The afternoon sun slanted across the eaves of the Greyst Manor's side courtyard, casting the shadows of the window lattice onto the patterned carpet below.
Tap.
A faint resonant sound came from the windowsill—light, like a nimble cat settling onto it.
"Miss Lily, you've arrived earlier than I expected." ley finally looked up, his usual frivolous smile playing on his lips. He picked up the crystal wine flask on the table and poured amber-colored wine into an empty cup. The liquid trickled down the spout, pooling into a small puddle at the bottom of the cup and refracting tiny shards of light.
"You must be tired from your long journey. Have a glass of this southern honey dew wine—it's chilled, perfect for beating the summer heat."
"How did you know I'd come? And what have you done to Ophelia?"
Lily's short crimson hair brushed past her ears, revealing a sharp, defined jawline.
She had a strikingly elegant bone structure, and her figure was so full that one could bury their face in it—she looked like a cold, abstinent Flame Queen.
Right now, she stared at ley with the same disdain one would give garbage: her pupils instinctively constricted, as if inspecting something filthy, and even her blinking carried a frequency of impatience.
ley knew that look all too well—and he took a perverse pleasure in it. "Your eyes look just like my fiancée's," he said, voice brimming with fascination. He could hardly wait to torment this uninvited guest.
"Frivolous wretch." A flicker of disgust crossed Lily's eyes. The mere sight of men made her feel nauseous, a symptom that grew more pronounced as her level increased.
ley pulled up the status panel of the uninvited guest before him:
Name: Lily
Level: LV 50
Class: Elemental Witch
Sanity: 100/100
Health: 100/100
Talent: ???
Yet ley made no hasty moves. He knew full well that a "good-for-nothing" like him at Level 0 stood no chance against a Level 50 Elemental Witch. His father, Duke Zoe, had turned into a monster—there was no way he'd come to help.
So ley dropped the pretense. Faced with the vast power gap, he admitted defeat outright. "I've already let Ophelia go," he told Lily. "I even arranged a carriage for her—she'll be safely out of the capital soon."
What Lily didn't notice, though, was that with every breath she took, she inhaled a wisp of smoke. This time, Ley had laced the air with poison via the candles.
Lily's eyes still blazed with murderous intent, despite Lai Yi's calm demeanor. With a slight flick of her fingers, a large hand made of flames firmly grasped Lai Yi.
"Why are you still trying to kill me? I don't understand,"
Ley said. His eyebrows were already ablaze, yet his face still wore a smile as warm as a spring breeze. "I've already let Ophelia go. Do you still want to kill me? We have no grudge—why must you do this?"
Lily's gaze was filled with deep hatred—a look Ley had often seen on the faces of "wronged victims" in stories. "My lady, might I ask… why?"
Lily held him fast, but she didn't kill him right away. She wanted to watch this disgusting man burn alive in her flames, savoring his agony. "Blame yourself for defiling Ophelia."
"You really are just like Satila—arrogant to the core," Ley suddenly laughed, his voice dripping with malice. His heart raced at this familiar "sense of superiority." "Tormenting women like you… it doesn't weigh on my conscience at all."
What Lily failed to notice, however, was that the fire wrapping around Lai Yi was growing colder by the second—until it could no longer harm him.
"Haven't you noticed yet, you dull fool? I won this time," Lai Yi said, snapping his fingers triumphantly.
"You won? Don't be ridiculous! You're the one trapped in my fire!"
At that moment, the fire coiling around Lai Yi's neck extinguished. Simultaneously, Lily felt dizzy and lightheaded, and a strange throbbing began in her lower abdomen.
"What a shame," Lai Yi sighed. "If you hadn't wasted time trying to torture me and just killed me outright, I'd be dead by now."
"Poison?" Lily's eyes widened in shock. "I didn't drink your wine—why am I poisoned?"
Lai Yi grinned sinisterly. "Did Ophelia tell you I poisoned the wine? Well, I'm not going to tell you where I hid the poison this time. Can't have you warning anyone else."
Lily stared in disbelief. She took a sharp breath—and caught a faint sweet, fishy odor in the air. "You… you poisoned the air? Aren't you afraid of dying too?"
"So you noticed?" Lai Yi's smile grew even more triumphant.
Never in her wildest dreams had she thought a Level 50 witch like herself would be taken down by a nobody at Level 0—all because of poison.
