Yuna wore a pure white off-the-shoulder evening gown, its skirt trailing on the ground like mist and clouds.
Her golden waist-length hair was pinned up, revealing a long, snow-white swan-like neck.
Her full, high bosom was outlined by the silk, displaying for the first time such a magnificent and firm stature.
The perfect hemispherical curve reflected countless lights and gazes, radiant and dazzling, almost “pressing” the other girls to the point of breathlessness.
Friends, foes, and old acquaintances came to chat with her one after another, all of them men.
However, Yuna, who used to navigate such situations with ease, was acting particularly unusual today.
After chatting for less than four or five sentences, she would hurriedly end the conversation, unwilling to say much more or reveal any more of her charm.
While talking, her eyes would also nervously and guiltily steal glances towards the entrance, as if waiting for someone.
“Stop looking around so sneakily. That kid hasn’t arrived yet.”
Robert, drinking nearby, found his niece particularly amusing today.
Seizing the moment when no one was around, he couldn’t help but tease her.
“Hmm…”
Yuna blushed.
She leaned closer to Robert and lowered her voice, “Uncle, that… thing?”
Before she finished speaking, a small crystal vial appeared in her palm.
Yuna grasped the cold crystal, feeling the surging divine power within it, and finally felt completely at ease.
What it contained, “Grace of the Goddess of Love,” was exactly the kind she most desired—[Nectar of the Forbidden Fruit].
An extremely rare and dangerous blessed elixir, colorless and odorless, dissolving instantly in water.
After drinking it, it lies dormant within the organism, showing no abnormality under normal circumstances.
However, as long as the individual is frequently touched by someone of the opposite sex, even just simple caresses or hugs, the latent divine grace will erupt.
Like spring rain nourishing the earth, it silently alters the recipient’s emotions and perceptions, causing them to unconsciously develop a strong attachment and admiration for the person touching them, ultimately falling head over heels in love, unable to extricate themselves.
“Hoo—”
Yuna took a deep breath, trying to calm her wildly beating heart.
Her plan was simple, yet quite bold—find an opportunity to drip the [Nectar of the Forbidden Fruit] into Joen’s wine glass, then, under the pretext of discussing disaster relief matters, lure him to a secluded corner deep in the garden.
At that moment, she would cry about her mistakes, shed all pretense and defenses, speak of her helplessness, and reveal before Joen that strange and shameful trace of affection.
Joen was a soft-hearted person, and one easily forgiving of others.
Faced with a beautiful girl crying pitifully and opening her heart to him, he would surely feel compassion and not hesitate to grant her final plea—to give her a comforting hug.
As long as that hug happened, everything would be settled.
Yuna stole another glance at the banquet hall entrance, her eyes flickering with nervousness and determination.
Although not yet successful, she couldn’t help but begin to fantasize about forming a stable family with the Hero, intoxicated by the happiness yet to come.
Seeing her like this, having lost seventy percent of her intelligence and reason, Robert couldn’t help but chuckle softly.
He drank his wine in silence, increasingly lamenting that this thing called love was pure trouble.
Meanwhile, on the other side of the mansion, in Princess Margaret’s private courtyard.
“Is everything ready?”
In the mirror, Margaret’s makeup was exquisite, but her expression couldn’t hide her nervousness and excitement, her voice trembling slightly.
“Flawless, Your Highness.”
The handmaiden Ananna was kneeling behind her, adjusting the hem of her gown.
And before Margaret lay an exquisite jewelry box, inside which rested a necklace shimmering with silvery moonlight, its pendant a pink Demon Crystal with colors as soft as cottony clouds.
This was the “gift” her second brother had prepared for that “Pupu.”
Officially, this was a high-grade defensive accessory that used Elven Magic to protect the wearer from accidental harm by the banquet’s alert magic formations.
After all, that Pupu was a Magical Beast, and fearing it might trigger prohibitions against high-risk beasts was a perfectly reasonable excuse.
But in reality, at the core of this gem was sealed the slumbering [Mark of Ecstasy].
The mark was set with a special activation mechanism—it would only awaken upon contact with Heroic Magic.
As Joen’s pet, based on past habits, Lia would definitely crawl back into Joen’s arms from time to time.
And once she got close to him, the immense magic power constantly radiating from his body would instantly awaken the mark.
Then, this ravenous Demon God mark would abandon the Pupu vessel lacking Heroic Magic and transfer itself to the Hero without anyone noticing.
“What comes next…”
Ananna earnestly instructed, going over the plan once more: “You invite Joen for a stroll in the garden. When you reach the lakeside, pretend to slip and fall into the water. Your soaked clothes will outline your curves, and the Mark of Ecstasy will amplify his desires… He will pick you up and bring you back here to change.”
“And then… while he’s confused and enchanted, I will use transformation magic to complete the subsequent tasks for you, especially taking the opportunity to retrieve the mark.”
Margaret lightly pursed her lips, her cheeks burning.
“If… I mean if, he sobers up afterwards and realizes we did it, what then?”
“It’s fine.”
Ananna’s eyes were profound.
“This piece of jewelry is an Elven product. Its origin has been arranged by His Highness the Second Prince to conveniently point towards the Elf in your team—Ailita. Given her personality, doing something like this wouldn’t be strange. You just need to play the victim and investigate alongside the Hero.”
After hearing this, Margaret finally felt completely at ease.
However, neither she nor Yuna knew—through the Elf Speech monitoring them, all of their conversations, reactions, and preparations had been observed by Ailita.
“Tsk tsk tsk, what a spectacular show.”
Ailita, wearing Elven banquet attire—a dance dress woven from beautiful emerald-green vines—was currently lounging casually in the entertainment area outside the banquet hall, playing the national-level gambling game, Three-Leaf Cards, with a nobleman opposite her who was sweating profusely.
She chewed on candied fruit, her mouth corners desperately pressed down.
Just thinking about what would happen later made her want to laugh.
[One wants to drug him, the other wants to curse him, how outrageous! How can they treat an innocent boy like this!]
[I’m different—I’m drugging the Pupu!]
Using her superb gambling skills to casually defeat the noble opposite her, Ailita lowered her head to rummage through the flower buds on her dress’s surface, finally pulling out a vial of potion shimmering with specks of green light—[Emerald Dream].
This was a secret of the Elves, capable of inducing a half-dreaming, half-awake, dazed state.
The consciousness becomes blurred, resistance is lost, and one becomes pliable to manipulation, yet retains a vague impression of what happens around them, as if it were all just a dream.
“What’s so great about a Saintess bewitching the Hero? The Hero bewitching the Pupu is what’s interesting.”
A mischievous gleam of triumph flashed in Ailita’s emerald-green eyes.
She decided to make a slight adjustment, letting the Saintess and the Princess end up together, leaving the affected Hero alone to face his own Pupu.
But just in case, she would drug the Pupu first.
After all, if Pupu really was the Demon Lord Lia, once she realized she was about to be “bullied” by Joen, she would likely prefer to self-destruct and abandon this body rather than suffer humiliation.
And the Demon Lord Lia, having mastered soul magic, probably had a “Phoenix Plan” for resurrection ready like the Elves, not caring about life or death at all.
But once this vial of potion takes effect…
“Heheh! No matter if you’re the Demon Lord Lia or have some Phoenix Plan, you’ll just have to endure it!”
Ailita excitedly rubbed her hands together, downed the strong liquor in her glass in one gulp, and vanished into the evening.
Tonight—there’s going to be some great fun.