Britanny looked annoyed and hissed before she inhaled and exhaled to remain composed. When she was calmed, she began attacking me by oscillating her dagger in my dagger while I stepped backward to defend myself.
One of the dangerous traits of the Cantavalle children was when they remained calm. When Britanny was like that, it was an earnest battle. So, I must take this seriously.
“Britanny, that is enough.” Arthur looked bored while Lambert was laughing to his heart’s content. They did not look faltered that Britanny was attacking me.
“Do not be such a spoilsport, Art. I am having fun watching them,” Lambert said, stroking his chin like a critic. “It has been a while since Domi and Brit dueled against each other. This is such an interesting duel!”
I did a cartwheel when Britanny’s attacks became rough. “Britanny, my dearest 2nd sister, are you certainly annoyed at me?” I asked softly when she ran in my direction. I decided to meet her halfway and ducked to punch her in the stomach.
She fell back to the ground while our eyes were glowing in lust for blood. I did not hesitate to aim my dagger at her shoulder.
Britanny hissed in pain but did not falter and removed the dagger of mine to toss it away.
I looked down at her while she was looking at me, irritated. “You are irritating after all… Your mother does not even marry our father, but why did you become his favorite child?” she asked as she composed herself. Her tone was calm, but there was slight annoyance lingering on it.
I did not get to answer her since I had no answer. I did not even know why Papa would pay attention to me since my mother did not even exist here in this household.
“It is obvious that she worked hard in that position, Brit,” Lambert chimed and yawned as if he was not interested anymore in watching our games.
“Shut up, Lambert! I am not even talking to you, bastard.” Britanny glared at him before she huffed and walked away.
Lambert just shrugged, not minding if he was being scolded. He decided to leave as well when the duel was finished between Britanny and I.
Arthur sighed. “Are you done playing games with her, Dominixe?” he asked, looking at me with a frigid gaze.
I smiled, a furtive one. He knew that I was playing with her. “What do you mean playing? I just missed our bonding as sisters.” I fluttered my eyelids.
But Arthur surely did not buy my words. He looked at me intently. He was neither displeased nor annoyed. “Something changed in you.”
“Oh?” I arched my eyebrow.
I calmed myself. Something changed in me… He noticed? But I kept my behavior intact just before I regressed.
He halted in front of me, slightly tilting his head. “I do not know why but something in you changed, Dominixe.”
“That must be your imagination, Arthur.” I tapped his shoulder before I walked past him.
“I shall let this slide of taking advantage of your favorability to Papa. I am going to steal that position of yours, dear sister. I swear.”
I halted as a sly smile appeared on my lips when I turned my head at him. “I dare you to try.”
Those were my last words that would make him etch to his mind. I did not want to converse about how favored I was by our father.
It would soon be over once I betrayed him and made this household fall to its place.
“I have prepared your bath, Young Mistress Dominixe,” Anita said when she followed me to my chamber. I only nodded in response before she helped me get undressed.
I went to the tub and relaxed. I bit my lower lip when I followed what Valerian said that I should remember that he fucked me there. It was… fascinating that we had dared to do that in the royal palace.
We never do that in my previous life. Perhaps, it was because I had never dared to do it with him.
Now that my plan had worked. It was time to face Caroline for tomorrow.
It was time to face the culprit of my death in my previous life.
“Anita, bring me the fertility control,” I ordered her as soon as I was done taking a bath and changed into my satin chemise.
“Here, my lady.” She relinquished me the vial that I needed to take tonight.
I took the potion from her hand and stared at it. I held it tightly, for I needed to be careful since I might get pregnant with Valerian’s pup.
Not now.
Not yet.
Tomorrow came. I had come to prepare myself to face Caroline finally. I ensured that I was well-prepared before I faced her. I had been avoiding here since I returned from killing the Alpha of the Dusk Moon pack.
She had invited me so many times to drink tea with her, but I was traumatized by what had happened to my previous life.
How I wished I could attack and kill her right now. Even though it did not happen at this timeline yet that she would poison me with a high-concentrated potion, the abomination I felt for her was emitting, so I must calm myself the moment I faced her.
I went to the pavilion garden with Anita, my maidservant, and Eric and Jude, my escorts.
It was a customary that we would bring our personnel whenever we had some tea with my siblings. This was to protect ourselves from possible assassination from one of my beloved siblings, even though we could handle ourselves.
When I arrived there, all of my sisters were already there and stood up so they could greet me. Britanny even frowned when our eyes met. I ignored her when Natasha waved her hand to make me notice her.
“Sister, come and sit with me!” she said, almost beaming but maintaining her delicate feature.
I smiled and did what she wanted. “Now, now… Thank you for hosting a tea party, Natasha.”
She smiled and nodded. “Indeed, yes. Thank you for coming as well, 1st sister.”
I turned at Maria, who was glaring in my direction. “How are you doing, 5th sister?” I looked at her meaningfully, slightly arching my eyebrow.
She frowned at me. “Still living…” she muttered in a small tone.
Britanny sighed. “I cannot believe that you make Papa punish my sister, Dominixe.”
