Chapter 53 - Weak

"Ma, please return to your council. I don't need your help. I've got everything here under my control just fine. And why are you trashing my place?!" Venedette's eyes widened upon seeing the mess that her mother made in the throne room after arriving just minutes ago.

The Queen was slouching on the biggest golden throne with food and cushions beside her, very unrespectful to the place that was supposed to be sacred!

"Oh, right on time, dear! Please tell them this orange juice sucks." Halma said gracefully in disgust, completely ignoring what Venedette just said so she had to go again.

"Ma, did you not hear what I just said?"

"Hmm?" Halma shrugged and raised her eyebrows playfully at her while drinking a glass of rose wine.

The air tightened around Venedette's face after realizing how hopeless her mom was. She never listened to anybody other than herself. She's the most stubborn, selfish, and insensitive person ever.. And now she wants to meet Gem? For what? To pressure the little girl about making the other gemstone's magic work immediately?

"Ma, please. I just don't want any trouble tonight. I know you can't resist yourself especially with things like this but let me handle this, okay? Trust me. You should go now."

"Well, that's the point, my dear. I'm afraid this little girl has already taken over your shallow heart and soul that you won't listen to my logic anymore. Have you tried taking over this necklace of hers that has powers?"

"Ma, what?"

The gorgeous lady shook her head in disappointment while standing up with the wine still in her hands to get closer to Venedette. Her long fox-designed dress slicked behind her with matching thick fox fur wrapped around her neck that screamed elegance and feisty dominance over everyone in the room except for her daughter. She was undeniably the present Queen of the largest and oldest country in the world since the age of Doom.

"You're weak." She said fiercely to her daughter's ear whose unwanted tears slowly filled the gaps of her eyes, sending her in a fit of flashbacks about all the wicked things that her mother had done to her and her brothers over the times.

Making them fight for their rights as royals, giving them unfair privileges and unrealistic standards as an excuse to make them stronger, even tricking her into a jeopardizing deal just recently to which she could not refuse nor back out from anymore.

The Queen sent her on a suicide mission with kids! Kids! It was her goal to kick Yumeki's ass but when she found out the truth about the tournament from her Queen mother, it was already too late to walk away! The wicked Queen had no intention of taking her team out of the tournament and even made it clear she must profit from it instead!

"I know my mistakes and I will own them, mother. But that doesn't mean I'm weak. I will win this tournament regardless of your help and I will make sure to take back what you took from me, everything. My childhood, my brothers, Demi. I will make you pay for all of them." Venedette said and walked away from the throne room with a broken heart.

Enough is enough, she had endured more than enough for that selfish person already. It was time to accept the truth and move forward with it.

'I won't let her trick me again.' she promised in a fit of rage, stomping her feet while walking along the empty corridors of the throne room which used to be so quiet but was now flocked with maids due to her attention-loving and selfish mother.

She was too foolish to assume the Queen had no shenanigans in mind when she had helped her create a reliable team for the tournament and too blind to believe that everything was just a token of her repentance. And here she thought it would be nice of her as a daughter to witness her mother's beliefs change for the better. Well, screw that! Everything was just a part of her big clever plan for more power all along!

"Ah, I should have kicked her out first." Venedette stopped and inhaled a large amount of fresh air in one of the now quiet open corridors to calm her turbulent heart and mind down before proceeding to the kitchen where she was supposed to overlook everything the cooks will serve for her mother with her own eyes via safety procedures.

She may hate the person but she was still her mother and the Queen of this country. High-security measures must be implemented for her safety all the time. Especially in this place where a royal still died despite the tight security.

On the other side of the building, Gem could be found lying flat on the white surface of Solitude after a series of physical exercises the slightly scratched old school record tape manual tasked her to do regularly.

"I was excited over nothing," said Gem exasperatedly.

Instead of the new skills and arcane powers that the manual introduced to her at the beginning of the training, a good old boring set of exercises were given to her to practice in the real world regularly.

"As if I don't have enough classes already…" she murmured even more, but deep inside, she was very willing to do it in order to finally make use of her pesky level zero skills.

No matter how painfully boring nor time-consuming these tasks were, as long as they give her the result she wants, she's willing to go for it.

[Would you like to return to the real world now, Master?] Mr. Gemini asked.

"I would like to, but how am I going to return here?" Gem sighed. "You know? I really thought I would be able to learn how to go in and out of this place flawlessly through that 'beginner's training manual' today but instead, I was just given another set of attributes to take care of."

Status:

[Name: Gemma [Title: None

[Race: Superhuman [Blood: Unknown

[Class: Student [Rank: None

[Party: Leviathan

[Role: Support

[Level: None

[Super Attributes:]

[Sense: 15/30 [Hearing: 7 [Vision: 5 [Smell: 3

[Agility: 10/20 [Strength: 4 [Speed: 5 [Resistance: 1

[Stamina: 0/10 [Discipline: 0/10 [Mana: 0/10

[Fighter Skillset: None]

[Astral Skillset: Heal Lvl.1, Liquity Lvl.0, Solitude Lvl.0]

"Stamina, discipline and mana? What a shame."