Night fell over the imperial highway.
Laila—who hadn't spoken a single word to Regulus all day and refused to even glance in his direction—found herself completely unable to sleep. The moment she closed her eyes, the shameless, scandalous events of the afternoon involuntarily played back in her mind like a vivid nightmare.
'Damn it!' she cursed softly under her breath, turning over on her cushion.
She simply couldn't believe that a human man could be so ridiculously bold, or more accurately, so entirely devoid of shame. Nor could she accept that Sphinx, who possessed proud Elven blood, would actively participate in such scandalous acts right in front of an audience.
'Is this what the Elven race in this world is truly like?' Laila wondered, her brow furrowing deeply in the dark. 'No! That's impossible.'
Ever since she had inexplicably transmigrated into this realm, her closest friend, Shion—who was also a pure-blooded Elf—had shared her morals, cultural beliefs, and reserved nature. That was what a normal, respectable Elf was supposed to be like. Sphinx, after all, was not a pure-blooded Elf; she was merely a half-elf.
'Shion told me to try and get along with them, but forget it,' Laila resolved privately. 'I need to keep my distance from both of them from now on.'
Laila turned over again, staring across the dim carriage compartment at her sleeping friend. She understood Shion's soft-hearted nature, but precisely because she understood it, Regulus's rapid advance felt all the more absurd.
What was so special about that man anyway? He was blatantly lecherous, entirely arrogant, and above all, he was a mere human—a mortal who would live a hundred years at the absolute most, which wasn't even a tenth of an Elf's lifespan. He was truly not someone an Elf should ever entrust her immortal heart to.
Most importantly, Laila felt that Regulus was merely lusting after Shion's physical beauty.
'Indeed, I can't stand by and let Shion do something foolish,' Laila thought firmly. 'If I just stall his advances for a little while, fifty years... no, thirty years will be more than enough! When human men hit fifty, they enter a stage where their spirit is willing but their flesh is weak. By then, even if Shion remains willing, that man won't have any physical capability left.'
Muttering this strategic timeline to herself, Laila felt a wave of relief. For Elves, what they lacked least in this world was time and patience. Having made up her mind, she closed her eyes, preparing to finally rest.
Creak~
A faint, metallic creak of hinges made Laila's eyes instantly snap open in the dark.
It was the unmistakable sound of the carriage compartment door being pulled open.
With her back to the entrance, she couldn't visually confirm who it was, but even without looking, she didn't need two guesses. In this diplomatic convoy, surrounded by alert Royal Guards taking turns on night watch, the only presences in the entire party who could silently bypass the perimeter and open this door without triggering an alarm were Regulus and Sphinx.
And as for Sphinx, there was zero chance she would be wandering around at this hour. After being 'bullied' all afternoon, the exhaustion would have left her in a deep sleep back in the royal carriage.
'He's here to sneak into Shion's bed tonight,' Laila realized, a surge of adrenaline washing away her drowsiness.
She secretly rejoiced at her insomnia. It was a good thing she hadn't fallen asleep yet; if she had, this shameless predator might have actually succeeded tonight!
Laila chose not to expose him immediately. Instead, she stayed still, waiting for Regulus to reach out and wake Shion. The moment he made his move, she planned to pretend to have a violent nightmare and kick him right in the face. It would also serve as a small, satisfying revenge for forcing her to wash her face for an hour earlier today, scrubbing her skin raw to get rid of his lingering presence.
However, after waiting in tense silence for a few seconds...
Laila, holding her breath for the ambush, slightly raised her eyelid, only to find Regulus squatting right in front of her, staring straight down into her face.
Startled, she instantly squeezed her eyes shut again.
'He must be observing me to check if I'm really asleep,' Laila thought nervously, marvelling at how terrifyingly cautious he was.
The very next second...
Laila felt something slick and warm being deliberately forced between her lips.
The physical sensation immediately registered in her mind—it was a finger.
Her eyes snapped open in sheer shock.
A finger alone wouldn't have triggered such an explosive reaction, but what shattered her composure was the incredibly distinct, sweet alchemical taste that immediately spread across her tongue, aggressively stimulating her taste buds. She had tasted this exact substance earlier that morning. Even if it was only a single drop, she would never forget it.
"Ptooey!"
Laila forcefully spat out his finger, scrambled backward, and threw a straight punch directly at his face.
Her knuckles were inches from smashing into Regulus's jaw when her fist struck an invisible, absolute wall in mid-air.
Clang!
The sharp, agonizing shockwave radiating from her knuckles made her instantly recoil, cradling her bruised hand.
"Ptooey! Ptooey!" She frantically spat a mouthful of saliva onto the floorboards, trying to purge the lingering taste.
Even though her mouth still felt terrible, there was nothing more she could do physically against his defense.
"What do you think you're doing?!" she hissed, glaring with absolute fury at the man standing over her.
Regulus casually wiped his finger, looking down at Laila's enraged expression and the saliva on the floor.
'So she wasn't asleep after all,' he noted internally, his eyes narrowing slightly. 'And she managed to spit it out again.'
However, even if she had spat it out immediately, it was already too late. A sufficient amount of the catalyst had already absorbed into her mucous membranes—the objective had been successfully achieved. And since she had spat it out so disrespectfully, Regulus resolved that he would definitely make her consume it a hundred, even a thousand times over in the future, to the point where she would actively beg for it on her knees.
As for why he had made a special trip to her carriage tonight, it was simply because he hadn't been entirely sure if she had fully ingested the dosage during her flustered state that morning.
Just then...
"Ugh... Laila?"
Shion, stirred from her sleep by the loud, angry commotion, sat up groggily. Seeing Regulus standing inside their private cabin and her friend trembling with intense rage, a sudden realization dawned on her.
Shion quickly channeled a spark of mana, lighting the small lamp on the wall.
"Did... did something happen?" Shion asked, a faint, embarrassed blush instantly dusting her cheeks as she looked between them.
Both Regulus and Laila caught her tone and immediately understood what Shion's dirty mind was assuming.
"Nothing serious," Regulus lied smoothly, stepping back with his hands in his pockets. "I originally intended to ask if you wanted to go outside for a quiet midnight walk, but I accidentally woke up the sleeping Laila in the dark."
"What do you mean 'woke me up'?!" Laila snapped, her voice trembling. "It was clearly you—"
She abruptly trailed off, her throat seizing up.
She simply couldn't bring herself to say the words out loud in front of Shion—to admit that she had just been forcefully fed a strange, intimate liquid by this man! Her face flushed a deep crimson, a chaotic mix of intense shame and humiliation swirling in her purple eyes. She glared at Regulus as if she wanted to tear him apart with her teeth.
"Clearly what?" Shion asked, blinking in deep confusion.
Although she didn't know the specifics of what had transpired, for Laila to be this utterly furious, it was already the second time today. Had Regulus done something terrible again?
"Actually, it's because the carriage was far too dark just now," Regulus explained with a completely straight face, pointing at Laila. "When I stepped inside, I might have accidentally stepped on her ear. Look, isn't her ear particularly bright red right now?"
"Stepped on her ear?!"
Hearing Regulus's outrageous excuse, Shion's voice instantly shot up an octave in pure horror.
Ears were an Elf's most sacred, incredibly sensitive physical spot! Not to mention being stepped on by a heavy boot, even having them casually touched by an outsider was considered a massive boundary violation. If Regulus had truly crushed Laila's ear in the dark, it was no wonder her friend was looking at him with literal murder in her eyes!
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