Chapter 184

Chapter 156: The Conclusion

I noticed something amiss beside me and turned my head to look. I saw Victoria’s tense face.

She bit her lip hard, her straight nose wrinkled, and her long hair fell freely over her shoulders, partially hiding her face.

She was as beautiful as ever. So breathtakingly beautiful that it felt like a fleeting dream.

But at this moment, her usually soft and delicate skin had turned pale and somewhat sickly. Her crescent-shaped eyelashes trembled slightly, and her eyes blinked forcefully.

The entire mansion fell silent. After a long while, Victoria curled her lips and laughed softly.

“Haha.”

Her laughter was complex.

This was the first expression I had seen on her face. Before this, she always seemed indifferent, burying her emotions deep inside, maintaining a calm exterior, revealing nothing, so cold-hearted that it made one shudder, completely inscrutable.

But at this moment, Victoria finally laughed. There was disdain, mockery, sorrow… perhaps even a hint of grievance in her laughter. I could feel it.

I finally truly sensed her emotions, realizing she was genuinely hurt.

Click, click.

Victoria slowly ascended the stairs to the second floor. She leaned against the railing, facing away from her mother downstairs who glared at her fiercely, raising her head high.

Injured, she looked like a proud swan.

“Mother, what are you doing?”

She spoke softly, as indifferent as ever, not stirring any emotion.

The Empress downstairs was stunned by her question: “What do you mean, what am I doing? Victoria, what nonsense are you talking about?”

Victoria paused for a moment before speaking again.

“I can understand everyone else, except you.” She muttered almost to herself, “When Father was still alive, Uncle always wanted to compete with him. Unfortunately, he was far too inferior. Later, when Father died, you took control, not him. Then, Uncle had someone… poison my brother, and tried countless times to take my life using various methods. Yet, he never succeeded. Until the day of my coronation, he could only stand by and watch, applauding and blessing me.”

“So he hates us, hates the royal family. The Clive family helped him launder money and promised him many benefits. He helped outsiders against me, and I can understand that.”

“…What are you trying to say?! Stop slandering your uncle!”

Victoria ignored her mother’s shouting below and continued speaking.

“There are others too. Uncle Sal, Aunt Anderson, Cousin Ravil… I know them well; they are all useless cowards. As long as someone puts a sword to their necks and offers them some honey, they would do anything. These people are spineless, afraid of death, licking the crumbs thrown by the Clive family like dogs, then joining forces to help outsiders against me.”

“It’s laughable, isn’t it? They dare not speak loudly in front of outsiders, yet they come here to show off. It’s because they know others will kill them, but I won’t… simple logic. You see, I can understand.”

“But I cannot understand you, Mother. Those people… they killed your husband, your son. Now, they are scheming against your daughter. Sadly, they have no way with me, so they sent you to plead… You came, good. I’m glad.”

Victoria spoke without sadness or joy, as if narrating events that did not concern her.

But listening to her words made me very sad.

Victoria hadn’t drunk alcohol, but she still said so much, because she cared. Her mother’s words had hurt her deeply.

Compared to Victoria, I am fortunate. At Schantel Castle, my father and mother loved me dearly, unable to bear even the slightest injustice to me, giving me the best first. But Victoria? All her relatives were against her, including her own mother.

Does she have anyone she can trust?

She is too lonely; how can she bear all this?

“What nonsense are you spouting! Your father’s death was an accident! Your brother died because he ate contaminated food! Don’t talk nonsense here—!”

The Empress’s shout was so annoying that I immediately retorted angrily:

“You’re making me…

“Frustrating! Can you just stop talking!”

Victoria also had a deceased younger brother… wasn’t he also the Empress’s son? Was she trying to self-hypnotize, or was she simply unwilling to accept the truth?

Why couldn’t she admit something even a fool could understand?

Thinking of this, I looked at Victoria with some concern… I saw her take several deep breaths.

She seemed to be struggling to control her emotions. After calming down, she said calmly, “Mother, you were originally a noble from the North. You married Father only to quell the War of the Roses at that time… You never really liked him, did you? Your heart already belonged to someone else.”

The Empress widened her eyes.

She pointed her trembling finger at Victoria and shouted, “Victoria, how dare you! Do you know what you’re saying? I am your mother—!”

“…”

Victoria sighed.

She turned around, her golden eyes filled with cold light, looking down at her mother with an expressionless face.

After a long silence.

“Is Father’s death related to you?”

She asked such a question.

At this moment, I understood that Victoria’s heart was in turmoil. Because she had previously told me that such questions were meaningless.

Indeed, they were meaningless.

The Empress immediately assumed an incredulous expression, as if she had suffered a great injustice. “What did you say… What did you say… Are you mad, you’re mad again—!”

Victoria didn’t speak anymore.

She continued to look down at her mother for a while, then shook her head as if in self-mockery.

“Yes, I am mad, wasting time here.”

Then, she turned her gaze to the silent man in the room.

“Reckert.”

“Yes!”

Reckert responded loudly, a smile curling the corners of his mouth. I think it was because he had been suppressing his emotions.

“Kill all the ironclad guards outside.”

“Yes!” Reckert acknowledged the order.

“You dare—!” The Empress shouted in anger.

She tried to stop Reckert, but Reckert, as the captain of the Sword of Cannith, could not be stopped when he received orders from Her Majesty. He dodged quickly and walked out of the door.

She could only shout at Victoria, “Victoria… Elizabeth! What do you want to do! Withdraw your command immediately. Do you really want us all to die—!”

Victoria looked at her indifferently and said softly, “They brought you here today to show their attitude.”

“So I will give you my attitude.”

Soon, there were cries of agony outside.

In memory, there were only a few dozen ironclad guards, who were no match for the Sword of Cannith. From the sound, I could tell that the battle was one-sided.

“Stop! Victoria, stop—!”

It was too late for the Empress to shout now.

The matter was settled.

“Mother, please return,” Victoria said.

About the萌战 and additional chapters

…

About the萌战.

…Ah! What is the萌战? How do we handle it? Is it just about voting? Why did we suddenly rank fifth?

Anyway, everyone has worked hard! Big Shot Ye is awesome!

Everyone should participate in the萌战 based on their abilities. If you like the protagonist, you can vote for her. If you can, you can cast multiple votes. It’s all about having fun. We don’t expect much, but a good ranking would be nice. After all, there are so many big shots, and the newbies are trembling.

To be honest, I’m not very clear about what to do next. We’ll see as we go. In any case, remember to vote for little Shi?

Additional chapters

You keep giving me monthly tickets and rewards, and I feel a bit embarrassed. Starting in December, I plan to seclude myself [to write]. The rule is 200 monthly tickets or 10,000 fire scrolls for an additional chapter (this is about the author’s limit?). Additional chapters will be added under the condition of maintaining quality, so rest assured, although the speed might not be fast. Anyway, I will make up for it, but only in December (probably by January).

Starting from December 1st, monthly tickets and rewards will be counted, including Big Shot Ye’s 100,000 fire scrolls… But the author has OCD and won’t add “one more chapter”, “two more chapters”, or mark at the end of the chapter that it’s an additional chapter. The author will calculate mentally and occasionally report progress in the group.

…That’s all?

Go back and start writing.