Her cousin clicked her tongue with annoyance, still glaring at Safia.

“I d-don’t care for my g-gold,” said Cessilia. “Money can b-be earned again. I c-came here ready t-to use it in your K-Kingdom anyway. What I d-did not expect t-to find was that the p-people here are so scared of my g-gold they would d-dare rob me. Rob me, and t-try to hurt me with so many g-glass shards, hidden in my c-clothes. Like c-cowards.”

“We are not scared of you!” Safia shouted back.

“You should b-be.”

Just then, a loud growl was very clearly heard from above.

Many people screamed in fear, others froze. This time, there was no doubt. That was no thunder, but the growl of a very, very large creature that moved on the roof around them. Safia and the other candidate looked terrified the most. Their eyes kept going around to see where the creature was, spotting movement behind the colored glass.

“It can’t be...” muttered the other candidates. “We already know women of the Dragon Empire don’t have dragons!”

“You might want to revise your old books,” scoffed Tessandra. “Things have changed a lot in the last couple of decades... The daughters of the War God don’t just have the Dragon Blood, they all have dragons now.”

She didn’t need to mention Krai wasn’t Cessilia’s dragon, but her father’s. If Cessilia didn’t mention it herself, there was probably no need to say it. Instead, Tessandra crossed her arms, watching the audience, ready to intervene if anyone tried to attack Cessilia.

It wouldn’t be necessary, though. All eyes had gone from the Princess to the ceiling, most of them absolutely terrified. Although there had been word that a dragon had been spotted in the sky recently, Krai had indeed remained out of most people’s sights, and the few who had actually thought the information was real probably thought it had only come here to drop off the Princess, and gone home right away. They couldn’t have been more wrong...

“You... You c-can’t have a d-dragon here!” Safia screeched. “It will murder us all!”

“No,” said Cessilia, very calmly. “Not unless I a-ask it t-to.”

That was the most frightening sentence to hear.

All terrified eyes went to the Princess, suddenly realizing this woman yielded much more power than she looked to possess. Those who had found her beautiful now found her terrifying, and those who had found her pitiable with her stutter now found her imposing. They didn’t have time to admire her any longer, though. From somewhere above, one of the windows suddenly burst open, shards of glass raining down on the banquet. Luckily, the few people nearby had time to run away before they were stabbed, and only the table below was covered in glass. Cessilia had done nothing to prevent this, which was clearly some form of warning as well as retaliation. With the window broken open, the wind blew inside the room, blowing out most of the candles. The room turned even darker than before, but there was one bright light nobody missed.

A bright red eye appeared at the window, glancing down at all the small humans in there.

“D-don’t scream.”

In fact, many people’s cries died in their throats with Cessilia’s warning. They wanted to scream in terror, try and run away, but now that she had said not to, everyone was scared of what would happen if they did, leaving many with their mouths open and a strange grimace stuck on their faces.

No one dared to move. Cessilia was the only one who slowly walked there. To many people’s surprise, she kicked her heels off, and stepped fearlessly on the broken glass on the floor, and as her skirt floated around her legs, the black scales could be seen again, covering her feet more safely than any pair of shoes. The Princess walked until she was under the window, and while glancing up at the dragon’s large red eye, she smiled.

“G-give th-them to me now, p-please.”

Another growl was heard, loud enough to have even the bravest people shiver in utter fear. Then, obeying her, the dragon moved up. Its body could be seen rubbing against the opening, the large black scales scrolling endlessly for several seconds. They could easily guess the size of that creature from the noises made all around the ceiling.

Finally, something that looked like a reptilian paw appeared, its sharp claws holding onto something. Krai threw it inside with one movement. The two things rolled on the floor, and in the darkness, it took the people a few seconds to realize.

“Bodies!” someone screamed.

“They are still alive,” announced Tessandra, “...at least for now.”

“Th-these are th-the men who ransacked our r-room,” declared Cessilia, loudly. “Th-the only reason th-they are alive is b-because I k-know there was someone who c-commanded them to d-do it.”

Indeed, the two men appeared to be breathing and still alive, but even then they were in a less-than-enviable state. Both were covered in blood, their clothes and bodies looking to have been deeply lacerated in multiple areas, most likely from the dragon’s rough handling. The two men were unconscious, dirty, and looked poorly dressed. Even without more explanation, it was clear the only reason those bandits would have dared to commit a crime in the Royal Castle was under someone’s orders. Many people exchanged glances, curious as to what she was going to do with those people.

