The King's Rejected Lady

Victoria's Birthday Banquet

"Blessings to the Empire's moon, Queen Aurina Eckrett." Tori curtsied in front of the queen.

Lady M excused herself and left Tori alone in front of the queen, who was comfortably sitting. Tori thought she would see Prince Corean. "Cory is not here. He told me to get to know you myself. Take a seat."

"Thank you, Your Majesty."

Tori was just suppressing her sly smile. Gone was the façade of the queen in front of everybody else. The queen sitting before Tori was the real deal.

"I don't know how you convinced my son, but your actions are ruining my plans." Queen Aurina told Tori in a no-nonsense tone. Her golden eyes were sharp and calculating. Now I know where Prince Corean gets that look.

"Your plans for what, Your Majesty? Your plan to keep Prince Corean alive?" Tori took the tea that was served readily in front of her and she sipped it calmly.

"And what's wrong with my plan to keep my son away from this Empire's bloody politics?"

Red eyes met her golden ones, "Then, do you plan to sit back and relax while Prince Lauren becomes the Crown Prince? Did you perhaps agree with him without telling the aristocratic faction, Your Majesty?"

Yes, that bastard Prince Lauren manipulated Queen Aurina's feelings. She believed that bastard's obvious lie, not knowing that he was just buying time to destroy the Elysian Crown. She was just waiting inside her palace to strike, but that's just it. In the end, all she did was wait, but she could never strike. Queen Aurina wasted her powers.

"Are you aware that you are slandering the royalty, Lady Victoria?" Her golden eyes blazed like the sun as the queen was glaring at Tori.

"The moment I gave the Elysian Crown's location to the aristocratic faction, I am already risking my neck, Your Majesty."

The queen could not come up with a reply to her honest words, so Tori continued. "We may have different goals, but we have one thing in common, Your Majesty. Just as much as you wanted your son to live, I wanted him to live too against our common enemies."

"You want him to live, but you wanted him to be king!" Queen Aurina scoffed at her.

"How sure are you, Your Majesty, that when Prince Lauren becomes king he will not turn his blade against his brother? Can you also risk your son's life by just believing one promise that the two of you only knew?"

Tori saw how the queen faltered at her words.

"And why should I believe the words of a traitor?"

Because I don't want to die the second time around. Not when I can do something about it.

Tori already expected this. "Because my father will betray me. His blind love for my half-sister will push him to name her the next heir instead of me. If Sabina will become the next head of the Rozenreff Duchy, my neck will be her next target. After all, politics is bloody as you said, Your Majesty. Who's to say that my sibling will not kill me to secure her seat? Even though I am relying on a mere possibility, having a contingency plan will never be a bad thing. And siding with the aristocratic faction is the best route to take to secure what's rightfully mine."

Understanding washed in her golden eyes. She now realized that I too was like Prince Corean.

"Then what do you want from me, Lady Victoria?"

That is the question I have been waiting for, Your Majesty.

Smiling slyly to the queen, Tori answered. "Be my sponsor, Your Majesty. Use your power to aid me in securing my seat and I will deliver you the Rozenreff Duchy's loyalty to Prince Corean alone." Tori placed her right hand on her heart.