(Planet Gaia- Imperial Palace)

(Rosalina Farkin's POV???)

Interesting.

That was the first word that came to mind when Rosalina saw the hybrid girl enter the room.

Sophie Peterlor was not unknown to the other nobles in the banquet hall, but none had ever seen her in person before.

She was ridiculously beautiful to the point where Rosalina had to resist the urge to gorge out her eyes and scar her face permanently.

Sophie Peterlor was nothing more than a poisonous rose, but one could not help wanting to get closer despite the dangerous thorns surrounding her body.

The wineglass full of alcohol in Rosalina's hand seemed particularly heavy as she gazed at the four blade-like appendages with a meaningful look.

Where had she seen those features before?

No one knew who the mother of Duke Peterlor's heir was. There was nothing on what race/species she was.

Many alien races had odd features and the vast number of lifeforms that could successfully produce offsprings with humans were too numerous to count.

Still Rosalina could recall a certain file that was laying on her desk back at the base with the details of a secret government project.

The details of the experiments conducted in that hidden lab were closely gathered secrets but inevitably some things would leak out.

There was a single photograph of an abomination created from a mix of human DNA and an alien race from what appeared to be the Insectoid Empire.

The thing in the picture looked completely different from the stunning young woman who was gracefully walking through the hall.

And yet.

Rosalina frowned invisibly and made a mental note to go back and review the files on the secret project more seriously.

There may be a faint connection between House Peterlor and the body modification experiments being performed by the government.

Although Rosalina may act like a drunken fool, all of her subordinates knew just how many lives she had to trample on to get to this position.

There were originally four hundred successors to the organization.

Now there was only one.

Still there was no reason to pay too much attention to the Peterlor girl.

The war between the Imperial Teacher and Duke Peterlor over hybrid rights was meaningless when considering the bigger picture.

The Federation had stagnated and granting or taking away the rights of hybrid citizens would not change the overall situation.

Centuries of ineptitude and lack of ambition meant that the wars being fought were nothing more than small scale skirmishes.

As much as the military advocated for more funds from the government no satisfying results had been produced.

There was some hope when Rokan Peterlor took over the Imperial Army that progress would be made but then he selfishly decided to quit.

The last major expansion of territories had occurred well before Rosalina had even been born and she had grown up on the stories of her great- grandfather who fought tooth and nail against the Insectoid scum.

Those beasts were a disease that needed to be cured.

Rosalina narrowed her eyes and watched as Sophie Peterlor took her entourage and made a high profile walk to the center of the hall.

"My goodness! The information my family bought really did tell the truth!"

"There goes the only hybrid heir to a dukedom."

"She seems to be a bit taller than I expected"

"Oh, don't you think her dress is lovely?"

Soft whispers and murmurs fell into Rosalina's ears as it appeared as though some of her fellow nobles were still too young to hide their shock.

Rosalina smirked and gave the hybrid girl a more appreciative look.

This girl who was barely into adulthood could move with composure well beyond her age.

Sometimes the best defense is a good offense.

If Sophie had entered the grand hall with timidity and froze under the spotlight of the judging stares

She would have never been able to mix into the social circles.

But if she entered in a high-profile manner and became the center of attention purposefully.

It would become a sign of strength.

"Fuck I need another drink," Rosalina whispered and tilted back her head to down the entire contents of her wineglass.

She signalled for one of the nearby attendants to pass her another drink and then lazily walked to the center of the grand hall.

There was a slight discomfort as she moved around as this body had only been prepared a few hours before the banquet begun.

Rosalina hated that she couldn't use her full strength as a portion of her qi was constantly circulating through the corpse.

Sophie Peterlor was standing with the aura of a noble queen while the rest of her entourage surrounded her like loyal minsters.

Or loyal dogs.

Rosalina smiled faintly and approached the group.

There was an important task to accomplish at the banquet but there was nothing stopping her from having some fun along the way.

For a brief second a dark and terrible abyss danced in her clear eyes before Rosalina blinked and her innocent persona was once more on full display.

Maybe if she were lucky that handsome guy with glasses standing behind Sophie would be willing to accompany her for a night of passion.

Usually, she preferred the company of tall burly men with rippling muscles but sometimes switching up her taste was a pleasant experience.

Rosalina mentally shifted through the information in her head and remembered that his name was Alexander Nightland.

Good this one was single!

Hiding her thoughts carefully, Rosalina carefully walked up to Sophie and performed the standard noble greeting gesture.

Rosalina's right hand rose slowly into the air and then rested gently above her chest before she bowed calmly.

"Greeting Miss Sophie Peterlor. My name is Iv" Rosalina spoke confidently but trailed off when she realised the mistake she almost made.

Damn that was close!

Ivana was the name of her previous shell just a few hours prior to this new body so Rosalina had accidently slipped up.

She bite her tongue and could taste the sweet tang of the metallic taste flooding the inside of her mouth.

Nothing would relax her more than this familiar taste.

". Rosalina Farkin," Rosalina finished her introduction smoothly.

A few moments passed in complete silence as the hybrid girl stared at Rosalina with a strange look in her eyes.

The golden colour of her pupils seemed especially bright as she scanned Rosalina's body without saying a word.

Rosalina could not help but feel some confusion as this moment continued to stretch and Sophie Peterlor refused to acknowledge her presence.

Was this to slap her in the face?

Why isn't she saying anything?

The thought that maybe this young noble girl had seen through her disguise had not even crossed Rosalina's mind.

This technique was not simply just changing one's appearance but rather stealing not only the body but the very essence and soul.

The practitioner of technique was now truly Rosalina Farkin and her act would fool even the parents of the body.

Not even a god stage cultivator would be able to see the true soul hidden inside the corpse.

"It is a pleasure to meet you missus Farkin," Sophie narrowed her eyes slightly but returned the greeting.

Rosalina laughed quietly at her foolish thoughts once she heard Sophie begin to make small talk and exchange pleasantries.

It seems as though she had been truly on edge these last couple of missions.

It was normal for some nobles to not answer immediately especially when they had to consider the attitude of their families.

Rosalina cheerfully replied back and supplemented the conversation with some funny stories and jokes that broke the tension.

She could not help the envious and hateful thoughts from flashing across her mind as she imagined ripping apart this beautiful girl's body piece by piece.

Little did Rosalina know that Sophie was also desperately trying not to sink her teeth into her neck and rip out a meaty chunk of flesh.