That was a taste sweeter than honey.
The heady rose fragrance, intoxicating enough to daze the mind, sent the Incubus’s consciousness flying far away in an instant. In that moment, he could no longer feel himself or the outside world. The only thing he could sense was the woman before him, whom he recognized as his master. His world was completely dominated by this woman, his consciousness fully melting into the sweet scent emanating from her.
The Incubus unconsciously knelt on the ground and kissed the pale toes before him through the mirror surface.
His master possessed a soul like the sun—vast, blazing, dazzlingly radiant, and carrying a heat that could scorch him. Before such a terrifying mass of energy, a weak Incubus like him, belonging to the side of “darkness,” could turn to ashes in an instant.
Fortunately, after the slave contract took effect, that energy which could have reduced him to flying ash instead nourished his weakened state, caused by a lack of essence.
This was something that should not have been possible.
By the rules of this world’s composition, “positive” and “negative,” “light” and “dark” were mutually repelling poles. Just like water and oil could not mix. “Positive power” was poison to “negative power”; “dark” was the nemesis that eroded “light,” and vice versa.
The Incubus was a weak servant of darkness. Normally, touching “positive” or “light” power would purify him without even leaving dregs behind. Having been trapped in the magic mirror for over two hundred years, the Incubus could not comprehend why he had not vanished. He even began to wildly imagine if two hundred years had passed and the era had changed, making the mutual repulsion between “positive” and “negative,” “light” and “dark,” disappear. After all…
A warm power, sweet and viscous like honey, entered his mouth, flowed into his abdomen, slowly accumulated in his body, and repaired his tattered wings. Not only was he not purified, he had even grown a bit stronger.
“I offer my true name to my master… My true name is ‘Diesel’… a third-level Incubus…”
“Mmm… mm…”
His purple eyes completely moistened, emotionally panting as he stuck out his tongue to try to lick and absorb more essence, only for his sharp fangs to bump into the mirror surface.
“It hurts…!”
With a wail, the little Nightmare sobered a bit.
Seeing that the little Nightmare had enough strength to cover his mouth and cry out in pain, Ye Tang withdrew her foot.
She roughly understood what a slave contract was—a pact where, after establishment, the master could faintly perceive the slave’s thoughts and state. Of course, this perception was very subtle and only occurred when the master willed it.
This limited perception was mainly to prevent slave rebellions and avoid the master accidentally killing the slave. It also prevented excessive pain from punishment or execution flowing back to the master and affecting their spirit.
Since the contract was established on a soul level between master and slave, the master could also issue mental commands directly and influence the slave’s thoughts and actions to a certain degree.
However, the extent of influence over the slave’s thoughts and actions, and the degree to which the slave obeyed the master’s commands, depended on the master’s mental strength versus the slave’s.
The higher the master’s mental strength, the greater their authority. Conversely, the higher the slave’s mental strength, the better they could resist the master’s commands.
In short, the slave contract was very convenient.
Thump thump—
A knock came from the bedroom door. Ye Tang glanced at Diesel in the mirror, then got out of bed, put on her shoes, and opened the door.
“Q-Queen… Your Highness… We have come to obey your orders…”
A group of maids stood bowing at the bedroom door, not daring to breathe as they stared at their own toes, everyone trembling uncontrollably.
—Osborne I had ordered the strangling of the palace chef who made Ye Tang’s dinner with rotten meat, as well as the other chefs and servants who knew about the rotten meat but did not stop him, and the servants who helped deliver the rotten meat to Ye Tang.
Now, those corpses hung from the castle walls at the gate.
Blown by the cold wind mixed with ice particles, the hanged bodies slowly rotated in the dark night.
Seeing this scene, the maids who had neglected the queen were scared half to death and quickly huddled together to discuss countermeasures.
What good countermeasures could this group of maids come up with? Nothing more than treating the queen as a queen from now on, trying not to anger her, and not letting her complain to the king—they had all mistreated the queen before. The one maid who hadn’t mistreated the queen had long been falsely accused of theft, then ordered by the king to have her hands chopped off and thrown to the deserted Sacrifice Tower to guard it.
“Obey my orders? You never said that to me before.”
Ye Tang leaned against the doorframe with a half-smile, showing no intention of letting these maids into her bedroom.
“Please forgive us, Your Highness…!”
The maids knelt to the ground. Many chattered their teeth with “clack clack” sounds, fearing they would end up on the city gate tomorrow, spinning among those bodies.
Osborne I was a true iron-blooded lion; no one dared bet that he would stop caring about the queen’s life tomorrow.
In the end, those above set the example, and those below followed suit extremely. If the maids hadn’t wanted to curry favor with Osborne I, why would they bully the queen? Now that Osborne I had changed his previous attitude, the maids, for their own safety, naturally watched the face of those above.
