The Bride

29

Aunt Camille's family stayed here after their welcoming party. They were going to stay until the wedding.

Lessons with Madame Lourdes became less boring since she started talking about how to be a queen. Everyone was listening attentively to her.

"As an elite, you must know that you are a step closer to being the new princess of Illèa." Madame stated, "And, one day, one of you will be queen. To be a queen, is to look regal and kind yet authoritative." She scanned her eyes across the room and landed on Diana, "Lady Diana, kindly come in front, please."

Diana walked gracefully to the front and stopped beside Madame.

"Ladies, this is how you should look in front of your people. Majestic, calm, nice and powerful." Madame said then she turned to Diana, "Lady Diana, although you got the look perfectly, I believe your posture is quite . . . not good." She put her hands on Diana's shoulders and pulled it back, She pushed her tummy in and lifted her chin. "There." She said, contented. "You may go back to your seat now, Lady Diana."

She went back to her seat and sat down.

"A queen does a lot of work, ladies. You may have thought that she's just a display for the people but that's terribly wrong." Madame stated, "A queen creates projects to benefit the people, she organizes parties for special guests, she substitutes for her husband if he is sick or he's dead, and so many more. A queen is responsible, diligent, independent, graceful, and helpful."

Louise was taking down notes and so was Mary. Bloom looked bored but she was still listening. Claire and Diana looked determined to learn. Julianne and I just listened without any emotion. Christine and Harriet were interested earlier but they looked like they weren't listening now.

"Any royal should know how to conceal their emotions," Madame said, "When the country is about to lose a peace treaty, go to war, be bankrupt, or lose to rebels, the royal family should remain calm in the eyes of people to ensure them that everything will be taken care of."

After the lesson, we went to the Women's room. Since we had lessons in the morning, we couldn't come to practice the dance. They said it was okay and they'll take care of Ada and Beall. Our lunch was delivered here so we didn't come down to eat. We had free time after lunch.

"I'm so excited for the wedding!" Claire exclaimed.

I wanted to ignore it but I can't, Harriet and Christine looked at each other and they were tense. Why were they nervous?

I nodded with a smile, "So am I. I can't wait for Celestiana to marry the man she loves."

Julianne sighed, "I'm so glad for Celestiana but my partner is the devil."

Claire and I laughed. Julianne glared at us.

I nudged her, "Come on, Julianne. You know you love him."

She gave me a deadly stare, "I do not."

"Yes, you do." Claire wiggled her eyebrows.

Julianne rolled her eyes and didn't speak.

"The more you hate, the more you love." Harriet told her.

She didn't reply and just looked out of the window. Oh no, was she really angry about this?

She raised her eyebrow at the scene she saw outside, "Is that Louise? And Zeke?"

We crowded by the window to look. Yup, it was definitely them.

"It's them." Claire said.

"Are they on a date?" Christine asked.

"Way to mention the obvious, Christine." Harriet said, rolling her eyes.