Father was so pissed, the veins on his forehead angrily bulged as he looked moments away from strangling you.
The room was silent for a moment, until he took a deep breath then commanded the guard head.
"Go and get the box"
The guard standing me, bowed then exited the room. I and father had a glaring competition, which didn't last long as the head guard returned with a box.
"My wedding gift for you. Get lots of sleep. Tomorrow is your big day"
The head guard held the box to his chest, and displayed it before me. Next, he opened the box and showed me the gory content inside.
"You think you have power here? Let me remind you. I hold all the power in the Deor mansion" Father said tauntingly, while beckoning at the open box.
In the box, was a horrid bloody sight of a body part. Three tongues, which looked like it had belonged to humans. I suddenly had a thought.
'Mother, Henry and Harper?'
For a moment I was shaken, but regained myself when father spoke again.
"Those foolish peasants should have obeyed my orders and not said a word"
It was then that I realized that the body parts in the box belonged to the three maids from before.
Was I monster for feeling relieved knowing that the tongues in the box belonged to the maids I had been trying to extract information from, and not three of my allies?
Well, now was not the time to dwell on my morals.
"So you severed the tongues of those maids? Should I clap for you?" I said sarcastically.
Father gritted his teeth, possibly annoyed at my indifference towards his 'wedding gift'
"This is a warning, telling you that you could be next"
That was what he said to me finally, then bid me a good night.
***
I slumped unto my bed, the head guard still following me.
"Get out. I want to rest"
He stopped for a moment and glared at me, before containing his expression and setting down the box of tongues on my bed, then exiting my room.
I pushed the eerie box containing the maid's tongues aside, then reached for under my bed. I had kept the magic stone from earlier today there, since I had nowhere else to keep it. Thankfully, it was still laying there.
I clasped the cold blue stone in my palm, then closed my eyes and concentrated. I muttered all sorts of apparent spells I had learnt from books.
The cold magic stone, began to radiate heat, but still, nothing happened. I sighed.
'I guess I should make another plan to get out of this ridiculousness. How can mum, Olivia, the twins, Paisley and Cardin all disappear from the mansion in one morning of me going out? And who gets married so suddenly?'
My head ached from all the absurdity and my solution finding. It was then that I recalled that Henry always kept important letters in a file under the bed.
Making sure the door was locked, I checked under the bed and found the file.
Good. The things in my room were still in place. How careless of father.
I opened the file and brought out various letters.
Quickly, I scanned each of them and the one with the symbol of the Farret County, caught my eye, since it had been brought in four times. An invite had even been sent to me this morning, while I was out.
That meant, Henry had been in the mansion since and had only disappeared a bit before I returned.
My attention was turned to an invite which I had received numerously from the Farret County. Henry had probably not told me about it since I had said I planned to be absent from social gatherings for the next few months.
But how could I have forgotten? It was almost summer. It was a month to the wedding planned between Olivia and Count Thomas Farret.
Mother, Cardin, Paisley and Olivia were all probably at the announcement party.
Then Harper and Henry? They couldn't just vanish into thin air! It was so annoying to make guesses and not being able to take action.
Just recalling as the Duke looked at me with pity a few moments ago, made me want to strike immediately.
"You're making a mistake"
He was totally wrong. They were the ones making a mistake by marking me as their enemy.
"No. I said I'd let you live to see us succeed then kill you when regret is tormenting you"
It may be hypocritical for me to say, but the Duke was rather arrogant. He seemed to believe I was harmless, thinking that my only power was derived from being the daughter of Marquis Deor and probably the hypnosis.
Unknown to him, once I've resolved this marriage nonsense, my business 'wine' will attack all his businesses so greatly.
With time, I'd catch his tail, then trample on it. There were so many ways that I could use to destroy them.
Let them rebel against the current Emperor. Now that I knew of their movements, Nathan and I would observe quietly and when the time was perfect, we'd strike.
I had the upper hand finding out and knowing their weak spots. Eliminating Paisley from the Crown Princess selection would be easy.
With that thought, I stood up, and went to my wardrobe and pulled open a secret drawer.
I chuckled seeing the contents in it were left intact. What amateurs. I bent down, then reached out for a tiny bottle from a crate.
In the bottle, was a transparent liquid which could pass as water, while destroying someone's life immediately.
Happily, I raised up the bottle to the moonlight and swirled the poisonous contents in it.
I can already feel the victory. The crown of Empress on my head and the perfect ending for the villainess.
Over confident? Oh, I know.