[Music Recommendation: A Royal Affair ~ Ruth Barrett]
Princess Jasmine sat on her mother’s couch. She had been ranting for the past few minutes about how she was humiliated, and nobody was there to help her. After what felt like ages, she finally sat down to catch her breath, but it wasn’t easy as her mother was smoking at the moment.
Gwen puffed another smoke, her eyes closed. She could vividly remember the look on the princess’s face. The girl made it clear that she wasn’t someone to be played with or even pushed around.
"Mother, what if she becomes Queen? I’m really scared of what she might do to us," Jasmine muttered in a calm voice. She was more scared of what Oriana might do if she got crowned than what Adric would do.
"I have offended her so much in the past. Maybe I should go and apologize," the princess started counting all the wrongs she’d done to Oriana in the past. She sighed; it was just too much. She and her sons might be banished because of her past stupidity.
Gwen crushed the cigarette butt on the ashtray, her eyes looking outside the window where Princess Oriana was now talking with her maid.
"Mother, who exactly pushed her horse? We need to tell her the truth and seek her forgiveness," Jasmine started again. "Tell me the truth, was it you? Or maybe Adelaide? I can plead on all our behalf—"
Gwen turned, glaring at her daughter sternly, which forced Jasmine to stop talking. "You talk like your brain stopped developing on the way," she scolded. "Is this how you plan on being Queen mother?"
Jasmine sighed. "I’m sorry, mother," she ruffled her hair, causing a pin to fall off. She bent down to pick it up. 𝒇𝙧𝙚𝓮𝙬𝙚𝓫𝒏𝓸𝓿𝓮𝒍.𝓬𝙤𝓶
"We will have to hold back a little. Maybe we cornered her too much, and she had to fight back." Gwen started, looking at Oriana, who was now smiling as she played with her bow and arrow. "It won’t be us attacking her anymore."
Jasmine tried to raise her head after she picked up the pin but hit her head on the table. "Ah," she cursed, rubbing her forehead to ease the pain. "If not us, then who?"
Gwen smiled. "What better way to get her distracted than watching her fight with her own family?"
"You mean inviting the other princess? Mother, are you doing this to bring their father...Mother!" Jasmine exclaimed, still rubbing her forehead.
"Idiot!" Gwen cursed her daughter. "Get out now."
Jasmine raised her shoulder, picking up her hairpin. "I’m just saying, I know it’s tempting, but you sho—" she dodged when Gwen threw her shoes at her.
"I don’t want to see you in front of me," Gwen was about to stand up when Jasmine dashed out of the room. When she was outside, she fixed her gown. Looking at the room she had just left, she exhaled.
"Mother and her temper. It looks more like our family are the ones fighting each other," she sighed before leaving the room.
Inside the room, Gwen touched her head where a headache was now rising. She picked up her seal and wrote a letter inviting Sophie for the king’s birthday.
. . .
Inside one of the rooms in the palace assigned to the Prime Minister, Nicholas lay shirtless on the bed with Princess Adelaide resting on his chest.
"You shouldn’t have said anything during breakfast. We don’t want anyone knowing about your feelings for the princess," Adelaide said, standing up from the bed using the sheet to cover her chest.
Nicholas nodded. He had only wanted to protect Oriana. "I shouldn’t have. Thank you for stopping me." Earlier during breakfast Adelaide had stopped him from talking by tapping his hand under the table.
Adelaide winked before standing up from the bed. "I told you I’m always on your side, right?" she said, walking towards the table with her hand holding the sheet on her chest. She poured a drink into her cup. "You know, I’m still surprised though that you didn’t end up getting married to Jasmine."
Nicholas pushed up from the bed. "I didn’t feel that way for Jasmine."
Adelaide raised her brows before she nodded, taking a sip from her drink. She sat down and crossed her legs. "I guess I was wrong anyway," she said, moving her fingers on the cup.
"You know after my father’s birthday, brother Adric will be crowned. I mean, I’m happy for him, but then, you will have to be under him forever. If you are okay with that, then there is nothing we can do. I will always support your decision but how long will you continue to have everything taken from you."
Nicholas took his shirt, putting it on before standing up. "There is nothing I can do even if I tried. The King has made his choice."
Adelaide scoffed. "Don’t tell me you’re someone who would give up so easily. There are a lot of slots open if you want to stop the coronation. All I’m saying is that you still have the chance to have Princess Oriana."
Nicholas was elated with this new information. He quickly went to sit beside Adelaide. "Really?"
"Definitely. The coronation can’t happen if Brother Adric has no wife, so..." she threw the hook once again.
Nicholas nodded slowly. "We take the princess away, but abducting her is not an option. Adric would kill anyone who attempts such."
Adelaide poured more wine into her cup, then she stood up, straddling the prime minister. She fed him the wine. "Imagine the princess caught in this kind of situation."
Nicholas gulped the wine. "You mean like you and I?"
Adelaide nodded, moving her waist. "Like you and I. Brother Adric won’t tolerate infidelity, it’ll hurt his pride. He will quickly send her away, and you will be her guarding knight to save her."
"Then I can have her to myself," Nicholas said, moving his hand down to hold Adelaide’s waist.
Adelaide snapped her fingers. "Eureka!" she said, bringing down the cup of wine to feed it to Nicholas properly.
Nicholas could already imagine that she was Oriana and he was holding her like that. The feeling warmed his very soul that he closed his eyes, imagining the princess’s face when he saves her, and they go ahead to get married and maybe have children.
"How do I get her to cheat on Adric?" Nicholas asked when he opened his eyes.
Adelaide smiled. "Leave that to me. I have someone who can play the role comfortably. All you have to do is be on her good side while playing it clean," she advised.
Nicholas smiled happily; he was almost giving up on having the princess. Though Adric met her first years ago, and he talked all day about how funny and careless the princess he met that day at the fair was, that was when Nicholas fell in love. Now seeing the princess all grown up, he wanted her. She was even more beautiful that he could ever imagine.
Adric could have the throne but not the princess. He wanted to win once against Adric and it was by making Oriana his no matter what.
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