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👑 N I K O L A I 👑
"How so?"
"Well, as Jana just said, she planned on killing us today while trying to play the hero."
He raised his eyebrows. Out of all of them, Josefine was making these claims? "This is merely a presumption, if not an accusation, Miss Linsch, the-"
"She could kill all of us at night," Josefine interrupted him. "We are competition, she sees us talking to you and feels threatened. I am sure I am not the only one who fears for her life with Aneela being in the Grande Palace."
Nikolai let his eyes wander over the bachelorettes, not looking at Aneela. He noticed in the corner of his eyes how her shoulders had dropped, and her heart must have shrunken as well. "Who among you are feeling the same way as Miss Linsch?"
All of them except Kheru raised their hands immediately. The shu huffed angrily at them and demonstrated her support of her zemini friend by stepping next to her, linking her arms with hers and telling her quietly that all of the attendees now officially had lost their minds.
One after the other, Nikolai asked the others to phrase their concerns about Aneela. They all put on their best scared eyes and even played with their hands nervously, making them shake too much making it clear to him that they were faking it as they answered his questions of how exactly they felt threatened by the zemini. All of them said pretty much the same, how they saw her using her powers earlier and thought this was all a scheme from her to win over Nikolai in front of all of them, now fearing for their lives.
None of them mentioned Jana's stupid try to sleep with Nikolai earlier this day. The fjerdan seemed like she had forgotten about it or didn't care anymore since her plan didn't work – now she was more focused on diminishing Aneela with the others.
Kheru got more and more furious with each claim and Aneela had her troubles to keep the shu Princess calm who couldn't stand this unjust situation. The zemini had tried to defend herself after every sentence directed to her, but she was cut down by her competitors after the maximum of five words with screams, tears or pleads to quit gaslighting them. She had stopped trying to explain herself after the second bachelorette's accusations and had quietly watched him through the last testimonies, to see his reaction to everything.
Nikolai could sense how scared she was because he did not give out any reaction at all to the mentioned concerns. She must be going through the worst scenarios right now: Would I only let her leave Ravka at once? Or would I declare her as the monster they all saw in her that needed to be contaminated right away?
After listening quietly to each of them, the Prince of Ravka raised his chin, ready to make an announcement. "Miss Schenck, Miss Linsch, Miss Maelstrom, Miss Mohn."
