Now that Valindra had all her powerful brothers dancing on the palm of her hand, she could finally begin her plan.
Of course, she first had to make sure that none of her brothers would betray her, and she did that by spending more time with them.
Over the course of an entire month, she would always wake up early to go train with Arun, and the more time they spent together, the more attached he became to Valindra.
He even gave her a nickname, "Val," and he would always give her tips on how to become more proficient with the sword.
As the days went by, his love for her reached its peak, and he decided that he was going to confess to her, but before he could tell her his feelings, she told him to wait for a week, and so he agreed.
In the afternoon, she would meet up to read books and play chess with her brother Folwin, but his possessive nature was starting to slowly become more visible.
Sometimes he would grab Valindra's hair with a lot of force, or when she turned to leave, he would scream at her, asking where she was going.
But, just like a crazy person, he would always snap out of it and let the scared-looking Valindra leave the library.
These days he was focusing on the books that described kings because he couldn't wait to become one and make Valindra his wife.
One day in the library, he tried to force himself on her and tear her clothes apart because he couldn't hold himself back anymore, but Valindra stopped him, telling him to wait for a week.
Folwin thought that she had to get ready before they took their relationship to the next level, so he agreed and kept salivating while imagining how he would assault Valindra in a week.
In the evening, she always visited parties where she danced and flirted with Jassin.
Soliana was also there, so Valindra didn't forget to occasionally make her angry by calling her ugly.
Jassin, just like his brothers, had also completely fallen in love with Valindra, and even though he had lost his connections with the noble ladies because of it, he didn't care.
Every time she praised him or made fun of him, he would rejoice and lust for more. He didn't try to rush their relationship, and he let Valindra be in complete control of how fast they would go.
Jassin never asked for anything because he only lived to do everything she ordered him to, and he was happy to always receive a compliment for it.
One day, Valindra told Jassin that she wanted to take their relationship to the next level and that she wanted to "touch him more."
She didn't specify what she meant by that, but it made Jassin excited, nevertheless.
It would be a lie if he said that he didn't want to touch Valindra more, but he always held himself back.
Before he could imagine just how far they would go, though, she told him to wait a week because she had to prepare her body for it, and so he agreed.
She told all of her brothers to wait for a week on the exact day because she needed them to be starving for her love.
The love she fed them was like a deadly poison that slowly corroded their minds, and she would soon use this to complete her goals.
The next six days, she didn't meet up with them, and this made them desire her even more.
They realized how used to her they had become, and they wanted. No. They needed her in their lives.
Over the six days, Valindra had also written three letters that were very important and left them on her bedside table in three envelopes.
---
Today was the seventh day of waiting, and Valindra chose this day because it was the day her father, the emperor, was away from the palace.
He was visiting a city governor who always bribed the emperor with beautiful women, so the emperor loved visiting him once a month.
Valindra was currently sitting on a balcony while holding a teacup.
The weather was warm, but the air that lightly blew through her long silver hair cooled her down.
She was looking at the beautiful scenery when suddenly someone stormed onto the balcony.
It was her sister, Soliana, and she looked furious while holding a piece of paper that read, "Come to the balcony on the second floor, you ugly bitch".
"You are here, sister."
Valindra calmly turned her head around and looked at Soliana with a smile.
"Why did you call me here?! And who are you calling ugly, you slut?!"
Soliana, who had two of her faction members next to her, started shouting at Valindra.
"You, of course. And the reason for calling you here is because I was bored, so I wanted to see your ugly face and feel better about myself."
Valindra finished her tea while calmly speaking as if she were stating facts.
"…YOU! I WILL KILL YOU!"
Soliana rushed at Valindra, who stood up from her chair.
"Come try it."
With a mocking voice, Valindra pointed at herself and smirked at the enraged Soliana.
"YOU ASKED FOR IT!"
Soliana was a lot weaker than Valindra, and there was no way she would be able to even get close to her, but she did, and the only attack she knew was to push.
But pushing was exactly what Valindra wanted Soliana to do, and as they stood close to the balcony railing, Valindra fell back after she had been pushed.
Soliana never meant to actually kill her sister. She just shouted that in rage, so when she realized what she had done, she tried to grab Valindra, but it was too late.
Valindra flipped over the railing, and her body began falling to the ground like a sack of sand.
