Volume 9 Chapter 491: Secret War Between the Forces at the Rose Banquet and the Empress’s Invitation to a Secret Midnight Rendezvous
Translator: The Light
Edits by Lord Immortal
At the Gabriel Empire’s capital, Gabriels City (Sword Capital) imperial city palace area, Rose Palace. The Rose Banquet was currently in progress, and it was now time for the dinner session. Even though the master of ceremonies was still droning on, the one in charge of serving the food couldn’t be bothered to listen anymore, giving orders for the waiters to serve the dishes.
The dishes at a nobles’ banquet were mainly focused on exquisiteness and elegance, unlike the usual stuff served outside. Bella looked at the pathetically small portions of fine dining dishes in front of her and felt a little helpless. Even though the food was delicious, the amount was too small. No nobles would generally ask for seconds, which made it even harder for Bella.
Dragon Knight Olya was sitting quietly beside Bella, allowing the latter to put her arm around her. Bella was the first person who would dare molest her like this, and she might also be the last. Olya tentatively asked Bella about how she felt about the emperor just now, so as to say, Ninth Princess Felia, her father, Emperor Octavio the Twelfth.
Even though Bella was not the real Princess Felia, she didn’t really have any good feelings for Emperor Octavio the Twelfth. However, as the Octavia Empire supported Bella’s Sarnia Duchy, she couldn’t just scold him in front of everyone. She could only complain about her dissatisfactions. This was all still within Olya’s expectations. After confirming that Bella was Princess Felia, based on the original plans, Olya was supposed to report to the Octavia Empire.
However, after pondering on it, Olya decided to delay her report and continue to observe Bella for some time. The Gabriel Empire was currently in a tense political situation, and a war was going to break out at any moment. It was safer to announce things when the situation stabilized a little. If Bella really was Princess Felia, the Octavia Empire would openly support the Southern Alliance.
The Imperial Council was not going to just sit idly by. The reason it was created was to work out the differences between the five empires of the human continent, preventing a full-scale war from happening between them. However, they would turn a blind eye to the fights in the dark. Fortunately, Bella didn’t have time to care about Olya’s thoughts. Kriss’s arrival had once again diverted her attention.
“Bella, the Emperor is a very good man, so please don’t blame him!”
“Bella, you shouldn’t listen to the rumors. The Emperor’s position is very stable.”
Before Kriss could even speak, the two Hilikas family twin sisters accompanying her quickly tried to appease Bella. They misunderstood that Bella had some misgivings about Emperor Alfred the Third and sputtered on about the Emperor’s good side. When she saw these two pure-faced twins, Bella really couldn’t bear to clear up the misunderstanding. She just didn’t mention which emperor it was she was complaining about before.
“Alright now, I have something to speak with Kriss. You two kids shouldn’t meddle in adult matters. Take this and go over there and play!”
“Who’s a kid, you bad big sister?! You’re only a couple years older than me! Hey? This thing looks really well made.”
“What’s this toy? I’ve never seen it before. Fine, we won’t disturb you.”
Bella easily got the twins to leave with two finely-crafted music boxes. When they saw the interesting new toy, the two sisters scurried off to the side to play not far away from Bella. If they stayed near Bella, those old men from their family couldn’t say that they were just playing around and not doing their tasks.
After Olya saw Kriss, she nodded to her as a greeting. After that, she got up to leave, giving her seat to Kriss. There were still some things that Olya had to discuss with the Hilikas twins, Calman and Cahlia, so she went to look for them. Kriss shot her a grateful smile and naturally went to Bella’s side.
Just like magic, Bella pulled out a golden rose from her storage ring and handed it to Kriss. After that, Kriss took off her own white rose, changing it to the golden one without the slightest hesitation.
Many young aristocrat males, who wanted to invite Princess Kriss to dance, were almost blinded by this unbelievable situation. So this was possible too, huh? As for the golden rose, Bella was the only person who had it, meaning there was no use thinking about inviting her tonight. Kriss was destined to go with Bella.
“Bella, you’re finally here! I haven’t seen you in days. Seriously, there’s no freedom in the palace at all.”
“Kriss, at least it’s safe in here. What on earth is that old man thinking? The capital is almost going under siege, yet he still has the mood to play around with these political marriages?”
Bella didn’t care about the others’ glances and continued chatting with Kriss. According to Kriss’s information, Emperor Alfred the Third was being constrained by the empire’s guardian family, the Hilikas family, so he didn’t really have free rein. The Hilikas family had always been conservative and believed that they could solve the crisis with harmonization.
This method felt useless to Bella, though. From her information, the forces of the three princes wouldn’t retreat so easily. Plus, there was a fifth party in collusion with the Darkness Church stirring things up in the imperial city area. They were trying to disrupt the Emperor’s plans and throw the Gabriel Empire’s political climate into disorder.
