Elucina marched out of her meeting with the King, her face etched with boiling anger. The persistent knights who kept following her and would not leave her alone until she left the great hall added to her frustration.
Daleah was waiting by the grand doors. Her eyes immediately flickered with worry the second she saw Elucina. But before she could say anything to comfort her, Elucina interrupted her.
"Let's leave," Elucina directed, her voice sounding tense like she might explode any moment.
She didn't want to listen to any comforting words that would make her feel even more powerless – no. What she wanted now was to storm out of the King's castle immediately.
So, she marched forward and swiftly turned a sharp corner to cross the courtyard's pathway. It was there that her eyes caught sight of the purple gaze watching her in the distance.
However, she ignored him and hurried past, focused on getting out of there as quickly as possible.
"...Your Highness," called Aeldwyn as she walked by, adding, "There's something I need to talk to you about."
Elucina kept on walking, her heels producing tapping noises through the short courtyard's pathway until she reached the closed corridor.
She didn't respond to his call because this was clearly the worst time for them to talk. Her silence should have been a clear message to him that she was not in the mood for a stupid conversation. But even if Aeldwyn got the hint, he did not care.
Meanwhile, Daleah glanced back at their trails and saw that her mistress' fiancé was still following them, not giving up.
Elucina had noticed this as well, hearing another set of footsteps behind them gave him out.
'What is his problem?! I don't wanna talk to him right now!'
"Princess Elucina," Aeldwyn tried to persuade her to talk with him.
Elucina pressed her lips in a thin line, knowing she had to hurry her pace before Aeldwyn could ever catch up to her. Grabbing the fabric of her dress, she lifted it slightly, just before her ankles, so she could run faster.
However, Aeldwyn matched her speed, his long steps closing the distance between them at an abnormal pace.
Growing frustrated, Elucina finally whirled around, facing him. "W, What! What in the world do you want!" she demanded, her voice trembling from annoyance.
One sniffle. Just one sniffle was all it took for her tears to start falling from her eyes and trickle down her cheeks.
'Uuu, I hate this.'
Aeldwyn was surprised by her sudden outburst. He had never seen her so upset, and her tears caught him off guard. He stood there, frozen like an idiot, his mouth agape.
'Argh! This is so embarrassing!'
Elucina sniffled, feeling her determination weaken. She angrily wiped her tears away, drawing a frown between her eyebrows.
That was why she wanted to leave immediately. She could no longer contain her tears after the King unfairly ignored her appeal.
With her bloodshot eyes narrowed at Aeldwyn, who stayed silent, she yelled, her voice breaking, "If you're not going to say it now, then I, I'll leave!"
Aeldwyn stammered awkwardly, "Er, I was, um," as he tried to find the words to say.
"...I thought so." Elucina rolled his eyes. She turned to her handmaiden, who instinctively had a handkerchief ready in her hand.
"Daleah!" Elucina called before she began to march again through the corridor.
"R, Right behind you, Your Highness!" Daleah responded.
…
The morning seeped through the window, lighting up the corridor. The curtains fluttered in the light breeze that blew them through the open windows.
Aeldwyn was walking through the corridors of the House of Voncrow. His thoughts were somewhere else, consumed by yesterday's conversation he had, weighing heavy in his mind.
It turned out that his father, Duke Voncrow had a discussion with the King about the dissolution of Aeldwyn's engagement with Princess Elucina.
Duke Voncrow informed him the moment he left the great hall yesterday, and that came before his awkward encounter with Princess Elucina.
'...' Aeldwyn halted in his tracks as he was clouded by a flashback where he could still hear his father's words clearly in his mind.
'Best interests of both families, huh,' he repeated the same line that his father said.
Aeldwyn had known this day might come ever since Princess Elucina's dethronement. However, hearing it confirmed was a different matter entirely, especially since there had been a change of plans.
And of course, that new plan was for Aeldwyn to be engaged to Princess Vanetta, who would be crowned the heiress soon.
'Father's fine with it,' he recalled inwardly. The Duke had looked completely at ease as he spoke about it, accepting the new arrangement so easily.
Aeldwyn furrowed his eyebrows in his recollection. The thought of marrying her had never crossed his mind. Because as much as Aeldwyn would not show it, he hated the idea of marrying someone who had lived as a commoner.
Hence, he voiced his displease to him that day, and promptly, his father tried to convince him that Princess Vanetta was not a commoner.
'It's just her ways that were influenced, he says.' And that, according to his father's words, with Countess Lenné's teaching, Princess Vanetta should learn the noble way soon enough.
A scoff escaped Aeldwyn's lips. He assumed it would take her years to learn and adapt. She had lived in a completely different world, and adjusting would not be so easy.
'...But I suppose it's fine, considering it's perfect that she's insensible and naive.'
Aeldwyn brought a hand through his hair and ruffled it. He knew what his father was pushing him to do. After all, they both eyed the same goal. However, he was not ready to commit to the marriage his father was pushing for.
At least, he needed some time. Time to find out if Princess Vanetta would be easily persuaded, especially since his ex-fiancée, Princess Elucina, was impossible to influence.
She was a tough person to deal with. Even though they got engaged when they were young, their different personalities made it difficult for them to get along well.
What Aeldwyn hated about her was how quickly Elucina could figure things out. She was intelligent and perceptive, qualities that made her difficult to control.
'...It's really better if we end this engagement. I wouldn't be able to shape her the way I'd want to.'
As Aeldwyn continued to walk through the corridors, his mind wandered to the awkward encounter he had had with Princess Elucina the previous day.
"...Shit."
The memory made him uncomfortable, as he found her different from the image he had of her for all these years. While it was entertaining to provoke reactions from her at times, she consistently projected a tough and overly self-assured, which annoyed him.
Now, Aeldwyn wondered how she would react when she read the letter ending their engagement, knowing it also meant she would be losing power fast, sooner than she might think.