Rya was scanning the room full of nervous ladies and was taking note of, which girls had what Mana Veins and who had Mage Veins. She also took note of who had injuries. Her healer side wanted to heal everyone right away, but her shrewd side made sure to help those she knew that were on her side or if they weren't then she could use it as a bargaining chip.
'Common, common, common, Master, common... Damn. Most of these minor nobles only have common mana veins... At least I think most of the are minor nobl—Whoa!? What do we have here? Two elites with Fire magic. Looks like a mother daughter combo... But how did the mother injury her neck?... I got to check in on that later... After I scan the rest of the room.'
Rya then scanned the next batch and saw that they were a bunch of Noblewon and their daughters. Out of the next fifty plus won she checked, 73% of them had a common mana vein with the rest having a Master, or Grand Master level Mana Vein. And among this group with Master level or higher, only three had Mage Veins. It wasn't anything crazy, just a earth, water, and wind mage in this batch.
'Hmm... The orphanage had a better turn out then these ladies—huh?' Rya was scanning the area where Tayna and Dalia were standing and that's when she ca across this girl who had these brown particles floating around her body, which were concentrated around her mana vein, which wasn't as big or bright as any of the mana veins. It was the sa brown particles that she saw in Johan's body back when she first t him in Dorn.
'Is she affected by a blood contract?' Rya thought as she focused on this young 23 year old who was nervous that Rya was staring at her. 'Oh? I see House Dule's family crest in her necklace! It has to be Johan's sister... I think it is! So, she's been inflicted with the sa crap as Johan... I wonder if she's an elite mage like her brother?... Dammit! My stupid curiosity is getting the better of again!... But what's the harm in ridding her curse to see?' Rya thought as a playful smile grew on her face.
Alia felt like this Dark Elf had a sinister plan for her and it felt far more nefarious then the Duchess's plans for her. 'Please, goddesses from above. Help get through this. Please keep her and the Duchess away from .'
Rya was too intrigued to notice Alia's fear as she continued to ponder about whether or not to test Alia's potential. 'Hmm. I need to find out if her father had her slay monsters. Otherwise, she might experience Mana Lust just like her brother... Hold on!? I still wonder how Johan and her got inflicted by the blood contract curse in the first place... Gah! What's Johan's mother's na? Ellie? No! Elizabeth? Yeah! It's Elizabeth! Now, where is she hiding? Oh! There she is,' Rya thought as she focused on Alia's mother who was lost in through, not realizing that the Dark Elf had her sights on her.
'Oh my god! She has the sa particles around her body too! But there's way more in Elizabeth then both her children!' Rya exclaid in her mind as she quickly hypnotized that Elizabeth's curse passed on to her children. She wanted to know if Elizabeth was the one who signed a contract or if it was her mother or sothing else all together. Sadly, she couldn't ponder all day as she needed to scan the rest of the party and get out of the way so Yuliana and Rianna could be announced.
After going through the rest of the won as quickly as possible, Rya was nearly floored when she finally ca across the Revelias. Leandra's Mana Vein wasn't anything special, it was a Grand Master level, but she was a water mage. So when Rya scanned the Duchess's five daughters, she was expecting for one or maybe two of them to have a mage vein like their deceased brother, but what Rya found was that all of them were Elite Level Mages. Rya didn't know which of the three older daughters nad were, but if she did Sara, the oldest, was a ice mage. Jemma, the second oldest, was the odd ball of the group as she was a lightning mage. Eleanora, the third oldest, was a multi-elental mage with water and wind veins.
Then there were the two youngest daughters of the Revelias, who Rya knew who they were. Lydia, the girl of the hour, was another ice mage like her oldest sister, and Clara, who is the youngest daughter, was another, who was another multi-elental mage just like Eleanora. These five only could wreak havoc in a kingdom if they developed and trained their powers.
'Holy shit!... Are they?... Yeah, those five are Revelia's. Wow... I guess they got there powerful Mana Veins from their father and their mage veins from their mother?... I an, Alaric is from a Royal bloodline, and was going to beco the King before the old House of Lords changed the line of succession to Cyndre... Heh, out of all the Revelias, Marcus was the one they thought was the golden child... I wonder why they didn't test the girls—oh crap! I forgot to address Lydia! Um? What do I say again? Oh, yeah!'