"You filthy, despicable man!"
"I've never claimed to be decent," Lai Yi said, scratching his head. He couldn't fathom why the woman in front of him was so worked up. The real show was only just beginning.
He reached out and tore off Lily's cloak, revealing the smooth skin of her waist. The blade of the cursed knife glided across her stomach, and the cold touch made her tremble all over…
"There we go," Lai Yi said, putting away the cursed knife and wiping the beads of blood seeping from Lily's stomach with his fingertips. "From now on, you're my slave. You must obey everything I say—no exceptions."
"Now, for my first question," he continued, his tone suddenly serious. "Miss Lily, you're a lesbian, aren't you? Your feelings for Ophelia… they're not just friendship. They're more like a twisted sense of possession, right?"
The brand on her lower abdomen suddenly grew scalding hot. A strange force took control of her body, leaving her powerless to resist. "Y-Yes… That's right," she whispered, her voice hoarse and tinged with a humiliating whimper. Tears streamed down the corners of her eyes—not from pain, but from despair.
She had always believed she could save Ophelia, that they would return to Eldora together and rebuild their home. But now, not only had she failed to save Ophelia—she had become someone's slave, stripped of even the right to resist.
"Why… why did you know I'd come today?" she asked, her voice raw with unwillingness.
Lai Yi smiled and sat down on the chair beside her, his tone casual. "Ophelia told me. I'm not lying—if Ophelia hadn't led you here, I would never have known you were coming, not with my own abilities."
"Impossible!" Lily lifted her head, her eyes filled with shock and disbelief.
"Ophelia would never lie to me! We're best friends—we promised we'd…"
"Return to Eldora together?" Ley cut her off, his voice sharp with sarcasm.
"She stopped wanting that a long time ago." He stood up and loomed over her, looking down at her. "Do you really think a normal woman—let alone a noble elf like her—would fall for a lesbian? Use that tiny brain of yours and think!"
"Do you honestly believe she warned you about the poisoned wine out of kindness? She just wanted to lower your guard,"
he continued.
"She knew you'd rush in without a second thought to save her. She also knew I'd poisoned the candles… and that you'd definitely fall for it."
Lily froze, tears flowing even harder. "You're lying… Ophelia isn't like that…"
"Am I?" Lai Yi bent down, grabbed her chin, and forced her to look him in the eye.
"Then tell me—how did I know your every move? How did I prepare for you so perfectly?"
He paused, lowering his voice even more, like a demon's whisper. "Ophelia made a deal with me. She traded your whereabouts for her freedom. She said as long as I let her go, she'd lead you here—so I could turn you into my slave. She also said your 'affection' for her was too suffocating… that she'd been wanting to get rid of you for a long time."
"No… I don't believe it…" Lily shook her head, her voice choking with sobs.
"Ophelia would never do this to me… We picked berries together in Eldora's forests when we were kids. We watched the stars from the castle roof. She told me I was the most important person to her…"
"That was all in the past," Lai Yi said, letting go of her chin. He turned toward the window and pulled back the curtain, pointing toward the backyard. "See for yourself."
Lily followed his gaze—and there, on the stone path of the backyard, stood Ophelia. She wore a clean white dress, her silver hair neatly combed, and a look of ease on her face that Lily had never seen before.
"What do you think would happen," Lai Yi said, his eyes fixed on Lily's—eyes that looked just like Satila's, now filled with tears of despair.
Excitement stirred in his chest. "If I gave you a 'psychological gender correction' right in front of your beloved Ophelia?"
Ophelia lifted the carriage curtain and waved toward Lai Yi's room, her smile as bright as the early morning sun. Lily stared at her, tears pouring down her face.
But just then, Ophelia seemed to sense something and lifted the curtain again for a second glance.
She was too far away, though, and the sun glinted harshly—all she could see was a figure in light-colored clothes leaning against Lai Yi by the window. The figure's curves were full, just like Nanako's—the girl who always clung to Lai Yi.
"Nanako really has no shame," Ophelia muttered, shaking her head to dismiss the strange feeling in her chest. She didn't realize that the way she addressed Lai Yi had subtly changed to "Master."
With that, she bent down and climbed into the carriage. The coachman cracked his whip, and the sound of hooves echoed—clip-clop, clip-clop—as the carriage slowly pulled away from Greyst Manor's gates, heading out of the capital.