It won’t happen again; from now on, we will never neglect Your Highness!
“Oh… so you knew you neglected me before.”
Ye Tang could be very merciful to people, provided they deserved it. But how had these people treated Marinfield? Every one of them was a culprit who had driven Marinfield’s spirit toward death.
She could lightly let these maids go, ignoring their abuse of Marinfield in exchange for a reputation of benevolence. But she didn’t want to—Ye Tang always did things based on whether she felt happy or not. Right now, she wasn’t happy letting go of these opportunistic fence-sitters, so she wouldn’t stop here.
Ye Tang smiled beautifully and gently, her goddess-like face radiating the glow and compassion of a saint: “Since you want me to let bygones be bygones, I am willing…”
However, when Ye Tang opened her golden eyes, the backlight behind the saint instantly turned pitch black.
“But how can I believe you?”
“Not one of the things you’ve done to me deserves my trust.”
The maids kneeling on the ground had been secretly rejoicing inside, their faces showing the lucky smile of having fooled a fool, but now they could no longer smile.
The lead maid gulped, unable to hold back: “Your Highness, do you mean you won’t believe our loyalty…? Then we—”
Seeing the maid’s intent to retreat, Ye Tang slammed her foot on the stone floor with a “snap!”, interrupting her.
Right now, she could not let the maids back down. Because tomorrow, the day after, and beyond, the maids would slowly realize that Osborne I’s attitude toward his queen had not fundamentally changed. Their worry that the winds in the castle would completely shift was unnecessary.
Ye Tang wanted to force these maids to make a choice tonight.
“Loyalty? You still have such a thing? Heh, fine.”
“If you’re willing to offer your loyalty to me, then prove it with something.”
The queen, beautiful like a demon, slightly bent down at the waist, her brilliant golden hair cascading down.
“Your little finger.”
“Those willing to offer loyalty to me should chop off their own little finger and send it to me. From either hand is fine, of course, toes work too. If you’re scared to chop it yourself, you can have someone else do it for you.”
Ye Tang straightened up again as she spoke.
“There’s nothing else tonight, so no need to come again. Good night, everyone.”
Snap!
The queen’s bedroom door closed. The maids’ pleas for the queen to wait were completely shut out.
“You… you really want all these maids to chop off their little fingers?”
Diesel in the magic mirror looked at Ye Tang in horror.
“Do you think these fence-sitters would be willing to chop off their little fingers for me?”
Ye Tang flopped onto the bed. Earlier, she hadn’t worn socks on one foot, and now that foot was a bit cold from the chill.
“Don’t worry, they won’t be willing.”
“Then—”
“They’ll exchange with something in their hearts equivalent to a little finger.”
The fireplace in the queen’s bedroom had long gone out, and Castellion after nightfall was as cold as an icy hell. On such a frigid night, Marinfield couldn’t sleep and didn’t dare to—she feared freezing to death directly in her bed.
Ye Tang wasn’t sleeping because she was waiting.
Sure enough, it wasn’t long before someone knocked on Ye Tang’s door. The maid outside said cautiously: “Your Highness, I have come to stoke your fireplace…”
Oh, it seemed a smart one had come. Not only was her decisiveness fast, but she had found a perfect excuse to strike first—Castellion’s nights were too cold; in this stone castle, how could one survive the night without a fireplace? The maid knew full well that even without bringing her little finger, the queen would open the door for her.
“Come in.”
Ye Tang opened the door, and a red-haired woman with a layer of little freckles on her cheeks walked in carrying firewood. Sure enough, her little finger was still attached to her hand.
“Your Highness,”
As the maid stoked the fireplace for Ye Tang, she said: “I wish to offer my loyalty to Your Highness. As proof of my loyalty, I am willing to tell Your Highness some intelligence that you might find useful…”
Ye Tang propped her chin with one hand, smiling faintly: “You don’t want to sacrifice your little finger, right?”
The maid’s back stiffened, but she quickly relaxed. She could feel the probing intent from Ye Tang.
“I think that, compared to my little finger, intelligence is more useful to Your Highness. Moreover—”
Under the maid’s tending, the fireplace soon blazed to life. The firelight illuminated the maid’s face.
“Those who chop off their little fingers will be seen as part of the ‘queen’s faction.’ If I’m not seen as ‘queen’s faction,’ I can spy more useful intelligence and news for Your Highness. Don’t you think so?”
Ye Tang laughed.
This time, it was a genuine laugh that reached her eyes.
She liked smart people, and the maid before her was a smart one with a big-picture view.
“Turn around. What’s your name?”
“Fara. Your Highness, my name is Fara Ilay.”
“Then, Fara, tell me what you know.”