Especially the child with skin only a shade darker from Lina had trouble adhering to the rules and seemed about to not only look up to seek eye contact without permission but even dare to speak up!
"..."
But then the woman next to the child reached to the side and grabbed their hand, giving them a stern squeeze before taking it away and instead placing a smoked fish on the child's plate, seemingly to take their mind off the subject.
"My youngest seems keen to talk to Lina~ Go ahead and ask her about what's bothering you, Heath, Prince."
"...!"
Shocking quite literally everyone, the cedar-red-skinned monarch turned his head to the left and nodded at the child, giving them permission to hold a conversation… or rather a monologue.
"Th-thank you, father, King…! Um-umm… Older sister Lina, h-how come you speak so confidently about being chosen…? As you said, the Sacred Tree didn't pick a member of the royal family for over three hundred years already…"
The young boy trembled before glancing briefly at his mother and then bowing his head to his father to only then turn to Lina and ask her fearfully…
"..."
…only to look back at his father once more in hopes that his question would be deemed worthy of permission to answer.
"Haaah… such a bore…"
"!!!"
The monarch ended up raising one hand to rub his forehead and sighed in disappointment, causing the child to tremble like a leaf in the wind and stare down at his knees while his ears - profoundly longer and more pointy than any other royal - dropped down all the way to his shoulders over disappointing his father.
"I forbid anyone from asking Lina about anything regarding that subject."
"!?"
The monarch added, causing the others to freeze up in shock - that included Lina, who certainly wasn't used to such favorable treatment from the cedar-red-skinned man.
"Let's eat in peace."
He then cut short the time for talking and reached out for a lamb leg.
After the meal that ended when the cedar-red-skinned monarch walked out of the dining room, all the others followed suit while sending Lina a wide arrangement of stares - from favorable ones all the way to hateful.
She didn't particularly mind since neither she nor anyone else, for that matter, could do anything about the selfishness of their monarch, but she did feel uneasy.
She ended up timing her exit with Jasper.
"..."
The briar-skinned man with green hair with red streaks glared at her but said nothing.
"An inchie flew into my room and announced that the Sacred Tree made a decision."
"...!"
Even while being clearly ignored, Lina breathed out and said, causing Jasper's ear to twitch.
"It really isn't anything malicious."
"...we'll know for sure before the sunset…"
She added, and after a moment of hesitation, the briar-wood-skinned elf sighed.
"That's it then. Have a nice day."
Lina nodded at him and hastened her step.
"You need to be careful around him."
"...?"
But then, unexpectedly, Jasper reached his hand to the side, stopping her and leaning in to whisper into her ear.
"...the man who is single-handedly responsible for turning the royal family tree into a wreath isn't favorable towards anyone without having some ulterior motives…"
"...!"
Jasper added, causing Lina's skin to crawl because of the implication.
He then leaned back, giving Lina a single meaningful stare before turning away and walking off in the other direction.
Certainly, Jasper's warning weighed heavily on Lina's mind.
The previous anticipation and happiness about being chosen by the Sacred Tree paled in comparison to being chosen by the elvenkin monarch.
In the worst way possible, unfortunately.
What was said about the royal family tree being a wreath wasn't completely true, but it was close enough of a comparison to be terrifying.
Truly, it wasn't something that Lina wanted to think about, although she couldn't help as everything would remind her of it.
Even the food.
The elvenkin royal family enjoying various dishes, most of which weren't plant-based, wasn't only a sign of debauchery - although that was exactly what most servants and commoners believed to be the case.
No.
Simply said, the genes of the royal family members ended up degenerating to such degree that their stomachs could no longer take enough sustenance and necessary vitamins and minerals from a plant-based diet alone.
Lina wasn't an exception to that phenomenon either, of course.
And neither was her youngest stepbrother, the only child in the current royal family who didn't die during pregnancy, birth, or infancy.
The cedar-red-skinned monarch was a mutation in the first place. Besides being born with perfect color out of the three most sought-after ones, his ability was something that should not have appeared in a species other than a particular demon subtype.
That is Vampires.
Because the elvenkin monarch's ability was Bloodkin Control.
And the more blood ties were shared, the higher the control was.
After ruling for over a thousand years, there was literally no one within the royal family who could oppose him.
That fact was also the reason why Jasper's warning was so terrifying to Lina.
Amongst the myriad of rules imposed by the Bloodkin Control, the monarch's kin could not badmouth or spin lies about him - as well as say anything negative about him to anyone outside the royal family, but that's beside the point…
And if lies and badmouthing wasn't allowed, wouldn't that mean that the monarch actually was interested in her?
"...!"
Lina flinched, staring at the exposed skin of her right hand, the color of the palest wood of the holly tree.
Could it be that after managing to have a child with Lina's mother, and have said child have skin lighter than the mother, the monarch has set his eyes on Lina, wishing to attempt the restoration of the skin shade of the perfect whitewood Lina's father boasted?!
Lina's closed her eyes and bit her lips, barely holding back the wave of nausea that hit her at the thought of that happening.
Her only hope was that the blessing of the Sacred Tree would offset the grip that the Bloodkin Control had on her, and something could be done.
Surely.
After all, the last time a member of the royal family was chosen was around three hundred years ago, shortly before Lina's birth.
It was also the time where the last member of the royal family capable of opposing the monarch was disposed of.
Honestly, the chances were slim, but Lina began to desperately cling to it now that she realized what spot she ended up in.
When the time has come, the fairest-skin elf stepped out of her room in a festive dress but with the aura of a criminal walking towards their execution grounds.
Lina wasn't escorted by the servant this time.