Chapter 1.20: The Snake’s Bite

The rest of the meal was full of delicious and filling foods. Spicy sticky rice, sweet buns, medium rare steak, and a fresh salad. The sweet buns were drenched in honey and had been rolled in sugar. The salad was full of meat, cheese, croutons, and dressings. Leila was impressed by the flavor in everything she ate. The cooks in the estate were extremely talented. The food she had eaten as a prisoner was bland. She had feared that all food in this world would taste gross.

This along with her conversations with the two nobles had put her in a pleasant moon. She had worried about the banquet all night. But experiencing it was enjoyable. No one dared to voice any dislike they had for her. Quite the contrary, they all seemed desperate to get her attention. Everyone except for Charmaine's brother. That bastard's behavior towards her made it clear he had a distaste for her actions and past.

'I can't avoid him for long,' The jade-eyed woman stood on the manor's balcony and looked down. Below the two in question were arguing with each other. 'He'll be watching his sister like a hawk now that I'm in the picture.'

The teenager had debated using Cleo's magic on Charmaine. She didn't know how to control it yet or the consequences of misusing it. But she had to utilize any advantages given to her. She would have to do more research when she did choose to use it on the woman. It had to be strong enough that the heiress would fall for her, deeply. The book had spelled it out. Manipulating the mind required large amounts of energy and incredible focus.

Leila knew if she used it freely she'd suffer. The third princess died because of overusing her magic during the war. Her body was an empty husk when it finished. This left her legacy as a powerful magic user a tragedy. The green-haired woman was the only example she had of its success. Armies fell under her control and withered away as her hold tightened to impossible degrees. And with it, her own mind started to slip away.

It pissed her off. The writing of this book was biting her in the ass. It was clear that the magic this body wielded was unstoppable. It broke the flimsy system put in place by the author by just existing. Mind control beats water and blood magic instantly. And the only limitation it had was possibly making its user catatonic. Leila wanted to find the author and punch them in the face. She'd have to play her cards right to avoid becoming a vegetable.

She moved her hair back and leaned forward. The two were still at it, cursing loudly at each other. A small smirk came onto her face as she watched. It would be fun to see how this played out.

"Charmaine!" The teenager made sure to sound shocked. Her smirk melted away into a worried expression as she yelled down. "Are you alright? I could hear you screaming from the dining room!"

Pure hatred came onto the man's face when he heard her. It was like she threw hot coffee on him. His face was already red from his argument but her presence only made it worse. The man looked as if he were going to burst as he stared. Leila could tell he was used to his build intimidating people. Just one punch from his bruised knuckles could knock her teeth out. Knowing that only made her adrenaline start pumping to an all-time high.

"My sister is fine, Cleo." He spoke to her informally and pushed his sister behind him. Leila found the action childish for someone so big and bad.

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She frowned and ignored him, looking at her target with sympathy. "Charmaine, do you want to come inside? We can go talk in my mother's garden if you'd like." Her hand beckoned her closer.

In an attempt to answer, Charmaine opened her mouth, but her brother interrupted her. “I said she’s fine.” He moved to grab the younger woman’s hand but she pulled away.

“I’d love to,” She said nervously. Her gaze shifted from Leila to her brother and her voice became stronger. “Brother tell father that I’ll go home alone.”

“No, you’re not. You’re coming with me.” He retorted, grabbing at her arm tightly. Charmaine winced and tried to pull away but he held. Her skin looked red and bruised from how careless he was treating her.

The action made the teenager’s stomach turn in disgust. Men in this world loved to manhandle grown women. With a glare, Leila stood up straight and gripped the balcony’s marble railing to the point her nails chipped. Her expression was conflicted as she fought the urge to curse him out. Doing so would just make her look bad to anyone who missed his earlier behavior. If she wanted to seduce the girl, being her hero was a good first step in the matter.

"I understand that she is part of your family and that you want to watch out for her when someone like me is close by. But if you keep treating her this way, I'll have to take action.” She looked him directly in the eye. No matter how much he tried to scare her, she refused to back down.

This body was that of a trained killer. If it came to blows, she knew she’d be able to hold her own. And she knew he was aware of that fact. It pissed him off that she could speak so boldly in the face of a man like him. They looked at each other with fire in their eyes. The fire in his refused to die as his temper flared once more and he walked off. The grip he held on Charmaine remained strong as he forced her to follow. And with that display of rebellion, Leila turned around, kicked off her heels, and went after them.

She slammed the doors to the balcony closed behind her, earning looks of confusion and worry as she walked past. One of her hands gripped at her skirt tightly while the other sat in a fist. It was taking all of her willpower not to instruct a guard to follow. No, she needed to take care of this little toad by herself. She could hear the siblings arguing again, loud enough for it to draw the attention of others as she walked. The teenager thundered down the stairs that led to the manor’s main entrance with a cold wave of emotion overtaking her body.

When she reached the front of the manor a few servants were watching the exchange. The atmosphere went from tense to downright vile once her presence was noticed. Once Leila stepped into the sunlight, she let her hands unfurl and made her way to where the two were walking. Charmaine was dragging her feet with a defeated look on her face. Her brother was lecturing her, oblivious to Leila following behind.

“I can’t believe you let her draw you in. Didn’t you listen to father last night?” He shook the smaller woman like a ragdoll. “He warned us about this family and he instructed us to behave until we got a deal. And instead of following his instructions, I see you drooling over that slut like a puppy dog!”

Charmaine mumbled something that made him laugh fakely.

“She was nicer than you thought? Seriously? What are you, a child!” She shook her head which just made him grow louder. “She’s acting nice because she wants to get in bed with you!’

The teenager rolled her eyes. Sure, Charmaine was attractive but she wasn’t interested in her purely for sex. It was mostly out of the desire of earning another chess piece in this dreaded game. She stopped and proceeded to clap.

“I didn’t take you for abusive Mr. Bryant,” Both siblings turned around shocked to see she had heard everything. It was obvious that Charmiane was about to cry, and her brother wanted to hurt them both. While walking to stand right in front of him, she continued to clap. “Seriously weren’t you raised better than this?”