Chapter 529: At The World Council Summit [III / Bonus - ]

Chapter 529: At The World Council Summit [III / Bonus Chapter]

The gilded marble of the Grand Rotunda felt small.

Aki’s throat constricted with a dry swallow catching behind her tongue.

She stood pinned beneath the glare of the vaulted crystal chandeliers with her silk fan gripped so tightly against her ribs that the polished jade ribs groaned.

’So Silas has a friend in the human world?’

The thought ricocheted through her skull.

’Ah... I really didn’t expect it...’

Hearing his name tossed around in the perfumed air of an imperial summit lounge by the heir of the Sterling Financial Conglomerate felt like watching a mountain being forced into a jewelry box.

It was weird.

Valerius Sterling leaned forward in his mirror-sheened gold armor, hazel eyes crinkling with genuine boyish curiosity.

The broad grin never left his lips as he tapped an iron gauntlet against his hip.

"Wait a second, Princess," Valerius asked, tilting his head. "Do you actually know Silas? Is that why you’re asking about him?"

Aki parted her lips to deny it.

The denial was already on the tip of her tongue since she had to protect his anonymity.

The entire world thought Blessed Land was commanded by a warlord named Vespera, and Silas had explicitly warned her about spreading his identity.

’I keep my promise—’

Then, the floorboards beneath her slippers hummed.

FWOOSH!

Aki’s chest locked.

The blood in her veins seemed to run backwards feeling icy and thin, while a bead of cold sweat broke along the nape of her neck and tracked down her spine.

The air in the Grand Rotunda which was climate controlled and perfumed with synthetic jasmine spiked thirty degrees in the span of a single heartbeat.

She was an Unawakened so she could not perceive the spiritual frequencies of a Lord Core, nor could she see the invisible circuits of mana circulating through human meridians.

But when a presence was so overwhelmingly dense that it physically altered the laws of physics around it, even ordinary mortal flesh screamed in terror.

The oxygen grew thin, scorching her nostrils with every shallow breath as the moisture on her lips evaporated, and the fine velvet of her midnight-blue gown grew uncomfortably hot against her skin.

Beside Valerius, Seraphina Bloom had not moved an inch yet the red-haired prodigy seemed to expand, her silhouette warping the air like a heat shimmer rising from an asphalt highway at noon.

Her ruby eyes were narrowed into razor-thin slits, glowing with a molten fury that burned through the room’s ambient light.

Her small manicured teeth were clenched so hard the jaw muscles rippled beneath her porcelain skin, and her right hand hung open near the curved grip of her hunting dagger, her fingers twitching with microscopic murderous intent.

The marble beneath Seraphina’s combat boots began to dry-bake with faint spiderweb fissures crackling outward from her heels.

"Do you know Silas?" Seraphina repeated.

The words were not loud, but they carried the crushing pressurized hiss of a furnace door swinging wide open.

Valerius’s smile instantly evaporated.

He let out a long sigh, rolling his eyes toward the vaulted ceiling as he took half a step back, raising his iron gauntlets in placating surrender.

"Oh, sweet Mother of Iron, here we go again," Valerius muttered under his breath, shaking his blonde head. "Sera, please. Don’t melt the carpet. We can’t afford it..."

Seraphina ignored him as if he was not there.

Her burning red gaze remained pinned to Aki’s face, searching every twitch of her eyelashes and every hitch of her throat.

’So she doesn’t care whether I’m the Princess of the World?’

Aki’s royal training... years of surviving inquisitorial scrutiny and smiling through venomous court banquets kicked into gear as she swallowed the suffocating dry heat in her mouth, snapped her silk fan open with a sharp sound, and offered a faintly embarrassed courtly laugh behind the painted silk.

