Elvia turned her head and looked at Lin Gui.
"Do you know, I rushed into that guesthouse as fast as I could, and after I finished my bath, I came out looking for you."
"As it turned out, you were gone."
Her voice was very calm, but Lin Gui noticed that her fingers tightened slightly.
"I was very scared back then."
"Scared that you'd just abandoned me like that."
"That little city-state felt like a man-eating behemoth; there were strange faces everywhere."
"I felt like I'd been thrown into an abyss."
Lin Gui retorted from the side,
"Just who abandoned whom?"
"Did you forget about the part where you dumped me on the ground and ran off?"
Elvia shrugged her shoulders.
"Well, I really shouldn't have left you behind when you were heavily injured."
"But..."
She wore a look that said "you wouldn't understand."
"You have no idea how terrifying it is for a woman—especially a beautiful woman—to go a full week without a bath."
She shuddered.
"Especially..."
She didn't finish, but Lin Gui knew what she was talking about.
No one wanted to repeat those days of eating bugs, drinking raw blood, and rolling in the mud.
Lin Gui looked at her with disdain.
"So... are you playing the melancholy princess right now just because you remembered your current situation?"
Elvia nodded and let out a sigh.
"The Carter Royal Capital has likely... been destroyed."
"No matter how powerful that woman is, it’s impossible for her to stop the trampling of the Dark Tide."
She paused, her voice dropping a few levels.
"Besides... even if she performs a miracle and lets the Carter Royal Capital survive."
"There is... no place for me there anymore."
"The Carter royal family has been slaughtered by her... until I’m the only one left..."
Recalling that irresistible and bloody purge, Elvia's expression turned somewhat ugly.
Lin Gui asked,
"Isn't there still Warren?"
Elvia let out a cold sneer.
"Do you really think he considers himself a member of the Carter royal family?"
"The high nobles of the Upper District and the royal family were all slaughtered by him."
"Even my grandfather—the man dubbed the cruelest King of Carter—couldn't have done what he did, wiping out the entire ruling class!"
Her voice carried hatred and a trace of fear.
It was the kind of fear of absolute power that seeped out from the bones.
Lin Gui, however, had no reaction.
He simply leaned against the back of his chair and sighed casually,
"Wow, it's a pity I wasn't there. Otherwise, I could have helped him block the doors so he could kill a few more."
Elvia's indignant expression froze instantly.
She looked at Lin Gui, speechless.
This guy took pleasure in "feeding nobles to demons" and dreamed of killing all the nobles and feeding them to pigs.
"Hey, those were my brothers and sisters. My blood relatives are all dead; can't you show a little sympathy?"
Lin Gui countered,
"When Charles, Diana, and your other blood relatives died, how many times did you laugh?"
Elvia subconsciously replied,
"Laugh? How could I laugh? I was next on the list after they died! I was so scared back then that I wet my pants, do you know that?"
She froze as soon as she finished speaking.
Then, she let out a sigh.
"Forget it, why am I even talking to you?"
She turned her head and looked at the distant moonlight.
"In any case..."
"I am no longer a princess."
"The status, power, and money brought by that identity no longer exist."
"The current me... is just a High-tier High Rank knight."
She paused, a hint of self-deprecation in her voice.
"A High-tier High Rank knight... I wouldn't even be qualified to guard the gates of the Carter Royal Capital."
Her hands trembled slightly.
That was the discomfort and fear of falling from the clouds to the ground.
"The only identity that can let me survive in these apocalyptic city-states is that of an adventurer."
She looked at Lin Gui.
"Do you know how bottom-tier adventurers live?"
Without waiting for Lin Gui's answer, she continued on her own.
"They crawl out of bed before dawn every day to go to the guild's commission board and scramble for the lowest-paying, most dangerous jobs."
"If their luck is good, they earn a few silver coins, buy a piece of black bread, and squat on a street corner to gnaw on it."
"If their luck is bad and they run into a magical rat, their leg gets bitten off and they won't even have the money to treat the wound."