The banquet was still in progress; it was now time for the guests to invite a partner to dance. Helena was sitting next to Bella and refused to budge, while the male guests didn’t dare to come over. Eventually, they could only give up on trying to invite Helena. The other famous princesses of the empire were all finding their own ways to avoid the invitation of the guests. Grand Princess Kliveny was pretending to be drunk despite having only taken a single sip of wine. She asked Second Princess Karin to help her to the break room to rest, then the two never returned.
Fifth Princess Krylo pretended to go to the bathroom and also never came back. Meanwhile, the final Fourth Princess Khalifa disappeared without even a single peep. Emperor Alfred the Third was so mad that he almost jumped from his seat. It was inevitable that his daughters would become rebellious as they grew up, but this time, for them to rebel collectively was too disgraceful for him.
Fortunately, most of the male guests attending the Rose Banquet were only here for the show. They didn’t really mind. For example, guys like Prince Daniel would have way more fun playing around with maids at the Sky Pool Palace than here. The servants knew all sorts of positions, but it was the first time for most of these noble young mistresses. It was too monotonous playing with them.
Since Bella had a special status, the three princes vying for the throne, the current crown prince, Second Prince Daniel, First Prince Burdis, and Third Prince Granade, as well as the emperor’s “son-in-law-to-be”, the eldest son of the Renald family, Leonardo, for their own various reasons, did not come to chat with Bella. They did not even bother with the usual courteous greetings.
Bella had never made a clear statement regarding which prince she was supporting to ascend the throne. Despite her previous cooperation with the emperor’s younger brother, Prince Frauer, the Southern Alliance under her control had already surpassed him. It was unclear whether the collaboration between both sides was still valid. For politicians and businessmen, there were only permanent interests, not permanent friends, and Bella happened to be both of those.
However, out of etiquette, the three great princes had still come to greet Bella. Though they held differing views in their hearts, there was one thing they had to admit: Bella already had the power relative to a prince. Thus, greeting her was also an indirect recognition of her strength and authority.
“Grand Duchess Bellina, I have not seen you in a while. Our previous cooperation went very well. I hope our relationship can continue.”
“Grand Duchess Bellina, it’s not proper for a beautiful girl like you to remain single, is it? If you don’t mind, I can invite some talented young men of the empire for you.”
“Grand Duchess Bellina, which prince do you think seems more fitting to ascend?”
Bella finally met the three great princes of the empire. She had already met Emperor Alfred the Third’s younger brother, Prince Frauer. He was a middle-aged man in standard ceremonial prince attire, sporting short blonde hair with a hawk nose. He had the same sinister look in his eyes. He could have brought up their previous cooperation to test Bella to see whether she was willing to work with him again.
Emperor Alfred the Third’s father-in-law, Prince Anders, was a middle-aged man with short black hair. He had a classic Asian look, as well as a face decorated with a large cut. He had an aura exclusive to the soldiers who had been on innumerable battlefields and experienced countless trials of life and death. He gave off more the air of a great general than your usual prince.
Prince Anders came from the background of a great general. When he was young, he led an army to crush the Beastman Continent. Not only that, but he also participated in the frontlines of the war between the human allied forces and the demons in the demon invasion to the north. The cut on his face came from that war. If it were not for the political marriage between Kriss and the Renald family’s Leonard, Bella would have admired this prince quite a lot, who was at least more normal than the other two.
Prince Anders had a bolder character and directly spoke with Bella in a half-joking tone, intending to find her a boyfriend. In his opinion, Bella would not meddle in the personal matters of the princesses if she found herself a boyfriend. He had a good first impression of her. Other than her preference for girls, she was much better than the male nobles. As the Southern Alliance leader, he had not heard any nasty rumors about her putting up installations to waste money and manpower or whatnot.
The Darkness Sacred Region was building new things every day, but their human labor force was limited. Underworld Demon King Cornice did not hire any humans while she was in charge of the Sarnia Duchy. All the heavy work went to the undead who could toil all day tirelessly. For outsiders who didn’t know the truth, they mistakenly thought that Bella just wasn’t wasting any manpower.
Emperor Alfred the Third’s older brother, Prince Brad, was a fat middle-aged man who similarly had blonde hair. He was quite plump, and one could tell at a glance that he was the type who gorged himself. Sweeping a glance at his hands, she saw the thick golden rings decorating each of his ten fingers. If he were not dressed in standard prince ceremonial attire, Bella would have thought he was some nouveau riche from somewhere.
Prince Brad was least like a prince out of the three, but he voiced the question that neither of the other two dared to ask. He asked Bella who she thought was more fitting as heir for the throne. This question was simply a “death sentence”. He was directly asking Bella which prince she supported.
