A HOARD of commoners welcomed Tori as soon as she stepped out of the carriage. With tomatoes and eggs in their hands, they volleyed them to her. "Cover us!" Rowan instinctively covered Tori using his entire body. He walked before her. But as they progressed, the common folks became wilder than the last time.
Tomatoes and eggs flew from every direction, rendering Rowan helpless under the onslaught. Tori knew it would cover her with filth and grime. Glancing at the people waiting at the very entrance of renaissance styled courthouse, a familiar group of people looked at her as if she was beneath them.
What did the original Victoria do to earn this Duke Luwen Rozenreff?
Even from afar, her red eyes met his. Not even blinking as she was at the center of the onslaught.
Just as she was about to be covered by slime, strong and warm arms engulfed her body like a cocoon. "Close your eyes. They only deserve to see beautiful things." Her face pressed on his chest and instinct, she closed her eyes like she was only waiting for those words to be said.
The angry growls of the common folks grew, but a pair of gentle hands covered her ears. "What are you doing here, Prince Corean? You should be in Trifecta Academy." Tori's muffled words were still heard by the second prince, who was sweating hard from his earlier sprint just to save Tori. His knights helped in covering them as they sauntered towards the door.
His grip on her waist tightened. "Do you think I can turn a blind eye to this after you declared that you'll be my queen? Not a chance, Tori." His warm breath touched her bare neck which made shivers run down her spine.
You are getting into a noble trial where your head might get chopped off, but your lady part is practically like Niagara Falls! I'm such a slut.
The chaos that ensued around her was muted by the very feeling of being protected. Tori knew that she was just using the second prince, but the feeling that was way more chaotic than those around her was making her head spin.
I need to stop this before it becomes too late. Politics doesn't need this feeling.
It is too late now. There will be no other path but to move forward. Father was watching when the second prince covered me. It's he's thinking that something is going on about us or he might realize that I am a member of the aristocratic faction.
"This way, Lady Tori!" Rowan led the Castaña Duchy by making them barricade their pathway to the door. Tori saw the familiar knights from the Rozenreff Duchy, but as soon as they met her eyes, they would look elsewhere as if they did not know what to do. Either the Duke or Sabina might have ordered them to stay put in this kind of situation.
Ha! What a cute thing to do.
The large double doors of the courthouse opened. It led them to a room that was assigned for her to wait. Rowan walked ahead of them with his head held high. Tori could tell that he was born for this, to be the future Duke of Castaña Duchy. She was supposed to do that, but the territorial left arm of the second prince was stopping her from doing that. Glancing up at him, Tori argued with him in a low voice. "You can let go now, your highness."
His golden eyes were cold and furious, a complete contrast with his gentle smile. "No. I will let go of you when I want to. Who knows what you'll ask with Lady M when I let you go wander around again? So no and that's final."
"I hate to burst your illusion, but it is time for me to enter, your highness. So you must go now and I'll also go."
Realizing the weight of her words, even with the disapproval on his face, Prince Corean finally let go of her, though hesitantly.
Tori immediately made a meter distance away from him as she immediately checked her plain dress. As she expected, the filth and grime covered the lowest part of her dress. "It's ruined, huh." Talking to herself, Tori inspected the back part of her dress when a mocking voice echoed inside the room.
"We're only gone for a few months but looked at the mess you created."
"Is this necessary?"
Tori immediately turned to where the voice was coming from. Standing near the opened door, a neat-looking Crown Prince Allistair was standing. At his back was the still serious-looking Crown Prince Yei Lin.
Answering Crown Prince Yei Lin's question, Tori nodded as she sat on the sofa. "Yes, it is. This will give us two months leeway to prepare for the Hunt of the Elysian Crown."
The two princes sat before her while Rowan sat in the chair next to hers. Prince Corean, on the other hand, was sitting elegantly at her side and was busy sipping tea.
Tori continued as she served the tea to three more teacups. "There's an old saying. To kill a ferocious tiger, you need to sever its head. But to get his head you need to sever its legs, first the front legs and next to the hind legs. Without the ability to escape or attack, it will be so easy to chop its head."
The crown prince of the Monakre Kingdom laughed like an insane person. "I feel pity for those who wronged you. After all, you have two motives for doing this."
Smiling slightly as she sipped her favorite tea. Tori did not answer. But the four powerful men knew her too well that behind those sweet smiles of hers laid venom that would kill anyone slowly but surely.
Crown Prince Yei Lin butted in and handed her an elegant-looking box. "But it did not mean that you can just make us do some errands like your servants." Opening it for her, Tori glanced at the dress that she ordered.
Setting the teacup down, Tori glanced slyly at the grumpy prince. "Aren't you, though? My servants I mean."
