"Your Majesty, please reconsider it, this heirloom is the symbol of Authority, we don't know what the future holds for us"
Judas barged in to protest against the ridiculous gift if Rex and Grizel formed a soul contract with the heirloom, their plan to make Lily the Empress will be in vain, even if they managed to kill Grizel, the ring will accept no more Empress for Rex until he dies, it will be a different story if Rex has a sibling, they could simply kill both Rex and Grizel and make his sibling the new Emperor for Lily instead.
But he is the only Prince in this Empire, and even if the love charm succeeds on him now, Lily's status won't be any higher than a mere concubine, she won't have any power nor authority except for the bed warmer for Rex.
This is bad news for their plan.
He couldn't let it happen, following Judas, all the traitors and the few members of their faction begged along with him, for those nobles who were unaware of Judas' betrayal, they think he only refused because Grizel is a member of the Belial family as usual.
"I can't use these rings anymore since my wife passed away, what is wrong with giving the heirloom to the future Emperor and Empress beforehand? it's only a matter of time"
Drake replied calmly, these heirloom rings should be bestowed upon the rulers of Azure when the Coronation ceremony is being held as the symbol of authority, as Rex is the only Prince, no one opposes his inheritance of the heirloom, but not for Grizel, there are a lot of nobles who aim for the Crown Princess position, especially the traitors who had carefully planned everything for years.
"The moment I announced Miss Belilal as the fiance of the Crown Prince, she had officially become the inheritor of my late wife, the Empress"
The firm answer of the Emperor makes them realized, he won't change his mind whatever they say.
Hearing his father's stubbornness, Rex smiled. He had expected this kind of rejection when he asked for his father's permission to present the heirloom for Grizel, contrary to his absurd demand, his father easily agreed to Rex's suggestion of giving the heirloom to Grizel and believe in him.
Rex also expected the same rejection from Grizel in case she knew about the curse, that's why he didn't tell her in advance and intentionally announce it during the party where Grizel could not easily refuse, yet she accepted it without complaint, it's kind of suspicious but there's a chance that her desire to the Empress' seat is bigger than he thought.
Nonetheless, now they will become one through the cursed heirloom.
"This curse is ours to bear as we belong to each other..."
"...Do whatever you want or go wherever you need to go, but our hearts remain as one as our past and future entwined, I love you... My Grizel"
Rex whispered sweetly as he leans to her, there's a hint of passionate and possessive love burning in his alluring low voice.
But...
"Pfft, Rex..."
"This curse is yours alone, not ours"
Grizel let out a chuckle and a warning after hearing his confession.
It's not a surprising matter as she wasn't that dense to fail in recognizing Rex's attachment to her, it obvious that Rex likes her.
But, then what?
It's not like his love is crucial for her, that fact alone won't change anything since Grizel is the type of person who believes in physical things like this heirloom as a symbol of authority compared to the absurd and immeasurable things like love.
For her, Love is not as trustworthy as wealth and authority, that's why she won't refuse such a gift that displays her right to the throne of the Empress even if it has a curse.
She might be considered as an amateur in love but that doesn't mean she has no experience, she had a lot of suitors in her past life, but Grizel as Angela Samael never once care about her suitors' feelings, not even once, just like Rex, as long as it benefits her, she will stay.
Regardless of Rex's feelings, she will take the crown of the Azure Empress anyway.
But Grizel couldn't deny that both she and Rex have the same tendency, they are predators, rather than the prey of love, they acted as the dominant hunters, with the clash of egos and the wild way of showing affection, they are basically trapping each other as Grizel also tends to never relinquish of what is in her possession.
And Rex is hers.
Before she answered his confession, Grizel turned her head to the frustrated traitors who look like on the verge of exploding, even Judas had lost his facade as he openly grits his teeth glaring at her, trying so hard to remain calm as they couldn't say any more protest against this unexpected engagement gift which shattered their sweet dream to make Lily the Empress.
'Aaah, Rex really put them in jeopardy'
Grizel laughed inwardly, there's a sense of excitement to Rex's extreme measures, having such a surprising yet capable fiance is quite entertaining, he smartly ruined their plan while securing Grizel's position in the empire, now all she needs to do is bring forward her plans to get rid of those traitors in secret and reunite the continent.
But...
'I need to confirm one last important thing'
Grizel thought inwardly, she needs to find out who is the real mastermind behind such a great scheme of conquering Azure in discreet and their real reason.
'Maybe a little commotion is enough to test their capabilities to turn the tables on this pinch to their favor, but before that...'
Swoooooosh!!!
Without any command, a gust of wind suddenly blew the rows of huge windows behind Rex and Grizel making everyone present closed their eyes in reflexes except for the two who are locking their eyes on each other in the center of the gusting wind, as no one realized it was Grizel's wind blessing that surprised the whole hall.
Seemingly following their Lord's will, the wind avoids them as no one could see Grizel caresses Rex's stunning face with a captivating smile hidden in between the fluttering white curtains.
"I find it amusing looking at you trapping yourself into me..."
