The Royal Revenge
Chapter 140: Privileges

Chapter 140: Privileges

The young queen smirked. She did expect the ladies to have a certain level of intelligence, but she didn’t think they would bare them how sharp they were on the very first meeting.

As what Elys learned earlier in her marriage with Aleksander, the Western Kingdom of the vampires were not much different to most kingdoms.

Being part of a noble family, one was required a certain type of rigorous education on a wide range of subjects. From etiquette to liberal arts, military tactics and combat techniques, to those of languages and court life.

"What do you really plan, your majesty? I know that King Aleksander has ulterior motives, but you, what do you really plan for the kingdom, Queen Elysianne?" she asked.

"Well, first I will need to create a good enough image for the kingdom to accept the changes I plan for its people," Elysianne said.

She picked up a macaron from her little stack of sweets, took one tiny bite. She did not pop it in one go, taking three to five bites while noting how the shell cracks as soon as she bit into it. Every bite was followed by the burst of chewy flavor as it rolls across her tongue.

The ladies watched as the young queen relished into the wonderful flavors each macaron gave her. There was the rush of saccharine sweetness that was not too overpowering. A slight nuttiness was present in it too.

"And how are you going to gain such image, your majesty? I don’t think its new to you, but the vampire community are mostly divided and against your husband, the King Aleksander, and that of you," Lady Azalea voiced out.

"Is it true, your majesty? Is King Aleksander truly... cursed, is he not?" Lady Tabitha whispered, her dark curls shaking as her head darted immediately towards the doors and back to the queen, "I don’t mean any disrespect your majesty, but it is the woes of the many."

Elysianne laughed at the vampire.

"You ask such a dangerous question, Lady Tabitha," Elys said as she took another macaron, but of a different flavor this time around, "If the King truly is, would you think I would acknowledge it? If he isn’t, then would the whole kingdom believe if it came from my own mouth?"

Baroness Ekaterina giggled.

"Is something wrong with what I said, Baroness?" the queen raised a brow.

"No, not at all, your majesty," the Baroness replied, "I just see now that no matter the truth, the kingdom will only believe what they want to be the truth."

"As the Baroness said," Elys turned to the others, "won’t you as well, my beautiful ladies, believe it if I say he is not cursed and was just framed by the previous queen?"

"I think the vampires would believe if there was proof," Countess Rusiana commented. "Well, in my case, I would."

"The evidence is at the mercy of the vampire clergy," Elys scowled. "Specifically, the Hallowed Chambers can only be accessed with the permission of the High Priestess Naya. That is where the late Queen Zephyrine’s prophesies are kept safe."

"And so, we are back to square one," Lady Azalea raised her glass of blood to her lips, "In the words of Lady Beatrice, what exactly do you plan, your majesty?"

"And might I add, what part do we play in it?" Lady Beatrice added.

Elysianne was finding it harder to keep it vague to the ladies. They were formidable in this war of wits and words, to which Elys was confident a while ago she would win.

It only took one lady to voice out for the others to take the courage to question the queen.

’This is getting a lot difficult,’ Elys thought at the back of her mind, ’Truly these ladies are going to be great if they side with me, but I must entice them first to be loyal to me.’

Would the ladies even want to if she told them her real goal was to liberate the humans from enslavement to the vampires?

This time around, it looked like Elys was running out of options but to bribe them of what they want. But she couldn’t just give it to them easily, for they might lose interest the moment they get what they want so fast.

The young queen composed herself. She sipped the last of her cup of tea, put it down on its saucer, and then directed her attention at the ladies.

Elys cleared her throat, and spoke with authority, emanating the royal blood of the Whitecasters flowing in her veins.

"All six of you ladies will be the queen’s extension," Elysianne finally said. "You will see for me, hear for me, speak for me, do things in my stead. And in return, you will be given a higher position than the ladies that belittled you with Queen Zephyrine’s reign, get privileges no one else would get unless they pledge their loyalty to me and his majesty."

The vampire ladies perked at the mention of their statuses elevating. The previous reign of Queen Zephyrine indeed didn’t give them justice for what they have done. The ladies she had favored were vicious and pulled people down to raise themselves up.

It was a ruthless battle and one that was full of backstabbing and betrayals.

With the promise of getting a higher status than those who held their nose high in front of them despite having the same jobs as ladies in waiting, the six noble women in front of Elys found themselves gloating at idea.

"Do you ladies pledge your loyalty to me and his majesty?" Elysianne asked the ladies. "We aren’t as ruthless as you saw us during the coronation night. We are pretty generous too to those that help us."

"Your majesty, if I may ask, what kind of privileges are we talking here?" Lady Beatrice asked.

Elysianne smiled at the vampire and then replied to her, "Why, access to the kingdom’s riches and everything else in between!"