Going Through Life Again

Part 15: Gossip

It was dramatic!

News were spread but it was exaggerated to the point that it made people question if it was true or not.

Father was the first to hear of the gossip that morning and he was furious at how it painted his eldest daughter.

He made sure the servants of the household don't utter a word of the gossip among themselves but of course some didn't listen.

As I woke up that morning and let my maids dress me for the day, I heard some other maids gossiping as they were doing their daily chores.

They didn't see me standing there, taking in all that they were saying. But once I had walked by the area, they had stopped talking and frozen up.

I knew by the end of the day, they would either be scolded by the head maid or fired by father. However, I have no pity for them if that did happen. Rules were rules, you had to pay the price for it.

I smiled softly as my own maids were trying to comfort me to forget what I had heard. I didn't really paid any attention to them at all, except for the fact they were exaggerated.

They – whoever they are – that spread this gossip made it seems as though I was the one trying to seduce Prince Harry and brought him to the balcony because I was jealous of the attention the crown prince Leonard had for Princess Katrina of Lemmania.

So I understood the hushed whispers when I entered the dining room and felt the tension radiating from everyone. I curtsy a good morning to my family and took a seat beside Calista. The servants began to place plates of food in front of me and I looked at them with no emotions.

I don't think I could even swallow any food right now as I felt father's growing anger because of the gossip. I made sure not to make eye contact with father because I can feel him staring, almost drilling holes at the side of my head.

Breakfast had never felt this awkward before, in this life at least. I sat there, eating in silence when the door to the dining room was pushed open without the mention of arrival.

"No! I'm pissed! Who in the world spread that gossip because if I find that person, I will banish them from the face of the world!"

That was the first time I saw Prince Hayden being so mad. He had never done that before as he was known to be the soft spoken one. He stormed into the dining room, along with his brothers behind him.

"Your highnesses, welcome. Take a seat, breakfast will be served if you haven't had any."

Father gestured to the seats which the princes looked at, looking nervous for a reason. Maybe with the fact that they didn't allow the servant to announce their arrival and just walked into the dining room while screaming in anger.

"Good morning, Lord David. I apologise for the abruptness in this early morning."

Prince Leonard apologised with a smile and I saw his hand reaching up towards Prince Hayden and smacking him on his back. The youngest prince looked ashamed to show that side of him and was meekly smiling.

I heard Calista sigh beside me but when I looked at her, she continued eating as per normal.

Except nothing is normal, as of right now.

The princes sat down quickly and the servants began serving them breakfast. The dining room became silent once again, sending everyone on the edge of their seats and toes.

I looked up to make brief eye contact with Prince Harry but he didn't look at me. However, I noticed the redness on his ears.

Of course being a royal means that you would be one of the few people to hear of rumours and gossip. The fact that the nobles, who always get together to talk, end up having servants who are commoners, that loves to eavesdrop, tells it all.

But like I had said: gossips can be exaggerated and also manipulated into something that is untrue. Like in my case.

I put aside my knife and fork, which was something I would never have done. I made sure to stay completely silent before father noticed what I had done and questioned me.

"Ashley, my daughter. Are you done with breakfast?"

He was looking at my plate which was still full of food. It was just a polite question to ask knowing that I needed to talk.

Without looking at father, I quickly stood up and went to the other side of the table where Prince Harry was sitting. My next course of action surprised everyone as I got down on one knee, placed an open palm against my heart and bowed toward him.

"I apologise, your highness, for getting you involved in this gossip that could have been prevented. I will face any consequences that you see deem fit for me. No words could ever be enough to show you that it was not my intention to have this gossip spread so wildly."

The whole room was silent. I didn't look up but I knew that Prince Harry was confused. It was not even my actions that had caused this disturbance but I was the one apologising.

I'm sure that I'll be scolded by father later but I just didn't want Prince Harry to look so disturbed. Especially having red ears and not looking at me in the eye like he usually do.

The silence dragged on for far too long before Prince Leonard spoke and told me to get up on my feet again. When I was finally up, I saw that Prince Harry had a frown on his face and he had turned away from me when we made eye contact. He didn't say anything and went on eating quietly.

Even though my apology was not accepted, I didn't mind it one bit. I bowed to father and the princes and left the dining room for my greenhouse. I felt that it was the right place to make myself feel better.

As I passed the hall, I took a look at the family portrait. Mother looked so pretty in it as I stood beside her in my younger years of age.

"Mother, why can nothing go right for me. Past life or not."

I whispered, smiling sadly at the beautiful picture. The woman who was smiling back at me, seemed to have a pitiful expression but when I blinked, it was gone. I scrunched my brows together, confused.

Maybe I'm imagining things.

I shook my head and continue walking off.

-♧-

Author's note:
Hello, I hope that everyone had been well. I certainly am not. I don't wanna sound like an ao3 writer but basically, I'm focusing more on my pregnancy since I have about a month left before I give birth. Other than that, my husband was covid positive so he had to self isolate in the master bedroom alone. Thankful for him on having both doses of vaccine already.

Not going to go into detail of what really happened but yeah, so far that's all that happened. I last updated this on Oct 7, which was like the beginning of the month and I didn't have the motivation to continue this book anymore. I'll be going on hiatus, until I'll prep everything for my delivery and we'll see what will happen from there.

Anyways, thanks for reading and I'll see you in the next chapter!

-♧-