There’s making an entrance, being fashionably late, and being a twat.
The emperor appears three and a half hours after the start of the ball, standing at the top of the stairs and welcoming attendees from his lofty position.
I thought the portraits were done by a lazy painter, but this is another copy-paste-age gig just like Eric and his dad. Is it a thing in Terra? Almost seems like the system used templates when creating characters.
Grand Duke Lucas is standing just behind and to the left of Emperor Aurelius, both men’s golden hair and golden eyes the exact same shades as Jordan’s.
Lexi exercises her right as a player, and refuses to bow or curtsy.
She’s not the only one.
Elise and several others, including Dhampir Lily and Shade Raphael - even at this distance, Lexi’s heart skips a beat when her eyes fall on him - all remain standing tall even as everyone else lowers their heads in respect.
Of course, that just means she catches the emperor’s metallic eyes and ends up being formally introduced by Duke Tridentia soon enough, Jordan standing quietly to the side while observing his father carefully.
“A Hargreaves at last.” Though Jordan had said exactly the same thing when he’d first met her, the emperor’s satisfied smile somehow unsettles Lexi. “Take good care of this one, Tridentia.”
RUDE.
Lexi knows she shouldn’t, but she goes ahead anyway.
“I’m immensely grateful to His Grace, your majesty. The duchy cares for me like no other.”
> Translation 1: I’ve been staying in the duke’s home for awhile now, and I’m clearly well taken care of. You blind, bro?
>
> Translation 2: I don’t trust any other house to protect ‘this one’ - the only Hargreaves in the world - and that includes your house.
No offense, Jordan.
Somehow, she knows he doesn’t mind.
Gold turns to flint as a dry smile stretches across a face that looks younger than his fifty-seven years.
How many players have you killed for a taste of our immortality?
“One can always count on the sun’s rise.”
They should have put you in a glass jar on a mantelpiece.
On the surface, the emperor is referencing the Tridentia family’s ‘dawn’ nickname and praising their dependability. But the subtext is clear: His Majesty is the ‘eternal sun of the empire of the sun’, so he’s alluding to the fact that there’s no stoping him, and that his victory and conquest are inevitable.
’The eternal sun of the empire of the sun’. It’s basically as good as saying that he IS the empire, the empire is him, and that he’s the source of light and life, the one who makes plants grow and blossom so that livestock and humans can eat. Pompous prick. I’ll give you a styrofoam crown one day.
“How reassuring for the empire, your majesty.”
She could be referring to House Tridentia, the emperor, or any combination of the two.
Oops.
Lexi can already tell she’s going to get scolded later on in the privacy of the duke’s manor, for piquing the emperor’s interest even more with her behavior.
He started it.
She won’t tolerate anyone insulting the people who’re kind to her.
----------------------------------------
Shade Farah Imala’s skin is a warm tawny hue, making her russet hair appear richer in color as it frames an oval face with almond shaped amethyst eyes.
She’s almost sharp with Lexi, barely toeing the line of civility, and the 29 (+ 1) year old sage wants to roll her eyes but holds back.
My attribute is ‘time’, not ‘dark’, and everyone knows it. Which means I’m not a threat to you. So what’s got your hackles up?
Few players come to speak to Lexi, thanks to the people around her. She’s glad for it, since it means they only have to deal with nobles, and eventually she stops having to force her eyes to focus on the people in front of her instead of lingering on the back of Shade Raphael’s head.
Countess Theodora Wyngate looks exactly like her portrait and acts exactly like the dossier said she would, given her intense infatuation with Eric.
I’d love to hate on women hating women because they think that’s how they ‘win’ men - as though the men don’t make their own choices - but I used to be someone like that. More importantly though, there is NOTHING going on between Eric and I. Anyone with eyes can tell, you daft bitch.
It’s late, and Lexi’s been doing battle after battle on an empty stomach.
When the countess titters about her wandering around looking for boys in the poor districts, Lexi seizes the opening.
“Many people like children, wouldn’t you agree?”
If Count Wyngate’s suspected pedophilia had been noted in the files, that means the duke’s people are 90% sure the rumors are true.
Don’t let the door hit you on the way out.
Lexi really wants to eat an entire pizza right now, maybe with a few steaks as side dishes.
They’d agreed with the duke to stay until midnight so he’d have enough time with the emperor and the grand duke, as well as other nobles in his faction and opposing parties. So when the twelve chimes of the imperial clock tower resound, she sighs in relief - finally, curtain call on our little drama tonight - and turns to Eric in a blatant signal to escort her out.
