Amity and Enmity

Chapter 57

Day: 1346

Days Left: 4134

Lives Saved: 7

Queen Corinna always disliked meeting new people, more for the nerves than anything else, but alongside that came how anyone would treat royalty on first meeting, the overuse of compliments and gushing, which Cori had no idea how to respond even after so many years, then came what conversation topics. This was likely a social gathering that was the least anticipated, the most fearful of all: Elis' family.

Only his close family, his parents, siblings, and their children, were visiting, but with the number of siblings Elis had, it was still a daunting number. Cori felt guilty for such a large group to travel to them instead of the other way around, but Elis' family insisted, wanting to see where their dear Elis could potentially live and who he could marry.

The largest dining room had been set, not with cutlery or glasses of wine as you would find at any ordinary dinner party, but cups and saucers prepared for a special tea royals serve at social gatherings. As royalty rarely take off their masks, only in front of close relatives and loved ones, they instead poured a special tea at parties, one mixed with flowers that bloom when reacting with hot water, creating a pretty spectacle at the bottom of the cup, the tea itself able to be drunk both hot or cold, so not to be wasted and drunk in private later. Cori ensured that each flower had the proper meaning as the wrong one could be an insult, at least according to Sophia, who gave unsolicited advice for the whole event, forcing herself into the planning. However, Cori could not trust her opinion after the humiliating rejected marriage proposal.

"I still don't like you," Sophia hushed to Elis as she micromanaged the servants setting the table.

"Oh?" said Elis, unsure how to respond to such a comment.

"I will never approve of your marriage."

"We do not know yet if we are going to marry-"

"You will never have my blessing." Sophia turned her nose up at him. "You will have to elope and escape somewhere into the countryside and-"

"Sophia, We have told you many times now," groaned Cori. "That We will not elope!"

"But if I can't live out of my romantic fantasy dream, then someone must!" huffed Sophia. "Can you not imagine it?" She turned to Elis. "It is like one of those little stories you both love reading! Would it not be romantic? A forbidden love!"

"Well, it almost is forbidden," said Elis. "Or rather, it has been disapproved of by a few people-"

Sophia gasped. "Who! Who was it? Why did you not tell me these details? Did they threaten you? Did they blackmail you!" She gasped even louder.

Elis noticed that Cori was shaking her head behind her cousin Sophia, signalling that he should not feed Sophia any fuel to her wild romantic fantasies. "No," he said quickly.

"Really?" Sophia sighed. "No one drew their sword or threatened you to stop or bribe you? Nothing exciting?"

Again, Coir shook her head.

"No," said Elis, shrugging. "Just some mild disapproval, like 'your magical bloodline is too weak for her' and such."

"That's it?"

"That's it."

"How boring!" Sophia let out another exaggerated sigh. "Perhaps I should be the one to give some more explicit disapproval, turn this into a true forbidden love? And then you can-"

"We are not eloping," said Cori sternly.

Sophia huffed. "Eloping is the epitome of romance and true love!"