Chapter 18 His soft princesses will take a special drug,...
In the dim firelight, a fat, gruesome face with a ferocious grin, hands on hips, looked like a shrew. It was the burly maid who had been driven out of the castle earlier. "Don't think I don't know you've been plotting against me behind my back."
He was in so much pain that he could barely speak, only managing two muffled groans.
For the 101st time, I hated the refined voice emanating from this original body; it had no power whatsoever.
"You wretched woman," the burly maid's voice was as rough as a man's, "you're asking for trouble, aren't you?"
Before he could react, a barbed whip lashed out at him, and he cried out in pain.
He had never been so humiliated before—a whipping that wasn't too heavy for him felt like torture, causing him to curl up in pain—this body was still too weak—back when he was being chased by evil spirits, he had never suffered like this.
The whip lashed down again and again, and he almost fainted from the pain.
Fortunately, he's a woman now, so fainting won't be too embarrassing.
He lashed out seven or eight times in a row. Because he used too much force, even the maids were exhausted, but he didn't faint.
"Boss," a maid asked breathlessly, "is she dead?"
The burly maid didn't reply, but another maid leaned closer for a look. "She's not dead. She looks perfectly fine to me."
The burly maid glanced sideways at the "thing" huddled in the corner, thinking, "Looks like I really need to teach her a lesson."
Fifteen minutes later, he was awakened by a basin of cold water after he had fainted, and a foul stench hit his nose at the same time.
He was taken to the lowest, most stinking latrine cleaning room in the castle—surrounded by pits of all sizes, connected to various toilet pipes, from which excrement and urine would fall from time to time.
He couldn't stop vomiting and vomited violently until he couldn't vomit any more acid.
Seeing his extremely disheveled appearance, the maids, whose faces were already covered, laughed triumphantly.
"Drag him aside first," the burly maid sneered.
He was pulled aside like a broken doll.
A deafening scream suddenly erupted from the wall above them.
A girl cried out in anguish, "Spare me, spare me, I'll never do it again."
A lewd male voice came from behind, "I asked you to come with me, but you wouldn't."
The girl cried piercingly, "I'll go with you, I'll go with you."
Then came the loud, passionate sounds of a man and woman making love. The man seemed especially excited, having finally won his goddess, and appeared to be releasing all his pent-up energy; his roars were simply deafening. The goddess's voice, however, was a soft, almost inaudible whimper.
The girl suddenly screamed again, "Didn't you say that if I followed you, I could have you?"
“I wanted to let you go too,” the man chuckled, “but Miss Pei wouldn’t allow it. Who told you to dress so provocatively? Were you trying to seduce the Master’s head guard?”
It turns out that Miss Peregrine not only likes the lord, but also the lord's chief bodyguard.
The girl's pig-like screams rang out again, her voice almost completely torn apart, filled with unparalleled terror.
With a tearing sound, as if something was being ripped apart, the girl's crying stopped abruptly.
A series of slicing sounds rang out—the next few seconds, a string of objects fell from the sky, including severed hands, severed feet, and internal organs, all disappearing into the latrine…
Even the two strong maids couldn't help but vomit violently, vomiting until they were dizzy and half-conscious.
Only two people remained unmoved.
One was him, and the other was a large maid.
He remained indifferent, without even frowning.
The burly maid squinted, giving him her first serious look—he seemed to be someone of importance.
What she didn't know was that he would vomit when he saw feces, but not when he saw a dead person.
Suddenly seeing how useless her two henchmen were, she flew into a rage and kicked them several times, yelling, "Damn it, hurry up and take this bitch upstairs!"
The two maids, who had just finished vomiting, hurriedly got up, grabbed his arms, and dragged him upstairs...
He'd heard that every castle had a secret slaughterhouse, but he'd never paid it any mind. Which castle didn't have its secrets? As long as it wasn't too outrageous, he'd turn a blind eye.
After they entered a secluded toilet in a corner of the fourth floor of the castle, a lewd-looking red-haired old man proudly told them about his recent victory.
