I won't be the villainess

Chapter 28 - respect

"Of course not, miss. Sebastian Deyrion of Kingdom Deyrion greets the princes and nobles of Kou."

"Nathaniel Emanten of Kingdom Emanten greets Prince Austin, Prince Noah and the nobles of Kou."

"Benjamin Meraphy of Kingdom Emanten greets the princes and nobles of Kou."

"Jamison d'Nora of Kingdom Kou greets the two princes of the Ainsworth Kingdom and their nobles."

"Anastasia d'Astelo of the Kingdom of Kou greets the princes and high nobles of Ainsworth."

She noticed how Emily narrowed her eyes and a few of the others raised their eyebrows at her introduction.

"Umm... Miss -uh- Anastasia?"

Anastasia's eyes twitched, and she noticed the others around the table stiffen slightly.

'Who does she think she is referring to me by my first name straight off the bat?'

Noble etiquette is to always refer to a person by their title if holding one or their family name.

"Yes, Miss Myers?"

"Why did you introduce yourself as 'Anastasha Dasteelo?' Isn't your name Antoinette Rosenberg, previously of House Rosenberg before being banished?"

'This little bitch.'

The others around the table glanced at Anastasia and Emily, some more unkindly than others. Emily raised her hand to her mouth is mock horror as tears overflowed.

"Oh my- I didn't mean to mention that! Forgive me for speaking out so!"

Anastasia watched the play before her eyes, as the girl was comforted by the second prince beside her. She felt her former brothers eyes glaring at her as she resisted rolling her eyes. She had also noticed how the first prince's expression had fallen slightly, eyebrows furrowed as he glanced at Emily.

Before she could speak out, Jamison cut in first, words to say.

"Sorry for interrupting, but Miss Myers?"

The girl looked up from her tearful performance, looking up hopefully at Jamison.

"Yes?"

"Excuse me, but why are you addressing Anastasia by her first name?"

Emily froze. Looking up at him.

"P- pardon?"

"Anastasia is of a higher status of noble and of one of another kingdom. She holds the title of Duchess back in the Kou Kingdom. You are not particularly close to her so shouldn't you be calling her Duchess d'Astelo or Miss d'Astelo? Calling her by her first name would be a form of disrespect- would it not?"

'Bless this man.'

"I- I apologise... I didn't mean any disrespect, I thought it would be fine since we had known each other before her leave..."

By this point, the others around the table had stilled, eyes on the two envoys from the Kou Kingdom.

At that moment, William spoke up, an air of confidence and disrespect in his tone.

"Well then, won't you answer Emily's previous question? It's no secret that you were asked to leave the Rosenburg House."

Anastasia put on the fakest but brightest smile she could muster, looking at the crying girl in front of her.

"Why, Miss Myers, that's no problem- you know to address me properly from now on. As for your initial query, after my retreat from the Kingdom of Ainsworth, I lived under a new identity and soon was granted a noble title. Therefore, I would like to request that you address me by my current name of Anastasia d'Astelo rather than my former."

It seemed like William has something to say in return, but he was swiftly cut off by a blonde-haired Noah Ainsworth and red-haired Lucas Chester who sent a small smiles Anastasia's way.

"But of course, Duchess d'Astelo."

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Sorry for the late chapter! I wrote more than usual to make up for it but my online school is really tiring and homework is taking up quite a lot of time. I also have online tuition calls to deal with so please bare with me until I can get comfortable. I also ended up missing 2 school calls because the wifi went out and one teacher even logged it on my homework system when she really should've waited for it to happen more than once in one subject or at least emailed me asking why >:( but hey she said she would remove it even though she hasn't

a n y w a y, Jamison KING for standing up for her! This is actually less than I planned for this chapter but I just decided to split the chapter plot into two chapters for the next one's the next one! Also s w e a r i n g 🤭 I didn't want to use any language that would make her seem more childish and since they were her thoughts I thought it would be fine to be using my modern terms and swearing when she's talking to herself or in korean!

aND thank you for 500+ votes and (almost) 150 comments! I love reading your comments no matter how small and seeing the votes go up is so incredible to me! Thank you and I'm sorry (again) for the posting delay💓