Chapter Three: You May Be Superior in Your Delusions, but Not in Real Life
Side View: Aisha
“OH, dear, I’m so sorry. My hand slipped.”
The girl who soiled my gown with tea broke out in screeching laughter, and the people around her joined in.
“Though, I think it might suit you better that way,” she said. “Someone like you shouldn’t be wearing a gown like that, but the tea brings it down to your level. You should thank me.”
Are you saying a dirty dress is suitable for me? Are you trying to say I’m a stain on the royal family? A mere offspring of a viscount’s household.
My father is royalty. Not like your pitiful father.
“I expected a lot from this party when I heard it would be a gathering of ladies. It seems I was wrong to,” I said.
“What do you mean?”
“To think the attendees don’t even know tea etiquette. Everyone knows these are common manners, regardless of rank. If the people here don’t know that, I worry I mistakenly came to a commoners’ tea party. If so, that would explain why I don’t really fit in.”
“How dare you call me a commoner, you lowly girl who doesn’t know her place!”
“What kind of person are you that you’d ever equate us to those filthy commoners?”
All this chirping is so annoying. At least birds are cute. There is nothing cute about these ugly sows. Though, maybe they could follow me around and make me look even better in comparison.
“Are you trying to claim something as ill-mannered as spilling tea is appropriate of a lady?” I said. “I hate to say this, but perhaps you should find a new etiquette tutor. I could introduce you to mine if you like. My father hired her.”
“Prince Raheem?”
“Yes. I’m sure my tutor will turn you into a wonderful noble lady in no time.”
All etiquette tutors employed by royalty were top-class. I was telling this girl more elegantly that she was a third-rate noble because her tutor was third-rate. Her face turned red, and she ran away.
“You should be more careful who you pick a fight with,” I murmured.
I am a princess. I am not the sort of person a daughter of a count should speak to so lightly.
“This place is filled with nothing but idiots. It’s tired me out. I think I’ll go somewhere to be alone.”
I escaped the boring tea party and went for a stroll through the garden. I’d meant it to help improve my mood, but today was not my day. I bumped into that gloomy Shaghad out in the garden.
“Why are you here?” I demanded.
“I was invited.”
“What?! And, what, you just decided to waltz in? Ha, what an idiot! That invitation was only sent to you out of courtesy since you’re prince in name. Aren’t you embarrassed to just come like nothing’s wrong?”
He frustrates me. How in the world could this dim-witted, empty-headed boy be my half-brother? More importantly, why does grandfather only care about him?
He’s not actually thinking of making this idiot his successor, is he?
Please don’t. He’s an embarrassment to the royal family just by existing.
“Can’t you just stay put in the palace? You’re nothing more than the royal family’s baggage, anyway,” I said.
“……”
“Say something, would you!” I shouted at him, but he still didn’t reply.
I’m the angry one. I’m the one who’s better. But he still seems to be looking down on me, which really irks me.
“I think I understand why your mother abandoned you,” I said. “Who needs an unlovable child like you?”
“Urk.” He grimaced slightly.
Huh. So, that’s the face he makes when I bring up his mother? It’s gross. Like he has some sort of mommy complex.
“She’d probably still be living in the royal palace if you’d never been born,” I went on. “My mother’s so gracious she would have let her off with a position as a servant who stayed in some corner somewhere. She would have been valued as a servant, but she can’t even do that because you were born. It’s all your fault. It’s your fault she left the palace, your fault she couldn’t be happy, and your fault she had to choose some path that’ll probably end with her dead in a ditch somewhere. Things would be better if you’d never been born.”
I smiled, but even after saying all that, Shaghad still didn’t reply. His face was bright red, though, his balled hands shaking, which was enough to satisfy me.
“You’ll be unhappy because you don’t know your place,” I sneered.
I think it’s time to go back. This tea party is boring, and I met this disgusting person here.
✦ ✦ ✦
†††
“SHE’S only in a viscount’s household and still acts like some princess or something.”
“Does she not know her place? That she’s just a stain on the royal palace’s floor?”
“And her behavior towards Prince Shaghad is just incredible.”
“As a girl of a viscount’s house, she’s the same rank as us servants working in the palace, and she still acts like that.”
“I know. Why do we have to show respect to someone of the same rank? I’m always dissatisfied with this nonsense.”
“Whenever she acts all high and mighty, I just want to shout, ‘Who do you think you are?!’”
They must have not thought anyone was there. The servants in the palace openly spoke ill of me.
They think we’re the same rank? It’s so tiring being surrounded by idiots all the time. How could I be in the same position as these laborers? I’ve never served someone, I’ve never worked, I’ve never lacked money. Because I was chosen.
“You. All of you. You’re fired,” I said, showing myself. Their faces went pale, and they immediately lost their steam as they desperately turned to pleading.
That’s better. The palace doesn’t need anyone so incompetent that they only understand their place once they’ve been removed from their position. If they end up lost in the end because of that, it’s not my fault. It has nothing to do with me.
I am not just a girl from a viscount’s household! I am a princess of this kingdom! It’s about time I let everyone know exactly what will happen if they clash with someone like me.
I know there is nothing that could shake my standing. My father loves me. I am not Shaghad.
It is true that the current king, my grandfather, seems more interested in Shaghad, but he’s an old, feebleminded man with not much life left in him. It doesn’t matter if Shaghad has someone like him as a benefactor.
And the king might even realize how lovely I am and change his mind at some point.
And so, I spent my days like a princess.
One day, our grandfather called me and my brother into his study to tell us we would be studying abroad in Astra with Shaghad. I knew my brother and I were born to be royalty!
I didn’t like that we’d be going with Shaghad, but he did have royal blood, even if he was what he was. You couldn’t really do anything about the fact that Grandfather had to make a show of treating him the same as us. I conceded on the issue because I’m such a kind-hearted person.
“Welcome to Astra. I am Evan, the first prince. This is Lady Selena, daughter of Duke Violette.”
And then we made it to Astra. Their crown prince was handsome enough to be allowed to stand at my side. Though, there was this girl who was a bit of an obstacle.
Selena Violette. Even I, the most beautiful woman in Rienbul, couldn’t help but be enchanted by her. She is a bewitching beauty. And that kind of pisses me off.
But I don’t need to worry about that. It doesn’t matter how beautiful she is; she’s just a noble. She can’t compete with me, a princess. And I am a beauty of a different variety. There’s no reason my looks shouldn’t work just as well here in Astra as in Rienbul.
I will steal Evan from this girl. My brother will become the king of Rienbul, and I’ll become the queen consort of Astra. What a wonderful future.