From the very beginning, Lola never intended to persuade Selena; with her spell techniques, dealing with Snow White was a trivial matter.
The reason she had explained everything was, in a way, a form of farewell.
As Lola’s voice faded, Selena’s rigid body moved in response. The black-haired girl slowly approached the table, picked up the vibrant red apple, and held it out to the queen.
Even though Selena’s expression was nearly distorted from resistance and her entire body trembled violently, she still could not defy the high warlock’s control.
Lola reached out and took the red apple. The moment it changed hands, the apple’s bright color was veiled by a faint purple haze. Needless to say, the Queen of Midwinter’s poison had taken effect.
Such an undisguised intent for suicide caused Selena’s bright, beautiful eyes to turn red, her gaze filled with desperate fury.
"That’s it, Selena. You’ve done well."
Lola gave Selena’s head one final pat, smoothing the girl’s neat bangs, before bringing the apple to her lips and opening her mouth slightly.
At that moment, Selena forced a sound through her clenched teeth with every ounce of her strength.
"Don’t... even... think about it... Lola."
"Hmm?"
Lola paused and looked at Selena, seemingly puzzled by how she was still able to speak.
"I said, don’t you dare just die like this! Don’t you dare decide my future on your own!"
The black-haired girl shouted, and she actually broke free from the gravity that had bound her entire body and manipulated her like a puppet, snatching the apple straight from Lola’s hand.
Perhaps never expecting Snow White to break free from the spell's control, the Queen of Midwinter failed to react in time.
The moment she snatched the poisoned apple, Snow White took a large bite, then another, and another... In the blink of an eye, more than half of the poisoned apple was in her mouth.
Crunch—
Accompanied by the crisp sound, Selena didn't even chew before swallowing it directly.
Dammit, don't!
Seeing this, the one who panicked the most was not Lola, but Faust.
While the scene of eating the poisoned apple was a classic trope, the script of this fairy-tale world was a corrupted version. His knowledge should be used as a reference at most, never as an absolute truth.
If anything, the prince of Qingxi’s goal was to change the process as much as possible within the boundaries allowed by the 【witches' feast】.
Only by doing so could he figure out to what extent he could exploit a 【witch】's fate-star; following the script blindly would never allow for that.
After swallowing the fruit, Selena seemed to lose all her strength, staggering back a few steps.
Lola’s spell also broke due to her shock, allowing Faust to rush forward and catch the girl.
Selena’s already snow-white cheeks were now even paler. She looked up at the prince of Qingxi and said apologetically, "Cough... cough... Sor... sorry... I broke our promise."
Only now did the proud princess lower her head to Faust.
What a pity, she hadn't managed to bed Faust after all. Had she known this would happen, she wouldn't have been so reserved. Even if she had to lose face and admit defeat, it would have been worth it just to get a taste of him.
Ugh, she was so annoyed! To die a virgin... If she somehow survived this, she wouldn't care about winning or losing anymore. No matter what it took, she would definitely drain Faust dry!
After being suppressed for so long, she had to do it until she was satisfied!
With a heart full of deep regret, Snow White closed her eyes before her consciousness faded.
Lola stared at the sudden accident, her cold, elegant face filled with despair and grief: "Se... Selena!"
Thick, ink-like mana surged within the room, looking as though it might flip the villa over in the next second.
"Don't panic, she can be saved! I can still save her!"
Faust shouted quickly to prevent her from throwing the entire frost-walker fortress into chaos.
Lola’s nearly collapsing mental state was pulled back by the man’s words. She looked at the prince of Qingxi as if clutching at a final straw.
"Save her...?"
Faust nodded. "Yes, Selena will be fine. Trust me!"
After calming the Queen of Midwinter’s emotions, he looked at Snow White’s pale face with a complicated expression.
In the end, it still followed the script. Had his efforts been a failure?
The man leaned down and kissed the girl. During this time, Selena had often used the excuse of 'rewarding the brave knight' to relieve her own pent-up frustrations, so Faust’s movements were quite practiced.
He quickly assessed the situation.
As expected, Selena had swallowed too quickly, and the fruit was stuck in her throat.
Using every bit of strength he had, Faust forcefully sucked the piece of fruit up.
Pah—
Faust spat out the fragments of the apple and wiped his mouth, repeating the process several times as if performing mouth-to-mouth resuscitation.
Only after ensuring there were no apple remnants left in Selena’s body did Faust carefully place Snow White onto the sofa.
Lola walked over then. She placed her hand on Selena’s forehead and sensed with her magic for a moment before opening her eyes, deeply astonished. "Selena is fine now. She just needs to sleep for a while."
The Queen of Midwinter looked at the prince of Qingxi with a nuanced gaze and said, "But how exactly did you do it? The toxin didn't spread at all. That shouldn't be possible. The poison I brewed, even if a tiny bit is touched, should cause a loss of consciousness in an instant and destroy all vitality within minutes."
Then your poison-making skills aren't that great after all, you probably skimped on the ing—
"Ugh!"
Just as Faust was mocking her in his heart, his vision suddenly went dark. A wave of exhaustion washed over him, followed by a sharp pain spreading through his limbs and bones.
The prince immediately fell to one knee, gasping for breath as his breathing became difficult.
"But it seems you don't have the ability to make yourself immune to the poison as well..."
Lola stepped in front of Faust, and he could only smell a refreshing, soul-soothing fragrance.
"I can treat you, but not here."
Faust felt like he was about to lose consciousness. "What... do you mean?"
Lola glanced at the sleeping Selena and said, "Even if we avoided it this time, the day will eventually come when we must kill each other. It’s simply a change of method and time."
"The reason Selena hasn't been driven by the curse to kill me yet is likely because of you. Since that’s the case, I will take you away. With no one to rely on, she will naturally walk the path she is meant to take."
Wait, that’s not right, is it? You're not taking the princess back, but you're kidnapping the prince instead?
What did I do to you?!
Faust endured the agonizing pain that threatened to make him faint and reached out, trying to argue, "Wait, hold on..."
However, Lola was not asking for Faust’s consent. Before the power of a high warlock, the prince of Qingxi—without his titan mecha—was far too weak.
The Queen of Midwinter, clad in her black veil and dress, used a spell to lift Faust with one hand while sketching a teleportation spell with the other, taking the prince away from the villa with her.
Rate on N.U.
