“Mm?”
Detecting the embarrassment on the girl behind her, the Young Majesty shifted her cold, clear gaze this time, landing on Weilin’s reflection in the mirror. “Is there something else?”
Weilin pondered for a brief moment before finally summoning her courage and saying with a serious expression:
“Your Majesty! I… may I… comb your hair?”
Never having imagined Weilin would make such a request, Huan Xuezhi furrowed her brows slightly. Her calm tone shifted abruptly, laced with a deliberate frostiness, as she asked, “Why?”
“Because…”
Even as her mind raced, she couldn’t think of a suitable reason. Weilin looked at the flawless, snow-white nape of the Young Majesty’s delicate neck reflected in the vanity mirror. Momentarily entranced, she blurted out the stupidest possible reason: “…Your Majesty’s hair is so beautiful, I really want to touch it. Mm… that’s it.”
Weilin’s unthinking answer and the utterly genuine seriousness in her eyes made Huan Xuezhi lower her guard. Yet the Young Majesty still remained unmoved, rejecting her coolly: “No.”
“Ah, am I not the Illusory Snow Princess? Can’t even satisfy this small request?” The girl pouted.
“The princess rights We have bestowed upon you are not meant for such purposes.”
“Then I won’t be this Princess anymore! All future rewards, exempt them all, I don’t care… I only wish, in exchange, to comb Your Majesty’s hair just once. Is that acceptable?”
That unyielding momentum, refusing to back down in the slightest, and those romantic words that might make any other maiden fall headlong into love…
It worked unexpectedly well!
The Illusory Snow Queen’s imposing aura softened.
“…”
At this moment, the Young Majesty suddenly realized something.
Though she could coldly mock the Star God Federation without flinching, and receive Luotendo’s declaration of war with an unruffled gaze and a raised sword, yet… only when facing Weilin’s various “audaciously outrageous” requests was she never truly able to muster anger and refuse.
Starting from agreeing to her request and calling her “Weilin”, to pushing her luck with teasing remarks, to arbitrarily touching her hand, to even breaking her promise and fooling her sovereign, vanishing for an entire day — tolerating her again and again… and now, she even wanted to comb her hair…
Who does Weilin think she is talking to?! Anyone else would have died ten thousand times over!!
“…As… you wish.”
Having already staked all her hopes on Weilin, what right did she have to refuse?
Huan Xuezhi compromised bitterly, her eyes lowering in a resigned, melancholic manner. But her voice was bone-chillingly cold. “…If you prove to be nothing but empty talk, and cannot save the Snow Kingdom, I will absolutely not let you off.”
It was just combing hair. Anyone overhearing would think Weilin had proposed some perverted, debauched humiliation play…
In the transparent world within the mirror, Weilin softly walked behind Her Majesty the Queen. Her warm little hand picked up the only object on the vanity — a small jade comb carved from white jade.
“If I really am just empty talk, then you can only blame yourself, Your Majesty, for having poor eyesight in choosing me…”
“…”
Then, Weilin reached out and gathered up the ice-blue hair shimmering with an icy spirit, cascading with breathtaking beauty. Cold and sleek to the touch. The girl’s smile was soft and lingering, exquisitely moving, as she said:
“But, I believe in Your Majesty’s judgment.”
Huan Xuezhi’s swan-like neck, even more flawlessly pale and elegant than a swan’s, trembled almost imperceptibly.
The sensation of someone brushing up her hair — surprisingly, she didn’t find it repulsive… rather, there was a comfort she was unwilling to even admit to herself.
Thus, Xuezhi’s long, fine, gracefully curved eyelashes fluttered open a narrow slit. Reflected in her vision was the girl’s gentle, water-like smiling gaze in the mirror. Her heart flustered for no reason, and her eyes hurriedly closed again, as if to conceal the fact that she had opened them to steal a glance…
Several delicate fingertips parted a few strands of that icy silk, far smoother than the world’s most supple brocade. Just looking at Huan Xuezhi’s alluring, stunningly beautiful face in the mirror stirred a sense of intimacy and romantic desire within Weilin. The white jade comb, gently stroking through that crystal-clear, flawless ice-blue long hair, paled in comparison, its warm white glow dimmed to nothing.
