After hearing Guilliman's words, Philippa's face was also filled with shock, an expression of utter astonishment.
Perhaps due to the limitations of the era, in the world of the witchers, any powerful individual from an intelligent race, even those mighty spellcasters from a thousand years ago who could move mountains and seas and contend with Shadow Elders,
would, to some extent, respect royal authority and the public order and good customs of human society, rarely doing anything out of line.
It was probably only someone like Guilliman, who came from a modern civilized world and inherently disdained royal authority, who would say such things and do such deeds.
Of course, this was merely a hypocritical statement.
If Guilliman himself were the emperor, he would certainly respect imperial power and demand that others respect it as well.
Philippa, knowing escape was futile, suddenly showed a somewhat mocking smile and said,
"Don't get too smug, Guilliman."
"A single person's strength is ultimately limited."
"No matter how powerful you are, you cannot protect an entire nation, nor can you stop the war between the Northern Kingdoms and Nilfgaard."
"Even if other kings and emperors die, nobles will still instigate wars; even if the original rulers die, new rulers will emerge."
"The war between the South and the North is a conflict between two powers, a clash of two systems of governance; it will not be stopped by individual factors."
"The reason I sent someone to assassinate Foltest was also to unify the strength of the entire North to resist Nilfgaard together."
"Otherwise, these foolish kings alone would be utterly incapable of resisting the Nilfgaardian Empire from the South."
"To prevent greater sacrifices in the future,"
"I did nothing wrong."
Although Philippa was terrible at politics, compared to the people of this era, she was quite a thoughtful woman; after all, sorceresses were mostly at the forefront of their times.
Unfortunately, she stood on the opposite side, and her true motives were not as noble as she claimed, ultimately stemming from selfish desires for personal gain.
Facing her rhetoric, Guilliman wore an indifferent expression and said,
"Actually, your instigating civil strife in the North has nothing to do with me, and I don't care about such matters."
"But you shouldn't have assassinated Foltest; he is Adda's father, and doing so would make Adda sad."
"And you absolutely shouldn't have tortured Triss; she is my friend. The torment you inflicted on her, I will repay tenfold, a hundredfold."
"As for those who have no relation to me, their lives and deaths are none of my concern."
After saying this, Guilliman kicked Philippa squarely on her ample backside and said somewhat impatiently,
"Alright, my patience is limited."
"Stop your whining. Once I've captured you and taken you back, there will be plenty of time for you to say everything you want to say."
"But if you delay me in catching your king, I will make you understand what suffering truly is."
Philippa hadn't expected to fall into this man's hands for such a personal reason.
Merely because of personal grievances, merely because she harmed someone's friend.
To her, a prominent figure who had always been concerned with national affairs and controlled an entire country, this was an utter humiliation.
She let out a somewhat hysterical laugh, then said mockingly,
"It's useless. Even if you go to the palace now, you won't find Radovid at all."
"After realizing you possessed the Elder Blood, that coward immediately fled the palace, leaving Tretogor with his accompanying army."
"As for Dijkstra, that cautious fellow, unless he reveals himself, even I would have a hard time finding him."
"It seems tonight, you will be disappointed."
"Once the news of my capture spreads, those two will certainly become even more cautious. Redania will not be so easily defeated."
As she spoke these words, Philippa actually felt a great deal of regret, regretting her overconfidence, regretting not listening to Dijkstra's advice to remain in Tretogor.
She had not failed to consider that he might return for a surprise attack, that he would assault the Tretogor Royal Palace a second time.
She just hadn't expected Guilliman to arrive so quickly, to find her residence so precisely, and to effortlessly destroy her carefully arranged magical barrier.
Before the barrier was destroyed, she had just shared the news of the Tretogor Royal Palace attack and some information about Guilliman with a few of her allies in the Lodge of Sorceresses.
If this attack had been a few hours later, Philippa would have already left to hide elsewhere.
Hearing Philippa's words, Guilliman didn't immediately believe her.
After all, it was a matter of luck; he couldn't be sure when these three from Redania would return to the palace, or even if they would return after hearing the news.
If they had indeed fled, there was nothing he could do about it.
However, Philippa's slightly mocking tone annoyed him.
He kicked Philippa hard on her backside again, and with a swift motion of his right hand, he ripped her dress to shreds.
Looking at the sorceress, who was now covering her chest with her hands, her face filled with terror, wearing only her underwear, he said viciously,
"Know your place, you bitch."
"I am no gentleman."
"Do as I command quickly, or else I will strip you completely naked and send you to a beggar's den."
"Let those beggars, covered in sores, have a good taste of you, the Royal Advisor."
Although she knew she might very well be killed, Philippa, who had been in a high position for centuries, could not bear the thought of her body being defiled by a group of beggars.
After hearing Guilliman's threat, she no longer dared to put on airs and obediently led the witcher to ransack all the valuable items in her mansion.
As a seasoned sorceress and a Royal Advisor to Redania for many years, Philippa's assets were quite substantial.
Guilliman not only found many precious magical materials and some powerful magical artifacts there but also obtained money and items worth tens of thousands of crowns.
Indeed, compared to laboriously earning money, this kind of 'beating the landlord,' robbing nobles and the wealthy, was a much faster way to get rich.
If a witcher were to earn ten thousand crowns by taking on contracts, it would probably take over a decade, even if he sold his backside... It turned out Philippa hadn't lied.
After ransacking the Royal Advisor's mansion, Guilliman, with the half-naked sorceress in tow, headed back to the Tretogor Royal Palace, intending to search for the whereabouts of the little bald man and Dijkstra.
Unfortunately, both of them were cowards, just like their personalities in the game. When faced with a threat, the first thing they thought of was to run, like rats reincarnated, utterly lacking in responsibility.
No matter, since he was already here.
Although he felt a little regretful, Guilliman still led the half-naked Philippa with anti-magic golden chains, continuing to plunder valuables in the vast Tretogor Royal Palace.
As a kingdom established for over a thousand years, the items in this royal palace were still very valuable; any gold ornament or oil painting could fetch a high price outside.
Guilliman planned to take the royal throne from the palace this time as well; his witcher academy happened to be missing a chair, and this would make a nice souvenir.
Along the way, residual guards and nobles were constantly awakened by their commotion.
They first looked with incredulous faces at Philippa, the Royal Advisor who was usually so high and mighty, her skin fair, her figure full and graceful.
Now, she was left with only her underwear, utterly humiliated.
This was perhaps a scene many nobles would only see in their erotic dreams at night.
But when they saw who the man leading the Royal Advisor was,
these survivors who had previously escaped immediately fled, screaming in terror as if they had seen a devil. No one dared to stand in Guilliman's way anymore.
The witcher looked on indifferently as these people fled, not pursuing them, while Philippa, chained to him, was pale with shame and wished she could die.
After one or two hours passed, and everyone in the Tretogor Royal Palace had actively avoided him, allowing him to plunder freely and fill his entire storage space,
Guilliman then turned his head, looked at the despairing Philippa, and chuckled,
"Thank you for your cooperation."
"That's enough for today."
"Such a large royal palace isn't something I can empty in a single day."
"Now, I'm taking you to see Adda."
"She's quite a willful princess, as you may have heard. She was once afflicted by a Striga's curse, and her personality is very bloodthirsty. I'm sure you'll endure quite a bit of torment."
"But it's alright, as long as you cooperate well and tell me everything I want to know."
"I will probably kill you tomorrow."
"However, if you don't cooperate well,"
"I will make you experience torment more painful than death."
"You are a sorceress; you should know very well that physical death is merely a beginning. Only the torment of the soul is the true start of suffering."
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