Su Zhao never expected that Evelyn would suddenly bring up this matter and seemingly already have figured something out.
Her fingers couldn’t help but clutch at the pillow, unconsciously twisting it into a knot. Her brain raced at top speed, yet she couldn’t conjure up a single reasonable explanation no matter what.
“I, I…”
Su Zhao stammered for a long while, utterly failing to spit out a single complete sentence. Her heartbeat thundered like a battle drum, feeling as though it were about to burst right out of her chest.
Amidst the panic, her thoughts turned into a tangled mess, wrapping tighter and tighter until she couldn’t clear them up at all.
Stealing a sideways glance upward, she looked toward Evelyn, only to find the other person gazing at her with a cold, completely unruffled expression.
The woman’s heart was as hard as iron, entirely unmoved by her pitiful appearance.
“Sister, I don’t know what is going on either.”
Taking a deep breath, Su Zhao forced herself to control her tone, trying to make her voice sound somewhat calmer.
“After the succubus kidnapped me, she knocked me unconscious. When I woke up again, I appeared in a desolate wasteland.”
“On one side was barren land where not a soul could be seen, and on the other was an endless sea. I was locked up in that ghost place, unable to fly away even with wings, and I had no idea what was happening at all.”
Su Zhao’s voice grew softer and softer, as even she felt this excuse was far-fetched, yet she had to brace herself and continue.
“When I opened my eyes again, I found myself unexpectedly appearing inside the auction house. Up until now, I still haven’t been able to completely figure out the situation.”
She tentatively asked, “Perhaps while I was unconscious, the succubus took the opportunity to tamper with me in some way?”
Evelyn narrowed her eyes slightly. Su Zhao’s entire body stiffened, exposing her completely to that scrutinizing gaze. Every subtle expression of hers, and even the tone of every sentence she spoke, seemed to be undergoing precise dissection by the other party.
After a long while, Evelyn slowly spoke, “Are you truly certain that Your Highness didn’t proactively throw yourself into it?”
Favourability decrease warning!
Su Zhao’s fingers trembled slightly, alarm bells ringing instantly in her mind. In an instant, a current seemed to flash past her tailbone, shooting straight up to her brain.
The more it was like this, the less she dared to admit it. Evelyn understood her temperament far too well, leaving Su Zhao with no courage to harbor any wishful thinking.
Feigning ignorance, Su Zhao spoke with indignant anger:
“That hateful robber! I hate her so much I could die, I wish I could proactively rush up and give her a couple of kicks! I wish I could loot all her property and confiscate her jewelry! Making her destitute for the rest of her life so she can’t even eat a single full meal!”
Still childish.
Yet it expressed her stance and tendency to some extent.
Evelyn’s expression cleared up slightly, a trace of a warning undertone in her voice, “I hope Your Highness is telling the truth.”
Just at that moment, several crisp knocks sounded outside the door, followed by a servant’s respectful voice:
“Your Highness, Lady Saintess, the meal has been prepared.”
Evelyn withdrew her gaze. With a gentle wave of her hand, magic elements gathered silently, and the door opened automatically.
“Alright, let’s eat first.”
Accompanied by this softening remark, the atmosphere that had nearly frozen over earlier melted like solid ice meeting a blazing sun, beginning to flow once more.
Su Zhao quietly relaxed her tensed spine, letting out a silent, long breath of relief. Seeing that Evelyn was no longer angry, she instantly perked back up, scrambling up from the bed in one fluid motion.
“Sister, let me tell you, I really suffered a terrible ordeal today, eating so much bitterness and enduring so much exhaustion. Right now I am both starving and thirsty, and I am so sleepy my eyelids are barely staying up.”
Su Zhao exaggeratedly rubbed her eyes. Although she spoke pitifully, her full-of-vigor voice showed no trace of fatigue whatsoever, lacking any persuasiveness at all.
