The Crown's Seduction
Chapter 92: The Ivanov Clan

Chapter 92: The Ivanov Clan

Mineah readied herself for another long day ahead. This time, she would be meeting with the Ivanov Clan. Taking a deep breath, she sat on her throne inside the throne hall while she waited for her new batch of guests.

"Announcing the arrival of Queen Mother Rania Ivanov."

At the guard’s declaration, Mineah smiled as she stood up and offered a court bow to her first guest.

"Your Majesty," the Queen Mother greeted her with a polite bow.

"Mother, please rise and sit beside me," Mineah politely uttered.

Without any prompting, the older woman followed, taking her seat beside her as they oversaw the throne room. Currently, the entire hall had been repurposed for this current visit.

This time, they wouldn’t be dining together for lunch. As the Ivanov Clan were all vampires with an appetite for pure blood, there were only a few small round tables arranged more for a courteous meeting as opposed to them being arranged for dining purposes.

To that end, however, her servants had prepared a few batches of animal and human blood to serve to her guests. The human blood being served was freshly collected from the Blood Market. Mineah was honestly not familiar with all of this yet, but Dani and her Shadow Maidens had gotten help and assistance from Lord Gregory on this matter.

Back to the gathering, Mineah kept herself focused as the entire clan began filing in one by one, each of them giving her and the Queen Mother their due courtesy before taking their spot where they were comfortable. She did notice however that her guests now were fewer than her prior introductions, something that her mother-in-law quickly noticed in turn.

"Our Clan has the least amount of members when compared to the other four Clans," the Queen Mother explained as the introductions of the more important members started.

Mineah smiled at Chancellor Abel as he entered together with Gregory. They were the only ones she had already met from the Ivanov Clan. Of course, that was aside from Princess Ezme, her husband Nikolai, and the Queen Mother.

Also, apparently, the Queen Mother had a twin named Vania who fought the dragon’s souls and died twenty-one years ago. That left her current mother-in-law in charge of the entire clan. She couldn’t imagine what kind of responsibility the older woman had to shoulder for all these years.

Mineah unknowingly held her mother’s hand, gently squeezing it in reassurance. "You’re doing great in managing things, Mother," she genuinely said with a smile. "It must’ve been hard overseeing two Clans on top of the whole Kingdom as our Queen Dowager."

"You truly are used to voicing your thoughts aloud, Your Majesty," Rania chuckled. "I appreciate your kind words. Thank you."

Mineah smiled. She could only hope that her relationship with her mother-in-law would continue to improve. She just had to keep proving herself, and surely she would be fully accepted by both her and the entire kingdom.

"Your Majesty, the Ivanov Clan has prepared a small gift for you," Gregory informed as he bent down on his knees to offer a small chest box.

Smiling, Mineah signaled for Zaila to retrieve the small box from Gregory’s hands. "Thank you for the thoughtful gesture," she gave them her warmest genuine smile. "Though, it’s unfortunate that Lord Fritz isn’t present for this gather."

The Queen Mother turned to Mineah with raised brows. Clearly, the older woman was curious as to how she knew of the name.

Smiling, Mineah explained herself. "I’ve heard that Lord Fritz is quite knowledgeable with heavenly bodies like the stars, moons, and more..." she innocently remarked. "I’m also quite interested and fond of studying them, so I’m sure we’ll get along fine."

After having briefly studied the important members of each Clan, Mineah found out that a Scion from the Ivanov Clan had an exceptional talent when it came to celestial bodies. Lord Fritz was his name, but unfortunately, the supposed astronomer was nowhere to be found ever since he disappeared the last autumn.

"Oh, I see. That bastard has been wandering around for some time now," the Queen Mother commented. "I’m sure he’ll be returning soon. You might get the chance to meet him then."

Nodding, Mineah looked around, an awkward smile forming on her lips as everyone started enjoying the blood drinks being served by the servants.

"Come. You should start getting to know more about everyone in this hall," the Queen Mother advised her. "It’s not just me who will handle things now. As Nikolai’s wife, you must involve yourself with the concerns of both the Ichor and Ivanov Clans."

Standing up, Mineah gave the older woman a knowing nod. She indeed had much work to be done now. Of course, she would still read their minds every once in a while, but that came with her wanting to know about them anyway.

Going from table to table, she had a hard time suppressing her giggles as she heard the various thoughts of her new subjects. Surprisingly, the thoughts of the collective Ivanov Clan were not that bad. They were honest and warm like the Ichor Clan. Although, a few in the royal family like Raul and some of the Princes and Princesses’ were still being observant of her.

[Why did Her Majesty have to go to us at this time? My stomach is not doing well. I need to-]

Mineah quickly closed her eyes and bit her lower lip. "Mother," she called the Queen Mother as she gave a polite nod to the Elders on the table. "I want to have a word with Chancellor Abel and Lord Gregory for a while. I’ll come back shortly."

The Queen Mother simply nodded at her, and Mineah smiled upon seeing the relaxed and relieved expression on Lord Carlos, the older man who was also Gregory’s biological father that she almost approached. Instead, she walked away to approach Abel and Gregory by the table where her shadow maidens were also seated.

"Hmm..." Mineah hummed as she announced her presence. "Looks like you’re all getting along rather well."

"Your Majesty," the five greeted all together.

"Announcing the arrival of His Majesty!"

Mineah turned around. Predictably, everyone looked surprised as Nikolai entered the throne hall with the guard’s declaration.

"What is the meaning of this?" the Queen Mother burst out.

"Relax, Mother. I’m not breaking tradition," Nikolai chuckled. "I’m part of the Ivanov Clan, so it’s only natural for me to be present. The officials saw no fault as well since I’ll be leaving with you all as soon as this gathering is over."

Rania narrowed her eyes, but Nikolai was quick to further explain himself. "The tradition specifically only mentioned that we don’t live together before the Midnight Sun Waiting," he shrewdly explained.

"Right now, I’m only paying a visit to greet you all as part of the Ivanov Clan." He then shook his head as he shrugged, "Ah if only I knew the officials would easily agree to this... I shouldn’t have missed the Ichor Clan’s visit yesterday."

Mineah smiled as she shook her head at her husband’s antics. Also, did that mean that he was already missing her enough for him to try and barge his way in here like this?

[Missed me already?] she bluntly asked through their bond as he approached her. [But we were just together this morning.]

[Can you blame me?] he warmly chuckled. [I feel like my life is dull whenever I’m not seeing you around. I really hate this Midnight Sun Waiting...] he snorted.

Mineah chuckled with her eyes locked on Nikolai. Was it too early for her to rejoice? Was she overestimating the situation thinking that she was making great progress into Nikolai’s heart?

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