Chapter 11 - Unleash Hell Upon You!

  -Helia Pace; Dining Hall-

  Suddenly, a knight ehe dining hall, announg, "Your Majesty! Princess Luxana is here. Should we let her in?" The King's expression shifted, his fury evident. "Is that a question to ask? If my daughter wants to see me, does she need my permissio HER IN IMMEDIATELY!" he shouted, his voice eg through the chamber. Luxana, sistently the poised and graceful Princess, ehe dining hall, greeting the King with respect. "Your Majesty, The Radiant Sun of the Dominion Kingdom, I humbly greet you and prostrate myself before ylorious presence." The King's face lit up with a smile. "What a fine day, to have you here, my darling daughter!" he excimed, his tone a stark trast to the tension that had just filled the room. The Queen, sensing an opportunity, added her owing. "I agree with His Majesty," she said, her own smile a facade for the turmoil brewih the surfabsp;What a fake smile! It's obvious she's not happy. All she loves is power ah. She will do whatever it takes to climb the social dder, even if it means stepping on others along the way. All she wants is my downfall and her daughter's rise to the throhat's a given. But for some reason, her smile seems a bit off. As if there's more to it. By more…I mea and manipution. It's clear that her facade is starting to crack, revealing the true iions behind that smile. Her as speak louder than her words, and it's being increasingly evident that her motives are not as pure as she portrays them to be. The facade of kindness and generosity is slowly fading, exposing the darkness lurkih the surface. But let's be real for a sed—we all saw it ing from a mile away. I think she needs more ag lessons than smiling lessons if she wants to keep up this charade. Anyway, let's just see what she's got for us today. I'm sure it'll be eaining, to say the least. Luxana thinks to herself. Luxana thought to herself. "Have a seat!" the King's voied across the hall, pulling Luxana from her thoughts. "Yes, Your Majesty." Luxana replied, her voial but devoid of i. She took her seat beside Isabel, who shot her a frown. Luxana could almost hear the gears turning iep-sister's head, the jealousy ament clear in her eyes. It was evident that Isabel was not pleased with Luxana's sudden appearand the subsequent attention their father showered upon her. Where'd this brat e from? Has she grown too fortable in that forsaken annex, or was the food there not up to her standards? Ugh, the nerve of her! Just looking at her makes me sick. I bet she rehat dress for the night – there's no way she could afford something so fancy. *Smirks* Her desperate attempt to fit in is dht pathetic. It's obvious she doesn't belong here, no matter how hard she tries. Maybe she's trying to cateone's eye with that getup, she's clearly out of her league.Watg her struggle to fit in is extremely embarrassing – she must feel pletely lost. I 't help but pity her; it's sad to see someory so hard to be something they're not. *Giggles* Isabel mused to herself. "Sister, you do realize that you don't fit in with us right?" Isabel whispered into Luxana's ear, her voice dripping with dession. But Luxana just smiled, her eyes sparkling with determination. "I beg your pardon, but might I inquire as to the individual who, on the previous evening, mao earn the unfortunate moniker of "one who does not belong amongst us" with such apparent ease and nonce? I queried, my tenance refleg a mix of fasation and incredulity. "Ah, indeed, it appears to have been her than you, Isabel," I decred, fixing my gaze upon her. Isabel's face torted with rage, her eyes darting to their father, the King, in a silent plea for support. But he remained silent, choosing to ighe rising tensioween his daughters. The Queen, catg the exge, interjected, "OH MY GOD! How could you be so rude to your little sister, Luxana?" Eh? Who's she tryna fool? Everyone see through her fake charade. Luxana thought to herself. Luxana remained unfazed. "What rudeness have I itted, Your Majesty?" she inquired, her voice calm and polite. "My Queen, I implore you to refrain from ing any superfluous flict or discord." requested the King. "Your Majesty, I would abhor to do such a thing. However, your daughter's misdeeds must also e to light." she insisted. Luxahe Queen's gaze unflingly. "What're you talking about?" asked the King, puzzled. "How about asking your own daughter, Your Majesty?" she pleaded. "What is My Queen talking about, Luxana?" Luxana gazed at her father, the King, maintaining a poised demeanor, her eyes betraying a silent dismissal of the disingenuous words being uttered by her step-mother, the Queen. "I am just as unaware