WHO SLEPT WITH THE PRINCESS?

"There will be an exciting read on the Socialite column tomorrow. Did you plan this all along as a revenge on that Spiros for bullying your alter-ego when he was young?" Ratatouille asked me.

"I didn't plan it this way. It was a close call. It could have ended badly for me in the party if that Ennea had her way", I told them.

"What happened there at the party? We missed a lot it seems. You slept with the Matriarch?" Rinna asked me angrily.

"Don't blame me. It was Sara", I replied to her.

"I don't understand. What happened there at the party? I was with you most of the time", Meera said to me.

"Sara discovered something was amiss in the party, so she scanned our surroundings. She found the Diabolese people preparing a battle arena inside the residence of the Demetriodes", I told them.

"Why are they preparing an arena for? Who is going to fight there on the prince's engagement night?" Chash asked us.

"That is it, who is going to fight? Unless someone would be forced to fight there", I replied to them.

"And the person they plan to force a fight is with you?" Cassandra asked me.

"It is likely. The Matriarch of Diabolese is Princess Ennea. I killed her already. Why is she back here and married to Spiros?" I asked them.

"Is she seeking vengeance on you for almost killing her?" Rinna asked me.

"No, she is not the real Princess Ennea", Sara told us.

"How do you know?" Rinna asked her.

"Because Sara is the one who went into Ennea's bedroom and slept with her", I replied to them to their shock and horror.

"I didn't sleep with her. It was your Malevolent Slave", Sara clarified.

"Wait, Did Sara or your Malevolent Slave sleep with Princess Ennea?" Ratatouille asked.

"You should start explaining from the beginning", Rinna told us.

"At first, I didn't know what Ennea was planning although I know she wants a duel with me. If she came back for vengeance, she would make me fight in the arena and the one who will fight with me will definitely be Spiros, the first ranked Knight Templar", I told them and explained.

"Making you fight with Spiros is not a good way to extract vengeance from you. Besides, if it was just to fight with you, she could make Spiros come challenge you in the Magic Arena", Meera asked.

"Firstly, they won't challenge me to the Magic Arena because they cannot come up with the wager. I would definitely wager no less than a billion Aur", I replied to them.

"That is reasonable", Chash added.

"Secondly, that Emily is really suspicious. She asked me to go with her to meet somewhere and I could smell rat immediately. It must be a trap of some kind", I told them.

"That is a stretch of the imagination", Ratatouille said to me.

"Think about it. Emily first gave me the poisoned wine in the Diabolese mansion. Then she appeared to me in the Demetrius mansion. There must be a connection somewhere and it has something to do with the poisoned wine", I told them.

"So, you are saying that Emily wanted to trick you in the Diabolese mansion first but failed because you left early. Then she tries again in Ennea's engagement party?" Cassandra asked me.

"What is with the poisoned wine?" Meera added and asked.

"The poisoned wine contains Blood magic", Rinna told us to our surprise.

"What? Blood magic?" Ratatouille asked in shock and surprise.

"Red Witch found out it wasn't poison inside the wine but blood magic although there is not enough of it to cause me problems. But it could be detected", I told them.

"So that is why there are so many priests in the engagement party and possibly even an apostle there. They wanted to frame you for possessing blood magic", Meera speculated.

"It is possible. Emily's father was persecuted because he practiced dark magic, what better revenge against me than letting the world know I am a Blood magic practitioner. The apostles would arrest me on the spot if the blood magic in my blood was revealed", I told them.

"You already drank the bloodied wine. They could reveal you there in the party", Chash said to me.

"Having a small amount of blood magic in my body may not be fatal to my case. I could always explain that someone poisoned me with blood magic laced wine and there may be many who would believe it", I told them.

"So, what are their plans?" Rinna asked us.

"Initially, this was an unsolved mystery, but Sara solved it", I told them as we looked at Sara.

"At first, I took on his bloody face to check what that Emily was up to while he remained in the party talking to the guests. If these people were to frame him for something, he would have a good alibi in the party", Sara told us.

After I talked to Emily at the party, I went to Sara and asked for her help.

She would transform into my face and go with Emily while I stayed behind in the party and talked to the nobles. If Emily were to frame me for something, for anything, I would have the perfect alibi.

"Indeed, with hindsight, Emily and Ennea did set up a trap for me. They laced their bedroom with hallucinogens containing aphrodisiac to make me fall for Ennea. Then Emily would bring Spiros to crash into the room to discover the adultery. Thinking that I was sleeping with his fiancé, Spiros would challenge and fight with me, and we would end up dueling to the death, in the arena prepared in the mansion", I explained to them.

"That is an overstretch of the imagination. In the end it is just a fight with Spiros, where is the ploy in that?" Ratatouille asked us.

"I discovered their ploy when I touched the bloody Ennea and found out", Sara told us.

"What did you find out?" Rinna asked her.

"This Ennea is not the real Ennea. She is the Blood Queen Euaemon", Sara told us to our shock.