34 The Princess and the Young Duchess
Her Highness, the second princess, Adrianna R. Arendelle was the younger sister to the current Empress. She was called the princess because the current Empress didn't have children—nor a husband—to make them the default prince and princess. So, the two titles were given to her younger brothers and younger sisters. And Adrianna was the third oldest daughter of the previous Emperor, born from his first wife, like the Empress.
They didn't hold that much political or military worth, but they were still a prince and princess in name, as they were from the family of royalty.
Everyone in the room, regardless of their status, was tense and stood straight, without uttering a single noise.
As we waited patiently for her entrance, the main gates finally opened for a knight to enter and announce the arrival of the princess, shortly followed by the royalty herself making her appearance, followed by her entourage of maidservants and knights.
Following right beside her, however, was a light brown-haired and teal-eyed beauty who smiled delightfully the moment she saw us; my third sibling and eldest sister, Olivia. Looking at her, I found it hard to believe she was considered an air-head. She mostly showed that side to her family and maintained a proper lady-like persona for others.
Princess Adrianna was a healthy and fair-skinned and cute oval-faced beauty who had the royal family's signature pure white hair.
Due to their hair and heredity powers of light and holy magic, they were considered the family blessed by the Goddess of light herself and her chosen ones. They had been ruling this Empire, which had grown from a medium-sized kingdom to a behemoth of an Empire, for over 1500 years. That's over 10 generations, each with a ruling period of over 100 years. They could rule for so long because they lived fairly long lives of 150 to 200 years each, contrary to a commoner Tier-1 human who could normally barely live for less than 100 years, even with a body that had mana and thus was more durable than an average healthy person from Earth.
She wore a beautiful blue dress that showed all her curves, especially her decently big breasts. Her smile was almost melodious and hypnotic. She reeked of innocence, yet her beauty was almost devilish, tempting men—and to some extent, women—luring them into a honey pot that they couldn't and absolutely shouldn't touch, or even look at with desire.
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There were cases of instant death for people, be it commoners or nobility, who had their heads cleaved off or given the death penalty because they were found staring at the princess inappropriately.
The world had certainly grown to lower the boundaries between commoners and nobles, but royalty still existed beyond commoners' reach, and even most nobles. That was especially true for this empire who was ruled by an iron lady, the steel-hearted Empress.
Following proper etiquette, we greeted the princess and then had small talk with her.
She mainly just wished me "Happy Birthday" to which I responded to her politely. She ordered one of her maids to hand over the gift she had prepared for me and I accepted it with a bow of gratitude, and then gave the gift to one of my maids to keep safe till the party is over.
The others had brought all sorts of gifts along with congratulatory letters, but they had them taken by the maids before the party began. That's just how it worked.
The princess gave me the gifts personally (through her maid) because, well, she was a fricking princess of this Empire. She could do whatever she wanted.
After she had some conversations with my mother and my sisters, she was taken to a specially prepared sofa for her and she sat there while the guests visited to greet her one by one based on their hierarchy in the nobility. First, the Duke family, which only had the daughter of the Duke and her mother, then the other Marquis families, and then the counts, and so on. At the end of that, the commoners were allowed to just give her a simple greeting, and then she left.
That's right. She just up and left the hall after barely 15 minutes of coming here.
Nobody was surprised though. That's just how it went normally. The royalty had an image to uphold and they couldn't spend hours at someone's birthday party, even if the hosts were Marquis and the royalty was the third princess. Well, the third princess was still the closest blood-related sibling to the Empress so she was special even among other princesses. And fortunately, she had the best personality among the rest.
That and she must be tired from her journey, so, she had to rest.
Oh, and before I forget, yes, she was obviously a 'Capture Target' too. Just not one I could even hope to aim for right now. I'll have time for that later in the Academy though since she's also an honorary student there.
I had used 'Observe' on her when she was busy talking to my family but had to make sure I wasn't directly staring at her. Royalty was a real pain to deal with, ugh.
[Name: Adrianna R. Arendelle
Age: 17
Gender: Female
Race: Human
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Tier: 3 -> 5 (Foundation grade: Gold)
Talent: Light and Holy magic, Singing
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Affection/Obedience/Reputation: 10/0/25
Capture Difficulty: SS+
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Remark: Looks at you favorably since you're the brother of her good friend Olivia, shows mild interest in you.
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Status: Tired, Hungry, Slightly Nervous, Mildly Stressed]
Her Tier was boosted from 3 to 5. She was wearing an accessory, or rather an artifact in the form of one.
Looking at the remark made me understand why Olivia came with the princess. Apparently, they were friends. Not something I was aware of. I had no recollection of such a thing happening. But given Olivia's status as the Duchess and her being fairly young, relative to other Duchesses, it wasn't that unbelievable that they had somehow met and became friends. Plus, Olivia's well-hidden air-headed innocence must have attracted the good-tempered and innocent princess.
