Chapter 6: Fifth Prince’s Engagement Gift

Mariella Eunette Soron.

She’s the undisputed flower of Soron, a woman of average height with long, flowing blonde hair and mesmerizing blue eyes that outshone her remarkably attractive face. To her people, she was known as a diligent and sociable noblewoman with respectable intellect and the effortless grace of true nobility. But as she stood in the center of the Grand Ballroom, her mind was occupied by a far more shameful truth.

Adonis stood before the crowd, frowning slightly as he stroked his chin in thought. He wasn’t surprised by her bizarre nature; according to the novel, the Soron nobility were notorious perverts and sex pests, and the apple certainly didn’t fall far from the tree.

To think the most graceful swan in Soron possessed a severe humiliation kink wasn’t a stretch at all. Still, that realization might just work to his advantage tonight.

Adonis had been standing silently in the center of the ballroom for quite some time, staring off into space while talking to the system, which only served to irritate Third Prince Leander.

Leander stepped forward, scowling deeply.

"A gift? Fifth Brother, you can barely be called a prince and possess no royal allowance. What could a trash like you possibly offer that would be worthy of my Mariella?"

Many nobles in the crowd nodded in agreement, while Queen Minerva frowned viciously on her throne, thinking to herself how quick these petty fools were to belittle others.

Adonis stared at his bragging brother with half-lidded eyes, sighed, and waved a dismissive hand.

"Whatever. You can keep her."

The entire ballroom gasped. Adonis even closed his eyes and turned away for dramatic effect, peeping just enough to catch Mariella’s reaction.

When Leander first praised her, Mariella had puffed out her moderate-sized chest with pride, but upon hearing Adonis show zero care, her pretty face turned as bright red as a chili pepper.

The nobles began to murmur angrily. How could a nobody like Adonis speak so disrespectfully about the daughter of Duke Soron? Surely she would make him suffer for this insolence.

To everyone’s shock, however, Mariella just stood there with her flushed face, tightly gripping the crotch of her silk red ball dress with both hands. Her body trembled uncontrollably.

’Goodness me...’

She quietly moaned out a puff of steam.

’...to think being humiliated in public can feel this good... is there anything more I can say to provoke him? He’s always so ready to put a recalcitrant lady like me in her place, mmm~ ♥️ Who would’ve thought a handsome, sharp-mouthed man could be so arousing!’

Beneath her huge gown, her shaking knees were already knocking together.

The nobles whispered in the ballroom as they stared at the strange look on Lady Mariella’s face. Some whispered they had never seen such a breathless expression before, while others, like the inexperienced youths, argued differently.

"This is the kind of face you see on those slave beastgirls in the pleasure houses of Soron. Quite sexy."

"The red of her face, and those lazy bedroom eyes, ah..."

"The audacity! Are you calling Lady Mariella a whore—?!"

"DON’T PUT WORDS IN MY MOUTH!"

Adonis cleared his throat, offering an innocent smile.

"Now, now, people. My brother’s fiancée is no whore.."

The Third Prince looked down at his trembling fiancée, noticing the heavy sweat and panting breaths as she stared at Adonis with glazed, infatuated eyes. Annoyed, Leander stepped further into the center of the ballroom.

"Honored guests!"

Leander shouted through the chatter.

"To celebrate my betrothal to Lady Mariella, His Majesty has instructed me to present a token of true, royal worth. Unlike some who can only offer cheap talk and empty promises, a true prince provides the extraordinaire!"

The crowd erupted into cheers.

King Falsbane smirked from his throne, thinking.

’Don’t disappoint me, boy.’

Leander snapped his fingers, and two palace servants hurried forward carrying a velvet cushion bearing a glowing, radiant crimson broadsword.

"Behold, my gift. A Gold-class Dragon-Scale Blade! Worth half a million Falsbane gold coins!"

An exaggeration, but eh...

Mariella looked down at the legendary weapon, but her eyes remained totally deadpan and blunt. The Duchy of Soron were experts in applied magic: they produced enchanted siege engines, magitech prosthetics, communication arrays, and magically-preserved supply lines by the thousands. They could forge a sword like this anytime they pleased.

She narrowed her eyes mildly.

