Luka and Daniel stood facing one another with swords drawn. 

“Ready when you are,” Luka smiled. 

“Just because you’re a woman, doesn’t mean I’m going to go easy on you.” 

“And here I thought you were going to say ex-wife. Good thing you didn’t,” Luka made an offhand comment with a taunting smirk. 

And the fight began. Swords clashed, resonating throughout the courtyard. Everyone was shocked, even Daniel. Luka withstood that clash and she didn't even look fazed. 

“At least make it look like you’re trying,” said Luka before she exerted a strength that overpowered Daniel, causing him to be pushed back. 

Luka moved swiftly, slashing her sword, not allowing Daniel to make a move. Not only did Luka use her weapon, but she mixed in martial arts with her swordsmanship. She stabbed the tip of her sword into the ground and propelled herself into the air, creating flare kicks. Her body was light and lithe, moving fluidly. When Daniel did get the chance to strike back, he never made it far as it was always countered by Luka. 

Did this woman really not receive any training of any sort?! How the hell is she this skilled and strong?! Daniel thought to himself. 

Though Daniel was putting up a good fight, it was clear to see who was had the upper hand. Knocking Daniel’s sword out of his hand and bringing Daniel down to his knees, Luka leveled the sword by his neck. Everyone held their breaths. The King has lost. Luka had basically slapped Daniel in the face by making him kneel before her. 

Lillian rushed over to her fallen king, gently coaxing him as she stroked his back. 

Luka moved the sword from his neck. “I’ve won. I will give away my title as Queen. However, before that can be done, Lillian has to grant me my final favor.” 

Lillian looked up to Luka, “Bitch! What favor?! His Majesty obviously let you win. Otherwise you’d be beaten to a pulp!” 

“Oh, if he really loved you, it’s funny to think that he’d deliberately lose to allow you to kneel before me.” 

“W-what? Kneel? Me?! To you?!” 

“Yeah, because he lost. And this is what you owe me. For stabbing me in the back,” Luka swung the sword, using the tip to lift up Lillian’s chin. “For playing the innocent and loyal friend just to crawl into my ex-husband's bed.” 

“Hmph! Who would kneel to you?!” Lillian spat. 

“Better do it while I’m being nice. I’m no longer the patient girl I was in the past,” said Luka. 

“I’d rather die than kneel before you!” 

“Hm~, okay. Then I’ll make sure to make drag it out so you don’t die,” Luka said in a chilling voice. 

Suddenly, Lillian felt as if her scalp was going to be ripped off as Luka grabbed a handful of her hair, prying her away from Daniel. Just as Daniel was about to move, Luka’s sword was already pointing in his face. “You lost this duel! So you better stay out of it,” Luka growled with a fierce expression. One Daniel has never seen before. 

It was true. Daniel had just received a blow to his ego and pride that he could only remain kneeled on the ground, grinding his teeth bitterly. 

Though her body was small, her strength was something else. She dragged Lillian, who was crying and trying to break free from Luka’s grasp, halfway to where the throne chair was and tossed her head aside. “I will say this once again, kneel before me while I’m being nice.” 

“N-n-never!” Lillian gritted through her tears. 

“Hm, I wonder how well you can tolerate pain,” Luka walked around Lillian. 

“What-!” Suddenly, she felt as if her arm was popped off; Luka had dislocated her left arm. 

“AAAAAHHHHHHH!!!!!” Lillian cried. 

Everyone in the crowd was horrified. This was taking things too far! 

“How dare you!” Someone spoke out. 

“How dare I?” Luka let out an amused laugh. “This is an affair between the three of us. Outsiders stay out,” Luka said in a menacing voice. 

As Lillian continued sobbing, Luka once again asked, “So, are you going to kneel to me? If you do, you’ll be Queen. Such a simple task.” 

Lillian bit her lips and glared back at Luka. Luka pursed her lips to the side. “Not enough motivation, I see.” 

Luka gripped one of Lillian’s long legs and popped it out of its socket. “AAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!” 

Everyone was speechless. They never thought the Queen would be this ruthless. Though they wanted to intercept, what right did they have to do so? Even Rueben was speechless.

“You should be happy that I didn’t decide to use my sword instead,” Luka said as she was leisurely walking towards the throne chair. “Otherwise you’d bleed to death and not get the glory of being Queen,” Luka mocked sadly as she sat down on the chair with one leg over the other. 

“I can wait all day. This isn’t going to end unless you allow it to,” Luka said in a devilishly sweet tone. “The longer you delay, the shorter your days as Queen are.” 

With one hand supported by the sword that was stabbed into the ground, she leaned over to the armrest, using her other hand to support her chin.  

Sobbing with an ugly expression, Lillian looked over to Luka with terrorized eyes. Luka smirked. This was what she deserved. She stabbed Luka in the back and colluded with Daniel to kill her children. This was something Luka discovered later in her first lifetime, but when she discovered it, it was already too late. Luka trusted her like a sister; this was her own karma coming back to her.  

Luka wanted to deal with Lillian first before she deals with Daniel. After all, it has only been a short while since Daniel became King. She was going to wait. Luka was going to wait until Daniel has ripened, till he was reached his highest peak as king before knocking him down – tearing down all of his achievements right before his very eyes – only then would Luka be satisfied. So as of now, she was going to wait and deal with everything else around her. After all, she did spend her entire lifetime fighting for him; she was tired. All she needs now is to replenish her strength. 

“Crawl over here and kiss my feet. Only then will I pardon you for angering me the first time, and you will get your title as Queen,” Luka stated. 

Daniel was just about to summon Kai to do something but Luka caught on and said sweetly, “Vrarix~.” 

