"Mephisto, stop mocking me. Anyway, strong desire isn't necessarily a bad thing for a monarch," Faust said, pressing his hands against his temples.
Knock, knock, knock—
Just then, a series of short knocks came from outside the door, making Faust furrow his brow.
He looked out the window. The sky had completely darkened; normally at this hour, unless there was an urgent situation to report, no one would break protocol to disturb the Prince.
Faust stood up and opened the room door.
What greeted his eyes was a face as exquisite as a painting, yet carrying a lingering trace of melancholy.
"Viviana?"
Faust was somewhat surprised; she had actually come to see him personally.
"Your Highness..."
The girl's slightly wavy, cascading pale-gold hair shimmered under the palace streetlamps. Viviana blinked her thick eyelashes and bowed to Faust:
"I hope I am not interrupting your pleasure."
"How could you? I'm quite free at the moment."
"Is that so?"
Viviana seemed a bit surprised. She extended her swan-like snowy neck, peeked into the room, and said:
"That is truly unexpected."
"...Is there something you need from me?"
Faust knew exactly what Viviana was referring to at a glance. Unfortunately, even though my past behavior was like that, I still feel a bit hurt.
However, the Prince also knew he had no right to defend himself, so he returned to the main topic. Viviana wouldn't come without a reason; since she sought him out late at night, there had to be an urgent matter.
Considering the task he had recently assigned to her, Faust had already guessed it.
"Regarding the search task you previously entrusted to me."
As expected.
Viviana lightly touched her full chest, which was encased in the black lining of her attire, and said:
"After filtering and investigating the kingdom's entire household registry, I have found someone who meets your criteria. If it is convenient for you, tomorrow morning we could—"
"Excellent! Don't wait until tomorrow; we're going right now!"
Where the [Witches' Feast] was concerned, Faust didn't dare delay for a second. He threw on his coat on the spot and followed the girl out of the palace.
After boarding the carriage, Viviana rested her hands on her rounded, straight thighs and said calmly:
"According to your instructions, I investigated the information of everyone in the capital. Filtering through layer by layer, I found the person who can fit perfectly into the dancing shoe."
Hearing the girl say this, the fire in Faust's heart grew even hotter.
I knew "Cinderella" couldn't be that hard to find. Those useless drunkards under me aren't worth a single hair of Viviana's! Look at her—she got it done in just a few days.
The Prince of Qingxi couldn't help but clap his hands:
"Good, good, good! It had to be you, Vivian. You really didn't disappoint me!"
Viviana's eyelids lowered slightly, and those violet eyes were cold to the extreme. The girl took a deep breath and nodded:
"...I have simply fulfilled my duty."
Faust was too excited to notice that his childhood friend's tone had turned remarkably icy.
There was a period of silence until the carriage stopped at a certain courtyard.
"We have arrived."
When Faust stepped out of the carriage, he found himself at the Roselin family estate.
However, he didn't have any doubts; with Viviana's meticulous nature, she would have naturally brought "Cinderella" to her own estate to protect her immediately.
"Your Highness, please follow me," Viviana said, smoothing her skirts.
The Prince followed the girl through the atrium, down the colonnade, and into the depths of the estate.
But as they walked, Faust sensed something was wrong.
It was too quiet.
True, the Roselin family, as high nobility of the kingdom, was known for being humble and frugal. Both the scale of their estate and their standard of living were modest. But it shouldn't be so quiet that not a single servant could be seen.
This suspicion reached its peak when Faust stepped into a basement.
He looked around: dark wooden bookshelves lined the walls, filled with a messy assortment of classics and scrolls. Candle after candle sat on the table, providing the only light for the dim basement.
The Prince furrowed his brow:
"Vivian, where is this? Where is the girl?"
The knight-maiden stopped in her tracks. Viviana, who had maintained a weird silence throughout the walk, suddenly halted.
"Right here, Your Highness..."
BAM—
As Viviana's voice fell, the door behind Faust slammed shut. Immediately, spiritual light seeped from the cracks in the floor tiles, and several chains condensed from magic bound and imprisoned the Prince on the spot.
Faust struggled a few times, only to find that he couldn't break free from the chains at all. Even the Mystery artifacts on his person had all ceased to function. He was instantly shocked:
"I came here to see Cinderella! What are you doing?!"
Seizing power? Taking over the throne? Cout d'etat?!
A string of thoughts flashed through Faust's mind, but each one seemed unbelievable; he couldn't convince himself of any of them.
Facing her monarch's anger and shock, the girl remained calm. She simply turned around, and while undoing her hooded cloak, she said peacefully:
"I am merely obeying your orders. Bringing you to see the person you are looking for."
Faust's heart skipped a beat. He swallowed hard and asked:
"...So, where is she?"
Viviana responded to the Prince's inquiry by taking a dancing shoe from a cabinet.
The radiant and exquisite glass slipper—the very prop Faust had given her to use in searching for "Cinderella."
Faust watched as Viviana took off her white boots, removed the over-the-knee stockings that hugged her shapely calves, and slipped the glass slipper onto her jade-like foot.
It was a perfect fit, without the slightest discrepancy.
Viviana was Cinderella! Cinderella was Viviana!
Boom—
Faust felt as if he had been struck in the chest by a heavy hammer. His breath hitched, and he stared wide-eyed at Viviana, stammering:
"But... but..."
The iron-clad facts were laid out before him, yet Faust still couldn't connect the childhood friend in front of him with the Cinderella from that night.
"Oh, right. This way, you will be able to recognize me."
Viviana seemed to remember something. She lowered her head and took a deep breath, only looking up after a moment.
The pale-gold-haired girl's aura changed suddenly. She raised her peerless face toward Faust and said:
"Your Highness, you really did find me. No, I should say I found you."
That pure and sweet smile struck Faust, causing his mind to lag.
Oh, yes, yes... this is the "Cinderella" I saw that night!
At the moment he saw her, it was as if a sealed memory had been forced open; the Prince immediately recalled the image of Cinderella.
Comparing her with Viviana, Faust realized there was fundamentally no difference in their appearance. They were exactly the same!
"As I thought, Your Highness..."
The girl's eyelids lowered slightly. She walked up to Faust, resting her head gently on the man's shoulder, and let out an incomparably sad and desolate bitter smile:
"Do you... hate me that much?"