"Good heavens, no," Aki said smoothly, letting a touch of noble bewilderment soften her azure eyes. "I was referring to Sir Silas of the Northern Border Lancers... For a moment, I feared the rumors of his dishonorable discharge had reached the social registries but I assure you, Lady Bloom, I have never had the pleasure of crossing paths with this... ’Silas Graves’ you speak of."

The silence in the lounge held for two excruciating seconds then Seraphina blinked.

WHOOSH!

The scorching pressurized heat vanished and the temperature plummeted back to its crisp base so fast that the condensed moisture in the air hissed against the bar counter.

The molten ruby glow in Seraphina’s eyes faded, softening into a clear vibrant crimson, and the terrifying predator who had just pulverized a man’s pelvis transformed back into an elegant albeit slightly tense high-born maiden.

Seraphina drew in a slow breath through her nose, adjusting the high leather collar of her ash-gray tunic.

She looked genuinely sheepish with a small rosy tint touching the apples of her pale cheeks.

"Oh," Seraphina murmured, her shoulders dropping an inch. "I... see. Well. That is quite alright, then."

She cleared her throat, crossing her arms defensively beneath her chest, though her tone remained slightly prickly as she looked away.

"I apologize for the display, Your Highness. I... got ahead of myself. It’s just that... if that idiot was skulking around behind my back, entertaining imperial royalty in private suites without informing me first, I would have had to travel across two sectors just to break his ribs... I don’t appreciate people touching what belongs to House Bloom."

Aki lowered her fan an inch, her curiosity overriding her caution.

"What belongs to House Bloom? If I may ask... what precisely is your relationship with this Silas Graves?"

Seraphina lifted her chin with her red hair catching the chandelier light like liquid copper as a proud shameless smirk curled her lips.

"He is my prospective consort," Seraphina announced without a shred of hesitation. "And my soon-to-be fiancé... The formal paperwork is just yet to be signed."

THUMP!

Aki’s heart gave an involuntary violent lurch against her ribs as blood rushed to her ears and a sudden bizarre ringing drowned out the soft classical music drifting from the lounge speakers.

’Consort...? Fiancé?!’

The words felt like a direct physical slap.

’Silas Graves... getting married to a high-born noble from House Bloom?!’

Aki’s mind spun into frantic irrational turmoil.

Silas, tied to this sharp-tongued, red-haired hellion who kicked corporate heirs in the groin for breathing too loud?

Silas, submitting to the suffocating diplomatic etiquette of the Bloom clan?!

Yet, even as the panic flared, Aki’s sharp diplomatic instincts took over.

She kept her face a flawless mask of courtly poise, tilting her head with a gracious radiant smile.

"Is that so?" Aki said, her voice smooth as warmed honey. "Then allow me to offer my early congratulations, Lady Bloom... From the manner in which you and Lord Sterling speak of him, this Silas Graves sounds like a man of extraordinary character and formidable steel."

Seraphina beamed, the arrogant pride puffing out her chest once more.

"He is. An utter brute in combat, hopelessly stubborn, and completely lacking in basic courtly refinement... but he has fine steel in his marrow. Thank you, Princess and your blessing is noted."

Aki smiled back, though beneath the silk of her fan, her jaw clenched tight.

’Prospective consort,’ Aki analyzed ruthlessly, dissecting the exact syllables Seraphina had chosen. ’"Prospective." "Soon-to-be." "Yet to be signed" Which means Silas hasn’t signed a single damn piece of paper!’

A quiet triumphant breath slipped through Aki’s lips.

Seraphina’s mother, Etilga Bloom, was notorious across the continental networks for running her household like a private penal colony.

If Silas was the man Aki knew... there was not a chance in the nine hells he would ever let House Bloom collar him as a pet consort.

’If anyone in the human world has a claim to his side,’ Aki thought, her fingers subconsciously rising to brush against the star-iron chain beneath her collar. ’it isn’t a girl who threatens to break his ribs. It’s me... He gave me a name... so it’s only right if I stay with him.’

