Princess, Please Fall in Love with Me-Chapter 25 : Chapter 25

Chapter 25 : Daggers, Tightly Gripped in Both Hands
“Aiyo Miss, this thing you want is really hard to get.”
The merchant rubbed his hands with some difficulty, his meaning clear—he wanted more money.
Looking at the menacing thugs around, Loka waved her hand, and a tall figure shimmering with blood-red light appeared behind her, staring fiercely at the surrounding thugs.
Until a hand gripped his throat, the Black Market Merchant didn’t panic and beg frantically for mercy.
Only then did the figure slowly lower him and step back behind its master.
The Black Market had no so-called order or law; money and fists were the best currency, and chaos and fighting were commonplace.
Because of this, merchants and customers all had their own tricks, and the winner, of course, depended on who could fight better.
Looking at the cold, murderous eyes beneath the mask, the merchant finally lost his earlier arrogant swagger and quickly rummaged through his prized stock to pull out the treasure.
“Miss, this flower was not easy to come by. I pulled countless strings to get this. Even if you don’t care for my face, take pity on me and leave a little—”
Before the merchant could finish, Loka had already tossed a heavy money bag onto the table, took the delicate flower protected by a glass bottle, and left, leaving the merchant dumbfounded.
Damn—this really settled accounts cleanly.
I met a good one.
“Miss, this flower blooms only once under moonlight. Use it carefully!”
Looking at the merchant’s fawning expression as he clutched the regained money bag and loudly invited her back, Slave’s fists itched to give this face-changing king another beating.
“Money for goods, that’s the Black market’s rule. If fists alone could replace currency, this vast underground black market wouldn’t have lasted so long.”
Gazing at a dark, eerie corner underground, a cunning crow flapped its wings and flew away, its scarlet eyes taking in everything.
At that moment, in a quiet, unknown corner of the palace, moonlight streamed through the window, its pure glow casting the two figures in a noble hue.
Petals danced, and the silver moon reflected.
Under the moonlight, Loka extended her hand to Yiwen Kelake once more.
Yiwen’s face showed neither joy nor surprise; she silently looked at Loka, then turned to gaze at the moon’s glow.
“Loka, I have a question for you.”
Yiwen’s cold eyes turned to Loka, her voice hesitant yet resolute.
“If one day, I have to kill you, what then?”
Yiwen’s mother was a dancer from a foreign land, noticed by a young, spirited prince when she entered the palace with a merchant caravan.
Back then, the prince, perhaps with some genuine affection, shared a beautiful time with her.
But when that prince became the Emperor, the lowly dancer became a shameful stain he couldn’t bear to show.
The young, passionate love ultimately died under the sword of supreme royal power.
“In fact, I was a year or two older than those princes, but living in a neglected environment, pretending to be weak and helpless made it easier to survive.”
It was a laughable yet tragic coincidence that the day Yiwen’s mother gave birth to her was the very day the emperor married the eldest daughter of the Clover Family as the empress.
Looking at the crying infant in her arms, the woman with purple eyes gently held her only treasure.
She hid that amethyst, once a symbol of her love, in a corner of this remote palace.
“That amethyst is actually what I hated most, because my mother told me before she died that it might help me survive in front of the emperor.”
Her mother hated that once-beautiful thing but wanted to use it to awaken the emperor’s last shred of pity to protect her.
“So when I gave that thing to you, I had thoughts of throwing it away or selling it, but when I saw you carefully return it to me…”
So you didn’t want it?
If you’d said so, I’d have sold it.
I went out of my way to keep it safe.
Yiwen somehow produced that silver sword again, just like when we first met, only this time the blade pointed quietly toward the moon in the sky.
“Unlike what my mother thought, I don’t want to be a princess who survives on the emperor’s pity. I want to live on my own, to stand in that cold, ruthless man’s place.”
“Loka, you’ve been good to me, but your kindness carries ambitious sincerity. If one day you block my path, I’ll kill you without hesitation.”
She would personally cut down that lofty head.
She would stop at nothing to ascend to that position.
Anything blocking her would be cut down, even Loka.
“Even so, will you still stand behind me?”
For the first time, Yiwen’s eyes showed a strange emotion.
Despite having endured darkness, she wavered.
Knowing the person before her could be her greatest threat, the sword in her hand hesitated to turn toward her.
“So that’s how Your Highness sees me? It’s my honor to be considered your lifelong enemy.”
Loka listened silently to Yiwen’s words, the moonlight illuminating her youthful yet steady face, a soul in her twenties questioning itself.
She always saw through my ambitions, my use of her, and she used me to get what she wanted, even snatching prey from my hands.
Now, with just a light remark about not wanting to kill me, she wants to part ways?
What a sinful woman, Yiwen Kelake
“But I said long ago, Your Highness—”
“Until the end of my soul’s death, my life belongs to you. If you don’t want me to kill you, then don’t stop me from getting close, and try your best to kill me.”
Loka smiled and stepped forward, tightly gripping the sword hilt, holding Yiwen’s hand along with it, her eyes shining with sincere, purely ambitious sincerity.
Like that silver fork thrown away back then, I couldn’t bear to let this person leave me so soon, nor would I ever let her abandon me.
When Loka gripped Yiwen’s hand, her other hand drew a sharp double-edged sword.
The blade’s ends pointed at both their chests, the middle gripped tightly in their hands.
If she wants to kill me, then let me kill her first!
“Have you decided?”
“My answer has never changed, Your Highness.”
The hand holding the double-edged sword rested tacitly against the hand gripping the hilt.
Yiwen’s once-cold eyes warmed slightly.
As the two weapons slowly fell to the ground with a metallic clang, this moment mirrored that one.
The knight sheathed the dagger hidden behind, knelt on one knee, and pledged loyalty to the emperor before her.
The emperor lowered the sword about to strike, extending her right hand as a symbol of trust in the knight.
Yiwen gently touched Loka’s forehead with her hand, speaking with a tenderness never heard before, the promise both knew by heart.
“When you want to kill me, I’ll kill you.”
“When I want to kill you, you must kill me.”