"Once they get older and their hands get slow, they starve to death on the street, and there's no one to even collect their bodies."
She spoke faster and faster, her voice laced with obvious terror.
"Back when I was in the Carter Royal Capital, I saw too many adventurers like that."
"They'd kneel at the guild entrance, begging people to take pity and give them a commission."
"They'd lie in the gutters, their wounds festering while flies swarmed around them."
"They'd die outside the city, and no one would even remember their names."
"I don't want that."
"I don't want to become that kind of person."
Listening from the side, Lin Gui couldn't help but say,
"It's not that exaggerated."
"As long as you don't despise that low-quality life, you can absolutely survive."
After all, Elvia was a High-tier High Rank knight.
What she was describing was mostly the situation for the dime-a-dozen Apprentice adventurers.
Although High Rank adventurers still faced significant mortal danger while completing commissions...
Buying a place to live and supporting themselves was not an issue.
Elvia glared at him.
"Don't despise it?"
"Do you know what those bottom-tier adventurers eat?"
"Moldy bread, demon meat riddled with maggots, and vegetable leaves scavenged from trash heaps."
"Do you know where they live?"
"Shacks, gutters, and dog holes beneath the city walls."
"Do you know what they wear?"
"Clothes stripped off of dead people, with bloodstains that can never be washed clean."
She grew increasingly agitated as she spoke.
"And I'm so beautiful!"
"If some damned noble happens to catch a glimpse of me!"
She clutched her chest with a look of horror.
"Those guys look at pretty girls the way a dog looks at a meat bone!"
"Before, they didn't dare touch me, but now..."
She shuddered.
"I can't even beat an ordinary Transcendent knight right now!"
"If I were captured by them..."
She couldn't go on.
Looking at her like that, Lin Gui couldn't help but laugh out loud.
"So you finally realize how rotten your noble peers are."
Elvia didn't argue.
Because it was the truth.
And that was also what she feared the most now.
She was no longer that princess with overwhelming power.
She was just a High-tier High Rank knight.
Strictly speaking, she wasn't even qualified to join her own former organization.
Seeing Lin Gui's smiling face, Elvia gave a light huff and stood up.
She walked to the edge of the balcony, supporting herself with both hands on the railing as she looked down at the busy city residents.
Those people were walking back and forth on the streets.
Some were carrying cargo, some were pushing handcarts, and some were crouching by the roadside gnawing on dry rations.
Their faces were etched with exhaustion and numbness.
As Elvia watched them, her voice suddenly grew louder.
"I refuse to become like that!"
"I refuse to risk my life for a single bite of food by taking those pathetic commissions!"
"I refuse to squat on a street corner and gnaw on black bread like a dog!"
"I refuse to wear clothes stripped off of dead bodies!"
"I refuse to sleep in a gutter and let rats crawl over me!"
"And I certainly won't sell myself to become a mistress for some disgusting noble just to survive!"
Her voice drifted away in the night wind.
"I want to eat the most expensive food!"
"I want to sleep in the softest bed!"
"I want to wear the most gorgeous clothes!"
"I want to drink the finest red wine!"
"I want to live a life of debauchery and hedonism every single day!"
After she finished shouting, she gasped for air.
Lin Gui let out a yawn from the side and replied somewhat sleepily,
"Then you should probably just wash up and go to sleep."
"In your current situation, there's only one way to satisfy your desires."
"And that's by daydreaming."
Elvia turned her head and looked at him.
Moonlight fell on her face, and a strange light flashed through those golden eyes.
"No,"
she said.
"There is another way."
Lin Gui was taken aback.
"What way?"
A refreshing fragrance hit his nose.
Elvia suddenly leaned over, her hands gripping the armrests of his chair and trapping him inside.
Her face was so close that Lin Gui could clearly see the moonlight clinging to her eyelashes.
Her eyes stared straight at him, like a mother leopard eyeing her prey.
Lin Gui's eyelids twitched wildly, and a bad premonition arose.