But instead of fearing for her life, Valindra had a smirk on her face as she kept falling.
She also saw how Soliana was looking at her with a fearful expression, but she didn't care.
The edges of Valindra's mouth twitched in happiness because everything had worked out and now she just had to wait.
'Checkmate...'
THUD
With a last thought, Valindra hit the ground, and she immediately fainted. She didn't faint because of the fall but because of an herb that she had mixed into her tea beforehand.
This herb would make her stop breathing, and her heart would stop beating. To others, she would appear dead, but she would actually be put into a deep sleep.
She would get oxygen through her skin, and because she would be in this state for only 24 hours, she didn't need to eat or drink.
The oxygen entering her skin was due to another herb that she had mixed into her tea, and this just goes to show how she had calculated everything.
Soliana looked at her sister's body that now laid on the ground below the balcony, and staring at it, she noticed that she couldn't see the movement of her chest, which could only mean one thing.
Her sister, Valindra, was dead.
She was always angry at her and would sometimes threaten her with killing her, but she never wanted to become an actual murderer.
It wasn't like she felt close to Valindra because they were sisters or anything, but she just didn't want to take someone else's life.
"BLEEEUUURGHH"
Soliana fell to her knees and started vomiting her lunch because she realized that she had actually killed someone.
Her two sisters were at first confused and tried to help her, but after looking below the balcony and seeing Valindra's body, their faces also turned green.
These spoiled girls, who had never even seen death before and would always order someone else if they wished to kill someone, were now looking at a dead person that they heard talking just a few seconds ago.
While they were emptying their stomachs, a maid was listening to everything behind the balcony door.
She had already been informed beforehand by Valindra as to what would happen, but she still felt saddened and angered by Valindra's death.
What Valindra told the maid was that she would sacrifice herself to change the Elvish continent, and the only thing the maid needed to do was tell the three princes about what had happened after Valindra fell and died.
She didn't tell the maid about her actually surviving because she couldn't trust the maid with her life. If someone saw through the maid's act or tortured the information out of her, Valindra's plan would fail.
So, while some servants had already entered the garden below the balcony after hearing the screams and began checking Valindra's body to see if she was alive, the maid began running to look for the three princes.
---
The princes were currently sitting inside a room while staring at each other.
This was a room where the faction leaders would meet up with each other and talk about what was happening in the palace every week or so.
They were all waiting for Soliana before they could begin, but none of them wanted to be there.
The three princes all wanted to finally go meet Valindra and not attend this stupid meeting.
"Where is that woman?!"
BANG
Folwin couldn't take it anymore and shouted while banging his fists on the table.
They were supposed to meet each other ten minutes ago, but she was late.
"Calm down. Maybe she is still applying makeup or something."
Arun calmly stated while thinking about how his Valindra didn't need any makeup because she was already a natural beauty.
"My time is precious, and I don't want to waste it by waiting for my sist- for Soliana!"
Jassin almost said he didn't want to wait for his sister, but then he realized that Valindra was also his sister, so he quickly corrected himself.
The fact that they hadn't seen Valindra for almost a week now irritated all of them.
BANG
Suddenly the door was swung open, and all of them looked over, hoping that it was Soliana who finally decided to arrive.
But when they looked at the door, they saw a maid who was completely out of breath.
"What happened?"
Folwin, who noticed the maid's scared expression, immediately noticed that something was not right.
"The… The princess… She… She died!"
The maid was still devastated, so she fumbled over her words as she tried to breathe.
All of the princes raised their eyebrows but then mockingly smiled.
"So, Soliana finally kicked the bucket, huh? That's good news!"
Jassin started clapping his hands while laughing, but the maid shook her head.
"No, I don't mean princess Soliana!"
"Then who?"
Arun stopped laughing and looked at her with one of his eyebrows raised.
He began to experience a terrible feeling, as though a boulder were pressing down on his chest, when he learned that it wasn't Soliana.
"V- Valindra! Princess Valindra was killed!"
"..."
The room was suddenly filled with silence, and all of the princes who had been laughing in joy opened their eyes wide in shock.
Sadness, anger, pain, disbelief, anxiety, fear…
All of the princes felt intense emotions emerge from deep within their chests and gnaw at their hearts when they found out that the girl they had all been waiting for was killed.