Chương 17: The Second Queen's Arrival

A child who hid on top of a tree held tightly onto the branches.

It wasn't his first time seeing Camille take out her anger on plants or even people, however, the sinister smile on her face was even scarier than her stomping on flowers. He watched her run towards the second queen's palace before coming down from the tree. His black hair was blown backwards as he ran stealthily behind her, his blue eyes focused on her back. He came to an abrupt stop as soon as she entered the second queen's personal quarters, and after waiting for a short while, he sighted her coming out with the second queen following behind her. And as if lightening had suddenly struck him, his eyes widened in realization and he quickly ran back to where the tea party was held.

Pushing through the small huddling crowd, he ran to a young girl who sat on the host's chair, her red hair fluttering in the cool wind, and her blue eyes were curved slightly as she laughed heartily with the other nobles.

"Sister!"

* ~ *

Lily turned towards the direction of the voice. The panting child who called her with a quivering voice held his hand to his chest as he gasped for air.

"Your highness." The crowd greeted and dispersed to their seats.

"Franz." She squinted her eyes and with a sigh, placed a cup of tea in front of him, "Calm down and drink up."

The little second prince grabbed the cup of tea and chugged it down before breathing out a sigh of relief, and with steady breaths, he whispered to Lily, "Mother's coming. You need to get out of here."

Lily tilted her head in confusion.

Why was she to leave simply because the second queen decided to join the party? Still...why would Franz tell her to leave?

Her eyes lingered on his face for a while before she pointed to the seat that the greenhead had just left, "Sit there."

"But-"

A glare from Lily was enough to call short his words of protest.

He lowered his eyes with pouted lips and at that moment, Camille and Queen Shannon arrived.

"Your Majesty!" The noble children all stood up and greeted in unison.

"Hello, Young ones. Please, sit." She flashed them a smile in return.

The servants immediately brought extra chairs, and placed them at the other end of the table; this way, all their attention would be on the second queen and Camille, while Lily would be left out.

Her lips twitched at their deliberate act.

"Hello, Mother." She greeted with a smile, her eyes squinting into two gem-like blue crescent moons.

"Lily." The second queen's flawless act accompanied by a bright smile was enough to fool all the children in attendance, but the twitching in her eyes didn't go unnoticed by Lily, "I didn't notice you there."

"It's rather rare that my red hair went unnoticed, do you perhaps need to get your eyes checked, Your Majesty?" She asked in the most caring voice she could muster, then continued, "It is a pleasure to have you here, Mother. But shouldn't you be resting after that incident?" Lily returned the soft smile.

"Hmm?" Her slightly curved eyes opened up as she lost the smile in her eyes.

"Your majesty was wrongly accused, don't you think you should rest a little longer? Coming all the way down here will put a strain on you." Lily continued, leaving no gap for retaliation. Her new habit of breaking her enemy before they had the chance to break her was good, however, this particular opponent was strong and if she didn't choose her words carefully, then the second queen would retaliate in a different way; hence why she skillfully sugar-coated her words.

"The first princess cares so much for her majesty." Christina clapped happily, probably as clueless as the rest of them.

Lily watched as Queen Shannon turned to Christina with a smile; the young Capulet lady would probably get in a lot of trouble with her level of cluelessness. Ignorance was bliss though.

"Of course, she would. However..." Her words trailed off as she turned her eyes back to Lily, "Shouldn't you be the one resting? After all, you took in a large amount of poison."

"Oh, no. It's fine mother. Little Camille invited me herself, I had to come, if not for anything but for her." Lily replied, placing a grin on her lips. Not even bothering to take at glance at the Camille of whom she spoke about.

Queen Shannon chuckled, placing her fan over her lower face, "Oh Dear. Your sister wishes for your well-being, after all you're a princess and as a princess, you should serve your family by marrying into a nice family."

The boys in attendance blushed at her unamusing joke. Lily's perfect smile almost broke. What was the second queen implying? She was simply announcing to the nobles that Lily didn't wish to run for the throne but to marry well. If this children were to tell this to their parents, then whosoever was planning on supporting her thrive for the throne would back down.

With a quiet scoff, she sipped from her teacup and answered, "Little Camille should not worry about such things, after all, she's not eligible for the throne, hence she would need a fiance more than I ever will." She placed the teacup down and added, "Since a named heir does not need to fulfill the duty of marrying into a suitable family. Mother should at least know that much...right?" She tilted her head with a rather beautiful smile.

"Of course, how can I forget that you are a named heir." Her voice through her gritted teeth and her eyes that glared daggers was something that Lily found fun, "However, support is still needed, and you would need a fiance for that-"

"Mother surely cares so much about whether I marry or not. But I surely will... and have two kids, both with known origins. After all, I won't be capable enough to be as honourable as mother." Lily spoke out before Shannon could complete her words.

Shannon eyes reddened; understanding Lily's ambiguous words. Her clenched fist shook with anger, "What do you mean by that, Lily?" Her clenched jaw stifled her voice.

"I mean, I won't be able to handle four children like you do. Even his highness, first Prince Perez is under your care."

The trembling of Shannon's fist stopped and the redness in her eyes cleared out like fog. She seemed to be reading too deep into Lily's words; The child was just speaking out of turn. She sighed and placed her fan down in relief. Regardless, there was no way the little brat would know of Camille's birth.

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