The name Daniel was about to utter got stuck at his throat. This woman was really pulling at his strings! 

Broken and terrified, Lillian ended up crawling her way over to where Luka sat and trembled uncontrollably as her blue lips kissed the tip of Luka’s shoe. It was truly a pitiful sight to see. A satisfied smile slowly crawled upon Luka’s face as she stood up and tossed the sword aside. 

“See? It would’ve been much easier if you had complied the first time,” Luka smiled as she nonchalantly stretched her upper body. “Ah, you don’t need to read me the rest of the royal decree. It can come into effect now if you wish. I’ll be gone by tomorrow anyways.” Luka waved as she walked away. 

Before she was swallowed by the shadows, she slightly turned her head over, “I don’t care if you send assassins after me. Just so you know, it might be you suffering the losses.” 

=== 

When she arrived back to her lonely room. She looked around the room. There was not a single thing she wanted in this room, well, expect for her clothes, but other than that, everything else was worthless in her eyes. Undoing her hair, her black hair cascaded down her shoulder as she stripped naked and into her leisure violet silk robe. 

Throwing herself onto her luxurious bed, she squirmed around, as if she was trying to bury herself within the silk sheets. When she finally stopped moving, the silk sheets were cradled around her, giving her the comfort the needed, however, it was still not the comfort she wanted. She then grabbed the edges of the silk bedding and wrapped it around herself.  

As she laid on the bed staring at the ceiling for who knows how long, she then heard soft knocks on the door. 

“Come in,” Luka said softly as she remained in her position.  

The person who entered was Nick, the middle-aged head butler. Despite having some gray strands mixed in with his dark brown hair, his looks were still defined and chiseled, emitting a certain manly charm; his body was tall and broad while his overall appearance had some sort of hidden wild, ruggedness that Luka had come to appreciate, however... he was working for Daniel. Perhaps it was because her mind was actually that of an old lady that Nick’s appearance was actually appealing to her tastes... was what she thought, but she quickly shrugged the thought off. 

In the previous life, Nick served Daniel diligently, however, he never actually did anything to Luka. He always remained distant, only sending in maids and butlers into her quarters. However, in this lifetime, she had managed to interact with this man that seemed polite, gentleman-like and courteous. 

Carrying in the tray that had a hot tea and a porcelain tea cup, he placed the tray on the round table and poured the tea. Luka sat up, still wrapped in her silk sheets. Nick examined her appearance and a soft smile crawled onto his face. She looked quite adorable. 

“Your tea.” 

Releasing the sheets as they rolled off her shoulders, she gently blew on the steam before taking a whiff of the smell. Peach green tea. Though she was taking in the scent, she did not take a sip. 

“If you’re going to kill me, spiking my tea doesn’t seem quite like your style,” Luka said softly. 

Nick was startled by the sudden comment but quickly recollected himself as if she heard nothing.  

“What is my Queen talking about?” he looked over and gave her a polite smile. 

“No need to lie to me, Marcus Lovett, current leader of the Tempest Cobras – Deus' finest assassins as well as the royal family, well, more like the King’s personal royal dogs,” said Luka.  

Although the polite smile on Nick’s, – on Marcus's face remained, the aura around him became heavy and suffocating, but not to Luka. 

“... How did you find out about my identity?” 

The Tempest Cobras were a secret assassin organization that was only passed down from one king to the next; none of the other royal family members knew of their existence – only the current king or next king in line knew. If the crowned prince, who was to be crowned the next king already knew the secret organization, was switch from one prince to another, the previous crowned prince would be 'mysteriously' assassinated to keep the secret. Their loyalty roots go way back to when they were first formed more than 100 years ago. Their sole existence was to only work and serve the king of Deus. 

Nick was Marcus’s alias, as well as his position as Head Butler. This was a discovery Luka had discovered by accident in her previous life in which she managed to get away with because she knocked her head so hard that she had forgotten this secret, so they left her alive, but kept her monitored. It wasn't until she died and was reborn into this world again that she recalled that discovery.

Luka nonchalantly tipped her cup, spilling the contents of her drink onto the ground as she watched. “That’s for me to know, and you, to never find out.” 

“Well then, you should know the consequences of what happens to those who know of us who aren't supposed to,” Marcus remarked. 

“Of course, I do. However, Daniel doesn’t need to know if you don’t say anything.” 

“My loyalty is only-,” 

“To the king of Deus, I know. Fine. If, you’re gonna kill me, then do it. But that’s only if you can,” Luka smiled. 

Marcus moved fast, gripping her wrists as he pushed up onto her back on the bed. They stared at each other for quite a while. Luka stared into his golden colored eyes as he stared into her obsidian eyes. 

“What makes you think I can’t?” 

“This.” 

Luka freed her legs, locked them around Marcus’s waist and twisted them over so that she was straddling him. Taking him by surprise, she then positioned his hands above his head. Marcus saw the strength she had displayed earlier, but now that he was actually facing her, he was beyond shocked at how much power this tiny body possessed.  

Luka moved quickly and pressed his acupuncture points to immobilize him. Luka gave him a seductively smile as her dangled over her shoulder that was peering out from her violet silk robe. 

“Bet you thought you had the advantage. Well, there’s a first to everything,” Luka chuckled as she got off Marcus, leaving him on the bed.  

After bustling about for a few minutes, she had a small hand bag tossed over her shoulder. Luka had also changed into plain commoner clothes with her hair tucked into a cap. “I did say that I would be gone by tomorrow. Give Daniel and his new Queen my regards,” Luka smiled brightly as she went onto the balcony and took her leave.