性瘾者

AFTER HANNA heard her parents fight, she ran back to her room.

But she didn\'t have the time to sulk.

To distract herself from sad thoughts, she stood in front of her window. Her room had the view of the rose garden that her father gifted to her last year.

From there, she could see Benjamin, their gardener, attending to the roses. But he wasn\'t alone. The old man was accompanied by his two daughters: Bella (ten years old) and Jasmine (twelve years old). The sisters, despite their young age, were already being trained to be her maids in the future.

To her, it was normal.

She remembered that Neoma, after telling her about her second life, said that children their age in the modern world didn\'t have heavy responsibilities as they did in that world.

But it wasn\'t only the commoner children who were expected to work at such a tender age in the empire.

Nobles were expected to learn about the history of the empire and the family business at the age of seven. The custom was particularly stricter to the children of the royal family, and the heirs of noble households.

Technically, she was the only heiress of House Quinzel.

But the empire doesn\'t really recognize female heirs. Once she gets married, the title of her father would be inherited by her husband. She wouldn\'t be a duchess in her own right. She would simply become a wife of a duke.

The vassals of their family didn\'t care about that because they were pushing her to become the Crown Princess.

Fortunately, her father was different.

As a duke and a member of the Twelve Golden Families, her father was working hard to change the law and make the empire recognize female heirs.

My father is really a good person.

"Hanna, sweetheart?"

She was surprised when she heard her father\'s voice behind the door. Ah, she must have fallen deep into her thoughts for her to notice her father only now. She didn\'t want to make him wait any longer but as a lady, she shouldn\'t run.

Instead, she walked at a normal pace and opened the door.

"Greetings, Father," Hanna greeted her father politely. "Please come in. I will ask the servants to make tea for us."

"Ah, I apologize but I don\'t have time for tea, sweetheart," her father said apologetically while closing the door behind him. Then, much to her surprise, he carried her in his arms. "I need to return to the Royal Palace."

"Are you running away from Mother?" she asked nervously. She would usually complain whenever her father would carry her in his arms like this. But this time, she didn\'t care about that. "I heard your fight a while ago."

Her father suddenly looked ashamed. "I\'m so sorry, sweetheart. I didn\'t want you to see or hear your mother and I fighting."

"It\'s normal for married couples to fight, Father."

He chuckled. "Isn\'t our baby so understanding?"

She pouted. "Father, I\'m a lady now."

"That will only be accepted when you turn eighteen years old, Hanna," he said sternly.

"But I\'m the only heiress of House Quinzel," she reminded her father gently. "And I\'m a girl. I have to work three times harder than boys to achieve the same result in this empire."

His father\'s face turned crestfallen. "Hanna, I\'m working hard so girls like you won\'t be ignored by the empire any more. I\'m sorry but please wait a little longer, sweetheart. It\'s not easy to break a system that the ruling class benefits from. After all, the nobles that run the empire right now wouldn\'t want to change the laws that they can exploit."

"I know that, Father," she assured him, then she gently patted her father\'s cheek. "I trust you."

"Thank you, Hanna," he said, then he turned serious again. "How much did you hear from my fight with your mother, sweetheart?"

The fear on his father\'s face almost made her not want to tell him the truth.

But she had to.

"I heard Mother blame the Royal Family for the injury that you received recently, Father," she said. "I ran to my room after hearing that."

"Sweetheart, your mother only said that because she was worried about me," her father said gently. "But when Amber calmed down a while ago, she already apologized for the careless things that she has said. I also apologized to your mother for not taking care of myself better."

That made her smile. "Then, have you made up with Mother?"

Her father chuckled. "I wouldn\'t leave the house if I haven\'t made up with your mother yet, Hanna. I will drop everything for Amber."

"That\'s so sweet of you, Father," she said, touched by how much her father loved her mother. But she was still on guard because she wanted to know something. "Father, is Mother really usually like that? I mean, you\'ve been sent to a war when I was six years old. But I don\'t remember Mother getting mad over it. In fact, for the whole year that you\'ve been away from us, Mother never fails to tell me that it\'s an honor for our family to serve the Royal Family."

That was true.

Her mother was one of the noblest women she had seen in her young life. When the wives of the knights sent to war bawled their eyes out for their husbands, her mother sent her father off with a smile. Although there were times that her mother would get lonely and worried while waiting for her father to return home, she never blamed anyone or anything for that.

Thus, she was surprised when she heard from Neoma the kind of person her mother was in the royal princess\'s first life.

She was even more surprised when she heard her mother blame the Royal Family for her father\'s injury a while ago. That made her think that her mother wasn\'t acting like her usual self. So she wanted to confirm it with her father.

"You\'re right, Hanna," her father said, his voice suddenly laced with worry. "Amber is a true noble. She never once asked me to quit being a knight even though she knows how dangerous my job is. After all, she knows that I\'m protecting the Royal Family not only because I\'m the duke. I\'m also doing this because they\'re our family." He paused for a while before she continued. "She always begs me to take extra care though, which is pretty normal."

Ah, so her hunch was correct.

Mother isn\'t acting like herself.

"But we can\'t blame your mother for acting that way, sweetheart," her father said gently. "Amber must have been stressed recently because both you and I have been seriously hurt. But please understand your mother. Just because she\'s a strong woman doesn\'t mean she\'s not allowed to break down."

She smiled at how her father defended her mother\'s strange behavior these days.

It was sweet, yes. But come to think of it, her father loved her mother too much. That was probably the reason why her father tolerated her mother\'s change of behavior in Neoma\'s first life. After all, she knows that her father\'s weakness was her mother\'s tears.

"Father, you really love mother, don\'t you?"

"Of course, I love Amber," her father said with a shy laugh, his yellow eyes glowing from happiness– making them almost look like golden orbs. "I love you and your mother most in the world, sweetheart."

