Elara stared coldly at Gilbert and quickly walked toward him.
The guards around didn't understand why the princess was acting differently today. The way she walked toward Gilbert looked like she was about to arrest him. They instinctively prepared to act.
But when she was just a dozen steps away, Elara suddenly smiled. Her expression completely changed. She looked like her usual self again. The way she looked at the "goods" in front of Gilbert was the same as always, cold and picky.
"What's this, Young Master Gilbert? Found some good new goods again? Why didn't you send them to my palace for me to try as well?"
Gilbert had seen Elara a while ago. He didn't bother to get up. Only when she came close did he pat the chair next to him with a big smile.
"Princess, just in time. Come here. I really found a few good ones from this group of refugees. Let's examine them together."
His small, greasy eyes rolled over Elara's body. In front of him, a young boy and girl, recently captured, were forced to serve him.
The two youths were thin and dirty, but their features were beautiful. Their skin was fair beneath the grime. They might have been from some rich family before falling into disaster.
Now, they lay weakly in front of Gilbert. Their dirty, torn clothes couldn't cover their bodies anymore. After being whipped by Gilbert for a while, their skin was badly injured and bleeding. In a few more minutes, they would probably die.
Elara's gaze swept over the two young ones, and her eyes narrowed slightly.
If Elara and Benedict were cruel, then Gilbert was a true maniac.
In Elara's memories, Gilbert enjoyed dismembering bodies. He had a twisted obsession with disabled limbs. His violent play was known for its extreme cruelty. Even the most abused slaves who survived Elara or Benedict usually died once they reached Gilbert.
His favorite hobby was carving human bodies like art. It was said he used up many slaves each month in his private courtyard.
And because the Gregory family had become increasingly powerful in the Plumera Kingdom, the palace's Imperial Guards had recently fallen under the control of Lord Gregory, Gilbert's father. Although they still had to keep the royal family in place due to certain reasons, it was clear that most of Plumera already belonged to the Gregory family in their eyes.
So to Gilbert, Elara was no longer a princess. She was just a high-status doll who could temporarily share his twisted hobbies.
This flower-shaped doll also happened to be very beautiful. Gilbert had already placed her on his list of "body sculptures." He was just waiting for the day his father fully took over the kingdom so he could play with this wild flower properly.
Thinking about this, Gilbert looked at Elara with even more greed.
Elara acted as if she didn't see Gilbert's disgusting eyes and sat down beside him naturally.
Seeing her sit, he kicked the boy at his feet. The weak boy crawled toward Elara to serve her.
Elara frowned and stared at the filthy boy. When he reached her feet and tried to grab her dress with trembling hands, she said coldly, "His face is fine, but he's so dirty. Aren't you afraid he'll stain my clothes?"
The guards behind her stepped forward, ready to drag the boy away. But Elara raised her hand to stop them and turned to Gilbert.
"You dared to invite me to pick goods with you but didn't think about these things that upset me?"
Gilbert looked at her beautiful face, not angry at all. He waved and laughed, "Of course I thought of that. Someone clean him up, feed him something, then bring him back to the princess."
Elara raised her hand again. She told one of her maids to take the boy, clean him, change his clothes, and give him food. When the boy was brought back, even Elara had to admit that Gilbert had good taste.
After being washed, the boy's features looked delicate, almost pretty. But his face was pale, and he looked dazed, like he was about to faint.
It was obvious that the maid who cleaned him on purpose didn't treat his wounds. They left him bleeding to please Elara's "interests."
Elara paused and suddenly turned her gaze to the maid.
The maid trembled. She had followed the princess's past habits, yet now she felt like she had done something wrong.
"Can't you see he's about to die? If he dies, how will I play with him, you useless thing."
Elara scolded coldly. Another maid quickly came forward with medicine to treat the boy.
When Elara had been in a cruel mood before, she'd also had people treated so she could continue her torture after they recovered.
As the maid walked toward the boy, Elara suddenly gave another order.
"You. Come here. Stand in front of me."
The weak and starving boy slowly walked over. As he tried to kneel, his eyes went dark and he collapsed straight into Elara's arms.
"Princess!"
Several servants shouted. Uno appeared behind her in an instant in case the boy tried anything.
But the truth was, the only one still able to do anything now was Elara herself.
Even though she inwardly cursed it all, if she wanted to save this boy, she had to keep up the image of a lustful woman.
Elara raised her hand and stopped everyone, catching the boy in her arms with a look of cruel satisfaction.
"He even threw himself into my arms. Not bad."
She hugged the unconscious boy tighter and reached out to the maid.
"Why are you standing there? Give me the medicine."
The maid quickly handed her the bottle. Elara held the boy in one hand, then slowly slipped her other hand into his clothes while applying medicine with a playful look.
The people around her finally realized what she was doing.
The princess was trying something new today. She had treated men herself before, but rarely like this. This boy must have been really lucky.
Gilbert watched all this with interest, not bothered at all.
Elara had the worst reputation in Plumera. Everyone knew she liked beautiful men and didn't care about rules. She would show herself in public, sit with men, hug people in the street. As long as she didn't break into homes, it was already considered generous of her.
Seeing Elara tease a beauty like this made Gilbert excited too.
He threw away his whip and told his servants to clean the girl at his feet. He hugged her and began copying Elara by playing with her while applying medicine.
But Gilbert's actions were rough. The girl kept wincing in pain, completely different from the peaceful look on the boy in Elara's arms, who was already sleeping soundly.
The two of them shamelessly carried on in public. Gilbert was in high spirits and even started chatting with Elara while they "played."
Not far away behind them, Oswyn had stayed by the city wall.
Watching Elara talk so easily with Gilbert, even hugging a boy in public and playing with him, Oswyn sneered. His pale fingers rubbed together several times.
He thought of the hundreds of lives from the Divine Doctor Valley still in Elara's hands and barely held back the urge to poison both of them immediately.