If she were honest, Bella did not support any of them. When she thought about the daughters or granddaughters of the three princes, Cathy and the others who had all exposed their shy and seductive sides to her after being bullied underneath her body, the one thing Bella would most like to say was, “Your daughters/granddaughters are all great!” Who knew what sort of faces the three princes would make if they heard that, or would they just die of anger?
However, if she didn’t support any of them, she would stand on the neutral side. Neutral parties would generally become the priority of all other parties to siege and destroy. Bella was not afraid of the other princes, but she also did not want to be the first one to provoke civil unrest in the empire yet. Just as Bella was about to speak, someone came to her aid. It was Empress Deborah the Fifth.
“You old men seriously… No matter how noble Grand Duchess Bellina’s identity maybe, she’s but a normal girl! If you all surround her like that, how is she going to enjoy the Rose Banquet? I’d like to have a ladies’ chat with her, so, please.”
When they saw the Empress come forward, the princes had no choice but to give her face. They could only say goodbye for the time being. Empress Deborah the Fifth had explicitly said she wanted to privately chat with Bella, so it was not appropriate for the three adult men to listen in on that. As for which side Bella was on, they could only find time to ask for the answer later.
Empress Deborah the Fifth had Eastern black hair and black-eyed looks, just like Prince Anders. She did not have a big bust, but it was just right. Bella’s observations were extensive. For the short instant she stood next to Empress Deborah the Fifth, she could instantly smell something suspicious about her.
Bella had pushed down many girls and could judge from their body odor whether it was their first time. Despite being Grand Princess Kliveny’s mother, Bella smelled the scent of a virgin from her body. This Empress’s cherry hadn’t been popped yet? So far, after transmigrating to this world, Empress Manya Felan of the Manasvir Empire was the only one maintaining the identity of an empress, though false. She still had not been “used” since she was a transmigrator.
Empress Deborah the Fifth was not a transmigrator, as she didn’t have a transmigrator’s scent on her. Bella was now able to identify transmigrators as well since that wonderful encounter with the dimension’s God of Creation in the past timeline, which mysteriously activated an ability within her to detect them.
Bella once thought that Emperor Alfred the Third had been cucked to not even have “used” Empress Deborah the Fifth. It was worth going deeper into where Grand Princess Kliveny came from. Fortunately, the truth would be revealed to her soon. This Empress Deborah the Fifth was a fake. Bella looked at her hands and could discern that they belonged to a young girl around the age of seventeen to eighteen.
This beauty’s disguise of Empress Deborah the Fifth was very well done; even Bella was almost fooled by her. If Bella was not a “dirty girl”, who was virtually perverted in her observation of beauties, the fake Empress Deborah might still be able to keep up the charade undiscovered for a long time to come. Bella did not expose her on the spot and feigned ignorance. She wanted to know the reason why this fake Empress Deborah was helping her.
After secretly observing Emperor Alfred the Third’s demeanor, she was sure that this emperor had no idea that his wife had been swapped. Since he had many beautiful concubines in his harem, after Empress Deborah the Fifth gave birth to Grand Princess Kliveny and Second Prince Daniel, Emperor Alfred basically had no room for her anymore. He would go to the other concubines every night to enjoy a life of passion.
It was only on such major events that Emperor Alfred the Third would attend with Empress Deborah the Fifth, giving the citizens of the empire the illusion that they were still a “model couple”. In fact, Emperor Alfred and Empress Deborah had been separated for many years and seldom interacted with each other.
“Sister Empress, if you’re here to introduce me to boys, then please return! I’m only interested in girls.”
“Uh, you’re quite honest, Grand Duchess Bellina. However, the Emperor will not support your interests.”
“It’s fine. As long as I’m happy, why should I care about the Emperor? If you have only come to say this, then please excuse yourself!”
“That’s not it, Grand Duchess Bellina. I was thinking that perhaps we could work together. I’ll come over again later! There are too many eyes here; it’s not convenient.”
Empress Deborah the Fifth secretly put something like a scented pouch into Bella’s hand. To outsiders, it looked as if the Empress had given a small gift to the Grand Duchess as a friendly gesture. There was nothing strange about it. However, other than the pouch, Bella was sure there was something else Empress Deborah had passed to her.
The scented pouch was just a disguise; what Empress Deborah really wanted to give her was hidden inside the scented pouch. It was a small slip of paper, which marked the map of the harem, as well as a large set of keys. Bella found a secluded corner and opened the note. It read, “Meet me at 12 this evening at Star Rain Palace!”, signed Empress Deborah the Fifth.
This fake empress was interesting. Wasn’t it just a secret meeting? But it felt like she was being invited for adultery in the middle of the night. Bella destroyed the small note and decided to sneak into the emperor’s harem to see what Empress Deborah the Fifth was up to. If she was lucky, she could also enjoy herself with Kriss and the other princesses in the harem, to which she was given the keys.