"Where were you?" Agrona's voice was low, lacking its usual whip-crack authority. She didn't look up, instead running a weary hand over the documents.
"We were at the library, Your Imperial Highness," Genevieve replied, stepping forward with her characteristic rigid posture.
Agrona finally raised her head, her sharp gaze sweeping over them. Her eyes paused on Genevieve, then immediately snapped to Cressida's neck.
"Not even officially in the marriage yet, and it seems I have a penchant for choosing candidates who are inherently unfaithful."
"Pardon me?" Cressida asked, confused.
"Your neck."
Right. Lilithia had implanted something. Cressida still couldn't feel it, but she quickly raised a finger to trace the spot. Catching her reflection in the study's ornate wall mirror, her eyes widened at the sight:
A hickey. A dark, conspicuous mark right on the side of her neck.
║[SYSTEM] –5 Negative EXP — Compromising mark detected.║
Genevieve, meanwhile, began whistling a ridiculously innocent tune, deliberately staring at the ceiling. "It wasn't me, Your Imperial Highness," she announced without turning around.
"I am aware. I can smell that damn familiar stench from here. It belongs to that two-faced bitch."
"I didn't even know that was there!" Cressida scrambled to defend herself, thoroughly flustered. She then whirled on Genevieve, who pointedly avoided her gaze. "At least defend me!"
Genevieve sighed, her shoulders slumping just slightly. "She's right, Your Imperial Highness. We just stumbled across that woman at the library."
"You better keep her at arm's length. I don't like sharing."
Cressida understood immediately.
This was not about love or jealousy; it was about ownership and hygiene. Agrona viewed Cressida as a resource, and sharing that resource - allowing the "two-faced bitch" to mark or bite her - made the "product" sullied and thus disgusting to the fastidious villainess.
But a profound question surfaced.
A hickey was simply a bruise, and as an immortal, it should have healed instantly.
It was significantly less severe than the deep cuts she'd inflicted on her own wrists days ago, which had vanished without a trace.
So why was the mark still there?
'Does this have something to do with Lilithia's ability?' Cressida urgently wondered, forcing herself to search her memory for details on the heroine's unique powers. 'Is the possibility of me dying greater afterall?'
The puzzle deepened even more as Agrona knew Cressida was immortal, that's precisely why she had been taken in the first place. So why had the villainess not questioned why a mere bruise remained?
Nothing made sense.
Even with her mind racing, she couldn't afford a single slip-up and definitely couldn't let Agrona know she had purposely engineered a collision with the heroine.
Acting quickly before the issue could be pressed, Cressida forced a casual, suggestive look. "You know, since we're going to get married and all, and you seem exhausted, and I've been dirtied, would you like to bathe together?
║[SYSTEM] +5 Positive EXP — Tactical seduction deployed.║
***
...
Okay.
Cressida had absolutely not expected this to happen.
She stood frozen in the opulent bathroom, her face flushed crimson despite her internal resolve to appear nonchalant, with only a towel precariously clutched around her.
Her suggestion had been intended as simple teasing, a quick distraction. But then again, the entire collision with the Imperial Divorce Event was pure chaos in the novel.
Agrona didn't just ask for a divorce, she delivered the papers during a major Imperial State Ball. She then proceeded to publicly list every single one of Daimon's failures from his cowardice, his political missteps, and his infidelity in front of the entire court.