The dinner ended without a hitch. The King placed his silverware down, indicating that dinner would soon end as he took his napkin to dab his mouth. Soon, everyone else set their utensils down and cleaned themselves before the King stood up with the Queen and Dowager Queen. Everyone else stood up and bowed their head to their departure.
Once gone, Lady Primrose glanced at Elizabella and strutted out of the dining hall. Prince Zander looked up apologetically at Elizabella, who offered him a gentle smile to reassure him that she understood his predicament. He soon left, leaving the couple the last to go as a group of servants trailed them.
They left to their room, and as soon as they were going to enter their respective rooms, Prince Maxen turned to look at Elizabella.
"I hope what my Aunt said does not offend you. I understand she was trying to intimidate you tonight," said Prince Maxen as Elizabella turned to smile at him.
"Child's play. I am very resilient. I will not let her get under my skin so easily. You do not need to worry, Maxen," she said very confidently, while Prince wanted to roll his eyes at the way she still insists on calling him by his formal name.
"I was not worried. But I would be the one that needs to console you if you did feel upset over what my Aunt had said," said Prince Maxen as he was relieved that Princess Aphra was not one to be spineless.
"Well, I am glad that I will not need to impede on your precious time. But still, thank you for your interest. I still have some things that I wish to finish before heading to bed. I will take my leave first. Good night, Maxen," said Elizabella playfully as she sounded a little mischievous, making the servants on the side listening think that they were awkwardly flirting.
"Then I bid you good night, Ginny," said Prince Maxen as he watched her go into her room before going to his.
The servants bowed politely before heading to their stations, but not before they gave each other some glances and knowing smiles. Ah~! Young love.
**********
Lady Primrose had made it to her room and let the servants leave before sitting on her sofa to think about what had happened that night. She had tried to intimidate the Crown Princess by strutting her superiority, never knowing that the Crown Princess was able to rebuff her at every turn smoothly. She sighed angrily as she wondered how she would be able to demean the young girl.
Lady Primrose thought that because she was still young and not raised as a royal, she would not know how to handle herself and therefore believed that the Crown Princess would be an easier target to make the young royal couple look bad. She hoped that she would put psychological pressure to bring her down so that it would be easier to make her look incompetent when they were in front of the Royal Court in the future. With Prince Maxen, she had hoped that he would blow his top in trying to defend her honor. Of course, this was just the first night and could be considered probing her adversaries.
After tonight, she learned that they do seem united and that perhaps the Crown Princess was smarter than she had given her credit for in the past.
"No. It does not prove that she is smarter, as she could still very well be clueless and much 'in love,' but that would make her dangerous in a different way. Those 'innocent' types are so clueless that they will not understand when someone is insulting them, even if someone were to be direct and humiliated them to their face.
"An oblivious enemy is more unpredictable but still easy to manipulate if I play my cards right. Had I known that she would be so unaware, I would have probably tried to be her friend and tricked her that way. However, someone who has survived in the Royal Academy with a scholarship should not be such a useless person. In the end, is she really clueless and in love or a cunning fox?"
Lady Primrose frowned as she wondered just who the Crown Princess was. She thought she had received all the reports on the Crown Princess's background and believed that she knew who she would be dealing with, yet now she was beginning to doubt her initial thoughts. She had wanted to test the young couple and learn how to deal with them before she officially received her title next week.
Once she received her title, she would start working with the higher nobles to implement her plan to have Prince Zander the next monarch. Thinking of this, she scoffed to herself as she remembered that her son had not wanted to have a grand celebration for his eighteenth birthday.
"This could have been a good chance for my Zander to mingle with the higher nobles and give them a great impression. Why must he be so useless in trying to understand what I am trying to do for him? We must work extra hard to take back what we had initially lost. Why can he not see what I do is for his future?"
Lady Primrose gritted her teeth, wishing that the tiger cub had not grown into a pussycat.
"I will just have to try again and continue probing."
For the rest of the week, Lady Primrose tried to incite the couple during dinner. She mainly aimed her insults at Elizabella, who would easily rebuttal her each time. One night, she asked about Elizabella's eyeglasses being ridiculous and ugly.
