Chapter 189: A Deal With A Wicked
Queen Viva raised a brow at her and smirked. "You," she dragged her gaze slowly from Evelyn’s head to toe, "you are really something." Clicking her tongue, she added, "When I saw you as a child, I never imagined you’d turn out like this one day. Looks like my dear cousin’s sister should have disciplined you a bit more."
Eve’s eyes hardened at the jab, at the reminder of exactly how Queen Elara used to "discipline" her, and she shot back, "What can I say, we all have to grow up at some point."
Viva stared at her for a few seconds before breaking into another crackling laugh, one that scraped against Eve’s eardrums like nails on glass.
When she finally recovered, she smiled viciously and drawled, "Well then...what exactly did you want to discuss with me, Princess Evelyn....now that we’re alone?"
A few seconds of silence settled between them.
Evelyn kept a steady gaze on the queen. There wasn’t a trace of hesitation or fear in her eyes. Her deep blue irises looked like two pools of an ocean...calm, far too calm, like the eerie stillness before a storm.
Then she parted her lips and spoke in a firm, unwavering voice, "I will be ready to accept this union between Prince Valen and myself.....only if my conditions are met."
Another wave of silence followed her declaration.
Queen Viva kept her pale gaze fixed on Evelyn’s unflinching form, observing her in silence. She had already anticipated that this would be the direction their discussion would take, especially after securing Ivan under the influence of dark corruption. But she also knew that this princess was no longer the simple, pliant girl she once was. Evelyn was not the same frightened child who used to cry every time her cousin, Elara, used to punish her in secret.
Viva had noticed Evelyn’s demeanour the moment she entered the castle. She knew it would be far more difficult to force the girl into accepting the union with her son if she didn’t hold any leverage over her. And right now, Queen Viva possessed the strongest leverage she could possibly wield....Prince Ivan.
Ivan was incredibly difficult to restrain, so they had begun laying the groundwork early, ever since they received reports about how protective and affectionately attached he was to the princess. They even resorted to using darkrots to test a new method of spreading corruption among vampires, especially pure-blooded ones, in an effort to tame them.
And though the corruption took time to fully embed itself in Ivan’s body, during lunch, she had his wine mixed with a special substance designed to temporarily suppress a person’s powers, making it easier for the corruption to spread once she activated it.
She hadn’t expected him to possess an item capable of hindering the spread of corruption or interfering with her ritual to completely subdue him. She knew she couldn’t kill him yet, but in her mind, he was as good as dead, considering how far he had already fallen into the dark influence. Viva knew that sooner or later, he would die, as no vampire in history had ever survived corruption.
So, as long as he remained alive, she intended to use him to obtain everything she desired.
Tilting her head slightly, as though giving Evelyn’s words some thoughtful consideration, she finally asked, "And what would those conditions be?"
Eve’s eyes sharpened as she began, "Condition one: You will release all my people....safely and unharmed. You will not press any charges against any of them for what happened earlier."
Queen Viva’s lips curled into an amused smirk. She hadn’t expected the girl’s first condition to be for her friends rather than for Ivan himself...but she had anticipated something along these lines.
"So," Viva drawled, "after they attacked my son so openly, you think I would simply let them go?"
Eve held her gaze without flinching. "Yes. You will. Because you need to, if you want my cooperation."
"Hmm, and how are you so sure I would simply listen to your request," Viva asked, her voice slow and mocking, "....that I don’t have any other means to make you accept it willingly?"
Eve met her gaze without wavering. "If you think you can use Ivan to force me into anything, then you’re delusional. Ivan is important to me, yes....but no one can use him as leverage against me."
Viva’s brows furrowed at Evelyn’s seemingly absurd claim. "Are you saying Prince Ivan is not important enough to be used as leverage against you?"
"No, you’re wrong," Eve replied firmly. "I said that no matter what I feel for him, I would never allow anyone to use him against me like that. Because if you harm him in any way, this peace trade will end immediately...and I will destroy every single person present in this kingdom."
Her eyes blazed gold as raw power surged through her, and the castle walls began to tremble. Viva’s eyes widened in shock at the sight of Evelyn’s growing aura.
Eve didn’t spare a single thought for how dangerously her powers were affecting the surroundings. Her gaze drifted toward the window, distant and aching. "He is important to me...but he is also someone with a long life ahead of him. I will not let the likes of you exploit him for your selfish ambitions or rob him of the future he deserves."
She then turned her fierce gaze back to Viva. "Which brings me to the second condition: You will release Ivan from whatever dark influence you have over him and allow him to return to his kingdom. He should be able to live his life as he was meant to."
Her voice grew colder, "And I will remain here, with your son...to fulfil my duty as his wife."
"Don’t take my warning lightly," she continued. "If you harm him or try to exploit him, I will do exactly what I just promised. And I assure you...you will be the one losing far more than you can ever imagine. Far more than anything you expect to gain from this union."
Viva looked like a cat that had been dunked into a cold tub: wide-eyed and stunned, before....she burst into another unsettling peal of laughter that echoed throughout the chamber.
She continued laughing for several moments like someone who had lost their mind before wiping the tears that had formed at the corners of her eyes from laughing too hard.
Looking back at Evelyn, she said, "Do you think I was born yesterday? That I would simply let him go so he can roam freely and wreak havoc in my kingdom? And even if I were to agree to both of your conditions, what guarantee do I have that you would follow through on the promises you’re making in return?"
Despite her deranged amusement, Viva’s heart twisted with a fear she had never felt before. She forced herself to appear unaffected, refusing to let Evelyn see just how deeply that display of power had shaken her.
"You can release my friends now, drop every charge against them, and you can fulfil the second condition by releasing Ivan after I accept your son as my betrothed tomorrow." She gave the queen a sharp, knowing look. "Isn’t that what you were planning anyway? To announce my engagement to your son at the ball tomorrow?"
Viva’s eyes widened as she found herself stunned again. "How did you-"
"Does it matter?" Evelyn cut in in a detached voice, which almost sounded hollow. "What matters is that you get what you want, and I get what I want. Then we can both move on from this...unfortunate incident."
There was an emptiness in her gaze....an eerie echo of the same hollowness Ivan wore, when she asked, softly yet firmly, "So...what do you say, Queen Viva?"
....
Far from the queen’s study, down in the underground dungeon of the Palace of Demos, five new prisoners were struggling to adjust to their less-than-glamorous accommodations.
Cece’s face contorted in utter disgust as she hissed, "This place reeks so bad!"
In the same cell beside hers, Edward replied dryly, "Well, we didn’t exactly expect five-star treatment here, did we?"
From the cell next to them, Dante muttered as if he were taking his last breath, "Tell me about it... I can’t stand it! I feel like I’m gonna hurl."
In the same cell as him, Professor Seira snapped her head toward him and immediately took two steps back. "Please don’t! I don’t want people to remember me as the professor who died by choking on a bad odour."
"Damn that witch! I wouldn’t be surprised if she slaughtered people in here," Damien growled from the cell on the other side of Cece and Edward.
Dante let out a dry, suffering laugh, "Oh, I’m definitely going to remember this hospitality. I’ll pay her back tenfold. No...a hundredfold."
"That’s assuming we get out of here alive," Professor Seira muttered miserably, still covering her mouth....an utterly useless attempt to survive the stench. "If I die here, I swear I’m haunting all of you."
