Chapter 118
Chapter 118
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Translator: crow
Chapter Title: Queen of the Night (2)
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The central imperial palace's party hall.
Beneath the massive chandelier, elites from across the continent had gathered.
Warlords and politicians, royalty and more from every nation...
Famous figures whose mere names inspired dread shared quiet conversations in the same space.
Yet even among that elite crowd, one table proved impossible to approach.
The round table where the imperial princesses sat.
The royals' cold glares at one another were so vicious...
Even grizzled warlords who had seen it all felt the tension.
The first to break the silence among them was Lydia.
"Why are you all looking so grim? Does it bother you that much I shared a meal with Vail?"
The youngest imperial princess eyed her two older sisters with a seductive smile.
She let out a soft chuckle while toying with a lock of hair at her temple.
"Of course it does. Vail has no reason to meet your kin."
Irina spoke to Lydia without a flicker of expression.
"There's a perfectly good reason, of course~"
Lydia laughed as if she'd been waiting for the chance.
"I simply thanked Vail for capturing the criminal. And Grandfather suggested it first, you know~?"
The Eastern Grand Duke himself had approved.
Irina's eyebrow twitched at the claim.
"Vail must have suffered dealing with your prickly relatives."
Leah chuckled in agreement.
She knew full well how the Eastern royals clung tight to family like a thorny pack.
But.
"No~ They actually adored him."
Lydia flashed a wide grin, baring her canine teeth.
"Even Uncle the commander and Aunt the merchant leader approved. At this rate, it's basically destiny."
The youngest princess fiddled proudly with her necktie.
Destiny.
Leah and Irina couldn't help smirking at their little sister's claim.
The two leaned back against their chairs.
They mulled over their own histories with Vail.
"Destiny."
Leah recalled how perfectly their constitutions aligned—she could even sense his Grand Aura.
She remembered the exquisite way their skin meshed when he pinned her down.
"Discussing destiny right in front of me? How amusing, Lydia."
Irina felt the same.
She reflected on the countless moments between her and Vail, a faint smile playing on her lips.
"I figured you'd all still be at ease."
But Lydia's bragging was far from over.
"You know..."
She lifted the necktie she'd been toying with and smirked suggestively.
She boldly challenged the women who had only ever lorded over Vail as superiors.
"You've only ever given to Vail. Ever received anything from him?"
The two princesses froze at the question.
"Care to see this necktie? Any guesses who gave it to me~?"
Lydia grinned like a impish succubus, toying with her sisters.
"He said it suits me perfectly and tied it on himself... Adorably."
Irina fixed her gaze on the red butterfly perched on Lydia's necktie.
She hadn't received so much as a trinket from Vail.
Her lips pressed tight at the youngest daring to claim first dibs.
"..."
Leah offered no rebuttal.
She simply watched the bewitching kitten smirk in silence.
The chill deepened.
The mood spread beyond the trio, blanketing the entire hall.
"W-what could they be discussing to look so murderous?"
Warlords from foreign lands gulped nervously nearby.
"Rumors say the youngest princess commands real power these days... Aura clash?"
"Fitting daughters of the Conqueror King. That pressure..."
The men shuddered and averted their eyes.
Fearing stray sparks.
They had no idea.
The princesses' clash hinged on a single butterfly.
"Charming, Lydia."
Leah rested an arm on the table.
She propped her chin lazily atop her hand.
"Like watching you as a girl, thrilled over New Year's gifts."
Leah fixed her sister with her signature mature, decadent gaze.
Then chuckled softly and sipped her champagne.
"So blissful over one little present. I'm envious."
Lydia stared at her condescending imperial eldest.
"Ha, jealous already? Even our perfect First Princess is just a woman after all~"
Leah regarded her sister's taunt with leisure.
She let out a languid sigh.
"..."
Her deep exhale accentuated her sensual curves.
Lydia flinched at the voluptuous display.
"Well, I value time together far more than cheap trinkets."
The First Imperial Princess swept her bangs aside with graceful ease.
"While you stiffed Vail out with formalities, I danced with him."
Leah lifted her glass in her characteristically poised manner.
She savored a leisurely sip.
"Our bodies pressed close."
Lydia snapped her head up in defiance.
"I danced too."
"Oh, that hallway waltz?"
Leah, privy to every imperial secret, chuckled.
"True dances require partners. Not your clumsy advances."
"What...?"
Advance.
The word scraped Lydia's pride raw.
"You wouldn't know, but Vail was utterly entranced watching."
The princess countered earnestly.
Pride shone in her eyes for her dancing prowess.
"If a princess suddenly circles you mid-dance, anyone's entranced."
The Second Imperial Princess giggled and piled on.
"Irina, don't push it."
The youngest slammed the table.
The surrounding elites jumped in unison.
"No, it's ridiculous you two fixate on something as trivial as a dance."
Irina remained utterly composed.
She crossed her arms solo and addressed them.
"Anyone can dance, even strangers."
Her surprise strike silenced them.
Now that they noticed, Irina seemed especially relaxed today.
A marked shift from their last gathering.
"Parading kin around wasn't even proper introductions."
Her gaze carried a newly feminine, mature edge—like Leah's.
"Stop circling. Spit it out."
"Yes, Irina. Out with it."
Lydia crossed her arms and demanded.
Leah swirled her glass idly as she spoke.
"You've all had casual dates with Vail, nothing more."
The Second Imperial Princess curved her lips in a grin.
She delicately traced her mouth with a fingertip...
"But I'm different."
Her eyes crinkled in feminine allure.