Tori's smiling face looked at the two princes challengingly. The latter could not answer so they only took the tea and sipped it quietly, which made Rowan and Prince Corean shook their heads.
Exactly, now I need to get ready. After all, a dress is a woman's armor.
"Then I'll have to change my dress. Please call Lily on your way out. I need her to assist me with this."
THE SHOCKED face of the royal chancellor was something that Tori would remember in her life. This man is the Marquess of the House of Florentia from the noble faction. His loyalty to the first prince is astounding and I want it to be destroyed. There's no bigger prize than to destroy a loyal man's heart.
Tori could not help but smile wickedly. An escort to a noble trial meant that they were supporting the party they were with. With Sabina, she was being escorted by the noble faction. Everyone expected no one would escort her.
And part of those expecting me to crumble is this man before me.
Her sweet smile greeted the pale Marquess, especially when he realized what Tori was wearing. "L-Lady Victoria Rozenreff."
She was wearing the dress she asked Lily to ask from Lady M. It was the replica of the dress that the Duchess of Rozenreff Duchy wore during her funeral. It was a dress picked by the Duke for his beloved wife's funeral. She was now wearing a black Victorian-style dress embroidered with red flowers like rose and spider lilies. Her rubies that adorned her ears and the thin black veil that she was wearing covered her neck. In the Eckrett Empire's noble customs of old, they said that noble ladies wore black veils during funerals.
Before the royal chancellor opened the door to announce her arrival with her escorts, he turned to her again with an anxious face. "Lady Victoria, you do know what black veils mean, don't you? It is something that is not worn during a noble trial."
Not minding what he said, Tori walked with elegance at her every step as she welcomed the sudden burst of sunlight when she opened the door wherein hundreds of nobles and aristocrats waited for her arrival. But before she could get inside completely, she turned to the royal chancellor.
"I know what you are saying, Marquess Florentia. But I am not attending a noble trial. I am attending a prelude to a funeral."
With her head held high, even when her confident red eyes could not be seen, Tori radiated the aura that screamed to those around her that she would not be the one who was going to die today.
Though late, the chancellor still announced her arrival. "Announcing the arrival of Lady Victoria Rozenreff of the Ducal House of Rozenreff! Escorted by the second star of Eckrett Empire Prince Corean Shuia Eckrett; Lord Rowan Castaña, the official heir apparent of Castaña Duchy; Crown Prince Allistair Damon Monakre of the Kingdom of Monakre; and Crown Prince Yei Lin of the Ming Country."
The shocked looks of those from the crowd, especially the nobles and Tori's beloved family, were something that made the aristocratic faction look so smug.
Marquess Zoliel's disbelief as he watched the crown prince of Ming country escort Tori like he was her personal knight made the former realize why he lost the deal with the crown prince.
The King who was sitting above them all and was sitting in between the kings of Monakre Kingdom and Ming Country already knew that the whole noble trial was a farce just to corner the noble faction and announced to high society the growing power of the aristocratic faction. Glancing at the smiling faces of the two kings to whom King Elphaim Eckrett was offering a deal, he knew his hands were tied to help the noble faction.
Sabina, who was sitting in front of the new arrivals, was busy maintaining her composure. She was not expecting Victoria to enter the courtroom while looking so confident. Duchess Castaña, who's smiling at her grasped her clenching hands. "A criminal will always be a criminal no matter who's her escort."
"But why is the heir apparent of Castaña Dukedom on her side?" Gritting her teeth behind her calm smile, Sabina wanted to lash out. The Duchess who only had a daughter understood why the illegitimate child would inherit the Duchy, especially since the Duchy of Castaña was a patriarchal family.
"Isn't he familiar to you, Lady Sabina? He's the knight that Lady Victoria saved from the slums a year ago."
"It should have been me who helped him. Why is everything that she does always irritates me?" Sabina half-whispered to the Duchess as she was careful not to let her father hear the conversation.
Duke Luwen Rozenreff was just silent as his daughter entered the courtroom with her head held high as if she was telling him she would win the trial. As a father, he wanted Tori to win the trial. She's the product of love from his beloved wife, but seeing the exact dress that his wife wore during the heart-wrenching funeral. The Duke felt like he was losing her daughter today too, though he did not want to acknowledge the fact that the second prince was escorting Victoria.
The entire time in which Tori was sitting in front of her family, which was six meters apart from her seat, she was just looking in their direction beneath the black veil.
How does it feel, father? Are you seeing your beloved wife again? This moment will condemn you until the moment that you will die. Never forget the daughter that you abandoned. Just like I said, I will return what you all did to the original Victoria.
And I always walk my talk and walk the walk so witness carefully as I cut the legs that supported your beloved daughter, father dearest.