Aric was practically racing down the hallways of his mansion with a few of his best men in tow. He had been watching his wife losing control over the Ladies of the Court for the past hour and was growing angrier by the second.

  He had no idea how she let things get this bad. They did everything to y the ground work for framing that Dark Elf as the culprit of their son's death and attaching the Queen to her as well, and it blew up in their faces.

  And to make matters worse, the two servants he sent to the sleeping quarters of the Manor were the Valet and Footman were both found unconscious in the hallway along with the guards that they brought with them.

  The Duke knew something had gone wrong when both Tayna and Amelia made it back to the party, instead of being apprehended. And once Belial found out what happened to his men and watched as his wife was cornered by the Court. He had to confront them all as a st ditch effort to stop the Queen and Dark Elf.

  As usual Aric had a few backup pns to get his vengeance on everyone. However, this was st pn to win the support of the nobility with much less blood shed and it would make getting the throne much more easier then his contingency pns. He needed to sow the seeds of doubt into the minds of the noble dies, and that's where the death of his son comes in.

  'Goddess be damned, Leandra! YOU HAD TO OPEN YOUR DAMN MOUTH ABOUT THE AMBROSIA—NO! No... I shouldn't have let her use the ambrosia in the first pce. And when the FUCK did my worthless sister-in-w find out about the poison!? That wretched Dark Elf will pay for this! I don't know when, but that cunt WILL pay!' the Duke cursed in his head as his left hand was in his coat pocket, grasping the only item that could protect him from the Dark Elf's magic, the Sorcerer's Syer. It was an artifact that he received from the Kingdom of Marn a couple of months ago when he made a deal to help them conquer the northern domains of Fiafyr. Unfortunately, the Sorcerer's Syer can only effect Mana that is outside of the body of someone. So, yes, he could stop every spell thrown his way, which would be a problem for most mages due to their ck of training in close quarters combat. But the Dark Elf wasn't like other mages who only focused on their magical abilities.

  She was a fighter, and a damn good one from what Belial's spies have told him. And if Aric tried to use his sword on her would be pying right into her hands. The Duke was sure that the bitch would be more than happy to beat him bloody if given the chance. He had to beat her with his words and if he was able to get her to strike him first, then he could expose her in front of everyone. But that was a long shot, since she's in an advantageous position with the Ladies of the Court beginning to side with her.

  'Fucking swine... she will pay dearly for humiliating me!' the Duke snarled as he walked past a group of his guards that knew they needed to aid him.

  Aric and his entourage came to a halt just before the entrance of the ballroom.

  "Belial... If she attacks me. I'll need everyone to distract her so I can escape... Understood?" the Duke spoke quietly.

  "Yes, my lord." Belial answered before looking back at the 25 guards behind them. Even though they were afraid to confront the Dark Elf, they didn't show it as they mentally prepared themselves.

  "Good. Now let's go." Aric said, straightening his coat and walking forward with Belial and his other guards following behind.

  The Duke was going to py the innocent card and try to talk his way out of any accusations that the Queen has levied against his family.

  ***

  Queen Rianna and her entourage couldn't believe how well this day turned out. Leandra's lies and treachery had finally come to light. Most of her allies have left her except for a few Minor Noble Houses and Princess Hilda Stoneworthh.

  For Hilda, she would have joined the rest of them if the Goddess's guidance didn't echo inside her head. And the evidence was clear that Leandra was the Foul Noblewomen she needed to trust in order to defeat Rya once and for all. She wasn't going to show her support for Leandra until everyone left. Hilda couldn't tell anyone that she was visited by one of the Fiafyrian Goddesses as ordered by the Goddess or she would fail to save Quinus from Rya's evil clutches.

  'Oh... You have no idea how long I have waited for this day, Leandra... And it is better than I could even have imagine—'

  Queen Rianna was brought out of our thoughts when Yuliana tapped on her shoulder, which caused the Queen to look back at the Royal Wood Elf.

  "Huh? What's wrong?" Rianna asked as she saw the concerned look written on Yuliana's face.

  "He coming. And with guards," the Wood Elf said as the Queen's face turned stoic once more.

  'So, Aric couldn't keep himself from showing up in a woman's only party... Hehe... You were right, Rya. I can't wait to see how my future daughter-in-w will deal with this... arrogant swine.' Rianna thought to herself.

  The Queen then looked at her knights up in the balcony and nodded.

  They were puzzled at first but then the doors on the opposite side of them burst open and the Duke made his grand appearance.

  Everyone was startled to see the Duke barging in on the with armed guards rushing in. Rianna's knights saw this and Lady Rachel quickly motioned for her and her ten knights to enter. They ran down the stairs with their hands on the hilts of their swords.

  When Rachel and the female knights reached the floor of the ballroom, Rianna calmly motioned to them to stay at ease. The Duke gnced around the room with his left hand still in his pocket holding artifact.

  Most of the dies were frightened by the appearance of armed soldiers. The only ones who weren't startled by their presence were the Queen, Yuliana, Nieren, Dalia, and Rya.

