Flesh and Blood

"Your daughter had been bullied," Victoria glared at her husband as she watched him drinking his afternoon tea. "Are you not planning on doing something about it?" she asked.

"Do something about what?" Slowly, Marquess Martin Lux closed the Empire's newspaper and stared at his wife. "Isn't it nothing but a squabble among kids?"

"Kids?" Victoria gasped. "This was the first time someone treated Dorothy like this since she was born, and yet you are treating it as a mere squabble?"

"Can you blame them?" Martin met his wife's eyes.

"What do you mean? Dorothy is the daughter of a Blessed! She shouldn't be treated that way!"

"She has not received the Blessing yet," Martin said. "One of those kids is going to receive the Blessing. We cannot treat them with prejudice."

"Prejudice!?" Victoria's jaw dropped. "Do you see it as prejudice? Doing something to stop bullying is prejudice?"

"Then should I punish them?"

"You— "

"What would happen if father hears about this?"

"So you are willing to let this pass because you do not want to disappoint your father?"

"He had doted on Dorothy. You cannot blame him for being disappointed when his favorite grandchild didn't receive the Blessing of the Goddess." Martin sighed. "Right now, father wants to know who will receive the Blessing. Therefore, he is going to act impartial and treat everyone well. One of them could be the Blessed One."

"But she is your daughter! Your flesh and blood!"

"Yet she isn't the Blessed One," Martin said blandly. "For whatever reason, she isn't the Blessed One."

Victoria's nose flared as she tried to swallow her anger. "Very well, since you are not planning to do something about it then…"

"You are not allowed to touch any of them."

"What?"

"I am not suggesting, Victoria, I am telling you. One of them is going to replace me. Do you think they would forget about your cruelty once they ascend to their rightful place?"

"Martin…" Victoria grabbed her dress as she tried to calm herself down.

"What do think are they going to do to Dorothy once they claimed the seat of the Blessed One?" Martin clenched his teeth.

"Then am I supposed to watch my daughter suffer? What kind of mother would watch their child be bullied!?"

"A mother that cared about the future of their child," Martin said. "We are not going to live in this world forever. Eventually, Dorothy will be all alone. You must… think about that."

"Where are you going?" Victoria demanded when Martin stood up.

"The Emperor wants me to entertain the Duke and— "

"Is he going to announce his marriage?"

Martin didn't answer.

"The rumor that Rosalind likes the Duke is quite rampant in the Capital. The citizens are singing songs about it. You should tell the Emperor about that."

"Do you really think the Duke would agree?" Martin snorted. "He, a nobleman, would never agree to marry a cursed child from our family. He is a Duke. Someone similar to his status is what he would want to marry."

Panic arose on Victoria's face.

"You cannot let our daughter marry that man! How could you let a barbarian take our daughter away? You are the Blessed One. I am sure that— "

"And the Duke is guarding the North," Martin said.

"Martin, you— do you really want our daughter to suffer? It wasn't her fault that she did not receive the Blessing. Something must be done about this! We cannot just let her marry a barbarian."

Martin clenched his jaw. He sighed and gave his wife one last look. "Take care of it," he said. "I do not want to be made aware of what you are going to do. I know nothing about it."

With that, Martin turn his back and left his wife in the drawing room.

Seeing her husband's disappearing back, she immediately called her maid.

"I want more rumors…. Everywhere." Victoria said. "Tell everyone that Rosalind had seen the Duke's face and was quite smitten with his appearance. Tell them that… that they had met at the border and that they must have met secretly while she was there."

"But Madam… that rumor is going to damage the reputation of the Lux Family. If the head would hear about this— "

"Let them hear it," Victoria said. "I want you to bring more invitations to Rosalind. Make her show herself to the public, she needs everyone to remember her." Victoria needed to remind the Emperor of Rosalind's existence.

Victoria narrowed her eyes.

Creating a malicious rumor against someone was easy, but making the Duke accept Rosalind as his bride was going to be very challenging.

"Madam, I heard that the young lady Dorothy already invited young miss Rosalind for the hunting event."

"She did?" Victoria immediately smiled. The hunting event was to showcase the Duke's appearance. The four princes of the empire and other noblemen would be there to join the event. While the noblemen hunt for animals, the womenfolk were going to be having tea and waiting for them.

Once done, they were going to gift the animal that they caught to the woman that they liked.

"Announce Dorothy's sudden illness to everyone," Victoria said. "I will personally handle the welcome banquet and we will send Marie and Rosalind to the hunt. Dorothy needs time to recuperate."

Grace immediately understood her words.

Now, all they needed to do was make sure that the Duke would at least look at Rosalind. Victoria heard of the Duke's cruelty and she didn't want to make her actions too obvious so as to avoid any complications.

She knew that the Duke came here looking for more support and to negotiate terms with the Empire. In response, the Empire was going to show him fake loyalty and gift him with a bride. Sadly, this news arrived on the day that Dorothy failed to receive her Blessing.

Almost immediately, Victoria knew that they were going to sacrifice her daughter to try to appease the Duke. How could she let the Empire do that?

Dorothy was her precious… precious daughter. She would never let a barbarian take her away from the Capital. Because of this, she immediately created a plan to use Rosalind instead.

Sadly, the two people cared more about their faces than their families!

Frederico and Martin Lux!

Those two would rather make Dorothy marry the Duke and make their favoritism so obvious! They would rather sacrifice their own blood than use someone who was not meant to be a member of the Lux Family!