The second female lead Dual Cultivates

Chapter 176 174: The Contract

The sound of the slap was sharp enough to still echo once Maria had taken a step back to admire her work. The red print stood out vividly on the princess’s skin and it left quite an impression on the on-lookers.

Everyone in the hall seemed to be staring at Maria’s work in a morbid fascination but no one made any noise to acknowledge what had just happened right in front of their eyes. It almost seemed as if they could not believe that someone would be brave enough to do this.

No one except the princess was sitting there and gaping like a goldfish. She seemed to be the only one who could move about and her hand slowly reached for her cheek with an expression of disbelief.

“Y-You hit me. Did you dare to hit me? B-But how? T-T-The magic should have s-stopped you” the princess stuttered. Her voice betrayed how unsettled she felt and Maria would have felt sorry under other circumstances.

But she felt rage right now for the abuse of power the princess had shown her. Her eyes blazed with an unholy light and it caused the princess in front of her to flinch at seeing that look.

‘Good. let her feel afraid of me’ Maria could not stop her dark thoughts, nor did she want to. It felt good to admit the truth inside her mind.

“You are not the only one who can control magic here. And it’s not very fond of you as well. I can easily take care of you and it will not interfere” Maria bluffed as she kneeled in front of the fallen princess.

She glared at anyone who tried to approach them and help the princess down. She needed this lesson to stick with the princess and it was causing the others in the room to avoid looking in their direction.

“You all should leave now. Your princess and I need to have a serious talk” the slaves and the harem members shared a look before they finally left.

Much to the princess’s disbelief, not even one person gave her a backward glance and she could only sit there and see it all happen. But it was not long before she snapped out of that daze and her eyes turned angrily toward her people.

“Hey, where do you think you are going? Don’t you dare leave or I’ll make sure your life will turn into hell” the princess threatened. She did not look very threatening while sitting on the floor like that but it did cause the people to stop in fear.

However, another glare from Maria caused them all to snap back into motion and flee the hall as fast as humanly possible. It left Maria alone with the princess and she could see the stunned silence that had been left behind.

“Those fools. I will make sure they all suffer for abandoning me like this” the princess spat. She sounded angry but also hurt at being left behind like this. Maria had been expecting this reaction so she let the female yell her empty threats.

Once the other was done yelling, Maria grabbed her arm and made her face the younger head-on. Their eyes clashed before the princess flinched just a little.

“What is your problem? Don’t stick your nose in where it is not needed. If you don’t want to be a harem member, you don’t have to be” the princess finally relented as she looked away from Maria’s intense gaze.

One could tell that she felt out of her depth and did not want to continue this conversation at all. But Marai could not let it drop here. She had to make the princess realize what she had been doing wrong.

? “I am not sticking my nose anywhere. You are the one who made this my problem so you might as well stick around to see me rectify it. I’m going to make sure you don’t treat people like objects again” the princess looked panicked for a moment but then her expression turned into a haughty one.

Maria felt surprise course through her as the princess looked back at her filled with confidence. She seemed not to be worried about what Maria was about to do.

“Alright, try your best shot. But I’ll just overpower you in magic and make you mine as well. You are interesting enough” Maria did not know what happened but it felt like a switch had been flipped inside the princess.

Maria felt the magic trying to claim her and bind her to the princess. It was an advanced form of magic and if carried out successfully would leave her at the princess’s mercy. She could see how the princess was able to keep this many people in her harem without protesting.

Too bad for her, Maria was not going to fall for this trick. Maria had a lot more going for her than small magic tricks and it was about time the princess looked at real magic.

Maria caught the magic before it could start binding her and reversed the direction of the bind. She was not sure if the princess could feel this change or not, but Maria did not really care about it.

She allowed the magic to mingle together before she slowly started tightening the thread. It was a binding contract and could not be broken once it had been written. And as much as Maria did not want to be responsible for the princess, it felt wrong to leave her behaving like this.

By the time the princess caught on to the thwart was happening, it was too late for her to be able to do anything. The contract had already been formed and it dictated the princess as property. The appearance of the bond mark on the arm was also a huge alarm flag for the princess and her yell knocked out Maria from her concentration.

That was the only reason the bond was left incomplete and not two-way. The princess had doomed herself for all eternity with her foolishness with a half-formed bond.

“Y-Y-Y-YOU. WHAT DID YOU DO TO ME?” The princess yelled as she clutched her arm. She could clearly tell what had happened but she seemed as if she could not believe her eyes.

“I reversed your spell on you. It is your own fault for trying to play with me. Now if you would excuse me, I have a place to be at and a curse to break” Maria pushed herself away from the flabbergasted princess.

She did not care what happened next since the princess had been bound and would not be able to abuse people as she had liked. Her days of tyranny were over at last.