.
A burning sensation spread from his strangled neck down, setting his insides ablaze.
His windpipe groaned under the pressure, every futile gulp felt like swallowing scalding blades.
Something in his chest thrashed wildly, but he couldn’t cough it out no matter what.
Yet, in the midst of this suffocating despair, a strange warmth suddenly exploded in Wendy’s mind!
The terror of dying was still there, but right after came an indescribable, twisted… rush of pleasure?
W-What’s going on…
Why… does this feel kind of intoxicating?
Through his blurry vision, Astreia’s outline seemed to glow with a holy yet sinister light.
She was both tormentor and savior.
The witch dragging him into the abyss, and the only one who could pull him back to the world of the living.
This twisted pleasure peaked as the dizziness from lack of oxygen took over.
The world spun and collapsed, but his senses grew sharper than ever.
Wendy could feel every change in Astreia’s grip, the desperate pulse of his carotid under her fingers, the burning emptiness in his lungs…
All of it wove together into an inescapable net, binding him tighter and tighter.
Darkness was about to swallow him whole, his consciousness flickering like a dying candle.
Just as Wendy thought he would fall into eternal oblivion, his soul nearly drifting away—
“Y-Your Highness, what… what are you doing?! Let go of Prince Wendy, now!”
A crisp, urgent female voice sliced through the rainy night.
Just moments ago, after Astreia tossed her aside, Kara had been anxiously searching, only to receive General Sera’s emergency report.
The Frontline Sentinel had scouted the Orc Army pouring out of the Corrupted Marsh and closing in on the newly-built Cement Defensive Line.
Since it was night, their numbers were unclear, so General Sera told her to find Astreia at once and rush to support the defenses.
But following the traces of battle, she caught up just in time to see the Princess Royal about to strangle Prince Wendy to death?!
Wasn’t there some misunderstanding here?
“Kara? What are you doing here?”
Astreia, irritated at being interrupted, instinctively loosened her grip and turned her annoyed gaze to her Deputy.
Just then, a faint, almost inaudible mumble came from her hand.
“Cough… a bit… a bit harder…”
“!!!”
For a moment, both Astreia and Kara’s eyes widened in shock, staring straight at Wendy.
Prince Wendy’s cheeks were flushed with a strange, feverish red, his expression dazed and intoxicated, as if his soul had drifted away—there was even a faint, lingering smile on his lips.
“……”
“……”
The air froze.
Even the sound of raindrops hitting the ground disappeared.
Only the subtle, ambiguous panting echoed in the night.
A moment later, Wendy’s muddled brain finally rebooted, and, seeing two pairs of blank, staring eyes fixed on him, he jolted awake.
He instantly switched into acting mode, and with a heartbroken, anguished tone, wailed, “Uh… I—I mean… Astreia, your hand… it hurts me…”
Before he finished, he twisted his neck to the right, his body went limp, and he “fainted” in the most dramatic fashion.
Astreia: “……”
Kara: “……”
After this interruption, most of the murderous rage in Astreia’s heart vanished, leaving only the annoyance of having her favorite toy disturbed halfway through play.
She clicked her tongue in annoyance, tucked Wendy under her arm like a folder, and turned with a cold glare toward her Deputy.
“Speak. What is it?”
Kara glanced at Wendy, who was being held so roughly under Her Highness’s arm, then at her own liege’s bizarre outfit and terrifying aura, swallowed hard, and reported the Frontline situation as quickly as possible.
“A bunch of scum, coming at just the right time.”
After listening, Astreia just cursed impatiently.
She raised her hand and clenched her fist at the empty air.
“Buzz!”
The Giant War Spear, previously abandoned in the mud, burst from the ground with a sharp whistle and flew back into its master’s hand.
Astreia weighed the War Spear in one hand, then, like throwing a javelin, hurled it with all her might!
“Whoosh—!”
The spear became a streak of black lightning, tearing through the rain and vanishing at terrifying speed.
Immediately after, Astreia took two steps back, bent her knees, and shot into the sky like a cannonball, landing precisely atop the War Spear as it flew!
Bathed in moonlight, she stood steadily upon the spear, Wendy still “unconscious” under her left arm. Her platinum hair and dark-purple armor whipped in the wind as they howled toward the distant battlefield.
Every move was seamless, domineering, and unmatched.
Only Kara was left behind, standing dumbfounded, jaw nearly hitting the muddy ground as she stared at the trail of light vanishing into the sky.
“Her—Her Highness… can fly now?”
“This, this… is this really Princess Astreia?”
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wtf am i reading