’Well, he tried? Honestly, I’d have preferred if he got me some rare magical mineral instead of this garbage. Sigh~ Still, I suppose I should at least act surprised so it seems like a triumph over my "trash" ex-fiancée.’

In an instant, Mariella’s deadpan expression vanished.

She lit up, held her cheeks with both hands, and shrieked.

"THIS IS SO BEAUTIFULl!"

Leander smiled smugly, turning to point a finger at Adonis.

"Now, Fifth Brother, as her former fiancée, surely you brought something to congratulate us? Or did you only bring your empty pockets?"

Most of the ballroom howled with laughter. Hundreds of eyes locked onto Adonis, waiting for him to finally break under the mounting public humiliation.

When the laughter finally died down, instead of seeing defeat or diffidence on his face, there was only a calm, effortless smile. The only man in the room who recognized that bastard look was King Falsbane, who watched with a hardened stare. Adonis was far too much like him; he had trained and molded him to be a king after all. Accepting public embarrassment simply wasn’t in their blood.

Adonis fished a small wooden box from underneath his hussar-styled jacket.

"You know, Lady Mariella... I haven’t gotten you a real gift the entire time you were MY fiancée."

Mariella panicked internally, continuing to frantically rub her inner thighs beneath her heavy ball dress.

’No, no, no, don’t ruin the mood here! He’s been an absolute asshole all this while, and all of a sudden he wants to play the saint and give me a gift??’

On the outside, however, she crossed her arms tightly under her modest breasts and scoffed poshly.

"Hmph. I didn’t realize."

Adonis smiled mildly. "Then allow me to make amends."

He popped open the lid, and BOOM! a blinding pillar of multicolored water magic power shot straight up from the small wooden container, piercing right through the vaulted ceiling of the ballroom and blasting into the night sky!

Ancient, golden runes swirled in the air. The melodic wails of water spirits rang out from the box, sounding like a chorus of holy angels. With Adonis standing right at the center of the radiant shockwave, he looked nothing short of a living masterpiece crafted by the gods themselves.

The nobles dropped their crystal teacups. Several royal guards even dropped to their knees, fiercely overwhelmed by the crushing weight of the invisible magic pressure!

Ding!

[Name: Mariella Soron]

[Current Role: Heroine]

[Narrative Status: Severe Shock]

[System Target Status: Losing Heroine Conversion Progress... 20%!]

Adonis froze up slightly in his mind.

’Wait... this system is even more ingenious than I thought. Does this mean not only can I charm losing heroines, but I can also steal the story’s cherished heroines by making them deeply jealous? If they grow unsatisfied with the original protagonist, they naturally come running to me, is that it?’

A vicious look plagued his heavenly, blue eyes.

"That... that light?!"

A viscount shrieked, pointing a trembling finger at the humble wooden box in Adonis’s hand.

"That multicolored light... it can only mean a rainbow-class artifact! Those things don’t even exist in historical texts!"

An elderly [High Mage] sitting near the front nodded placidly as his aging voice shook.

"In my many years of living, I have never even laid eyes on a platinum-class artifact, much less a mythical rainbow one..."

King Falsbane bolted up from his throne so fast he nearly twisted his ankle. The shock in his eyes defied description.

Mariella stood frozen in place.

She mumbled softly under her breath.

"Adonis... you really got this... for me?"

She loved public humiliation, yes, but being treated with such overwhelming, breathtaking affection by the man who had always ignored her was also... remarkably soothing.

Adonis gave her a small smile. Slowly, he raised his free hand up high, paused, and flashed her a thumbs-down.

"Nah."

The entire ballroom gasped.

"EH—?!"

Adonis coolly turned away, walking straight past the center of the ballroom toward Queen Minerva, whose breath hitched and eyes widened the closer he approached.

’Is he mad?’

Minerva thought as her heart hammered.

’Is he actually trying to pull this stunt here? In front of all these nobles?! No, no, no, don’t be stupid...’

Despite her panic, a redness hit her cheeks, and secretly, she enjoyed every second of it.

Adonis walked steadily up the carpeted stairs of the upper dais, right past his frozen, open-mouthed father to stand before the Fourth Queen, gently handing her the glowing box.

He smiled angelically at his startled stepmother.

"Diamonds... belong to a diamond."