Chapter 622: The Hidden Horror Behind the Scenes - III
With her face flushed, she laughed hysterically as she urinated on the shattered throne.
Honestly, Suellen was completely stunned at the time, unable to fathom that Diana had lost her sanity to such an extent. When she came to her senses, she faced Diana’s command to "lick it clean."
Both the hard throne and her soft lower body needed to be licked.
Suellen quickly realized that her debts were due.
The world is full of people who despise the Emperor, people driven to the depths of despair by him. Having enjoyed the Empress’s favor and wielded influence as a mere ordinary princess, it was only natural that she would have to pay the price after Ephesande’s disappearance.
Clearly, Diana had transferred her hatred for Ephesande onto Suellen.
Thus, faced with a command that trampled her dignity and a future doomed to darkness, Suellen responded.
"I’m not very hungry today, my apologies, lady."
The young girl, full of regret, pushed back the morning tea… which had been infused with fresh insects—or possibly even made from freshly ground insects: "I’m sorry to waste your kindness."
"Waste?"
Diana leaned slightly forward and pushed the tea back toward Suellen: "How could it be, little Suellen?"
She lifted the teacup, her other hand caressing Suellen’s face, and said gently:
"Your eyes tell me you really want to drink it."
The hand caressing Suellen’s face gradually tightened around her cheek.
Diana repeated with utmost tenderness, "You really want to drink it, don’t you?"
"...Sorry, I don’t—"
Grrr!
The woman’s expression turned ferocious in an instant. She gripped Suellen’s face tightly and forcefully shoved half the teacup into the girl’s mouth, her eyes bloodshot with rage.
"How dare you refuse me? What makes you think you have the right to refuse me? That ridiculous tattoo? Hmm? You think a few snakes inked on your skin make you Hydral’s people? Do you think you can fool me forever, like that whore of the mother of yours?"
An inhuman taste surged in Suellen’s mouth and throat. Her body’s instinctive gag reflex forced the fresh tea into her nose, intensifying the torment.
Yet, Suellen did not physically resist; she merely clenched her fists, enduring the agony with slight convulsions.
Back then, when Diana had demanded that she lick her lower body, Suellen’s response was simple.
She lifted her skirt to show Diana the mark of Hydral branded on her by Ansel.
Clearly, Diana wasn’t truly mad. A real lunatic wouldn’t still crave the throne after being tortured by Ephesande for so long.
Suellen had wagered correctly; Diana’s fear held her at bay solely due to that tattoo, that mark.
While marveling at Hydral’s power, Suellen enjoyed a period of stability, though she never intended to remain in such tranquility. She reached out countless times, either subtly or overtly, to Ansel, the demon who had branded her, inquiring about the promise, "If I say you are, then you are," and whether it would ever be fulfilled.
Yet, the ruler of that earthly paradise never responded.
Suellen knew that Diana must also be contacting Ansel, verifying the authenticity of her identity. Eventually, she would fall back under Diana’s control. Despite all the changes Suellen had made, in the end, her only hope lay in… the young Hydral possibly casting a glance her way on a whim.
Suellen waited for that gaze, but it never came, not until now, when Diana’s patience had finally worn thin.
"Cough... cough, cough! Ugh!"
Kneeling on the ground, Suellen felt as if she might vomit up her entire breakfast. Diana, indifferent to her discomfort, overturned the tea table and planted her foot on Suellen’s head, grinding her face into the filth on the ground.
"I am such a fool... no, I was too reverent of dear Lord Ansel."
Diana lamented sorrowfully, "I actually believed that such a beautiful, intelligent, and untouchable being would make you his slave... that he would allow you to live peacefully for so long."
Her expression seamlessly shifted from sorrow to cruel ferocity. "So... you will pay for your lies, daughter of a wretch."
"Cough... cough... what if... I truly am?"
Suellen, coughing incessantly and struggling to speak, said, "That one percent chance, if it comes to pass, your fate—"
"Fate? What fate!"
Diana kicked Suellen’s face with such force that she rolled three or four meters away like a fallen iris, her eyes filled with even greater cruelty.
"If you truly have ties to Lord Ansel... all the better! That means he doesn’t care about you. If he cared even a bit, I would have received some word. In his eyes, you are nothing but the most insignificant, lowly, and worthless toy!"
Diana disdainfully flicked the filth from her boot, then walked slowly towards the convulsing Suellen with a look of excitement.
"Perhaps Lord Ansel sent you to me specifically... as a toy!"
The physical pain did not render Suellen delirious, but the mental torment and despair began to shatter her thoughts.
Was it a lie?
Even though that demon had branded me, even though he had claimed me as his own, was that promise also a lie?
Was he merely toying with me… on a whim?
Boom—!
A dull sound echoed once more, but this time, when Suellen was kicked in the face again, she did not roll away. She caught Diana’s kick with her hand.
...No.
Ansel of Hydral, that demon, that monster... he isn’t that kind of person.
He wants to use me, to exploit me... yes, at that moment, his gaze was sincere.
His mark... is more real than anything else.
Therefore, he hasn’t forgotten me, nor is he deliberately treating me as a toy; he’s waiting for the right moment, a perfect opportunity.
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That is... now.
"Didn’t expect to see such an intriguing scene after being away from the capital for so long."
Not far away, the young Hydral, leaning on a staff, appeared unexpectedly, his expression slightly surprised:
"May I ask what the two of you are..."
"Cough, cough... cough, cough, cough!"
In the deathly silence, only Suellen’s relentless dry heaving and coughing broke the stillness, her face smeared with filth.
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