The memory sent a warm defiant pulse fluttering through her belly, washing away the sting of Seraphina’s declaration.

"Security! Clear the corridor! Make way!"

Heavy hurried boots thudded against the marble as four World Council enforcers in ivory-white armor hurried toward the bar, their disruption batons humming with low-voltage suppression fields.

They skidded to a halt, taking in the scene which was the son of the Columbian President lying face-down in a pool of his own spit, bloody tooth fragments scattered across the floor, while the First Princess of the World, the daughter of Magistrate Bloom, and the heir of House Sterling stood chatting by the counter like old friends at a garden party.

The leading guard leader turned pale beneath his visor with his hands hovering nervously near his utility belt.

"Your Highness!" the guard leader stammered, bowing frantically toward Aki. "W-We detected a mana discharge! What occurred here? Was there a terrorist breach?! Did someone assault you?!"

Aki closed her fan with a soft decisive snap, turning her azure gaze upon the enforcers with the chilling untouchable majesty of the Supreme Royal Family.

"Assault?" Aki asked, raising a delicate brow in mild regal disdain. "Nothing of the sort, Officer. Mr. Vanderbilt simply suffered an unfortunate episode... He approached me to offer a greeting, became terribly light-headed from the altitude stabilizers, and took a rather severe tumble against the counter. Lord Sterling and Lady Bloom were kind enough to catch him before he injured his skull further."

Valerius nodded sagely, resting his gauntleted hand over his heart with an expression of pure saintly innocence.

"A tragic accident, truly. The man’s balance is utterly atrocious. You really should look into recalibrating the gravitational sub-plates on this tier, Captain."

The guard leader stared from Valerius’s pristine gold armor down to Julian Vanderbilt’s crushed groin, where the distinct indentation of an iron combat boot was still clearly visible in the torn fabric of his trousers.

The guard swallowed hard.

To question the word of the First Princess was treason and to accuse the direct daughter of Magistrate Bloom was career suicide.

Then to file a battery report against House Sterling meant their legal teams would drown his precinct in litigation until his grandchildren retired.

"I... I understand, Your Highness!" the guard barked, sweat beading on his upper lip. "Medical unit! Transport Mr. Vanderbilt to the trauma wing immediately! Quietly! Through the service hoist!"

Two guards hoisted the limp, groaning form of the corporate heir onto a grav-stretcher, rushing him out of the lounge as a cleaning servitor rolled forward, spraying neutralizing foam over the blood and polishing the marble back to a blinding sheen.

Aki turned back to the bartender, who was still trembling behind the glassware.

"My chilled mineral water, please and prepare two of your finest vintage reserves for my companions."

"R-Right away, Highness!"

Aki exhaled softly, feeling the tension bleed out of the room as she tapped the star-iron necklace beneath her velvet dress.

Over the past three days, during her private hours in the penthouse, she had discovered an extraordinary property within the raw mana diamonds Silas had tempered.

The stones did not merely shield her against external pressure waves.

If she focused her intent and pressed her thumb against the central diamond, she could consciously draw out the purified mana stored within the crystalline structure!

By channeling the heat directly through her forearms and legs, she could artificially reinforce her physical muscle fibers, accelerating her movement speed and striking power by nearly three hundred percent.

The drawback was brutal though... because she possessed no natural mana circuits, her mortal capillaries and muscles took the full brunt of the friction.

Using it for more than four seconds left her limbs bruised and aching for hours but in that split second when Julian had crowded her space, before Seraphina had intervened, Aki’s fingers had been resting on the diamond, ready to drive an accelerated palm strike through the man’s windpipe.

She smiled a bit.

’I had it covered. But having a fire-breathing prodigy kick him was certainly more entertaining.’

She picked up her tall crystal glass of iced water, gesturing gracefully toward the expansive lounge.

"Lord Sterling, Lady Bloom... would you care to join me at the terrace table? Standing by the bar seems terribly prone to... environmental hazards."