Between Annihilation and Pleasure - Episode 2

Episode 2

In the luxurious ballroom, a sharp voice cut through the elegant music.

“Oh dear! My hand slipped!”

Catherine stared blankly at her wine-stained dress for a moment, then snapped her head up.

The culprit, Evelyn, was trying to slip away after making that one comment. But Catherine was not about to let her go.

“Come here, you. Where do you think you’re going, pretending you didn’t do anything?”

“P-Princess! It was an accident!”

The woman flinched, but still looked Catherine straight in the eye and protested.

Catherine’s crimson eyes went cold and glared at her. A moment later, she casually picked up a champagne bottle from a nearby table and gave a slight twist of her lips.

“Is that so? An accident?”

CRASH—!

The champagne bottle flew straight into a marble pillar, shattering into a million pieces.

The woman, whose head was almost smashed by the bottle, froze in fear, trembling.

“My, my? My hand slipped too.”

“P-Princess…! That’s too much! How could you act so vulgarly…!”

Catherine let out a little laugh and twisted her lips. She then walked over to Evelyn with a click-clack of her heels.

“To call a princess of this nation vulgar. You’re openly mocking the imperial family. I can punish you right here, can’t I?”

“What… Ah!”

And with her left hand, she delivered a hard slap to Evelyn’s cheek.

The crisp sound of flesh hitting flesh rang out twice.

Evelyn, unable to slap her back, could only huff and puff while holding her swollen cheek.

“Even if you are the Princess, you can’t do this! How can you hit a person over a mere dress?!”

“You still have a mouth on you, so it seems you haven’t been hit enough. Did you think I wouldn’t notice you doing that on purpose, just because we wore similar dresses today?”

One would expect someone to intervene by now, but the surrounding nobles simply watched the spectacle with sparkling eyes.

“If you dare to wear the same dress as the Princess, you should change out of it immediately. How dare you spill wine on my dress?”

Whether it was Evelyn’s insolence toward the Princess, or Princess Catherine’s usual violent outburst, it was just entertaining gossip for them.

At least, the nobles surrounding them showed no intention of stopping it.

“Hmph…!”

Just then.

Evelyn, who had been huffing and puffing in defiance, suddenly lowered her gaze and crumpled to the floor. With a pitiful expression, she began to cry.

“I’m so… so sorry. Princess, it was an accident. Please, forgive me.”

Completely different from her previous attitude, Catherine frowned and looked behind her. Sure enough, the First Prince, Neron, was approaching behind her.

Neron roughly grabbed Catherine’s wrist and spun her around.

“What is this nonsense?”

She flinched at his curt voice, but Catherine glared at him with an even more venomous look. Her wrist hurt where the First Prince was gripping it. But she didn’t let her expression falter.

“That woman ruined my dress. Just look at this.”

She deliberately lifted her dress to show the wine stain. But Neron didn’t even glance at it, and just stared at Catherine with cold eyes.

“Stop causing a scene and go back to your palace, Catherine. I’ll let you know your punishment after I speak with His Majesty.”

“Brother…!”

“I won’t forgive you if you cause any more trouble.”

He spoke with finality, refusing to let Catherine have a say.

Not missing her chance, Evelyn quickly chimed in with a tearful voice.

“I-It’s fine. Your Highness the Prince, it was my mistake. I’ll gladly accept any punishment.”

“My apologies, Lady Evelyn. I’ll apologize on her behalf.”

Neron said to Evelyn in a much softer tone than he used with Catherine, and then walked past them.

Catherine sighed silently as she watched him walk away. The sigh also contained a hint of relief. Now she could finally leave the ball.

As Neron disappeared and Evelyn quieted down, the murmurs of the people around them were clearly audible to Catherine.

“To slap someone in the middle of a party. Her temper is awful.”

“Tell me about it. That’s why she’s treated as the imperial family’s problem child, isn’t she?”

“It’s not the first time. I heard she grabbed some woman by her hair last time, hohoho.”

“Like mother, like daughter. You can’t deny a person’s bloodline.”

Between their fluttering fans, their snake-like eyes and tongues flickered.

Catherine’s fierce gaze turned toward them, and the women who had been laughing quickly averted their eyes and moved away.

Among them, Evelyn was grinning from ear to ear.