"That woman offended Miss Pei, and I happen to have an itchy hand." The red-haired old man was a toilet cleaner, and he habitually put his hand to his nose to smell it to make sure it was clean.
Several maids looked on with disgust. The red-haired old man, however, chuckled and said that the woman who had just died was a beauty, and that he hadn't seen one like her in many years.
The burly maid grew impatient. "Old man, there's another one here."
Called "old thing," the old man frowned, then looked at the girl who had been forcefully pushed in front of him, his frown deepening—just a skinny skeleton? She didn't even have a chest, which made him lose all motivation to fight again.
"Well, skinny bones are fine too," the old man said sarcastically, "a few cuts will do, it'll save you trouble."
The old man stretched out his five fingers, which looked like chicken claws, and grabbed the skinny man's neck. "Just like killing a chicken, first slit the neck, then cut off the limbs, stuff it into the latrine, and nobody will be able to find it."
So that's how the people who frequently disappear from the castle without explanation came about.
As long as you lure someone to the cesspool and can afford the price, the old man can silently eliminate your enemy for you. A servant wanting to kill his love rival, a brewer wanting to kill his skilled colleague, a maid wanting to kill another maid—all can happen here.
The fighting among the lower classes is never as civilized as the fighting among the upper classes.
A gleaming dagger appeared in the old man's hand. He chuckled and said, "Since you're being so obedient, I'll let you die a quick death."
But the skinny man being threatened was not afraid at all, and his eyes were chillingly cold. "I am the only virgin. You can't explain this to Miss Pei."
The burly maid laughed triumphantly, "Are you scared now?"
Another maid sneered, "Don't worry, we've found another virgin."
The old man's dagger gleamed menacingly as it slashed towards the skinny man's neck. But it was too late; the skinny man's five fingers, like terrifying, venomous claws, twisted around his neck. With a crack, his fingers embedded themselves in the neck flesh, piercing through it. The old man died without even uttering a sound.
Everyone else was stunned until the skinny girl suddenly pulled her five fingers back and shook off the blood on her hands like she was shaking off mud. Only then did the maids scatter in all directions, screaming. The big maid ran the fastest.
The skinny man sneered, not giving chase, and swiftly chopped the old man into pieces, throwing them into the toilet bowl...
Since then, the person in charge of the shady business in the toilets has changed; it's now that little maid who used to kick zombies and was ruthless.
No one cared whether the old man lived or died; all they cared about was whether the newcomer was easy to deal with. In the lower levels of the castle, the victor always reigned supreme.
However, this victor is eccentric and doesn't easily accept orders, nor is he tempted by large sums of money. He will only accept orders if you can provide him with valuable information, such as which guard commander has made shady deals, which mid-to-high-level manager has accepted bribes, or which of the lord's mistresses is secretly colluding with someone.
***
As time went by, my senses became more acute, and I could even tell if a small bird was perched in the lush foliage outside the window.
I'm a perfectionist. If a maid mistakenly brings in milk tea instead of black tea, I'll tell her to get out without hesitation and take the whip myself.
I cannot tolerate even the slightest mess or dust on my desk, nor can I tolerate books being misplaced.
I couldn't control myself and coldly ordered the servants to be punished, completely disbelieving that this person was myself.
I think this person was originally a perfectionist.
At midnight, unable to sleep, I tried to search his memory for more information.
But all I found were results about daily life; I didn't find anything about personality.
That afternoon, after I finished eating an apple, I leaned back in my armchair, and the scroll in my hand fell to the ground. I had a strange dream...
On a sunset filled with fiery clouds, a handsome little boy hid behind a tree, watching a group of little boys and girls play with envy and disappointment.
He was exceptionally gifted; he could speak at the age of 3, recognize characters at the age of 5, and read large books by the age of 7.
Therefore, many people deeply fear and loathe it.
His brothers and sisters mocked and bullied him, and encouraged the king's illegitimate sons to beat him to death, and he was almost beaten to death once.
