The limousine slid smoothly through the wide avenues of the imperial capital, like a luxury serpent weaving through the wealthy neighborhoods under the golden light of late afternoon.
Luna was relaxed in the back seat, one leg crossed over the other, lazily scrolling through the phone notifications.
Next to her, Victoria sipped a glass of French mineral water with thin slices of enchanted lemon, always impeccable as if she had just stepped out of a cover of Imperial Vogue.
"So..." Victoria began. "You still don't know the boring part of my month, right?"
Luna raised an eyebrow, the silver-gray shine of her eyes reflecting the outside lights. "Boring like... inheritance tax? Paparazzi? Or another jerk CEO wanting to be a 'strategic partner' just to propose marriage?"
Victoria laughed, but it was a dry laugh. "Worse. My father sent me to the New York Gala at the end of the month."
"New York Gala? That one from the message you sent?" Luna straightened slightly. "With presidents, magnates, royalty and... that dessert buffet with edible gold?"
Victoria nodded with a bitter expression. "That one. And I can't refuse. According to him, my fiancé will be there."
Silence.
Luna blinked. "Wait... your what?!"
Victoria turned her face to the window for a second, as if trying to escape the moment.
Then she sighed and stared at Luna with that typical look of someone who has given up fighting the system years ago. "Fiancé. That. A business arrangement. He is the son of the president of a European banking consortium. Our marriage has been 'planned' since I was twelve."
"Wow." Luna let slip, genuinely shocked. "And I thought the worst thing today was the manager smelling like cheap perfume earlier."
Victoria let out a low laugh, her eyes still sad. "Daddy thinks it's a 'visionary' merger move. Like I'm a dowry with legs. The truth is the guy is handsome, but... unbearable. He speaks Latin at breakfast and thinks NFTs are a superior form of art."
Luna bit her lower lip, unable to hold back the wave of good-humored indignation. "Okay, that was the saddest and funniest thing I heard today. Want me to go to the gala with you and pretend to be your secret lover and cause an international scandal?"
Victoria looked at Luna for a moment and then genuinely laughed. "You are chaos incarnate, you know that?"
"Is that a compliment?" Luna blinked.
"In my vocabulary, yes."
The car passed by a hanging garden, and for a few seconds the interior of the limousine filled with the orange light of dusk.
Luna looked out the window, her face relaxed, but a hint of reflection appeared in her gray eyes.
She turned to Victoria. "You know... sometimes I complain that Matthew is a slow jerk, but... at least no one locked me in a corporate marriage. I have freedom. And that... is priceless."
Victoria smiled with a little sincere envy, but without resentment. "Enjoy it, Luna. There are those who would give billions for the chance to simply choose to love... or not to love."
The black limousine stopped smoothly in front of the gates of the Malroth Mansion. As soon as the door opened, Luna and Victoria got out and the soft breeze seemed coordinated by a wind AI of a stage scene: blowing just enough to dramatically flutter their hair.
Before they could take two steps, a servant came walking calmly, holding the key to the Ferrari Luna had used earlier.
"Miss Malroth, your vehicle has already been sanitized, refueled with refined fuel and polished with nanotechnology," he said, as if it was the most routine thing in the world.
"Thank you. Park it in garage 3," Luna replied casually, taking the key between her fingers.
Victoria was too busy looking at the mansion itself, or rather, at the architectural epic before her.
Her eyes scanned the main entrance: a wide avenue made of marble polished like liquid glass, reflecting the afternoon sky like a living baroque painting. Side fountains gushed translucent water, sparkling like liquid crystal, and seemed to whisper something in old French.
"Okay... this is not a mansion. This is a declaration of war against humility," Victoria commented, widening her eyes.
Luna just smiled, arms crossed under her bust, watching the effect her property caused.
Further ahead, ornamental statues sculpted with such perfection that they seemed made by artists who would have easily sold their souls just to complete that work. Some represented mythological figures, others, stylized versions of Luna herself.
The green fields stretched in all directions, trimmed with surgical precision. Trees millimetrically pruned formed living floral mazes, perfuming the air with sweet and fresh notes of imperial lavender and violet jasmine.
And at the center of it all... a colossal artificial lake, with edges of cut crystal. The surface mirrored the sky so perfectly that Victoria would swear she saw an angel yawning. Inside, carp swam so large they might be forced to declare income tax.
But it was not just that.
"Uh... three pools?" Victoria asked, already a bit dizzy. "Seriously?"
Luna pointed with an elegant gesture. "An Olympic one, to keep the athletic class. Dark bottom, infinity edge, tiles made of lunar stone."
The second was covered, heated, with a retractable glass roof and shaped like a giant harp. Real string instruments hung from the ceiling, and an AI played soft melodies according to the movement of the water.
