Chapter 481
She took a few deep breaths, slowly lifted her head, and looked at Xia'er again, deliberately avoiding direct eye contact to prevent herself from losing composure once more.
"I'm sorry," Windsor said with a faint smile, suppressing the emotions she could hardly hide, "I can't help but admire beautiful young ladies when I see them. Your beauty is truly enviable."
Windsor complimented the two before her, trying to smooth over her earlier slip, but she had no intention of lingering on that topic. Instead, she shifted the conversation back to the question Xia'er had posed.
"What troubles you, Miss Xia'er?" Windsor asked, her gaze fixed on Xia'er's lips. "Feel free to share; perhaps I can help."
"It's nothing serious," Xia'er shook her head and replied, "I've just been feeling a dull ache in my head lately. I had Aivina check me out, but everything seemed fine... I was thinking maybe I should visit the Redemption Society and see if they can do something about it..."
At the mention of the Redemption Society, Windsor's eyes lit up. She subtly shifted her feet under the table, crossing them, and leaned slightly forward.
An idea seemed to flicker in her mind.
"Is that so..." Windsor said, her smile innocent and harmless, as if testing the waters. "Perhaps you don't need to go to the Redemption Society. My teacher is a top-notch 'physician.'"
"Your teacher?" Xia'er feigned surprise, shaking her head repeatedly. "That would be too much trouble for you, Your Highness. The Redemption Society should have a solution..."
"While the Redemption Society might have answers, their top physicians require appointments that can take a month or even half a year. By the time you get treated, your condition might worsen, or you might recover on your own."
As she spoke, Windsor waved her hand dismissively, adopting an air of generosity. "Don't worry; you're Aivina's friend, which makes you my friend too. My teacher will solve your problem."
"Well..." Xia'er turned to Aivina, looking uncertain.
"Windsor is a good person; you can trust her," Aivina said flatly.
Aivina was quite displeased with Xia'er's "beauty strategy," but she couldn't come up with a better plan and had to go along with it.
Aivina didn't want Xia'er to "entice" anyone, except for Aivina herself.
The conversation that followed fell largely under Xia'er's control.
In her mind, Windsor was scheming to guide Xia'er into drinking the drugged tea, intending to knock her out, and then directly use her teacher to exert physical control over Xia'er.
Windsor's little schemes were easily grasped by Xia'er.
Before long, Windsor had already risen, leading Xia'er and the others to the underground collection room.
Meanwhile, Peierxi's white shadow had been lurking in Xia'er's shadow. The moment Windsor opened the door to the underground collection room, Peierxi's shadow swiftly enveloped the entire space.
Lafayette barely had time to see who had arrived before he was engulfed in a blinding white light, rendering him immobile—an overwhelming attack from a fourth-tier against a third-tier was indeed a bit of a dimensional strike.
Aivina quickly got into the zone.
She first implanted a false memory into Windsor, then began meticulously crafting Lafayette's dreams and memories—using the script Xia'er had provided.
The implanted false memory was still the version from the simulation, where Mond was the "key person" controlling and directing everything.
By the time Aivina completed the brainwashing of Lafayette, nearly fifty minutes had passed—she had finished her task ahead of schedule.
After wrapping up, Xia'er took Aivina and the others and left Windsor's palace.
As for the complete part of the plan that required Lafayette's execution, it had already been fully implanted into his memory.
In the carriage, Xia'er looked at Aivina beside her, reached out, and gently held her hand.
Aivina seemed a bit restless.
"Are you worried?" Xia'er asked softly.
"No... I just feel a bit..." Aivina took a shallow breath, hesitating before finding a suitable word, "too smooth..."
Too smooth... So smooth that Aivina began to doubt whether she and Xia'er had fallen into some trap.
An operation that could shake the entire Ansu extraordinary circle, in Aivina's imagination, would at least require weeks, if not months or years, of meticulous planning, with every step precisely calculated, and a massive investment of resources to complete.
But Xia'er had simply "casually" proposed a plan and executed it with remarkable efficiency, following a timeline that surely took no more than a day to establish, steadily approaching the final goal...
It was too fast... The process was so smooth it was hard to believe.
It felt like taking a test one had already completed, simply filling in the blanks from memory—quick and precise.
If this wasn't just luck, it could only mean that Xia'er possessed a terrifying level of planning and analytical ability, just as she had always demonstrated, solving the most complex problems with the utmost efficiency.
It was almost as if she were omniscient and omnipotent...
Generally speaking, when someone does something that is too difficult to comprehend, it only evokes fear. Yet Aivina felt no fear towards Xia'er.
Instead, she was worried.
Especially when Xia'er had appeared before her yesterday in a complete state of mind, it felt like... the last flicker of a soul about to burn out.
That feeling unsettled Aivina.
"Xia'er." Aivina turned to Xia'er, her expression serious and solemn.
"Yes?" Xia'er looked at Aivina, her voice gentle. "What is it?"
"I know there are some mystical rituals that can drain one's life force in exchange for rewards or assistance from certain entities... and some sealed objects have similar functions..."
As Aivina spoke, she fell silent, lowering her head. But as the carriage gradually came to a stop, she looked up at Xia'er and asked, "Are you... using such dangerous things?"
Huh?
Xia'er was taken aback.
Why would Aivina think that?
At first, Xia'er couldn't grasp why Aivina would come to such a conclusion. It seemed that the exaggerated events in the simulation had led her to overlook how shocking it would be to carry out certain things in reality.
Perhaps she subconsciously treated this operation as if it were just another simulation.
"Why do you think that?" Xia'er shook her head and replied, "I would never do something like that..."
At this point, Xia'er hesitated.
She... seemed to lack the standing to say such things.
Upon reflection, spiritual summoning, deadly blood rosettes... many of her abilities and sealed objects were almost all activated by draining her spirit and life.
Xia'er's sudden pause almost confirmed Aivina's suspicions.
Originally, Aivina's hand, which had been holding Xia'er's, tightened around her fingers, turning white at the knuckles.
Feeling Aivina's grip, Xia'er realized she had misunderstood something, but at that moment, she couldn't explain.
The carriage had already stopped at Xia'er's doorstep, but Aivina showed no signs of letting Xia'er get out.
After a long moment, Xia'er slowly turned her body, resting her forehead gently against Aivina's head, and said, "Trust me."
At this point, it seemed there was no other option but to trust.
Aivina gradually loosened her grip on Xia'er, watching her get out of the carriage. It wasn't until Xia'er, along with Tara and Peierxi, disappeared into the villa that Aivina took a deep breath.
Niya flicked the reins, and the carriage slowly moved away, carrying Aivina away from Xiaer's home.
...
Xia'er sat at her desk, but after a short while, she stood up and began pacing the room.
The waiting time always felt unbearable.
From the previous simulation, she knew that today, the 20th, was the day Qiangyin would meet Lafayette for a live reading of the notes. At that time, Lafayette would follow Xia'er's instructions to drug Qiangyin, then notify Xia'er and Pope Erigema.
And in the simulation, on the 21st, Qiangyin would attend Aivina's housewarming party alongside the "key person" Mond and Lafayette, appearing as a victor.
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