Rya put away the Seer Stone and looked at Lydia who was curious about what the Dark Elf was doing. Sara was partially shielding her sister from Rya's gaze.
"Congratulations, Young Lady Revelia on your coming of age party. May you always know that you are loved and protected. And that even in the darkness, you will find light. May the Goddess of balance bless you, Lydia. May you always seek to walk the path that leads to a brighter future. To the Revelias and the Kingdom of Fiafyr..." Rya said politely and firmly while curtsying.
Everyone was silent, but the ten years old, who was watching her from behind her sister, was grinning widely. She didn't know why everyone was saying that Dark Elves were so scary. This one right here was nothing like what the stories and the paintings depicted. This Dark Elf was very nice, and was wearing such a beautiful gown, and she spoke so formally, and it made her feel important.
'Oh, thank God I rembered that,' Rya ntally sighed. 'I can't believe I almost fucked that up... Now I have to wait and see who I can convince to my side—huh?'
Lydia decided to walk around her oldest sister and curtsied back to Rya.
"Thank you, Lady Rya. I must say... Your kind isn't as scary as everyone says. And you are beautiful," Lydia said kindly and sincerely.
"Lydia!? Get behind , please," Sara said to her sister, as she grabbed her arm and pulled her behind her.
"Why are you being rude, Sara? She's been nothing but nice and formal since she arrived," Lydia replied with a raised eyebrow.
"Well, she is a Dark Elf, dear sister," Jemma said as she also shielded Lydia from Rya.
Rya saw red particles floating everywhere inside Jemma. Out of all the won here, she was in the most pain. Rya's instincts were telling her to help her, but her logical side stepped in to stop her.
'God damn... What happened to her? I-I need to make sure that she's on my side before I do anything. They are Revelias after all. I don't know how trustworthy they truly are. Hopefully the Queen is right about them and they can beco allies.'
"What's the harm if she's not causing trouble?" Lydia asked innocently.
Jemma and Sara were to nervous to bring up the rumor about Rya murdering their brother or the other stories about the evils that Dark Elves do in general. Plus, they didn't know if this Dark Elf had a vendetta against their family. For all they knew, Rya was waiting to take her revenge when they let their guards down.
Rya sighed and shook her head. It seed that of late she's been having to deal with people's stigmas about her race. She had a good run of almost feeling normal when she only stayed inside the palace this past month. But running into the orphans a few days back brought it back and this group of won were continuing the trend.
"Well? You can't bla them, Miss Lydia... With all these rumors going around about how I enchanted this person or this new one about how I murdered your brother. I an if soone repeats a lie enough tis then it must be true. Isn't that right, Ladies?" Rya asked and looked at each of them, and her eyes landed on Sara and Jemma.
Both won froze. They thought that Rya could be a monster that killed indiscriminately. That she was evil, cunning, being, like their parents. But she had a point. They only began hearing these rumors from their mother and her friends.
Lydia poked her head out with curiosity. Her older brother never spent any ti with her and he usually avoided her. If she did see him, he would act very cold and aloof toward her. So, he was more a stranger to her than an actual sibling.
"Is it true? Did you do any of those things?" Lydia asked innocently.
Rya's face softened and her expression beca one of sympathy. "No, I wasn't the one who executed—"
"Lies!" Leandra barked as she finally pushed her way through the crowd. She couldn't let this Dark Elf change her narrative about her and her family.
Rya looked amused watching the nearly 50-year-old woman co out of the crowd with the grace of a lumbering bear.
'Heh! Ysandra did a number on Leandra to have her act this un-ladylike.'
Leandra was breathing heavily, as she stared daggers at Rya. Her face was red from the embarrassnt of running after her. "You were the one who killed—"
"Um!? N-Now announcing, her Ladyship! Crown Princess of the Wood Elf Kingdom! Yuliana Northwood Vellanax!" Roared the Herald.
Leandra head snapped up to glare at her Herald and Lord Stewart for cutting in when she was about to make her big declaration. There was going to be hell to pay for this later, but then she realized what happened. Lady Nelumbo and a few of the Queen's knights had the two surrounded with their hands on their swords. Queen Rianna put in the order to announce Yuliana or face the consequences.
