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(3rd Person POV)
It was a beautiful morning for the residents of the Phoenix Empire.
Bustling cities and the happy smiles of the people signified how blissful they were to live in peace and harmony.
However, the same situation could not be said about the Agriche Estate. It was a place full of people who had done nauseating and loathsome actions.
These actions ranged from robbery, bribery, manipulation of the law, assassination, seduction, murder, rape and other things as well.
It would be truly a surprise if they didn't have a special place reserved for them in hell.
However, one of the members of the Agriche had to resort to pretending to be like her family members.
That person's name is Roxana Agriche.
Roxana is a beauty worth plundering several kingdoms and empires.
Her magnificent blonde hair inherited from her mother and her striking red eyes inherited from her father made a perfect combination.
Her name was worthy of those enchanting red eyes...
When the curtain of the sky is being lifted, the crimson hue of the burning sun.
The name of dawn...
She wasn't like her family members who were detestable and cruel. She had the morals of a normal person, but her environment forced her to be moulded in this situation.
She had to learn several arts like assassination, seduction and poison resistance.
Due to her extreme beauty, strength and prestige, she never had to resort to those methods. She could calmly build up her strength for any unfortunate event that might occur in the future.
However, the recent situation had forced her hand. Her father himself has emphasized that she is the only hope for the Agriches.
After reading through the whole information about the crown prince, she knew how much of a peril he was for everyone.
He had everything a person could ask for.
His looks could seduce any woman he wants.
His birth was the highest a person could have the luck to.
He was powerful enough to topple an entire dukedom on his own.
He had enough money to last a lifetime.
His reputation was the best a person could ever achieve.
His charisma led to an astounding reputation.
He had everything.
He wasn't like her, who had to claw her way out of the pit of murderous demons in her childhood.
Any normal citizen would think of the crown prince as the best, a person who they were lucky to have as their leader.
But it was all a farce.
The encounter with the prince and all the information told her everything about the true side of Aston Phoenix.
He was worse than the Agriches. Even her father didn't compare to the aura around him.
The aura of a predator...
At their meeting, she felt a great threat from him.
His eyes seemed to unravel every one of her secrets...
His expression seemed to know everything about her...
It was sickening.
Even Dion Agriche never had that much pressure.
Now, she has to be offered to him? What is the guarantee that he won't use power to force himself on her?
Being used as a barter for her family?
Was her value just an object?
She couldn't believe it.
She had made so many sacrifices for the sake of her safety.
But now, her fate might be worse than before.
Her fate with Aston Phoenix was unknown to her. What if he tried to commit those unspeakable acts with her?
She didn't know for sure whether the Aston Phoenix would have those traits or not.
But his powerful nature, that condescending behaviour and those unpredictable actions.
She couldn't put her faith in her luck.
She has to quickly increase her strength.
From what her father had told her and from her observation, his power was extraordinary.
With a snap of his fingers, he could kill a dozen people.
And even that wasn't the maximum strength he may be able to use. She had several hypotheses in her mind but all of them were unlikely as the other.
Now, one of the ways to increase her strength as fast as possible was to have the poison butterflies hatched.
She would have hundreds of carnivorous butterflies under her control.
She has now started increasing her poison intake rapidly to increase the poison in her blood.
That poisonous blood will be incredibly useful for the poisonous butterflies.
These thoughts addled her brain...
A thought came into her mind.
'Should I just run away from here and disappear into anonymity?'
Running far away from the empire, to The Fairy Forests in the west of the Empire and living there like an ascetic, away from the Agriches, away from the Phoenix Empire, away from The Crown Prince.
But she hated that idea.
Just the thought of that disgusted her.
She would never live in hiding. Her pride from her previous life which had been cultivated in this life didn't allow her.
She didn't have a speck of affection for her family.
The mother she adored in her childhood couldn't say anything even when her twin brother was mercilessly killed after he failed to complete a mission.
That wasn't a thing Roxana could forgive her mother for.
They were past the line to disregard that mistake.
Her affection for Jimmy remained until she had the use of him. He was useful as he was the third strongest out of all the children and easy to control.
Other people in her family had no chance of washing the blood on their hands.
They were far too gone.
But still, in her mind, she knew somewhere.
That the blood on her hands could also be never removed.
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A few hours later,
She was ready, standing in front of the crown prince's door.
Her father ordered her maids to make her as much appealing as possible.
Every inch of her body had been taken care of.
She didn't have excessive makeup on her face but just slight touch-ups on her face to amplify her already gorgeous face.
She looked even more beautiful than usual which seemed like an impossible task
She had the lunch in her hands, for serving him.
Her expression showed that she was repulsed by even meeting the monster beyond that door.
Yesterday night, she had prepared herself for anything that was gonna happen.
She couldn't just remain scared.
If the other party even tried a bit to r*pe her, she was going to use everything at her disposal to at least hurt him.
It would be nice to know that her family would be exterminated after her death...
Death or Life?
Two choices...
But the vastness between them was uncountable.
A person dangled on the rope in life...
Just a small stumble, and then nothing but death awaited them...
Life sent everything in the way of that person.
Just like Roxana had been facing this constant torrent of obstacles.
She wasn't going to fall without a fight.
That's for sure.
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(End of the Chapter)
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