Chapter 155 "The woman with superpowers is chased by a group of men..."
The Queen of the South, however, skillfully salvaged the situation. With a sincere smile, she said to Yanni, "I didn't recognize you, not because I'm forgetful, but because your bearing is truly exceptional. Your presence alone makes it impossible for me to reconcile you with the women who accompanied you back then." She then took a few steps forward and said kindly, "Yani often mentions you, and I used to think she was exaggerating. But seeing you today, I realize that her praise doesn't even come close to the truth."
I was stunned. How could this queen be so eloquent?
Manberia smiled at this point, "Your Majesty is too kind. Please take a seat."
The Queen smiled at me again before gracefully walking up the steps and elegantly sitting on the soft seat next to the young boy wearing a golden crown.
Seeing her chatting happily with the boy with the golden crown who was about half a year old, I couldn't help but admire her high emotional intelligence.
Yanni then moved closer to me and pulled me down to sit. "You've been doing quite well these past few years, I've heard all about it. Tell me, how did you manage to hook up with the Elf King? And how did you manage to marry the Prime Minister of Achia?"
She knew about my story with Bernard and Mamboy, so she went straight to asking the other two.
I was being honest and told her roughly how I met the Elf King and how I met Artis. She listened with great interest. "I've noticed that you're particularly popular with men, and of course, with women too," she said, referring to Diya Ruo.
I didn't refute it, but just smiled and asked, "How have you been these past few years?"
I told her my story, and in return, she had to tell me hers.
She was very frank, saying, "I didn't have any special experiences, except that I married twice. After divorcing Haiya, I followed my stepmother's orders and married the Prime Minister of this country. But the Prime Minister didn't love me, he even hated me. We often fought. Later, he lived with his mistress and didn't come back for a year or two, which made me lose face. So I poisoned his mistress. He hated me to the bone and wanted to poison me too, but I was rescued. After being rescued, I never wanted to be with him again and divorced him. He lost his position as Prime Minister because of poisoning the princess and was exiled to a remote place, never to return."
I listened intently, "Why was someone only exiled for such a serious crime as poisoning the princess?"
“Because his family still has a lot of influence in the Southern Territory, he gave the family face.” She shook her feather fan to dispel the heat from the earthen dragon. “A year later, I got married again, this time to the city lord of the largest royal city in our Southern Territory. This city lord is indiscriminate in his affections, but he especially likes young and handsome men. Before I married him, my stepmother repeatedly told me that I must cater to men’s tastes and not be willful anymore, so I searched everywhere for young and handsome men for him. As a result, he died in less than two years.”
"Huh?!" I exclaimed in utter surprise. "How could this be?"
“He contracted an unclean disease, his whole body covered in disgusting red blisters, which later festered and he died when his whole body was rotten.” She shook her fan twice in frustration. “Then they blamed me, saying that the handsome man I found for him was unclean, that I hired someone to kill him. The nobles in the royal city drove me out, and they wouldn’t even let me stay as a widow for him, so I went back to the Southern Palace.”
I poured her a glass of red wine, which she took and drank in one gulp. Just as she was about to say something more to me, the soft, alluring voice of the Queen of the Southern Border came, "Yani! Come and have a drink."
A tall, thin boy in a magnificent robe suddenly appeared before the Queen and Manberia. Yani narrowed her eyes. "Look, look, my stepmother wants to marry me off again. I told her I don't want to marry someone from outside the South."
Seeing my stunned expression, she added, "Everyone on the mainland knows that my stepmother has been marrying me off to other people. Well, I'm just her tool for marriage alliances."
As she spoke, she stood up gracefully, walked over with a smile on her face, showing no sign of displeasure.
I was stunned for a while until they started talking animatedly, and then I came to my senses.
It was almost dawn when the banquet ended, and I had basically slept on the soft chair until this time. After drinking two glasses of wine, I felt sleepy and curled up in the large soft chair, sleeping soundly without anyone waking me. When I woke up, the banquet hall was filled with the aroma of wine after the banquet, and a group of maids and servants were busy tidying up the tables and chairs.
Almost all the nobles had left; only a few were talking, and a few others, like me, were sleeping on the soft chairs. They were still asleep, but I had woken up.
"You're awake," a maid rushed over and said ingratiatingly, "Prince Manboa was afraid of waking you, so he didn't dare carry you back to your room."
"Where is he?" I asked, yawning.
"The prince went to the council chamber an hour ago."
I remember now, even during the year-end ball, the daily morning council meetings never stopped; he was attending the morning council meetings.
I sat up, and a soft, gold-embroidered blanket slipped down. A maid smiled and said, "This was personally placed on you by the prince."
"Okay, thank you." I smiled, stood up, stretched, and walked towards my room.
I slept soundly for a long time before waking up in the afternoon. The banquet hadn't started yet, so I soaked in the hot spring. Unlike the great capital of the West, where the palace was filled with open-air hot springs, here, perhaps due to the colder weather, there was only one, and it was already full of nobles attending the ball.
I had no choice but to soak in the cramped indoor hot spring, yawning while drinking some cold drinks.
"I heard you were here, so I came too." Princess Yani's soft voice came, and an extremely thin, completely naked body was displayed in front of me. I didn't dare to look for too long and replied, "That's good, let's chat."
