𝚂𝚠𝚒𝚝𝚌𝚑𝚎𝚍 ✔

Chapter Thirteen

The rest of the night went by, somewhat, calmly.

Princess Corinna seemed to have enjoyed the company we had provided, and I got to know the De Marre cousins a little better myself.

From what I had gathered, they both were genuinely good people. Sheera was louder than Rheda, but Rheda was much better a conversing and telling jokes. However, both of them exuded confidence and from watching how kind Rheda was with Corinna, I had started to have hope that perhaps some of the other girls weren't as scary or mean as I had previously thought them to have been.

Though, I knew I needed to watch what I said in front of the others and how much trust I put into them. Because at the end of the day, we were all there to compete, not make friends.

In the middle of our conversation, I had gotten up to grab Princess Corrina something to drink when I happened to have stumbled into Princess Gwendolyn at the refreshments table.

"It is very nice to meet you, My Princess." I curtsied.

Gwendolyn slowly turned to face me in response. Running her green eyes along my frame with a brow raised. When she was done inspecting me, she softly laughed to herself before turning to grab a drink. "Do remove yourself from my sight, lowborn."

I stood there appalled, wondering what I had done to upset her, "I apologize, Your Highness, I did not mean to offend you in any way."

"You offend me by continuing to speak." She cut her eyes at me, then shoved passed. "Do not find yourself in front of me ever again or you will be sent home faster than you can grovel."

She then returned to the seat next to her mother, shooting me a wicked grin before whispering something into the queen's ear. Both of them looked over at me, which caused my stomach to twist in on itself.

"Well, I have surely done it now." I watched them in horror, waiting to see if perhaps they weren't talking about me, and I had simply overreacted.

The queen watched me for a moment, then turned to whisper something back to Princess Gwendolyn, whose face soured instantly. The Queen returned her gaze to me and nodded, which only confused me further.

Just the thought of the queen defending me filled me with hope but also terrified me. There had to have been a price to pay for her spontaneous partiality, and I was not sure I could pay it. But I was certain, however, that the ominous exchange between the two of them was only going to hurt me in the weeks to come.

It had not been my intentions to upset Gwendolyn, let alone make her hate me in one fell swoop. And if I had known prior to approaching her like I had, that she would have reacted in such a way, then I would have avoided her at all costs. Yet, by that point there was nothing to be done about what had just transpired, and worrying about it was fruitless. Because I knew that no matter what I tried to do to remedy the situation she was going to continue to hate me.

It was odd to think that she was related by blood to Henry and Corinna. The two of them were so kind and had not spoken to me as if I had been unworthy of their presence. But she seemed to have hated every single one of us suitresses. Now I couldn't imagine why, or what made her have such unprovoked prejudice against those of a lower class. But out of all of the royals I had met, she seemed to have been the most hateful one by far.

After I gathered my thoughts and calmed myself down from my near-death experience, I returned to my seat. Trying not to interrupt Sheera as she explained to Princess Corinna what both her and Rheda were wearing. It warmed my heart to see the two of them treat her with such kindness. As well as ease some of the doubts I held about their integrity.

In truth, I was scared that some of the other girls wouldn't have been as kind to Corinna as I had been. That they would have viewed her as broken and instead wanted to focus on winning her sister over. Or just simply ignored her like everyone else in the court seemed to have.