  There were a few girls whispering, wondering what was going on, but the ballroom was deftly silent.

  Leandra gred at her husband, but the man didn't seem to pay her any attention.

  The Duke slowly walked over to the table and poured himself a gss of wine. Then, he finally turned around and looked at the room's occupants.

  "So... You all come here, eat my food, drink my wine, and you have the gall to our position and threaten to remove me from my post!" the Duke yelled, and a few girls flinched.

  "This is a girl's only party, Aric... This is matters of the Ladies of the Court," Rianna spoke up, and the Duke gred at her.

  "YOU DARE ACCUSE MY WIFE OF CONSPIRACY! WHEN IT IS YOU WHOM CONSPIRES WITH A MURDERER!?" he shouted and pointed at the Queen. A bunch of women felt uncomfortable as they listened to the Duke ranting and raving. And yet the Queen and her allies seemed unfazed by the Duke's words. Rianna even looked bored, which made some of the girls impressed with the Queen, while others thought she was insane to egg on the Duke.

  Aric then turned to point at Rya, "You all are so blinded by her gifts, magic, and beauty that you forget that she is a murderer of the only heir to House Revelia!"

  Aric then turned to point out Tayna and Amelia, "And for what? Do you think she will turn you into beautiful prostitutes like those two!? HAH! You all are such fools! You should know that the Dark Elves have no honor, and yet you willingly put your lives at risk."

  Amelia was surprised by how she felt when Aric tried to publicly humiliate her. In stead of shame, she felt a odd sense of pride while also having a foreign feeling that she could not describe. She wanted to beat the crap out of the Duke and she thought she could pull it off. But she wasn't trained in any form of combat like the Duke. 'Huh? No! S-Stop it! I get myself killed like that,' Amelia thought, as she reigned in the foreign feelings.

  Tayna, on the other hand, didn't feel as much shame. Rya healed her and help grow her mana vein which in turn made her stunning and a very attractive woman. She was proud of her body and didn't feel any shame. Plus, the way Rya was looking at the Duke made her realize that he was in trouble. She would only step in if Rya needed her to. But somehow she knew that Rya would be able to handle the Duke without any trouble.

  The Duke then moved address the whole crowd. "My family may have done questionable things in the past, but we always put Fiafyr, first! However, this Dark Elf is an outsider, a peasant, looking to take advantage of our Kingdom!" Aric said, and he gestured to Rya. "While my son tried to save the western domains of our kingdom! This... Dark Elf charmed my nephew, the Prince, as her pything and killed my son because he could withstand her evil magic! That's why she needed to get rid of noble of Royal blood who could stand against her! She must have been exiled from her cn and needed a pce to stay! That's when her greedy little eyes saw an opportunity! Ask yourselves this? What is a peasant doing inside of the Royal Pace? If she were a noble, then she would have been here years ago!"

  The Duke paused for dramatic effect, and to let the audience absorb his words. "She will use us all until we are no longer useful to her or if you are a threat to her. That's what made Marcus so special and she knew it! She took away, one of Fiafyr's finest young men and the heir to the Revelia house! She's a murderer and the is on her to prove her innocence!"

  The dies all were silent wondering if the Duke's words were true. Most of them hoped that he was wrong and looked over to Rya who was standing silently. They noticed that she wasn't even phased by the Duke's words. In fact, she looked like she was waiting for something.

  "See!? She doesn't even try to refute—"

  Rya's stoic face, swiftly turned into a pleasant smile, which was accompanied by a cold, stare. This made the Duke grip the Sorcerer's Syer in his pocket and swallowed the lump in his throat before he could continue. "Ahem... She doesn't try to defend her actions!"

  The Duke hoped that his lies would sway the nobles. But Rya just stood there looking at the Duke as she waited patiently. 'What in the hells is she waiting for?... Is she struggling to counter me or does she know something I don't?' Aric thought, as his brow furrowed.

  Rya for her part, couldn't believe the lies he was trying to push and wondered if he truly forgot his previous lies or just didn't care. 'Is this all he has?... Really? Well, he's in more trouble than I thought. Should I destroy him now? Or...' Rya thought about the five Revelia daughters and she needed to know what Aric's pn was for them, before she decided his fate. 'Yeah... I need to see if I can serve whatever ties the Duke has with his family... Lord knows that these girls need a better life.'

  Rya's eyes looked like a cat who had a cornered mouse as she walked towards the Duke and stood across from him, staring down Aric, as she put on a smile that sent chills down the Duke's spine.

  'Hold your ground, Aric! She's in your territory now. Anything she does to me now will look poorly on her! Yes, she's taking the bait!' He told himself, as he stared back at Rya, refusing to show any weakness.

  "So, my dear Duke, I take it you want to prove something? That your son was such an essential figure in the Kingdom's affairs that the Revelia line is doomed?" Rya asked feigning ignorance.