He reached out to push Elvia's arms away.
They didn't budge an inch.
She was using her battle force.
The battle force of a High-tier High Rank.
Lin Gui's lips twitched.
Is this a freaking case of déjà vu??
Could this person be planning to...??
Elvia's face grew closer and closer.
That exquisite face glowed with a faint light under the moon, and his reflection was mirrored in her golden eyes.
Lin Gui's voice tightened slightly.
"You... what do you want to do?"
Elvia gave a cold sneer.
"Embrace my happy life, of course."
Elvia leaned down, trapping Lin Gui in the chair.
She stared at him, her mind racing.
She had to win this man over.
She had witnessed his methods.
He had moved tens of millions of gold coins' worth of property out of Duke Joseph's Mansion without anyone being the wiser.
With that kind of ability, money would never be a problem.
She had experienced his ability to escape firsthand.
From the core of the Withered Rift, from right under the nose of that Demigod demon.
Amidst the encirclement of ten million demons, he had actually managed to bring her out alive.
Even those Legendary pillars couldn't have pulled that off.
But he did.
As long as she followed him, she would be safe and worry-free.
Everything she wanted—safety, money, a life of luxury—she could get it all as long as she became his woman.
Most importantly, his personality suited her taste perfectly.
He wasn't hypocritical or pretentious; he didn't treat her like a princess to be worshipped, nor did he discard her as a burden.
A person like him was worth entrusting herself to.
And most, most importantly...
He was heavily injured right now.
This might be her only chance.
She wasn't going to let it pass.
Elvia no longer hesitated.
She reached out and began to unbutton Lin Gui's clothes.
Lin Gui's expression changed, and he reached out to block her.
"Are you crazy?"
Elvia ignored him, reaching into his collar.
Lin Gui grabbed her hand and pushed outward with all his might.
Elvia used her other hand to press down on his shoulder, leaning her face in to kiss him.
Lin Gui tilted his head to dodge, and her lips brushed past his cheek.
She pursued, and he evaded.
The two of them twisted together in the chair.
Lin Gui used his uninjured hand to brace against her face, pushing her head to one side.
Elvia's lips almost touched his face several times, but he pushed her away every time.
"Doing this won't win me over!"
Lin Gui's voice grew cold.
While pressing down the hand he used to push her and continuing to press against him, Elvia retorted,
"I'm giving my body to you; I refuse to believe you're the kind of unfeeling scumbag who'd leave right after finishing!"
"Who the hell forces someone to be a scumbag like this!"
Lin Gui cursed loudly.
"Besides, I'm already damn involved with Theia!"
Elvia froze for a moment.
Then, she grew even more excited.
"Then what are you still resisting for!"
"With the way a half-demon's mind works, she'd want nothing more than for you to find her more little sisters!"
"Are you willing to call her 'Elder Sister'?!"
Lin Gui shouted.
"For the sake of my material happiness, I'd even call her 'Grandmother'!"
Lin Gui was rendered speechless.
He opened his mouth, for a moment not knowing what to say.
He took a deep breath and tried a different angle.
"I saved you, and this is how you repay me?"
"By taking advantage of me while I'm heavily injured?"
Elvia also grew anxious.
"I say, are you even a man or not!"
"A beautiful and delicate princess is actively pushing herself on you! This is something countless men dream of, and it’s happening to you!"
"Give me the reaction a normal man should have!"
"Kiss me! Grope me! Conquer me!"
She was truly at her wits' end.
Having been pursued by countless excellent men, she never imagined that one day, she would do such a thing just to get a man.
Suddenly, her hand unexpectedly found an opening.
Just at that moment.
She suddenly lunged forward, and her lips pressed down heavily.
Lin Gui's eyes flew wide open.
Elvia's heart beat violently, thumping as if it were going to jump out of her chest.
Although her behavior just now made her look like a total deviant...
Still, this was the first time she had ever been so intimate with a man.