Elizabella had replied, "Sorry that they are offensive to you. I have many different pairs that I can wear, but they are all ordinary sunglasses, made to look like prescription lenses. I use them for my light sensitivity problems. I feel honored that my health is a huge concern for Royal Aunt."
Lady Primrose nearly died of an aneurysm with how angry she felt when seeing Elizabella giving her a gentle smile. The rest of the family watched on amusedly, seeing how Lady Primrose felt speechless every time she said anything to the Crown Princess. The Queen would feel the proudest knowing that her sister-in-law had met her match every time she tried to argue with Elizabella.
Prince Zander would always feel exasperated seeing his mother trying to outsmart Lady Elizabella but was also impressed that Lady Elizabella could hold her own with his mother. The King thought that their banter sounded friendly enough but somehow understood that that was not the case. He would secretly frown as he felt that his sister-in-law had changed from before.
The Dowager Queen just hoped that Lady Primrose would not escalate the situation every time at dinner. Prince Maxen would pop up his head like he was the one that had been offended and glare at his Aunt, but would always keep his cool by not saying anything to her and going back to his meal. He had spoken with Elizabella over this matter, and they both decided that she would handle his Aunt unless she asked for help from him.
Although she never asked for his help, she was beginning to feel weighed down by the constant harassment from Lady Primrose. It was not enough to get angry but sure enough to get annoyed. During this period, Prince Zander had seen that Elizabella was beginning to lose her cool. This made him a bit stressed since she was not saying anything even to him. He hoped that Elizabella would not blame him in the end.
Prince Zander had decided to revisit her to see how she was. He had come a day before they left for his birthday party. He smiled gentlemanly at her as he sat across from her. Prince Zander could tell she was a bit tired, probably from stress, he thought. He felt distressed looking at her like this, so he apologetically looked at her.
"I truly am sorry for my mother's behavior this past week. I hope that you do not take anything she has said to heart," said Prince Zander as Elizabella smiled good-heartedly.
"What? You did not bring tea this time?" Elizabella softly laughed while taking a sip of her freshly made tea, making Prince Zander smile back.
"I thought that instead of tea, you would appreciate a promise more. This weekend during my birthday, I will let you do whatever you please. I understand that living here in the palace is difficult because we have to live up to certain standards. This weekend, we will be away from the palace's eyes and will be able to get away with most things we otherwise would not be able to do. If you see something that you want to do, just do it whenever you want. The place we are going to has many attractions that I think you may like. I hope that you can destress yourself from my mother," said Prince Zander as Elizabella looked surprised at him.
"You give me permission?" Elizabella asked with a slight raise of her eyebrow.
"What I mean is, as the birthday boy, you do not have to follow me around to make sure that I am having a good time. I will not hold it against you if you decide to run off and do something else to help you unwind," said Prince Zander as Elizabella blinked.
"I see. So, as your way of compensating me, you wish for me to do whatever I want to do this weekend. If I do see something that I would much rather do, then I will shamelessly go for it rather than hang with the group. But are you sure that you are alright with this? Turning eighteen is considered a milestone in people's lives. Are you sure that you do not mind me, a guest, to run off elsewhere and not hang with the birthday boy?" asked Elizabella as she wondered if Prince Zander was alright with this arrangement.
"Well, we can also say that if you need more time to get ready for your presentation, like practice at the venue first, you would need time to prepare and be off by yourself. This way, you can easily go from the beginning of our weekend to practice and get a feel for the place," said Prince Zander as he looked at her with a playful smile, making Elizabella suddenly realize that he was making sure her birthday presentation would go well.
"Oh, now I really see. Alright. I can do that. What about the other entertainment that you said you had hired? Who are they?" asked Elizabella as she remembered that she was not the only entertainment for his birthday.
"You will see when we get there. I think that you will enjoy them being there. I hear that they are pretty popular," smiled Prince Zander as Elizabella felt curious.
"Well, regardless, I hope you do enjoy my presentation," said Elizabella as she smiled politely at him.