Carriage’s gonna pumpkin, so chop chop.
A shrill, aborted scream pierces the air, and suddenly Imperial Knights are swarming the hall with swords drawn.
THIS close.
----------------------------------------
“Tyler. Report.”
Eric has gone into full commander mode - his rank meaning he stands above all knights in the empire. Lexi stays behind Ray out of habit, arm linked with Elise’s as they wait for an explanation after the emperor and grand duke have been escorted from the hall.
The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.
Pretty clear who got the balls in the family, since Jordan immediately declared he’d stay and investigate this.
Akara seems to throb where the dagger is tied to Lexi’s thigh, but she can’t risk revealing that she’d brought a weapon to the ball yet. It’s against imperial rules for anyone to be armed without the emperor’s permission at his own event, but the Tridentias hadn’t cared and the servants had cheerfully tied the blade to Lexi while getting her ready.
A knight with ash blond hair places a fist on his chest in greeting before answering the redhead, and then Lexi and Elise are trailing behind Eric, Jordan, and Ray as they head towards one of the lounges.
Right, the lounges are segregated. Players are differentiated by rank and gender, and the same goes for Terrans. Only reason I couldn’t come take a seat is coz Eric wouldn’t let me out of his sight all night except when I needed the washroom. And even then that crazy guy would prowl along the corridor waiting for Elise and I.
When they enter a room with symbols indicating it’s for countesses, Lexi’s eyes widen.
That’s a man. A very dead man.
She’s gotten a bit more used to looking at corpses, and at least this one’s in one piece.
Dude was probably trying to shoot his shot and ended up shot first.
Lexi doesn't have fond memories of safe spaces becoming anything but thanks to men who don’t respect boundaries.
According to Sir Triber, Viscount Gregory Hewsbury had been found by Countess Juniper Carlton minutes ago. The noblewoman had tried to enter the lounge and found it locked from the inside, no one responding to knocks, so the knight guarding the room had had to ask for a key from the head maid.
Upon unlocking the door, they’d entered and found the young red haired viscount lying facedown in a pool of his own blood, and the countess had promptly screamed loud enough to wake the dead before passing out.
Locked room case, huh.
Lexi's inherited her fondness for crime fiction from her father, who'd been an avid reader of mystery novels spanning locations and eras.
She’d even considered becoming a detective at one point, but decided against it when she’d been laughed at during her twelfth birthday party.
The only reason the attendees had dared to do so is because her father had been called away for work at the last minute, leaving after many apologetic kisses to Lexi’s forehead and cheeks.
Though there’d been one person at the party who’d sincerely supported her childish dreams, yet...
Stop it. Don’t think about that. Focus on now. Can we just say the butler did it and move on?
While the young viscount’s death is unfortunate, it doesn’t actually have anything to do with her and he probably deserved it since he's in a room that's meant to be a safe rest area for countesses. That and Lexi really wants to leave so she can finally sit down and have some food.
Except, the problem somehow becomes the fault of every player in the building.
Are you shitting me?
The shades are the first to be blamed, of course, alongside the necromancers, because “who else can get into a room locked from the inside except them and the ghouls they control?”
Fair point, if not for the fact that all our powers are blocked right now thanks to that sun of the sun, dumbasses.
After the crown prince makes his case as to why players could not have used any of their skills - Eric has to step in and intimidate ask if the nobles are questioning the emperor who’d assured them beforehand of the safeguards in place - the finger pointing stops though players are still being glared at suspiciously, and they glare right back in resentment.
Several healers and magi among the nobles agree that the time of death was less than an hour ago, which makes eyes and whispers dart left, right, and center.
I have a solid alibi, so no one will bother me.
A thousand people had watched her deal with Countess Wyngate and other nobles around the time of death.
Lexi is more interested in the fact that Eric has been running a hand through his hair subconsciously for awhile, and therefore the carefully slicked back strands are starting to curl and return to life.
Can’t wait to see how the household reacts.
When the healers say that preliminary tests indicate the viscount had died of a poison that can kill on contact, assassins and dhampirs are blamed - specifically, Dhampir Lily.
Oi, that's too much.
Yes, assassins and dhampirs are completely immune to poison by nature, not requiring any skills - active or passive - to survive lethal toxins. But Lexi can tell the targeting is emotionally motivated, not fact based.
She can understand the jealousy many women have towards someone who’s so enchanting they could never hope to compete, understand the resentment held by men for a temptation they could never hope to indulge in.
But blaming someone for such stupid reasons is crossing the line.
Wait a second. Blaming. Framing. THINK, Lexi.
