A small smile appeared on her face as she rose from her seat. Olivia walked toward the group of ladies who were not aware she was heading toward them.
She was oblivious to the fact that Reginald's eyes followed her every movement. She crossed her arms on her chest while her gray eyes seemed calm.
"You know what, if I was the Consort, I would have dealt with her a long time ago. Just because she's the daughter to the King's true love doesn't give her the right to treat —" the girl's words were interrupted once they heard the sound of a clearing throat.
They turned around to see Olivia standing before them. Her gaze on them seemed relaxed. Coincidentally, one of the servant was walking past them, pushing a trolley of goblets filled with wine.
"Excuse me," her words were almost a whisper. The manservant stopped and he took a step backward. He didn't seem fazed by the presence of the Princess. It proved to Olivia that the rumors made about her were nothing but a conspiracy.
And that had been since she was little. She did not want to gloat about it in her thought, so she brought her thoughts to focus on what she was about to do.
Madeline watched Olivia with a crease on her brow. The Princess was unreadable now. She could not tell what she was about to do.
Princess Olivia took a goblet of wine, in a graceful manner. She raised it, noticing how everywhere got silent. But she didn't mind. Olivia was past caring, she wanted to be the villain everyone painted her to be.
It was better not to sit still again. She would deal with them. One. by. one.
Olivia took a step toward the woman who said that word. A smile clawed her face, and her gray eyes looked crescent. Her expression was so sweet but one closer look into her gray eyes, one could tell that there was something sinister building up.
"First of all, you need to clarify things before speaking. It could get you into a..." There was a faint frown in between her brows, while she took a sip from the goblet. Tearing it away from her lips, she continued;
"...lot of trouble." She licked her lips that were already smeared with the deep-red color of the wine.
The woman raised a brow, not suspecting anything with the way the Princess had stood to address her. She sneered before crossing her arms and taking a step forward.
"Lot of trouble? Let's get this straight, Your highness, everyone knows all these are true. You don't need to prove anything. Everything that went on is an evidence that..."
"That what?" Her gaze had turned murderous. She grinded her teeth as she grimaced inwardly at the thought of snatching Reginald from Madeline.
She could not do that. If not for her Father's health, and respect to his commands, she knew what she should have done. Here this nobody was, talking to her like she knew her.
Craziest thing was that the lady didn't even show a sign of respect talking to her. It annoyed her to the brim. This was enough.
She would no longer tolerate any damn thing Adele and Madeline did to throw her into the mud. She was going to fight back.
The woman swallowed in hardly as she maintained eye contact with Olivia. The Princess was taking a step forward, while her gray eyes gave a little mysterious glitter. Her grip on the goblet had tightened as she recalled everything that happened to her since she was little.
The woman felt the air around her turn cold and she took some steps backward. Her breath started to hitch as she could no longer deal with the intensity of the Princess's cold stare.
She felt gooseflesh spreading all over her, like some mini-pandemic. There was something frightening about her that made her want to run away. She was going to use her fear as a way to make the Princess look bad. After all, people were watching.
A smile appeared on Olivia's face and she withdrew. It made the woman frown as she realized that. Why was she holding back? Why was she suddenly withdrawing??
Olivia turned around and placed the goblet back to the trolley. Her facial expression returned back to looking bored. It was as if what happened some minutes ago was all in the people's imagination.
Olivia returned to her sight, after catching sight of her husband staring at her. She tore her gaze away from him, in a manner that seemed like she was rolling her eyes, before settling on her seat.
In the corners, Adele looked livid. She was expecting the girl to rile Olivia up to the point that she would slap her. She had watched the Princess being calm despite her various means of angering her.
When she found out about Princess Olivia getting angry during the wedding process, she was happy. Happy at the fact the Princess had her limits of being calm.
But why was she...?
She clenched her teeth so tight that she wished she could bite off her step-daughter's face. Just why was she not riled up!?
Madeline sighed and shook her head as she stared at Olivia. Her green eyes gleamed with schemes in which to make the Princess look bad in public. Oh... And to ruin her night.
And she had the perfect plan for it.
Madeline excused herself from the group of ladies with a big smile on her face. She walked toward the direction General Hayes and Reginald stood.
She had to wear her best smile and appear natural so that it wouldn't look foul. Madeline caught Olivia's gray eyes following her every moment. The Princess looked more beautiful even doing nothing and it made her blood boil.
Just how was someone born this perfect!? Why wasn't she this beautiful? There was no need focusing on that. She had to deal with her rival's peace.
General Hayes turned his attention to the young woman in white gown. She sent him a polite smile and bowed her head in greeting.
"Lady Madeline..." He greeted with a tone of familiarity that boosted her ego.
"My Lord," she stated. Then, she turned her eyes to Reginald who didn't seem happy with her being there. Madeline felt something clenching at her heart so hard, but she pushed it off.
"Since your son has been spending time greeting the Dukes, I decided he should have a break. As you know, I do really care about him... More than someone else." She sent a side glance to the Princess's direction.
General Hayes didn't notice the meaning behind her word, but he frowned at her statement. She wasn't supposed to be his son's first dance. The Bride was.
She would be disfiguring her family's name if she did that. It was wrong.
But she was influential, and she was his son's friend. There was no harm in allowing her do what she wanted. The Princess wouldn't mind too. So he thought.
"No problem." He shrugged and took a step back to Reginald's horror.
The gorgeous man frowned before casting a gaze to Olivia's direction. She had looked away as though nothing bothered her. She didn't even want anything to do with him. There was no harm dancing with Madeline.
He took Madeline's hand in his, while his other large hand had encircled her slender waist. At the same time, he pulled her toward him, catching her by surprise.
Olivia sneered and rose on her seat. Her expression was still blank. She turned around and whisked herself out of the hall, ignoring the eyes that were on her.
Adele had a wide grin on her face as her eyes followed Olivia. They returned back to Reginald and Madeline and she chuckled lowly.
Her little cousin was a smart one.