Isn't the Supreme Will supposed to be the princess?!
[Attendant Rule 2: The Supreme Will here is the princess. Attendants must obey.]
Almost instinctively, Xie Antong recited the second attendant rule in her mind.
She glanced at the princess from the corner of her eye and noticed the princess didn't seem to object to "Sin's" statement.
Tsk...
Her game rules never mentioned anything about a king!
"So it wasn't you... sigh, I knew it." The princess spoke again at that moment.
She suddenly seemed exhausted, as if she had aged several years in an instant.
"But... why does what you said make so much sense?" She looked at Xie Antong.
"Talk to me. Let's pretend this is real - that the king forced me to marry someone I don't love. He probably wouldn't mind playing the villain anyway."
Lu Ce remained silent. He wasn't one to interrupt Xie Antong's analysis at such moments.
Consider it storytime.
"Alright, so what you initially said was wrong, correct?" Xie Antong temporarily shifted her attention from Lu Ce back to the woman before her.
"You actually don't love him."
"No! That's not true! Although the king forced me to marry him, I do love him!" The princess instantly grew agitated, speaking sharply.
This left Xie Antong thoroughly confused, feeling like her brain wasn't functioning properly.
She could only ask:
"Then... perhaps you could tell us your story?"
The princess seemed to have been waiting for this question, as a blissful expression instantly appeared on her face as she fell into reminiscence.
"Us... let me think. I first met him when I was sixteen."
"Can you understand? That feeling when someone unexpected bursts into your boring life, making you feel like following him could lead you into another world entirely."
For that moment, she seemed to grow remarkably youthful, her eyes shining like precious gems, as if she had instantly returned to her sixteen-year-old self.
No one actually knew her exact current age.
"I understand." Xie Antong replied as if following the attendant rules, deliberately playing along.
"I was also sixteen when I first met him."
Lu Ce: "..."
Who exactly is she talking about...?
"Oh? Really?!"
The princess immediately perked up, speaking excitedly with an expression like she'd just met a kindred spirit.
She leaned forward and grabbed Xie Antong's hands.
"Tell me more?"
Watching this interaction, Lu Ce now found himself feeling awkward.
As Arrogance, though superior to all, he inexplicably felt he should probably excuse himself from this scene.
"How did you feel at the time?" The princess asked with a smile, now looking exceptionally spirited and healthy.
"Similar to what you just described." Xie Antong said. "But some say that's just the novelty effect, unrelated to love."
"Really? Who would say such annoying things." The princess frowned.
Xie Antong steered the conversation back. "Never mind that. What happened between you two afterward?"
"Afterward..."
The princess's face filled with longing and happiness as she recalled numerous fragmented memories.
How she, as a princess, actively sought out that blurry figure from her memories.
All the experiences they shared together - joy, arguments.
Watching sunrises from the kingdom's highest peak, exploring caves rumored to harbor dragons, listening to the sound of melting snow, admiring rainbows reflected off glacial ice...
"Back then, I never thought about being a princess, and no one prevented our love. He treated me so well..."
"I just wanted that peaceful life, to marry him, live without turbulence until death. Oh, and bear him seven or eight children..."
Seven or eight children... The audience was stunned, wanting to say "damn impressive."
But Xie Antong listened carefully, missing not a single word, knowing clues might hide anywhere.
Soon, however, she noticed something amiss.
The woman before her seemed starry-eyed, completely immersed in beautiful memories.
But here was the problem - if everything was so wonderful, why resist the marriage and wedding now?
Moreover, wasn't this originally someone the king forced her to marry?
What changed in between?
Yet she hesitated to interrupt the princess's increasingly fragmented murmurs, reluctant to do so.
She didn't know what might happen if she abruptly pulled someone out of nostalgic bliss.
Especially when that someone might be the game's final boss!
And wouldn't it be terribly rude, potentially ruining the favorable impression she'd built?
But letting this continue wasn't productive either...
Fortunately, that rude interruption came from behind her.
"What nonsense are you spouting?" Lu Ce said mercilessly.
"If you loved him so much, why refuse to marry him now?"
Instantly, the princess was yanked from heaven into hell!
Xie Antong even felt pain in her hand as the princess's grip tightened.
The princess remained silent for a full minute before tears burst forth again.
"I don't know... I think I forgot. I don't want to remember his flaws..."
"Maybe he did something to betray me..."
"I..."
"I HATE HIM AAAAAH!"
Once again, the princess descended into madness, releasing Xie Antong to clutch her own head.
Xie Antong watched silently, pained to see someone fall from blissful dreams into despair.
Yet rationality compelled her to advance the plot.
This storyline seemed split in two, with the middle connection missing.
Former happiness, current hatred - the transitional emotions appeared lost.
Piecing together the fragmented narrative, she reconstructed:
They were deeply in love, something happened to turn love to hate, and now she's forced to marry him by some "king's" decree...
But this raised...
The most immediate question - what exactly were they, the players, here to do?