Chapter 232: Deadly Rabbit!

Kaelus nodded stiffly.

He scooped the ’trembling’ Seraphina into his arms and carried her back out into the hallway.

The moment the heavy doors closed behind them, Seraphina instantly stopped trembling. She popped her head up, dropping the terrified facade completely.

"The shiny bulb is very annoying, Papa," Seraphina stated blankly, wiping a non-existent tear from her eye. "And the powdered donut needs a new perfume. She smells like dead flowers."

Kaelus let out a low, dark chuckle, kissing her forehead. "That was a good drama there, little mushroom. They suspect nothing. They believe you are a fragile, frightened rabbit."

"I am a very deadly rabbit!" Seraphina corrected.

"Indeed," Kaelus smirked.

He walked down the corridor toward the designated children’s pavilion. "I must endure the Emperor’s political whining for the next hour. You are to remain in the children’s section. Do not go near the stinky brat noble heirs around, but if they attempt to bully you, you have my express permission to ruin their lives."

"Can I squish them?"

"Only politically," Kaelus compromised. "Physical squishing involves too much paperwork."

The Children’s Pavilion was a massive, enclosed terrace overlooking the Royal Gardens.

It was currently filled with roughly fifty highly pampered, excessively decorated noble children, ranging from six to fourteen years old.

It was a literal nightmare of spoiled aristocracy.

Kaelus set her down at the entrance, gave her a final, protective pat on the head, and marched back to the political meat-grinder.

Seraphina smoothed her midnight-blue dress, took a deep breath, and stepped into the room.

Almost immediately, the chatter died down.

The noble children, having been explicitly instructed by their plotting parents to ’evaluate’ the Archduke’s new heir, turned their collective, snobbish gaze toward her.

A group of girls, dripping in diamonds and pastel silk, began whispering behind their delicate lace fans.

"That’s her. The stray..." "Her dress doesn’t even have ruffles. How terribly provincial..." "I heard she was raised in a barn..."

Seraphina rolled her eyes.

’Amateurs,’ she thought, walking directly past them toward the dessert table.

"Seraphina!"

A bright, familiar, incredibly welcome voice called out.

Seraphina turned.

Pushing his way through a cluster of snobby Earls was a boy with messy chestnut hair and a beaming smile. Following closely behind him was a taller, athletic teenager with brilliant emerald eyes.

"Leo! Cedric!" Seraphina cheered, genuinely happy to see friendly faces in this viper’s nest.

Leo Vance, fully recovered from his demonic injuries, ran up and gave her a tight hug. "You look awesome! Like a tiny, dark knight! Did you bring Sir Quacks-a-lot?"

"He’s deployed on a secret mission," Seraphina whispered conspiratorially, before looking up at the older brother.

Cedric Vance offered her a warm, teasing grin, bowing slightly. "Lady Seraphina. You are surviving the Capital very well, I see. I brought you a gift from the Academy." He reached into his pocket and handed her a small, enchanted crystal that glowed with a soft, shifting wind-breeze.

"Thank you, eyebrow-less wind boy," Seraphina smiled, pocketing the crystal.

"I have eyebrows now!" Cedric protested, rubbing his forehead defensively.

"CEDRIC! LEO! Get over here! The Duke of the East is looking for us!" Baron Elian Vance’s voice called from the doorway.

The devastatingly handsome Baron offered Seraphina a warm, respectful nod before ushering his sons away for political networking.

"See you later, tiny terror!" Cedric waved as they departed.

With the Vance brothers gone, the social predators sensed weakness.

A particularly arrogant-looking boy, perhaps ten years old, wearing a gaudy gold-trimmed suit and a sneer, marched up to Seraphina.

He was flanked by three sycophantic lackeys.

"So," the boy sneered, looking down his nose at her. "You are the Nacht heir. I am Lord Percival, Heir to the Golden Marches. My tutor says you only have a Tier-1 Water Core. That’s basically just being a glorified mop."

The lackeys snickered.

Seraphina didn’t flinch.

She slowly looked the boy up and down, her dark eyes flat and completely unimpressed.

"I am Lord Percival," the boy repeated, puffing his chest out. "My family controls the primary gold veins of the Empire. What do you have, stray?"

