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The sharp sound of the sword flying through the air was all the warning we got before it sliced clean through the man’s neck. I forced myself to watch as the light left his eyes and his head fell to the floor.

A rotten, dark feeling blossomed in my chest. It held tight on my throat and threatened for blood to pool in my eyes.

I blinked it away.

“A little dramatic, Father,” I muttered under my breath, aware that he and half the room could hear.

“What else does my princess deserve on the day of her engagement?” he asked, a light teasing to his tone that shouldn’t have been there after brutally murdering one of his own family members.

“Gifts,” I said, and gave the nervous line a smile “Who’s next?”

It had taken us hours to get through the people that had arrived. For most of that time, the guards had left the vampire’s dead body bleeding out on the carpet as a show of what would happen to whoever else decided to intervene.

After a while, they moved it, but never cleaned up the blood, even when it started to stink.

Just another reminder of how different it was now that Mother was gone. She would have never let it happen.

But she also would have never let you get married.

Unfortunately, the man had been right. And for some reason, he, and I guess others, saw it as their duty to try to save the queen’s only daughter from a life of misery at the prince’s hands.

Though only one dared to actually stand up to him and try. And his death was enough to put a stop to all other mentions of it.

After that, it was all smiles and congratulations. The line continued, and so did the gifts.

But there was one thing about the vampire’s words that caused disgust to settle in my stomach.

It was all for the queen. They did it because they had a duty to the queen.

Not me.

If their duty was to me, they would have protested the situation I was in long ago.

But yet here they were, lining up in droves just to show how excited they were for my marriage, ignoring everything else that came before it.

The first thing I did when I was dismissed was to carefully take the cape and hidden object with it to my room before the stepdevils could take it. For good measure, I left the rest and even told the demon spawn to pick whatever she liked.

After all, I’m the one lucky enough to get married while the bitch herself never even got so much as a second glance.

Nowthatcomment probably did more harm than good, but fuck was her face worth whatever punishment might be awaiting me.

The cape was heavy in my hands, the weight just adding to the excitement of seeing what was inside.

I had waited for some time. Even though I was locked up in my room, there was no telling when Melia might just pop in for a visit. But when it was time, I slowly peeled back the layers, and then when I saw the folded-up paper and what was written within, my heart dropped.

May my love for the queen set you free.

The note was written in elegant handwriting and attached to a vial of shimmering liquid I knew all too well.

The queen. Always for the queen, abitter voice said in the back of my mind.

But louder was something far sweeter.

It was for Father.

Henry was truly the one who decided to protest.Maybe that’s why the next person created such a fuss.

I had spent too long on his gift, looked at him too kindly, for Father to just overlook it.