The Usurper's Queen | COMPLETED

03 | a token of favour

The Queen had once again ordered for a banquet to be held to celebrate the birth of the king's heir, and once again, all nobles of high rank were forced to attend.

I wondered how much joy can a wrinkly red baby that cries all the time and stinks of rancid milk can bring, but to the Queen, it seemed as if that little creature was the only good thing in her life.

I then curtseyed politely in front of her and smiled sweetly as if I were not about to poison her sister to death that very same day.
Lady Grace Ainsworth was standing right behind the Queen, dressed in a pale-yellow silk dress trimmed with lace, and a cone shaped escoffion covered her golden blonde hair, and at the same time revealed the white skin of her neck.

When I looked at her closely, I noticed that her teeth were not as large as Corinne had said, and her nostrils were not that wide either.

Afterwards, I went to sit down next to my sister Lisbeth.
The pearl tassels on my wrist jingled eye-catchingly, and I thought that they were truly beautiful, but the thought of that single dull pearl made my heart sink.

Right in front of me, Gilbert began to pile up heaps of food onto his plate and wolfed down heartily, while I only swirled around the watered down grape wine in my goblet, occasionally taking a very small sip. I could barely swallow anything, and whenever my gaze landed on Lady Grace Ainsworth, the crippling fear that I thought I had under control began to swell up my chest again.

"Eat," my mother hissed into my ear. "Do you want to be discovered?"

I flinched at her harsh tone, and reluctantly ate the roast chicken leg that Gilbert had so lovingly put on my plate. It was when I bit into that cold chicken leg seasoned with nothing but salt did I realize that I was truly starving.

I helped myself to some bread and honeycomb, but the stickiness of the honey did not fare well with my long hair. I licked my fingers clean and pushed my plate away and picked up my wine goblet. As I drank the wine, my eyes began to wander around and eventually landed on Edmund, the Duke of Cindertrappe.

He was conversing light heartedly with the ugly princess, his eyes curved sweetly and his smiles were so genuine and tender. I could not believe that he is the same person that I met in the gardens a few weeks ago.
However, when he glanced at the young prince, his gaze hardened, and I knew that he and that anguished, vengeful young man were the same person.

Before the birth of the young heir, Prince George, Edmund had been the unnamed heir to the throne, and many speculated that if the Queen had continued to bear daughters, Edmund would rise to power after the King's death.

However, an heir has been born, and the King does not need Edmund anymore. I had wondered how he feels about the birth of his new cousin. Even though he smiles at the Prince, how could he truly be cordial with the person who would someday deprive him of his rightful position?

He then glanced over to me, and his gentle smile morphed into one of ridicule. That was when I realised that I had been staring at him the entire time I was lost in my thoughts. I rolled my eyes, fruitlessly trying to hide my embarrassment. I hastily looked away, not noticing the genuine smile that appeared on his lips just moments later.

That evening after the banquet ended, a small jousting event was held in the palace courtyard. The King was already grey and weathered; hence he did not participate.

The Duke did participate however, as did my cousin Benedict. The surprise participant ended up being my own brother, who was pressured to join in by our cousin.

When he finally resurfaced from the changing room, I let out a loud chuckle at the sight of my scrawny brother wearing a big and mighty armor.