Nadir Dorman.
A name I was all too familiar with. He was the one who had gotten me into this mess, after all.
That day, as every other day, I’d been searching for a marriage partner when the crown prince approached me, smiling radiantly.
No way, right? That couldn’t have been real, now could it?
To me, having all but lost the innocent, maidenly dreams in my heart to the burdens of debt, it had been nothing short of a miracle.
That was when I met Nadir too. He’d been standing behind His Highness, and frankly I’d initially thought him the prince’s attendant.
Even to my eyes, jaded after the abundance of men I’d encountered, the crown prince was beautiful. Truly princely. His aura was on a whole new level.
And so I was absolutely ecstatic when he asked, “Would you accompany me to the next ball?”
My perseverance had paid off. I was about to score the best possible marriage candidate. I was beside myself when I attended the party. Words could not describe the sense of superiority I felt when greeting the prince’s so-called fiancée. I was so certain that His Highness had chosen me! It would be no exaggeration to call that moment the happiest of my life until that point.
Said happiness lasted but an instant, of course.
“I cannot keep you company today,” the prince told his fiancée.
She looked at him and replied, “Will you be accompanying her, then?”
Her eyes were moist, as if filled with longing. At the time, I thought this was sadness, but later I would come to learn just how horribly mistaken I’d been.
His Highness looked away from her. “My apologies.”
“Does that mean our betrothal is...” She trailed off.
“It does,” he confirmed.
His fiancée looked at us both, then jumped for joy. And I don’t mean that figuratively. She genuinely raised her hands in the air and began to hop ecstatically.
“Finally!” she exclaimed.
“Pardon?”
Her refined aura from moments ago was gone, and she excitedly called out to Nadir, who stood behind the prince.
“Did you hear that, brother?” she exclaimed. “Did you hear? You heard it loud and clear, yes?!”
“I did,” Nadir said flatly.
“At last! At long last!” She joined her hands in prayer over her chest and gazed up at the heavens, as if thanking the divine. Clearly riding her wave of excitement, she continued, “What a horrid ten years it has been! Ever since my betrothal to the crown prince at the age of seven, day after day, it’s just been study, study, study, study, dance, dance, dance, dance! And, oh, the incessant tea parties! Awful! Every! Last! One!”
“L-Leticia?” The prince’s tone, soft until this point, changed. Well, it was no wonder. Her sudden change in demeanor had caught me by surprise too.
“I’m criticized for any and every thing I do! If I so much as laugh out loud, why, I’m too vulgar! But did my doing so inconvenience anyone? No, of course not! If I happen to be in a bit of a hurry and break into a jog, I’m improper! Faultfinding, so much faultfinding!”
“Lettie?”
“I was resigned to it,” she continued. “What else could I do? But now I don’t need to be! This is amazing! And it’s all thanks to you, ah... What was it? Buh...Be...Bre...Brie?”
“It’s Brianna!”
I’d been quietly listening to her tirade, but I had to correct her. What did she think she was doing, giving me such an odd nickname so casually?!
Yes, perhaps it was a suitable nickname given my actual name and my doubtless grating act, but uh, rude? My act was all about winning the crown prince’s hand in marriage! I wouldn’t have acted that way had I not needed to! Hmph!
The prince’s fiancée, whom I now knew to be named Leticia, had a clearly fake look of remorse on her face as she said, “Please pardon my indiscretion. That was rather cheesy of me.”
“Do you mean to mock me?!” I demanded.
“Perhaps a little, but I truly am grateful!” she exclaimed. “Thank you so much for taking on this bad debt!”
“Bad...debt,” I echoed, words momentarily escaping me at her outrageous way of referring to royalty.
“I can hardly believe you’re willing to suffer through being cooped up in a castle ten hours a day every day, studying, dancing, enduring the nobles’ harassment at tea parties, all in my stead! Best of luck to you! I’ll be rooting for you!”
“Um...” I mumbled, frozen in shock. I hadn’t heard anything about that!
Not caring in the slightest about my plight, she turned to Nadir once more.
“Ah, brother, but you must be heartbroken! It was you who forced me into this engagement, after all! Please, do find some other means to establish ties with the royal family!”
“Of course,” her brother replied.
“Lord Clarke found himself a wonderful woman, so you’ll keep your promise to allow me freedom, yes?!”
“Of course,” he said once again, a defeated look on his face.
“Ha ha! I’m free as a bird!” she exclaimed. “Goodbye, ladyhood! I’m moving to the countryside! I’ll go fishing, and then fish some more, climb trees, prance about with the village children, work the fields, and laugh with my mouth wide open!”
The way she spoke, one might’ve thought she was actually dumping the prince onto me. She merrily strode out of the venue. I could only stare in bewilderment at her swift departure, with the gnawing feeling that I was in over my head and needed to distance myself from the crown prince.
Before I had the chance to, however, I was caught. Not by the prince, mind you, but by the runaway lady’s brother, Nadir, future Duke Dorman.
“Lady Brianna, where do you think you’re going?” he asked.
“Oh, I simply thought it would be best for me to take my leave now,” I told him with a polite smile, though inside I was sweating bullets.
“Are you not with His Highness?”
“Well, we did not make any arrangements for the future, you see.” I wasn’t lying. The only thing I’d agreed to was to accompany him to the ball, after all.
I could sense trouble brewing and wanted to leave immediately, but Nadir did not release my shoulders. In fact, his grip on them tightened. His determination not to let me leave was palpable.
“But you see,” he said, “His Highness’s fiancée has run away. A replacement is necessary. Surely you understand this.”
“No,” I replied. “No, I do not.”
“And she caused such a commotion besides. It calls for punishment, no?”
The low tone in which he spoke sent shivers down my spine. I stood my ground, however.
“I would consider becoming his fiancée, but not as a replacement. As the real deal,” I told him boldly.
He grinned in response. My back was quickly growing damp with cold sweat.
“Very well,” he said. “If you can endure the education necessary to become a princess, we’ll consider it.” He turned to the crown prince. “Are we in agreement, Your Highness?”
“Yes.” The ease with which the prince accepted Nadir’s proposal left me stunned.
Taking princess lessons meant I was a serious contender to be Prince Clarke’s fiancée. But candidates for such a position were carefully chosen based on their qualities and family background, not something to be decided this flippantly. Not only that, these two men were making this decision unilaterally.
If the crown prince had fancied me, I could’ve understood this choice being made at his insistence. However, he wasn’t even looking at me, and simply kept staring in the direction his fiancée had run off to. It could not be any clearer where his affections lay.
I looked over at Nadir, who still had not released my shoulders. His eyes bored straight into me, and he made no effort to hide that a plot was brewing behind them.
They’d set me up.
And by the time that fact dawned on me, it was already too late.
Why do these things only ever happen to me?
Internally crying tears of despair, all I could do was glare at Nadir.