Chapter 156: The Determined Outcome
Feeling the odd vibe from the person next to me, I turned my head and caught sight of Victoria’s tense face.
She bit her lip hard, her proud little nose crinkling, long fragrant locks cascading down her shoulders, shrouding half her stunning visage.
She was as beautiful as ever. Beautiful to the point of breathtaking, unearthly—like a fleeting dream.
But at this moment, her usually soft and delicate skin had turned a sickly pale, and her crescent-like eyelashes trembled like leaves in the wind, as her eyes blinked rapidly.
The entire mansion suddenly fell silent. After what felt like an eternity, Victoria curled her lips into a smirk and chuckled softly.
“Ha ha.”
Her laughter was complex, to say the least.
This was the first smile, or rather the first expression I had seen on her face. Before this, she always wore that nonchalant mask, burying her emotions deep within, her surface calm and collected, so cool it gave me shivers, completely unreadable.
But in this moment, Victoria finally laughed. Her laughter carried disdain, sarcasm, sadness… perhaps a hint of grievance I could sense.
I could finally grasp her emotions—she was genuinely hurt.
Thud, thud.
Victoria ascended to the second floor with slow steps, leaning against the railing with her back to her mother glaring from downstairs, her head held high.
In her injured state, she resembled a proud swan.
“Mother, what on earth are you doing?”
She spoke softly, her voice as indifferent as ever, failing to stir even the slightest ripple.
The Empress downstairs was taken aback by this question: “What do you mean what am I doing? Victoria, what nonsense are you spouting?”
Victoria paused for a moment before continuing.
“I can understand them all, except you.” she murmured, sounding like she was talking to herself. “Years ago, when Father was still around, Uncle always wanted to compete with him. Unfortunately, he was too far behind. Then Father passed, and the one in power was you, not him. Later, Uncle had someone… poison my brother, and how many times did he try to take my life using every trick in the book? But he never succeeded. Even on the day of the coronation, he could only stand by and watch, giving me applause and blessings.”
“So he hates us, hates the royal family. The Clive Family helped him launder money and promised him all sorts of perks. He’s teamed up with outsiders against me—I can understand that.”
“…What are you trying to say?! Don’t slander your uncle!”
Victoria ignored her mother’s outburst, carrying on with her speech.
“And the others: Uncle Sally, Aunt Anderson, Cousin Ravel… I know them well—they’re all useless cowards. As long as someone puts a sword to their throats and dangles a little honey, they’d do anything. These people are pathetic, afraid of d*ath, licking up the crumbs the Clive family tosses them, then banding together to help outsiders go after me.”
“Isn’t that hilarious? They won’t dare speak loudly in front of outsiders, but come to me to show off. It’s simple—they know that others will k*ll them, but I won’t… that’s the logic. Look, I understand.”
“The only one I can’t understand is you, Mother. Those people… they killed your husband, and they killed your son. Now they’re scheming against your daughter. It’s a pity they can’t do anything to me, which is why they sent you to plead their case… I’m so glad you’re here.”
Victoria said all this with a tone neither sad nor happy, as if she were describing something that had nothing to do with her.
But it made my heart ache.
Victoria hadn’t even had a drink, yet she poured out so much, and it was only because she cared—her mother’s words had struck home.
Compared to Victoria, I was lucky. At Shanter Castle, both my parents doted on me, unable to stand even the slightest injustice towards me, always giving me the best of everything. But what about Victoria? All her relatives were targeting her, even her mother was like this.
Did she even have anyone she could trust?
She was so alone—how could she bear all this?
“You’re talking nonsense! Your father’s d*ath was an accident! Your brother died from tainted food! Stop blabbering here—!”
The Empress’s shouting was grinding on my nerves, and I shot back angrily, “You’re making me super annoyed! Can’t you just stop talking?!”
Victoria had a brother who was already dead… he must’ve been the Empress’s son too. Was she in denial, or just unwilling to accept reality?
It was something even a fool could understand; why wouldn’t she admit it?
With that thought, I looked at Victoria with concern… I saw her take several deep breaths.
It seemed she was trying hard to control her emotions, finally managing to speak calmly, “Mother. You were once a noble from the North; marrying Father was just to settle the Rose War… You never liked him, did you? You had your heart set on someone else long ago.”
The Empress’s eyes bulged in disbelief.
She pointed a trembling finger at Victoria and shouted, “Victoria, you’re out of line! Do you even know what you’re saying?! I am your mother—!”
“…Ha—”
Victoria sighed.
She turned around, her golden eyes shining with a cold light, expressionless as she looked down at her mother.
After a long pause.
“Whether Father’s d*ath has anything to do with you…”
With this question, I understood that Victoria’s heart was now a jumbled mess. Because she had previously told me such questions were meaningless.
They really were meaningless.
The Empress instantly adopted a look of disbelief, as if she had suffered some grave injustice: “What do you mean… what do you mean… you’re crazy, you’ve gone mad—!”
Victoria stopped speaking.
She stared down at her mother for a moment, then shook her head mockingly.
“I’m indeed crazy, wasting time here.”
Then she turned her gaze to the silent man in the room.
“Rect.”
“Yes!”
Rect replied loudly, a smile creeping onto his lips. I thought that must be due to all the emotions he had been holding back.
“k*ll all the Iron Guards outside.”
“Understood!” Rect acknowledged the command.
“How dare you—!” yelled the Empress.
She tried to stop Rect, but as Captain of the Sword of Kanli, he had just received the Queen’s order; there was no way she could block him. With a swift dodge, he exited the door.
All she could do was shout at Victoria, “Victoria… Elizabeth! What do you want to do? Are you trying to get everyone killed—!”
Victoria’s gaze was indifferent as she replied softly, “They sent you here today for attitude.”
“Well, I’ll give you attitude then.”
Soon, loud shrieks echoed from outside.
As I recalled, there were only a few dozen Iron Guards—definitely not a match for Kanli’s Sword. From the sounds, it was clear the battle was one-sided.
“Stop! Victoria, stop—!”
By the time the Empress shouted again, it was already too late.
The outcome was determined.
“Mother, please leave,” Victoria said.
And now about that cute battle and some extra updates…
About the cute battle.
…Ah! What’s this cute battle? How does it work? Is it just voting? How did we suddenly drop to fifth place?!
Anyway, everyone’s been great! Big shoutout to Master Shattered Leaf!
Take part in the cute battle as you see fit; if you like the main character, feel free to vote for her. You can vote multiple times if you can. Just enjoy it, no need to aim for glory. Honestly, as long as we get a decent ranking, that’s it. There are just too many big shots out there, and I’m just a little newbie trembling in fear.
Honestly, I’m not entirely sure how things will go from here; we’ll just take it one step at a time. But remember to vote for Little Shay?
About the extra updates:
You guys keep sending monthly tickets and donations; I feel a bit embarrassed. I’m planning to do some ‘cultivating’ in December; the rule is 200 monthly tickets or 10,000 Fire Rolls for an extra update (which is about my limit? So lame, ORZ). The extra updates will come without compromising quality, so don’t worry about that; just know they might not be super fast? I’ll make sure to complete them, but only for December (though it seems the extras will probably come in January).
All monthly tickets and donations starting from December 1st count, including Master Shattered Leaf’s whopping 100,000 Fire Rolls… but I have a mild case of OCD and won’t add ‘extra update’ or anything like that in the chapter titles or at the end, I’ll just keep track of it mentally. I might update everyone about progress now and then in the group.
…Is that it?
Now go on and write!