Seraphina sighed.

She didn’t want to do this. It was like fighting an unarmed opponent. But well, Kaelus had given her permission anyway.

"Lord Percival," Seraphina said, her voice dropping into a cold, highly articulate tone that echoed Kaelus’s own terrifying cadence. "Your family controls the gold veins because the Emperor leases the land to your father at an exorbitant, forty-percent interest rate. Your duchy is currently three million gold pieces in debt to the Iron Bank. You aren’t wealthy; you are just a glorified, heavily mortgaged tenant farmer wearing a shiny suit."

Lord Percival froze.

The smug sneer vanished, completely wiped away by shock. His lackeys stared at him in horror.

"Furthermore," Seraphina continued ruthlessly, stepping closer, "your tutor is an idiot. But please, keep insulting me. I am sure my father, who currently commands the Vanguard and holds the power to unilaterally freeze your family’s trade routes, will find your comments highly amusing. Shall I go fetch him? He loves a good joke."

Percival turned the color of spoiled milk.

He took three rapid, stumbling steps backward.

"N-No! That is... I must go... check the punch!" Percival stammered, turning and practically fleeing across the pavilion, his lackeys scattering like frightened pigeons.

Seraphina dusted her hands together. ’Pathetic.’

"That was such a brutal execution, Young Lady Seraphina."

Seraphina turned.

Castor and Pollux Valen had just strolled onto the terrace. Castor was grinning wildly, while Pollux was trying to look bored, though his amber eyes were shining with respect.

"They were annoying me," Seraphina stated simply.

"We are here to act as your official guard," Castor announced, crossing his arms and glaring at the remaining noble children, daring them to approach. "Dad said if anyone bothered you, I was allowed to set their shoes on fire."

"The flames of retribution shall cleanse the ignorant," Pollux added darkly.

Seraphina looked at the two boys. They were sweet, but they were loud.

And she was suddenly feeling incredibly claustrophobic. The perfume, the chatter, the heat of the pavilion, all of it was giving her a headache.

"Castor. Pollux," Seraphina commanded, pointing to the massive dessert buffet at the far end of the room. "I need you to secure the perimeter around the chocolate fountain. Do not let anyone touch the strawberries until I return."

"A tactical dessert hold!" Castor saluted. "We won’t fail you! Come on, Polly!"

As the twins marched off to fiercely guard the chocolate fountain, Seraphina slipped away.

She navigated through the crowd of oblivious children, bypassed the Royal Guards stationed at the doors, and slipped through a set of heavy silk curtains leading out onto one of the Palace’s massive, open-air balconies.

The night air was cool, crisp, and blessedly silent.

The balcony overlooked the sprawling, starlit expanse of the Imperial Gardens.

Far below, magical glowing orbs illuminated the hedge mazes, but up here, it was just the moon, the marble, and the quiet.

Seraphina walked to the edge of the balcony.

She gripped the cold white stone, taking a deep, shuddering breath, letting the chaotic noise of the banquet fade from her mind.

’This place is exhausting,’ Seraphina thought, resting her chin on her hands. ’I just want to go home and play chess with Papa.’

"It is quite overwhelming, isn’t it?"

The voice did not come from the doorway. It came from the shadows directly to her left.

Seraphina jumped, her Supreme Dark Core instantly flaring to life, her survival instincts screaming.

She spun around, taking a defensive stance.

She had not heard anyone approach. Her Spirit Sight had not detected a presence. The person had simply materialized, as if they had stepped out of the darkness itself.

Leaning casually against the marble railing, partially obscured by the shadows of a large stone pillar, was a man.

Seraphina stared at him.

The man stared back at her.

Her soul, which had previously thought Kaelus, Julian, Leonidas, and Elian Vance were the absolute pinnacle of this universe’s ridiculous character-design budget, immediately revised its parameters.

’Okay, this is getting out of hand,’ Seraphina’s internal monologue shrieked.

’Who authorized this? Who drew this man? This is mathematically unfair to the rest of the human race!’

The man was young, perhaps in his late twenties.

He was tall, dressed in impeccably tailored, understated black evening wear that lacked any flashy House crests or gold trim.