Spider's web

Four years quickly passed by, and Valindra was now eighteen years old.

Her body developed a lot, and she now had a perfect figure that she took care of by exercising every day.

Not only that, but her face looked like that of a goddess. Her eyes were light blue in color, and although they were quite sharp, they were also large, so with her silver eyebrows, small nose, and pink lips, her looks were extremely good, even for elves.

Once Valindra had asked Raeran to teach her to fight, he agreed and taught her how to use a spear every day.

Also, because she grew up into such a beauty, everyone around her noticed that she was even more beautiful than princess Soliana, who was regarded as the most gorgeous princess before.

This of course sparked jealousy, and Valindra was the target of numerous attacks.

And although she might not have joined a faction, she had the support of all the commoners and servants living inside the palace because she treated everyone with care and respect, unlike her siblings, so she was always the one with the best protection.

If someone tried to poison her food, the chef would tell her. If someone sent assassins to kill her, she would massacre them all because of how strong she was when she wielded a spear.

Valindra also became the strongest out of all her siblings, but she didn't openly show it off because that would ruin her plans.

Over the previous four years, Valindra was busy perfecting her plan and collecting information.

And now that she was pretty much finished, she was ready to set her plan into motion.

---

Leaving her bedroom in a short white shirt that showed off her abs and black shorts that made her seductively athletic legs visible, Valindra began walking toward the training grounds.

She had already eaten breakfast that was delivered to her room, and it was a light breakfast because she was about to exercise.

It was early in the morning, so there weren't many people around, but whenever she met a maid, she would greet her with respect because she needed to have the servants on her side for her plan to work.

Arriving at the training grounds, Valindra looked around, and after noticing a lone elf diligently swinging his sword at a training dummy, she walked over to him.

He had short silver hair, combed to the back, and fierce blue eyes.

"Brother Arun! Good morning."

It was her half-brother Arun and also the leader of the first faction. He wasn't a sword prodigy because he only had talent.

No, he was a sword prodigy because he would always wake up earlier than everyone else just to train and hone his skills.

"Hm? Who are you?"

Arun, who was uninterested in the happenings of the palace, didn't recognize Valindra because she wasn't one of the faction leaders, so she wasn't worth his time.

"My name is Valindra, and I am your sister… You should at least remember your siblings!"

She pouted, and while crossing her arms under her chest, making sure to lift her sizeable bosom up, she looked to the side.

This may have looked like she was offended, but Valindra already knew everything about Arun, and all of this was just an act to get him to like her.

She knew that he liked girls that acted strong-willed, and he also liked girls that had an athletic body, so she wore clothes that would show off her trained body.

He was her half-brother, but living in the palace, she found out that a lot of her siblings were already dating each other.

Her siblings were stuck in the palace, and they were forbidden from going out.

So the only time they could meet new people was when a party was being held, but the children of other nobles weren't invited, so if they wanted to find love, they had to search in the palace.

And because there were hundreds of them, finding someone they liked was quite easy. They were also only half-siblings, so they thought that it was okay.

But Valindra didn't want to date any of her half-siblings because she found it completely disgusting.

Mainly because they carried the blood of the emperor. She did too, but they were proud of it while she despised herself for it.

And although she found it repulsive, she needed Arun for her plan, so Valindra had to do her best and make him fall in love with her.

She had already researched his likes and dislikes, so she knew what she was doing.

Arun, who was looking at Valindra's muscular body and her large chest, which was being held up by her crossed hands, gulped his saliva.

"A- Alright. I will remember you, Valindra!"

Feeling his throat get a little dry, he stuttered, but he immediately decided to remember Valindra because he didn't know that one of his sisters was his type.

"That's more like it! You better remember me, or I will punish you next time!"

Valindra narrowed her eyes and raised her clenched fist in front of her face.

A blush appeared on Arun's face, but Valindra didn't react because she already knew that her sword-addicted brother fantasized about being beaten in a swordfight by women.

He had never lost in his life, so the feeling of a woman defeating him felt like forbidden pleasure to him.

But he wasn't a complete masochist who found joy in experiencing pain; he just wanted to find a woman who was stronger than him.

Valindra found out about it because he had a diary that one of the maids happened to find while cleaning his room, and the maid showed it to her.

"Let's fight, brother!"

Grabbing one of the wooden swords, Valindra stood in front of Arun.

She didn't know how to wield a sword, but she was great at using a spear, so she planned to act like the sword was a short spear and learn during their spar.

"Okay, but don't regret it later."

Arun also took his pose, and his previous blush completely disappeared.

He entered the zone and only saw Valindra as an opponent that he had to beat.

SWOOSH

They then rushed at each other, and Arun swung his sword when he noticed an opening.

Valindra didn't block it in time because she wasn't used to the short size of the sword and got hit in the side.

But Arun didn't stop and kept swinging his sword.

Valindra slowly got used to it and began to also attack him.

Although her strikes never managed to hit him and would always be deflected, their fight started to look pretty close.

They weren't completely equal in strength because Arun was using a weapon he was good at, so he would always be one step ahead of Valindra.