Weilin smiled on her face,
But her tears were in her stomach.
She had thought that since the Illusory Snow Queen worried and toiled daily over state affairs, her mind and energy must be drained. The plan was to use combing hair as an excuse to find white hairs, so she could logically pluck one out…
As you can see, Weilin couldn’t find a single one, no matter how she searched! Not even one!
Huan Xuezhi’s hair was maintained… no, it was nourished so perfectly by her icy aura. Every strand was like icy jade. Even if it weren’t a high-grade alchemy ingredient, if simply auctioned as an art collectible, it would undoubtedly incite a frenzied bidding war.
It’s hopeless, it’s hopeless. At this point, just yank one out directly…
Don’t ask why Weilin didn’t just tell Huan Xuezhi the reason. First, Shi Luo had only made a guess; whether it would work was still unknown. Second… if it succeeded, she could give Huan Xuezhi a pleasant surprise.
Third… Weilin truly did want to touch her hair a bit.
But before plucking it, she wanted to comb it to her heart’s content.
“How much longer… do you intend to comb?”
However, the voice that cut in coldly moments later undoubtedly shattered Weilin’s desire to continue.
Cold… yet tinged with a distinct hint of urgency.
Even if she enjoyed it, she could never admit it. Clearly suppressing the desire to be touched by her longer, yet forced to adopt that cold, unapproachable demeanor to compel Weilin to finish quickly…
However, Weilin, who had failed to find any white hair after all this time, was even more flustered than her at this moment. Thus, she didn’t notice that hint of something strange in the Young Majesty’s words.
(…I’m doomed, doomed.)
Hurriedly, Weilin put down the comb. She carefully smoothed out her ice-blue long hair, then stealthily wrapped a single strand around her index finger and pulled with slight force.
Unlike an ordinary person who might not even notice, one who had stepped into the Saint Realm possessed an extraordinary sharpness to every minute change in their body and senses.
The pain from Weilin pulling out this strand of hair — originally no more than a mosquito bite — was amplified dozens of times by Huan Xuezhi’s impatience and urgent hope for it to end quickly…
Stung by the pain, Huan Xuezhi narrowed her eyes, a faint mist of tears welling up in her eye sockets…
Even if she had racked her brains, she could never have imagined that Weilin would suddenly yank out her hair!
“Weilin—!!!!”
A somewhat shrill cry of anguish. The Young Majesty’s trembling frame bolted up from the chair like a startled bird. And looking at the reflection behind her in the mirror, Weilin had long since vanished… even teleported to who knows how many kilometers away.
“…………”
Silence.
More silence.
Powerful self-control allowed the Illusory Snow Queen to quickly calm down.
But looking at herself, so sensitively startled, looking at herself with tears gathering in the corners of her eyes just from having a single hair plucked, the Young Majesty’s heart and mind were already in utter turmoil.
Just now, she had undoubtedly been angry.
The difference was, her anger toward the Empire and the Federation burned solely within her heart, while outwardly she remained as silent and proud as a glacier. Every time that silent fury ignited, the air around her would rapidly drop in temperature, and the Ice Element would coalesce into countless deadly, bone-chilling traps of fatal intent…
But in that moment just now, the temperature around her was normal, and the Ice Element showed no sign of rampage.
Not angry? No, she was absolutely angry just now! But… why… why was it like this…?!
Why…
When Weilin held her hand that time, the Ice Element at least symbolically rioted a bit. But now… it didn’t even have the slightest reaction…
Why…
Why…
Why…
Huan Xuezhi’s state of mind, her gaze, became utterly chaotic. And the culprit had long since fled to avoid punishment. She stared blankly at herself in the mirror, a version of herself that no longer resembled the Illusory Snow Queen. Her frail body, even slightly more delicate than girls her age, collapsed weakly back into the chair. Her tender lips parted slightly, emitting a heart-wrenching, dreamlike murmur.
“What… is happening to me…?”
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