She pressed against him, her body arched as she kissed his lips, her hands cradling his head to prevent him from dodging.
The moonlight shone down on the two of them, casting overlapping shadows.
A long time passed.
She let go.
Her face was flushed and her breathing was ragged.
The momentary fluttering of her heart overwhelmed all other emotions.
She propped up her body and looked at Lin Gui beneath her, reaching out to wipe her lips.
The woman who had been like a lioness a moment ago suddenly became innocent.
She coughed, her eyes darting away as she mumbled,
"That... that does it, right?"
"Consider this my repayment for you being the hero who saved the beauty."
"Don't resist anymore; just obediently accept and enjoy it."
She covered her lips, which still held the sensation, and looked at Lin Gui with longing eyes.
Then, she leaned down, preparing to go further.
"Elvia."
Lin Gui's voice rang out.
It was as cold as a bucket of ice water being poured over her.
"You've forgotten my identity."
"Have you forgotten what I did in Caran?"
Elvia froze.
Identity?
What identity?
A wandering mage?
A messenger?
She subconsciously recalled the time in Caran City.
And then she remembered.
That book that made her skin crawl.
The 《Heavenly Star Registry》.
In an instant, her agitated body felt as if it had been drenched in ice water, and a chill rushed up her spine.
"Are you sure... you want to be with me... and go against those people?"
Lin Gui's voice was very calm.
Elvia suddenly propped herself up and looked at him beneath her.
In his eyes, there was only indifference and cruelty.
"The people who participated in that revolution—their families and everyone associated with them—no one besides me met a good end."
"And I want to stir up the Spark Revolution once more."
"And this time..."
"Equality, freedom, negotiations?"
"I only want them dead..."
"By the time I have fully grown to the point where I believe I can oppose them, only one side of us can remain alive."
"Either I kill all of them..."
"Or they kill me."
"Think about the Black Dragon Army's methods for the losers, Elvia."
"Do you still want to be involved with me now?"
His voice was very soft, as if he were talking about something that had nothing to do with him.
"Do you believe that, facing the Black Dragon Army with its terrifying strength and ability to cross the wilderness with ten thousand troops..."
"Facing the Holy Church of Light with its followers everywhere and its so-called God-Favored..."
"Facing the City-State Alliance, which encompasses almost every powerful force on the Akara Continent..."
"Do you think that I, who am only a High-tier High Rank... have a chance of defeating them?"
He looked at her.
"Elvia, tell me now."
"Will you choose to bet your so-called luxurious happiness on a person who is destined to be a moth to a flame?"
Elvia was stunned.
It had been too long; she had forgotten...
The terrifying identity behind this man that could bury several cities and millions of citizens.
And that act that had plunged her into a nightmare.
Her mind went completely blank.
The scenes of how the nobles—whom she had deliberately tried to forget—dealt with that revolution which shook the entire City-State Era came flooding back.
Blood.
Fire.
Corpses.
The people crushed under the iron hooves of the Black Dragon Army.
The heads hung on the city walls for public display.
Those who were buried alive, burned to death, or decapitated.
A million people...
She suddenly shuddered violently.
And seeing her look as if she’d been struck by lightning...
Lin Gui silently reached out toward a wine glass on the side.
A white glow converged in his palm, and a Stun spell silently covered the glass.
His eyes flashed.
He grabbed the wine glass and slammed it toward Elvia's forehead.
Since he was currently a High-tier High Rank, his rank was on par with Elvia's.
The Stun spell would be able to knock her down in a single blow.
However.
Elvia's hand suddenly flew up, catching his wrist in a firm grip.
She looked at the wine glass in his hand and then at him.
Then, she pushed hard.
Lin Gui's hand, along with the Stun-enchanted wine glass, slammed heavily against his own forehead.
Thud.
Lin Gui's vision instantly went black.
Elvia's reaction speed had far exceeded his expectations.
He slowly slumped down and passed out.
In the final second before losing consciousness, he saw Elvia's face.
That face was full of struggle.
Rate on N.U.