"Because I claimed his lips."
Lips.
The words turned the two princesses to stone.
"..."
Leah couldn't brush off Irina this time.
She shot a icy glare at the wolf snatching her eyed prey.
￣￣￣
The First Imperial Princess's glare wielded unimaginable force.
Her expression alone froze the hall like ice.
"What... Did Irina declare civil war?"
An attending envoy shivered and muttered.
"No ominous talk. His Majesty has awakened—what folly."
"Else why glare like that."
Aged ministers gulped and shrank back.
"Some prize they're both after. Irina claimed it first, looks like."
"Tch... Must be something extraordinary..."
The empire's tacticians sighed.
They speculated wildly on that "prize."
"..."
Leah betrayed no reaction to Irina's kiss claim.
Yet she recalled lying beneath Vail.
Gazing blankly at his lips, nearly kissing.
The memory nagged, triggering a rare headache.
"Ha..."
Leah had held back then to preserve dignity.
Irina hadn't.
She'd seized the moment with courage.
Pulling ahead as a result.
"Impressive, Irina."
Leah chuckled, conceding the hit.
She tilted her champagne glass, feigning nonchalance.
But then.
"...!"
Her reflection in the liquid jolted her.
The face over the golden fizz...
Belonged to a woman green with envy.
'Jealous? Me? Of Irina?'
As empire's firstborn and operations commander, she'd dismissed romance as petty.
Yet Vail kept intruding on her thoughts.
Her sisters' advances grated more each day.
"You... kissed Vail...?"
Lydia slapped both palms on the table.
The man who'd grinned at her moments ago, lips locked with that brazen upstart princess.
Unbelievable.
"I'll leave you to imagine. No direct answers."
Irina dropped the cheeky line.
Picture her kissing Vail.
Near military provocation for the pair.
"..."
Unlike Lydia's twitching eyes, Leah grew eerily still.
She didn't snap back—instead, she pondered.
'Irina's face confirms the kiss happened.'
But consensual? Vail wouldn't play nice with her and Lydia.
A kiss meant dating.
Yet he'd danced with her, done formalities with Lydia?
Only a shameless lecher could manage that.
Leah knew Vail wasn't one.
Thus...
'Forced it while he slept. Or defenseless.'
Thoughts clear, Leah smirked.
Seeing Irina soured it, though.
She'd had her shots too.
"All quiet now."
Irina claimed triumph.
She sipped champagne at leisure.
"Hmph... Some kiss..."
Lydia whipped her head away, feigning poise.
Her eyes strayed back to the Second Princess relentlessly.
Irina, once stiff and plain as stone.
Feminine traits now emerged subtly.
'Kiss effect?'
Her lithe form gleamed in the fitted gown.
Dress couldn't hide toned thighs, flared hips.
Lydia figured her figure held up—but Western lineage proved formidable.
Regret stung; state affairs had neglected her shape.
"Secretary."
Lydia shot to her feet.
She strode rigidly to her aide.
"You called, Your Highness?"
The princess chewed her lip in frustration.
She donned the coat from her secretary and commanded.
"Dispatch a golden falcon east."
"The golden falcon... So urgent?"
The middle-aged man inquired evenly; her crimson eyes blazed murderously.
"That's why I'm ordering it."
"Understood... Message?"
Summer's bloom would make her of age.
She glanced at Leah and Irina.
Body-hugging, sultry gowns.
Eyes on them, she issued the decree.
"Have them send that dress."
"That one...? Might be snug now."
The secretary ventured hesitantly.
"Since when do you question me?"
The Eastern tyrant's glare chilled him.
The man bowed humbly.
"Understood..."
Lydia exhaled sharply.
She departed the hall without a glance at the pair.
Leah rose wordlessly too.
She adjusted her monocle, peering down at the Second Princess.
"You were desperate, Irina."
Irina glanced up at the imperial firstborn.
"What about it."
Leah replied coolly to her flat tone.
"Your frantic marking is almost endearing."
Irina's lips curved at the eldest's words.
"Envious? Admit it. Won't tease—first kiss for both."
"No. Not your first."
The First cut her short; Irina's fine brows knit.
"What...?"
Leah doffed her monocle.
Her sensual gaze bored down.
"Bragging a stolen kiss on Vail? Cowardly, no?"
The barb struck sharp.
Irina didn't yield.
"You lack the guts."
She plucked her wine glass casually.
Sipped with poise.
"You're the flawless firstborn. Me? I can. Closest to Vail, after all."
The bloodline Leah and Lydia scorned.
Turning flaw to strength before their eyes.
"Fair. You played your station well."
The First conceded her sibling's gall.
But only that.
"Men, though..."
Leah tucked her monocle away with elegance.
Her mature eyes pinned her sister.
"Gravitate to perfect 'matches.'"
Match.
Irina's spine iced over.
The fortuneteller's pomegranate prophecy flashed.
"You blundered badly today, Irina."
Leah brushed past indifferently.
She exited amid warlords' salutes, unruffled.
Irina sat alone at the round table.
"..."
Stepped-back ministers eyed the lone Second Princess warily.
The storm of princesses had raged.
They reeled from the venomous air.
"Heard...? Lydia ordering clothes..."
"Armor? Pray no war erupts..."
Elders traded anxious glances.
"What blunder could Irina have made..."
Irina had clearly won the summit.
Yet...
The departing duo stirred vague dread.
She'd expected surrender.
Instead, provocation.
"Fine. What can they do."
Irina swigged champagne to dispel it.
Yet somehow.
The once-sweet brew now soured on her tongue.