Chapter 1.29: The Blow for Blow

The dressmaker giggled and pouted. "Cleo, why are you acting like this so suddenly? Just last year, we were planning your wedding together."

Planning was an exaggeration. In the novel, the dressmaker was one of twelve chosen to help make Cleo’s outfits. The royal family came from a country that had multiple days for weddings. They would spend these days drinking, dancing, and performing spiritual ceremonies. They had given the dressmaker an opportunity to befriend and dress the future empress. That's all their prior relationship ever was, and that's how Leila felt.

It was obvious by the way she was behaving. The smile she wore was sickeningly sweet. If Cleo had seen it, the teenager knew she'd be hurt. It would pain the assassin to hear how hateful the woman truly was. It was a mercy that the woman hadn't realized that their tea time and chit-chats were for blackmail. She had believed that they were going to be the closest of friends. Cleo even wanted the dressmaker to make her daughter's clothing.

Leila gave a weak shrug. "I hired you to make one of the twenty dresses I would have worn. And you overcharged me without my knowledge." Among many other snake behaviors. She had been so ticked off when reading those chapters.

"Wow," she poked her bottom lip out and even made her eyes water. "You've become such a bitch. I never mistreated you, and now you're accusing me of being a poor businesswoman?"

The teenager crossed her arms over her chest. "You aren't a poor businesswoman. You're a rotten friend. But that's not why I'm here, so drop the act." She couldn't help but smirk as she talked.

Her behavior shook the bold-faced bitch. When she invited her over, she expected to walk all over the assassin. She was going to lord over her and boast about how she lost so much. Leila wouldn't have been shocked if she revealed she sold her dress. It was all meaningless to attempt now that Cleo was gone, and she was in control. The dog was no match for the prince's evil sisters. Now, those two made Leila want to recoil and vomit.

With her eyebrow twitching, the woman looked at Leila's men. "Aren't you all ashamed of yourself? How boorish are you to help her gang up on me?" She walked from behind her desk wearing a sneer.

Before the men could answer, the teenager held up a hand. She gave them a look that shut their mouths. No, she wasn't going to let the woman weasel her way into their hearts. The bitch was preparing to cry and play the victim because she was losing. It made Leila want to punch her in the nose. That lip poked out with her puffy, watery eyes. Ugh, how pathetic! She was acting like a little whiny brat.

"There's no shame in taking care of a lying dog," the jade-eyed woman's smirk grew. "They're just here to make sure you mean what you say. Unless you're all bark and no bite, Miki?"

The dressmaker, Miki, ground her teeth together. A vein bulged out of her forward as she yelled. "You have a lot of nerve calling me a dog! An evil bitch like you deserves that title." The teen noticed that she stalked closer with each word.

"How am I the evil one here?" Still, the teenager goaded her by speaking in a mocking tone. "An evil bitch would beat a customer's servant, right?"

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"Wouldn't she hit them until they're black and blue? Until they have to beg their employer for a break because their eyes are swollen shut." She heard her men curse as she threw the woman's past in her face. Miki looked shocked that she knew this.

Leila continued, walking forward as Miki was frozen, unable to respond quickly enough. "An evil woman forces her younger assistant to crawl on his knees and serve her." The older woman looked like she was sick. "She would threaten his livelihood in the industry if he didn't sleep with her."

Trembling with rage, Miki stared into Leila’s eyes and growled. "So, do my mistakes make you a saint? I've never harmed a little girl out of desperation to be loved by a man."

Hearing an adulterer being referred to as a little girl made her want to scream. The girl was naïve enough to think the prince loved her. And she did believe he used her lack of education to manipulate her. She thought he was mostly at fault in the matter. However, the common woman willingly stabbed Cleo in the back. Cleo had been with the prince when her father abused her. She had helped save, shelter and nurture her. She wasn't innocent.

"I don't see a grown woman as a little girl. Yes, she's dumb like a child, but she's woman enough to be impregnated by my ex-fiance." Leila spat out the words in disgust.

"Grow up. You knew what you were walking into, you self–" Miki stopped speaking and let out a screech. This was right, as Leila grabbed her hair and yanked her down.

The teenager hadn't intended on getting physical, but she couldn't help it. She had done so much to Cleo out of jealousy. All the woman wanted was to use the assassin for her own gain. Cleo brought her business with her connections as the future empress. And in response, Miki gossiped about her before and after the trial like a pig. She was waiting for the chance to use what Cleo had told her. It didn't surprise her that the woman hated her so badly.

Leila gave Ezekiel a glare as he moved to stop her. She was too angry to deal with any interruptions. The green-eyed girl wished it was Yona she was holding. Or one of the other harem members who stood by and relished Cleo's demise.

Her grip tightened, yanking hard enough to hurt her roots, which made Miki open her mouth to scream. Only for Leila's other hand to clamp over her mouth to shut the woman up. The occupants of the room could only hear muffled words as the woman glared at the teenager, enraged. This only fueled her need to rip some of the bitch's hair out and then beat her senseless.

Ezekiel was watching the exchange intently as his men were silent, as they knew better than to speak out. The blonde clicked his tongue in annoyance before saying anything. “Cleo, the boss won’t be pleased if you kill someone on our watch. Let the woman go and we’ll make sure she’s learned her lesson.”

“I don’t plan on killing her.” The teenager gave Miki’s scalp another pull as she answered. She hated that man’s words got to her. Whatever their relationship was in the past, its remnants made her weak-willed. “I would prefer if you all stayed on the sidelines while I finish up. I won’t take much longer.”

The blonde looked unconvinced. He leaned against a wall and gestured at the now-screaming woman. They both could tell that Leila was struggling to maintain control without inflicting actual damage. “I don’t think she’ll stay quiet if it’s just one person threatening her. So I think you should let her go if you aren’t planning to involve us.”

“And if I do that, she’ll go running to her men about me bringing a group of mercenaries to attack her,” the teen wanted to scream at how the men seemed excited about that happening. She swore she was speaking to idiots. “I would rather my hands be the only pair bloody after today. All I need to do is give her a good slap.”

Miki attempted to grab at the dark-haired woman, her long nails scratching at Leila’s wrist. “Mmph!”

Ezekiel scoffed. The two had nearly started another argument. He waved Leila’s words off. "Got on with it then, Miss Cleo." He added the last part with a tone that made his men snap to glare at him.

The ride back was going to be tense.