The Devil Duchess Adopts The Villainess - Chapter 2

The audience chamber of the imperial palace was typically used for daily court sessions and was rarely used as a royal assembly. A royal assembly was different as there were summons sent to all members of the nobility across the kingdom regardless of rank or standing.

The audience chamber itself was grand and spacious with banners unfurled around the sides of the walls with the colours and crest of the royal family. The chamber was divided into two sections with the lower court used to house the lesser noble houses such as the barons, marquis and counts while the smaller area in the front of the chamber was used to house the members of high nobility households and the royalty.

The king and queen Isabella were seated on finely crafted golden thrones with sculptures of dragons and phoenix at their feet. The chamber had been in session for quite a few hours, but the arguments and accusations thrown around the chamber left an atmosphere where one could cut the tension with a knife. The king sat bored on his throne with his wife quietly sitting beside him observing the squabbling nobles below.

The king was once a handsome muscular man but no traces of his former self could be seen, he was now portly and overweight with a drink in hand and a decadent smile on his face, a far cry from the man he used to be in his youth.

Where once was a proud and noble son of heavens was now a shadow of a man who indulged in corruption and vice. In the tradition of the Eternia kingdom, once a prince ascended the throne, he would abandon his former name and simply be referred to as ‘king’. This symbolized the king was no longer a person but was now the embodiment of the kingdom.

“We need to settle this immediately! This girl is of high nobility and only those with the proper bloodline can afford to raise her!” a nobleman stood up and shouted amongst the crowd. “And you believe that a mere baron like yourself qualifies? Don’t make me laugh,” not to be outdone another man fired back a reply.

Voices continued to rise as each nobleman yelled and continued to shout to make their points known. The atmosphere became more and more heated and some nobles even began to call upon their magic power to seem more intimidating.

Suddenly the door to the chamber was flung open and a woman strode into the room. The unexpected entrance left the court in shock for a moment. The voices quieted in amazement at the idea that a noble would enter the chamber so late and in such a disrespectful manner. “What do you think you’re doing barging into a session like this!” a noblewoman sneered at the lady.

The lady quietly lifted her head and her piercing violet eyes shone as she glanced at the woman who sneered at her. Tendrils of shadows wrapped around her feet as she walked making it appear as though she was gliding across the room.

The woman immediately paled as she realised who she had spoken to and quickly sat down while trying not to draw attention to herself. Her hands started to shake softly, and she quickly apologised and dropped down her head. The noblemen around her shifted slightly to avoid being associated with her.

“Demon!”, “Monster”, “Why is the duchess of the north here?” whispers began to quietly spread throughout the chamber. Wuxiaworld for visiting.

Elise ignored them as they were not anything that she had not heard before, she stepped deliberately and decisively towards the upper nobility section. She nodded halfheartedly towards the king and some nobles that she knew in passing then sat down on one of the chairs. Elise’s territory was located far north of the capital and hence there was little chance of interaction of herself and the majority of the nobles present.

The atmosphere became strange and almost silent as all eyes were looking towards Elise sitting down peacefully.Eventually as the minutes ticked by, the king having lost a bit of his patience stood up.

“My beloved citizens, we have had a great tragedy that befell one of the noble duke houses of our kingdom. The duke and duchess of house Precisily were killed in a terrible fire and left behind their only daughter as the sole head of the house.”

Elise was half listening and was a tad bored but could not help but perk her ears up when she heard the purpose of the court session. The king continued,” I have gathered you all here to decide on which house should be her guardian and entrusted the stewardship of her lands and titles until she reaches adulthood”. Murmurs began to fill the courtroom when he finished his speech as nobles looked at one another speculatively.

Elise frowned slightly as she realised what a difficult decision would be made today. The kingdom of Eternia had a monarchy system with the king holding the most power and authority. However, one could not look down on the power held by the five dukes’ houses with each possessing a significant amount of territory and military properties. Elise slightly sympathised to the little girl’s plight as she was inevitability going to be used by another house to rise in the ranks of nobility.

If just the matter was merely that of adoption, then there would hardly be enough reason to warrant the assembly but the stewardship of her lands and titles made her quite the appealing piece of meat for the lower houses.The royal family could hardly allow another duke level house to adopt her as that would place forty percent of the non- royalty military in the hands of a single house which would become quite dangerous. So, the question remained which lower noble house was going to get the opportunity.

‘Although it will probably go to a puppet house of one of the factions of the court’ Elise thought to herself. Complicating the matter were the distinct relatives of the girl from her family who also were present to lay a claim on her. They were unlikely to succeed but could be manipulated as a weapon to disrupt the claim of some houses who wanted to bid.

Elise flitted with the thought of raising a bid to adopt the girl herself but then quickly dismissed it. She had no idea how to raise children herself and her bloodstained hands were better left for the battlefield rather than to hold the hand of a child. She leaned back on the chair and decided to take a watch of the show unfolding.

“We have been discussion this matter for several hours now so I have come to the decision to let the child decide for herself, she will be escorted into the room and whoever can convince her by my decree will be appointed guardianship,” the king spoke these final words and then sat back down on his throne.After the king’s intervention, the wary glances towards Elise stopped as the nobles resumed their earnest arguments but in a much more muted tone. There was slight impatience as the nobles waited for the girl to arrive in the chamber.

A few moments later and a knock sounded from the door leading to the chamber, the king nodded slightly, and the petite figure of a little girl appeared at the entrance flanked by two knights on either side of her.

‘Why does she look like that?’. Elise glanced at the child at the center of the room shocked. The girl was wearing a plain blue dress was no ornaments on her hair, her eyes seemed limp and hollow. Her long hair was draped down her back in a careless style with no attempt to maintain it.

It was obvious that she had not been properly fed as she appeared to be on the skinny side. Her eyes shifted as she glanced around the room and she trembled slowly clearly uncomfortable with the attention surrounding her. Elise could not even guess what her age was as she just seemed so tiny. She was a far cry from the image of a pampered young miss hailing from one of the most noble houses in the kingdom.

Elise pressed her fingers to her temple in a daze, her head began to pound, and her vision started to swim. Why did this little girl look familiar? Her heart was racing as sweat slowly became to run down her back. She had clearly never seen this child before so why it was when she looked at her there was a feeling of dread and familiarity.

The nobles began to form a line to approach the child and try to persuade her to let them become her guardian. There cold hungry eyes looked at her almost like a piece of meat rather than that of a human.

Elise tightened her fingers and she loathed to reveal any signs of weakness especially when in a court of wolves surrounding her and who knows which noble would be observing. The pain in her head increased without warning and it took all her will power not to cry out. Suddenly a voice rang out in her head chasing away all the pain briefly and softly spoke the words.

“That child is the villainess who will bring death and ruin to the kingdom”

“And you die to the blade by her hand”