Future Beast World: Becoming A Pampered Beauty-Chapter 107 - 64: Here to Play Palace Intrigue?

"Insolence! She is my Queen! The mother of my future children! I am the only one who can be by her side! Who do you think you are to covet her?!"

"Queen? Not a single citizen of the Empire witnessed it. I’m afraid even that little female herself doesn’t acknowledge it. Don’t you think you’re just deceiving yourself, Your Majesty?"

"Shut up!"

His sore spot having been poked, Duotu’s expression turned utterly grim.

Quan Xiu pushed him away, flicked his sleeves, and carefully smoothed out the wrinkles. "Why don’t we see who she’ll choose, Your Majesty?"

The Fiery True Flame struck out in rage.

Quan Xiu’s figure vanished in an instant.

"I’ll be eagerly awaiting it..."

On the incredibly important day of the coronation ceremony, the Queen did not accompany the Beast King to the event. That night, when the two were supposed to share a bed in loving union, Duotu did not come either.

According to Amman, when the Beast King returned, his clothes were disheveled and he looked somewhat battered and lonely. He passed by Taoyuan Village and paused for a moment before turning around and spending the entire night in his study.

Sang Luo hadn’t seen Duotu for a long time since they had their falling-out.

"That noble female from the Brent family has entered the palace."

In the palace courtyard, Sang Luo sat leisurely on a floral vine chair, basking in the sun. As she listened to the news Amman had brought from outside, she cracked open a sunflower seed. "Mm, these sunflower seeds taste pretty good. They’re milk-flavored. This is my first time trying them."

"Queen, don’t you feel any sense of crisis? Martha Brent just recently ascended to the Seventh Rank! She’s the only young female beast in the Empire to reach the Seventh Rank in the last fifty years, and she’s also the noble female of this generation with the best Fertility! The Old Beast King had intended to match her with the Beast King, and now that she’s been sent to the palace, her ambition is as clear as day!" he fretted, far more worried than the person actually involved.

Sang Luo just said, "Oh," clearly more interested in something else. "Which shop outside the palace did you buy these sunflower seeds from? Go buy me another bag tomorrow."

Amman was rendered completely speechless.

"Queen, the noble female Martha Brent has come to pay her respects and is waiting outside the gate."

Sang Luo raised an eyebrow. ’Shouldn’t she be trying every trick in the book to please Duotu? Why is she trying to make her presence known to me?’

"Let her in." Besides, she had been bored lately.

A servant led Martha Brent into the hall.

Along the way, Martha Brent didn’t even dare to blink, exclaiming in constant amazement, "The decorations in this palace are truly magnificent and beautiful. They’re on par with the Beast Emperor’s own bedchambers."

"You’ve been to his bedchambers?" Sang Luo walked over, her tone unreadable. 𝒇𝒓𝒆𝒆𝙬𝒆𝒃𝓷𝒐𝓿𝙚𝙡.𝒄𝓸𝒎

"Ah! My greetings, Queen."

Martha Brent hurriedly performed a graceful curtsey, a gentle and elegant smile on her face.

After a round of pleasantries, she had the servants behind her bring forward gifts, which came in large and small packages.

Watching the servants carry the items into the palace, Sang Luo smiled. "You’ve always been so generous."

"The things in the Royal Palace are the truly fine ones. It makes my gifts seem a bit shabby in comparison. I do hope the Queen won’t find them lacking." Martha Brent clasped her hands, conveniently lifting a section of her sleeve to reveal a jade-like bracelet that resembled an emerald.

Sang Luo could tell at a glance that the jade was a special-grade fine jade supplied exclusively to the Beast King Palace; it couldn’t be bought in any outside shop.

"Did Duotu give you this?" Sang Luo asked.

A hint of a blush appeared on Martha Brent’s face. "Yes. I just arrived, and the Beast King was worried I wouldn’t be accustomed to living in the palace, so he had someone send over a few trinkets. They’re nothing worth mentioning."

Her words were modest, but she held her face slightly raised, filled with happiness and pride. This kind of top-quality Treasure Spirit Jade was priceless.

She then glanced at the plainly dressed Sang Luo, who wore almost no jewelry, just a simple white dress. Her black hair was loose behind her, looking a bit messy, as if she had just woken from a nap and hadn’t had time to comb it yet.

The two had vastly different auras. If an outsider were to take a look, they would probably mistake Martha Brent for the noble and magnificent Queen.

"If outsiders were to see the Queen dressed so plainly, it would become a joke."