“Yes, that’s why I came here – just to chat.” She slid into the water, and only then did I dare to look at her.
She chuckled, "So you're so conservative. That won't do. Your husband likes those slutty, cheap women. You need to change."
"Are you that type of woman?" I wondered if she had been with Mamboya.
She saw through my thoughts and laughed even louder, "No, no, I'm too familiar with him, I don't have that feeling, I can't do it, haha!"
She laughed and said to me, "We've spent so many years together in this land of death; we've forged a bond of camaraderie in battle, haha!"
“I have a question for you,” I suddenly said. “When you were in the Land of Death, you had lead anklets, Manboa had gold anklets, Diya had silver anklets, Hya had bronze anklets, and Nasia had tin anklets. So who had iron anklets?”
She applied the perfume to her arm. "I don't know who it is, if you're asking about their real identity."
"How so?"
“For example, when I left the Land of Death, I didn’t know that Brother Manboya was the son of the Prime Minister of the North. And I didn’t know that Diya was the only daughter of the Lord of the Independent City of the West.”
"Do you know that Hya and Nasiah are male and not female?"
“I know that,” she nodded with a smile, rubbing her other arm with perfume. “Boys and girls always give themselves away when they pee.”
Feeling a little embarrassed, I pressed on, "Is the iron anklet for a man or a woman?"
"A woman."
She looked at my face and smiled again, "Are you a little disappointed? If you were a woman, I wouldn't be able to marry you."
"I'm already married."
"What does it matter? You've already been married twice, and maybe there will be a next time." She laughed very happily.
"What do you want to talk to me about?" I asked again.
"Nothing, just chatting." She started applying hair oil again. "I heard you're getting ready to be the steward of the interior in the North. Congratulations."
"Are you interested in this position?" I helped her apply hair oil, and she looked at me with satisfaction. "Yes, I've always wanted to sit in this position in the Southern Territory, but my stepmother won't allow it."
What does she want you to do?
"I hope I keep getting married, and with each man I marry, I'll gain different benefits." At this point, her smile turned strange. "I have a wish, and perhaps you can help me fulfill it."
What is it?
“I was able to convince my stepmother that instead of me remarrying, I should be given a job.”
Why should I help you?
“I can give you a lot of information that your stepdaughter won’t give you.”
"What's the meaning?"
“Your stepdaughter, Beatrice, isn’t entirely loyal to you and won’t tell you some important things, but if I stay in a certain position, I can provide you with a constant stream of information.”
"What information can you provide me now? Tell me."
She tossed her long hair and plunged into the water. "Besides Hyya, another prince who was exiled back then survived and made it to the vicinity of the Western Border. He wants to cooperate with you to get rid of King Midian. However, it's not that Beatrice doesn't want to tell you this news, but that she simply doesn't know it. This prince only contacted me after hearing that I was coming to the Northern Border."
I remained silent for a moment before asking, "What kind of power does this prince possess now?"
"He has been posing as a businessman to make money for the past few years. He is quite shrewd and has made a lot of money. His mother's impoverished family is also secretly helping him. He has bought a private army of two thousand men and also has his own informants in the Western Palace."
"Let me think about it." Having witnessed so much betrayal, schemes within schemes, and the fickle nature of human nature, I dared not easily agree to anything.
“There’s another piece of news that Beatrice knows but didn’t tell you.” She picked up a clean towel from the poolside, wiped the water droplets from her face, and then said, “Your husband Manberia’s chief mistress, the illegitimate daughter of the general who controls one-third of the military power in the North, is returning from vacation and I heard she wants to poison you because you took her place.”
I was shocked for a while, then asked, "Since her father is a general, why did Manberia marry me instead of her?"
“You have your own value,” she tossed the towel aside, slowly stepped out of the hot spring, and draped a snow-white bathrobe over herself. “You are the legendary superwoman, possessing incredible power. If I were Mamboa, I would marry you too, because an illegitimate daughter can simply be the chief mistress; she’s been in that position for so many years, she’s accepted it. Superwoman is different; she’s pursued by many men. If she doesn’t marry him, she’ll be busy chasing away rivals, and if she’s not careful, another man will snatch her away. It’s so troublesome.”
Two hours later, I arrived at the banquet hall, which was already bustling with activity. Scantily clad dancers crawled around on tables laden with delicacies and wine, while laughing nobles would occasionally place slices of fish, beef, and pork on their breasts, navels, and thighs, then stick out their tongues and eat them, eliciting even louder laughter.
There were also some heavily made-up women, shirtless and wearing short skirts, crawling from one end of the long table to the other. The nobles happily kicked at them, and each kick elicited a soft moan from the women.
More aristocratic men and women danced wildly, kissed, and groped each other on the dance floor, laughing and playing wildly.
Only a few people sat in the corner drinking and chatting, and I was one of them. But I didn't chat; instead, I silently drank my wine while watching Manberia and the Queen of the South on their high seats. The Queen of the South was dressed sexily, with her shoulders and arms exposed. She sat on Manberia's lap, her left arm around his neck, her right hand holding a glass of red wine. She would take a sip herself and then feed him a sip, and the two of them would laugh so hard they were doubled over.
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Author's Note: Lana: This world...
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