Chapter 289

Chapter Seventy-Five Night Chat

I think that no matter how many years will pass and what we may become, Victoria’s words tonight will stay with me for a long time, perhaps until my last breath.

Mixed emotions surged in my heart, making it hard to calm down.

“Victoria…Vicky.”

Her pure, unrestrained, even somewhat self-sacrificing feelings were hard for me to respond to, because as she said, I truly didn’t understand my own orientation, and had never really considered this before.

It was an instinctive avoidance. Because I knew I could never marry a man, and the love or infatuation for women was almost non-existent— even someone as beautiful as Victoria only reminded me of the flutter I once felt for Xiaoxi, but it was fleeting, quickly overwhelmed by fear and confusion, not even a ripple left.

Influenced by this body, I can no longer like women. Fortunately, I haven’t started liking men either.

This is my current state.

In fact, if I remain like this in the future, I believe I probably won’t be with anyone for the rest of my life.

If not for Victoria, if she didn’t like me, I might not have realized these things. The reason I didn’t realize them was precisely because I was indifferent to love, so I ignored it.

But even so, I still want to respond to her.

Maybe I can’t do much yet, can’t live up to her expectations, but I want to give her a small response.

“My father, mother… my family, they call me, Pepe.”

Although I can’t force my feelings, Victoria made me understand how important I am to her. At least, I should make her understand that she is equally important to me.

“In the future… you can also call me Pepe.”

The woman named Victoria was stunned.

“Okay.”

She nodded indifferently.

Then she turned around to wash herself, saying no more. I silently rinsed the foam off my head, splashing water on my shoulders now and then, then half squatting down to blow bubbles in the water.

“Pfft—”

“Don’t do that, it’s dirty.”

“Pfft… oh.”

When we were both mostly washed, a maid named Sharman brought me a new dress.

The fabric of the dress was soft and smooth, a high-quality handmade court style, embroidered with complex and beautiful light red patterns. Honestly, I quite liked it, but it was a nightgown.

It was very thin, with great texture, the material nearly translucent, the hem barely covering the thighs, looking almost naked under the firelight—it was a sexy nightgown.

And… I don’t know if this was Victoria’s intention, or if this seemingly conservative but actually cunning and despicable Victoria underling took the initiative, she didn’t bring any underwear or corset for me, not even the one I originally wore—Victoria wouldn’t be some kind of pervert who wants to keep it as a collection, would she?

I’m no longer as tense as before. Although I still need some time to adapt and get used to it, our hearts have already opened up to each other.

Just as I was about to give Victoria a scornful look, she told the maid, “Give her another one.”

“Yes.”

The middle-aged maid, with a demeanor as calm as Victoria’s, bowed lightly, took the nightgown, and left the bathroom.

… It was definitely the maid taking the initiative.

I breathed a sigh of relief, then suddenly remembered something else, staring at Victoria hesitantly, “Are you…?”

“No.” Victoria put on a brand new nightgown in front of me, playing with her blonde hair without turning around and said.

… No?

I haven’t even asked yet, and you deny it?

You seem to know a lot…

That maid seemed very experienced and accustomed to doing this, without changing her expression, she naturally took out the clothes, giving me the impression that it wasn’t the first time…

So just now, I actually wanted to ask her if she often does this… forget it, why bother asking… but not asking makes me feel uneasy, I don’t know why.

Victoria seemed to sense my thoughts. She explained, “That nightgown is your size. All the clothes in the bedroom except mine are yours. The changing room in the palace, my chambers, many places with my personal items, are like this, except mine, it’s all yours.”

I was stunned.

Actually, I guessed earlier because this woman and I slept together, she was the only one who had the opportunity to know my clothing size. At that time, I didn’t understand the significance of her preparations, I rarely go to the palace… Now I understand.

But I still didn’t expect her to prepare everything here… Is this ‘everything is ready, just waiting for the right moment’? When did she do this… What’s her ulterior motive… How long has this woman been lusting after my body?