  Aric clenched his jaw tightly as he tried to figure out where the Dark Elf was going with this. 'Is she trying to bait me into a trap? No! That's not it... She knows that trying to argue the truth is a losing battle for her. We already id the groundwork on the lies that she would look foolish if she argued against us... That's it! She's pivoting! She must be trying to snder my son's reputation and discredit me by saying Marcus is weak and deserved his fate. I will show everyone here why you should never underestimate a Revelia!' The Duke thought as he felt better about this line of questioning.

  "Yes... That's exactly what I'm saying. My line ends with me, all because a dark elf was so desperate to steal power that never belonged to her that she had to kill the only other person who could rule. You should be ashamed of yourself, Princess!" He said, trying to py off her questions.

  Rya raised an eyebrow, and her smirk widened as she looked at the three oldest daughters. Sara's eyes had a mixture of anger and despair all in one. Jemma and Eleanora weren't any better when they heard their father talking so highly of Marcus.

  Rya slowly turned back to the Duke with curiosity in her eyes, "What about your daughters? Surely one of them could continue the line, no?"

  Aric had to hold off his usual sarcastic ugh when anyone would bring up his daughters. Frankly, if this is how the Dark Elf was going to make him look bad, he would show everyone here that she was the fool.

  "My daughters?... Maybe if one of them decided to give me a grandchild or two, I could, but sadly it seems that my three oldest daughters have more important things to do, than their duties as wives and they aren't getting any younger," he replied with a hint of annoyance. This made Sara mad, but she couldn't say or do anything to defend herself without making the situation worse for her or her sisters.

  The Duke continued, "Perhaps my two youngest still have a chance to bring honor back to the Revelia name, but the future of the Revelia house is no longer my concern. I don't have a son, and I refuse to let the bloodline die out, just so a dark elf can feel better about herself."

  Rya couldn't believe how easily this man was letting his own daughters get thrown to the wolves. For someone who prided themselves as intelligent and cunning, he certainly couldn't see the potential his have. Rya saw him digging his own grave for his ck of faith in his daughters. It was more than obvious to Rya that Aric spent no money on seeing if his daughters had mage veins like his son did.

  He was the one who was the fool and Rya needed him to dig down so deep that burying him would be as easy as a snap of her fingers.

  Rya starting circling around Aric, who made sure that she didn't get behind him and pivoted on his heels when he had to. The others in the room looked on with shock and curiosity. The Duke didn't look like the feared leader they all thought he was. In fact, the Duke seemed almost scared.

  "I'm curious about something, Duke Revelia. Did you ever try to find out if your daughters had Mage veins or not?" Rya asked the question while she kept her gaze focused on the Duke.

  Aric narrowed his eyes at her. "For my eldest, but she was a failure... That's why I had to marry her off to a reputable noble from the Arus Kingdom. There wasn't any reason to test my other daughters when Marcus passed with flying colors. But you had to deprive our kingdom of the first noble mage in over a century."

  Rya nearly ughed and gnced over at Saffron and Ysandra Fairchild who were gring at the Duke.

  Aric followed Rya's line of sight and turned his head, and saw the gres he was receiving. He rolled his eyes before returning his gaze back to Rya.

  "The first male noble mage in a hundred years," Aric corrected himself.

  Rya nonchantly nodded while walking around Aric again, "So, did you test Sara in all the elements or—"

  "You're stalling! Because you are a murderer. You can't even face what you've done, and are trying to divert the topic!" The Duke growled at her.

  Rya shook her head. "You're so defensive, Duke Revelia. I just wanted to know if you cared as much about your daughters as you did for your golden boy."

  "How dare you!" Aric hissed, clenching his fists. "My son was the one with all the talent in Tertius!"

  "And yet, he's dead." Rya pointed out, her tone cold. "For someone who seems to think they have an eye for talent, it is rather interesting that you can't see the talent in front of you."

  The Duke gred at her. "Tsk! My daughters' talents are only in their bloodline! And they are squandering it by refusing to carry out their wifely duties. If they had the drive and ambition that my son had, maybe they could have had three children each by now! Instead, my eldest compins that her husband is rude and dismissive of her! While the other two do nothing but look pathetic when I bring up the subject. I won't make the same mistakes with Lydia's and Cra's marriages. They will learn to be proper wives. I don't need another failure!"

  They Ladies of the Court were a mixture of aghast or disgusted at Aric's comments about his daughters. If a man in his position looked at his daughters as a commodity, what did that say about the rest of them. Was the Ladies of the Court only valued as breeding machines and political pawns? Weren't they apart of this kingdom's history and the future?

  This shed a light on how bad it would have been if Aric was the King and now they were more grateful to have Cyndre Meredydd as their King than before. And it was all thanks to Rya and her allies.

  Rya stopped and looked at the Duke. Her goal of finding getting Aric to dig his own grave was complete. He was so arrogant that he didn't realize how bad this made him look. His way of trying to make her look bad might have worked with men, but with women it backfired.

  'Alright. I'm satisfied to know that Sara and her sisters are not with her father. It's time for me to stop beating around the bush and wreck his whole world... I can't wait to see the look on your face, when you see how powerful your daughters really are. I'll have a grand time watching your world burn, Aric.'

  And with that, Rya squared off the Duke, like she was sizing him up.