The dining table was laden with tempting meals, but neither of them paid much attention to them at the moment. In front of Evelyn, Su Zhao changed like a different person, becoming exceptionally spoiled.
“My legs feel as though they’ve grown roots and sprouted leaves right into the ground, stuck fast down there so I can’t move them a single step. Sister, come pull me out from the earth quickly.”
“Pull you out?”
Evelyn lowered her head slightly, her gaze falling softly upon her, amused by Su Zhao’s nonsensical words into a slight upward curve of her lips, her expression carrying an indescribable trace of doting pampering and indulgence.
Su Zhao raised her head, looking at her with an innocent expression, her eyes filled with coaxing and reliance as she opened her arms to her and spoke in a soft, spoiled tone.
“My legs feel so heavy and awful, it’s like I don’t even know how to walk anymore. Sister needs to hug me so I can manage to walk.”
The moment her hands lifted up, they were firmly and powerfully grasped. A wave of warm breath rushed toward her as Evelyn slowly and gently threaded her arms through hers, gathering her up into a steady embrace.
Su Zhao smoothly buried her head into her embrace, her nose filled with a crisp, faint fragrance, a hazy, blooming scent akin to a lone snow lotus blossoming atop a snowy mountain, cold and aloof, so beautiful that people dared not touch it lightly.
Once she was settled onto the chair, before Evelyn could straighten up, Su Zhao grabbed her sleeve to keep her from leaving, looking at her with eager eyes.
“My arms hurt so much too, I can’t lift them at all, they feel as heavy as lead. I can’t move a bit, does sister want to feed me?”
Evelyn looked at her calmly and smiled faintly, “Alright.”
The exact same response as always.
The cold and untethered Saintess raised her hand with elegance, picking up the golden spoon, scooping up a spoonful of food, and slowly delivering it to Su Zhao’s lips.
Seeing this, Su Zhao smiled with her eyes curving into crescents, her eyes filled with the joy of success: “If sister spoils me like this, won’t you turn me into a little good-for-nothing? In the future, if I ever leave sister, I’m afraid I won’t even survive.”
Su Zhao rambled on endlessly, starting to feel sick of herself.
Yet she could genuinely feel Evelyn’s water-soft gaze firmly fixed upon her the entire time, attentively listening to every single one of her nonsense phrases, with a faint, doting smile lingering on her face.
Swallowing the bite of food without tasting its flavor clearly, Su Zhao vaguely seemed to hear Evelyn murmur softly.
“That would be wonderful.”
The voice was as soft as a breeze brushing past, fleeting and illusory, to the point that Su Zhao doubted whether she had experienced auditory hallucinations.
Throughout the remainder of the meal, Evelyn was exceptionally meticulous, personally feeding her every bite with gentle and elegant movements, caring for Su Zhao with utter attentiveness like taking care of a fragile child until the meal concluded.
With a casual wave of Evelyn’s hand, the tableware automatically returned to its place, and the servants filed out in an orderly fashion.
Watching with envious eyes, Su Zhao couldn’t help marveling at the convenience of magic.
Before she knew it, she heard Evelyn say:
“Give me your magic wand.”
Obediently, Su Zhao retrieved the magic wand from her game inventory and handed it to her.
Earlier, when the auctioneer saw this ability to summon items out of thin air, she had been extremely shocked, assuming it was some new type of spatial magic she was unfamiliar with.
Evelyn, however, had long since grown accustomed to it, knowing that this was a miraculous arcane art whose mysteries even the top magic academies across the entire continent had failed to research.
Though she remained curious about the source of Su Zhao’s abilities, she consistently maintained boundaries and never pressed with further questions.
Evelyn accepted the magic wand.
“I will seal a new forbidden spell into it as soon as possible. During this time, since you lack the protection of a forbidden spell inside your wand, just stay obediently in the Summer Palace and do not run around randomly.”
Su Zhao drooped, her tone listless.
“Even when I stayed obediently in the Summer Palace without running around, a robber still forced her way into my home and kidnapped me.”
