The next morning.

The moment he stepped out of the cell and started up the stone steps, the blinding sunlight made Yeyu raise his arm to shield his eyes.

Today’s wind—

Why is it so noisy… is it because of me?

“So this is… the last sunlight I’ll ever see?”

The instant he walked out of the dungeon, he peered at the sky through his fingers, wore a face like he’d given up on life, and slammed down a death flag on the spot.

Thinking of Jing Ke failing to assassinate the Qin king, that hero with no way out, leaving in tragic glory and never looking back, Yeyu couldn’t help deeply sympathizing.

“The wind is bleak, the river runs cold, the warrior rides off and won’t return, won’t return, won’t return, never ever return…”

He swayed his head as he chanted, and for a moment a wave of “expert with no road ahead” kind of sorrow surged up inside him.

I want to ride the wind and go, but there’s no road home. Love-sickness hurts, it hurts, it really hurts.

Yeyu felt that being able to recite such a “good poem” probably meant he actually had the talent to be a poet. Too bad he was going to die before he could even unlock his poet skill tree.

“…With all due respect, we’re only inviting you to see His Majesty the King. There’s still some time before your execution date. It wouldn’t be too late to wax poetic when that day comes.”

Behind him was someone who loved ruining other people’s poetic mood.

That calm yet impeccably polite voice came from the second princess’s maid.

Dressed in a flawless black-and-white maid outfit, hands held lightly at the center of her skirt, she even walked like that—rigid yet graceful. She was just standing there like it was nothing, but Yeyu could feel this woman’s burning “maid soul” from a mile away.

“Nobles all say that to your face, but secretly they’ll make a move, right? I know how this goes,” Yeyu sneered.

That icy, arrogant smile—

Came from a shady, pretty-boy prisoner of unknown origin!?

The maid’s temple throbbed; she almost walked up and socked him twice. But since she hid it well, Yeyu didn’t notice a thing.

“So then, Miss Maid, can you tell me what His Majesty wants with me?”

Before meeting the king, he wanted to squeeze out as much intel as he could and brace himself mentally.

“It concerns the discussion and handling of matters following your mating with Her Highness.”

The maid stated it calmly.

“I see, as expected… wait, hold up, you just said ‘mating,’ right? You definitely said ‘mating.’”

“Your ears must be faulty. I said ‘[REDACTED].’”

Yeyu felt like he’d just been struck by lightning and turned to stone.

What did this woman just say? She’d kept a straight face, but there was no way it wasn’t something insane. Why else would it get censored?!

And how did this kind of woman become the princess’s maid? Is the princess blind? Or did she get in through connections? Yeyu was sure it was connections. Otherwise, who’d hire such a rude maid?

In an instant, the image of maids shattered into dust in his heart. All his idealized fantasies about maids completely collapsed.

Maybe Lelia refusing to give him a maid last time had some deeper meaning.

“You seem to be thinking something extremely rude, Mr. NanGong Yeyu.” The maid’s face changed faster than flipping a page; a big throbbing vein popped on her forehead.

“Uh…”

In a heartbeat, her expression turned into pure “I’m super pissed and really wanna beat you to death,” a terrifying piece of facial acting.

Intimidated by that oppressive aura, Yeyu broke into a cold sweat.

Don’t tell me… she can read minds? She actually saw through my thoughts!!

…

In truth, the dungeon wasn’t that far from the castle. Or rather, the dungeon was directly beneath the castle; they’d just put the exit outside.

Yeyu really didn’t know what to say about that kind of layout.

“His Majesty the King must be quite the heroic figure.”

Hearing his comment, the maid looked a little puzzled. “If you’re trying to get me to put in a good word for you, you’d better save your energy.”

Why? Obviously because his beloved daughter had gone and fooled around outside—no, had been fooled around with—by some commoner who clearly wasn’t a noble.

With things like that going on, no maid would dare disturb a lion that might or might not currently be in a rage.

You couldn’t pay for that with just a few lives—

“Miss Maid, has this royal palace ever had… mm, any, say, ‘unfortunate rumors’…” Seeing her icy gaze, Yeyu had to rephrase.

They say curiosity killed the cat, but humans are exactly the kind of dumb creatures that still walk into the tiger’s den even knowing it’s there.

“Rumors?”

“Like, scandals and stuff.”

The fire of gossip burned bright; Yeyu was dying to know. His eyes shone, blazing with the flames of gossip as he stared straight at the maid. “Like a maid in the castle suddenly getting pregnant, or the queen having a secret love child with a mysterious man, that kind of thing.”

I mean, with criminals locked up under the castle, how can there not be a “neighbor Wang” situation? Yeyu felt it was totally possible. His thick curiosity had fully ignited the gossip fire.

The maid glared coldly.

“Watch your tongue. This isn’t the countryside. His Majesty the Twenty-Sixth did proclaim freedom of speech, but that’s not something we get to gossip about. Please don’t bring your disgusting hobbies into this royal castle, you foolish primate.”

“Your choice of words is awful on so many levels, Miss Maid.”

