The governess looked mortified, trying to figure out whether the princess was serious or messing around with her like she always did. In the end, she pretended to have heard nothing. She led the way to the music room where many of her nightmares began.
"You should learn how to play at least one musical instrument." She stated the very words she had said innumerable times in the past.
Delaney brushed past the grand piano, her fingers itching to press a key but she didn't. "Oh yeah. So I can play my husband a wonderful tune every night when he returns from sleeping with his concubines."
Eugenia blazed her with a glare. "A lady must know what is expected of her as a wife. And that includes keeping your temper in check when you speak to your husband. Don't talk back. No snarky comments and remember, eyes on the floor."
"I thought you'd have given up already, Eugenia. I'm not going to become one of those women who are forced to follow every absurd order from their husbands." Delaney remarked, having had enough.
"It is my duty to mould you into a proper princess and I will not let anything stop me. Not even you!" Eugenia lost her patience.
Delaney stopped walking, her eyes turning cold. "What was that?"
Despite having known Delaney for years, Eugenia freaked out when the latter flipped out. She lowered her head. "My apologies, your highness. I overstepped."
Delaney's voice was cold. "You are my governess but you must watch your tone when you speak to me."
Eugenia was yet to respond when another presence invaded the room.
"I brought Eugenia to personally train you. Do you have anything to say against that?" Demanded Queen Penelope, her voice heavy with threat.
Delaney would have cowered away before, but not anymore. She faced the queen with her head held high. "You have heard all the cases of women drowning themselves in rivers, mother."
Queen Penelope looked like she had swallowed a fly. "Watch how you address me!"
"Majority of these women are married women. Especially those who are newly married and were forced into those marriages." She began, her anger starting to flare.
Queen Penelope was on the verge of losing her cool. "I don't have time to listen to your dramatic tantrums, Delaney."
"Dramatic tantrums? Lives have been lost, mother. And if this continues, mine will be lost too. Mine, as well as the lives of more innocent women." She argued, enraging the queen even further, resulting in her being confined within the walls of her chambers to prevent her from "running rampant and causing trouble".
As expected, Ylvia brought her lunch sneakily.
"My Lady, it's your favorite." She opened the tray to reveal the stewed chicken that Delaney loved.
However, her mood was in the dumps. "What's the use? I will not be alive for long anyways."
Right after throwing her in her chamber and ordering that no one was to bring her any food, Queen Penelope had added that the wedding would be brought forward to three days. She only had three days left before she would be someone's wife, and that too, the bloodthirsty king of Itrusia.
"Sometimes, I find it hard to believe that she gave birth to me." She remarked, gazing out the large, open window that overlooked her regal garden. "I know that royals have no compassion for their kin but I would never have a child and treat them this way."
Ylvia had no right to comment about royals but she did so anyway. "If you were the queen of Ivrasea, things would be different. But again, my lady, it's not easy to maintain a fine balance between family and duty towards an entire kingdom. Every king takes an oath to serve his subjects with all he has. If anything comes between him and his ability to rule, he has to get rid of it. Even if it's his family."
She listened passively. She already knew this, it was just hard to believe that it was her getting in the way of her parents to rule and not greed getting in between them and her.
"Three days." She sighed. The sun was already setting. Soon enough, there would only be two days left.
_
At night, Sianna got her ready for bed and when she left, Delaney was still sleepless. She stood by the window, letting the night breeze hit her skin. The wind got stronger and almost blew off the candles, so she reached to shut the window only to catch a glimpse of a figure down below.
She retreated against the wall and watched the silhouette. It was a man. A man, in her garden, in the middle of the night. Ivrasean guards would guard the gates leading to her garden but never walk around inside it. Was it a spy?
Her first hypothesis was that it was a spy from the kingdom of Itrusia, and that the whole marriage was a conspiracy. She knew better than to alarm anyone as the spy would slip away. Instead, she threw a cloak on and snuck out through the window then into the garden, using her impeccable hearing to trace his location. She stilled against a tree when heard his footsteps approaching. She reached for the sword sheathed in her cloak and held its hilt.
The footsteps had stopped. She took a careful peek and the silhouette was no longer there.
"Looking for me?"
Her heart must have skipped a few beats in shock but she swung her hand and pointed her sword at the "spy". "Who are you?"
"Me?" He taunted as he let off the hood of his cloak. He was wearing a mask but there was no mistaking that head of thick, black hair.
"What are you doing here?" She asked defensively, not daring to lower her guard. Why would the king of Itrusia sneak into her garden at night? She inched her sword closer to his neck.
He chuckled, his voice revealing a hint of amusement. "A princess wielding a weapon. Now, that's not something I get to see every day."
"What do you want?" She was annoyed by everyone who thought princesses couldn't fight. She was yet to voice it out when the other party unsheathed his sword.
"Let's see what a princess can do. Shall we?"
He was challenging her. She was confident in her combat skills against spies or low-ranked knights but she had only practised in secret. Against a king and one who was said to have won every single battle he had ever fought, it was best if she didn't make a fool out of herself.
She retracted her sword. "I stand for peace unless there is no other way out. And you would have already raged a war if you wanted to. Why are you really here?"
If he saw through her, he didn't show it. He retracted his sword as well. "What else would I want? I came here to know more about the princess of Ivrasea, who will also be my wife in three days."
"In the dead of night." She snorted, calling him out for lying.
"Night is the best time to find out secrets." A smirk crossed his thin lips. "And who knows? Perhaps I may need these secrets to end your life without having it traced back to me. I don't stand for war either."
A wave of terror went down her spine. She tried her best to not let it show but whether or not she did a good job hiding it was a different tale altogether.
Why would he want to go through with the marriage if all he wanted was to end her life? He could do so whether or not they got married and this was clearly a good chance. She would be a fool if she reminded him of that, and an even bigger fool if she turned her back to him to return to her chambers.
She waited for him to leave. It took ages before he finally retreated a few steps, but then he turned right back and took her left hand, and pressed his lips against her knuckles, leaving on them a cool sensation. "Dream of me, Princess Delaney."