The Dragon Queen and her mates.
Chapter 220: Dance

Chapter 220: Dance

Bree looked at the orchestra that was playing a melodious tune as the nobles surrounded her like a swarm of piranhas, she could see the greed shining in their eyes and pursed her lips, slightly upset that they have forgotten the lesson that she has taught them so soon, however when one of the young ladies came to stop in front of her and bowed deeply, Bree still smiled politely and said, " You may rise."

" All hail your majesty, I hope I find you in excellent health ?" asked the young woman who was standing in front of her, the second she straightened up her back as she spoke she held her hand out, it was courtesy for young ladies to hold their hands out in front of the Emperor to tale their blessing and of course even though Bree was a woman, she was still the ruler of the empire and as the ruler, she couldn’t let go of the old norms that have been going on for so long. " I am Piper Bringers, it’s an honour to meet you, your majesty."

" Of course," Bree nodded her head as she leaned forward and took the hand of the woman who was standing in front of her before dipping low and kissing the back of the hand of the woman, as Bree lowered her head, she smelled the scent of roses coming from her. Smiling slightly she straightened up and looked at the woman clad in a fitting yellow and emerald dress with her eyes locked on Bree. "It’s my honour to meet my loyal subjects as well."

Piper smiled at her, her light blue eyes curling into a crescent but Bree didn’t miss the mockery that flashed through those light blue, however, Bree didn’t say anything, instead, she calmly looked at the nobles who were surrounding her and tried to socialise as much as she while wishing that Blaise would take her away to a much silent corner. Bree hadn’t bothered to smile at the nobles after a certain point, they were too vile and their greed was palpable after a certain point.

She watched as Piper’s father, Count Bringer smiled at her greasily as he rubbed his hands and said to her in a raspy voice, " Your majesty, I am Edward Bringer, I have a small fief on the territory of Count Cilantro, these days I have been trying to raise the tax imposed on the commoners given that the corps they have raised are of average quality but the higher-ups have been refusing to accept my request, if her majesty was to look into this matter then maybe, I will be able to have a decent harvest this year. Or I am afraid that my situation will get worse after all the soil of my land is not fertile and the commoners aren’t working hard as well, if I don’t increase the interest rates then how will I be able to pay the tax that I need to pay to the Empire?"

" I will see what I can do," Bree wished she could punch the count in his face but she resisted, did he think that she has no idea what he has been doing behind her back? Average quality, well of course if he was to export all the high-yield crops to other cities and countries illegally, what will be left would be nothing but average yield. Blaise has long finished his investigation on these nobles and now all they needed was to rescue the phoenix offspring before taking these greedy nobles down.

Edward Bringer wasn’t happy with the answer that he received but he didn’t dare to show it on his face, this month while he was exporting the grains to the other country while hiding it from the officials he was almost caught by one of the knights, however heavens weren’t blind and he was able to escape and that only made him even more pompous, he thought that no matter what he does he will be able to enjoy the fruits of his labour as long as he was careful.

But then the neighbouring country raised their price and asked him to send all the high-quality grains to them, Edward Bringer was greedy, to begin with, and when he saw the amount that was written on the letter, he didn’t even think twice and sent all the high-quality grains to the neighbouring country, now if he had done it in the limit, it would have been fine and he wouldn’t have been caught either but he became a fool upon seeing so much money that he ended up sending not only the high-quality grains, he even sent the average ones along with it thinking that he will be able to make it up for it but the thing was .... Only low-grade grains were left in the warehouse!

If he was to bring those low-grade grains to the Empire he was going to be finished that was why he wanted to make sure that nothing of the sort happens but who would have thought that instead of giving him a certain response, the Queen left him dangling!

How incompetent!

This was why a woman should never sit on the throne, after all, what can a woman know?

Edward Bringer wanted to say something more but he was stopped by Piper, who shook her head and asked him to calm down, that was right there was no need for him to do something as rude as questioning the queen and putting himself in danger of being targeted, the Duke did say that he has thought of a way to take of the Empress, he just needs to make sure that he stays calm and then take this woman down once and for all.

" I see, then I will thank the queen for her grace," as he spoke, he turned around and left with his daughter after a quick bow, on the other hand, Bree smiled and steered Blaise around such that they were alone in a silent corner of the ballroom.

" He seems to be quite upset," said Blaise as he let Bree steer him around the ballroom. " Most probably he was expecting that you will agree to his request at once, your majesty."

" I did say that I will see what I can do, it’s not as if I have refused," said Bree as she watched the nobles who were eyeing her closely throughout the entire time while she was talking to Blaise, they were staring at her like she was already trapped in the small scheme that they have laid in front of her.

Blaise did not say anything after all they were in the eyes of the public it would not be smart to say anything unexpected in the presence of these people.

The two of them didn’t say for a long time and then just as they were crossing the ballroom to walk around the glass dance floor, the orchestra started to play a slow rhythm and as everyone turned to look at her, Bree frowned as she turned to look at Blaise. " What’s going on?"

" We need to have the opening dance," said Blaise as he stretched his hand in front of her and then tilted his head towards the dance floor. " As the chief guests of this ball, we need to be the first ones to dance."

Bree didn’t know this since she has never attended any ball after coming to this world but seeing that everyone was waiting for her, she took Blaise’s hands and got on the dance floor before softly whispering, " I didn’t tell you this but I don’t know how to dance."

She did know how to dance in a club but she was quite sure that twerking wasn’t going to get her anywhere in this situation if anything others would think that she might have gone made without taking the drug that they have prepared for her.

Blaise raised his brow, he did not know that the Queen didn’t know how to dance but then again, the Queen was raised as the heir of the kingdom. Compared to letting her learn to dance, her mother has focussed on letting her learn sword fighting. So, he nodded his head and whispered, " Just follow my lead and look confident there is nothing to be worried about."

" Wha—-" Bree didn’t get a chance to ask what Blaise was talking about because a second later she felt her feet dangling in the air an inch above the dance floor, it was barely noticeable but she who was dangling in the air without feeling anything underneath her feet was a bit scared as she softly cried, " Blaise..."

" Don’t worry, you are with me your majesty," said Blaise as he twirled her around and winked at her with a decent smile on his face. " I will not let you fall." And just like that he placed his hands on her waist and started moving causing Bree to close her mouth and go along with his rhythm.