"Your cooking seems to have improved even more, Delilah" Tianna said, catching Katherine's attention.
"Is that so? I thought I would lose a screw or two after falling from the cliff, but it looks like my skills and charm have only increased. What do you think, Mr?" Katherine looked at Prince Elwin, who was eating the royal dishes served to him.
Everyone's eyes widened at her audacity, and they looked at the Prince, unsure what his reaction was going to be.
Prince Elwin's hands paused and he placed his cutlery down, his brows quirked as he raised his gaze to meet Miss Delilah's.
"Was that for me?" Prince Elwin asked, his dominance almost suffocating, but to his surprise, rather than averting her gaze, Katherine only smiled.
"Oh my, of course not, Your Highness. That was addressed to Mr. Chef, the person for whom this food I had made. I wanted to thank him for all the lessons he gave me," Katherine added cunningly.
The chef, who was caught off-guard, immediately nodded.
"Of course, Miss Delilah. Even your style has changed. You look more... More sophisticated now. Are you going through some phase?" The chef chuckled heartily while walking inside the kitchen.
"I don't think so. I just think I am done being a good girl for everyone, and I should rather start keeping my tastes and happiness first," Katherine followed the chef, leaving Prince Elwin smiling at her way of talking.
"Was your sister always like this?" He turned to Tianna, who was eating her food elegantly.
"I am not sure. Maybe she is taking the rejection from the commander really hard," Tianna sighed, her gaze full of concern for her sister.
"Delilah, would you like to go for a walk with me after lunch? I would like to have some time alone with you," Tianna said as soon as Katherine walked out of the kitchen.
Katherine looked at her so-called cousin and nodded with a beaming smile. She needed a reason to get a hold of this forest anyway and going alone was too risky since everyone would start suspecting her.
"That would be great. I wanted to explore these forests too," Katherine said.
"Is that so? I thought you already explored them since we saw you near the lake -" Prince Elwin stopped, his lips twitching, and Katherine gritted her teeth, remembering her embarrassing incident.
Katherine - "..." This b*stard just didn't remind me of that incident deliberately, did he?
'Don't you dare use that word on the Prince, Katherine? I can deduct your points too,' The system warned Katherine, who smiled bitterly.
Of course, how could she forget that her life and every movement were being monitored by a highly demonic system who God knows was working under what kind of boss?
"You saw her near the lake? Delilah, please tell me you didn't try something again," Tianna stood from her place, walking towards her sister with concern.
Tianna held Katherine's hands in her, gazing into her eyes just like how a worried sister would do, and Katherine smiled.
"Don't worry, Sister Tianna. I am not going to die so soon now. I have to pay back everyone for everything they did," Katherine whispered softly, noticing how Tianna's smile faltered slightly.
"Hey, you shouldn't be saying those words in front of the royalty," Tianna hushed her sister, loud enough for the Prince to hear her.
"I am not talking about any revenge, sister. Don't worry. I am talking about repaying all the goodwill I received from everyone," Katherine smiled pretentiously.
"Oh, she wasn't trying something. I mean, she was indeed doing something, but... What were you doing again, Miss Delilah?" Prince Elwin supported his chin on his hand as he smirked at her, and Katherine squared her jaws, before forcing her smile again.
"I was washing the negativity away from my heart. Since I have decided to embrace myself and my new life, I wanted to do it with some freshness of nature," Katherine said.
"Hmm, it must be feeling like a new life after your little incident," Prince Elwin said, liking the forced expression on her face.
He wanted to see till when she would finally snap at him, and he would get to punish her for making fun of him earlier. He was sure she was looking at him when she said Mr. but when he asked her, she said it was for the chef.
"Of course, I have decided to stay away from jerks this time... Oh, please pardon my language. I deeply apologize," Katherine smiled, blinking her eyes in a fake apology.
Prince Elwin suppressed the urge to scoff at her and stood from his place once he was done.
"Miss Tianna, take some guards with you while walking. It can be dangerous for two ladies, and I don't think Miss Katherine would do anything to save you. She might offer herself as food, but let's keep it less bloody, yeah?" Prince Elwin smirked before leaving.
Everyone was surprised by their prince's sudden weird way of conversing. It was a bit too obvious that he was bullying Miss Delilah, but why would he do that? Was it because of what she did? That was a good enough reason for anyone to resent her and look down upon her.
Tianna looked at Delilah who didn't have a good expression on her face before holding her hands.
"Don't mind him, Delilah. I am sure he is just joking. You know how they love joking about things like this," Tianna tried to coax her sister, her gaze a bit suspicious.
"I swear he has some kind of beef with me," Katherine wondered.
'Well, what do you expect when you are getting on his nerves? You have to create a good image of yourself, not worsen it,' The system reminded Katherine, and the latter hummed.
'You know what they say about evil and good?' Katherine asked.
'What?'
'One evil can surpass thousands of good,'
'And what is that supposed to mean?' The system furrowed its cute brows.
'It means he will think of me now more than ever. I have found a way to stay on his mind now. Let him stay intrigued by me and then when the iron is hot, I will strike it and seduce him,' Katherine's eyes shone evilly.
"Hahaha, I will definitely do that," Katherine rubbed her hands in excitement, confusing everyone with her weird evil smile.
Something was definitely off with her. Everyone agreed before they left for their work.
"Let's go," Tianna reminded Katherine, who was deep in her evil plotting.
Katherine and Tianna stepped out of the royal palace, walking towards the backyard of the palace which would lead to the forest.
As she passed the soldiers who were still training, her gaze fell on the swords with exaggerated scabbards.
Katherine was immediately reminded of her time training when she was training for the position of the leader of the Nocturnal team.
'Miss Katherine, do you think you are going to win like this? The more you bleed in training, the better your results are,' Jackson had shouted at her to motivate her.
'That's where you are wrong, Jack. It's not about how much we bleed. It's about how much we make others bleed,' Katherine would shout back before training for hours.
As she looked at the people training, her eyes brimmed with tears, and Tianna who saw her sister looking at the training guards thought that she was crying because of the rejection from the commander and sighed.
Even the soldiers who were training, paused, starting to talk among themselves as they saw the crazy lover of the commander standing near the training area.
"If you are looking for him, he is not here,"
"Can you seriously not give up? Why are you making things difficult for all of us? It bothers us too, okay?"
"There are so many good men. Choose someone else. I am sure many would want to choose you,"
The soldiers of higher ranks started to say, and Katherine's gaze was snapped to them.
She kept looking at them for a few seconds before sighing.
'So this was how they saw Delilah?' Katherine kind of pitied the girl. All she did was hopelessly fall for a man with goodwill.
Did they really have to treat her so harshly?
'It's okay. It will take some time, but I will find justice for her,' Katherine promised herself before smiling at the guards.
The system who was watching the guards sighed. Why does Katherine's smile never sound like good news?