Wicked Reign

How Long?

The Rozenreff Duchy was filled with joyous clatter since the breaking of dawn. From the buzzing kitchen which emitted a mouth-watering scent of food to the servants that were hanging the flagships of the Rozenreff Duchy to the end of the Ducal Territory, every servant was sporting a huge grin on their face.

In a room with curtains yet to be opened for the warm light to enter, a woman with gleaming ruby-red eyes was calmly seated on a chair with her favorite teacup in her right hand. Her waist-length wavy blonde hair cascaded down her nightgown as she stared at the empty abyss of her room.

There was no hint of accomplishment or happiness in her eyes as she leaned against her chair with her legs crossed.

A piece of parchment was ripped into shreds around her feet.

The plot has been destroyed the moment the female lead and the male lead disappeared. But why? Why am I feeling like this? It is the same feeling whenever the plot will take a drastic turn... It is as if there is more to be wary of.

A knock pulled Tori from her dark-filled trance. She immediately placed her concern-filled thoughts at the back part of her mind, totally thinking that she was overly paranoid because she just survived a series of dangerous activities with the gamble of her precious life.

"Come in."

Lilian entered the room with Tori's handmaidens in tow. Each one of them was holding a box of jewelry or two while a couple of handmaidens were pulling a trolley of dresses for the event that she would be attending finally.

"Greetings of peace to the Duchess of the Rozenreff Duchy." Lily greeted and curtsied which was mirrored by the others to which Tori answered with a wave of her hand.

Tori crossed her arms, cocked her head, and smiled at Lilian who was busy illuminating the room by opening the windows. "Indeed. I am now 'the' Duchess of Rozenreff Dukedom. Not an heir apparent, not the second choice heir... and definitely not the one who lost her head—but 'the' Duchess, and next I will be the Queen Regent of this empire I painstakingly gambled my expensive life for."

Lilian could not help but felt pity for the bundles of nerves who were fidgeting around Tori's dresses and pieces of jewelry. She was used to her mistress' quirks, but these servants—though loyal—still could not be used to Tori's lack of respect for the Imperial Family. Bowing her head as she stood behind her mistress, she said. "Your Grace, please exercise tact while in front of other people."

Tori merely raise her brow as she cast a fleeting glance at Lily. "Other people?" She shifted her attention to the fidgety handmaidens in her midst. "Your faces are new, but Lily is the one who recruited you, right?"

Flinching after being the receiving end of a pair of predatory ruby-red eyes, the handmaidens bowed immediately, eyes not daring to meet their mistress' calculative gaze. After all, they had heard what happened to the people who went against her and all of them did not have any good ending—even the emperor and the nobility were not spared.

"Y-Yes, Your Grace."

"Yes, Your Grace."

Tori crossed her arms as she smiled at them, making Lilian sigh inwardly. Tori asked languidly. "And are you not my people?"

A momentary silence pierced the room.

Tori continued with her teasing. In a voice that dropped the temperature around the room, she said. "Answer."

With trembling knees and shaking voices, the handmaidens dropped to their knees as they bowed their heads to the carpeted floor. "We are the loyal subjects of Her Grace, Duchess Victoria Rozenreff of the Great Rozenreff Duchy!"