as you are, Your Majesty. I must profess that the ck of knowledge on this matter leaves me feeling equally perplexed and intrigued." I replied. The King, once again bewildered, shifted his attention to the Queen, seeking an expnation for Luxana's supposed transgressions. "Ahem, then, I shall bring it to light myself." the Queen excimed as she began. "The Princess has been absent all day today, Your Majesty. The Amoria Pace servants have noticed that she has been leaving her chamber frequently without telling anyone. She occasionally appears to be returni night as well. And from what I found out , she has been seeing with a mysterious figure in her room during these te hours. It seems like there may be more to her behavior thahe eye. I suspect she may be involved in somethiive. The Princess appears to be aware of yesterday's fictitious i more explicitly, which is suffit proof of my daughter's innoce. So she must've deliberately propagated the fabricated rumor surrounding my daughter to ceal her misdeeds." Stunned silenveloped the King and Isabel as they grappled with the weight of the revetion, struggling to e to terms with what they had just learned. "LUXANA! Is this true?" boomed the King. As always, Luxana is posed regardless of how the situation is worsening. Luxana straightened slightly, a flicker of defian her eyes. "And in what aspect of this present moment, does my expressioo reveal it to be true?" she replied as she lost her formality. Isabel jumped in, her voice shrill. "You've always been this way, just because you're able to trol your expressio mean that it's false, sister!" "Isabel..." "ENOUGH!" roared the King, sileng the room. The Queen smirks. "Oh well, Your Majesty! I suppose we should leave this discussion for a ter date. We should focus on our meals. It's getting cold." The Kis out a sigh in agreement. "Let us now reence our repast." he added. Dinner tinued in strained silence for twenty minutes. Suddenly, a knight ehe room. "Your Majesty! A suspicious invoice has arrived." proposes a Knight. "A suspicious invoice?" questions the King. "Yes, there seems to be no item mentioned besides the total cost." the knight remarked. Luxana realizes it's the bill from the Emberfe Armory Shop as out a sigh giving in for the drama she's sure will flow out. "Your Majesty," she spoke up, "that invoice is for this very dress." The King, Queen and Isabel stared at her, surprised. "So inexpehe King remarked, surprised. "I must fess, Your Majesty, that my sele was governed more by a fondness for the garment's hue and design, rather than a careful sideration of its moary value." I rebutted. Holy, I've lost t of how many times I lied in this Pabsp;The King's brow furrowed. Her words seemed to tradict the Queen's accusations. "But why is there no description?" the Queen pressed. "I requested it be removed," Luxana replied. "Atention-seeking tactic?" the Queen scoffed. Luxana's face torts into a puzzled expression as she squints one eye, trying to process the situation at hand. "My Queen.." "No, Your Majesty. Please do not stop me. We must crify it this instant!" The Queen pleaded as she interrupted the King. "Do you think, His Majesty would pay the price without even knowing what you've bought? Of course not! He's not so insiderate. So isn't this one of you other tactics to get attention?" "To the best of my knowledge, I have never evinced any ination to attract or seek out uention." I replied. The King smmed his fist oable, once again sileng everyone. "Luxana! Tell the truth! Why all this secrecy?" Luxana's gaze tched onto his, an unnerving edge lurking behiare. A chilling smile graced her lips as she posed her question in a low, spine-chilling tone, as she hissed "Wasn't.........mother also an item purchased without knowing it's name?" Her words dripped with a hidden, ominous implication, her eyes wide aionless, as if a lifeless shell masquerading as a person cealed a harrowing void within. Each sylble oozed with a sinister uone, her voice as chilling as a graveyard whisper. With a vat, soulless expression, she seemed ay vessel, harb a bottomless darkhat threateo swallow everything in its wake. The King, Queen, and Isabel were left dumbstrud trembling with terror at the mere sight of Luxana's ghastly visage. Her words, ced with a stinging veracity, shattered the facade of normality and pierced the core of their reality, leaving them shaken to the core and uo utter a response. In the silehat followed, the air hummed with tension and unease, as if the truth behind Luxana's words held far more sinister implications than anyone could fathom. Rising from her chair, Luxana addressed the King and Queen. "With deepest gratitude, Your Majesties, I take my leave. It has been an honor to be graced with your invitation. May the divine favor and blessings of the Gods shine upon you always." As Luxana's chilling presence dissipated from the room, a suffog siletled in her wake. The King found himself fixated on the now-vat chair, a dreadful uanding slowly creeping over him. The dress Luxana wore—it was a replica of the gown Roxana, his dead wife, had donned on that fateful day of her gra. His heart seized with a sudden foreboding, an eerie e betweeher and daughter swirling in his mind, the air thick with the unspoken implications of this uliion.