Catherine was indeed the Princess of the Autraine Empire. But she was a princess in name only; no one treated her with proper respect.

All members of the Autraine Imperial Family used the middle name ‘Eden.’ It was a name given only to the children of successive Empresses, taking after the name of the first Empress.

In contrast, Catherine’s full name was Catherine ‘Bennett’ Linzward. Her middle name was different.

Because her mother was different. Her mother was nothing more than a one-night stand for the Emperor. Catherine didn’t even know if her mother was alive or dead.

All Catherine knew about her mother was that her last name was Bennett and that she had the same silver hair as herself.

The Emperor and his other siblings all had blond hair. Blond hair was a symbol and a source of pride for the imperial family.

Even though the Empress had auburn hair, it was considered normal that all her children had blond hair.

That’s why Catherine, with her silver hair, stood out even more. She had once thought that if she had been a blonde, she might have been treated differently.

But no noble with the last name ‘Bennett’ could be found anywhere in the Autraine Empire.

That meant her mother was either a commoner or of a lower status.

It was Evelyn who had spilled wine on her skirt. She claimed it was an accident, but anyone could see it was on purpose. It was the kind of thing that would start a fight between two young noble ladies.

Moreover, the woman was trying to walk away as if nothing had happened. So Catherine simply punished her herself.

‘Still, this should be enough for today.’

The judging stares were harsh, but she was used to them. Hiding her trembling legs, she pretended to be fine and quickly turned to leave the ballroom.

And from afar, there were those who watched her. On the second-floor terrace of the banquet hall, male nobles puffed on their cigarettes and gossiped.

“Tsk, that problem child Princess is as noisy as ever.”

“They say she’s usually an ice witch. Today she’s as fiery as a raging inferno. For a princess of this nation, it’s quite a disgrace, don’t you think, Your Excellency Duke Williams?”

Gossiping wasn’t exclusive to women. The noblemen, who considered themselves gentlemen, also talked badly about Princess Catherine from time to time.

But the one who was asked the question, Lucas Williams, didn’t say a word. As if his silence was something they were used to, his companions fell back into their own chatter.

Among them, Count River Mason licked his lips and gave a lewd smile.

“But still, her face is beautiful. Even that venomous glare is cute…”

“That’s true. Just looking at the way her hips sway under that cinched waist… I might try to seduce her. I’ll aim to be the son-in-law of the imperial family.”

“Don’t even think about it, unless you’re just looking for a bit of fun. A princess is a princess, but you might just ruin your life. If it were Princess Olivia, that would be another story…”

“What if she slaps you like Lady Evelyn?”

As the men chuckled, Lucas took the cigarette from his mouth and tapped it on the floor.

A red spark and ashes fell right onto Count River Mason’s shiny shoe.

“Oh…!”

A scratch was left on the gleaming patent leather shoe for all to see.

Count River Mason was flustered and stamped his foot, and Duke Lucas Williams raised a hand and smiled.

“Oh, my. An accident.”

“Ah, hahaha. Yes, well. That can happen.”

It must have been a very expensive shoe.

River, with his damaged shoe, couldn’t even manage a bitter smile at Duke Williams.

And for good reason. His relationship with Lucas Williams was worth far more than a thousand pairs of shoes.

“Still, she’s too dangerous to take as a wife. Just look at today. That poor Lady Evelyn got it bad. She’s so cruel.”

“She’s still a princess, so it’s not like you can hit her back… It’s just sad for the Lady.”

Their topic of conversation returned to Princess Catherine. She was always an indispensable subject among them.

Despite her beautiful looks and high status, her behavior and bad temper always, without fail, drew people’s attention.

“I’ll be heading in now.”

Lucas put out the rest of his cigarette and stood up from his chair.

“Oh, are you leaving already?”

Without a word in response to the man trying to stop him, Lucas left the ballroom with a look of no regret.

After watching Lucas completely disappear, Count River Mason let out a low curse.

“Damn it, he just ruined my shoe. The arrogant bastard, not even a single word of apology.”

“Born an illegitimate child and now a Duke, where would he have learned any manners?”

“…Shh, be quiet. Duke Williams’ aide is still here.”

One of them cautioned the others and pointed somewhere with his eyes. As he said, the red-haired Count Adolf Taylor was still on the first floor.

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