Duchess in Distress

Chapter 11

NATHALIE

I had never dreamed yesterday that I would eat with the royal family at the royal table of their royal menu.

As Prince Theo instructed before we got to the palace, eating was one of the royal family's most detailed protocols. When the King started to eat, that was the only time we should eat. If he stopped, we should all stop.

"If you want to taste all, you should not chew, or else, you won't even eat a half bite," he had said jokingly.

We started eating an appetizer, a shrimp that was rolled in ham and cucumber. It was paired with corn soup. The plating looked lovely, but the taste of the rolled shrimp was a weird one. I think they put a dash of vinegar on it that it tasted too sour. I looked at the royals, but they were fine with it. If this were the food in the palace, I would be thin by the end of the year.

When the king stopped, we all stopped. Thank goodness, he already stopped because I could not take that plate anymore.

The servers distributed the main dish. I could not help but said thank you to the servers. I think the royals were murmuring their thanks, too, but I did not hear, at least once, the prince beside me.

The main dish was mouth-watering. It was well-done beef steak with cheesy eggplant as the side dish. It was expensive in the restaurants, but the royals were eating it for their ordinary lunchtime.

"Am I right? Was your grandmother the former duchess of North Valley? Lady Dorothy?" the king said while smoothly slicing his steak.

I was in the mid of tasting the first steak I had in my life when he asked, so I brought it down on my plate again to answer, "Yes, Your Majesty."

"Isabel," he faced his wife casually like how typical spouses talk at their dining table, "Your father is somewhat related to the Duchess, right?"

The queen nodded, "Yes, they are third cousins once removed," she looked at me, "I think they met a few times when she was still alive. She amused my father, and he never gets tired of telling the story about her."

I was on the verge of asking if the queen's father was still alive, but instead, I stopped myself because it sounded offensive. It's better to search for it on the internet later.

"Grandpa will be happy if he meets her," I never expected that Prince Theo would say something like that. Wow, he sounded real, as if I was a real girlfriend here. He added, "She looks exactly like her. The Duchess of North Valley."

The King wrinkled his forehead, "You know that?" he asked his eldest son.

The queen also looked alarmed but hid it right away when our eyes met. She just smiled and waited for her son to answer.

Prince Theo waved his hand toward me, "She said that she looked like her grandmother, and an old lady in the popular Queen's café in North Valley thought that Nathalie is the duchess and I'm King Magnus." He laughed a bit but stopped when no one got the joke, "But the old lady has dementia."

That was the time I only realized something. Behind the king was a big portrait hung on the wall. The man in the picture made the word handsome a complete understatement. He had blonde hair, blue eyes, and every part of his face was perfectly created. He looked solid and manly on that portrait.

The king might notice where I was looking when he said, "That was my father, King Magnus."

I looked down on him and turned my head to Prince Theo. "I just thought that was him," and I also thought that I said this in my mind and not loudly stated it in front of the royal family. The heck was happening to me. I hoped the floor would open and swallow me alive.