Seduce the hero's mother (GL)

— I\'m going to kill him.

The tone of her voice was so cold and cruel that I was actually amazed. Rachel wasn\'t talking about a stranger. It was… My father!

I clenched my teeth.

— If… If you have a beef with me, that doesn\'t mean you can touch my family! — I exclaimed, «Deal with me!

But Rachel didn\'t react at all.

— Back off,» she ordered in an icy tone, «or I\'ll have to do it by force.

— NO!

I put my arms out to either side, showing her directly-that the girl could only get to the Archduke over my dead body. I really couldn\'t understand what had suddenly come over her. Why did she suddenly want him dead so badly?!

Both Father and Razor watched us silently from the sidelines. It was dangerous to move at all now. Rachael lowered her sword slowly, but the rage in her eyes did not abate in the slightest.

She grinned bitterly, looking right at me.

— Do you even know what kind of man your father is?

I became indignant.

— Why are you taking on him all of a sudden? — I got angry,» Father didn\'t do anything wrong to you!

— «Nothing wrong…?» — the girl repeated with an icy chuckle,» What about the fact that he killed my old man?

My eyes went wide.

— What the hell are you talking about? — Of course I didn\'t believe it.

But Rachel went on, unperturbed:

— «What\'s more… Right now, he\'s harboring an idiot crown prince on your estate and he\'s going to stage a coup. That\'s why he wanted you to steal the Imperial Seal, isn\'t it?

I was dumbfounded. I hadn\'t suspected until then: that Rachel knew the true purpose of my being in her office that night… And yet, it still sounded like silly fabrications! Especially about Philip… Hadn\'t he been dead for years? Why would his father want to hide him all of a sudden?

— Th-th-that\'s… That\'s not true! — I declared,» Father was only going to borrow it, not…

— «Bullshit,» Rachel said, «That bastard was just messing with you.

— Stop calling my father that!

— Then ask him yourself.

Of course it\'s a lie. I didn\'t want to question the Archduke about it in the first place. Still, after the girl had said it, I turned slowly to him.

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In the same second, Henry Ashford said confidently:

— Leah, you know me. Don\'t listen to this nonsense! I don\'t know why, but Her Majesty wants to slander me.

Rachel chuckled softly. After which she also turned to herself:

— If you have any questions for me, then deal with me. There\'s no reason to drag my daughter into this.

— You\'re right,» she agreed, «I do have one question.

— And what is that?

— Why is my sword not in your throat?

I was taken aback.

— Rachel, stop saying such horrible things!

The girl with feigned surprise raised an eyebrow.

— Is that so? The Archduke treated my old man much worse. I just don\'t want to scalp him in front of his daughter.

I\'m trembling. If Rachel really decided to do something, I wouldn\'t be able to make a difference. Even with Razor, there was no way we could overpower her. So… all I could do was try to talk her out of it with words.

I decided to ask my best friend for help.

— Razor! — I pleaded, «You know that\'s not who my father is! Say something!

The other prince looked away tensely. He tried not to look me in the eye. Then, all of a sudden…

…he stepped away from me and the Archduke and took Rachel\'s side.

I watched him in amazement.

— She\'s right,» he suddenly said, «Leriana… The Archduke is not who he says he is.

I was dumbfounded.

Okay, Rachel, whose motives I could almost always not understand. But Razor…! Why would even my friend, whom I know well, say such a thing?!

I really didn\'t understand what was going on. Once again I turned excitedly to my father.

— Dad… Dad why are they saying these things?

— Lea, listen to me! — The Archduke clutched at my shoulders, — It\'s all a blatant lie! They want to confuse you…!

— If anyone wants to confuse Leriana, it\'s you.

After saying that, Rachel suddenly pulled a bundle out of her pocket and tossed it to me. I caught it, and though I was a little hesitant, I decided to open it.

My father watched tensely, but didn\'t have time to snatch it up before I looked at it.

Inside the bundle was the Ashford family ring. The same one my father had «forgotten in the study today.

I didn\'t even bother to specify how Rachel had gotten it. Instead… My eyes caught on something else.

— Dad…» I said in a trembling voice, «Why is your ring all bloody?

The Archduke immediately began to explain himself:

— Lea, what has that got to do with it? I could just hurt myself…! Don\'t fall for this nonsense!

— But… Then why aren\'t there any scratches on your hands?

The man was dumbfounded.

— I…

— Father… It\'s not Duke Cassius\' blood, is it?

Father grew more agitated by the second.

— Of course it isn\'t! — Why would I commit such a crime? Raymond was a good friend of mine!

