Villainess Loves

Part 41

I feel a slight breeze as I open my eyes to the guest bedroom I was staying at. I look over and see that my window has been opened slightly to allow fresh cooling air in.

I slowly sit up and look around. The sun's rays slowly increase and the surrounding air becomes warm. I blink a couple of times before blushing profusely.

OH MY GOD!

Did I just basically confess my innermost hidden (well I guess they weren't that hidden) feelings to my crush, my ex-fiance, his girlfriend, and my personal maid!?!?!?!?!??!

I grab my hair frantically as my thoughts race around my mind.

Why was I even sitting on Henry's lap? Why did I even bring up that I brought Henry? Why did I even talk?!!??! So stupid!
I hit myself in the face and groan.

How am I going to face everyone? Today's the mock competition! I have to direct and organize the event!

I flop back down on my bed. The softness of the mattress and the fluffiness of my blanket felt welcoming. Maybe I could just sleep in today. Deal with this embarrassment tomorrow. Everyone will be too busy and distracted by the welcoming ball that they won't have time to visit me. Ahh sweet relief....

Just as I was about to doze off, the door slams open.

"Lady Annelise! Are you awake?" Mary's voice pierces into my ears and I sit up from my bed to see that she brought in a cart filled with food.

"I brought you your breakfast since you fainted yesterday. Prince Orion vouched for you and excused you from today's breakfast with the royal family." Mary explains, dishing out a plate of food for me. She sets up the table in my room and pours me a glass of juice. I sigh.

"Mary, do I have to go out today? Can I just stay in my room and say that I'm too weak to do anything?" I complain.

"No, you have to attend the mock competition. You're in charge of assigning the guests to their horses and organizing each race. You have to come. Now get up and eat something." Mary shakes her head at me. I groan but slowly drag my body to the table. The steaming plate of food welcomes me and I can feel my belly rumbling. I wasn't able to eat dinner yesterday since I fainted. I'm really hungry now.

"So, what did you guys do after the, you know?" I shovel a bite of food into my starving mouth. Mary pours herself a cup of tea and sits down next to me.

"Well, Henry took you back to your room to rest. Prince Orion and Bella did some more practicing. Henry just observed and gave pointers. I chatted a bit with the maids. I think some Vendia royalties are coming to visit so there might be a bit more security than normal." Mary lists off.

I swallow. Royalty? From Vendia? !!!! AH!

I quickly stand up, knocking my chair to the floor.

"What's wrong?" Mary looks at me.

"Mary! We must go see Prince Orion immediately! And bring Henry!!!" I yell at her while quickly putting on a simple but regal enough dress to see people. I totally forgot about the Vendia attack event!

One of the major romance events in the story was Vendia's sneak attack during the welcoming ball. Vendia wasn't satisfied with the conclusion of the marriage between Prince Caelum and Princess Echina so they set up an attack to take back Princess Echina and threaten King Drayden by taking Prince Caelum hostage. In this event, Prince Orion was able to prove his worth by defending against the Vendia attackers and Bella was able to secure a spot by protecting Queen Solana from an attack. 

They rewarded her actions with a noble's title. This was the main driving force that allowed King Drayden to accept Prince Orion's interest in marrying Bella over Annelise. Once proper investigations were done, Annelise was revealed to have helped orchestrated this attack as she wanted to hire some bandits to kidnap Bella, preventing her from attending the ball and allowing Annelise to have Prince Orion all to herself. 

The reveal created massive tension against the Thornweathers and secured the end of the engagement between Prince Orion and Annelise. Such an act of treason would have garnered capital offense with a consequence of death, but Duke Thornweather was able to reduce her sentence to be simply sent away from the capital and to live like a commoner, stripped of her status. 

This would result in her death as the carriage to take her there would be ambushed and she would be killed in the process.

Now that I'm thinking about it, there may have been some strings pulled for that attack since Annelise was a noble's daughter, but the story didn't really mention anything about her after she got exiled and only briefly mentioned she died during the journey. I would assume one of the duke families or one of the enemies of the Thornweathers set that up. It wouldn't be hard to do since she was already going to be sentenced to death in the first place.

The attack happened before the dancing started, which was around the halfway mark of the ball. After the general greetings and people started to come in, there would be a dancing section for all of the couples and single bachelors and bachelorettes. The ball ends with the grand announcement of Prince Caelum and Princess Echina's engagement.

So far, the story has been progressing normally besides my change in actions. Bella would be hanging out with Prince Orion even while Annelise arrived early as Prince Orion would reject and avoid all of her advances, leaving her jealous of Bella and ultimately antagonizing her to accidentally work with the Vendia royalty.

I don't know which of the duke families would be cooperating with Vendia instead of me, but I would bet that regardless of any additional help from a duke's family, Vendia would still orchestrate an attack at this time. They weren't the most cooperative in the war recovery process and from local gossip, the locals aren't too happy that the philanthropic and playboy Prince Caelum is marrying their sweet innocent princess.