"I would like to reveal my proposal to Lady Karenina Verhoven to whom I have… been engaged for the past month," Nicholas said.
All of the scheming dukes and lords who actually planned to propose to their king their beautiful daughters were shocked beyond relief. Viscount Verhoven pretended to look shocked too.
Nicholas inwardly sighed and gazed out to the crowd. "The Kingdom of Riga will be ruled over by both a king and queen in the near future. Tonight will function as both my coronation and engagement celebration."
The king wouldn't reveal it to anyone else, but he didn't want to spend too much resources on a celebration, and neither did he want to spend two times the amount of time socializing at a party.
Nicholas felt like he was spending money on his own funeral. Unless he found a way to successfully break off the engagement without tarnishing his reputation too much, this was like a noose around his neck.
