Chapter 186 The Legendary Princess Kirenya
As for whether the child was safely born, no one knows.
The terrified Marquis and his mistresses feared what pregnancy might bring. He begged the King for protection, and the King ordered the Princess not to harm pregnant women.The Princess agreed readily. Later, when another mistress became pregnant, she indeed didn't lay a hand on her. The Marquis thought she had listened to the King, but unexpectedly, after the mistress gave birth, the Princess's knights immediately rushed into the delivery room and took away the weakened new mother. When that woman was last seen, she had been tortured to death in a brothel in the slums.
After the news spread, no one dared approach Kirenya for a long time. But she acted as if nothing had happened, remaining polite and charming to other nobles. Gradually, some people realized she only targeted the Marquis's mistresses, not nobles in general, so they set aside their prejudices and continued associating with her.
Friedel had been upright since childhood and thought this woman was simply twisted. He had no good feelings toward her and avoided her invitations whenever possible.
As for her daughter Lucida, Friedel felt the mother and daughter were exactly alike—cold and ruthless to servants. At such a young age, she had already injured many maids and even caused one maid to break her leg.
Not only did she show no remorse, she drove the maid out, forced her fiancé to break their engagement, and pushed her to suicide by poison.
Of course, these weren't the main reasons Friedel wanted to stop Anne from attending the banquet.
Older people all knew that Kirenya had once openly declared her love for Duke Skoda.
Normally, a young and accomplished warrior paired with a beautiful and charming princess should seem like a good match to many, but fairy tales and reality were too far apart—Kirenya couldn't have what she wanted and did many terrible things.
At that time, Duke Skoda was already engaged to Sophia from the Kivara family. The two were deeply in love, and both families had distinguished military achievements—it was a match made in heaven.
Kirenya couldn't accept it. She arranged for vagrants to kidnap and assault Sophia. When that failed, she sent assassins. Finally, she directly used poison, wanting Duke Skoda to lose his beloved and turn to her instead.
Duke Skoda publicly swore that he would never marry Kirenya, even in death.
Later, Duke Skoda and Sophia married successfully. After news of Sophia's pregnancy spread, Kirenya sent knights to Virlet Manor, wanting to forcibly take away the pregnant woman. In the end, Duke Skoda's Lion Knights defended the manor and escorted Kirenya back to the royal capital.
The King at that time was Friedel's grandfather. He imprisoned Kirenya to study etiquette, and later married her off to a Marquis, barely suppressing the matter.
But Kirenya always resented Duke Skoda's heartlessness and believed Sophia had stolen someone who should have been hers, so she continuously spread rumors about the Virlet family.
Including Anne and Holden's divorce—Selyma firmly believed Anne had been abandoned by the Titan family, also because she heard news released by Kirenya.
This invitation to Anne for a banquet—Friedel didn't need to think to know how malicious her intentions were.
He looked at Anne with concern and briefly explained those events. "I don't want you to be bullied there. It's not too late to refuse now."
Anne shook her head. "I'm going."
Friedel frowned. "You know it's a trap."
Anne smiled helplessly. "Precisely because she wants to harm me, I must go. Otherwise, in a few days, the entire Soth Empire will hear that the current Duke Virlet is timid and incompetent, hiding in his territory and afraid to see people, then they'll drag in the Titan family, saying I want to remarry Holden and don't dare go out for fear of the King's reproach."
Anne had heard about Kirenya long ago.
Her mother's personal maid had told her about the things she'd done, and her mother had also warned Anne to stay away from her. Later agreeing to let Anne learn swordsmanship from Duke Skoda was also to give Anne the ability to protect herself.
After her father and brother died on the battlefield, Kirenya deliberately held a banquet. Having never invited her mother before, she sent an invitation to the Virlet family for the first time.
Anne and her mother ignored it. Rumors quickly spread outside—Duke Skoda died because he was old and useless, and the Virlet family's young people died on the battlefield because Lady Sophia made poor arrangements and supplies weren't delivered in time.
Anyone who thought about it would understand these matters had nothing to do with a noble lady in the rear, but people who didn't know the truth would be brainwashed after hearing it, thinking Sophia's marriage into the Virlet family was a disaster.
If Anne hadn't been there to accompany her, Lady Sophia would have committed suicide from the stress long ago.
Now the invitation had been sent to Anne. Anne knew very well that Kirenya must have prepared a show of force, and might even want to bring people to humiliate her and drive her to a breakdown.
But Anne had to go.
"Back then, Mother didn't go and endured so much criticism. That woman must have been very pleased with herself. But I don't like avoiding things."
Anne lowered her eyes and said casually, "She sent me an invitation probably because she saw I inherited the Duke's title, achieved military merit, and gained the Ivy Knights. She wants to make me fall from the highest point, right?"