Chapter 135. The Princess is Quite Frustrated

Valentina was in a foul mood.

Especially at a certain moment, it became exceedingly terrible.

To be honest, even if the loathsome demon race had fled, or if she had lost some sort of contest, it wouldn’t have made her feel this way.

The only one who could evoke such feelings in her was one person, or rather, a god.

Though she had no evidence, she strongly suspected that something had happened within this week, and the protagonists of the story were her divine lord and other women.

This was merely her intuition as a woman; there was no substantial proof.

Yet if she were to seek evidence, she had some.

That was, in these past few days, her divine lord, who had so carelessly disrupted her life, always appeared to be in high spirits.

—

—

To please the divine lord, Valentina felt a flicker of joy.

Yet she was acutely aware that she had done nothing at all, not even had the chance to perform the emotions of ‘displeasure’ she so loathed, and still, the other was already quite pleased.

This proved that, aside from herself, there were certainly others who were also ‘pleasing’ her divine lord.

This thought soured her mood.

Other women bringing joy to her divine lord? That was something Valentina could not abide.

He was her divine lord, and he ought to gaze upon her alone.

Indeed, Valentina had long known of the existence of other women, but knowing did not equate to acceptance.

The mere thought of other women, with their disdainful attitudes, seeking to ‘please’ her divine lord while she was entangled in the chaos wrought by the demon kin and greedy nobles made her feel utterly wretched.

That was her duty.

Yet here were these sneaky cats, taking advantage of her moments of adjustment to slyly approach her divine lord.

It was enough to make her feel quite displeased.

However, Valentina, having endured much and grown from her experiences, would not succumb to impotent rage, lashing out at others to vent her inner turmoil.

She simply waited for an opportunity to temporarily alter this situation, pondering how she might fundamentally change the status quo.

In the blink of an eye, a week had passed since the uproar caused by Allen.

During this time, though a certain malevolent god appeared before Valentina once or twice, his visits were brief, and the ‘annoying’ deeds he performed had diminished, both in frequency and scale.

Thus, Valentina grew increasingly convinced that someone had stolen the affection that rightfully belonged to her.

It seemed the time for that malevolent god to appear was drawing near again, so Valentina resolved to remain in the royal bathing pool after six in the evening, cleansing her body, planning to stay until eight before returning to her chamber.

If all went as expected, the source of her troubles would be waiting for her in her room.

In truth, even if they met, she could not change much, but the princess wished to attempt a transformation; she must break through this impasse.

For instance, it would be best to extract information about the other women.

In doing so, she could orchestrate… no, rather, make them disappear to lift her spirits.

Thus, even during her evening bath, the princess wore a serious expression, as if deep in thought.

“Ah…”

A voice, not unfamiliar, interrupted Valentina’s contemplation.

No, it was more than just familiar; it was very well-known.

“…Is that you, Veronica? My apologies, please pretend I am not here; I won’t disturb you.”

There were few who could enter this royal bathing pool; if it were not the maid responsible for her cleansing, it could only be other women of the royal lineage.

And that voice was clearly not one that could belong to someone older, but rather a youthful tone.

Thus, there was only one answer: it was the kingdom’s third princess, Veronica, Valentina’s half-sister.

—

Valentina turned back, discovering that it was indeed Veronica behind her. She didn’t call her out or step outside herself; instead, she quickly redirected her gaze to the pool, silently urging the other not to mind her presence.

The two of them should still be able to coexist without disturbing one another, each absorbed in their own affairs.

“……”

At first, Veronica did not respond. The faint sound of her soft footsteps lingered in the air, leading Valentina to believe that the girl had tacitly accepted her unspoken agreement.

However, Valentina soon noticed that the footsteps had come to a halt, very close to her.

—Why did she suddenly stop? Is she planning to push me into the pool from behind?

Confused, Valentina glanced at her current predicament and formed a hypothesis.

She was sitting at the edge of the bath wrapped in a towel, her feet submerged in the water, theoretically vulnerable to being shoved into the pool, flailing helplessly as she struggled to stand.

In fact, Delia had done just that to her before.

And Delia had stood outside the bath, feigning innocence, saying, “Oh dear, I just wanted to see if it would work, and look, it did! Sorry, Valentina, but it seems your training isn’t much use after all, being ambushed by a delicate beauty like me—what a disgrace to our royal family~”

But Valentina quickly dismissed this thought. Even if Veronica was Delia’s younger sister, she couldn’t possibly pull off the same stunt; their personalities were simply too different.

Unlike the arrogant and self-assured Delia, Veronica was quite shy, though there was still a chance she might be coerced by Delia into pushing her into the pool.

But if that were the case, Valentina would simply maintain her unmovable stance and swiftly leave the bath to go strengthen her sisterly bond with Delia.

“…Is something the matter, Veronica? If you’d rather I leave, I can step out for a bit.”

Thus, Valentina did not turn around this time but instead inquired gently about her sister’s thoughts.

“N-No, it’s fine! I just wanted to ask you, Valentina, dear sister, to teach me how to bathe alone!”

“…Huh? Me?”

Caught completely off guard by this unexpected turn, Valentina turned around in surprise.

She found her sister not far away, looking as if she had mustered great resolve to speak those words, her body tense and her cute little face filled with anxiety and fear.

It was no wonder she felt nervous; their relationship was hardly close. With the other royal siblings looking down on Valentina, the youngest and most introverted, Veronica had naturally chosen to side with her siblings, showing little friendliness toward Valentina, even refusing to call her sister.

Yet now, Veronica not only addressed her as sister but had even taken the initiative to ask for her guidance on how to bathe alone?

Valentina was utterly astonished.

This was almost too surreal to believe.

Wait… could it really be false?

Could this seemingly friendly sister actually be that ‘utterly dreadful’ divine being in disguise?

The mere thought of this possibility twisted Valentina’s calm demeanor into a smirk, her eyes gradually igniting with fervor.

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