Chapter 108: The Spiked Ball

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The doors to the ballroom opened.

Ivery and Luther entered the room and looked around the room that was filled with hundreds of nobles and royals.

"I'll go now, and don't forget to suppress your magic." Luther told Ivery and walked off

Ivery nodded and soon felt cold and lost without him beside her, because not only was she in unfamiliar territory, she was too used to him being beside her. Ivery and Luther already knew the massive weights they held in each other's hearts, being separated for long periods of time made them uneasy and completely empty.

She tried her best to shrug off the feeling since it was an unavoidable circumstance that they had to part ways.

Ivery walked past the crowds of people and discreetly looked around for whoever looked like the crown princess. She sighed and sat down at a table.

Her eyes continued to scan the room, and she then spotted someone familiar..

It was a man who stood out and shone brightly without even trying. His long blonde hair and his blood red eyes instantly identified him as Julian Anguis Argient Castiell.

And next to him was a woman she had never seen before, she was certainly beautiful, she had long curly red hair and dark green eyes. She wore a grand red jeweled dress that matched her hair color. But she definitely wasn't crown princess Katerina because despite her beautiful countenance, she still looked too mature to be a daughter of Julian...

Ivery thought about it and concluded this had to be the mother of Katerina, it made sense that the emperor would be with the woman who birthed the child he greatly favors.

Disregarding the latter, Katerina had to either resemble her mother or Julian...which narrowed it down to Katerina being a redhead or a blonde, on top of that she had to have inherited the demon blood curse in order to be Julian's heir.

The ballroom doors opened again and horns blew.

"Crown princess Katerina has arrived!"

"Crown prince Darius of Fresia has arrived!"

Ivery quickly turned her head when she heard the two names of the people who took hers and Luther's statuses.

She saw Katerina walk into the room holding the hand that belonged to Darius.

Just as she suspected, Katerina was indeed a redhead and had the same blood red eyes as Julian. She was a beauty but wasn't outstandingly beautiful. She wore a red and pink colored dress that had small chained red gems scattered on it.

And she took a good look at Darius and wasn't too impressed, compared to Luther he could be considered a potato, but to be fair all men to her looked like potatoes due to her beauty standards being risen to impossible levels thanks to Luther.

Darius didn't have much of an elegant yet dangerous presence like Luther did, just by walking into a room he made people uneasy but they still revered him.

Darius wore a red outfit resembling Katerina's, they definitely stood out but that was only because of their statuses, their faces were commonly seen amongst royals and nobles who had good genes. Their aura was also oddly nothing special, she didn't feel the same great and royally domineering aura that Julian, Cassandra, Erdel, Caribella, and Luther always emitted..

Everyone in the room bowed down in their presence.

Katerina was shamelessly smiling widely and looking around in awe, it was as if she wasn't used to any of this. Darius leaned over and said something in her ear, when he pulled away from her ear her excited expression dropped, and was suddenly calm and composed, but it was clear that the excitement in her eyes couldn't match the calm expression she changed to.

"Odd.." Ivery narrowed her eyes

Katerina and Darius greeted Julian and who Ivery suspected was Katerina's mother. Once they both finished greeting the Emperor and his partner, the ball resumed and everyone chattered away.

Now that she knew what Katerina looked like, all she had to do was keep a close eye on her to either prove her suspicion correct or clear it for good and carry their investigation elsewhere.

....

An hour passed by and Katerina and Darius did nothing but greet the attendees of the ball, she felt tired just watching it since she knew by firsthand experience how exhausting it was and how endless it seemed.

Ivery closed her eyes, feeling increasingly tired,

"Are you okay?" A soft voice asked her

"Hm?" Ivery opened her eyes and her heart almost dropped from shock

For some unknown reason, Katerina was suddenly standing right in front of her with a smile.

"I'm fine, thank you for your concern.." Ivery stood up and bowed her head

"What is your name?" She asked Ivery and sat down beside her and placed a cup on the table

"Inanna.." Ivery didn't know why Katerina was personally speaking with her out of everyone else at the ball, this was way too suspicious

"Based on your eyes you must be one of my sisters." Katerina grabbed Ivery's hands

"Yes.." Ivery felt extremely uncomfortable

"Here, I received this drink but I don't like the flavor, why don't you have it instead?" Katerina picked up the cup and presented it to Ivery

"...." Ivery's suspicion rose incredibly high, this had to be Xia...

Something was definitely wrong with the drink...it was most likely something that would kill her. Who in their right mind would persistently try to have another royal drink something they already drunk and didn't like themselves?

"My stomach is very upset today, I sincerely apologize for having to decline your offer." Ivery bowed her head again, making up the quickest lie she could think of to avoid drinking the cup of unknown liquid Katerina offered

"A few sips shouldn't hurt." Katerina insisted with a smile

"I-" Ivery wasn't putting that cup nowhere near her mouth

"Hello." An interruption came

"Hm?" Katerina turned her head and looked at a beautiful silver-haired woman oddly dressed in black men's attire

Her lovely icy blue eyes were enchanting, her posture was graceful and elegant, and the great aura this woman gave off made Katerina oddly feel like she had to bow instead of being bowed to..

"Who are you?" Katerina asked

"I am Lucinda." Luther smiled and made up a name on the spot

"What is it that you want?" Katerina inquired, her tone clearly revealed that she was upset

"I just wish to speak with this charming young lady here." Luther gestured to Ivery

"I am currently speaking with her right now, wait until I'm finished.." Katerina was growing irritated

"What is that?" Luther asked, looking at the cup Katerina held in her hand

"Juice, why?" She questioned

"Is it yours?" He asked

"It is.." She responded

"Are you going to drink it?" He continued to ask questions

"No." Katerina shook her head and was starting to become irritable

"May I have it?" He smiled

"I already offered it to Inanna, there should be more over there." Katerina's eyebrows furrowed

"Do you want the drink, Inanna?" Luther asked Ivery

"I don't, I have a stomach ache.." Ivery told him with a shake of her head

"Since she doesn't want it, then it shouldn't go to waste." Luther took the cup from Katerina

"Hey!" Katerina stood up and reached for the cup

"What's wrong crown princess? I thought you didn't want it." Luther smirked and held the cup back

"I..." She didn't know how to respond, there was something about this woman that made her feel cold down to her bones

Luther put the cup to his lips and turned it up, he quickly drunk it and put the empty cup down on the table.

Katerina had a look of shock on her face and her eyebrows furrowed again. She huffed and walked away with obvious anger.

...

"Luther, why did you drink it?!" Ivery grabbed his arm and was worried

"I'll be fine, I couldn't just let you drink it instead, as long as there was something inside of it she would've tried to get it back." Luther told her

"Just know...it wasn't juice.." Luther collapsed on the floor

"!!" Ivery caught his head before it hit the floor

He coughed up blood and his breathing was weak. She held Luther close to her and bit her bottom lip in frustration..

It was definite. Katerina is Xia...

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