And the third...
"Okay, that is cruel," Victoria murmured, looking at the foamy bubble pool, with rainbow LED edges flashing according to the rhythm of the ambient playlist.
Luna just shrugged as if to say "yes, so what?"
Further ahead, a helipad with automatic night lighting, a multi-level underground garage with a rotating platform, a private golf course, an open-air mini-theater with Viennese opera acoustics... and then.
"Is that a... zoo?" Victoria pointed.
"No, it's my zen garden. Japanese," Luna said proudly. "The albino peacocks strolling are part of the ambiance. The garden AI plays shakuhachi at dusk."
Victoria was motionless, trying to absorb everything, her eyes spinning between the peacocks, the theater, and the sky already turning orange.
"Not even the ancestral mansion of the Lancasters has this level of… of… spectacle. My father would be purple with envy."
Luna laughed. "Then bring him to dinner. Who knows, maybe he'll learn not to underestimate someone who has gone hungry and now controls billions."
Victoria slowly turned her face, staring at Luna with a sparkle in her eyes.
Luna looked at her mansion with an expression mixing pride and a hint of silent loneliness.
The two walked inside the mansion, crossing the main hall.
"You're going to rock the New York Gala, Luna," Victoria said with a mischievous smile. "But please... don't turn the party into a battlefield with Matthew, okay?"
"No promises," said Luna, climbing the stairs with that lazy sway.
Victoria watched Luna walk away, her golden hair swinging lightly with every elegant step, as if the whole world obeyed her rhythm. It was impossible not to admire her.
"Right this way, Miss Lancaster," said a white-gloved servant, making a light, discreet bow.
Victoria followed the man down one of the mansion's side corridors. They went up in a silent mirrored elevator, and stopped in front of a double black wooden door with silver details.
"Your guest room," said the servant, pushing one of the doors reverently.
The interior was breathtaking. A room as large as Victoria's penthouse apartment in the capital. The vaulted ceiling shone with artificial stars, and the scent in the air was of Himalayan flowers, so subtle that only an AI would know how to dose it so well.
Victoria walked to the adjoining bathroom, where a white marble bathtub lay full, calmly foaming, with floating blue rose petals on the surface and soft lighting tinting the edges gold. She entered with a deep sigh, sinking to her shoulders and closing her eyes.
"Not even the imperial suite in Dubai has this peace..."
After long minutes of relaxing bath, she left the water, dried herself with fluffy towels and put on the robe that was already hanging, with the initials VL embroidered in golden threads. A detail that made her smile.
"Miss Lancaster," said a female voice opening the door slightly. It was a smiling maid. "There are clean clothes in the closet next door. Miss Luna asked to make sure you had comfortable options."
Victoria nodded, curious. She went there and opened the closet door and...
"…"
She stopped. Frozen.
The closet was a temple. Clothes organized by color, style, and occasion. Noble fabrics, from fashion houses that had refused new clients for years. Exclusive dresses. Enchanted silk blouses. Suits with magically meticulous cuts. Pieces Victoria had tried to buy personally and was denied—for lack of "waiting status."
She stretched her fingers, touching a cobalt blue blouse she had always desired. Almost cried. It was as if someone had opened the doors to a world that, despite all her power, she had never accessed.
With slightly teary eyes, she controlled herself, breathed deeply and ended up choosing something modest: a large satin cotton shirt, with soft sweatpants adjusted to the body. Comfortable, but still elegant cut.
When she looked at herself in the mirror, Victoria was about to smile... but the phone rang.
Personalized ringtone.
She didn't even need to look. It was her father.
"Yes, dad?" she answered, still standing in front of the mirror.
The man's voice came, cold and efficient as always. "Victoria. I hope you are resting. Remember: the gala in New York will be decisive. Your fiancé will be there. Prepare yourself. Alliances between families depend on it."
She pressed her lips. "I know."
"Good. Don't disappoint me."
Without even a "goodbye." The line went silent.
Victoria stood still for a few seconds, the phone hanging in her hand. The now watery eyes slid down with silent tears, while frustration accumulated in her throat like fresh concrete.
A trapped sigh. An invisible prison.
She wiped her eyes, clearing any trace of weakness.
When she turned to leave, she heard a light knock on the door and the familiar voice.
"Victóóóóóóóóóóriaaa, come quickly! I made hot chocolate with enchanted marshmallows!" It was Luna, calling from the hallway.
Victoria took a deep breath, smiled with effort, and replied loudly. "I'm coming! And I'm taking all the clothes from the closet, okay? Consider yourself robbed!"
Luna responded with a laugh. "Take everything, woman! Consider it a welcome gift to the Chaos of Freedom!"
Victoria left the room still discreetly drying her eyes, the smile on her face now firmer.