Chapter 34: 36- A hunt
Insane, selfish, cruel, greedy, and whatnot.
These were the opinions of Aecilia regarding the royal heirs of Arinphiam empire, opinions she had formed based on the information she had collected about all of them until now.
Just like right now, she knew that Prince Orion must have tried to test his body's limits.
She was well aware of his inclination to take impulsive actions regarding the affirmation of his theories.
Aecilia placed the doctor's report on the table before slowly standing up and stretching her arms, feeling fatigued and tired from not sleeping all night.
Since the moment the incident with Avendial occurred last night, she had activated all the forces at her disposal to find out exactly why it happened and who was targeting her man.
However, after gathering the information, it turned out that this was all orchestrated by Prince Orion to frame Patric Vrandin.
Of course, she didn't know if Patric would even get to meet or appeal in the royal court, given the fact that he had used a deadly poison on Avendial, an act that had triggered none other than Princess Katheria.
"Go and tell the manager to cut all ties with the Vrandins," After stretching and letting out a yawn, Aecilia called upon a hotel employee, who was from Sertsul family. He offered a bow and left her presence as she steeled herself, vowing to take revenge on the Vrandins who dared to poison her loved one, even if they were manipulated by none other than Prince Orion.
Not stopping at just that, she glanced toward another woman, a servant, who stood with an impassive look on her face. A cold glint passed through Aecilia's eyes as she added, "Accept Prince Orion's proposal and open a Lotus pleasure room in his territory; use the slow poison instead of a lethal one."
'?!'
Hearing these words, the maid flinched, her eyes trembling as she looked toward her master. With a trembling voice, she reminded her, "M-my Lady, h-he is a royal."
It was clear that her master wanted to assassinate a prince using a very secret and lethal method known only to the Sertsul family—Lotus Death.
Lotus Death was a technique in which the Sertsul family sent their well-trained assassin prostitutes to their target's location to establish sexual contact. Each of these assassins had lethal poisons, specially prepared by the Sertsul family, rubbed inside their vaginas and anuses.
Due to the members of the Lotus division being given antidotes from the moment they joined the assassin division of the Sertsul family, the poison did not affect their bodies. However, this was not the case for the men who, consumed by their instincts, kept pounding and railing the women, unaware that they were rubbing their dicks on a lethal poison.
There were a total of 41 kinds of poisons used by the Sertsul family, each with different effects, ranging from causing madness to paralysis and even death, while slow poisons and various hallucination-inducing poisons were also part of the arsenal.
And just now, her master had suggested using Lotus Death on none other than a prince.
"So what? How dare he try to play with him? Just do what I sa—bzzzz~!" Aecilia went toward the bed while speaking in a nonchalant voice, uninterested in the implications of targeting royalty. She fell onto the bed, burying her face in the fabric, hoping to take a long nap and relax after a night filled with exhausting work, but her phone rang.
"...."
Bzzzzz~
"....DAMN, YOU BASTARD—Eh? Heh? Huh? From the Croceaus family? Yes? Hm...
Okay... I will try my best... hmm... Fine..." Aecilia burst into anger as she picked up the phone, intending to curse whoever was calling, not caring if it was even the emperor himself. But the moment she lifted the phone, she heard a voice introducing itself from the Croceaus family, and the series of words poured into her heart like liquid fire, lighting up her expression.
She struggled to control her excitement, not wanting to lose any crucial information causing her to use fewer words.
"Whew," she exhaled before placing the phone back on the table. She buried her face in the blanket, gripping the bed sheet tightly as she tried to muffle her voice, feeling on the verge of cheering and yelling from excitement. Slowly standing up, she glanced at the maid who had been present earlier and informed her, "I have a date with Marquess today in an hour. Prepare the car."
"My Lady, are you going in that dress?" the maid asked, observing how Aecilia, despite her evident excitement, was still dressed in night attire, feeling confused.
"What? What does my clothing have to do with a date?" Aecilia arched an eyebrow and cast a frosty glance at the maid, fully aware that the maid was implying she should don something more elegant or appealing. But Aecilia found the nightgown much more comfortable.
"B-but, my Lady, what if the Marquess doesn't like this?" Feeling a bit confused, the maid recalled that a man might naturally experience a lack of attraction on a date, particularly since the woman hadn't made any effort to wear dresses or appear beautiful, which usually signals that she isn't looking forward to the date.
"There are no issues; being comfortable is more important, and he also prefers that." Aecilia said, exiting the door with the maid following closely behind her. As she moved, Aecilia recalled the reason she had developed a crush on that man; he didn't care about her appearance or behavior (*because he doesn't have any feelings for her).
"Contact Madame from City A to arrange for our arrival and also bring my car to the airport there."
Having uttered those words, Aecilia departed from the hotel room and entered a Rolls Royce, which roared to life and drove toward the mansion assigned to Marquess Croceaus.
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Inside the mansion, five miles from the five-star hotel, the place was bustling due to preparations of servants who were getting ready to leave for the main Croceaus estate in the Thaloris Kingdom, as they made their arrangements while Avendial left the mansion accompanied by Rivia and Alfred, who appeared to be prepared to leave for the kingdom.
Several maids and servants belonging to the main family had already packed their luggage, standing as if everyone was prepared to leave.
"Alfred, you will do what I have ordered you," Avendial had previously instructed early in the morning for Alfred to leave with his daughter to prepare all the documents, thinking that he or Rivia might need to stay for more hours in the princess's palace. However, it went sooner than expected, making him arrive at the mansion sooner than everyone else left.
Avendial was aware that he could obtain the same piece of information—about the royal heir behind the Aphrodasiac event—from Aecilia herself. Therefore, he left without entertaining the princess, who was overwhelmed by the fact that they did not discuss whatever she might have prepared in advance.
"As you say, Master, but is Miss Rivia also accompanying us?" Alfred slightly bowed in a firm posture before glancing at the woman, who had turned her face away, holding the sword while trying to control her heart, knowing that it was her chance to seek forgiveness.
"Yes, I have assigned some tasks to her; just make sure to bury the voices that may cry after having their necks cut," Avendial firmly declared, causing all of the servants, including Alfred, to flinch as they felt the weight of that voice, each of them suddenly trembling as they glanced at Rivia.
Being with the Marquess, they understood that the order given to the head butler was simply to allow this psychopathic monster to rampage throughout the main estate.
'Sigh, should I have accepted punishment?' Alfred reflected on his choices. He began to realize that he should have embraced his punishment rather than stand up for Rivia this morning.
However, there was no point in regretting it now, so he merely nodded before shifting his gaze to the bright blue sky illuminated by the sun, 'I fear I will have a difficult time removing the blood stains from Croceaus's estate, as I suspect the spills won't be minor.'
He realized that this time it wouldn't just be a light drizzle, but rather an overwhelming flood, especially since his master had permitted this monstrous woman to wreak havoc.