All the knights belonging to the Mortirs, stationed around the garden, marched forward the mont they noticed the commotion in the gazebo and saw their young lady being strangled by Oriana.
Before they could reach the entrance of the gazebo, Rafal stood on the stairs like a wall and pulled out his sword. "Do not dare take a step ahead, or I am afraid Marquis Luis will get all of your heads as a gift from the Crown Princess."
"Vice Captain, do not cross the line. That’s our lady, and we have to protect her..."
"And that’s the Crown Princess of this kingdom I am protecting, so do not cross your boundaries as well. Do not forget you are inside the palace that belongs to the royal family," Rafal gripped the handle of the sword firmly, ready to fight at any mont. His expression was serious and his intentions clear that he would kill anyone coming to harm his master. He announced loudly, "Your Highness, do as you wish. I am here to take care of these ants."
Erin sighed but she knew better that this is what a knight should do- siding with their liege even in the face of death.
Erin grasped the situation, noting her brother was against a number of knights. Though she didn’t doubt her brother’s ability to wipe them all out in an instant, their deaths would bring trouble. Moreover, she could not let Oriana kill Grace like this. She needed to take responsibility for the purpose she was appointed as a close confidant of the Crown Princess.
"Your Highness, please calm down," Erin said. "Though she deserves this, there can be a better way to make her regret. Killing her instantly would be an easy punishnt. Be rational here. His Highness would not want you to do this as well. Please calm down."
Oriana’s grip loosened on Grace’s neck, and she let go of her like a slippery lifeless vegetable. Falling to the floor, Grace coughed violently, gasping like a suffocated animal. Her entire body was weak, and her face was red as if she had just survived her death, her hand around her neck as if she was trying to rid it from the shock of strangling.
"Next ti when you have tea with these mongrels, along with your fairy tale with the Prince, let them know how that Prince’s wife strangled you for spouting nonsense," Oriana declared.
The other noble young ladies were so frightened they almost hid behind the table. Even after Oriana called them mongrels, they did not dare say a word.
Grace was not in a condition to register any of Oriana’s words. Her servants were about to approach Grace to help her, but one glance from Oriana froze them in place.
Oriana turned to the scared noble ladies. "Want to sit back and narrate what Arlan and I do at night, how romantic he is, and how many tis we watched the stars?"
They gulped and shook their heads. "Apologies, Your Highness. Please spare us."
"Idiots," Oriana scoffed, then looked back at Grace, who had stopped coughing but still had her hands around her neck, her eyes teary.
"Make sure to show that beautiful design around your neck to your father so he will know what kind of vexen he has raised and how she got punished. If it is not enough, co back to , and I will teach you better than your mother would have."
Grace raised her gaze to look at Oriana. Though scared, she said, "You won’t be spared for this."
"Who is going to punish ? These few knights?" Oriana scoffed. "You don’t know my husband. Dare to touch , and you will see your entire north east territory burning in fire. If you dare, try ."
Grace had nothing to say at this mont. She wanted to command her knights to attack, but she could not attack the Crown Princess just like this.
Oriana could see Grace’s hesitation and smirked as she turned to leave. Erin followed her while Rafal protectively led the way through the knights, his gaze warning them not to make any mistake or they would regret it.
Once they reached the carriage, Oriana asked, "Where is Arlan?"
Rafal imdiately replied, "His Highness has gone to Wildridge Manor...."
"Take there," Instructing, Oriana sat inside the carriage.
"Yes, Your Highness." Rafal looked at his sister. "Get inside. I will take you back to your carriage."
Erin climbed inside and watched Oriana, who looked serious as she gazed out the window. Erin wondered why she was going to Arlan. Maybe Oriana took Grace’s words seriously and was going to question the Prince.
Before leaving, Rafal looked at one of his knights, who understood the aning and left imdiately on his horse.
Erin was left at the Honeysuckle Palace where her carriage was waiting while Oriana rode to Wildridge Manor.
------
anwhile, Grace was led inside the guest mansion by her servants. The other noble ladies had already left to return to their hos, unsure whose side to take after the day’s incident.
"My Lady, are you alright?" a servant asked worriedly.
"Inform my father to return here imdiately," Grace ordered.
After a while, Luis returned to the guest mansion. Grace was waiting for him in his study.
"Were you successful?" Luis asked as he entered the study.
Grace, who still had sullen and vengeful expressions on her face, raised her neck. "Here is the answer."
Luis stopped in front of her and observed her neck. "She went overboard," he gritted his teeth.
"I want to kill her," Grace spat out.
"Calm down," he spoke. "This was our plan all along, and you did well."
"I didn’t expect her to strangle to death, Father," Grace said angrily.
"That day, I understood her well. She won’t ever accept you as her friend, so being her enemy and fighting head on is the only way to deal a stubborn and wilful person like her," Luis replied calmly. "As you can’t be her friend, to get her under our toes, it was needed to make her commit a mistake. By trying to harm and disrespect an esteed noble guest, she has done exactly what we wanted. We have eyewitnesses as well. We can prove she is not fit to be the Queen of this kingdom. Once sidelined, and with you taking her place, it will be easy to keep her under your control and retrieve that artifact from her by any ans necessary."
"All the ans?" Grace sneered. "I will make sure to find ans that will make her regret what she did to today."
"Your turn will co, my dear. Just have patience. It won’t be too long. Our visit to the capital won’t be in vain." Luis once more glanced at the marks on Grace’s neck, "Make sure they won’t fade away till we make use of them."
"Yes, father."
------
At Wildridge Manor, unaware of what had transpired at the palace, Arlan was busy discussing important matters with the knights of the dark forces.
"Your Highness, the other group that has been seeking out Luis Mortir—we have caught a few of them. Tonight we will get to see their leader if he is man enough to face us," the knight in charge of the dark forces in Alex’s absence inford. "Would you like to et him personally, or do you want us to take care of it?"
"I will see him in person. Make sure to bring Alex as well."
"Yes, Your Highness."
A knight entered the study. "Your Highness, the Crown Princess’s knight is here with a ssage."
"Send him in."
The knight sent by Rafal entered the study and bowed. "Your Highness, Her Highness is arriving at Wildridge Manor shortly."
Arlan was surprised to hear it. "She just left this morning and is already returning? Hmm, seems like she is already missing ," he said, standing up with a pleasant expression. "I shall welco her personally and reward her for missing so dearly."
Others could only stay quiet at the Prince’s show of affection towards his wife as they watched him go out.
The knight sent by Rafal, wanted to say sothing that Her Highness didn’t look to be in a better mood, but chose to swallow his words, not knowing what to do in front of their liege who was head over heels for his wife.
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