After returning to Wade Castle, Roy refused the service of the servants and locked herself alone in the washroom, washing her body over and over again.
She didn't listen to how Theodore explained their survival to the cavalry; anyway, that person was always smart and calm, always finding the right reason.
Valtorre and Orenze had long been opposed, and the crown princes of the two countries saw each other as mortal enemies. Compared to Theodore, Elrian was more flamboyant and liked to catch people off guard. Just like this raid, no one could have imagined that Elrian would lead a team of elite troops, sneaking all the way from Central City to the border and catching Theodore off guard.
This plan was very dangerous; a slightest mistake could have cost the raiding Elrian to be lost here.
Roy stood under the steamy shower, rubbing her face vigorously.
The crown prince of Orenze was an aggressively insane person. He didn't bring many people, completely relying on the advantage of the terrain to play the cavalry of Wade Castle. While negotiating with Theodore in the interrogation room and attacking her, perhaps the cavalry was just patrolling on the ground nearby.
Elrian couldn't kill Theodore, otherwise he wouldn't be able to retreat smoothly.
But neither could he capture the Dragon Roar Mountain Range and Wade Castle, so by harming her, he wildly humiliated Theodore's face. Theodore wouldn't pursue him extensively because everything that happened in the interrogation room became a transaction and compromise between them.
No one suffered too much loss, except Roy.
She turned the faucet tightly. The golden switch knob was shaped like a daisy and felt hot and rough to the touch. Roy's palm bore a light red mark, but it quickly faded like the warmth on her hand.
Not wearing shoes, she walked barefoot to the dressing room outside and examined herself in the mirror.
The person in the mirror was still young, almost to the point of immaturity. Her long hair, wet with water, hung to her waist like seaweed, and shiny water droplets rolled off her chin to gather in the hollow of her collarbone or slide down her breasts to the pink-red tips, seemingly about to fall.
This was a slender, graceful body. A narrow waist with long legs, small breasts, and skin veiled with a subtle whiteness. Like a girl lying on satin in an oil painting, an elf by a mountain spring holding a water jug.
In any case, it wouldn't instinctively make one think of sex.
Yet it was this seemingly pure body that Elrian had violently pressed down on the ground, held in his arms, not knowing for how long. Her nipples were still swollen and bleeding, while her waist and abdomen were stained with blue and purple finger marks. Her elbows and knees were even more pitiful, completely worn to the flesh, with the wounded spots soaked white by hot water.
Roy pressed her petal-like red lips tightly.
She gazed at herself for a long time, and the self in the mirror, with a pair of misty blue eyes, looked back at her.
"Roy Derek."
She softly recited a passage, "The daughter of the Derek family, the daughter of Duke Lyman, the fiancée of the First Prince. Once raped by Elrian, she still aspires to marry Theodore. After Theodore becomes the Valtorre Emperor, she smoothly ascends to Empress, but is coldly neglected, never having received any warmth."
"Six months later, the Derek family perishes, and Empress Roy dies from poisoning."
This was the text that appeared in her mind while she was washing her body.
Roy lowered her lashes, wanting to laugh yet unable to.
Her mind was filled with heavy, unfamiliar information that pressed on her nerves, leaving her chest tight and breathing uneasy.
Trying to sort it all out was an immense and intricate task. Roy temporarily lacked this ability, so she could only piece through it bit by bit, using the occasional text to understand it.
She seemed to live inside a book.
This book was called "Beloved Vivian," about a noble bastard Vivian who endured the hardships of poverty before being brought home, entering Similan Magic Academy, and gradually earning everyone's favor due to her good qualities and indomitable spirit. Meanwhile, Vivian stepped into the social circles of the upper nobility and developed complex romantic entanglements with many outstanding men.
In short, a love story.
While studying in the Academy, Vivian was liked by a senior and pursued by the Second Prince; when attending balls, she amazed everyone and caught the First Prince's attention. Going out for an adventure task, she'd meet the injured Elrian, starting a forced love story.
Roy silently calculated, and the number of men Miss Vivian loved was probably more than she could count on both hands.
——And then none of them turned out to be the male lead.
Yes, including Roy's fiancé, all those guys were called supporting characters.
The male lead wouldn't appear until much later, and he was... the Elf Supreme King living on the other side of the ocean.
What the hell is this?
For the first time, Roy cursed.
As she spat out the words, the mental shackles that had long bound her seemed to vanish.
What perfect daughter, what elegant and considerate, noble demeanor... all lost their meaning. She looked at her own wretched self, her reddish eyes gradually curving, and her lips parted to utter hoarse and resolute words.
"Fuck Theodore."