Chapter 41: Mind games
Amelia and Roselina were sitting around the gaming table in the spacious lounge overlooking the beach, fighting with all the strength they possessed to prevent their eyelids from closing, resisting the sleep that teased their eyes while in the midst of a decisive card battle.
"Amelia... you are a child after all, and you need sleep for your mental faculties and healthy bodily growth... isn’t that right, my little one?" Roselina said these words in a strained voice, trying her best to focus, then pushed the "7 of Hearts" card onto the table, attempting to pressure her niece.
When the card landed, Amelia—the five-year-old child, yet possessing the mind and pride of an ancient empress—looked at it and tried to expel sleep by all possible means. In fact, she had even stuck clear adhesive tape on her eyelids to force her eyes to remain open!
Amelia replied in a mocking tone filled with confidence, "Thank you for your advice, Aunt... but I am closer to victory than you are now. I only have one point left to claim the round, and after that, I can sleep as I wish. However, I warn you, Aunt, for lack of sleep and staying up late cause dark circles and premature wrinkles, which is highly detrimental for a married noble lady like yourself... You may withdraw now, and I will consider you a loser by a small margin, and I will tell everyone outside that you were a good and respectable opponent to me!"
Roselina touched her cheek with apprehension, her eyes igniting with vexation; this girl was one hundred percent a daughter of the Oster lineage! Stubborn, intelligent, and would never accept retreat or surrender with an open heart.
Amelia confidently pushed two additional cards forward and continued with a sly smile, "Won’t those premature wrinkles lessen my uncle-in-law’s love for you...? Nay, it might even..." Amelia paused for a moment in deliberate silence to heighten the psychological effect, then added, "...it might even make him look for another girl, someone much younger than you!"
Roselina’s eyes widened, and she let out a light, cynical laugh at the words of this little girl. She was supposed to be a five-year-old child, yet she was currently practicing the fiercest psychological games and war of nerves upon her! Roselina thought to herself with annoyance: Damn it, this girl will be exactly like her father, Cain, in her complete lack of conscience and her evasiveness!
Roselina countered with an experienced smile, "Do not worry about me, my little one, for at least your aunt is already married and has settled her matter... But if you continue on this path of staying up late and arguing, Amelia won’t even find anyone willing to marry her in the future!"
Amelia unleashed a cynical, childish laugh charged with pride, "This Empress does not care for trivial matters of love... her sole and eternal interest is to win, always and forever!"
Roselina knitted her brows for a moment at her tone, but she soon let out a soft, small chuckle, appearing entirely unaffected by the little one’s words. She threw a powerful card onto the table that made Amelia’s face, tight from the adhesive tape, want to frown and object, but her pride prevented her.
Roselina continued slyly, observing Amelia’s expressions, "We all said that when we were young, girl... But, when a boy of your own age looks at you with a long and somewhat deep gaze, you will feel shy first..."
Amelia remained silent, her eyes darting tensively as she thought of the appropriate card to counter with, but her aunt did not cease her psychological bombardment: "And when another boy arrives, eloquent in speech, and addresses you for the first time with all dignity: ’Young Lady Amelia’... and another will come to present you with a small and simple gift, yet from the excess of your emotions, you will perceive it as the most beautiful and precious thing in the entire world... And when one of your father’s friends speaks with him jokingly, saying he wants to marry you to his son... then, after all those masterful psychological games from men... this pride will gradually melt, and your fortress will fall!"
Amelia’s small hand trembled as she listened to her aunt’s words, and her small mind began to imagine all those successive scenarios together without finding a logical reply to defend her pride. She murmured with visible confusion, "This... this is entirely impossible!"
Roselina highly admired this cute face, flushed red from intense embarrassment, so she continued, intent on flustering her further, "Almost... until one of them holds this hand of yours and makes it warm, or a young noble approaches you and requests the dance of the first night..."
Here, Amelia truly became bewildered, the balance of her thoughts disrupted. Without realizing it, she dropped an entirely wrong card from her hand, feeling the heat of flushing consume her small cheeks.
Roselina smiled in victory and pushed her final card onto the table...
A dawn surprise... and the return of the Empress of Blood.
A tie!
Amelia had been on the verge of a sweeping victory, but due to her aunt’s words and psychological warfare, Roselina managed to snatch a tie in the final moments.
Roselina exhaled with relief and said, "Sigh... you are still far too young, girl, for these games... Do not worry, I can always volunteer to teach you the art of self-control and emotional mastery."
Amelia stared in shock and loud silence at the cards of the round that had ended in a tie, then shrieked in protest, "Wait! This is not fair at all! This is blatant cheating and illicit psychological warfare! I demand a rematch immediately... Are you satisfied with yourself after exploiting the lapse of an innocent child?!"
The aunt raised her shoulders with an indifference that provoked Amelia, saying, "It does not matter, I am not the one who made a mistake in throwing the card... In any case, I am going to sleep now, for dawn is about to break. It seems your father is having a highly splendid time outside, as he has not returned to the castle yet..."
Amelia grumblingly agreed with her opinion, and as Roselina prepared to rise from the gaming table and turned toward the closed door of the lounge... the door suddenly opened with a mysterious stillness.
Roselina froze in her place, her eyes widening in terror, while Amelia’s small jaw dropped, her mouth opening fully, completely at a loss for words or how to interpret the scene before her!
At the threshold of the door stood Lucy in all her absolute, dominant majesty, carrying Duke Cain Oster over her shoulder as if he were a sack of cotton. Cain was immersed in a profound, still sleep, entirely surrendered as though he were in another world!
Lucy looked at them coldly and asked in a casual, inquiring tone, "Are you two awake until this late hour of the night...?"
Roselina did not move a single inch, her body appearing as though it had been struck by paralysis, while Lucy maintained a rigid expression: "What is the matter? Why are you two looking at me in such a suspicious manner? Do not worry... he is perfectly fine, and he will wake up tomorrow with vitality..."
Yet the gazes of astonishment and terror continued to be directed toward Lucy without interruption. Roselina began to point a violently trembling finger toward Lucy, the words exiting her mouth disconnectedly and accompanied by a sharp drop in blood pressure: "Emp... Empr... Empress of Blood... Lucy...!!!"
And the surprise... Roselina could not bear the weight of the shock; the world spun around her, and she fainted immediately, collapsing onto the floor unconscious right beside the card table!
The child Amelia cast a blank, disappointed look at her sleeping father on Lucy’s shoulder, then at her aunt lying on the floor, and sighed in helplessness, saying in her thoughts: Oh my God... Aunt is unconscious now, but when she wakes up... she certainly won’t remain silent, and she will fill the castle with screams!
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