The Herald wanted to wait to announce the last two won, and was going to, but the Queen ordered him to. He tried to play dumb but Rianna wasn't buying it. She knew this was the ti to make Leandra look weak and stupid.
'Tsk!... Well, played sister-in-law... Well, played indeed. But this won't change a thing!'
The room turned their gaze up to a gorgeous wood elf with silky forest green hair and beautiful, erald eyes. Yuliana ca striding over in her best dress, an olive green dress with long sleeves and a white fur cloak draped over her shoulders. Her face was neutral and her eyes were on the Duchess, but she did not acknowledge her yet. Yuliana was pissed at Leandra and she couldn't wait to ruin her day with the help of the Queen.
She was walking down the stairs, and the entire crowd was enraptured by her beauty and poise. When she made it to the bottom, she curtsied to the crowd and they all clapped politely. Leandra glanced at her allies who didn't realize they were applauding one of the Duchess's adversaries.
'Fucking imbeciles!'
The ladies who saw Leandra promptly stopped clapping and acted like they never did.
Yuliana took the mont to glance at the crowd and found Lydia. The girl was in awe of Yuliana's presence, and she gave the Wood Elf Princess a smile.
She turned and walked towards Leandra and the Duchess bowed to her. Yuliana was her senior by quite a bit and deserved the respect, but it also helped Leandra's plans.
'Keep smiling, you stupid bitch. Once I get what I want, you'll be a forgotten footnote just like your kingdom.'
Wood elves were said to be nature-loving, gullible dingbats, but those were the misconceptions after their Kingdom fell to Marn. They are good natured in general which so humans, dwarves, and beastn alike think of them as stupid, naïve, and a pushover. They may be goofy, but they are far from being weak. Their power lay in their ability to communicate with the forest and utilize the Elder Tree to stop anyone or anything. But with the mysterious death of the Elder Tree, they lost the ability to communicate with the rest of the forest and found out too late that Marn's armies and rcenaries had invaded.
The survivors were forced into servitude or slavery by King Arnaud Dupont. They are the only known race of demi-humans who were treated this way in the last 500 years. Wood elves were treated as playthings or toys for Marn's generals and nobles. While other worked as slave labor. It was frowned by most of the other human kingdoms, but it wasn't enough for them to go to war with.
And that's where Leandra got her bad intel. Yuliana is not a simpleton.
Leandra's eyes drifted to a few of her guests and the Duchess gave her a smile. She knew everyone in attendance, even the ones that didn't like her. She needed to look empathetic in front of this Royal without a land or people. It was annoying that she had to bow down to soone of the likes of her. But it's the gas she had to play or risk losing her position.
"I welco Princess Yuliana to my humble abode."
Leandra kept her fake smile plastered on her face and gave her a small nod. Yuliana didn't return the gesture and instead took a step forward. She was only a few feet away from the Duchess.
"Thank you for the invitation, Leandra. It is lovely to be here. It's not quite the sa as elven architecture but it is quite fascinating how humans create such things... Unfortunately, you've let the flowers in your front yard wilt, and the trees aren't looking well. Don't you have a way to water them?" Yuliana said the first part with a smile, and the second half had a more somber tone.
Leandra didn't care about gardening and as long as they didn't look like trash then everything was fine.
"The weather hasn't been kind lately, and we've had a dry sumr."
"So, you don't have a watering crystal to help with the drought? Or a magical gardener that can do it for you? I would've thought a noble such as yourself would've taken better care of your plants. Your ho is quite beautiful, and the grounds are stunning. If you'd just take a little bit of extra ti to take care of it, you'd have a true paradise."
'Is this bitch lecturing ? Maybe she's smarter than most of her kin. But she'll learn her place!' Leandra thought while maintaining her polite facade.
"I swear my gardener has told that he's watered them yesterday," Leandra said.
"That's not what your rose bushes told . They've been without water for seven days," Yuliana said with a frown.
"Oh?... Well, I will make sure he is disciplined appropriately," Leandra said.
Yuliana smiled at the Duchess' statent, and a mont later, the Lord Stewart announced the Queen's arrival. Everyone turned to watch her as she ca into view.
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