The Archduke\'s situation became more and more deplorable. Meanwhile, Rachel finally summed it up:

— The Archduke was absent from the manor that day. All the servants can confirm this.

The Archduke interrupted her:

— I was simply on a business trip to the capital! Is that…

— «The capital?» — repeated the girl,» Then why did several eyewitnesses see your carriage crossing the northern border?

He stammered.

— I…!

And while Henry Ashford tried to prove his innocence: my thoughts became more and more confused. Slowly, it began to dawn on me. That this reality was… Far from the fairy tale I had imagined it to be.

I thought that having been born in a time of peace before the events of the novel, all the hardest things were yet to come. But as it turned out… This «time of peace» never existed. It was then, as it is now — this world is truly cruel. There was no place for my rosy hopes for a happy future.

And now that thought pierced me like never before.

There were too many coincidences-for all of this to be just a coincidence. I could not fully believe that my father was capable of such a thing. And while the Archduke was bogged down in explanations that would not help anyway, I finally had an «epiphany.»

This man--do I really know him that well?

I slowly recoiled from him with a blank expression on my face. There seemed to be no emotion left in me now.

The man was watching me in horror.

— Lea! Why are you…?!

I tried not to look at him, while the Archduke fell to his knees and clung to me.

— Lea, I am your father! — He screamed, are you really going to let her do this to me?

— You\'re… Not the daddy I knew.

— Lies! All lies…! These puppies are trying to unfairly slander me!

But at that moment, I seemed to have stopped hearing him altogether. It was as if there was one empty ringing in my head — overriding everything else. And while the man clung to me in tears, Rachel approached.

She drew her sword, ready to take his life at any second.

He shook even more. Henry Ashford\'s face twisted in horror.

— LEA! — The Archduke shouted in despair, «All this time I have nurtured and cared for you! You can\'t do this to me…!

That was the only thing I couldn\'t argue with. Thanks to the Archduke, my childhood was very happy indeed. But… could his reputation as a good family man atone for all his transgressions? All the things he did behind my back?

After what my father had done to Duke Cassius-I, of all people, couldn\'t stop Rachel. It was her perfect right.

Henry was on his knees in tears and convulsions, begging me for mercy. But I yanked his arms off me.

Rachel could have finished with him right now, but even in this situation she was holding back… Because of me. She didn\'t dare do it without my consent.

I sighed grimly.

— Do… Do whatever you want.

When I said these words, the Archduke stared at me dumbfoundedly and did not believe me.

— NO! — the man shouted loudly, «LEA, PLEASE! PLEASE DON\'T…

I looked away because I didn\'t want to look at it. Rachel didn\'t hesitate long.

The next second I heard the barely perceptible clang of my sword and the hiss of my throat. My father\'s blood was spurting in all directions.

***

Camilla walked down the corridor of the Imperial palace, carrying a pile of documents in her hands and in a foul mood.

It had always been that way ever since Her Majesty had distanced herself from her.

Recently, Rachel had sharply reduced their contact to a minimum, and even set aside a separate office for her work, forbidding her to come into her own without a good reason. This made Camille very unhappy.

She guessed that the crown princess had been involved. Surely she had set it all up…!

But so far the viscount\'s daughter could not think of what to do about it. She could not go against the princess directly. It would be too dangerous…

She must think of a backup plan: to get close to Her Majesty again…

And while Camilla was pondering this, carrying the documents into the study, as she accidentally caught her eye by something strange.

The girl saw something bloody on the opposite side of the corridor, and looking closely…

— YOUR MAJESTY!

Camilla was taken aback when she saw that it was her. The queen was lying unconscious on the floor, covered in blood. And you could tell at once that her condition was worse than ever.

The aristocrat was so frightened that she dropped all the papers from her hands. Instead, she ran straight to Rachel and helped her up. What is the matter? Why is Her Majesty in such a terrible state?!

Probably before she lost consciousness, the girl had lost a lot of blood. And Camilla was the first to discover her. Without wasting a second, she threw Rachel\'s arm over her and with all her efforts helped her to her chambers.

The Emperor\'s chambers. This was the first time Camilla had been here.

Laying the queen on the bed, the noblewoman immediately summoned a physician. He arrived on an emergency call in a couple of minutes, and was taken aback to say the least when he saw Rachel.

— Do something! — Camille shouted at him.

The man recovered abruptly and did not ask in detail what had happened. Instead, he immediately began his examination.

Camille eagerly awaited the verdict on her medical condition. But even after a thorough examination, the healer was powerless.

