Villainess's Survival Mastery

5. Exploring options

Clementine pov

As I discreetly scanned the cathedral, my eyes were on the lookout for potential allies. The inevitability of this doomed marriage urged me to start laying the groundwork for my future plans immediately. In my search, my gaze eventually settled upon Duke Adrian.

Seated beside a gleeful Ember, her arm linked with his, Duke Adrian looked down at her with a flustered, perhaps even affectionate expression. At that moment, a tinge of bitterness washed over me. Adrian had been one of the few friends I had in my earlier days, a time when we were both just children. I could still vividly recall his dark red hair and piercing blue eyes.

Back then, he had climbed into the residence of the Evernight, and it was there that our paths had crossed. I had confided in him about the mistreatment I suffered at the hands of the servants, and he had stood up for me on several occasions. However, when Ember discovered our friendship, she had manipulated our parents into arranging an engagement between her and the young Duke.

As I began to employ morally ambiguous methods to survive within the household, Adrian, influenced by Ember, started to view me as a cold and cruel villainess. He believed that I had changed, just as I knew that circumstances had forced me to adapt and evolve in this treacherous world of family and politics.

The truth weighed heavily on me, even though I was reluctant to admit it. It cut deep that Adrian chose to believe Ember's fabricated stories over my earnest cries and pleas for him to see the truth. His sense of moral responsibility had led him to side with his fiancée, and that decision left a profound sense of hurt within me. He truly doesn't know me at all then, for him to think that that little girl I once was is no longer present within me.

As I continued to scan the crowd, the weight of Adrian's righteousness settling in, my eyes landed on an unlikely yet intriguing sight—the empty seat reserved for the current crown prince, Magnus. It was no secret that Magnus had a rather turbulent relationship with both the emperor and the Second Prince.

In that moment, the absence of the crown prince from the wedding ceremony hardly came as a surprise to most people. It was a detail that piqued my interest and raised possibilities that I would need to explore further. No doubt, he is to become my next ally.

My attention was forcibly drawn back to the pastor as he guided us through the exchange of vows. However, Xavier stubbornly refused to recite his part, a move that left his portion of the ceremony skipped entirely.

Finally, the pastor declared, "You may kiss the bride." Xavier, with eager enthusiasm, leaned in for the kiss, much to my annoyance. Although I found his eagerness exasperating, I played along, maintaining my composure and waiting patiently for the kiss to conclude. This was but the beginning.

My gaze shifted briefly to Amelia, whose fuming expression did not go unnoticed. Ah, it is so obvious that she and Prince Xavier has something going on. It was apparent, even at this early stage, that helping the Second Prince become stronger was a plan I could easily cross off my list. Xavier's stubborn refusal to even recite his vows indicated that he had no intention of changing or becoming a more capable ruler and his act of bringing his mistress to his own wedding shows that he is unwilling to change his adulterous behavior.

Thus my next course of action is clear; to approach the crown prince and to gain his alliance.