40

Dedicated to all my wonderful readers. I want to thank you guys for the continuous support, redsafyre, weifeifei, Anonymous, FunMochi, Jennifer_Goliah, Husnalmau, Nansy123, B_6551, Jaey_Peters, Storygirl, Mandee, Emefaf, DesmaFowani, BCarter138, Mickey_Dave, NotYourMate, all your votes, comments, basically everything makes me feel like staying home all day to write but I have to go to school everyday. Jennifer, thank you so much for the golden tickets also. They really made my day. If you haven't updated your webnovel app you should. That way you'll see the new voting system. Thanks for all your love and support💜

***

The maids followed her orders to the letter. They were aware that the king expected them to treat his guests with the highest respect.

Scarlett was angry though, she wanted the king's attention but now this human was here and she had to serve her like the common maid that she was. But soon she promised herself, soon she would catch the king's eye and she would seduce him and be made queen.

But it seemed the human had the same ideas, she thought with a scowl as she glanced once more at the red gown Clarissa wore that was no longer than an inch above her knee. It made her maid uniform which she had made sure to cut shorter than was required seem like rags. She hated the princess for it.

Clarissa turned around to glance at herself in the mirror. She smiled, her blood-red lips cutting across her face like a promise of hot steamy nights, her face was made up in a way that would make any hot-blooded man turn twice and wish for things that could get him killed. Most especially, the gown seemed to be made for her.

Technically, it was but that was beside the point.

She turned back to face her newly appointed maids and in doing so looked around the room.

The room was untidy as a result of the preparations to get her ready for dinner. The sight annoyed her. The maids were not as efficient as she liked but she did not have the time to deal with them now. She was focused on her mission to seduce instead. So she forgave them, giving herself the excuse that her new maids were not used to her yet.

" I expect this room to be cleaned up. If I happen to see a speck of dust or anything remaining from my preparations, I'll make you pay. " Clarissa said to them with her infamous smile.

Scarlett was getting angry.

What right did the human think she had to talk to them like that?

She tried to talk down to Clarissa " You can't... "

" Shush, " Clarissa said with a deadly quiet tone. " I don't care what rules you have here. I have my own rules. Now get to work. "

With that said she went to the door joined to hers, to see Dante wandering around the room calling out the cat's name.

" Zeek! Zeek!... " he kept calling out quietly.

" What is going on here? " Clarissa asked him.

" Zeek ran off again. "

She rolled her eyes.

The child and his cat.

" He'll be back when he wants to. For now, we have dinner to attend. "

She looked at his clothes to see that he was well dressed and smiled. His room was also tidy.

Her maids should take lessons from Dante's, she said in her mind.

She took his little hand in hers and together they went downstairs.

Dante kept wondering where his cat had gone to but didn't dare to pout knowing the princess would scold him.

At the base of the stairs that led to the West wing, they found Dimitri already waiting.

" My lady, if you will? Please follow me. "

Clarissa said nothing to him but followed him closely.

Dimitri wondered where the cat he suspected to be the king was.

As Dimitri turned to take them down the stairs, Clarissa for a second looked into the East wing which remained dark. Her heart jumped within her at what she saw but in the next second, it was gone. Clarissa was quite sure she saw a pair of red eyes looking right at her.

Dimitri took them down the stairs that led to the east and west wings, then they took a turn towards several corridors.

Dante felt like he was going to die before he got any food.

At last, they arrived in front of a big door which was sealed shut.

It opened up and Clarissa saw Raphael and Leonard.

Both men were hit by her dazzling beauty and Raphael who liked a woman with seductive looks smiled easily.

Kieran stood in the shadows staring at her. She looked beautiful, her beauty rivalled that of many of the humans and even the vampires he had bedded.

Raphael raised his glass of blood that seemed like red wine to Clarissa as he greeted her with a smile on his lips.

Leonard also greeted the princess and was annoyed at what she wore. But he made no comments.

When Clarissa and Dante were seated, the servants came in and started to serve the food.

" Dimitri " she called out as a bad feeling came up in her gut. " Is the king running late? "

He tried not to move away. " The king will not be available for dinner. He had other important matters to attend to. "

This time Clarissa snapped. " It seems your king can't get his priorities straight. "

Her words had the servants pausing while Leonard and Raphael's eyes widened. But Raphael was amused as was Kieran.

" The king is a busy person... "

" Your king has no manners! It's only proper for him to greet a guest he invited. Busy or not, he has to obey the rules of royal etiquette. He might as well be nothing but a vagrant! " Clarissa said and finally tried to calm herself down.

Leonard was also angry on her behalf but they needed this alliance and if she continued this way, the alliance might be broken.

Kieran smirked. Finally, he was getting under her skin. He almost wanted to come out to face her head-on.

She would be a handful for his friend, Raphael thought.

The servants were confused. Were they supposed to continue serving the food?

Dimitri signalled them to continue serving and when they were done, they hurriedly excused themselves.

A couple of them prayed for the princess, wondering how she would be able to stand the king. They very well knew how the king liked to tease and drive one mad with his actions and words.

Clarissa tasted from the food she was served and spat it out into a handkerchief.

She was going to make them pay for the king's insult by making them work twice as hard.

" What is this rubbish? " Clarissa asked, standing up.

Everyone tasted theirs and found nothing wrong with it.

Kieran narrowed his eyes on her.

" So she likes to play dirty," he murmured to himself.

" I wouldn't even serve this to pigs. Is this the best your king can do? "

Dimitri was confused.

Leonard didn't say a word about how the food tasted excellent. He didn't want to stop Clarissa from having her fun. After all, they had insulted her first.

" Uhmm...if there is something else you would like, I will have the cooks prepare it. "

" How sure am I that you can satisfy my taste? Honestly, your kingdom has been so disappointing," she said as if exhausted.

Kieran wanted very much to wring her pretty little neck.

He thought about what to do. If he let the royal cooks work all night, she would still claim not to be satisfied by their efforts.

" We will try not to disappoint any further. " Dimitri said to her.

Dimitri hurried out to go meet the royal chefs.

Kieran teleported himself out of the room and when Dimitri turned the corner he saw the king in front of him.

Kieran presented a note out of thin air to Dimitri. " Send this to her, with regards from me of course. "

Dimitri's eyes widened. " I thought you didn't want her to know you were here. She's going to lose it. "

" Oh, I'm counting on that. " Kieran said with a smirk and an amused glint in his eyes.

Dimitri gulped.

This would not go down well.

Author's note

Thank you so much for reading. Don't forget to vote, comment, share, rate/review, vote with golden tickets, add to your libraries and reading lists. Don't forget that you can gift the book now. Thanks again💜