Blood Peonies (Who Made Me a Princess)

Where There's Smoke, There's Fire

Putting the letter down, Katyusha Lena cannot help but blush with its contents. Her fiancé has sent her a letter and it is extremely mawkish that Katya feels like she wants to bury herself into the ground with how embarrassed she feels. She admits, she finds it adorable of him to be this sappy but it's still embarrassing! Katya presses her hands on her cheeks to cool herself down, she surmises that she looks like a tomato with how flushed her cheeks are. That man! She huffed and smiled good naturedly with his antics.

He did court me with his adorable antics and I cannot say that I don't find him attractive because of that. But seriously, his wooing has become even worse when we officially got engaged! Katya cannot help but let out a giggle at the thought especially with how her fiancé has been acting so adorable around her. He looks like an over grown puppy. An adorable puppy, in Katya's opinion, despite how Hima and Zae say that his efforts are still not enough to deserve Katya, even though is Bel not saying anything but her disposition suggests that she agrees with the other two. But still, he is like a puppy; a buff, good natured, incredibly sweet puppy, and he's extremely good with snuggling. Katya gives him that. She definitely doesn't like him because of his snuggles.

Hmm, but he's also like a bear with how buff he is... Katya felt herself flush again and shakes her head, clearing her head of such... distracting thoughts before they go into... territories best explored later.

Katya reminisces the time when she and her fiancé first met. He was such a dolt, Katya thinks. And again just remembering the hilarious situation is enough to make her snicker into her hand. It happened two years ago and the first thing that Katya heard about her fiancé is that he wants to cancel their engagement because he doesn't like her. His words, not hers. Now, Katya wouldn't really mind it in the first place but the way the news reached her and the delivery made her irritated at said man. They hadn't even met yet! Yet he says that he doesn't like her? Now, that definitely made Katya's blood pressure rise. One of the things that she hates the most is being judged without even seeing things with their own eyes and being given judgement with prejudice! She recalls being very aggravated because of the insult, unintended it may be but Katya was still very offended.

Katya has no family in Siodonna for she was a runaway noble from Aleondia, only having her name, riches and the connections associated with her name to bring with her to Siodonna. She is young but she is not naïve. A lot of nobles approached her to ask for her hand in marriage due to her foreign ancestry, her exotic looks and her not inconsiderable riches deemed her a suitable wife even if she has no peerage in Siodonna. What made her even more desirable is her beauty and that she is a noble with high intellect. Other cultures might think that women should not have a better education than men, but in Siodonna, it's different. The more intellectual you are, the more desirable you are, especially when you're a woman. Siodonna has always believed in the dogma that "a true queen does not need a king" and it has shaped the politics the way it is today. This is why the one with the true power in Siodonna is the Queen, not the King. The women of Siodonna follow this dogma by being independent and being self-sufficient in all aspects, especially when it comes to leadership and intellect. Katya has proven time and time again in nobility circles why she is a Great Lady of Siodonna with how she established herself even as a foreigner.

She is already a Great Lady when she accepted the marriage proposal from the Duke of Arlanta. Katya wanted to have a firm standing in Siodonna. Even if she is a Great Lady, she is still a foreigner. Despite being granted asylum by Siodonna, Katya knows how precarious her situation is in noble circles and politics. She is perfectly aware that she has to have conclusive ties in Siodonna or even with its allied kingdoms for her to be accepted within the unofficial fold of nobility. But Katya is stubborn and she wants to marry someone who will respect her and will love her, a dubious ambition on her part but she was determined to see it through. She has screened a lot of marriage proposals and her suitors' profiles, looking at their personalities through reports on paper. Katya knows she isn't like Bel who is very good at reading people even with just reading about them on paper, but Katya needs this. She knows she's being desperate but she vows not to be tied down again in a relationship that will shackle her. She already ran away from one, she is determined not to repeat the experience.