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Join the ServerAlice Liddell fell to the ground, her entire body immobilized by the paralyzing electric shock.
She lay prone in the alley, enveloped by an eerie mist that prevented the bustling crowds on the shopping street from noticing any commotion in the narrow passage.
Her consciousness slowly began to slip away. Faintly, she heard the distant cries of Queen Isola and Duchess Liddell echoing from within the Magic Mirror.
In her fading awareness, Queen Isola seemed to utter words like “Starlight Kingdom” and “Snow Princess.”
Then, before her, a slender figure emerged from the thick fog.
After that, her consciousness completely fractured.
****
While unconscious, Alice Liddell drifted into a dream.
In this dream, she was sprawled on the ground, her body wracked with intense pain.
Before her, the Snow Princess of the Starlight Kingdom stood, her hands clasped around her own throat, glaring at Alice with gritted teeth and furious eyes.
Then, she heard her own voice speak:
“Choose! Either we live together, or we die together!”
‘Was I… threatening her?’
Alice Liddell was startled by the words her dream-self had uttered.
Before she could fully process it, she awoke, her eyes snapping open.
She gasped for air, a series of sharp stings across her body making her wince.
Everything before her was still shrouded in darkness, and she felt the touch of fabric on her face—someone had blindfolded her.
She instinctively tried to pull the blindfold away, only to discover abruptly that she was bound to a chair with ropes.
She had been imprisoned.
“You’re awake.” A muffled voice came from opposite her, the speaker having clearly altered their tone to disguise it.
‘I’ve been caught…’
Alice Liddell immediately recalled her memories from moments before.
“Fleeing was not a wise choice.” The person approached her.
They reached out, lifting her chin, and stated dispassionately, “Had you simply cooperated, I never intended to harm you.”
She struggled to suppress her fear, beginning to sift through her recent dream. She pieced together the fragments of Queen Isola’s words she had caught before losing consciousness, combining them with the strange mist and the lightning strike.
“Is it Your Highness, the Snow Princess?” Alice Liddell ventured.
The other party fell silent for a moment, seemingly surprised by her initial deduction.
“Interesting,” they finally remarked.
No sooner had the words left their lips than the blindfold was yanked from Alice Liddell’s face.
She found herself in an enclosed, windowless chamber. The only light source was an oil lamp placed on a nearby table.
Standing before her was a masked figure.
Then, the person removed their mask.
Pale, flowing hair framed a beautiful yet icy countenance beneath the mask.
The Snow Princess of the Starlight Kingdom.
Alice Liddell suddenly shivered, her Witch’s intuition sensing an undeniable threat to her destiny emanating from the princess.
‘That threatening letter was sent by the Snow Princess. She knows I’m a Witch. She’d even mentioned that she remembered a minor character like me the moment she saw me in the Magic Mirror.’
‘Yet, I don’t know how the Snow Princess remembers me so clearly. As Duchess Liddell once said, in our previous two encounters, the Snow Princess never triggered my intuitive sense of danger. Now, however, she genuinely emanates a palpable threat.’
After a brief period of thought, Alice Liddell formed a hypothesis regarding this enigma.
‘Initially, the Snow Princess had no intention of acting against me, nor was her goal to kill me. There wasn’t even a basic narrative for my Witch’s intuition to react to.’
‘But later, for some unknown reason, the Snow Princess suddenly decided to capture me. The interrogation—it’s likely due to the mission to assassinate Count Gina. That day, Count Gina hosted the Snow Princess in the countryside, and we nearly clashed directly with her.’
Alice Liddell found it somewhat incredible. After Queen Isola sent spies to infiltrate the Starlight Kingdom, the spies were captured and executed by the Snow Princess. The Snow Princess then used the Magic Mirror to threaten Queen Isola, vowing to deal with her eventually.
‘Normally, with such animosity towards Witch factions, it’s unlikely she wouldn’t have considered taking action after discovering a Witch’s spy. Duchess Liddell probably thought the same, which is why she used her Witch’s intuition to judge if the princess would recognize her.’
‘But it seems the Snow Princess truly hadn’t considered it at all back then. How could she have been so patient? Was it merely because I was operating within the Empire, leading her to adopt a wait-and-see approach?’
Alice Liddell suddenly realized that the Princess before her possessed a far deeper cunning than she had imagined.
‘How can I escape this predicament?’
Alice Liddell immediately began to consider this question.
‘These ropes aren’t impossible to break. If I could transform into my demon form, with a demon’s monstrous strength and rough, hard carapace, I should be able to snap them easily.’
To her slight surprise, the items she had hidden on her person seemed to still be there, all tucked into the inner pockets of her Witch’s gown. The Snow Princess hadn’t even searched her after capturing her!
Upon closer reflection, however, not searching her might have been a perfectly normal precaution. Witches were notorious for their insidious schemes, poisoning, and curses. Someone as cunning as the Snow Princess would naturally suspect dangerous mechanisms or traps hidden on her, making it sensible not to touch her rashly.
However, the greatest obstacle to her escape was still the Snow Princess herself.
The Snow Princess was likely a Fourth-Tier existence. Against her, with only Sixth-Tier power, Alice Liddell’s chances of victory were virtually nonexistent.
‘This is the Snow Princess’s interrogation chamber. If I can release a Jabberwock bird and stall for time, perhaps the Mad Hatter could arrive here.’
But she couldn’t do such a thing openly. If the Snow Princess discovered it, she would destroy the messenger instantly. Alice Liddell needed to find the right moment.
“Your Highness, you must have gone to great lengths to capture me, didn’t you?” Alice Liddell tried to initiate conversation.
“Indeed. Your previous trail was always lost, and you seem to have accomplices somewhere. I deployed many spies and investigated the residents of your apartment. I also know that you Witches can fly and change your appearance, so I made extensive preparations for your capture,” the Snow Princess stated impassively.
“How truly exaggerated…” Alice Liddell genuinely sighed in amazement.
This implied that once she had entered that apartment, escaping had become nearly impossible. The immense resources the Snow Princess had invested made her chances of escape incredibly slim. Even if she used transformation potions or transfiguration spells, they would still suspect her based on their prior investigations.
The only viable method, in fact, would have been to transform into another resident of the apartment and slip away. Unfortunately, she hadn’t thought that far ahead at the time.
The Snow Princess was clearly revealing these details to exert pressure on her.
“Why were you still able to find me when I escaped to the rooftop? Did you use some special surveillance method?” Alice Liddell probed, hoping to prolong the conversation and find an opportunity to release an Abyss Messenger.
“You ask too many questions.” The Snow Princess’s gaze turned cold. “Do you have any awareness of your current captive status?”
Alice Liddell had no choice but to fall silent.
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