"I love you and mother the most in the world as well, Father," Hanna said softly, then she wrapped her arms around her father\'s neck. "I will protect you and mother at all cost."

***

"MOTHER, you called for me?" Hanna greeted her mother with a smile as soon as she entered their family\'s tea room. It was a parlor that only she and her parents were allowed to use. "You seem to be in a good mood."

Her mother\'s face turned red, and she couldn\'t even look at her while she was putting some unique green roses in the vase on top of the tea table. "Your father promised to spend more time with us soon and…" She bit her lower lip, then she shook her head before she turned to him. Her mother\'s beautiful green eyes sparkled with happiness. "Shall we have tea, sweetheart?"

Hanna smiled and nodded. "I\'d love to, Mother."

Her mother called their servants and asked for some tea and snacks.

A few moments later, she and her mother were comfortably having tea while catching up on each other. After all, she stayed at the Royal Palace far longer than her initial plan.

"By the way, Mother," she said while staring at the green roses in the vase. Its color was unique for a rose, thus she couldn\'t help but notice it. "It\'s rare for roses to be in that color. Where did you get them from?"

Her mother\'s face suddenly lit up. "Aren\'t the green roses pretty? Regina sent them to me as thanks for helping her a few days ago."

She stopped drinking her tea midway when she heard that name. "Miss Regina Crowell?"

It took her all she got not to release her bloodlust and act normal.

"Yes, sweetheart. I\'m glad you remembered her name," her mother said cheerfully. "It\'s a shame that you didn\'t meet her yet."

Ah, right.

The day that she was supposed to meet Regina Crowell was the day Neoma told her about her previous lives.

Since the royal princess asked her not to meet Regina Crowell because she was worried for her safety, she made an excuse to her mother to not meet the "baby crow" that day. But now, she wondered whether she should really avoid Regina Crowell instead of confronting her.

Honestly, she made a plan on how to deal with the crow. But she didn\'t share it with Neoma because she knew that the royal princess wouldn\'t allow her to do something that dangerous. And she told herself that Neoma was right.

But now…

"Mother, do you think you can set up another meeting for me and Miss Regina Crowell?" she asked with a smile. "Since we\'re both going to Gonora to study, I think it wouldn\'t hurt to be acquainted with her."

"That\'s a good decision, sweetheart," her mother said excitedly. "When is a good time for you to meet Regina?"

"I\'m free tomorrow since I don\'t have lessons then," Hanna said with a smile, then she sipped her tea. "I can\'t wait to meet Miss Regina Crowell."

***

LATER that night, Hanna secretly went back to the tea room.

Her room was heavily guarded by their private knights. But all she needed was to distract her guards, then sneaked out of her room unnoticed. She had the ability to control shadows, so blending in with the dark was easy for her.

Thus, she arrived safely in the tea room.

Thanks to the moon glow seeping through the window, the ugly green roses in the vase cast a shadow on the table. Using her ability, she picked up the shadow of the green roses with her bare hands.

Then, she folded the shadows until the green roses in the vase withered.

"Regina Crowell, avoiding you will definitely put my family at risk," Hanna whispered to herself, her green eyes glowing brighter in the dark room. "I have to get rid of you now."

***

"MOTHER, FATHER, I have a request," Hanna said to her parents who sat across from her. Right now, they were in the carriage headed to the Royal Capital. "Can we go to the Temple first before I meet up with Miss Regina Crowell?"

There was a small yet famous Temple in the Royal Capital called the Temple of Alethea.

She thought about it carefully, and she decided that going to that Temple with her parents would be better than going to the Steora Church– the biggest church in the Royal Capital where nobles like their family usually frequent.

"Of course, daughter," her mother and father said at the same time.

She smiled as a response, then she turned outside the window. There was a reason why she wanted to go to the Temple first. And it was to ask for forgiveness.

Neoma, please forgive me for what I\'m about to do.

"Sweetheart, may I know why you want to go to Temple of Alethea instead of Steora Church?" her mother asked curiously.

She turned to her mother with a smile. "The temple is closer to the café where we will meet Miss Regina Crowell, Mother. I want to pray for Nero\'s recovery, but I also don\'t want to be late in our meeting."

Her mother smiled warmly at her. "You\'re so sweet, Hanna."

Her father smiled proudly. "That\'s our girl."

Hanna smiled at her parents. "I turn out this way because of you, Mother and Father."

***

AS SOON as Hanna entered the café called Sweet Indulgence, she spotted Regina Crowell right away.

Black hair, green eyes, angelic face– just like how Neoma described her.

Even though Regina Crowell wore a dress too modest for a noble, her beauty still stood out. Despite her young age, she was already a beauty.

When Regina Crowell saw her and her mother, she immediately stood up and bowed to them. "Greetings, Duchess Quinzel and Young Lady Quinzel," she said, then she raised her head to greet them with her charming smile. "I am Regina Crowell."

Hanna smiled sweetly at the crow. "And I am Hanna Quinzel."

***

"YOUR MAJESTY!"

Nikolai flinched when Kyle Sprouse entered his office in a hurry while yelling. Even Glenn who was handing him a document flinched and glared at the count.

"You better have a valid reason for entering His Majesty\'s office in that state, Kyle," Glenn said coldly. "That\'s unbecoming of a noble like you."

"I apologize for my ill-manner but I just received some shocking news," Kyle said, obviously panicking. "There was a bombing attack in the Royal Capital just now, Your Majesty."

To say that Nikolai was shocked to hear the news would be an understatement. "A bombing attack?"

Even Glenn looked too shocked to utter a word.

"One of the victims is a young noble heiress, Your Majesty," Kyle said, then he shut his eyes tight. "It\'s Lady Hanna Quinzel."

***

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