Ko-fi shop has been updated, you can find the link at the end of the chapter.
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It was clear that letting the Crown Prince die was ultimately what Prince Aizen desired. Therefore, Diana needed to leave the detached palace immediately and go to him.
But her feet wouldn’t move. Diana wasn’t cold-hearted enough to ignore someone dying innocently, and even less so when it was this man. Wouldn’t it be fine for at least one maid to stay by his side?
“Master, can you hear my voice?”
The only response was his labored breathing.
Perhaps, in this dazed state, he wouldn’t even realize what Diana was doing. This was her chance. Diana fumbled with his wet robe to find his hand. Their bare skin needed to touch.
Her fingers brushed against the back of his hand, where the veins stood out prominently. She stroked his hand and intertwined her fingers with his. Her slender fingers slipped between his coarse, thick ones.
Droplets of water that had been dripping began to rise upward.
The moisture in Felix’s body gathered into rounded droplets and floated up. Among the beads of water leaving his body, some were particularly dark—a trace of the poison he had ingested.
The droplets gradually turned clear, becoming so transparent that the background behind them was visible. The now-purified water re-entered his body beneath his skin.
It was the purifying power used by the spirits of Ballestega. While Diana had only ever used it to clean the air or surfaces, this was her first time applying it to a person.
Being her first attempt, it was clumsy. And without her sight, she couldn’t tell if the purification had worked properly. Diana leaned closer to him on instinct. His shallow breaths had become slightly more regular compared to earlier.
Thank goodness. While it might not have been much, this should at least keep him stable until she could fetch a doctor.
“Master, I’ll go to the main palace and bring a physician. In the meantime, I think you should rest in your bedroom. Do you think you can—ah!”
A sharp pain struck Diana’s wrist as she tried to push herself up from the floor.
The master, who had been silent until now, grasped her wrist with such force that it felt as though he would snap it.
Halfway risen, Diana collapsed back onto the floor. Before she could even lift her head in shock, the heat radiating from him pressed down on her like a fiery storm.
Her back hit the bathroom floor with a loud thud.
“Ah…!”
“I told you to stop loitering and get out, didn’t I?”
The voice, coming directly at her, sounded like a growl from a beast. That’s when an ominous realization dawned on her.
Could he have been conscious all this time?
The strength gripping her wrist shifted to her delicate neck. Before she could even register the stinging sensation in her freed wrist, she felt her throat being squeezed.
“You’re presumptuous and insolent. Where did you learn such manners?”
“M-Master…”
“Or are you simply stupid? Can’t you even imagine what state Harper is in right now? I thought I told you to stop meddling and leave while I was willing to overlook it.”
Each word he spat was as sharp as a blade. It’s a misunderstanding. Diana desperately moved her lips, but the man seemed ready to snap her neck like a twig.
“What did you do? Speak.”
The sound of his voice resembled a predator’s snarl.
“Why did you touch me? Did Aizen order you to do this?”
“No, purification… I was purifying… hngh.”
Diana struggled like a rabbit caught in a predator’s claws. Instinct overrode reason, compelling her to escape from this noose-like grip. The fear of death was now only a breath away.
“Did you come here just to use that body of yours? Answer me.”
She couldn’t answer; her constricted throat made it impossible. Tears spilled from Diana’s eyes, and the pressure on her neck eased, albeit slightly. She managed to gasp for breath.
As soon as she was free, Diana didn’t even take time to catch her breath before pleading.
“No, Master. I didn’t mean anything like that. I was just worried and wanted to help in any way I could…”
“Someone like you?”
“Yes…”
His suspicion was justified. She had used her power without asking for permission on someone constantly plagued by unseen threats. But the truth was, none of that mattered.
He was the Crown Prince. Not some mere viscount or noble lady she had served before, but a member of the imperial family, untouchable by anyone.
Diana only now grasped this with her entire being.
