Listening to my mother’s story, my mind drifted.
What was it Julian had said when he chose Eva?
oh, yes.
But Eva is
He had said, with unwavering conviction: “Seraphina, you grew up in luxury. You are rule–bound, dull, and uninteresting. But different. She is like a lotus blooming from the mud. Despite her hardships, she is resilient and dazzling.”
Had Eva lost her resilience? Or was she no longer dazzling enough for him?
How utterly laughable..
Seeing my lack of reaction, my mother relaxed. “About six months ago, that boy started coming to our estate frequently. He kowt- owed to your father, knelt in repentance… it seems he has regrets.”
“He also began making inquiries about you. The things he was saying. it sounded like he wanted to divorce his wife and remarry!”
My mother gave me a sharp look. “We were afraid you still had feelings for him, that you might foolishly fall for his tricks…
10
So,
the undying love, the vows of eternal devotion, had a shelf life of less than three years.
I scoffed. Julian was playing a very clever game. No wonder he had put on such a performance at the banquet, constantly bringing up our past. He was trying to manipulate me! He regretted his choice, and he thought that meant the pain he caused me could
simply be erased.
I shook my head and spoke to my mother, my voice firm. “The real reason I returned was to tell you and Father that Grandfather has already arranged a match for me.”
My mother shot to her feet, grabbing my arm and pulling me towards the door. “Why didn’t you say so sooner! This is wonderful news! Come, we must tell your father. What family is it? Have you met him? Are you pleased? When is he coming to the capital_?”
I let her pull me along, her happy chatter washing over me like a wave of peaceful contentment.
When my father learned that my grandfather had found a match for me, he was calm. “My father–in–law’s family is one of the most respected in Lyria. He would never allow Seraphina to be wronged.”
I leaned in and whispered a name in my father’s ear. His calm demeanor shattered. He leaped to his feet, his voice stammering.
That that’s not possible! Even if they are of similar age, the difference in rank…
My mother, however, beamed. “An excellent choice! Have you met him? Are you happy with him?”
I felt a warmth spread across my cheeks and nodded slightly.
Prince Adrian was the late Emperor’s youngest son, a full thirty years younger than the current sovereign. When his father passed, he had taken his mother, the Dowager Consort, to his fiefdom In Lyria.
Not long after I arrived in Lyria, my cousin, worried I was homesick, often took me to the lively temple fairs. One day, I saw a group of rowdy young nobles surrounding a single person. The young man stood apart, cool and aloof, straight and proud as a pine on a cliff, seemingly uninterested in the world around him.
Perhaps it was being away from the capital, free from its constraints, that I too had shed my prim and proper demeanor. The mo
ment one of the nobles laid a hand on the young man’s shoulder, I rushed forward and slapped it away.
I stood protectively in front of him. Tm warning you! Don’t think you can bully someone just because you outnumber him!”
Everyone froze, staring at me as if I were some kind of monster. The young man’s eyes were filled with astonishment, and someth
ing else I couldn’t quite name.
I learned later that he was Prince Adrian, and the men I had accosted were the sons of Lyria’s most powerful families. My reputati- on as a fierce and formidable woman quickly spread through the city’s nobility.
At the beginning of the year, after Prince Adrian’s own coming–of–age, the Dowager Consort began to worry about his marriage. She arranged several prospects, but he refused them all. Frustrated, she asked him what kind of woman he wanted.
Blushing, he confessed that he had taken a liking to the granddaughter of the Zhou family of Ruyang.
The Dowager Consort was overjoyed and immediately sent a matchmaker to my grandfather’s house.
Prince Adrian and I were arranged to meet several times. One afternoon, he stood under a tree, unable to meet my eyes. “You can hit them,” he mumbled, “but you can’t hit me.”