One day he began to rebel bravely, which terrified the king and queen.
So the king ordered his men to roast him over a fire when he was only 12 years old, saying that he was so beautiful that he almost tempted his brothers and sisters to commit crimes.
He desperately tried to explain that they had humiliated him, but the king ordered the fire to be burned even more fiercely, so that he could no longer utter a word...
Time passed, and several years later, the prince grew up.
In the lavish palace of the empire, nobles in long robes lined up to vote, unanimously agreeing to use him to deal with the evil elves.
A group of evil elves, appearing out of nowhere, suddenly invaded the continent, causing them heavy losses. And since the evil elves have a particular fondness for handsome young men, the prince, being the most handsome young man on the continent, naturally had to be sacrificed.
The prince persuaded his fiancée to help him escape, but the plot was exposed, and he was then hung on a fire by the queen until he fainted.
The king contacted the leader of the evil spirits, offering his own son as a gift to quell the war.
When the leader of the evil elves came to take the prince away with great interest, the king suddenly ordered a group of guards to carry the bound prince away. Seeing that their prize was about to slip away, the evil elves were not about to give up and quickly gave chase.
The guards lured the evil elves across the sea to Black Castle Island.
The Black Castle is very powerful; once opened, it can trap all otherworldly creatures.
The evil spirits realized they had been tricked and launched a frenzied attack on Black Castle.
The long-haired maid of Black Castle was prepared; she lured the evil elves into the sealed, dormant volcano, trapping almost all of them inside.
Only a very small number managed to escape.
Only then did the king suddenly understand the Elf Queen's true intentions back then—she had foreseen the danger to her own son and therefore made arrangements in advance.
But the king dared not kill the prince, just as he had dared not kill the prince when he was still an infant.
He dared not do so at first because he feared incurring the wrath of the elves, who would destroy the entire island and perish with him, and he also feared that the infamy of murdering his son would spread and affect his succession.
The reason we dare not do so now is that only the power of the Black Castle can trap the evil spirit, and that power comes from the elven and spirit beast aura emanating from the prince.
Once the prince's soul is gone, the evil spirit will burst forth from the volcano beneath the Black Castle.
To prevent this from happening, the king demanded that each country send its children of royal blood to guard the spirit—why should only his country contribute to eliminating the evil spirit while other countries did not contribute a penny and stood idly by?
The mainland has a long-standing tradition of valuing sons over daughters, so princesses from various countries who were not favored were chosen.
The princesses would take a special medicine that would turn them into crows every so often. They would fly to the sky outside the barrier to devour wandering souls and then use their soul power to nourish the prince, preserving his last breath.
Besides the noble princesses keeping vigil for the prince, countless unsuspecting commoner girls were also lured to work at the Black Castle. Because there were too few long-haired women, the entire castle couldn't be cleaned.
Ordinary girls may age quickly due to acclimatization issues, aging within a year at most.
Before they grow old, they will be made into meat patties by long-haired women who have not been able to eat meat for a long time—so as not to be wasted.
After the girls are made into meat patties, their souls are infused into dolls. When the crows return from devouring the souls, the dolls, under the control of the long-haired woman, undergo a sacrificial ritual to awaken the prince's soul and allow him to open his heart to receive the nourishment of soul power—a soul-soothing ritual that only the long-haired woman can understand.
And so, day after day, year after year, the evil spirit remained trapped inside the volcano.
Later, the prince was awakened, the volcano revived and erupted, the evil spirits were burned to death by the flames, the Black Castle was destroyed by the volcano, and the portrait of the Elf Queen turned to ashes...
The door to the Imperial Study was pounded on violently, and I was suddenly awakened from my dream.
The maids' cries rang out, "My lord, the zombies have broken in!"
"A large number of zombies suddenly appeared outside the castle."
"The generals will soon be unable to hold out."
I was so frightened that I fell off my armchair.
A note from the author:
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Thank you all for your support! Seeing you all back made me so excited I cried tears of joy!
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