Chapter 52 : You’re Responsible
Chapter 52: You’re Responsible!
“Lilia.”
Hera suddenly spoke.
“I’m here!” Lilia reflexively tried to spring up, only to forget that her legs were still tangled. She nearly slammed her head back into Hera’s chin again.
Flustered, she hurriedly pulled her limbs back, scrambling off Hera and properly kneeling beside her.
The floor was still cold.
Her knees ached from kneeling.
Lilia lowered her head, not daring to look at Hera’s face.
Her mind raced as she tried to organize her words, thinQueen about how to explain that entire sequence of actions just now.
Did she hear Hera say “let go” earlier?
She even seemed to have talked back?
It was over, completely over—this time she was definitely going to be turned into a specimen.
“I’m sorry, Master!”
Lilia decided to strike first; her attitude in admitting fault had to be sincere.
“Just now I overstepped, I shouldn’t have offended your body, nor should I have disobeyed your command. I just…”
She bit her lip.
Just…
“…was too worried about you.”
A hand reached over.
Lilia instinctively shrank her neck.
That hand landed on her cheek.
The fingertips were cool, gently brushing over the skin that had been stung by the cold wind earlier.
Lilia looked up in astonishment.
Her eyes met Hera’s unfathomably deep gaze.
There was no anger there.
“Worried about me?”
Hera repeated those three words, her tone carrying a hint of playful mockery.
“Do you know what would have happened if control had been lost just now?”
“And yet you dared to rush forward.”
“Not only did you rush forward, you even dared to…”
Hera paused, her gaze sweeping over the disheveled collar of her nightgown, where there was still a suspicious damp mark left by Lilia earlier.
“…dare to wipe your tears and snot on this Queen’s body.”
Lilia’s face instantly flushed bright red.
That was cold sweat from fear!
Not snot!
Absolutely not!
But she didn’t dare refute it.
“I… I am guilty.” Lilia lowered her head even further, her voice as soft as a mosquito’s buzz.
Hera looked at her cowardly appearance, the corner of her lips curving into a faint arc.
It wasn’t her usual lofty sneer.
But rather… relaxation.
As if she had cast off a thousand-pound burden for a brief moment of rest.
“You are indeed guilty.”
Hera withdrew her hand, bracing herself against the floor as she slowly sat upright.
The silk robe slipped down, revealing a large expanse of fair, pale skin, still marked with several red welts left by the constriction of magic.
But she didn’t care at all.
She looked down at Lilia from above, her tone returning to its usual languid arrogance.
“Since you know your crime, then you must be punished.”
Lilia’s heart skipped.
It was over.
She still couldn’t escape it.
Cat ears?
Or something even worse?
“Just now, you seemed to be hugging very tightly?”
Hera suddenly asked a completely unrelated question.
Lilia froze for a moment, then nodded stutteringly. “Y-Yes… because I was afraid of falling…”
“Very good.”
Hera extended a hand toward her.
“Since you like hugging so much, then finish what you didn’t complete earlier.”
“Help me back to the bed.”
“Tonight, you will sleep on the footrest.”
“If my body temperature drops again in the middle of the night…”
Hera narrowed her eyes, a dangerous glint flashing within those golden pupils.
“You will warm it back up.”
“W-warm it back up?”
Lilia’s mind exploded with a loud bang.
Warm horizontally or vertically?
Was it the pure, innocent kind of physical heat transfer, or the kind of biological interaction that would get censored?
No, that wasn’t the point.
Hera raised a brow, her pale hand still suspended in midair, waiting for a certain silly goose to support her.
“Unwilling?”
“Willing! A hundred times willing!”
Lilia instantly threw all the inappropriate thoughts out of her mind. Her body reacted faster than her brain as she shuffled forward on her knees and supported Hera’s wrist with both hands.
Refuse the Queen?
Was she tired of living, or did she think her grave wasn’t spacious enough?
Compared to being turned into a specimen and hung on a wall, or thrown into a pit to feed those disgusting soft-bodied creatures, being a noble human-shaped heater was practically heaven.
Wasn’t it just warming the bed?
Lilia carefully helped Hera up from the floor.
Through the thin silk nightgown, the biting cold from before had already faded somewhat, replaced by a cool, delicate touch.
Lilia didn’t dare let her eyes wander at all.
Her gaze was fixed firmly on the floor beneath her feet, afraid that if she looked up, she might see something she shouldn’t—and then be killed on the spot by those golden eyes.
Finally, she helped this ancestor onto the bed.
The black velvet canopy fell down, dividing the space into an ambiguous and enclosed little world.
Hera leaned against the headboard, her posture lazy.
Her black hair spread across the pillow. Her complexion was still pale, but that sickly gloom had faded, replaced by an extreme exhaustion.
“Press here.”
Hera pointed at her shoulder, her voice thick with nasal fatigue.
Before Lilia could react, she added another sentence.
“Use that method from last time.”
Last time?
Lilia paused for a second, then quickly realized.
God-Tier Massage Technique!
System, save my life!
“Yes.”
Lilia quickly took off her shoes and knelt on the footrest beside the bed.
The footrest was covered with fur—it was even a bit warm to kneel on.
Much better than her staff dormitory.
Lilia reached out her hand. Before her fingertips even touched Hera’s shoulder, the blood-colored ring on the back of her hand suddenly grew slightly warm.
A faint golden glow flowed across her fingertips.
Lilia placed her hand on Hera’s shoulder.
Stiff.
Just how much pressure did this woman carry on a daily basis?
Lilia sighed inwardly, but her movements became incomparably gentle.
Magic seeped through her fingertips, like warm water melting solid ice.
Hera let out a muffled groan, the comfort like long-awaited rain after a drought.
Her tightly furrowed brows gradually relaxed.
The tense lines of her back slowly softened as well.
Lilia’s hands seemed to carry magic. The resistance and vigilance within Hera gradually collapsed and disintegrated.
Lilia could feel the body beneath her hands becoming relaxed.
Even a little too relaxed.
Hera’s breathing grew long and even.
Her head gradually tilted to one side, finally resting lightly against Lilia’s arm.
Lilia lowered her gaze.
Hera had fallen asleep.
Without the Queen’s imposing dignity, that face looked excessively young.
Long eyelashes cast a small shadow beneath her eyelids. Her lips were slightly pursed, carrying a childlike stubbornness.
Who would have thought—
That the tyrant who made the entire Abyss tremble… would look so… well-behaved when asleep?
Lilia’s hands did not stop.
Massage was not only to relieve physical fatigue, but also a kind of spiritual comfort.
She moved from the shoulders downward, avoiding sensitive areas, focusing only on those tense muscle groups.
Until Hera completely sank into sleep, even letting out an extremely faint snore.
Only then did Lilia dare to stop.
Her hands ached terribly.
Her forehead was covered in sweat.
But she didn’t dare move.
At some point, one of Hera’s hands had grabbed onto the corner of her clothes.
Gripping tightly.
Like a drowning person clutching at a piece of driftwood.
If she pulled away now, it would definitely wake her.
And if the Queen woke up in a bad temper, she could probably demolish this entire bedchamber.
Lilia swallowed, carefully adjusting her posture from half-kneeling to sitting cross-legged on the footrest.
The height was just right.
Their line of sight was level.
Hera slept deeply, the warm breath she exhaled brushing faintly against Lilia’s arm.
Silence.
The entire Palace of Eternal Night was deathly quiet.
Only the faint sizzling sound of the magic lamp in the corner could be heard.