A Hard Yet Gentle Embrace
"Divine Lady Lucia went to treat my mother's illness," Darren Xuan explained.
"Treat an illness?" Princess Quinn Xiao pointed at the bandages wrapped around him. "Is this what treating an illness looks like?"
Darren didn't want to shame his brothers in public, so he tried to persuade her: "Princess, let's talk about this back home! It's not what you think—I'll explain everything to you in detail once we're back."
"Back home?" Princess Quinn Xiao strode straight toward Lucia Lu, pointed at her, and cursed, "Lucy Luan! You know perfectly well Darren already has a fiancée, yet you openly go out with him! Does your Lumina Realm have no men? You're absolutely shameless!"
"Princess!" Adrian Drake frowned and stepped in front of Lucia. "Don't go too far! She only went to Returning Rainbow Mountain to treat an illness, and His Majesty the Celestial Emperor personally approved their trip! What's the point of making such a scene? What do you get out of it?"
Princess Quinn Xiao, blinded by jealousy, refused to listen at all and shouted, "Get lost! This isn't your place to speak!"
"You—" Adrian Drake was so furious his face turned blue.
Lucia Lu stepped out from behind him and said, "Princess, Darren invited me to treat his mother because she was poisoned by Scalescourge. This toxin can't be cured by ordinary Spiritual Alchemists. If you truly care about Darren, please don't turn his filial devotion into something ugly. Can you do that?"
Princess Quinn Xiao sneered, "Are you lecturing me now?"
Lucia Lu replied mildly, "I wouldn't dare."
"Wouldn't dare? Everyone pampers you all the time—I'd say you've long forgotten who you are! Is there anything you wouldn't dare to do?"
Lucia Lu fell silent for a moment, then asked, "So, Princess, what exactly will it take for you to let this go today?"
"Let it go?" Princess Quinn Xiao lifted her chin, eyes full of malice. "If you want me to let it go, then kneel! Swear to the heavens that you'll never have even the slightest improper thought about Darren Xuan! As long as you're sincere enough, I'll spare you!"
Darren Xuan's expression changed. He called out, "Princess, you mustn't!"
Adrian Drake, now furious, asked word by word, "Do you really have to go this far?"
Princess Quinn Xiao sneered, "Both of you get lost! I'm an imperial princess—what's wrong with ordering her to kneel? Is it so impossible, or is she just too high and mighty to take it?"
Adrian Drake stood his ground. "It is impossible!"
"Are you rebelling now, Adrian?" Princess Quinn Xiao glared at him. "Step aside!"
Adrian Drake, cheeks puffed with anger, was about to say more, but Lucia Lu signaled him to stop.
After all, he was a subject of Drake Abyss.
If the Princess kept making trouble, he couldn't overstep too far, either.
"Lucy Luan, are you going to kneel or not?" Princess Quinn Xiao stared at her provocatively.
"And if I refuse? What then?" Lucy Luan asked coldly.
"Hmph! Everything under heaven is ruled by our Divine Dragon Clan. No matter how high your Lu clan stands in the Lumina Realm, you're still vassals of the Xiao family! Are you trying to declare that your Lu clan despises the imperial house?"
No matter how justified or innocent you are, just one accusation of 'despising the imperial house' is enough to brand the Lu clan as disloyal.
Lucy Luan clutched her skirt, frowning.
Just then, someone suddenly grabbed her wrist and yanked her forward.
The force was so strong it pulled her straight into a hard yet gentle embrace.
A black-and-crimson divine robe stopped right in front of her eyes, carrying a faint marigold scent.
A powerful masculine presence overwhelmed her, leaving her momentarily blank and dazed.
"Even our Royal Father and Empress Mother have only ever received her junior's bow. Yet here you are, Princess Quinn, demanding she kneel and swear beside the bustling Mirror of Truth?" Sean Shaw's low voice rang out. "Anyone who knows the situation will say you're just being immature. But those who don't might think you're speaking for the entire imperial house, slapping the Lu clan in the face."