The Mind-Reading Mate: Why Is the Lycan King So Obsessed With Me? Chapter 243: The Queen’s Unhinged Behavior (I)

Primrose’s voice remained kind and patient. "I can ask my father to adopt you," she said kindly. "To make you part of our family In that way, you will have a second chance to live."

Even if a slave were granted freedom, their past would always haunt them, like a stain that never faded, no matter how hard they tried to scrub it away.

People judged them all the ti.

They said forr slaves were foolish for choosing to live on the streets instead of staying with their masters.

Others accused them of being ungrateful for walking away after being "fed" and given a roof over their heads.

’Ungrateful? My ass.’

Feeding soone and giving them a place to sleep wasn’t generosity, it was the bare minimum, especially when their masters never paid them a single copper coin for their years of service.

"Your Majesty ... if this is a joke ..." Hazelle shook her head, slowly stepping back until there was no room left behind her. "I don’t like it. It’s not funny."

[Why is she promising sothing that could never happen?] Hazelle thought bitterly.

[This is a cruel joke. There’s no way a noble family as respected as the Duke of Illvaris would ever adopt soone as filthy as .]

"No, Hazelle. I’m not joking," Primrose said firmly. "I would never make fun of my family like that. Everything I said, I ant it."

She softened her tone and asked again, "Would you like to be my adoptive sister? Your status as a slave isn’t public knowledge, so it won’t be difficult to introduce you to society."

Silas had spent years building a good image for himself. He worked so hard to seem kind and noble.

There was no way he’d ever let people find out he secretly used a slave seal on soone.

Most likely, the only ones who knew about Hazelle’s true status were Silas ... and her forr master.

Primrose was confident Silas wouldn’t be a problem for much longer, and as for the other man ... she could ask Edmund to find him, then silence him permanently.

That’s why she believed it could work.

She and her father could tell the world Hazelle was a distant relative, soone the Duke of Illvaris had decided to adopt after her imaginary parents passed away.

Honestly, she didn’t know how her father would react when she asked him to adopt a young woman out of the blue.

But she also knew that Lazarus had never said no to sothing she truly wanted.

And honestly, compared to everything else she’d asked for in her life, adopting Hazelle was the cheapest request Lazarus could fulfill for her.

"I don’t know ..." Hazelle whispered, turning her head to stare at the green-tinted water, now starting to lose its steam. "I really don’t know ..."

Primrose followed her gaze and asked quietly, "If I step into that water ... would you believe then?"

"What?!" Hazelle’s head snapped toward her in shock.

Primrose was already walking toward the tub, reaching out like she was about to touch the water.

Hazelle imdiately grabbed her wrist. "Your Majesty! Didn’t you hear ? I told you, I put poison in there!"

"I heard you," Primrose replied calmly. "I heard you loud and clear."

She looked into Hazelle’s eyes, her expression calm and serious. "But if I’m completely fine tomorrow," she said gently, "won’t Dr. Silas assus you failed him?"

Her tone was soft, her gaze steady, too calm for soone about to step into a poisoned bath.

It made her look like she wasn’t bluffing, and that she was truly ready to step in, if that’s what it took.

"If that happens," Primrose lowered her voice, her concern showing clearly now. "There’s a chance Dr. Silas will punish you for it."

She stepped just a little closer, saying in such a sweet voice "Hazelle ... I don’t want anything bad to happen to you."

[Is she ... insane?] Hazelle wondered in confusion. [Who in their right mind would still want to touch sothing after I told them it was poisoned??]

"Insane" might’ve been too soft a word for Primrose.

To tell the truth, Primrose didn’t think what she was doing was wrong.

Yes, the water was poisoned. That much was true. but hadn’t Silas clearly thought that the poison would only leave her paralyzed for three days?

If that was the price she had to pay to earn Hazelle’s trust ... then so be it. What was so wrong about that?

No—Primrose knew very well that her thods were often far from normal. People would never expect that soone as sweet as her could be capable of such complex thinking.

On so level, it almost felt like she wasn’t afraid of death, like she wasn’t afraid of pain, either as long as it helped her get what she wanted.

Still, in peaceful tis, when things were calm and safe ... Primrose wasn’t soone who would ever harm herself. And yes, she feared death like anyone else.

So maybe "insane" wasn’t quite enough. Maybe she was sothing else entirely.

She didn’t even use her manipulation magic, yet still, she had managed to bring Hazelle to the edge of despair ... and guilt.

[So ... she really does care about ?] Hazelle’s thoughts tumbled over one another.

[She’s willing to step into poisoned water ... just so I won’t get punished by my master?]

[That can’t be real. That’s ... that’s like sothing out of a dream.]

[No one’s ever done sothing like that for . Not once in my life.]

"Your Majesty," Hazelle finally whispered, "I still don’t understand ... Why would you want to free soone like ?" She said, "You won’t gain anything from helping soone like ."

Primrose smiled. "I don’t want anything from you," she replied gently. Then after a short pause, she added, "I just don’t want Dr. Silas to hurt anyone else anymore, especially not you."

"Or maybe," she said a little more quietly, "maybe it’s because when I look at you ... I see soone who feels like a little sister to ."

Hazelle reminded her of an old friend, but it wasn’t just the mories.

Primrose had truly seen that friend as a little sister, soone she wanted to protect with her whole heart.

Back then, she had lost the chance to save soone who ant so much to her. Hence, she wasn’t going to make the sa mistake again.

But Hazelle didn’t need to know all of that. The only thing she needed to know was that Primrose was sincere about helping her.

"That reason ..." Hazelle said, her voice turning flat, "isn’t very convincing, Your Majesty."

Her eyes darkened as she added, "I’ve heard that line before. Oh, too many tis."

"People have said those exact words to , ’I just want to help.’ but in the end, they were no different than my master. So of them were even worse."

"They gave hope," she said, her voice trembling slightly. "And then ... they shattered it right in front of ."

"That’s why, Your Majesty ... unless you have a specific reason, I can’t trust you."

[Even if she wants to use after breaking the slave seal,] Hazelle thought bitterly, [That would still be better than another one of these empty, sugar-coated lies.]