Victoria tied the sash, turned around, and stood above the bathtub, looking down at me who was still dazed in the water.

“Sharman is always like that. As my head maid, she is steady and meticulous, doing things cleanly and efficiently, and she happens to know what I like.”

“Oh…”

I nodded, about to speak again, when I saw a hint of mockery flash in her eyes.

“What, do you think your size is universal? Where do you get such confidence from.”

I was stunned when I heard this, and it took two seconds to understand her meaning, instantly feeling angry, “Victoria, you’re insulting me!”

She was indirectly mocking me for having a small chest, being short, and clothes that others can’t wear!

“You said you wouldn’t insult me!”

“I’m just stating facts.” Victoria said calmly.

“…”

I was speechless, unable to find a suitable reason to refute, and thus became even angrier, turning my head away, unwilling to talk to her anymore.

Then I heard the door of the bathroom open and close again, turning to see the head maid holding a new nightgown walking over.

“Miss, please change into this.”

This time it was a normal white nightgown, but there was still only one.

I didn’t reach out to take it, blinking at the head maid, “Where’s the undergarment?”

The head maid remained unchanged, “Miss, I’ve washed it.”

… Who let you wash it?

I just changed it, it’s still clean!

“Can you bring me a new one?”

Since there are clothes here, there should be undergarments prepared too, right?

But the head maid remained unmoved, calmly saying, “I’m sorry Miss, I only follow the orders of Her Majesty the Queen.”

Can’t you be a little flexible…

So I turned my head, “Victoria—”

However, I saw Victoria quickly leaving the bathroom.

…Didn’t this woman say she wouldn’t do anything to me anymore! Then why does she want me to be butt-naked? What kind of strange fetish is this?!

I stood up from the water with an unhappy look on my face, dried myself, and put on the nightgown before pushing open the bathroom door. I saw Victoria, her hair loose, leaning sideways on the bed, holding a glass of red wine, sipping it slowly.

I immediately forgot what I wanted to say to her just now and walked over angrily.

“Why are you still drinking!”

“I was thinking about something,” she said to me, then signaled with her eyes for me to lie down on the other side of the bed.

But I ignored her: “Thinking and drinking, are they related?”

“Give it to me!”

I snatched the wineglass away and picked up the bottle of wine on the bedside tray. Just then, the head maid came out of the bathroom and walked over to hand it to her.

“Take it, thank you.” Her tone was somewhat stiff.

The head maid looked at Victoria, who nodded, then reached out to take it.

“Your Majesty, Miss, I will take my leave now. Please rest early.”

After she left, I walked back to the bed and stood in front of Victoria.

“You should drink less alcohol in the future.”

Victoria looked at me, nodding after a while: “Okay.”

Her eyes were filled with laughter.

Tonight, Victoria smiled more times than I had seen all together before. Perhaps because it was just the two of us, she no longer needed to hide her emotions or use coldness and aloofness to compensate for her age difference with others.

Seeing her like this, I felt genuinely happy from the bottom of my heart.

The night outside deepened.

Through the gaps in the curtains, one could vaguely see the bright firelight in the 3 mansion, which was quiet and silent. Suddenly, I remembered the open terrace window, tilted my head to think for a moment, and decided to temporarily forget about it.

Afraid of the past…

Longdor Street is the most strictly guarded area in the royal city, with frequent patrols, no one dares to casually sneak in at night, and those who dare to sneak in at night wouldn’t steal anything. There’s nothing valuable to steal in the mansion anyway; the most precious moon knife might not even be able to carry away, so I might as well ignore it and deal with it tomorrow.

It’s still safer here… I can sleep well.

The huge bedroom was particularly bright, the lazy beauty by my side, hugging her chest with her right hand, her chin resting on her fingers as she thought. The thin nightgown outlined her perfect figure, and the fragrance around her nose was different from mine, elegant and delicate.