No wonder she attended the birthday party even though she wasn't invited—more like she couldn't be invited by anyone other than the Ducal families and that too for important occasions since the second princess was special even among the princesses.
This was a positive for me since I didn't have to do much for her to take notice of me.
'As for her 'hungry' status, yeah, I would have to see that the maids ask her if she would like some snacks and cake.'
The princess wouldn't ask for food herself, nor could we casually feed her anything since she was a princess and there was a risk of food poisoning, but we could still try to offer. She was likely going to accept, given she was hungry and had left to the best guest room in the mansion, prepared especially for her. The knights and her maids would likely test the food for her.
She was also tired, which was understandable since she had to travel quite a distance to attend the party. Even with the best means of transport, a journey could get somewhat tiresome. And she was slightly nervous because that's just how she was. She wasn't as confident as her older sister but still had to ensure that she doesn't disgrace the royalty, even a little. It was certainly stressful. She was still 17 after all. Quite a few years younger than her older siblings.
…
Leaving the princess aside, I had another thing to deal with.
This happened just a little bit after the princess left to meet the others. I was enveloped in the valley of substantially large bosoms with a lovely fragrant smell.
"Alex, my dear brother, a very happy birthday! I'm so sorry for being late. But her highness asked me to join and I couldn't refuse. But big sis is here and I'll make sure to coddle you lots. It's been so long since we last met. Oh, look how much you've grown! I'm sorry for not visiting you for 2 whole years. Big sis was really really busy."
I felt a sense of déjà vu both from her hug feeling awfully similar to my mother's and it was the same as the ones from my memories of Alexander's past. The only difference was that I now towered a little above her. I had to bend a bit to allow her to drag my head into her warm embrace.
"…It's good to have you back, big sis—"
I could barely say that before I was shoved back to her bosom.
"Aw, you're so adorable, Alex. I really did miss you a lot."
My older sister kept caressing my now somewhat messed up hair while I was kept tightly in her grasp.
"Olivia. How have you been, sweetie? It's nice to have you back."
My mother, who completely ignored the fact that my sister was publically hugging me like I was a 10-year-old, smiled and hugged Olivia as she greeted her daughter.
Olivia and us couldn't talk before since we were in the presence of the princess, but now that she was busy elsewhere, we were finally doing our family reunion.
When my mother hugged Olivia, it ended up creating a scene where I was pressed in between two gorgeous and bountiful mature women. My face was already enveloped in Olivia's big breasts while another, slightly larger pair was pushing on my back.
'Is this the infamous mother-daughter sandwich? Fucking delicious.'
Only god knows how I held back my emotions from diverting to something highly inappropriate. Maybe I could control myself because it was also quite awkward and embarrassing to be hugged like this in front of outsiders.
I was released eventually from both of their grasps. I didn't fight the pressure because it wasn't really that bad. Just slightly suffocating, but as I said before, who needed breathing? I could hold my breath for a little while.
My sister then proceeded to hug Alice who returned her hug with a bright smile of her. While Olivia adored me the most, that didn't mean she didn't like my sisters that much. She also adored Emma and Alice too. And she displayed it by coddling both of them as well. Alice was happy to meet her eldest sister again after a long time. But Emma was somewhat awkward. Of course, Olivia didn't seem to take note or care as she spoiled her equally. My mother too just associated it with Emma being awkward in general. But I knew why she was like so. It was because of me.
'Sigh, I hope she gets over it one day. I'll try to mend their relationship. But I'll have to deal with Olivia before that.'
I looked at the mature beauty who seemed quite similar to my mother, but not enough to call them twins. They did have some slight differences, but I could certainly call them related just from their appearance alone. As for their apparent relation, they looked more like two sisters, rather than mother and daughter. My mother looked younger for her age.
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A/N: Some (genuine) questions were raised due to the description of that one candy last chapter. I'll answer them here:–
1. The candy doesn't really brainwash or mind control people into becoming your slave or liking you, it's just a really really delicious candy. That makes people want to have more. You know, like lots of other things, like Chocolate, Ice cream, etc. That whole description is highly exaggerated(minus the world domination part, he did try to attempt that, and it worked on people of THAT world specifically due to their genes and stuff) because I'm a dummy dum who couldn't write a normal description.
2. It was a joke. A really really awful one, I know. But that's basically what happens at times. I find something funny but turns out, it's highly inappropriate or just plain weird. So, blame my twisted sense of humor. So, I'll apologize here before someone calls the FBI on me.
PS: It really wasn't funny. At least not the 'luring the kids' part. The conquering the world with candy part WAS kind of funny though.