"....Congratulations on throwing your last chance to escape from my grip"
Hearing her, Rex smirked holding her hands that touching his face, he kisses the soft palm gently while looking at the owner of it with the burning desire as the addictive floral fragrance comes from Grizel's hand blossoms every time he takes a breath.
"Then hold it tightly, if it means I can stay with you"
"You don't know the depth of hell"
"I will conquer the deepest part of it to love you"
"Pfft, you... will regret it"
Rex unwavered by her last warning, still with his devilish smirk as Grizel let out a chuckle in amusement.
The whispers of love are nothing new for Angela Samael, she doesn't even have to push those suitors away since they will be the ones who run while screaming pathetically asking for mercy when they found out who she is.
Now comes the new Challenger, the Crown Prince of the Azure Empire who seems unaware of the consequences of his dangerous love.
As their secret conversation ended, the gusts of wind suddenly stopped, now it's time to observe the reaction of those traitors.
"Ugh, what was that?"
Emperor Drake asked while looking at the surrounding, he was closing his eyes along with the guests in reflexes due to the sudden gust of wind and couldn't hear anything else as the noise is also deafening.
"Report, Your Majesty. There is no sign of wind Magic activated"
The guards shake their heads indicating that there is no threat in it and no mana can be sensed means it wasn't a surprise attack.
There are only 2 possibilities that didn't require any mana, either it's a power of a blessing or a natural phenomenon, they believe it most likely the latter as an elemental type of blessing is known as trash and can't be used to control such a huge wind.
Looking at the reassuring guards, the crowds finally calmed down, but someone seems to not know how to give up, he blissfully steps on Grizel's landmine once again.
"Your Majesty, it might be the sign of the heaven's disagreement over the engagement between the Royal Family and the Belials"
Judas stepped in for the second time, taking advantage of the sudden gust of wind to his favor without knowing who's the lord of that wind, but in contrast to his absurd claim, the nobles started to get anxious about it, feeling the atmosphere darkened, Emperor Drake denied hurriedly.
"I have never heard of you being such a believer, Judas"
Emperor Drake revealing Judas' nonexistent belief hoping that everyone knows that he is just spouting nonsense in the name of God like the temple always did, even though Drake himself didn't know the truth behind the sudden gusts of wind is his daughter-in-law's doing.
"I might be not religious enough, but I can feel the rage in the wind that occurred as soon as Your Majesty announced the engagement"
He exaggerated bringing God along with his argument to ruin the situation.
Grizel observed in silence, she intentionally makes a commotion to trigger their reaction and observe it, this is the last chance before the soul contract between Rex and Grizel is formed through the heirloom, a true mastermind behind the scheme will use it wisely.
Despite being shorter in the body of a 10-year-old girl, she is looking down at the dumb Grand counselor let go of such a golden opportunity to stop the engagement.
Humans tend to be afraid of unidentified things, not to mention a strange phenomenon that occurred right before their eyes, Judas is smart enough to take advantage of their anxiety and spread the negative thoughts,
but...
He didn't use it wisely, and the other traitors just stood still couldn't catch the situation.
'If I were him I would ask to reschedule the party for the safety reason and secretly kill 'the powerless me' in the meantime, that will be less suspicious and more effective compared to this dumb accusations'
Grizel facepalmed inwardly, for the true mastermind, rather than stick to the original plan to ruin her reputation, he'll prioritize erasing her existence entirely right away before the soul contract to the heirloom is formed, and this gust of wind can be a rational reason to postpone the party, yet here Judas is persistently tarnishing her reputation in the name of God.
She knows that ruining her reputation is the key to bring down the Belial Archduchy, and that is one of their core plans, but a crucial decision is needed to solve this unfavorable situation.
And none of these traitors show the capability of being a decision-maker of a true mastermind.
'As I thought, these traitors are not competent enough to create that scheme of conquering the Azure continent...'
'It most likely to be the plan of those Westerners'
She confirmed her suspicion, after the confrontation with the traitors, she started to doubt their ability to betray the nation without an impetus, they might be persuaded by those Westerners instead.
There is a huge difference in the facts of who is creating such a plan.
If the plan was created by these traitors, it means those Westerners are only taking advantage of their greed by becoming the backup, then it safe to say this scheme is solely based on greed.
But...
If this plan was provided by Westerners, then it obvious that these dumb traitors are nothing but mere pawns for them.
They are targeting this continent since the beginning.
'But why?...'
There are 2 continents on the Eastern mainland, Azure and Sherwood continent, in contrast to the strong Azure Empire, Sherwood Empire is the agrarian nation with the land of rich, moreover, it has the weakest military and most of the civilians are living as farmers in peace who don't know how to defend themselves.
To simply put, they are an easy target compared to the Azure nation where the strong people living on the same ground as the monsters.
'If their action was based on greed, they would conquer Sherwood first since it will be easier to provide a backup from the closest continent, but...'
'Despite having all the sources to take over the Sherwood Empire in an instant, why they only have eyes on this continent?'
