"I-I was wrong, Your Highness Dorothy, Princess, please, please forgive me."

The woman tied to the center of the interrogation room was covered in marks from being whipped, and beneath her messy hair was a terrified expression.

She didn't know which sentence she had just said was wrong.

"Alright, Eleanor, if you can figure out where you went wrong."

"I shouldn't have slandered Lady Adeline. She is kind, brave, and beautiful. It was damnable of a person like me to plot against her."

Dorothy sighed and shook her head.

Her hand rested on the torture instrument, the pink nail polish looking quite cute.

"Your-Your Highness Dorothy?! I really know I was wrong, I beg you, please don't torture me anymore. I've already told you everything I know."

Dorothy slowly approached her, leaning down to cast her shadow over the woman's face.

"Adeline, Claude, I don't care about any of them."

"Th-then what you care about is..." Eleanor swallowed hard, her hands trembling nervously.

Several days had passed since she was dragged into this interrogation room. Under severe torture, Eleanor had confessed everything about making things difficult for Adeline with the school festival budget, and even exposed Miss Noke as the mastermind.

But clearly, Dorothy was not satisfied.

"You still haven't figured out why I brought you here, Miss Eleanor."

Dorothy walked back to the stool and sat down, arranging her dress.

Her high heels, reflecting the faint light, looked particularly beautiful in this environment.

"Veronica, read her crimes."

"Yes."

Veronica, Dorothy's personal knight who had been hiding in the shadows, stepped forward. She wore knight's armor, her long golden hair tied in a high ponytail.

"Eleanor, you have been confirmed to have committed the crimes of human trafficking, embezzlement, deprivation of life, live experimentation, and treason. According to imperial law, you should be sentenced to capital punishment."

Dorothy crossed her legs, her expression returning to its usual relaxed state.

"I'm not framing you. There's solid evidence for all of this. You have dozens of lives on your hands, don't you? You were even willing to sell ten-year-old girls to nobles. You're a real-life villain from a storybook."

"Your Highness, I know I've done wrong, I beg you to give me a quick death," Eleanor pleaded, the chains binding her letting out mournful clinks.

Each time Eleanor was tortured to the brink of death, she would be healed by a healing sigil.

This had been repeated more than ten times, and her spirit was on the verge of collapse.

"Is that so? I seem to have heard those same words before. Let me think, ah yes, from those girls you chained up in the basement. When we went to rescue them, they said the same thing, asking me to give them a quick end."

Dorothy casually picked up a torture instrument from the table and toyed with it.

She was particularly interested in the handcuffs.

Dorothy would never forget the sight of Felyn bound in handcuffs.

"However, none of these are the reasons I brought you in. For these crimes of yours, I could just hand you over to the guards. It's not worth me personally interrogating you. Even your involvement in the attack on the noble isn't for me to judge."

Eleanor's gaze was fixed on the instrument in Dorothy's hand, her lips trembling uncontrollably.

"Th-then do you mean to recruit me as a spy to infiltrate the Noke family? Your Highness, I will be absolutely loyal to you, I promise to complete the mission. I will do whatever you ask of me."

"Logically, making you a spy would be the most efficient way to gather a lot of information, even to find out how Noke is colluding with the divine church."

"Then what is Your Highness's meaning?" A glint of hope appeared in Eleanor's eyes.

Dorothy raised an eyebrow, a hint of disdain at the corner of her mouth. "Brother Felyn would look down on me for that. It would make Brother Felyn hate me. I would never do that."

"Brother... Felyn?" Eleanor froze, her mind unable to process it.

"Let me answer your first question. You said you didn't know where you went wrong with what you just said, right?"

Eleanor nodded vigorously.

"My Brother Felyn is not a down-and-out noble."

"Wh-what?"

Eleanor's eyes widened. Only now did she realize that the imperial princess standing before her had an ambiguous relationship with Felyn.

This fact made her temporarily forget her pain and her predicament.

It's crazy. This world has gone crazy.

The princess is actually involved with that down-and-out noble?

"Veronica, shouldn't we teach the person who slandered my Brother Felyn a little lesson?"

"Yes, Your Highness."

In the entire capital, only Veronica, Dorothy's loyal personal knight, knew about her relationship with Felyn.

In front of Veronica, Dorothy didn't need to hide.

"N-no, don't! Ahhhh!"

Eleanor's wails echoed once more, reverberating endlessly in the small interrogation room.

The shadow on the ground struggled desperately, but it was all in vain.

Blood flowed continuously. Dorothy lifted her foot, not dirtying her heel.

Eleanor had already been whipped into unconsciousness by Veronica.

"Snap."

Dorothy snapped her fingers. The healing sigil in the interrogation room activated, and Eleanor's wounds began to heal.

"Eleanor, do you know where you went wrong now?"

"I-I know."

"Brother Felyn is not useless, not a down-and-out noble."

At the mention of Felyn's name, Dorothy couldn't help but cup her face in her hands, a flush rising on her cheeks.

"He will become stronger and stronger, more and more powerful, surpassing all of you, and then..."

Purple magical power began to surge from her body, lifting her pinkish-purple hair.

"And then he will become a hero, and he will come to marry me, right, Veronica?"

"Yes, Your Highness."

Dorothy came to Eleanor's side and gently caressed her face, her hand becoming stained with blood.

"How beautiful," she said, holding up her hand to admire it in the light.

"I won't let anyone who hurts Brother Felyn get away~. You will all end up like this."

Eleanor's feet instinctively scrabbled on the ground, trying to get away from the princess before her, who was already somewhat unhinged.

"Miss Eleanor, please continue your confession. Who else wants to harm Brother Felyn?"

Eleanor couldn't speak. She could only open her mouth, tears she had shed countless times before streaming down her face.

No one wanted to harm Felyn at all!

Miss Noke was targeting Adeline, targeting the Claude family. The attack in the capital was never a trap set for Felyn!

"Your Highness, it is already five in the afternoon. Do you see..." Veronica glanced at the watch on her wrist, reminding Dorothy.

"Oh, right, I have a date with Brother Felyn tonight. Honestly, it's all because of you people that I haven't seen Brother Felyn for so, so long."

Dorothy had been busy secretly investigating the attack in the capital recently.

This was also the reason she kept postponing her meeting with Felyn.

"I'm leaving now, Eleanor. Please confess everything you know."

The door to the interrogation room was slowly closed by Veronica, muffling the miserable screams and wails coming from Eleanor.

Dorothy used a teleportation sigil. The dim room disappeared, replaced by her bright, girlish bedroom.

She looked at Eleanor's blood on her hand and muttered to herself, "Brother Felyn, Dorothy is a good girl. I'm doing all this for your safety. I hope you won't hate me."

Dorothy went into the bathroom, took a shower, and carefully cleaned herself.

Then she changed into a long pink dress, tied an apron with a smiley face print around her waist, and combed her long, curly pinkish-purple hair into a high ponytail.

"Time to make cookies for Brother Felyn. He loves the things I make the most," she said, a sweet smile on her face.

"Brother Felyn, when will you come? I miss you so much."

(End of Chapter)