Looking down at her, Evelyn said earnestly, “The very first time you encounter such a person in the future, you must release the forbidden spell immediately.”
Naturally, the succubus hadn’t overlooked Su Zhao’s magic wand; possessing strong vigilance, she had confiscated that wand right away.
Yet how could a character in a game ever imagine that Su Zhao also possessed a game inventory?
Had it been her own personal wand, it naturally wouldn’t have been classified as a prop and stored inside the inventory. But because this was a gift given to her by Evelyn, it had serendipitously functioned correctly.
The wand she used to put on a show had been taken away by the succubus to be auctioned off, likely falling into the hands of the deep-pocketed Number 12.
Yet this wand safely tucked inside her game inventory had escaped unscathed.
Worried for her safety, Evelyn had spent a full three days sparing no cost to seal a forbidden spell within it.
Later on, during the teleportation process, Su Zhao used the white light of the magic teleportation array as cover to deceive Todd’s eyes, quietly releasing the forbidden spell and successfully removing the Demon’s Gift.
This paved the way for Evelyn and the others to enter smoothly.
“Don’t fret over the forbidden spell. If I am not around, go find Her Majesty the Queen and have her dispatch a few high-ranking mages to reseal a forbidden spell into the wand.”
“Whether it is Her Majesty the Queen or Her Royal Highness the Crown Princess, as long as you behave properly, stay well-behaved, and don’t stir up any trouble, they will definitely stand behind you and back you up to maintain royal dignity.”
Seeing Su Zhao lowering her head guiltily, not daring to meet her eyes, Evelyn frowned and finally realized the truth.
With a sudden tug, she yanked Su Zhao’s shoulders around, pressing her palms downward forcefully. Her expression turned sharply cold, her gaze resembling sharp ice blades as she stared right at her, speaking word by word:
“You didn’t look at how attractive someone was again, and soften your heart because of it, did you?”
Su Zhao stammered, “The power of the forbidden spell is too massive, if it were used, the entire Summer Palace would be flattened into a wasteland.”
“There are so many servants inside, plus the garden that sister meticulously tends to. If it really got destroyed, sister certainly wouldn’t spare me. She might even hang me up and whip me.”
As cold as frost, Evelyn mercilessly pierced through the excuse.
“The Summer Palace is protected by a magic array.”
Su Zhao: “……”
Left completely speechless, Su Zhao could only hang her head in depression, resembling a drenched, pathetic puppy, no longer daring to make a peep.
Evelyn was furious.
“People always say a fall into a pit gains you a wit, Dorothy, I see you are simply asking for a beating! You say with your mouth how much grievance you suffered and how much hardship you endured, yet the next time you still dare to offend again, am I right?”
“I didn’t say that, sister misunderstood me.”
Su Zhao muttered in a tiny voice to defend herself.
These words were practically pouring oil on fire; Evelyn’s expression turned frigid in an instant.
However, before she could erupt, her wrist suddenly tightened as the person in front of her instinctively leaned toward her, her eyes filled with bewildered anxiety, her expression dazed and helpless as she stared straight at her.
“Sister…”
Su Zhao’s vision was misty with tears, droplets hanging upon her long eyelashes. The world before her blurred with tears, leaving her unable to discern Evelyn’s location, forcing her to blink harder.
Her face was flushed hot, the corners of her eyes burning red like ripe cherries. Clumsily, her hands fumbled to tug at her own collar, breaking out in a sweat of anxiety.
“What is going on, sister, I suddenly feel so hot.”
Her voice had been forced into a slight hoarseness, carrying a trace of trembling from extreme endurance.
Sweat slid down her cheek, dripping onto the back of her hand.
Vaguely feeling this state to be familiar yet daring not believe it, Su Zhao forcibly suppressed the moan rising to her throat, looking toward her as if seeking help, asking in a soft, pitiful, pleading tone:
“Sister, what is wrong with me?”