Chapter 409 I Won

Chapter 409 I Won

Duke Starenfire stood up from his seat with a big smirk on his face. Hazel raised a brow but continued to lean on her leather chair which had small diamonds embellished on it.

She looked like a queen with her legs crossed and slightly leaning on the chair. Her face had a smirk.

Her languid expression took the eyes of many. They stared at her face where the lights of the diamond were reflecting. Her whole face had that ethereal glow due to it.

They could not help but look at her again when she smiled.

"And the winner is.. Lady Hazel o Córnea Rafael de Cassanovia."

"Thud!" the duke fell back on the chair with wide eyes. He seemed to be in a daze as he stared at the announcer without even blinking an eye as if he was waiting for him to change his answers.

The announcer felt embarrassed but he could not change what the truth was!

He stared at the princess for his help when Hazel stood up.

"Thank you to all of you for choosing me. I will try my best to help all of you and to start..`` She looked at the pale-faced Duke who still looked dazed, "I will take back all the properties from the duke that did not belong to him and distribute it to the nobles who deserve it."

She said with a bewitching smile on her face that instantly bought a round of applause for her.

Everyone looked satisfied and nodded their heads with satisfaction.

Duke gritted his teeth when he heard that but in front of the council and all the nobles, he had nothing he could do.

"Screech!" he stood up with all the force that the chair created the sound of screech while being pushed backwards.

He turned and left from there without giving any of them a second look.

"What in the world did she think of herself? Ha! To think that she would be the ruler and I will let her." he spat with anger as he took heavy steps towards the exit.

He needed to hold his powers and find a way.

Just when he had walked out, two pairs of feet were blocking his face.

A frown immediately formed on his face as he raised his head and was ready to chide when…

"Ah, princess and your majesty.. I mean lady Elena. I was not expecting you to wait for me at the door of the palace where you used to live as the owner." he said with a flattering smile on his face but his words were mocking both of them.

"Duke! I thought that you were supporting me but to think that you took my properties and gave them to your son in law. How shameful!" she said through gritted teeth.

"You know that I could take the matter to the royal court. But I will concede as long as you fulfill the promise of marrying your son to my daughter." she said with a deep breath as if she was trying to hide her anger.

She even smiled but it was so forced that her jaws were paining.

But the man only raised a brow and stared at both of them.

While the empress looked like she was trying to hold her rage, the princess looked anxious. She looked at the duke with eyes full of desperation.

When the duke still did not reply but continued to stare at them, she could not bear it anymore.

"Prince and I love each other. He would not be able to live without me too." she said in a screaming voice when the duke's face distorted.

"Ha! To think that you will still ask me to complete my side of the promise when I lose?" he scoffed with his cold eyes, he was looking at them as if he was looking at annoying buzzing flies that did not leave him alone.

"I have only promised then that I would be the emperor. Now that your dear little step sister has won the title. Forget about marrying my son or even visiting my palace." he sneered as he pushed them away without caring that they both are women and left from there.

"Mother!" The princes went pale. She looked like she had lost everything that belonged to her.

Her face was not the only thing that was ashen.

"Mother! If Calix will not marry me then.. I will.. I do not want to live." she said with tears blurring her eyes when the anger on the face of her mother subsided.

She took a deep breath. Never in her life had she been insulted but the duke treated her like.. Her hands clenched into a deep fist as she kept staring into that direction with blood in her eyes.

She would have found a way to teach the duke a lesson but the happiness of her daughter was at stake.

She could not hurt her only child. She was still not sure where her second son was.. While the first son, his loving Vincent was already dead thanks to Hazel.

"It was all because of that witch Hazel. She already has an empire at her feet, a handsome man by her side yet she wanted to steal everything from me, mother! You have to do something for your daughter! You have to bring justice to me, mother." The girl shook the arms of mother before leaning on her shoulders and crying.

"What will I do now, mother?" she asked again with a painful look in her eyes that the mother sighed.

She patted the shoulders of her daughter with her eyes turning darker.

"You do not need to worry so much, I will find a way. The duke would come and beg you to make you her daughter in law. I still have many cards up my sleeve. I will never let you hurt me." she assured the crying girl who finally sniffled and wiped her face as she nodded while hugging her mother.

"And you do know whom to contact when you are in trouble, don't you?"