Martha Brent took the Jade Bracelet off her wrist and was about to put it on Sang Luo.

Sang Luo flinched, pulling her hand back to avoid it.

Her expression stiffened for a moment. Coming back to her senses, she quickly pressed the Jade Bracelet into Amman’s hands, her face still wearing a graceful, warm smile. "The Beast King, honestly... These past few days, the smaller nations have contributed quite a few treasures, yet he doesn’t know to add some to the Queen’s collection. If outsiders see this, they’ll start gossiping behind our backs again!"

She reached up to brush the ends of her hair, her fingertips lightly tracing her Jade Spirit Jade earrings as she seemed to complain in a low voice, "The Beast King is usually busy with official duties, so it’s inevitable he’s a bit thoughtless and forgets such trivial matters. In the future, the Queen will have to remind him!"

"..." Sang Luo gave a smile that didn’t reach her eyes. ’So, this woman came here to play at palace intrigue with me.’

Her first impression of Martha Brent had actually been quite good. It was rare in the Beast World to see a noble female who was so gentle, poised, and elegant. But now, it seemed she was nothing special after all.

’You can’t even get enough people for a card game, so what’s the point of all this drama?’

’Boring.’

Sang Luo exchanged a few more pleasantries with Martha Brent before using the excuse of feeling unwell to have a servant escort her out of the palace.

The male servant waiting on her noticed that Martha Brent’s mood had clearly improved after leaving the palace. Dazzled by her smile, he asked gently, "Why is the noble female so happy?"

"What did you think of that palace just now?"

The male Beast Servant was stunned for a moment, then replied, "Just as the noble female said, it was incredibly luxurious. If I’m not mistaken, the stone used for the entire palace is Profund Jade White Stone, which is only found on the East Continent. The landscape murals in the corridors are made with Jade Bone Powder, which is created by grinding the bones of High Rank Star Beasts and mixing them with pigments. The residual Spiritual Power can nourish the body over long periods... It’s clear the Beast King put a lot of thought into building this palace. It’s on par with the Beast King’s own bedchambers!"

"Perhaps soon, I’ll be the one moving in." Martha Brent’s lips curled into a sarcastic smile. "I thought His Majesty doted on that Queen so much. Turns out it’s just an empty title."

"Ah? What do you mean by that?"

"There wasn’t even a bonding ceremony, and His Majesty didn’t even have her accompany him for the coronation. Has there ever been such a precedent in all of history? The Beast King definitely doesn’t like her. It’s only because she gave birth to an Innate King Beast heir that His Majesty values her Fertility."

’Once she’s done having children, she’ll be useless.’

’No, maybe she won’t even get the chance to have any more children.’ Martha Brent touched her own stomach. ’I still have a chance!’

...

「Taoyuan Village.」

Amman fiddled with the bracelet. "His Majesty has sent who knows how many chests of little things like this before! I don’t know what that noble female was trying to show off!"

"Is that so... The quality of this jade does look quite good. It feels warm and smooth to the bone."

"Of course! The storeroom in the hall is piled full of them. There are even better ones than this, but you never even spared them a glance, Queen."

"..." ’Alright, it’s true I’ve been completely focused on Beast Crystals. I used to be interested in this kind of flashy jewelry, but not since having my child.’

Sang Luo laughed again. "You’re getting more and more picky."

"Hehe, it’s only because I’m with you, Queen. I’ve seen so many fine things!"

Amman glanced at the doorway, then said with some displeasure, "You didn’t see it, Queen, but the way that noble female was sizing up our palace just now... it was as if Taoyuan Village was already in her pocket and she was going to move in tomorrow!"

Sang Luo thought to herself, ’She just might, you know.’

"I’ll gift this Jade Bracelet to you. If you take it outside the palace, you can trade it for a good number of Crystal Stones."

"It feels a little unlucky," Amman said with a pout, but he quickly caved for the money. "In that case, thank you very much, Queen!"

"Don’t call me Queen from now on. Just use my name."

"Th-that’s probably against the rules, isn’t it?"

"It’s fine. At least here in Taoyuan Village, I am the rules. You’ll call me whatever I tell you to call me. Otherwise, I’ll get upset, and when I get upset, I’ll have you replaced."

"Ahem! Noble female Sang Luo!" he quickly corrected himself.

Sang Luo was quite satisfied. "It’s a bit hot. Go get me a glass of freshly squeezed juice."

After Amman left, Sang Luo looked down at her wrists and ankles. The mark of a golden chain flashed and then vanished.