Married To The Dragon Prince Against My Will-Chapter 272: BITING BACK

The moment the outer chamber door swung open, and Lumina stepped right inside a heavy porcelain vase hurtled toward her head.

"I want to see my husband! He belongs to me too, not just hers!" Breilla’s voice echoed as the vase shattered against the marble floor inches from Lumina’s feet, shards exploding outward like brittle stars. Stella gasped, hand flying to her mouth.

"My lady, are you okay?" she asked checking Lumina to see if there was any wound.

Before Lumina could answer, Briella stormed forward, skirts whipping around her legs like storm clouds.

Her face was flushed crimson, eyes wild with fury and entitlement. She halted so close that Lumina could smell the rosewater perfume clinging to her cloying, over-applied, the scent of someone desperate to be noticed.

"Hey, you!" Briella spat, jabbing a manicured finger toward Lumina’s chest. "I am also from royalty! I am higher than you! Who do you think you are to do as you wish?"

Lumina remained perfectly still, head tilted in that calm, almost curious way that made people uneasy. Her voice, when it came, was velvet over steel.

"Mind how you speak to my lady," Stella snapped, stepping forward protectively.

Briella’s hand cracked across Stella’s cheek with a sharp, resounding slap.

The sound echoed off the vaulted ceiling. Stella staggered, eyes wide with shock, hand rising to her stinging skin.

"You..." Stella began, fury igniting, but her body locked mid-motion. Her limbs went rigid, lips parting in silent understanding. 𝙛𝒓𝓮𝒆𝔀𝒆𝙗𝓷𝒐𝙫𝒆𝙡.𝒄𝓸𝓶

Lumina had already extended her power to a gentle, invisible thread of restraint wrapping around her maid. Stella bit her lip, tasting blood, and fell silent.

She would have taught this brat a lesson after all they had the upper hand.

"How dare you, brat!" Briella sneered, rounding on Stella. "An ordinary maid dares speak to me that way? I want to see the king!"

Lumina shifted aside from the door with deliberate grace, gesturing toward the outer chamber like a gracious hostess. "Then go."

Briella’s lips curled in triumph. She shoved past Lumina, shoulder clipping hers deliberately. But as she reached for the door handle, Lumina moved swiftly, fluid, almost lazy.

She caught Briella’s wrist mid-air, twisted it just enough to send pain shooting up the arm, then delivered an open-handed slap that rang through the corridor like a thunderclap.

Briella flew sideways, crashing into the marble on her hip. Her cheek bloomed red instantly, the imprint of Lumina’s palm stark against pale skin.

"How could you slap me!" Briella shrieked, scrambling up, one hand cradling her face.

Lumina struck again another precise, resounding slap that snapped Briella’s head to the side.

The concubine stumbled, clutching both cheeks now, eyes watering in disbelief and humiliation.

All the maids shifted back clearly seeing how quiet and brutal their lady can be.

"Cross the line again," Lumina said softly, "and receive worse." Of course, Lumina doesn’t have to say much.

Briella’s mouth opened and closed like a landed fish. "You bitch! I will tell my brother, and he will make sure you all pay!"

Lumina stepped past her as if she were no more than furniture. Briella lunged, grabbing Lumina’s arm and yanking her back. "Who do you think you are..."

Lumina turned in one smooth motion. Her free hand rose, fingers splayed, and she spoke with the quiet certainty of absolute authority.

"I am the only legal wife of Ashen Ryder. The only rightful princess of the Celestial Realm. And the future queen of Drakonis." Her voice dropped lower, each word carved from ice and starlight. "If I were you, I would mind my tongue."

Briella froze, mouth agape, heating hoe Lumina had just praised her own sense with no sense of hesitation: she had heard how Lumina fears no one even though she’s blind she can be cunning she never expected it to be this twisted.

"You are so proud." Breilla’s voice echoed out in shock.

Lumina’s lips curved into a slow, dangerous smile that never reached the hidden fire of her eyes. "I wouldn’t say proud but if you want to say it that way... after all I am not up here destroying the love one had built."

