Jobless Transmigration: I'm the only one who loves monsters.-Chapter 110: How dare you take advantage of–
Chapter 110: How dare you take advantage of–
They all wondered where he got the gal to say such things when earlier he’d been hopelessly supressed.
Right now, in this moment, something fundamental was shifting within Lucuis, something no one could understand. That which had lain dormant for longer than he cared to admit.
The old Lucuis, the cold and uncaring young master who had ruled his household through fear and intimidation, the man who had never backed down from a challenge and never allowed anyone to think they had gotten the better of him, that version of himself was rising to the surface once more.
It had been a long while since anyone had dared to put him in his place, not once had anyone dared to look at him with such level of contempt and threatened his existence so casually.
Her provocation, as well as her challenge to his very right to exist, stirred something deep within his soul that refused to simply lie down and accept such treatment.
He gave the princess’s shoulder a few friendly pats, casual and familiar and utterly infuriating, before finally removing his arm and strolling back toward where Leo and the others who stood watching with expressions ranging from utter horror to grudging admiration to complete and total bewilderment.
Throughout this entire performance, the princess herself had not moved so much as a single muscle. She simply stood there, her body frozen, her eyes blank and unfocused, as if her mind had simply refused to accept what her senses were telling it had just occurred. She could not believe it, could not process it, could not make herself understand that someone she had dismissed as a mere nobody, a piece of trash barely worthy of acknowledgment, had behaved in such a way with her person.
He had touched her.
He had actually dared to touch her.
Ever since she had first learned to speak, ever since she had grown old enough to understand her own worth and position in this world, Lucinda had never allowed anyone to lay a hand upon her unless she explicitly willed it. Not her servants, not her tutors, not even her own sisters when they were children together, none of them dared to step within a few feet of her person without her express permission. Physical contact was a privilege she granted, not a right anyone could assume, and the consequences for violating that rule had been made abundantly clear to everyone in her household from the moment she was old enough to enforce her will upon the world.
And this man, this insignificant speck of humanity who should have been groveling at her feet begging for mercy, had simply walked up and draped his arm across her shoulder as if she were some common tavern girl available for anyone’s casual embrace. 𝙧𝙚𝙚𝔀𝒆𝓫𝓷𝙤𝓿𝒆𝙡.𝒄𝙤𝓶
Her body began to tremble, at first almost imperceptibly, then with increasing violence as the full weight of what had happened finally crashed down upon her consciousness. The very air around her seemed to grow thick and heavy as magic responded to her fury, fluctuations rippling outward from her position like waves spreading across a pond after a stone had been dropped into its depths. The temperature dropped several degrees, and more than a few examinees found themselves unconsciously stepping backward, putting distance between themselves and whatever was about to happen.
Slowly, yet terribly, her head turned until her gaze found Lucuis standing among his companions across the square. The look in her eyes could only be described as dagger-like, sharp enough to draw blood from across the distance, burning with a hatred so pure and concentrated that it seemed almost to have physical weight.
Her fists clenched at her sides until her knuckles went white. Her teeth sank into her lower lip hard enough to draw blood. But she did not move, nor did she speak.
She didn’t act upon the fury that demanded action with every fiber of her being.
She was here at the academy now, not safe within the walls of the royal palace where her word was law and her will absolute. She understood, with the cold clarity that had always characterized her intellect, that she could not simply do as she pleased here simply because of her royal title. The academy had its own rules, as well as it’s own traditions.
Here, there were powers that even a princess of the realm must respect, and the middle-aged man who still hovered nearby was living proof of exactly how far that authority extended.
She had come here for a reason, after all. She had not traveled all this way, had not subjected herself to the indignity of participating in common examinations alongside common people, simply to throw it all away over some worthless noble who had dared to touch her shoulder. She was here to prove something, to demonstrate to everyone who had ever doubted her that she was far greater than her sisters, that she was the only sound choice for the next ruler of this kingdom, that her talents and abilities surpassed all others and made her claim to the throne undeniable and absolute.
She refused, absolutely and completely refused, to let some useless nobody ruin her plans.
Her gaze remained fixed on Lucuis for a long, terrible moment, and in that gaze was a promise, a vow, filled with certainty that this matter was far from concluded. The examination would come, and then after it, whatever else might transpire, there would be a reckoning.
This man had touched her, he’d gone ahead and humiliated her, even made her a potential laughingstock before hundreds of witnesses, and for that, for that alone, he would pay in ways he could not yet begin to imagine.
But not today. Not here. Nor now.
With a visible effort that cost her more than anyone present could possibly understand, Lucinda unclenched her fists, released her bleeding lip, and allowed the terrible pressure of her fury to subside just enough that she could function once more.
She would wait. Live a patient ruler. She would play whatever games this academy required of her.
And then, when the moment was right, she would force him into a life worse than death, were he could only wish for release from her.
