chapter 7

Lily recalled carefully, her tone somewhat dissatisfied. “The day before my sister disappeared, she was very happy. She told me the Prince praised her. The Prince is very gentle with the Maids, all the Maids in the Castle like him.”

Suddenly, a trace of girlish shyness appeared in her voice, which was strikingly out of place compared to her ferocious appearance.

“Actually, the Prince praised me too. He said I have the best cooking skills, and among all the Maids, I’m the one he can’t do without. He said he would keep me by his side forever…”

Tu Nan frowned deeply, feeling that something was very strange.

Lily paused, then, without warning, slapped herself, crying out in a sharp voice, “I am guilty. How could I have such thoughts about the Prince? Sob… sob sob… My sister hasn’t been found yet, and I’m thinking about these things, sob sob…”

Her voice was like a thin thread piercing Tu Nan’s eardrums, extremely sharp. She was too close, the noise in her ears was incessant, and her mind felt especially muddled.

[Current Pollution Value: 25%]

This can’t go on.

Tu Nan pressed her pen hard against the paper-

I will do my best to help you find your sister!

Lily’s sobbing stopped abruptly.

“Really?” She tilted her head, her pitch-black eyes staring straight at her. “Then I’ll wait for your good news… If you help me find my sister, I will definitely thank you…”

Tu Nan nodded vigorously, afraid that if she stayed any longer, her Pollution Value would continue to rise. She tore off the note she had just written, hid it in her sleeve, and hurriedly bid farewell to Lily.

Tonight’s harvest was already enough; she didn’t plan to linger outside any longer. She followed the stairs upward, and as soon as she reached the Third Floor, the surroundings became dark.

The Third Floor was a long corridor with no windows. There were candle holders on both sides of the corridor, but none were lit. She felt her way along the wall, inching forward. After passing the first door, her own room was just behind it.

All around was pitch black, she couldn’t see her hand in front of her face, and it was so quiet she could only hear her own breathing.

People’s imagination always grows wilder in the dark, especially since she was now in a dangerous Instance. Tu Nan held her breath, tried to keep her footsteps light, and silently felt her way along the wall.

Her room wasn’t far from the stairway. Tu Nan quickly found her room’s doorknob and couldn’t help but breathe a sigh of relief. Just as she was about to open the door, she suddenly heard a faint voice behind her, sounding right next to her ear.

“Ariel, it’s so late. Where have you been?”

The breath was icy and sticky, brushing against her ear as if some kind of soft-bodied creature had crawled over, leaving a trail of clammy wetness.

Goosebumps broke out all over Tu Nan’s body.

A hand reached out from behind her, wrapping her in an ambiguous embrace, then grasped the hand she had placed on the door.

In another setting, perhaps this gesture would be considered romantic.

Alarms blared in Tu Nan’s mind, her thoughts racing.

When did Eric arrive?

Had he been standing at her door all along, watching her inch through the darkness, waiting until she thought she was safe before finally jumping out to deliver a fatal blow?

At this thought, cold sweat broke out on Tu Nan’s back.

Seeing her unresponsive, Eric squeezed her hand and pushed open the door to her room with her.

Soft light spilled out, and Eric let go of her hand.
Tu Nan took a deep breath, putting on a look of panic and alarm. She turned to look at Eric, but her expression nearly froze the moment she saw him.

Eric, like Lily, looked completely different from how he had during the day. The handsome and charming Prince of daylight was now swollen all over, his body covered in pus-filled boils of various sizes, some oozing thick, yellowish-white fluid. His eyes, too, were dominated by enormous black pupils, making him appear truly terrifying.

She only glanced at him briefly. Fortunately, having already seen Lily, she was somewhat mentally prepared. Though Eric looked disgusting, her Pollution Value did not increase.

“Tell me, Ariel, where did you go?”

Eric’s voice was low and magnetic. If not for his face, he would still be quite charming.

Tu Nan glanced at him timidly, then took out her notebook, flipped to a blank page, and wrote:

[ I was a bit hungry, so I went downstairs to find something to eat. Lily can vouch for me. ]

Eric’s tone remained unchanged: “It’s best to stay in your room at night. If you need anything, you can come to me. I’m right next door.”

His gaze swept over the notebook in her hand. Suddenly, he reached out and pulled it from her grasp, flipping through it in front of her.

Luckily, she had already torn out the earlier pages containing her conversation with Lily, leaving only the sentence about being hungry.

Tu Nan calmly let him look through it.

Eric found nothing suspicious and handed the notebook back to her.

He forced a smile onto his ugly face, but unexpectedly burst one of the boils, causing yellowish-white fluid to splatter from the rupture, landing precisely on a small patch of Tu Nan’s cheek.

Her smile froze.

[ Current Pollution Value: 30% ]

Eric squinted, his face twisted into a revolting grin, his gaze lingering stickily over her face again and again.

Her body’s instinctive reaction sent a wave of nausea surging through her chest. She reflexively wanted to wipe away the pus, but under Eric’s subtle scrutiny, she forced herself to stop.

She pretended to act naturally, lowered her head, and wrote:

[ I’m sorry, I’ll be more careful next time. ]

Only then did Eric smile with satisfaction. He nodded, reached out to stroke her cheek, and even leaned in to kiss her on the side of her face.

He was so close that Tu Nan could almost smell the strange odor coming from his mouth.

It was like some kind of grease mixed with a stale fishy smell-utterly nauseating.

Her stomach churned, her throat itched, but she still forced herself to maintain a smile.

“Sweet dreams.”

Perhaps Tu Nan’s obedient reaction pleased Eric, for he finally left her room.

The door before her was finally closed gently. Tu Nan’s forced smile collapsed; her legs went weak, and she had to brace herself against the wall to keep from collapsing to the floor.

Her feet hurt so much they were almost numb, but she still forced herself to quickly walk to the washroom, ignoring everything else, turning on the tap to wash the patch of her cheek smeared with pus.

She didn’t know how much time passed. Only when her cheek began to feel hot did she stop, finally raising her head to look at herself in the mirror.

Her pupils contracted sharply the moment they met the mirror. Her heartbeat, which had just calmed, began to pound wildly in her chest once again.

[ Current Pollution Value: 40% ]