-In Helia Pace; The Hallway- The arble floor of Helia Pace felt like a gcier beh Luxana's bare feet as she strode towards the gra. But it's only a moment of time before it burns like hell. Her fiery e hair, usually meticulously braided, spilled down her ba a tangled halo, mirr the turmoil within. The weight of the accusations hung heavy in the air, a suffog cloak around her shoulders. Suddenly, a ctter of metal boots echoed down the hallway. A knight, his armleaming faintly in the dying light, rushed towards her. "Princess!" he excimed, his voice a touch breathless. "I have a message to deliver!" Luxana paused, her back still turo him. Her sileretched, heavy with unspokeions. "Princess?" the knight repeated tentatively. Finally, Luxana offered a curt nod, aowledging him without meeting his gaze. The movement was small, but it spoke volumes of the storm brewing inside her. "Lady Lily Furia requests your prese Konira Pace," the knight tinued, reying his message. "Tomorrow, at four o'clo the afternoon." Another, barely perceptible nod from Luxana, her lips pressed into a thin lihen, without a word, she tinued her determined march towards the exit, leaving the echoes of her footsteps and the knight's bewildered expression hanging in the air.-In Amoria Pace; Luxana's Room- Luxana's bedroom is bathed in the soft glow of moonlight that seeps through the cracks in the heavy drapes, castihereal shadows that dance across the floor. A solitary dle flickers on her nightstand, its fme lig the air in silent defiance of the darkhat surrounds it. The ornate grandfather clo the er ticks softly, its metronomic rhythm like a heartbeat iillness of the night. Luxana stands at the foot of her bed, her raven hair casg down her back like a bck waterfall, her eyes shining with a fiertensity. Her voice a low, deadly purr. "You think.........you know me? You think..........you trol me? You think........I'm your possession? You think........everything will go your way just cause you're royalty and have everyone on your side and I don't have anyone? But you're wrong. I am not defined by your assumptions or your status. I am my own person, with my own strength and resilience. I will not be maniputed or belittled by anyone, regardless of their position or power. I am capable of standing on my own and f my own path in life." She runs a hand through her hair, her fiangling ihick strands as she tilts her head back, exposing the pale n of her nebsp;"Waiting........waiting......I've just been waiting. You know for what? For the perfect time to unleash my wrath upon you, you vile bi*ches! The only thing you bitches know is to ruin other people's lives as if they were your own personal pygrounds. But you know what sets me apart from you? I don't ruin their lives; I make sure they don't live again, and I destroy them pletely. Their existence is obliterated by my hand. You will see your own end in the same way. I will make sure of it. You will never fet the day you crossed my path. I will haunt you until the day you die. " Suddenly, she lifts her hand, and a ball of fire erupts from her palm, casting flickering shadows on the walls. She smiles, a cold, calcuted smile, as she watches the fmes dan her hand. "You've been pying with fire, thinking you're invincible. But I've been building my own inferno. And now it's time to let it e you. And I promise, I won't let even the slightest flesh of your body go unburnt." She brings her hands together, the fire dying down to a gentle glow that illuminates her face. Her eyes shih an unholy iy. "And when I'm ready to unleash hell upon you, you will regret sowing a seed that was cultivated on its own." Her voice echoes iillness of the room "You want to know what's ing? It's not just reve's not just justice. It's...*smiles coldly*...it's my own personal brand of hell. And I'll charge you just as much as you've charged me." The dle fme flickers wildly, as if in respoo her words. The shadows on the walls seem to dan time with her movements, as if they, too, are under her spell. To be tinued...