No one in this empire dared to meet the Crown Prince’s gaze directly.
No one was allowed to touch the Crown Prince’s body without permission.
This was a basic principle for any servant working in the palace. If he told her to shut up, she had to shut up. If he ordered her to die, she had to obey. If she was unlucky enough to be falsely accused, she couldn’t protest.
But she couldn’t bear to be misunderstood as some prostitute. It was the last shred of pride Diana had carried throughout her life.
“I was born at Ballestega’s spring, and grew up among the water spirits… until the Imperial Army destroyed it.”
Diana gasped for air as she tried to explain, but the master showed no patience. The sound of metal clinking echoed nearby.
Diana gulped down her trembling breaths and continued.
“I mean, I possess purification powers. As you may know, among the spirits of Ballestega, those who wield water can cleanse poisons or rescue those consumed by malevolent thoughts. Hah…”
One of the secrets Diana had intended to take to her grave slipped out with pitiful ease.
“While I can’t treat or neutralize poisons completely, I can at least purify toxins that haven’t yet been absorbed… I only wanted to ease your suffering, even if just a little. I’m sorry. I was wrong.”
“……”
“Please… spare me, Master…”
Felix looked coldly down at the trembling woman, who hunched her shoulders in fear.
The drug that had dulled his consciousness earlier had lost half its effect, allowing him enough clarity to make some judgment of the situation. The woman rambled about purification powers or some such nonsense, but Felix had no interest in that.
The maid was panting harder than before, despite his loosening grip on her throat. The mere fact that she had been in a vulnerable position seemed to terrify her.
But that, too, was none of Felix’s concern.
“Did I ever instruct you to act beyond your station?”
His irritation, which had been building ever since he decided to deal with the bothersome head chef a few weeks ago, was now on the verge of exploding. And in the midst of this, a woman who might as well be dead wandered too close and even dared to touch him, igniting his cruel temper.
“Even if you can’t see, you should at least have some sense. That’s the only way I might find you even slightly tolerable. Don’t you think so?”
“Yes… Yes…”
Diana nodded frantically. Felix brushed her aside as though shaking off filth and ran a hand through his hair.
It was obvious at a glance—this woman had been sent with orders to seduce the Crown Prince. Felix had spent quite some time contemplating how to deal with her.
This wasn’t the first time Aizen had sent a woman to him in this manner. Was this the seventh time now?
Which meant that six women had left before Diana Escalif, all as corpses.
Among them were women from the streets. One day, Felix discovered that one of them had worked in a brothel like Hilde. That woman met a fate far more gruesome than any other spy.
Hilde. And prostitutes. Or as he preferred to call them, **putains**. These were words Felix despised to his core. His hatred was justified, in a sense—his mother had been killed by a **putain** from Hilde’s brothel.
Since then, none of the maids sent to him had met a good end. And he knew Diana Escalif was of the same breed.
But certainly, there was something uniquely peculiar about her.
Among all the spies who had infiltrated the secluded palace so far, none had physical flaws, none had dared approach him claiming they wanted to save him, and none had ignored the Crown Prince’s orders outright.
Even though he hadn’t granted her permission to rise, Diana coughed and tried to lift her upper body. Felix pushed her back down, slipping his thumb into her trembling lips as she gasped for air.
As someone who wielded a brush and dealt with colors, Felix valued aesthetics above all else.
Typically, he found little satisfaction in things that were conventionally labeled as beautiful. Proportions of the body, arrangement of features, composition and angles, harmony between background and objects—he scrutinized every element meticulously. The secluded palace, filled only with things that met his exacting standards, was his carefully crafted haven.
The maid, who had slipped into such a place unnoticed, teetered precariously on the edge of Felix’s standards.
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The portrait of Pride has opened a ko-fi shop with 5 advanced chapters. Ko-fi shop will be updated with each update in website. Here is the: LINK
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so far it’s interesting! Please keep updating 🙏