Chapter 151: Taking Medicine
***
The reason my brain just completely blanked out was because the shock had been too much, causing my head to short-circuit for a moment, roughly 2 seconds, maybe longer, I honestly couldn't tell. I even started wondering if the dizziness had made me hallucinate the whole thing.
Only after that did my brain actually start working again. In an instant, a flood of possibilities rushed through my mind. My first thought was: could something have happened last night while I was unconscious... but I immediately shot that down internally. No way. The timeframe was too short, and even if something had happened, it wouldn't show up this fast. It had to have been earlier... Could it be Carlos?! Aaaargh! That man is absolutely disgusting!! I'm losing my mind! When did this even happen?! I had no clue, no feeling at all... I want to kill him... ugh, ugh, ugh, no wait! He had no opportunity. Nobody could have had the opportunity...
My hand instinctively moved toward the secret place between my legs. I don't even know what I was trying to confirm, I just pressed down firmly, and the thick, solid sensation against my palm was strangely reassuring... Oh. That's the sanitary pad.
Right, I'm still on my period!! What the hell would I be pregnant with?!
This manly man remains pure and untouched, it's that stupid expressionless woman messing with me.
After reaching that conclusion, I gave my chest a little pat, trying to calm down the heart hammering away inside it. I let out a long breath, then looked back over at Victoria.
She looked perfectly composed, sitting there with her eyes half-lowered, stirring that strange liquid around and around with a silver spoon... I'll be honest, it was really asking for a beating.
"Victoria."
"Mm."
"Do you have nothing better to do?"
"Not really."
"Come fight me."
"You're no match for me."
"Hmph." I scoffed. "Wanna try?"
"Come back when you can actually stand up."
"I totally can!"
I said it stubbornly with my chin up, twisting and wriggling around on the bed trying to climb off, and gave up after just a moment... Too exhausting.
Limbs like jelly, body completely limp. Even the tiniest movement made my head spin and my stomach lurch. I came to the miserable realization that I had apparently become a fish on a chopping board, completely at the mercy of whoever wanted to do whatever to me, with zero ability to resist.
"Pathetic."
Victoria held the silver spoon out toward my mouth again. I'm not sure if I was just being oversensitive, but I could have sworn there was a teasing glint in those bright golden eyes of hers.
"Take your medicine." She said flatly.
That awful smell drifted into my nose again. Like something rotting, mixed with a foul, fishy stench that shot straight to my head, making me scrunch up my face: "I'm not taking it. This smell—"
"Take your medicine." Victoria's tone grew firmer. "Don't make me say it again."
But that kind of talk, the sort that sounded like a threat, only set off my stubborn streak. I huffily turned my head to the side, making it clear without words: I'm not doing it!
The next second, Victoria stood up from her chair.
She held the bowl in one hand and stared straight down at me, and something about that gaze made my skin crawl, I instinctively scooted toward the edge of the bed.
What is this woman trying to do...
Then, all of a sudden, her eyes sharpened, and her claws came reaching for me!
"Waaah—!"
I let out a startled shriek, reflexively trying to throw my arms up to block her, but my body was far too sluggish and heavy to keep up with my brain, and Victoria caught my face in her grip without any trouble... She's pinching my face!
My eyes went wide.
Victoria moved fast, not a single pause after that. With a swoosh she was up on the bed, lifting those pale long legs and pressing them right on top of me. I immediately fought back in kind, grabbing her left cheek with my hand and yanking hard, that perfect face right in front of mine instantly twisted into a ridiculous shape. But Victoria didn't even flinch. She shoved her whole body down on top of me without a care, and I shoved back with my left hand with everything I had, my legs kicking wildly beneath her, only for her to clamp them down tight with hers.
Victoria wrapped herself around me like an octopus, pinning me flat underneath her, and forced the bowl up to my lips. She had my face squished so hard in her grip that my mouth was puckered open and couldn't close, I was pretty sure I was about to start drooling, and the humiliation of it was infuriating. I tried struggling a few more times and realized I couldn't get any leverage at all, couldn't break free. So I grabbed a fistful of her hair and wrenched her head back, and even then the woman didn't change expression, swiftly tipping that mysterious liquid right into my mouth. The sharp taste hit my brain like a slap. I tried to spit it out, but then Victoria clamped my lips shut with her fingers, which nearly sent me over the edge with rage!
"Mmph mmph mmph— gulp..."
Ah. Swallowed it.
She let go of my lips. I opened my mouth and immediately went off: "You! You disgusting woman! Blegh blegh blegh, ugh—!"
"Shut up."
"I'm so mad... mmph mmph!!"
"Gulp... Pervert! Sexual harassment—!"
"Open up."
"Blegh! Blegh blegh blegh!"
"Shut up."
"...Gulp."
One of the maids who had heard the commotion tiptoed her way to the bedroom door, took one look at what was going on inside, and quietly pulled the door shut.
Not long after, I finished the whole bowl of medicine.
Truthfully, somewhere around the middle of all that fighting, I'd already surrendered. Because I felt so terrible, the more I struggled, the dizzier my head got and the weaker my body became, until by the end I was basically just letting her do whatever she wanted.
My mouth tasted bitter and salty.
"Hah— hah—"
I lay spread out on the bed, gasping, my face burning hot like an overripe fruit.
I weakly turned my head to the side to look at Victoria: "As a queen... how could you... do something like this..."
"Queens are human too." Victoria walked over to the writing desk by the side of the room, set the empty bowl down, and said.
I'd made a complete mess of her hair. Her normally smooth, fair skin had both cheeks flushed pink, and the sight of her... damn it, I actually thought this woman looked kind of cute.
"What on earth... did you just feed me... some kind of weird... hah—... thing..."
"Pregnancy supplement."
"Bullshit."
I snapped at her irritably, then slowly pulled myself back under the blankets and laid myself flat.
Head spinning, the whole room tilting, it was genuinely unbearable. I don't know if it was the medicine working, but a wave of drowsiness kept washing over me... I'd only just woken up and I was already ready to sleep again.
"What's even... wrong with me..."
"Fever from exhaustion. Nothing serious." Victoria said.
"That's it?"
Was it really that simple?
Victoria started walking toward me and added: "Last night, I found you collapsed at the entrance of the mansion. You were burning up."
"Collapsed at the entrance?"
So I made it back on my own last night?
She sat down on the edge of my bed and gave a small nod. "Mm. I was worried you might have caught some kind of sickness, so I had Bishop Ramus come over, he already performed a healing miracle on you."
...A healing miracle?
A member of the Church came by last night?
I was completely lost. I had no memory of any of this.
"I had the servants grind up some mugwort, licorice, white tree root and other herbs, that's what you just drank. Very effective. You'll be fine after a day's rest... But first, go change your sanitary pad."
I blinked at that, then looked down, and felt my face get even hotter.
"How did you know..."
"Stop asking me stupid questions." Victoria looked at me quietly.
Then her tone turned sharp: "Alright. Now tell me, what happened on Alix Alley last night."
Alix Alley... last night... what happened... hmmm—
It came back to me.
I remembered the scenes from the night before. I remembered what had happened after the headache passed.
A street swallowed in flames. Spiraling black smoke and white light. The heretics I had slaughtered. And that strange hallucination.
I could even recall how I had felt in that moment. That sensation of toying freely with prey, of killing purely for the pleasure of it. The state of mind consumed by hatred, utterly indifferent toward life... It was exactly the same as when I had dealt with Edward back then.
And then, an even more terrifying truth swallowed me whole.
Last night... I ate humans.