“Your Majesty.”
Late at night, after coaxing Snow White to sleep, Ye Tang draped a shawl over her shoulders and came to the dining hall.
The fireplace in the dining hall burned vigorously, its flames together with the torches on the walls illuminating the portrait of the former Queen Freya.
Freya gazed quietly downward at Ye Tang and Osborne I below, wearing her usual elegant smile.
“You took the initiative to seek me out. What do you want to say? Are you here to boast that you’ve successfully won over Snow White? Or do you think that if you can bewitch Snow White, you can certainly bewitch me too?”
Osborne I sneered coldly.
His daughter had always refused to speak to him. Whenever she saw him, she turned her face away, not even meeting his gaze. This made him harbor immense malice toward Ye Tang just from seeing her face.
“Quite the opposite, my Your Majesty.”
Ye Tang bent at the waist, performing a vassal’s salute toward Osborne I. “I want you to reconcile with the princess.”
“You are the princess’s father and my husband. As queen, it is only right that I help my husband and support my husband.”
“What scheme are you plotting?”
Osborne I certainly would not believe Ye Tang right away, but seeing the proud princess of Saint Rubifalist bow devoutly toward him stirred a hidden sense of pleasure he could not suppress.
“Your Majesty, I have no desire to bear children for you.”
Osborne I had not told Ye Tang to rise, so she kept her head bowed low, maintaining the saluting posture throughout.
“You must know as well that I am not a virgin. In Saint Ruby, I have the one I love.”
“—”
The speculation he had long silently believed in his heart was voiced by the person herself. Osborne I found it hard to slowly savor his feelings at that moment. Veins bulged on his forehead and the backs of his hands, and the muscles on his face twitched incessantly.
“I do not wish to lie to Your Majesty, but you have never given me the chance to explain. Thank you for agreeing to see me today, so I must be frank with you—”
“I am loyal to my lover; there is only him in my heart. I did not wish to marry into Castellion of my own accord, but even when I opposed my own marriage and tried to flee to find my lover, my father and brothers still sent me here… If I did not comply, they would kill my lover and my child.”
Child!? She truly already had a bastard child!!
Suppressing the impulse to spit out a mouthful of blood, Osborne I raised his fist toward Ye Tang.
As the close guard knight who never left his side, Kay, stationed at the dining hall door, was also greatly startled by Ye Tang’s words. But when he saw Osborne I raise his fist, his first reaction was that if Osborne I charged at Ye Tang, he might need to tackle Osborne I to stop his violence.
The queen was too frail. Her injuries on her arms and shoulders had not fully healed yet. If she took a punch from the king, she would probably…
But he could not stop the king without violence, and if he used violence to stop the king, his head would be hung on the city walls tomorrow.
Did he truly intend to protect the queen with his life?
“Your Majesty! Please stop!!”
Before Kay could weigh the pros and cons in his mind, he discovered his legs had already rushed toward Ye Tang.
Kay did not manage to stop Osborne I, because that punch from Osborne I swung toward the long table.
A large chunk of the stone long table shattered. Yet Ye Tang stood in place, not even shifting her toes.
“Your Majesty, Saint Rubifalist and my brothers sacrificed my love and my happiness. I hate Saint Rubifalist, and I hate my brothers. You may blame me for not being chaste and virtuous, or deem me filthy and shun me or exile me. I only want to tell you one thing: I do not want my brothers to have their way. I want to take revenge on Saint Rubifalist.”
“So I will not bear your heirs for Saint Rubifalist, letting my descendants become tools for Saint Rubifalist to devour Castellion. I will properly protect Princess Snow White and teach her everything she needs to know as queen. And one day—”
Ye Tang finally raised her head. Molten lava seemed to flow in her golden eyes, hot enough to melt a person to nothing but ash.
“Perhaps Snow White’s son, or perhaps Snow White’s grandson… One day, Castellion’s king will conquer Saint Rubifalist!”
At that moment, Osborne I understood: he and his queen shared the same interests. They both hated Saint Rubifalist.
And the enemy of an enemy was a friend.
…
“My Your Highness has done something quite bold indeed.”
Vincent Hunter slipped into Ye Tang’s bedchamber like the wind.
“It was more than bold… It was suicidal.”
Diesel in the mirror felt as if Ye Tang had scared another ten years off his lifespan.
A brute like Osborne I could kill with his bare hands. He pounded on the mirror surface, shouting for Ye Tang not to say anything else that would provoke Osborne I, but Ye Tang completely ignored him.
When he saw Osborne I raise his fist and smash the long table, he truly felt he had witnessed Ye Tang being hacked to pieces. At that time, he thought that if Ye Tang really died, even without the Slave Contract’s restrictions, he would smash himself to death in the mirror to accompany her.
Fortunately, he did not need to do that.
Vincent Hunter could not hear Diesel’s complaints. He walked up to Ye Tang and knelt on one knee. “Your Highness, your Vincent Hunter has returned.”
Ye Tang, who was combing her hair, nodded slightly. “Mm, you’ve had it rough.”
“Heh heh… I’m not tired.”
Vincent Hunter stood up, his right hand still over his chest. “As you predicted, Saint Ruby’s protection has already failed. The common folk have fallen into panic, with countless ordinary people surrounding the entire palace, sitting silently in place waiting for your father the king to give an explanation.”
“As for the princes… The younger ones have fled to their mothers’ palaces, trembling and weeping all day. Among the older princes, the Crown Prince assured the people that Windforest’s protection over Saint Ruby could be restored within three months, only to get pelted with stones by the crowd, who said three months was too long and the crops in the fields would all die.”
“The Second Prince and Sixth Prince allied, telling the people that what the Crown Prince said was impossible, urging them to face reality and get used to life without protection…”
“And then they got stoned too, right?”
Having finished combing her golden hair and setting the comb on the vanity, Ye Tang turned around.
Thinking of the Second Prince and Sixth Prince’s predicament, Vincent Hunter covered his mouth with his fist and chuckled nonstop. In the end, he added, “My apologies.”
“Saint Ruby’s situation is quite interesting, and so is Castellion’s. To think you would turn the rumors unfavorable to you against them in reverse.”
Ye Tang had no intention of curing Osborne I’s paranoia—she was neither his mother nor some saintess in love with him. Why should she waste time tolerating and healing someone she had no interest in?
Let Osborne I misunderstand if he wanted to. She had never intended to mold herself into the chaste and virtuous woman in men’s eyes.
“The knights’ mouths turned out to be surprisingly easy to loosen. The maids just drank a few extra cups with them, and they all started blabbing without restraint.”
The maids working in the castle had many who fancied the sturdy knights with noble connections as ideal partners. These maids regularly partied with off-duty knights anyway. Diesel merely hypnotized them to remember asking a few questions they had no interest in but Ye Tang did. When these maids returned to serve Ye Tang in the castle, Diesel hypnotized them again to have them reveal the intelligence they knew and forget they had reported it to Ye Tang.
“Now that His Majesty Osborne’s wariness toward you has largely dissipated, what do you plan to do next?”
“Do?”
Ye Tang’s brows relaxed, her eyes soft. “Of course, celebrate Snow White’s birthday.”
“A grand, luxurious, extravagantly exaggerated celebration for Snow White.”