"You were also given to Ashen. Not like he loved you before the marriage." Breilla shot back at Lumina.

"But he fell for me," Lumina continued, voice lilting with genuine amusement. "He loves me now. And that is all that matters." A soft, melodic laugh escaped her clear, unburdened, laugh of someone who had already won.

Briella’s face twisted. "He is a man, after all. His desires and love can switch. Everyone is pregnant. Why aren’t you pregnant if he really loves you?"

The barb landed. Lumina felt the familiar sting of the memory of the contraceptives slipped into her tea, the quiet sabotage she had endured in silence. But she let none of it show. Instead, her smile widened, serene and lethal.

One reason she had also opposed the contraceptive was that she would want her future children to be mixed with the game being played but hearing her mention it almost made her lose it.

"Well... since he is a man, then..." She gestured toward the door again. "Open it. Let her go see her husband."

Stella whirled. "What?"

"Let her go see him," Lumina repeated, calm as a still lake.

Briella’s eyes lit with vicious glee. She rushed forward, shoving the door wide. Aria, stationed like a dark sentinel inside, exchanged a single glance with Lumina silent understanding passing between them.

Briella stepped over the threshold.

A heartbeat later, she was hurled backward in full out of the room.

She flew out of the room in a tangle of silk and limbs, crashing to the floor at Lumina’s feet with a pained cry. The door slammed shut behind her, as though an invisible hand had thrown it.

Lumina crouched slowly, skirts pooling around her like midnight water. She reached out and cupped Briella’s chin, forcing the concubine to look up. Her thumb traced the swelling cheek almost tenderly.

"In case you don’t know," Lumina murmured, voice soft enough that only Briella and perhaps the walls could hear, "you are only in these chambers because my husband could be tricked and forced to decide to save his wife which he can’t in any way afford to lose."

She caressed Briella’s face once more, the touch deceptively gentle. "I have always watched how you and your brother fully thought you played the game without being noticed well... All these are things I learned beforehand." Briella swallowed hard in shock.

"What!" Her voice had cracked at this moment.

"I chose the room you will be sent to. I decide when he will speak to you. If he decides not to see you for a year, that is my decision. He hates making me mad. And he would never dare do anything that would anger me."Lumina examined proudly.

"You brat.." Briella hissed.

Lumina’s hand flashed again another crisp slap that echoed as a warning bell landed on Briella’s face. Stella, still restrained, let a small, satisfied smile curve her lips as she looked down.

"In case you don’t know," Lumina continued, voice never rising above a conversational murmur, "Lumina makes the rules here and anyone who stands against them suffers the consequences."

"What makes you different!" Briella spat, voice cracking with desperation.

Lumina rose slowly, towering over the crumpled woman. She tilted her head, blindfold concealing the crimson glow that flared brighter for a moment.

"Well... maybe because when I met him, most people hated him. And I never did." Her voice softened, but the pride in it was unshakeable, the pride of celestial blood and hard-won devotion.

"Instead, we built slowly, learned most especially how to communicate, and trust and understand until we reached this place. And if a little bitch thinks she can destroy it..." Lumina leaned down, lips brushing Briella’s ear in a whisper meant only for her.

"...then she should be very, very sorry. Because the first mistake you made was trying to threaten me when you, little whore, don’t even have an ounce of true royal blood in you."

Briella recoiled as if struck by lightning. Lumina straightened, robe settling around her like armor. She turned to Stella.

The invisible bonds around Stella dissolved, and she stepped forward, rubbing her cheek but standing taller, chin lifted in quiet pride at her lady’s side.

Lumina addressed the corridor with guards, maids, and lingering shadows. "Anyone who touches what is mine without permission will answer to me and I do not forgive easily."

She swept past Briella without another glance, the hem of her robe brushing the fallen concubine’s trembling fingers. Stella followed, head high as she scoffed at Briella.

Behind them, Briella remained on her knees, cheeks burning, pride in tatters. The corridor fell deathly silent, every witness understanding one irrefutable truth.

"How could I be stupid? I thought I could win.." she murmured tears trailing down her face.

"I wanted to win for once!" she screamed out as more tears trickled down her face.