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Chapter 333: The Princess’s True Face
"Loraine, how could you do this?" Prince Claude’s voice was laced with hurt.
Princess Loraine looked at her brother, who stared at her with a wounded expression, causing her heart to churn. How could this happen? She wanted to deny their accusations as much as possible, but how could she when the evidence against her was overwhelming and she was unprepared for this?
She suddenly covered her face as her body trembled. It was unclear whether she was laughing or crying, as no sound escaped her.
The others watched the princess but chose to wait for her answer.
"I really love him, and I will do anything for him." Suddenly, the princess’s voice rang out.
Hearing her answer, the emperor finally lost control. He slammed the table beside him, his voice thundering as he shouted at his daughter for the first time in his life.
"’Him’?" The emperor’s voice was filled with disbelief. "Do you mean the damned Lust Devil? How can you fall in love with a devil—one of the Seven Deadly Sins, no less? They only want to use you!"
"He is not a damned devil, Father! He is different from the others! I know him very well, and he even said he would help us!" she shouted at her father.
Hearing her tone and the way she spoke to him, the emperor felt as if his heart had been crushed to dust. It was as if he was no longer looking at his daughter but at a stranger wearing her skin. She had never spoken to him like this in her entire life.
"You have already been fooled by the devil’s intrigue. There is no way the devils want to help you—forget about us. What does he even want to help with?" the emperor said.
"No! He will definitely help us! He has a way to save us when the time of the prophecy comes! He said that when that time arrives, no beings other than devils and their associates will be able to survive. Our family can be saved then!"
"You—" Emperor Herman felt as if he was losing his mind because of her. What had the devils done to make her fall for this nonsense? And to make her fall in love this deeply? He wanted to crack open her skull to see what was inside her brain, to tear open her chest and see what had happened to her heart.
Where did it go wrong? Had he failed in raising her, for her to be fooled by the devils?
"Is that bastard really so valuable to you? That you would go so far as you tried to take your own brother’s life in the process? That you would dare to intend to kill your own blood?" the emperor said, his aura fluctuating.
"Is he so treasured to you that you would forget your roots and your own family?!" he shouted, his voice shaking the room as Emperor Herman failed to control his emotions.
Prince Claude also looked at his little sister, his expression filled with hurt. The sense of betrayal he felt was unlike anything he had ever experienced. He simply couldn’t understand the drastic change in her. How had his once pure little sister turned into someone so different, someone who could raise her voice at her own family, someone who had been completely brainwashed?
Princess Loraine gritted her teeth as she looked at her father and brother.
"I have no reason to refute that. But I had to do it. He was digging too deep, approaching something he was never meant to. I just want to continue living and see him—"
"You want to see Rodwin, the Lust Devil, but I don’t think you can do that, Your Highness."
Suddenly, Aldrian cut off her words, making Princess Loraine freeze. She turned to him, her eyes trembling.
"What do you mean?" she asked, her voice shaking.
"What do I mean?" Aldrian repeated, his expression calm. "The Lust Devil is already dead. He hasn’t been with me since I first met you."
Hearing that, everyone in the room widened their eyes in shock.
For Prince Claude and Emperor Herman, this was something they had never heard before. The death of one of the Seven Deadly Sins was a joyous moment for the entire continent, as it meant the devils’ power would weaken. How could such news not have spread or been known yet?
As for Princess Loraine, her face quickly shifted to one of fury. Without any warning, she attacked Aldrian, unleashing one of her flame techniques from her palm.
Prince Claude and Emperor Herman, who hadn’t expected Princess Loraine to strike suddenly, moved to block her. However, Aldrian was quicker, using his spatial manipulation to trap the surrounding space around the princess, rendering her immobile.
She tried to push through her attack, but the space was so resistant that she couldn’t even move an inch. Despite this, her expression remained unchanged, and she looked at Aldrian with absolute rage.
"You’re a liar! You fooled me! You said that he was alive and in your hands! You bastard, I’ll kill you!"
She sounded like a madwoman, her tears mixing with her rage to show just how desperate she was.
"Aaaaaaggghhh!" she screamed with all her might as she tried to break free from the spatial lock.
The sight made Claude flinch, as he had never seen his little sister act like a maniac before. The emperor, on the other hand, could only show his sadness. His heart ached as he saw how deeply his daughter had been corrupted. She didn’t hesitate to attack the person who had killed her supposed lover, even though that bastard was a devil.
"Amanda, I’ve already failed you in raising our daughter," the emperor thought to himself.
Aldrian merely looked at the princess calmly as he leaned closer, his gaze fixed on her eyes.
"To be honest, I pity you for falling into the lap of someone like the Lust Devil. You placed your love in the wrong place and discarded your bonds with your true family. Do you know that the Lust Devil doesn’t consider you one of his own? You’re just someone he can manipulate. He needed your status, and he got it easily because of your foolishness in falling for his charm," he said in a low voice.
"No... No! He is not like that, he is—"
"Your Majesty, from your judgment, what are we supposed to do with Her Highness? I know this is heartbreaking, but I want to know what you will do with her," Aldrian interrupted, not wanting to hear any more from Princess Loraine.
The emperor clenched his fist and looked at his daughter. As the emperor of an empire, he must uphold the laws of the land, and what his daughter had done was truly a severe crime. However, as a father, he desperately wanted to find a way for his daughter to repent for her mistake and return to the pure girl he once knew.
For the first time in a long while, he couldn’t decisively choose what path to take.
"Your Majesty, in my opinion, the princess must be punished to bring justice for her victims. In this case, it’s the Duclan family, who have already caused havoc because of their thirst for revenge. You need to assure them with her punishment, as that’s the only thing that will prevent them from dragging the imperial family further into this mess," Aldrian said, looking at the emperor.
"If they find that the imperial family doesn’t give Princess Loraine the retribution they deem satisfying, I can only imagine the future headaches they’ll cause. That’s something best avoided, Your Majesty. Their thirst for revenge runs deep, after all."
"Also, there’s me. With her grudge against me, I don’t think I can hold myself back if she comes at me with that kind of killing intent. My apologies for being presumptuous, but the only reason I haven’t killed her long ago is because I respect you, as her father and as the sovereign of this empire, who will take care of her deserved punishment."
"I hope you can harden your heart and enact justice, but I know it will be difficult. Death is the only answer, if you ask me, but maybe that is too cruel for you. So, I would like to ask Your Majesty, what is your proposal for the princess’s fate?" Aldrian asked, looking at the emperor.
Emperor Herman also looked at Aldrian. Under normal circumstances, if anyone else had spoken those words to him, he might have instantly punished them, because the underlying message was nothing short of a threat. Although Aldrian had toned down his words, the real meaning behind them was undeniably arrogant—it seemed as if Aldrian could kill Princess Loraine at any time, without the imperial family’s consent.
However, Aldrian was someone who had earned the right to carry such an attitude and make such suggestions. What he had said was not wrong, and he needed to set things right for the Duclan family, whose name had been sullied for so long because of his daughter’s actions.
The princess continued to mumble and shout, desperately trying to escape from the spatial lock, but she couldn’t. Aldrian then made the space locking the princess soundproof, ensuring her frantic voice could no longer be heard.
After several minutes of silence, Emperor Herman looked at his daughter, and he finally made a decision.
