But, in Penelope’s case, her family was lifted to grace when she befriended Celine Diamond in their childhood. It could be because of pity, but Penelope had always been grateful to Celine for it.
She was so grateful and loyal that she built an information network to find her childhood best friend.
But then... she faced betrayal.
Jake secretly clenched his fist as he remembered the information he found about her.
The woman who had been betrayed by her ‘best friend’, now cried in anger because she tried to defend her true best friend. It felt like her story was just about becoming the best friend of other beautiful and perfect women.
Not only Harriet, the Notorious Duchess. But also Arai, the Knight Commander, Miriam, the Princess Consort, and Ezra, the Late Empress.
“Thank you, Sir Scolecite, for coming. You are welcome whenever you want to visit this place. There’s a party every week here, but you must wear your
Four years ago, after the Empire’s post-war recovery, Ezekiel Euclase was crowned the new Dragon Emperor. Axias, the former Emperor, decided to retire and followed his elder brother to sail the ocean.At the same time, Ezekiel revealed about his cousin, the secret successor of the throne.The moment the news was spread, everyone was shocked to know that the Duke of Platinum, the brother of the Notorious Duchess, Heath Goldlane, was the son of Eoin Euclase.Everyone started to wonder if the Duchess had the same father but later confirmed that the Duchess’ father was the leader of a Blood God Mercenary Troupe, Orcenal Silverlane.This just made things a bit complicated because, more than Heath, Harriet was more suited to hold the title of Duke Platinum. She was the direct offspring of Goldlane and Silverlane, after all.Eoin’s supporters also demanded that Heath’s surname be changed to Euclase, but Eoin himself rejected it. He
What it meant to be a good friend?The first time he saw Penelope, it was at the victory banquet after the Diamond War. He thought she was hilarious.The way she innocently blended in with the other women and the way she knew how to lead the conversation in an exciting way. Her reaction, her subtle worry for them, and her joy as she saw their happiness.Everything was perfectly selfless.The way she never judged them while still being herself, the way she accepted them the way they were, the way she flawlessly supported them in the right way only she could do.After that night, Heinrich strived to become someone like her. He was not consciously trying to do it like her because he had another set of skills and personality, but he tried to become ‘her’ kind of friend.That was why Heinrich approached Ezekiel and told him that he used to love Harriet too.He took the first step to be a good friend to Ezekiel.Still, he
RUMBLE RUMBLEZRSSSSHHHH!AAAAAAH!CLANG!CRASH!“The Black Witch!”“Take cover!”Swords, spears, even shields, and armored body parts rained down on the battlefield. Anything that was heavy and strong enough that could be used as weapons floated up into the air and then rained down like comets.It was not enough to stop them, though. Many of them were <Aura Masters>, and they could push forward even when it was raining weapons.But the closer they approached, suddenly, their <Aura> diminished like smoke. They had entered another person’s <Aura Domain>, and they were weaker than them.“AAAAAAAH!”One by one, they got pushed back. Their body flew high to the backline, while their body lost control of their own <Aura>.It was a bad decision to push forward in this situation.So they retreated for today, knowing full well that they
“Mum! Let’s hold hands!”In the morning, the twins went to Harriet’s room to pick her up for breakfast. They were determined to help her with her daily life now that she couldn’t see anything.Harriet chuckled. “What is this? Both of you want to hold hands?”She reached out to their small hands and held them as they walked through the corridor. Harriet told them that she was on a break and she would not go back to the East Continent until after the late Empress’ birthday party.The twins were glad to hear that. It had been so long since Harriet had a break.Now, after Zaha finally killed the last enemy’s general off, she could rest. That would be until Zaha finished his cleanup and established his own nation.“Mum, are we going to leave for the capital?” Niamh asked.“Yes,” Harriet answered as she finished her breakfast.“We’ve never gone
One of the reasons why Yelan and Yesha stayed in the Duchy even though they should’ve come back to the East was because of Yelan’s condition.Her sudden fit of heat was what caused it. It was because of the unfinished imprinting ceremony.Come to think of it, the Duchess’ expression was weird when Yesha saw her just a minute ago. It was weirdly complicated.Why was the reason?CLICK!The door to the room opened. Harriet came out of the room with the same complicated expression, covered by her silk veil.“Did you wait?” she asked, smiling at him.“Yes... what about Yelan?” Yesha asked back.Harriet didn’t immediately answer. Instead, she looked first into the worry on Yesha’s face.“I can not solve this,” she said.Yesha widened his eyes. “I-if even you can not solve this, then what should I do?”“No, if it was me, I would be
Ezekiel was not a perfect ruler, yet he was a good one. Succeeding his father’s leadership, he just needed to adapt to today’s society and add rules to hone the government to be even better.By no means was he a tyrant.Sometimes, a decent person would be accused of something they were not just because they had an obvious fault or abnormality. Sometimes, a thousand good deeds would be lost and forgotten in value by the eyes of people just because of one sin.They forgot how merciful and benevolent of a ruler Ezekiel was because of one thing that challenged their interest.“That was so bad. I don’t think Ezra would laugh at that joke,” Ezekiel muttered. “Not that... I want anyone to laugh at that one...”A joke.While everyone felt a horrible goosebump hearing his ‘joke’, Ezekiel sighed. He looked into the eyes of his friends, which were quiet from beginning to end.Heinrich sat at
“Isn’t this supposed to be a party?”Harriet made eye contact with everyone in that hall. Even though her eyes were covered with a veil, they all could feel her stare. Even though she acted like she didn’t hear what they were talking about before entering the room, she ensured everyone knew that she heard everything.“Sister,” Heath mumbled. Beside him, Miriam wanted to walk forward to welcome Harriet and the twins, but he stopped her.So were Arai and Penelope, who decided to observe further while Heinrich secretly stared daggers at those people.“I don’t know if I should be glad or mad that you came at this moment, Sister Cousin,” Ezekiel said.“Why?” Harriet walked closer, holding her children’s hands. “Because I wear black? Sorry about that.”Ezekiel suppressed his smile.When Harriet arrived in front of his throne, below the stairs, she sighed. &l
After two turns of the dance moves, Ezekiel realized something about Harriet. He had rarely seen her again nowadays, and even if he did, he would not come this close to her.Now that he had the chance to even touch her hands and see her closer, he realized how thin she was.He thought she looked thin and fragile because of the black dress. But he was wrong.She truly felt thin and weak."I heard that Zaha had just finished the war," Ezekiel said softly."Not completely," Harriet smiled at him. Her eyes looked into his behind the black veil. Her eyebrows arch was high and beautiful, making him remember the time when he used to admire her."Then I bet I will be able to see him again soon," Ezekiel smiled back.Harriet chuckled, leaning her head into Ezekiel's shoulder. "You can just see him whenever you want. Or just go see the world with H