I threw in the towel immediately.
Those princess lessons had been harsh. Very much so.
You see, the household I had been raised in was one that hadn’t been particularly strict about the refinement and manners expected of a lady. As a future baroness, I was only minimally cultured, and thus I lacked the grace and knowledge to stand beside the prince.
What I was good at were math, business deals, and estate management. Higher-ranked ladies seldom learned such things, and this knowledge was looked down upon by higher-ranked noblemen. That was one of the reasons why I wasn’t particularly popular among aristocrats of finer stock. I’d never bothered to hide the fact that, as heiress to a barony, my education had been focused on economics and management, and so it was well-known.
Princess lessons, focusing mainly on ladylike etiquette, were a poor fit for me.
I had only the barest of manners, and in the eyes of my tutors, that’d been unpardonable. They’d yelled at me and punished me, and I’d been given no breaks at all. Pure hell.
Not only that, I was fully aware that these nightmarish lessons would bear no fruit, which only added to my despair.
The prince had no intention of marrying me at all. I hadn’t even met with him since the night of his fiancée’s escape. It didn’t take a creative genius to imagine how little interest he had in me.
“That’s it. I’m done. This is killing me,” I told Nadir when he came to check on me.
He gave me an appraising look. “Oh dear. Have your cheeks grown a little gaunt?”
“Yes. Yes they have. I’ve lost weight,” I said plainly, not bothering with polite language or showing respect toward him anymore. He had to have noticed, but he said nothing. And I’d been trying so hard to annoy him too, knowing that a lady of lower stature had likely never spoken to him on equal terms! Alas.
Frustrated, I ground my teeth, much to his apparent enjoyment.
“Your chest hasn’t reduced in size one bit, though,” he commented.
“This is harassment!” I snapped.
How dare he! I’d heard such comments before, in a more roundabout manner that befitted nobility, such as, “Your figure is quite well-rounded,” and, “Lucky is the man who gets to have you in his embrace,” but never something so blatant!
I crossed my arms, as if to shield myself from his scrutiny, but that only further emphasized my cleavage. Damn you, body!
Realizing the futility of my efforts, I let my arms drop and glared at him, but that only seemed to further his amusement. What a wonderful man.
“I could set you free,” he said.
Confused, I tilted my head. What did he mean, “set me free”? Wait... Was he talking about the princess lessons?!
“You mean it?!” I exclaimed.
“Yes. His Highness has declared he will not have children with anyone but Leticia,” Nadir explained.
Well, if he had indeed made such a claim, my role was over. For a number of days after Leticia had run away, I’d stayed confined until the preparations for my princess lessons were complete. And today, they had actually begun. A single day without a proper meal had made me lose weight, but my chest hadn’t shrunk at all.
Ah, finally, my days of hardship were over. I was so grateful that I didn’t even care that my efforts had been in vain. Though I’d only gone through one day of princess lessons, I could tell it would be absolutely impossible for me to be a bona fide candidate for crown princess and endure those torturous classes. I was elated that they’d ended early.
Just as I trembled with joy at these thoughts, someone rained on my parade.
“There will be conditions, however,” Nadir said.
I looked at him in surprise. “Huh?”
“First of all,” he began, conspicuously sticking a finger out in front of my face, “you need to tell everyone and their mother’s little dog about the lessons you went through.”
“What?”
He wanted me to talk about the princess lessons? I couldn’t fathom why.
When I tilted my head in confusion, Nadir explained, “Leticia believes her personality to be crude and unfit for a crown princess. So I would like you to speak openly of how harsh the lessons were, and how you readily gave up on them, as well as how impressive Leticia is for enduring them for ten years.”
Ah. So that was why he went to the trouble of putting me through those lessons. The man was a strategist indeed. I wasn’t sure what Leticia would think, but if the story spread to the public, there would likely be an outpouring of support for her as the future crown princess.
Truly I was a tool for him to use.
Though I couldn’t stifle a sigh, I wasn’t in a position to refuse. Reluctantly, I agreed to this condition.
Seemingly satisfied with my reply, Nadir raised a second finger. “Second,” he said coldly, the corners of his mouth curling up, “you’ll do exactly as I tell you.”