Meanwhile at the party in Espoir Frieden…
Lux swirled the wine in his glass before taking a sip.
Truth be told, he wanted to drink until he was dead drunk yesterday, but his Grandmaster ordered him to sleep first and delay his drinking urge until they held their welcoming party in the Elven Kingdom.
Seeing that he was about to finish his second glass of wine, Ali shook her head before tugging on Lux's clothes.
"Why don't you invite Valerie to a dance?" Ali asked. "Look at her, she looks bored of this place."
The Half-Elf glanced at Valerie who was currently being hand fed by Ari with grapes. The plain-looking girl had a happy look on her face because she found the grapes of the Elven Kingdom very sweet and delicious.
"She doesn't look bored to me," Lux replied before drinking the last of the wine in his glass. "But why not?"
The red-headed teenager stood up and walked towards Valerie and asked her to dance. He didn't mind dancing with Valerie because she had become one of his closest friends in Karshvar Draconis.
Immediately, the young lady's face turned beet-red, but she still nodded her head to accept Lux's invitation. She had been wanting to dance with Lux, but she didn't have the courage to ask him.
Ali, who was doing her best to become a wingman, exchanged glances with her sister.
Ari, who understood what Ali did, nodded her head in understanding.
"Don't worry, I have a plan," Ari whispered to her sister after Lux and Valerie had gone to the dance floor. "We will let Lux drink as much wine as he can. I've heard that the Elven Wine is so strong that it can intoxicate even a dragon. Of course, we will also let Valerie drink a glass or two. I don't know how high her alcohol tolerance is, but I'm pretty sure that it's not that high."
Ali nodded. "Good plan. Make sure to go to the kitchen to ask for two jars of wine when we retire for the night."
The two handmaidens knew that their mistress lacked the courage and boldness to tell Lux her feelings.
Because of this, they planned to make Valerie drunk so that she would lose her inhibitions and give her that boost to make her feelings known.
Aur, who saw Lux escort Valerie to the dance floor, looked at his two close friends with envy. If possible, he also wanted to dance. But due to his circumstances and what happened between him and Lux, he was finding it hard to be even near him.
In the end, Aur decided to just get himself drunk with wine in order to gain the courage to approach the Half-Elf and talk to him normally.
Hereswith, who was paying close attention to her Grand Disciple, only smiled after seeing this scene.
As a Demigod, disguises didn't work on her.
She had seen Valerie's true face, as well as the things that Aur was hiding.
The beautiful Elf found all of this quite amusing, but it wasn't her place to expose Valerie and Aur.
She only wanted the best for Lux, especially after what happened to Gaap.
After losing her one and only Disciple, Hereswith vowed to herself that she would keep Lux safe and ensure that he would be able to live a happy life with the people who loved him.
'Don't worry, Gaap,' Hereswith thought. 'I will look after him in your place.'
The hours passed by, and soon, Lux, Valerie, and Ali returned to their residence.
Ari didn't go with them because she went to the kitchen to get some more wine.
There were still two hours until midnight, but they decided to continue their own drinking party inside their temporary residence.
Outside the Royal Kitchen…
"That b*tch Hereswith needs to be put in her place," an Elf Woman said as he handed two vials to one of the maids of the castle. "She's been drinking a lot, and soon, she will run out of wine. Make sure to put this in the two jugs of wine that you will give her later. I want her to embarrass herself while she's in front of so many people."
The maid accepted the two vials that contained purple liquid.
"What is inside these vials, Lady Anika?" the maid asked.
"Aphrodisiac," Lady Anika replied. "But these are not ordinary Aphrodisiacs. It's the Passion Poison, which can make even adult Dragons go into heat, and make them lose their sanity. I can't wait to see that b*tch Hereswith make a fool of herself. Now, go and make sure that no one sees you. I don't want this to be traced back to me, understand?"
"Yes, Lady Anika." The maid bowed and left.
Inside the Kitchen…
Everyone in the kitchen was busy preparing food for the guests, so the maid was able to slip in without too much effort.
She then made her way to the rows of wine jugs that were prepared to be brought to the Event Hall. She sneakily glanced at her surroundings.
Seeing that no one was paying attention to her, she subtly poured the contents of the vials into the two wine jugs in front of her.
After making sure that not even a single drop had been wasted, she hurriedly stored the vials inside her pocket and carried the wine jugs out herself.
As soon as she left the kitchen, she found Hereswith walking in her direction with a mischievous look on her face.
"Is that wine?" Hereswith asked. "The wine in the event hall is almost gone, so I came here to get my own. Can I have those, please?"
"Of course, Your Highness," the Maid replied as she handed the two wine jugs to Hereswith with a smile.
"Thank you. You're a lifesaver." Hereswith smiled back before walking away.
The maid watched her go before going away to meet with Lady Anika to make her report.
Just as Hereswith was about to return to the Event Hall, she saw Ari walking in her direction.
"Ari? What are you doing here?" Hereswith asked.
"I'm here to get some wine, Your Excellency," Ari replied. "Lux and Valerie wanted to continue drinking in our residence. We don't really mingle with the crowd here—if you know what I mean."
Hereswith nodded her head in understanding.
"Alright. Take these two jugs then," Hereswith stated. "Make sure to let my cute Grand Disciple drink as much as he can until he gets knocked out, okay?"
"You can count on me, Your Excellency," Ari replied with a smile.
After bowing to Hereswith, the beautiful handmaiden turned to leave. Now that she had already gotten what she had come for, she could now go back to their assigned residence.
Hereswith also turned back and went to the kitchen to get her own jugs of wine. It had been a while since she had drunk Elven Wine, so she planned to drink as much as she could until morning came.
Just as Ari was returning to the residence, she met Aur along the way, whose face was flushed from drinking.
Since the handmaiden had a good impression of the Dragon Prince, she told him about their drinking party at their residence and invited him to join them.
Aur, who was feeling guilty about avoiding Lux for the entire day, agreed and accompanied Ari back to their quarters.
He wanted to apologize and have a private talk with Lux about his secret.
Since this was the perfect opportunity to do so, he decided to come clean and tell the Half-Elf the truth.
Of course, since he treated Valerie as a close friend, he also decided to share his secret with her. That way, she would not feel too burdened whenever all of them were together.
As Ari and Aur made their way back to their friends, the Maid, whom Lady Anika had bribed to spike Hereswith's drink, made her report.
The Elven Lady laughed before hurriedly going to the Event Hall.
She wanted to be on the front row when Hereswith shamed herself.
As someone who had been on the receiving end of the Elf Princess' vulgar words, Lady Anika wanted nothing more than to see Hereswith shame herself in front of the important members of the Elven Race.
Especially in front of the Royal Family, who had put together this party to honor their daughter's safe return to their kingdom.
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