Snow White Queen [NaNoWriMo 2018]

Chapter Seven

Living like a royal definitely took some getting used to.

For one thing, Lilia had people waiting on her every need. All she had to do was ask, and a swarm of people would fall over themselves to meet her request. It made her a little uncomfortable, especially since she was used to doing everything for herself and had always hated people doing things for her. They constantly assured her that it wasn't a problem, that they liked doing this for her, but that changed nothing.

For another, she was constantly being watched. She was used to being anonymous. In her hometown, people generally avoided bothering one another unless they had to - you mind your own business, I'll mind mine. Now, every move she made was carefully watched. Maybe it wouldn't have bothered her too much, but she knew that they were watching to make sure that she could actually fulfill the role she'd been married into, and acting like a queen was very far out of her comfort zone. She felt like she was constantly putting up a persona, never getting the chance to show her true colors. It got exhausting.

To her knowledge, this was the first time that a commoner had married into the Erythrodis line. In the past, if the suitors hadn't been born royal, at least they were nobility of some sort. Lilia Corryntine, on the other hand, was a nobody, with no land or power that came with her family name.

If she successfully integrated into the royal line, she could prove that blood status wasn't the determining factor of where someone could go in life. If she failed, she'd prove all her doubters right; she'd prove that commoners really did belong beneath nobility.

That was definitely a big burden to take, probably bigger than the burden of being queen.

Not that she was expected to do anything that Queen Cassandra had had to do. They recognized that Lilia had no diplomatic experience, so she mostly stood to the side and watched as everyone else did the talking. She'd have to learn this stuff eventually, but for now she was happy to simply observe.

She heard the whispers. People who doubted that she could lead. Doubted that she could learn everything she had to. Scorned her lowborn status, said that any children she bore would be useless; no one would want to marry her dirty, half-breed offspring, and they'd probably have all the same qualities as their low born mother.

Lilia could do nothing about the whispers but keep her head high and pretend she couldn't hear it.

~~~

"Lilia."

It was Aldaren. Lilia froze in her tracks. "Yes?"

She heard the king walk up behind her, but she refused to turn to face him. He didn't say anything; she figured he was waiting for her to turn.

"Would you at least look at me?" he said after a long stretch of silence.

Lilia finally turned, but she kept her eyes lowered. Normally, this would be a sign of respect; in their situation, however, the gesture was indicative of something different.

"What's bothering you?"

"What do you mean?"

"Clearly, something is. You don't talk to me - you hardly ever look at me. You're my wife-" Lilia cringed at the word. "-and I hardly know you. You can't deny that there's something weird with that. So why is it that you refuse to interact with me?"

Lilia considered her words carefully. "This all is just a little overwhelming to me, as I'm sure you can imagine. I just need time to adjust."

"Then let me help you."

"All due respect, Your Majesty-"

"Don't call me that."

"-but I don't think you can help me with this. You were born into this, so it all comes naturally to you. Me, I just need some time to learn the ropes, that's all." She looked him in the face for a brief moment. "Have a good day." She walked away before he could say anything else.