Chapter 97: Limiting myself to the Magic Clan would be a strategic mistake... I want the Empire too

Victoria returned to Katelyn with a triumphant look. “See? Nothing easier. Come with me, I’ll show you how to get what you want from Kristian.”

They went to the main training hall where Kristian was practicing alone with his two wooden swords. Victoria leaned toward Katelyn and whispered in her ear: “Go tell Kristian you’re sad and need comfort. He’ll stop training and do whatever it takes to bring back your smile.”

Katelyn stepped forward and stood before Kristian, but her body went rigid. She looked at Kristian, who stared back with indifference.

‘How can I say something so shameful?’ she thought with disgust. “I’m not some fragile little thing.”

“Kris… I…” Katelyn began.

“Yeah, what’s up, Katelyn?”

“I want to train with you! Right now!” she finally shouted, unable to fake weakness.

Kristian merely shrugged and nodded toward the rack of wooden swords. While Victoria never hesitated to display her vulnerability to manipulate those around her, Katelyn did everything to never appear weak, preferring the pain of effort to the ease of playing the victim.

Nevertheless, Victoria’s little manipulation had consequences she hadn’t fully anticipated. That day, on the frozen lake, Ermin fell through the broken ice and drowned before Daemon’s eyes.

Was Victoria saddened by the loss of her “brother”? Absolutely not. To her, Ermin had only ever been a commoner, a replacement child one could find on any street corner in Hundun. In fact, she even wondered why Lord Drigan had forced her to attend that beggar’s funeral.

In short, the years passed, and Victoria came to understand that the world of Hundun belonged to those who knew how to exploit the weaknesses of others. She now had one more weapon beyond feminine victimhood: her beauty.

***

Ever hunting for prey to feed her constant need for narcissism, Victoria had understood early on that while Kristian was an impenetrable block of ice, young Daemon, with his constant need for attention, would prove a far more pliable target.

At the time, Daemon was desperate over his Chi core, sealed by Persephone. Victoria used this weakness as bait, dangling before him the idea that her father, Lord Drigan, possessed the techniques needed to break the seal.

The arrangement was quickly settled in the form of an official engagement between the two houses. For months, Victoria played the part of the devoted fiancée. Daemon, despite his restless boyish air, proved to have a surprising attentiveness.

He showered her with expensive gifts, jewelry, and rare fabrics from the thriving ports of the Thirteenth District. He carried himself, moreover, with a nobility and skill that began to shake Victoria’s certainties.

She eventually came to believe that this little fool had fallen hopelessly in love with her, ensnared by her irresistible charm.

Victoria decided to test the extent of her hold on him. She approached him, resting a delicate hand on his arm, and adopted an expression of sadness.

“Daemon… I have to tell you the truth,” she began in a trembling voice. “My father tried everything… but it’s impossible for us to break your seal. Persephone’s Chi is too dense inside your core.”

She expected him to break down, to beg her to stay by his side to make up for his affliction, or to fall into a wild rage that only she could calm. Instead, Daemon simply looked at her calmly…

“I already had my suspicions… So if nothing can be done, we might as well cancel the engagement,” he replied.

“What!?” Victoria exclaimed. “You’re calling everything off… just like that?”

“The arrangement was based on an exchange of services, Victoria. If you can’t give me what I’m looking for, I don’t see the point, besides, we don’t love each other, do we?”

Victoria stood speechless with indignation. She accepted the breakup without a word, her pride forbidding her from pleading, not that she was in love with him or anything.

‘Am I not beautiful enough? What an… idiot!’ she raged inwardly. From then on, Daemon stopped being a pawn and became an obsession, a stain of failure on her otherwise flawless record.

She tried to seduce him again over the years, but Daemon remained unshakable, his mind seemingly fixed only on the memory of his absent mother and his status as a cripple.

A few years later…

After the training on Mount Sandalphon, Markus had kidnapped Luna to torture her,

when a figure approached and wrapped her arms around him from behind, resting her chin on his shoulder.

“Huh? What are you doing here?” Markus asked, turning slightly toward her.

“Why wouldn’t I be allowed to come see my lover?” Victoria murmured, planting a kiss on the back of his neck.

Markus knew he was nothing more than a tool for this dangerous enchantress, but he was unable to break free of her hold. He sighed, sheathing his dagger. “As you asked, my men kidnapped the woman who was with Daemon at Mount Sandalphon.”

“Hmmm… this so called Luna has nothing extraordinary about her appearance,” Victoria remarked, pacing the room. Her black eyes gleamed with an analytical light. “It was surely someone else who helped him break his Chi Core seal.”

Indeed, it was Victoria who had orchestrated Andromeda’s kidnapping by Markus. She couldn’t bear the idea that a mere servant could be so close to Daemon when she herself had failed.

Nevertheless, over time, and especially after the recent events in the Catacombs, she felt her interest in Daemon fading before his resistance. She had also discovered that he carried another woman in his heart, a truth that had thrown her into a wild rage.

“Tsk, he’s not even that interesting in the end,” she thought with contempt. “I’ll just have to find another target.”

And so Victoria set her sights on the prince, who seemed to her the ideal target: a man starved for recognition and easily manipulated by the damsel in distress card.

“Limiting myself to the Magic Clan would be a strategic mistake… I want the Empire too. I want all of Hundun under my control,” she murmured with a smile as she embraced Siegfried, who gently stroked her hair.