I looked at her, which we were sitting across from each other. Britanny looked calm right now, unlike last night when she couldn’t control her emotions. She was really good at managing her emotions. However, I was the cause of her losing her composure.
Sometimes.
She was obsessed with men fanning over her. What she wanted, she would get it. But I was the hindrance to one man she did not manage to have.
It was my Valerian.
“If only Maria did not ruin my flowers, Papa wouldn’t punish her severely,” I said, smiling gently before turning at Maria, who looked flustered. “Right, Maria? You know that you were wrong by that time, right?”
Seeing Maria folded under my gaze made me want to embarrass her more. She tormented me in my past life, so I would do what it took to satisfy my anger toward her.
But this wouldn’t last long. I wanted to take Maria on my side.
She would experience hellish punishments one of these days. So, I must be there and be a good older sister to her. I would take her under my wing and be her savior.
“Y-Yes…”
Britanny rolled her eyes. “You are really pathetic, Maria. I cannot believe Mother gave birth to you.” She looked at her with ridiculed expression while Maria remained silent and felt more humiliated.
Britanny meant that Maria had failed to torment my life. Maria failed Aurora’s order and couldn’t even manage to raise her status from being the loser of this family along with Ingram.
“M-My apologies, sister…” Maria muttered. Her eyes were closed to tears, but she kept her gaze on the teacup in front of her.
A deafening silence surrounded the surrounding. Neither of us was speaking while Britanny was ridiculing her silently. Maria couldn’t even dare to talk back to her since Aurora would scold her if she did that. Their mother would favor Britanny more than her.
Caroline clapped her hands to cut the silence. “My, my… Let’s not ruin the tea party Natasha hosted. Right, 3rd sister?” She turned to Natasha, who just nodded.
“Indeed. You are right, Caroline.” Natasha nodded. “2nd sister, please let us not ruin my tea party, hmm?”
Britanny just scoffed. Natasha sighed, shaking her head.
“Well, how about tasting the cakes I purchased earlier in the town?” Caroline asked softly. She turned at her two escorts, Reynard and Loner, holding two small boxes. “Shall we taste it?”
I almost squinted my eyes at Caroline. But it was good that I stopped myself. “Carol, how are you doing lately?” I asked, finally making a conversation with her.
Caroline looked surprised. “I am doing good, Domi. I am glad you have asked me. How about you?”
Seeing her smiling from ear to ear had failed me to realize in my previous life that, Caroline had already harbored hatred against me. What I was looking in her eyes right now was not the sweet Caroline.
I was deceived-no, I failed to see it.
I took a sip of my tea, delaying my response. “I am busy handling the proposal of attacking my target.”
“I see…” She nodded but she looked bewildered afterward.
Our tea party ended well. No ruckus happened, unlike what happened last night. None of them even brought that up since they knew that paying attention to it might cause another bad blood between Britanny and me.
I was walking along with my maidservant and escorts when Caroline caught up with me. “I am glad that you have spoken to me, Dominixe.”
I faked a surprise, forming my face for being bewildered by what happened.
“What do you mean?” I already knew what she was going to say.
“I feel like you are ignoring me. Or is it just me?”
I looked at her in disbelief. “What do you mean ignoring you?” Yes, I would like her to know that I was ignoring her. This would have been the time that Caroline would be threatened.
She slightly twitched her lips, chuckling nervously. “I-I think it is just me.” She shrugged.
I suddenly wanted to tackle her and tie her up to torture her. I would love her to consume the same potion she made me drink on that unfateful day.
Seeing that delicate feature she had, like Natasha, made me want to slam her into the wall.
“Caroline, if I am going to kill you right now, how and where would I end your life?” I asked out of nowhere.
She was taken aback. “W-What?” She looked at me nervously. “Where did that question come from, Domi?” She suddenly looked uncomfortable.
Reynard and Loner suddenly protected her by going front. Eric and Jude were quick enough to protect me. Our escorts already knew how to protect their masters.
I laughed. “I am just jesting, Caroline. You do not need to put your guard up. I am not planning to do that.” Yet.
I wanted to add that.
“Didn’t you ask me that question before?” I reminded her about that. I remembered that she had asked me that before. That question caught me off guard.
Caroline smiled bitterly. “Ah, yes. Indeed.” I could almost see that she wanted to roll her eyes. She fished out her pocket watch. “I must go ahead, Dominixe. Let’s have some tea sometime.” She did not wait for me to respond as she scurried away along with her maidservant, Ronin, and her escorts, Reynard and Loner.
When she left, I felt relieved when I finally made a move to make her uncomfortable.
“Lady Dominixe, Lady Natasha is watching,” Jude said to alert me.
I turned my head to see Natasha, who was watching from afar. I only smiled at her before I turned my back to leave.
I was humming when I felt satisfaction from doing it. I did not know this was so good that I should frighten one of my siblings.
“Finally…” I muttered, but I did not want to feel at ease yet. I wanted to make Caroline suffer.
This was not over yet to torment her life.
How did it feel to make you taste your own medicine, Caroline? Was it tasty?