I hesitated and walked to the other side of the bed, climbed up, sat well, pulled the blanket over my legs, and leaned against the headboard like Victoria did, keeping a distance that was neither too close nor too far, staring at the crystal chandelier on the ceiling. Sometimes I propped my hand on the bed, sometimes crossed my hands on my lower abdomen, twisting my fingers, occasionally stealing a glance at her.

Say something… otherwise it feels weird.

So I cautiously asked, “What are you thinking about?”

It took a long time before I heard her indifferent response: “You don’t need to know.”

“…”

Alright, although something has changed tonight, some things will never change. She is still that person who ends conversations quickly.

I feel a bit sleepy, but there’s something I need to tell her first.

“Victoria.”

The woman lost in thought suddenly looked up sharply.

I hurriedly corrected myself: “Vi-Viki.”

I’m still not used to it…

But this woman… how come you didn’t react so quickly when I asked you a question just now?

Slightly indignant in my heart, I continued to speak to her: “Last night, I already sent the letter. Foolish bird… No, the messenger bird is very fast, it should take less than twenty days for a round trip.”

This time, she turned her head, and there was a slight surprise in her eyes.

“Twenty days? What kind of messenger bird has such speed?”

“Crow,” I said.

“Crow?” Victoria frowned slightly, “Although crows are the hardest to tame and the rarest messenger birds, according to my knowledge, they don’t have such speed.”

“Mm… my crow is special?”

I didn’t know how to explain it. There were too many unusual aspects about the goat cheese. It was incredibly intelligent, understood human speech, could penetrate the barrier of the royal city, and flew fast. It must not be an ordinary bird, but I don’t know what it actually is now.

Clearly, this vague answer made Victoria even more puzzled, but she only thought for a while, probably feeling that this wasn’t an important issue, and then stopped probing further.

“I’ll have the Law Department draft the contract tomorrow, and send an envoy with the contract out of the city in the evening. If Duke Jiskalije has intentions, we can save at least one round trip of time, and get things moving faster… Is there any difficulty in transporting to Shanter Castle?”

I thought for a moment, feeling ashamed, and shook my head.

“I don’t know…”

Suddenly, I felt regretful. During my time in Shanter Castle, I hardly worried about anything, didn’t know the specific situation of the workshop, and didn’t understand how our business was conducted, so now I couldn’t even handle such a small matter…

How did I…

Unconsciously, I became like this…

“Sorry,” I apologized to Victoria.

“It’s okay, I’ll figure something out,” Victoria certainly wouldn’t blame me. After a pause, she added, “Don’t apologize to me in the future.”

I fell silent at her words.

This isn’t just about apologizing… I have to get rid of this bad habit. Otherwise, I’ll always be passive in everything and won’t be able to do anything well.

After a moment of silence, I remembered what Margaret said that day. She said she hadn’t seen the ironclad guards outside the city, and I forgot to ask her which gate she came through, and I didn’t know the current situation either. Unable to hold back, I asked Victoria, “Have the ironclad guards… already arrived?”

I remember the old duke saying that there were thirteen thousand people outside the city, and the number would continue to increase. I know nothing about warfare, and I don’t understand the methods of using troops, troop configurations, siege equipment, etc., whether they are different from what I imagined. After all, I vividly remember those fireballs that came roaring towards me when I first woke up… How many people were there at that time?

Now there are several times more people outside the city than back then. I don’t know what these enemies continuing to increase means for the royal city. The walls of the royal city are high and thick, seemingly impregnable, but what if there are those with the ability to launch meteorites?

Although it’s unlikely…

I still looked at Victoria with some worry.

She spoke calmly, “People have been sent out to patrol since last night. As of two hours ago, the search range has expanded to thirty kilometers outside the city, but there has been no discovery.”

“The terrain outside the royal city is mostly flat, making it almost impossible for more than ten thousand people to hide. Those ironclad guards are either hiding in the south Kanli Forest or somewhere even farther. I believe the latter possibility is much higher.”