'Forest of Demise? No, they don't need to conquer the whole continent of Azure to take it'
Something about it seems suspicious, making an alliance between 3 powerful forces is not an easy task, egos and disagreement couldn't be avoided, there would be at least a little argument that prevents the alliance to be this solid, but the fact they are performing on perfection only means one thing...
Their goal is far greater.
Grizel grinned widely behind her angelic face, her sensitive nose is smelling something precious to loot yet again.
'There is something in this land which valuable enough to make 3 strong nations swallow their pride and selfishness to ally'
Her urge to be the Empress of this nation pumped up, it's always her favorite play to seize whatever is desired by her enemies.
Rex glanced at his official fiance who leaks a little bit of her devilish smirk next to him, after witnessing the wind beautifully dancing around her before, it didn't take long for the prodigious Prince to realize who's the true owner of the wind.
He can't help but has a bad hunch about that smirk, a very bad one at that because she keeps on staring at the dumbass Grand counselor who is still spouting nonsense about that gusts of wind as if he knows everything, spreading words that make it looks like their engagement wasn't blessed and will eventually bring harm to the nation.
"Your Majesty, for the sake of our Empire, please reconsider this engage-"
Swoooosh!!!
As Rex's bad hunch become reality, for the second time the gusts of wind running havoc in the hall, but this time the unnatural wind avoids everyone except for Judas who's busy blabbering.
Crash!!!
The guests present are shocked by the sudden noise as they look at the source of it.
Thanks to the playful wind, Judas's body stumbled upon the table as he kissed the floor altogether with the crushed wine bottles next to him, his face is burning red either because he was drenched in red wine or due to the humiliation.
There seems no physical injury even if it was painfully embarrassing.
"Pfft..."
Everyone who witnessed this gold moment is trembling to hide their laughter, even Emperor Drake covered his lowering face with his hand trying hard to maintain his dignity as the Ruler.
Rex who knows the culprit behind this mess facepalmed, before the engagement, he and his aides worked hard day and night to prevent any commotion occurred during his long-awaited engagement party, yet everything is a mess, to some extent, he expected those traitors to make a commotion, yet the one who causes the biggest ruckus is none other than his beloved evil fiance.
He sighed helplessly.
"It's time to erase everything"
Grizel mumbled in low voice, she was about to snap her fingers and activate her illusion magic to trap the whole hall into her fake world for a brief moment, it should be enough to manipulate their memories about the wind since she already accomplished her goal as an observant.
But her magic was stopped by Rex as he holds her hand.
"No need, this precious moment shall be carved into everyone's heart and spread far widely"
He said smirking as he walks toward the pitiful Grand counselor leaving her behind, as someone who always cleans the aftermath of his troublesome future wife's deeds, he built the strange confidence in this field of work.
Everyone makes a way for the prince to pass through the crowds, he leans down offering his hand as he finally stood in front of Judas.
"Duke Cassius, are you alright?"
Rex asked with fake concern helping Judas to get up from his favorite floor, after all, he kissed it passionately a moment ago.
He activated a cleaning magic tool which common for anyone to have, a bright shine of magic cleans the clothes of the Duke, he is back as he was before but not for his shattered pride.
"T-thank you, Your Highness"
Judas said awkwardly, he lost his chance to run away, now he completely becomes the center of attention as Rex is next to him, if only he was a woman he might pretend to faint under such a pressure of emotion.
"Maybe Duke Cassius is right, don't you say that you can feel the rage of God in that wind?"
Rex asked pouring salt on his embarrassing wound almost makes everyone burst into laughter, Judas talked as if he was a messenger of God before, deciphering the meaning behind the sudden gusts of wind as the rage of God upon the engagement, but now he is the only one who got prank by the very same wind.
"T-that wa-..."
"But, Duke Cassius..."
Rex cut his words pretending to not hear his stuttering voice.
"I love my fiancee, can you help me to ask for the blessing of God? I believe the prayers of someone like Duke Cassius who is a faithful believer will be very helpful"
Now Rex is like pouring vinegar onto his salted open wound, as if not enough to humiliate the grand counselor, this sadistic prince keeps on talking in sarcasm with his gentle face.
"God must love you very much to send you the wind as the reminder"
This two-faced prince is certainly enjoying the thought of him pouring the boiling water to Judas open wound, chuckles and murmured can be heard everywhere, the surroundings are looking at the arrogant counselor with ridiculing eyes especially the members of the non-Orthodox faction, Judas tried to seek help from his faction members but most of them are averting his gaze.
"Y-your Highness, I-I think I need to meet the physician"
Judas reasoning, he wants to leave this damn party right now.
"Should I call the priest who treated me before?"
"N-no!"
He desperately refused the prince's offer, it was only an excuse to leave the party, if his fake injury revealed it will blow another shame on him.
"Alright, please rest Duke, it's a shame that you couldn't witness my engagement until the end since I consider you as my uncle"
Rex tapped his arms bidding farewell as he innocently added.
"Please be careful today is a little windy"
Judas can only nod his head, he has no energy left to answer back as he walks to the gate in hurry without looking back.
No one knows this is the last moment the great Grand counselor will be seen in public
To be continued...