— I… I\'m afraid there\'s nothing I can do…» he babbled fearfully.

— WHAT?! — The noblewoman attacked him, «You wretched commoner, can\'t you see the state of Her Majesty?!

— I… I…» the healer stammered, «I\'ve never seen anything like it in thirty years\' practice. I really don\'t know what it is!

— Are you kidding me?!

— B-b-but… Her Majesty\'s condition is truly dreadful… I fear that soon she… She…

But Camilla didn\'t want to hear that. Being very anxious, she clenched her teeth.

— You useless doctor! — And why the hell do you work at the palace if you don\'t know anything?

— I… I beg your pardon…!

The imperial healer collapsed to his knees in fear in front of her, but Camilla only looked at him irritably.

— Get out! — The girl exclaimed furiously,» Get out of my sight before I execute you!

It didn\'t take long for him to leave, as the healer immediately obeyed orders and ran out a few seconds later. The door shut behind him.

Camille exhaled angrily. The healer had said that Rachel was going to die soon. But no…! She couldn\'t let that happen!

Eventually the aristocrat decided to examine her herself. She unbuttoned her shirt and immediately froze in horror.

All over the queen\'s body were some black stems — as if feeding on her blood. And in the very center, in the place of her heart, was a flower. The only petal remained. And that one would soon disappear.

Camille could not believe her eyes.

«Is the legend of the Bloody Camellia really real?!»

The girl managed to find out information about it not long ago. Immediately after the death of the Duke of Cassia, the noblewoman suspected that something was amiss. She could not believe: that the main villain of the Empire of Azeroth died so easily.

In the end, almost everyone in the land had feared and despised the Cassius clan for centuries. And if he could have been so easily disposed of, they had done so long ago. But no. It turned out to be an exceptional case, a clue to which the girl tried to find on her own.

For the past weeks she had searched for all possible information about the Cassius family. But aside from the ancient legend of a connection to a demon, there was nothing. Until one day…she happened to stumble upon this strange name.

«Bloody Camellia»… What is that even?

As it turned out, a curse — which has accompanied the Cassius clan since its founding. A black magic that allowed one to make a contract with another person and bind them together. It was both a gift and a curse.

In the case of a mutual love between two people — the Blood Camellia became a common flower and got rid of its terrible influence. Thus, a member of the Cassius family would cease to suffer from the curse and remain bound to the other person for the rest of their lives. Their life forces also became shared.

But.

In case a member of the Cassius family were to fall in love unrequitedly or to be betrayed at all, the opposite effect would work on him. His whole life would literally go to the other person, and the flower would devour him. The outcome was one. At the end, the Kassiev member would die, and the other would gain all of his power and abilities.

This worked even if the second chosen one died. With this outcome, the Cassiuses would simply die and there would be nothing left.

Knowing this outcome, members of the Cassius family hardly ever signed such contracts. To love monsters like them-is that possible? No one of that clan believed that with sincere love they could heal from the curse.

And so for centuries they had married only formally, without feeling anything at all. The rare exception in a long time was Raymond and Rachel Cassius. And even they soon paid dearly for their naivety.

You can\'t trust people with your heart. Never.

Camille had read about it in only one ancient book: and at first she didn\'t believe it was true. But now, after seeing these horrible patterns, her opinion is somewhat shaken…

If all was indeed true and the curse existed-the aristocrat couldn\'t imagine how long Rachel had endured. Every betrayal of Leriane caused her such terrible pain on a physical level — that it was impossible to even imagine. It was amazing how she was still alive.

The final straw was the murder of Leriana\'s father-who was also the Duke\'s murderer. Now she had no strength left to fight. Which means, very soon, Rachel will end up like her father…

Camilla pressed her lips together. No…! There\'s no way she\'s going to let that happen!

There is only one way to end it. And the viscount\'s daughter guessed at once what it was.

If the effects of the mark depended directly on her feelings-Camilla knew how to fix it. Looking at the queen\'s condition, the girl almost cried.

That vile Leriane Ashford… She certainly did not deserve her! Because of her Her Majesty must suffer so… Is it fair?!

Without thinking long, Camilla took out from under the hem of her dress a vial — which she always carried with her just in case no one would find it. Such a find remained too dangerous in the imperial palace.

The girl took off the lid, and just as that dubious fortune teller had said: she lightly cut her finger and added a drop of blood. The transparent liquid immediately changed color and turned purple.

Camilla squatted in front of the bed and gave it to Rachel to drink.

— Don\'t worry, Your Majesty… Everything will be all right soon enough.