CLANG CLANG CLANG

The wooden swords kept clashing with each other, and the sound of wood hitting wood echoed throughout the training area.

Suddenly, Arun lost his balance for a second, and Valindra noticed an opening.

She could have swung her sword to hit Arun's throat, which would give her an advantage and maybe even let her win the match, but instead…

THUD

Valindra fell on her ass, and her sword flew away because Arun knocked it out of her hand.

In the last moment, she didn't strike Arun's throat because the match had a determined outcome before it even began.

Valindra needed to lose to him because if she were to win, he might be excited that a woman beat him, but after thinking about it more, he would feel threatened.

All Arun had was his combat prowess, so if Valindra were to show him that she was better than him, he would become her enemy, and she didn't want that.

So instead, she made sure to show him that she was extremely strong but not strong enough to defeat him, and since this was the first time Arun had seen a girl this strong, he became enchanted by her.

"That was a good fight!"

Arun helped Valindra get up by pulling her hand, and she smiled at him in return.

"Thank you. I hope that we can spar more in the future."

She looked at him with a smile and Arun immediately nodded his head.

"Of course!"

"Great!"

Valindra jumped up with a smile on her face, and her boobs also went up and down.

This made Arun become stunned as he stared at her chest.

She then walked up to him, and after moving her face close to his so that their noses were almost touching, she opened her mouth with a smile.

"Is something wrong, brother?"

Realizing she was this close, Arun left his shocked state and quickly walked back with a bright red blush on his face.

"N- N- NO! Everything is fine!"

"Okay! I will see you tomorrow morning then!"

Valindra then turned around and walked while swaying her hips from side to side, making Arun become charmed by her again.

He could feel his heart speed up, and a warm feeling started to bloom inside his chest.

Thinking that it was what his siblings would always talk about, Arun grabbed the place where his heart was with a red blush on his face.

'I- I think I am in love…'

Valindra knew his every weakness; she knew his exact type, and she knew how she needed to act to get into his heart.

Combining this with her perfect looks and mouthwatering body type, Arun simply had no chance of resisting her charm.

Thus she made him fall in love with her, and love can sometimes be a sweet nectar, but it can also be a deadly poison that will tear one's heart apart if he happens to fall for the wrong person.

As for Arun, he had unknowingly fallen for the worst person he possibly could, and he had gotten caught in a trap just like a fly that had touched the spider's web.

Leaving the training grounds, Valindra was now on her way to wash herself and then go to the library to charm yet another one of her half-brothers who also led a faction.

But as she was heading there, she noticed three girls with silver hair walking towards her. They had a lot of make-up on, and they wore expensive-looking dresses.

The girl in the middle was noticeably more gorgeous than the other two, and this was Valindra's half-sister, Soliana.

Seeing Valindra in the hallway made Soliana's nose scrunch up in disgust.

"Look at this slut! She can't even take care of her image, and she already smells of sweat this early in the morning!"

Soliana shouted while pointing at Valindra with a grin.

The two princesses that were part of her faction were also envious of Valindra, so they laughed with her.

"You are right, sister Soliana. I sure am sweaty after the morning workout that will keep my body healthy. But you know what is really sad? That even though I look like this, you are still uglier than me."

Unbothered by their bitchy attitude, Valindra made sure to hit Soliana where it hurt, and that was by comparing their looks.

"YOU BITCH!"

After hearing Valindra's comment, Soliana ran at her in fury, but she tripped on the hem of her dress and fell down on the floor.

Valindra walked by her and smirked when she saw her angry face.

"Maybe you should start exercising too. Because to me, it looks like your shoes can't even support your weight."

She then walked away while her sisters tried to help the enraged Soliana up.

As Valindra kept walking, she could hear Soliana swearing and yelling at her, but she didn't care and just kept walking.

Valindra didn't find one of her siblings more disgusting than the other. To her, they were all pigs that should be slaughtered, but she needed to act this way towards her sister Soliana only because of her faction.

If Soliana wasn't leading a faction, Valindra wouldn't even look at her, but for her plan to work, she needed to piss Soliana off as much as possible.

---

After she arrived inside her room, Valindra took off her sweaty clothes and entered the washroom.

Inside the room was a large bucket full of hot water and a towel next to it. A maid would frequently change the bath water, and the ground had a drain for the water that spilled outside.

As she entered the bucket, her toned body sank inside the hot water, washing off all the sweat she had accumulated while fighting Arun.

She would have loved to relax in the bath, but she didn't have time, so after washing and drying herself, she put on new clothes and some make-up.

This time she wore a dress with long sleeves that covered up her muscular body and thin, circular glasses that made her appear studious.

She also normally wore her hair in a ponytail, but she let her hair down this time.

Valindra was going for the "frail girl who enjoys reading books" look.

So after practicing her expressions in the mirror, she opened her room's door and started walking towards the library, where her brother Folwin was reading a book.

He was currently sipping on a cup of hot tea while being completely oblivious to the fact that a predator was on her way to sink her teeth into his neck.