“You... You have no proof, anyway,” said Safia, her voice shaking. “Even if those people talk, you might have scared them to say any name!”

“...Thank you for the advice, Lady of... What was it, the Yekara Clan?” retorted Tessandra with a smirk.

Safia went white, as did many of the people who had been around her all this time. She was clearly regretting opening her mouth at this very moment. However, Cessilia’s green eyes went to her without any anger in them; the Princess’ calmness was dominating the room.

“I d-didn’t p-plan to interrogate th-them,” said Cessilia. “Th-this is a warning t-to their masters. You all wanted t-to see it, d-didn’t you? My p-performance t-tonight is exactly th-this. I am a d-daughter of the D-Dragon Empire. Th-this is the last t-time you underestimate me. I will not let-t you g-get away with it next t-time.”

Just as she finished her sentence, Tessandra moved forward and swung her sword twice. Swish, swish. The blade just shone once in the air before the blood flew. It splattered Safia’s dress, and something landed at the candidate’s feet. She screamed at the sight of the freshly cut hand.

“That one’s for hurting our friend,” said Tessandra. “Next time, I’m sending you their heads.”

Safia’s hysterical screams covered most of her words though. Tessandra shrugged, and cleaned her blade calmly, while the audience around them was still rendered utterly speechless. Everyone was now genuinely terrified of those two young women, almost more than they were of the dragon above their heads.

King Ashen was the only one to stare with excitement in his eyes. His fists clenched, his body forward, and his hectic breathing, his chest was going up and down as if he had just witnessed a show he was incredibly proud of and excited about. He was almost off his throne to go and run to her, but Cessilia wasn’t looking.

Suddenly, someone began to clap in the audience. A bit shocked, eyes looked around for who had the guts to be applauding the Princess at this moment, until they spotted her.

Jisel. In the crowd, she was smiling from ear to ear, staring at the Princess and clapping slowly, in total disruption of the atmosphere in the room. She almost looked a bit crazy to be clapping like this, as if this was just a nice show... Then, Bastat began to clap too, followed by another anonymous candidate. One by one, a few people found the strength to applaud, but it fell a bit flat, a bit out of place… especially when the Princess glared at the King’s mistress like that.

“Your Highness! Your Highness!”

The strident voice coming from the main doors seemed to wake everyone up from a very strange nightmare. All eyes turned to the doors, where a young servant suddenly ran into the banquet room, disregarding everyone there, and threw herself at the feet of the King.

“My King! A murder! There was a murder!”

“What?” hissed the King, jumping to his feet.

“Lady Vena of the Pangoja Clan was found dead! Someone murdered her!”

Many panicked whispers rose in the room, but Jisel’s chuckle came to Cessilia’s ears.

“Oh my, I did not think this banquet would be that interesting... I’m glad I came after all!”

The King’s mistress was the only one enjoying herself there. Everyone else was in shock, and several people, most likely from the Pangoja Clan, let out loud cries and screams.

“My King, it can’t be!” shouted an older man.

“Wasn’t she here just a while ago?” frowned Axelane, the candidate from the Nahaf Family.

“What happened?” asked Ashen, glaring down at the servant. “Speak!”

“I... I just left the lady for a few minutes to go and get her some water, but when I came back, I found my poor lady dead in her room, lying in so much blood! Someone violently stabbed her multiple times, my King, it was a murder!”

“Guards!” the King shouted. “Guard the doors to this hall, no one comes in and no one leaves until my return!”

He angrily stormed off, briefly glancing at Cessilia on his way out. It was a brief, fleeting moment that lasted less than a second when their eyes met. Cessilia tried to look away, but it was already too late. After a slight hesitation, she turned her gaze to stare at Ashen’s back as he left the room, then at the doors after they were closed behind him. Even after the King’s departure, things were chaotic in the hall. Many women were crying, and some men were angrily shouting, some trying to convince the Royal Guards to let them leave the room to go see Vena’s body as well.

In the midst of this, Cessilia sighed faintly and picked up the fur cloak she had previously taken off. She softly brushed it, making sure no little shards of glass were on it. Meanwhile, Nana quietly walked up to her and Tessandra, the Counselors behind her, visibly scared too.