“Oh my, I’m terribly sorry, the truth just slipped out.”

The maid widened her eyes, covering her mouth in a fake-surprised gesture. She looked unexpectedly cute, but the words coming out of her mouth were brutal.

“You don’t sound the least bit sorry. That was definitely on purpose.”

“So what if it was on purpose, you primate.”

She clicked her tongue in annoyance behind him. Yeyu, walking ahead, turned around with a suspicious look, propping his chin up as he asked, “Did you just say something?”

“Is there something wrong with your ears, Mr. Primate?”

Her kind smile didn’t bother hiding the murderous intent behind it.

Yeyu’s expression went dark. His eyes—already dead fish eyes—glared hard at the maid.

“You’re calling me ‘sir,’ but I can’t feel even a shred of respect here.”

“That’s because you’re just a primate whose IQ is frankly depressing, Sir NanGong Yeyu.”

Her tongue was vicious. Right after saying it, she suddenly clapped both hands over her mouth, her surprised expression suggesting she hadn’t expected herself to say something so out-of-character.

“My apologies. I shouldn’t have put it that way.”

All right, all right, at least she knew how to apologize. Yeyu, being magnanimous, was about to let her earlier rudeness slide—until her next sentence made his soul leave his body.

“You’re clearly a lower lifeform. I misspoke. I’m very sorry… you disgusting gorilla.”

This woman’s brain is broken. Conclusion reached.

“It’s your brain that’s broken, Sir NanGong Yeyu the Gorilla.”

The maid smiled, a radiant smile, but the slight twitch at the corner of her mouth didn’t escape Yeyu’s sharp eyes.

However, Yeyu was the kind of weirdo who felt uncomfortable if he didn’t go looking for trouble. Add to that the awful nickname she’d just given him, and he was furious. So of course, he chose to keep digging his own grave.

“If you’re that eager to pick a fight with me, you must be on your period, you female gorilla wrapped in human skin.” Yeyu fired off his taunt skill.

The last thing NanGong Yeyu saw was waves of white frills. The wind whooshed past, messing up his handsome hair.

Why does it feel like my field of view is spinning three hundred sixty degrees?

Thud—

Work done, the maid clapped the dust off her hands, then casually dragged the twitching, half-dead primate across the ground toward the castle. Naturally, they attracted plenty of sideways glances from the guards at their posts.

Under countless bewildered stares, Yeyu unknowingly became famous throughout Castle Cognal.

When the maid, walking at an unhurried, steady pace, dragged the “corpse” past a long corridor—

“Hold it, Lestia. Leave him here.”

The maid, hearing the voice, instantly kicked the “corpse” aside, straightened, brushed her hands off in distaste, then bowed respectfully.

“Lord Everton!”

…

Yeyu opened his eyes.

There was a blank gap in his memory.

He realized he was lying on grass that felt damper than the ground around it.

“Finally awake?”

Yeyu half sat up, pushing himself up with both hands behind him.

He realized there was someone next to him—an old man.

“Mm—”

“What happened to me?”

“So you don’t remember anything.”

The old man’s eyes were sharp like a hawk’s.

With just one look, he saw straight through Yeyu. Then he instantly changed his expression, a goofy grin on his face, with a schadenfreude Yeyu could clearly feel.

“It’s fine. You’ll get used to it. Anyone who’s tasted Lestia’s Iron Fist normally loses a chunk of memory that’s hard to recall, hohohoho…”

“How is that ‘normal’…” Yeyu muttered, pressing a hand to his aching head as he finally started taking in his surroundings.

“This should be inside the castle, right?”

There was a lake. Not very big. Thanks to the breeze, its surface glittered with ripples of light.

All around the small lake was green grass—the same grass under Yeyu’s butt. Behind him stretched a long corridor.

It seemed to connect to different wings of the castle. From time to time, hurried maids passed by, as did people who looked like civil officials holding rolled-up documents in their arms.

“This is Castle Cognal, a residence His Majesty bestowed upon the second princess.”

“A gift for his daughter?”

“Yes. Exactly.”

Hearing that, Yeyu held his head and spoke speechlessly.

“That’s some serious generosity. This place can’t be cheap. Just the historical value alone is enough to raise its price all over again. No, no, we’re talking at least five or six hundred years here. I heard there was a major upheaval back then, and for it to be preserved so completely… it might already be beyond anything money can measure.”

“Oh? You can see the value of this castle that clearly. Not bad, not bad.”

The old man seemed to look at Yeyu in a new light, eyes widening a little in surprise.

“Uh, antiques are worth a lot, and well-preserved historical buildings are even more valuable. Everyone in another world knows that. Why’re you so shocked?”

Yeyu broke into a sweat. Somehow, one random line of bullshit had made the other party reevaluate him. Truly, the act of showing off is always with me; showing off and I are one.

“No, you’re incorrect. The second princess, Lelia Pandragon, doesn’t know that.”

As he spoke, the old man, who’d just been appreciating the boy before him, suddenly fell into a black-and-white reminiscence.