CHAPTER 243: THE QUEEN’S UNHINGED BEHAVIOR (I)

Primrose’s voice remained kind and patient. "I can ask my father to adopt you," she said kindly. "To make you part of our family In that way, you will have a second chance to live."

Even if a slave were granted freedom, their past would always haunt them, like a stain that never faded, no matter how hard they tried to scrub it away.

People judged them all the time.

They said former slaves were foolish for choosing to live on the streets instead of staying with their masters.

Others accused them of being ungrateful for walking away after being "fed" and given a roof over their heads.

’Ungrateful? My ass.’

Feeding someone and giving them a place to sleep wasn’t generosity, it was the bare minimum, especially when their masters never paid them a single copper coin for their years of service.

"Your Majesty ... if this is a joke ..." Hazelle shook her head, slowly stepping back until there was no room left behind her. "I don’t like it. It’s not funny."

[Why is she promising something that could never happen?] Hazelle thought bitterly.

[This is a cruel joke. There’s no way a noble family as respected as the Duke of Illvaris would ever adopt someone as filthy as me.]

"No, Hazelle. I’m not joking," Primrose said firmly. "I would never make fun of my family like that. Everything I said, I meant it."

She softened her tone and asked again, "Would you like to be my adoptive sister? Your status as a slave isn’t public knowledge, so it won’t be difficult to introduce you to society."

Silas had spent years building a good image for himself. He worked so hard to seem kind and noble.

There was no way he’d ever let people find out he secretly used a slave seal on someone.

Most likely, the only ones who knew about Hazelle’s true status were Silas ... and her former master.

Primrose was confident Silas wouldn’t be a problem for much longer, and as for the other man ... she could ask Edmund to find him, then silence him permanently.

That’s why she believed it could work.

She and her father could tell the world Hazelle was a distant relative, someone the Duke of Illvaris had decided to adopt after her imaginary parents passed away.

Honestly, she didn’t know how her father would react when she asked him to adopt a young woman out of the blue.

But she also knew that Lazarus had never said no to something she truly wanted.

And honestly, compared to everything else she’d asked for in her life, adopting Hazelle was the cheapest request Lazarus could fulfill for her.

"I don’t know ..." Hazelle whispered, turning her head to stare at the green-tinted water, now starting to lose its steam. "I really don’t know ..."

Primrose followed her gaze and asked quietly, "If I step into that water ... would you believe me then?"

"What?!" Hazelle’s head snapped toward her in shock.

Primrose was already walking toward the tub, reaching out like she was about to touch the water.

Hazelle immediately grabbed her wrist. "Your Majesty! Didn’t you hear me? I told you, I put poison in there!"

"I heard you," Primrose replied calmly. "I heard you loud and clear."

She looked into Hazelle’s eyes, her expression calm and serious. "But if I’m completely fine tomorrow," she said gently, "won’t Dr. Silas assumes you failed him?"

Her tone was soft, her gaze steady, too calm for someone about to step into a poisoned bath.

It made her look like she wasn’t bluffing, and that she was truly ready to step in, if that’s what it took.

"If that happens," Primrose lowered her voice, her concern showing clearly now. "There’s a chance Dr. Silas will punish you for it."

She stepped just a little closer, saying in such a sweet voice "Hazelle ... I don’t want anything bad to happen to you."

[Is she ... insane?] Hazelle wondered in confusion. [Who in their right mind would still want to touch something after I told them it was poisoned??]

"Insane" might’ve been too soft a word for Primrose.

To tell the truth, Primrose didn’t think what she was doing was wrong.

Yes, the water was poisoned. That much was true. but hadn’t Silas clearly thought that the poison would only leave her paralyzed for three days?

If that was the price she had to pay to earn Hazelle’s trust ... then so be it. What was so wrong about that?

No—Primrose knew very well that her methods were often far from normal. People would never expect that someone as sweet as her could be capable of such complex thinking.

On some level, it almost felt like she wasn’t afraid of death, like she wasn’t afraid of pain, either as long as it helped her get what she wanted.

Still, in peaceful times, when things were calm and safe ... Primrose wasn’t someone who would ever harm herself. And yes, she feared death like anyone else.

So maybe "insane" wasn’t quite enough. Maybe she was something else entirely.

She didn’t even use her manipulation magic, yet still, she had managed to bring Hazelle to the edge of despair ... and guilt.

[So ... she really does care about me?] Hazelle’s thoughts tumbled over one another.

[She’s willing to step into poisoned water ... just so I won’t get punished by my master?]

[That can’t be real. That’s ... that’s like something out of a dream.]

[No one’s ever done something like that for me. Not once in my life.]

"Your Majesty," Hazelle finally whispered, "I still don’t understand ... Why would you want to free someone like me?" She said, "You won’t gain anything from helping someone like me."

Primrose smiled. "I don’t want anything from you," she replied gently. Then after a short pause, she added, "I just don’t want Dr. Silas to hurt anyone else anymore, especially not you."

"Or maybe," she said a little more quietly, "maybe it’s because when I look at you ... I see someone who feels like a little sister to me."

Hazelle reminded her of an old friend, but it wasn’t just the memories.

Primrose had truly seen that friend as a little sister, someone she wanted to protect with her whole heart.

Back then, she had lost the chance to save someone who meant so much to her. Hence, she wasn’t going to make the same mistake again.

But Hazelle didn’t need to know all of that. The only thing she needed to know was that Primrose was sincere about helping her.

"That reason ..." Hazelle said, her voice turning flat, "isn’t very convincing, Your Majesty."

Her eyes darkened as she added, "I’ve heard that line before. Oh, too many times."

"People have said those exact words to me, ’I just want to help.’ but in the end, they were no different than my master. Some of them were even worse."

"They gave me hope," she said, her voice trembling slightly. "And then ... they shattered it right in front of me."

"That’s why, Your Majesty ... unless you have a specific reason, I can’t trust you."

[Even if she wants to use me after breaking the slave seal,] Hazelle thought bitterly, [That would still be better than another one of these empty, sugar-coated lies.]