Chapter 194 The Shield and the Troublemaker

Without even looking at the plump man, Lucinia walked directly towards the female lead. She looked at the red handprint on the woman's neck.

"You! How dare you— Ahhhh!" the man suddenly trembled. Unable to continue his words, he fell to his knees. He balled his hands into tight fists, his nostrils flared as he forced his head up and glared at Lucinia. "What is this? What ability is this!? This… "

"If I were you, I would shut my mouth."

The man froze as he watched the white-haired man walked next to Lucinia. "Duke Mo! What are you doing? I am a Duke!"

"And she is a Princess… and my wife." A flash of disinterest glinted in his orbs before he stood next to the woman. "Why did you hurt a servant? And a human at that?"

"What's wrong with hurting a mere servant?" the man said, disgust laced his eyes as he looked at the female lead. "She is a mere servant! Why would someone like you interfere in my business."

"I could cut your tongue just by talking to my wife like that." Mo Li's words made the man froze. He was certain that Mo Li had the capability to hurt him. However, he was confident that he wouldn't as he know that Mo Li and Prince Gavril had a bad relationship. Hurting one of the Prince's friends inside his own property was akin to insulting the Prince. He knew that Duke Mo had been living in this kingdom peacefully, he was certain that he wouldn't disturb that peace just because of a mere princess who can't even drink blood.

Sadly for him, he never thought that it was Lucinia would dare hurt him. "Hurting a weak woman just because you are stronger. What a bully." Lucinia eyed another servant and ordered her to attend to the female lead. Then she finally turned her attention to the man, kneeling on the lawn. By now, the commotion had attracted the attention of everyone, it even made some of the nobles inside the palace go out just to watch a show.

A smile made its way into her lips as she looked down and increased the pressure that she was giving to the Duke. Blood… that was her ability.

Lucinia figured out that even if vampires have different types of blood than humans she could still control it. In fact, her ability to control a vampire's blood was stronger than her ability to control a human's.

Of course, Lucinia already had her own suspicion about this ability. However, she was still uncertain about some things, and thus, she doesn't want to make any conclusions about the matter.

"What are you doing?" the man hissed, his fangs showing, a sign that he was trying to do his best to fight whatever it was, that was making him kneel in front of everyone!

"Bullying you," Lucinia said. "After all… I am stronger than you." Her eyes roamed around the other people surrounding them before it landed towards Prince Gavril that was staring at her from the stairs. Seeing that the prince was not showing any intention to stop her, Lucinia continued, "I have heard about vampires bullying human servants and I believe it was high time that we stop that, no?"

"You— Who are you to say that?"

"I am a woman, a weak one." She smiled. "Just like the servants that everyone loves to bully."

"I would never— "

"Listen here, you idiot!" Lucinia interrupted the man's voice. She glanced at her brother before she continued, "I would not tolerate any vampires bullying women in front of me. As someone who had been bullied by everyone my whole life, I am declaring myself as the enemies of bullies!"

"…"

"…"

"…"

"Foolish…"

Lucinia beamed at the man who spoke. It didn't take a few seconds for the man to crumble on the floor, trembling in pain. "Who's next?" Lucinia asked, her lips lifted into a mischievous smile. Then she added. "This kingdom values integrity and morals. We might be vampires, but we are not animals. This kingdom aims to co-exist with everyone. We value peace and solidarity." She uttered. Of course, she knew this was all some bullshit stuff. No one would listen to her, and many would probably laugh at her behind her back.

However, Lucinia would never care about the opinion of these people. What she cared about is the fact that she wanted to see if the phrase that she suddenly remembered would work. Lately, Lucinia could see flickers, small memories about books that she had read. She wasn't sure if this was Lily's memories or Lucinia's, all she knew was that they were all about warfare, manipulation, and other evil schemes.

'Keep others in suspended terror, cultivate the air of unpredictability'

That was the phrase that she had been seeing lately. It made her feel that being predictable would give others the ability to control her— something that she wouldn't want to happen. So, she wanted to show something inconsistent. She wanted them to get confused, she wanted to wear them out and stop them from trying to predict her moves. She was trying to use this phrase to intimidate and terrorize.

For some reason, knowing these small phrases was making her a little more confident, fierce, and even evil.

She smiled at Prince Gavril before she looked at the kneeling Duke. "Repeat after me."

"You— I would never— "

"Repeat. After. Me!" she increased the pressure and watched as the blood trickled from the Duke's lips. Lucinia ignored the gasp from other vampires. Sure, they could attack her, but for some reason, she felt confident that Duke Mo would help her out. Duke Mo was obviously someone that these people feared. Even Prince Gavril couldn't really stand looking at the Duke for a long time!

Lucinia actually likened the Duke to a huge shield, someone standing next to her to protect her. And while she could protect herself without his help, the feeling of someone protecting her was still a bit… nice.

"Alright! Just stop it! Stop it!"

"I" Lucinia beamed.

"I"

"Would never…"

"Would never…"

"Hurt…"

"Hurt…"

"Another servant." Lucinia continued.

"I would never do that! Servants are lower than animals! They were sold! You can trade them, r*pe them, kill them! They are your properties! I would— Ahhhh!"

Lucinia frowned, her face looking extremely righteous. "You are the one that is lower than an animal!" She spat and increased the pressure, almost suffocating the Duke. Of course, she wasn't really planning to kill him. Lucinia wanted to create a fake facade and master the art of indirection. This was something that she learned from the memories that were making her head hurt from time to time.

Again, unpredictability and indirection.

"These servants are people too! You treat them like dirt, and yet you wonder why humans and witches hated us?" she squinted her eyes. On the outside, her face looked extremely emotional while on the inside, Lucinia was wondering if this would be effective in the end. Would she be able to manipulate the female lead and the male lead into thinking that she wasn't the enemy?

This should be the least of her concern. However, Lucinia was intending to stay in this world for a couple of years and to be able to survive without any hassle, her best option was to make the male lead her ally. She cleared her throat before her gaze landed at the Prince. "Elder brother.." She called out. Something that she never used before. "Do you think I should kill your friend?"

This bold move surprised a lot of people. After all, Lucinia was already about the kill the Duke. Why was she trying to involve the Prince in all this? Isn't this too manipulative? If the Prince would say yes, it would make him look like a coldblooded friend who was the one who allowed his sister to kill a man that he knew for years just because of her naive thinking. However, if he would say no, there was a possibility that his relationship with his own sister might end.

And judging from the ability that she was showing, ending a possible alliance with Princess Lucinia was a very unwise thing to do.

Just like Prince Gavril, a lot of vampires also fell silent when they heard her words. Everyone here was very much aware of the current political turbulence inside the Kingdom, and having a powerful ally like Princess Lucinia would be very beneficial. Seeing that Lucinia easily put the Prince in a very uncomfortable position, many of them made a mental note not to offend this woman anymore.

While they didn't know if Princess Lucinia actually had the brains to fight against another royal member, they knew that getting involve in a woman like this would be extremely dangerous.

Of course, Mo Li was only smiling, his eyes sparkling as he watched everyone's attention. His chin was lifted a little higher, back straighter as if he was silently showing off that this was the woman that he loves, his very own wife.

....

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