Amity and Enmity

Chapter 54

Day: 1250

Days Left: 4230

Lives Saved: 6

Cori lay on her front on her bed, her hands tightly gripping the duvet as she forced her breathing into slow controlled breaths. Her throat was dry and hoarse even though she did not use her own voice at all today. And then there was this splitting pain inside her stomach, constantly churning.

She could hear the guards outside the quarters doing as instructed and not allowing anyone to enter. However, Sophia had been persistent, regularly coming back and asking about her.

Wanting all the noise to stop, Cori hid under the duvets, her heavy breathing louder under the covers.

Why was she so surprised that Elis rejected her? Was it because everyone constantly said no one would refuse such an offer? Who would reject being married to not only one of the most powerful mages in the world but a monarch of the most influential countries?

But Cori's greatest fear seemed to have become true. Even someone from a small country with a weak magical bloodline would not want to marry her after meeting her.

Every candidate that had been sent an invitation had accepted, all seventy of them, so Prince Elis must have decided he longer wanted to marry her after meeting with her.

Or did he?

Cori remembered how Elis had snuck away from the party. He had mentioned numerous times he did not expect to get that far in the selection, but not necessarily that he wanted to be chosen. No, rather, it seemed that he was doing it out of obligation to his family, to try at the least; hence, he left the party and did not put much effort into presenting himself. And then he did not attend the second meeting. Cori thought it was because he was tending to an injured bird, but he was only there to treat the bird because he wasn't going to attend the meeting anyway.

But what about...

What about the walk they had together?

The talk they had...

Cori's body clenched as she remembered how vulnerable she was, talking about Rhea being her surrogate mother figure, sharing feelings she had not spoken to anyone else. And then how happy she was to talk to someone about her favourite books. She couldn't remember the last time she smiled so much, yet...

That day meant nothing to him.

Of course, having a shared hobby wasn't a good enough basis for marriage.

How could I have been so foolish?

Cori wrapped the duvet tightly around her body like a cocoon.

Elis never came here to marry; it was all a family obligation.

All of the signs were there, and I misread them.

She wondered if the word had gotten out about the whole affair. If she proposed to other candidates, would they feel insulted about being a second choice? Would this mean that she would have to wait longer before proposing again? Or did all of her chances of marriage and getting an heir were lost?

Prince Fiorenzo was her second choice, as she enjoyed sharing interesting facts with him. He also ticked everything else on the list; strong leadership, military tactician, strong political and foreign connections, and strong magical bloodline; features that Prince Elis had lacked. She should have gone for Prince Fiorenzo instead and thought about the country. Either Fiorenzo or Prince Karl, who, despite having magic almost on par with her own, was only interested in using it to entertain the people and not for global domination like Prince Drustan seemed to want. There was also Princess Natasa, similar to Prince Fiorenzo in her experience in leadership but not much in the shared hobbies apartment, but who needs to get along with their spouse when you are queen? They just need to give you children, and you can live on opposite sides of the castle and never see each other.