Vashi stepped out of her chamber, surrounded by her dark aura. Dark siren green eyes, red rosy lips, and curves protruding through her dark gown. The black gown had three chains on the waistline. The crochet was tight on her body, with only a rope tied behind her back holding the gown.
Long flare sleeves, with pearl beads on the edges. Her long straight hair let down, outlining her straight jawline, her beauty was dark but out of this world.
As she walked, chest out, gaze ahead, both hands crossed in front of her. She felt a wary omen surrounding her. The maids gazed at her weirdly, some moping endlessly.
She squinted her siren eyes, and they looked more enticing, like sharpened crystal emerald glass. When she got to the end of the hallway, she turned elegantly, her low shoes gliding on the smooth shiny floor.
The blade of sunray penetrating through the floor-to-ceiling windows radiated on her face. As she walked, the anklet on her ankle jingled; it was her iconic jewelry, which the maids had taken notice of and used to identify her entrance.
Just then she came across Micah. She was wearing an orange gown, her dark wavy hair curled, draping on her shoulders, her thick lashes fluttering above her blue eyeballs. She didn't spare Vashi a glare; ever since the day they dined together in her room, it has been that way.
Vashi cared less; she was a no-nonsense person. The mere existence of people around her didn't matter; only what she wanted mattered to her. But she failed to catch a glimpse of Micah's intensive gaze on her neck.
Micah's fleeting gaze was withdrawn when Vashi paused in her steps. She turned around swiftly only to see Micah walking away, her gown billowing behind her, curly hair bouncing. Vashi blinked her lashes; hesitant, she turned around and then continued on her way.
Vashi made her way to the inner courtyard terrace. It was a terrace connecting two separate buildings by a long hallway with railings. She leaned on the railings, watching Racheal practice sword fighting with the commander of the guards.
Someone leaned beside her, with a cold face, icy glare, and blue crystal gaze that cuts sharp. Aura unswervingly, long, lean fingers crossing around the railings. The feminine energy of a thousand soldiers marching to war—it was Jazell.
"You look pale." Jazell said her gaze was fixed on Racheal, who was sword fighting on the mini field between the two buildings in the inner court.
"Is it showing on my face? It must be that bad then." Vashi also didn't raise her gaze. A chilly wind blew past, and her dark hair blew backwards, exposing her neck for a split second.
"Winter is coming." Jazell said, gaze unswervingly pitched on Vashi's face. The chilly wind made the dry branches of the grown tree planted on the field sway, dry leaves falling on the green grass.
Vashi felt her throat going dry; she didn't know what was happening to her.
"Do you feel…well? Jazell's pupils dilated as her glare inched on Vashi's face. Vashi nodded, feeling her throat sore, her thoughts flipping in a whirlwind.
"Can I tell you a secret?" Jazell asked in a low tone, rhetorically. Vashi didn't give her a response, so she went ahead.
"Did you really think the harem is just a game where you can move plastic statues on the board?" Jazell's question was rather heavy in meaning, and Vashi could almost catch the intent of her words but not fully.
"Speak to me in plain words." Vashi's sonorous voice pierced the air.
"Are my words not blunt enough?" Jazell arched her brows, then shook her head from side to side.
"You should get some rest; you don't look well." She turned around to leave, but Vashi gripped her wrist.
"Jazell…" she called, wearing a fake smile; no smile lines appeared on her flawless skin.
"Why do I feel that there is a ripple in our friendship?"
Jazell's gaze slowly travelled to Vashi's hand, which was on her wrist. Then she languidly retrieved her hand from Vashi's grip, using her other hand to loosen Vashi's grip.
"It is Queen Jazell." Jazell said, correcting her cold gaze before turning around and walking away majestically. Vashi glanced down at her hand, which Jazell had gently yanked away like it was nothing.
Suddenly a bitter smile tugged at the corner of her lips, slowly spreading.
"Queen Jazell?…" She said with irritation, then scoffed. She glanced down just in time to see Racheal retracting her gaze.
Vashi was quiet for a while before simply turning around, her gown flapping as she turned and her hair swaying in the air before dropping demurely behind her neck.
Jia was in the garden enjoying the fresh air when someone walked up to her and sat beside her. The lady crossed her legs elegantly before taking an apple from the fruit basket in front of the bench swing.
"You look…" Jia wanted to say something.
"Oh, for heaven's sake, don't tell me how I look! Vashi took a hard bite from the apple, munching it with anger boiling in her blood.
"The queens, are they giving you a hard time?"
"The queens? You are a queen, are you not?" Vashi spat out treacherously.
Jia smiled, not sincerely. Her smile had a deep meaning.
"Did you perhaps encounter Jazell?" She asked, then focused her gaze on the poem she was writing in a book.
Vashi stopped munching the apple in her mouth…
"How did… How did you know that?" She asked with creased brows.
"It is likely, Vashi, that Jazell has a sharp tongue; she knows how to cut where it hurts deep." Jia drew the words on the book slowly, intentionally.
Vashi fondled her fingers silently, her lips curling as her thoughts began to overlap.
"You didn't tell me I was in a den filled with cunning tigresses."
"It took you all this while to figure this out? Then I must wonder what will become of you when you get to know each queen in person, although… I don't think you have that much time." Jia purposely fixed her gaze on the book she was writing on. She could feel Vashi's intense gaze on her.
"All of a sudden everyone speaks in riddles." Vashi muttered sarcastically and then directed her gaze on Jia.
"Are you with me or against me?" She asked rather bluntly.
"It depends, Vashi; truth be told, do not trust anyone." Jia said those words for the first time, but it was a warning in disguise.
Vashi bit her lips…
"The extent of the duplicity I have faced must be retaliated." She mused, rubbing her lean fingers against each other.
Jia languidly raised her gaze.
"Did Jazell proclaim you her enemy?"
"No, but it seemed like it."
"So you assume? Jia was simply entertained.
"What will you have me do? Question her?" Vashi said, throwing her hand in the air. She had come to this place to kill Ragaleon, but now she had slowly begun to fall for him, lust seizing her thoughts.
Jia slowly closes her book, then drops the feather pen in her hand close to the ink bottle on the table. She crosses her legs and then wraps both hands around her knees, her upper body straightened up.
"You are new to the system; that is why you think everyone can easily be manipulated…fooled." Jia sighed, a grin spreading across her lips.
"I have more enemies than I thought."
"Jazell would never proclaim an open war; that is how she is…cunning, a scheming bitch." Jia started pouring herself wine from the filled golden jar on the table. She also filled another cup for Vashi.
"You must have done something wrong, and even if you didn't, if she sees you as a threat, she will try to eliminate you." Jia explained in detail, then handed over a cup filled with wine to Vashi.
"For a queen who has nothing to lose, she sure amuses me with her deceit." Vashi said, quenching her throat with the wine, the tingling of the taste dancing on her taste buds.
"This is a harem, Vashi. Everyone is a predator, and every predator is prey; remember these words I say to you." Jia said. When Vashi looked in her eyes, she saw nothing but pureness.
She slowly rose to her feet, the cup of wine still within her firm grip.
"Your kindness will surely be repaid in due time, Jia." She said, adjusting her gown.
Jia nodded curtly, then sipped from her wine. When she raised her gaze, she saw that Vashi had already walked away.
"If the queen of tactics has her eyes on you, then the countdown has just begun!