Chapter 74:
King's Landing, Red Keep, Temporary Site of the Royal Medical Academy.
When the first rays of morning light pierced through the tall stained-glass windows depicting the suffering of the Seven Gods, tiny dust particles danced wildly in the beams. This place had originally been a palace built by House Tyrell to display their wealth. Luxurious columns were carved with intertwining roses. But now, those golden roses were overshadowed by the sharp scent of carbolic acid. The air carried a chilling, heart-palpitating coldness.
Victor stood in the shadows of the long corridor, his fingers gently stroking the mechanical wrench at his waist. His violet eyes gazed through the glass at the woman standing before the operating table.
Lilith Mort stood at the operating table. She had changed into a neat, narrow-sleeved white robe — a design inspired by the modern surgical gowns Victor had provided, yet worn by her with an ascetic, saintly purity. Her slender fingers held a fine steel scalpel personally forged and polished by Maester Marwyn using a high-temperature furnace and Valyrian steel. The blade's tip reflected a cold arc of light in the sunlight.
Before her lay a laborer whose thigh bone had been crushed by heavy cargo at the Blackwater Bay docks. The man was nearly unconscious from pain, his teeth chattering.
"It will hurt a little. Endure it, and the gods will take away your suffering."
Lilith's voice was as gentle as a evening breeze brushing across wheat fields. She leaned slightly forward. Her long, waterfall-like black hair was tied back with a simple cloth band, with a few stray strands falling against her temples, adding a heartbreaking fragility.
[Black Mother Goddess System Notification: Real-time collection of human anatomical data in progress…]
[Stress intensity analysis complete. 3D modeling of fracture surface synchronized.]
[Host movement optimization: Increase incision depth by 0.5 mm to perfectly avoid the major artery while maximizing exposure of nerve endings.]
The corners of Lilith's lips curved upward in a tiny, extremely hidden arc. In her previous life, her favorite part had always been watching prey being methodically peeled open while fully conscious. That absolute control over life was far more intoxicating than any physical pleasure. Her scalpel moved with rock-steady precision as it sliced through the skin. Red blood welled up, reflecting in her sapphire-blue pupils like a spark ignited in the abyss.
"Look, that is the devil's blood. Once it flows out, you will be clean," she whispered softly.
The surrounding apprentices and nurses were stunned. In their eyes, Lady Lilith was not merely suturing a wound — she was redeeming a soul. Several young apprentices had already knelt on the ground, quietly praying toward her back.
…
At the same time, inside the Tower of the Hand's office in the Red Keep.
Victor withdrew his gaze and turned to sit behind the massive oak desk. Several urgent intelligence reports delivered by "the Spider" Varys were piled on the table.
"You're saying that this Lilith had no trace of existence before entering King's Landing?" Victor tapped the desktop rhythmically with his fingers. The steady rhythm helped calm his irritable mood slightly.
"Yes, my lord. Even all our 'little birds' across the Narrow Sea could find no record of this name." Varys bowed, his powdered face unusually free of its signature fake smile. "She appeared as if she had jumped out of the foam of Blackwater Bay. But strangely, every commoner who has come into contact with her — even the men of your Steel Knights Order — speaks of her with the highest praise. That kind of worship… is spreading like a plague."
Victor gave a cold snort. As a transmigrator with a system, he knew all too well what lay behind such "flawless" perfection. In the world of Westeros, pure goodness was like a torch on a snowfield — either the mark of a hero, or the extremely dangerous disguise of a predator.
"Keep watching her, Varys." Victor's eyes turned icy cold. "I don't believe there is any woman in this world without a shadow. If she is a fox, she will eventually show her tail. If she is a snake, I will crush her neck before she can bite."
Just as he finished speaking, Margaery's clear, silver-bell-like laughter came from outside the door.
"Victor, are you still worrying over those boring documents?" Margaery pushed the door open. She affectionately linked arms with Lilith. Lilith had changed back into her signature white dress and was carrying a basket of freshly picked raspberries still glistening with dew.
Lilith walked forward timidly, head lowered. Her startled-fawn-like gentleness made any man instinctively feel a twisted desire to protect her.
"My lord… these are raspberries that Lady Lilith picked on the back hill. She said you are busy with a thousand affairs and need something sweet to ease your fatigue." Margaery's eyes flickered. She had recently been trying to win Lilith over, because she had discovered that Lilith's influence among the commoners in the slums even surpassed that of the Faith. She wanted to turn this "Lily" into a mouthpiece for House Tyrell among the smallfolk.
Lilith offered the basket with both hands, her fingertips trembling slightly. "My lord… I… I don't know if you will like them. If they don't suit your taste, I can take them away."
Victor stared at her.
That extreme humility, and the fear almost overflowing from the depths of her eyes, once again triggered his desire for dominance as a superior. He slowly stood up, walked in front of Lilith, and his tall figure completely enveloped her delicate form.
"You've gone to a lot of trouble, Dean Lilith." Victor reached out to take the basket, deliberately letting his fingertips drag heavily across the back of her soft, boneless hand.
In that instant, Lilith recoiled as if electrocuted. Her face flushed from pale to crimson, and her breathing became rapid. This instinctive physiological reaction caused the system inside Victor to once again confirm: "Ordinary human female. Fear response is genuine."
"Looks like I really was overthinking it." Victor mocked himself inwardly. Looking at Lilith's appearance — as if she was about to cry — he actually felt a strange sense of achievement. No matter how saintly a woman was, in front of him, the steel tyrant, she was ultimately just a timid female.
…
Late at night, Red Keep, moonlight like blood.
When the last lamp in King's Landing was extinguished, Lilith stood quietly by the window of her chamber. The wooden holy icon in her hand looked sinister and eerie under the moonlight.
She pressed hard with her fingertips. There was a crisp click from the back of the icon. A hidden compartment popped open, revealing a vial of medicine glowing with a faint green light — [Chaos Plague Seed].
"Margaery wants money. Victor wants power." Lilith stared at the vial. Her sapphire-blue eyes gradually dyed with a mad crimson in the darkness. "As for me… I want this city to become my nursery."
She stepped out of the room and moved silently through the shadows. Her steps were as light as a black cat's, not even disturbing the guard dozing at the end of the corridor.
At the corner, she encountered the young servant boy she had personally bandaged the night before. The boy was patrolling with a lantern. When he saw Lilith, his eyes immediately filled with near-fanatical adoration.
"Lady Lilith… it's so late. You still haven't rested?" The boy lowered the lantern, his face flushing red.
"Shh." Lilith approached and stroked the boy's face with her ice-cold fingers. "Good child, I was praying for you. Look, you've worked hard all night. You must be thirsty, right?"
She sprinkled a nearly invisible crystalline powder from her sleeve — a pathogen carrier extracted by the system.
"Drink it, and you will see the kingdom of the gods. There is no fatigue, no hunger there." She gently handed him the water flask.
Watching the boy obediently gulp down the poisoned water, Lilith's smile in the darkness became exceptionally twisted. This child would be the first "carrier rat." He would spread the plague into the kitchens, the laundry rooms, and finally into Victor's bedchamber.
When the plague erupted in King's Landing and all the famous physicians were helpless, only her "holy water" would be able to save lives. At that time, she would no longer be an exiled noble — she would be the only god of King's Landing.
"Victor, I will make you watch with your own eyes as your steel city slowly rots away in my gentleness."
She turned and melted into the darkness, leaving the young servant standing there. The boy was still smiling foolishly, unaware that his internal organs had already begun an irreversible mutation.
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