“It wasn’t Dhampir Lily.”
When the words leave her mouth, the room and hallway still before accusatory shrieks fill the air and Lexi is barely resisting the urge to cover her ears.
“Of course you’d say that! That whore is sleeping with your dog!”
Mind your bloody language.
“This is all a scam! The players are conspiring against us!”
For the love of God.
“We can’t trust the knights! They answer to the witch’s puppet!”
“That demon has bewitched the prince!”
That’s it.
“SHUT. UP.”
It's odd, how when she's just mad she yells, but when she’s well and truly angry her voice lowers in volume.
Odder still is the fact that speaking so softly terrifies people more, as her absolute stillness draws everyone and everything around her into an orbit of unadulterated fury.
“Now that I have your attention, you bloody bird brains.” Some people look like they’re about to protest or throw a tantrum, but she gives them a look and they stay silent. “Shut up and let the magi identify the poison, unless you’d like to be a test subject.”
No one wants to become a guinea pig, so Lexi turns to the volunteer crime scene investigators. “You have five minutes.”
Their eyes bulge as their mouths open, but they say nothing, simply nodding and getting to work.
The knights swiftly regain control of the crowd, keeping a watchful eye even as nobles and players begin to whisper among themselves.
“I said.” Lexi hasn’t been this angry in years. “Shut. Up.”
Silence descends on the Starlight Palace at those words.
“It...it...it’s Ulya, my lady.” Am I supposed to know what that is? “It’s a p...poison that kills slowly upon dermal ex...exposure.”
You said that already.
“M...my....my lady, wh...what we mean is...is that if exposure is too b...brief, or if the...there’s an obstruction, it only makes the victim feel a little ill at m...most. So the con...contact has to be significant.”
Now you’re talking.
She turns back to the crowd, notes the fear and wariness in their eyes, the curiosity and amusement in others, but a deep seated rage burns all unnecessary thoughts away. She’ll think about it all later - think about all the times she’d been on the receiving end of unjust vitriol later, think about why she’s so angry on behalf of people who probably want to kill her later. Right now she just wants to get this over with so she can take her damn heels off and grab something to eat.
“You’re accusing the assassins and dhampirs of this, Dhampir Lily in particular, because you think that only such a player could have handled the poison.” Her voice drops dangerously low. “But have all of you forgotten about a miraculous invention called ‘gloves’?”
I thought I knew stupid. This is a whole other level.
...no. They’re not dumb. It was intentional, I’m sure of it. Not only were they targeting Eric and Jordan with their slander, as long as there’s a chance to take players down and make them subservient to the original inhabitants of this world, these Terran nobles would do or say anything to make it happen.
That just pisses her off more.
It’s not like any of us asked to be here.
There’s also the fact that some players are no doubt looking to ruin others of their kind, especially someone as famous as Dhampir Lily.
I know a lot of players are out to get each other, but right now we’re in the same damn boat, assholes. This is NOT the time for infighting, not when we have a common enemy trying to bring all of us down.
“Except for the knights,” they’re all wearing gloves since it’s part of their uniform, “everyone with gloves on, raise a hand.”
Some hands go up meekly, others try to tug their gloves off discretely or hide their hands behind their backs.
“If any of you has even half a brain, you’d understand what I mean.” Even Eric doesn’t dare intervene now, she can tell from his face. “All those with gloves are to be questioned by the Imperial Knights immediately, with priority given to those who’ve removed their gloves or tried to hide them in the last five minutes, since that’s clearly suspicious behavior.”
There are squeaks, soft exclamations of panic and indignation, but as far as she’s concerned they deserve to be hauled over hot coal if they’re stupid enough to try and eliminate themselves from the line up so openly.
“They’re all yours.” Jordan doesn’t speak, just nods before he and Eric take charge of the investigation. Elise and Ray stay by Lexi’s side, both of them looking at her with awe and concern, but she ignores them.
Am I upset because of that?
Earlier, as soon as Dhampir Lily had been accused, Shade Raphael had wrapped a strong arm around a slender waist.
Stop it. Don’t think about it. They’ve been together a long time, since you were a kid whose favorite place to nap was in dad’s arms, so their level of intimacy isn’t something you can ever hope to have.
Looking around the lavish room to distract herself, Lexi spots a little brown ball by the foot of a couch.
What’s that?
Walking over, ignoring the looks she’s receiving, Lexi squats as best she can with her high heels, corset, and numerous petticoats, then cocks her head.
Is this chocolate?
----------------------------------------
CHAPTER 21 END