A teasing smile hung on Cedric’s face as he watched her face go completely red. Their interactions looked rather natural.
"They remind of soone," Pierre whispered in Rebecca’s ears. She ignored her husband, more curious about what the royal couple was talking about, which made Abrielle blush so hard.
"It will take more than that to convince ." The duchess scoffed. Her eyes drawled to the crown prince and priestess. There was sothing off with the way Callista stared at Cedric. Her gossiping stomach knew there was more to it.
Callista averted her eyes from the entrance to stare at the empty set in front of her. Her hand was secretly clenched under the table. Lucian was just genuinely stunned at the fact Cedric was capable of smiling.
"How long will you be standing there?" Rebecca snorted, soone had to talk since they seed to have forgotten people were waiting for them. Pierre cleared his throat following Rebecca’s comnt.
It was obvious in the Nightshade family Rebecca seed to be the one in control as it would appear to outsiders. Unbeknownst to them, Pierre was just a man of few words and had no issues with his wife expressing herself. He knew she was smart enough to know where to draw the line.
That was what Pierre thought before, but it seed Rebecca was too engrossed in her concern for Abrielle that she forgot her son-in-law was not a random noble that could be compelled by their title but the first prince who didn’t respect even the king at tis.
Abrielle was more embarrassed by Rebecca’s unceremonious comnt. She looked away from the insufferable man she was stuck with for the anti.
They made their way to the table as expected, Cedric took a seat at the head of the table while Abrielle sat at his right side. "I apologize for stalling. I had my hand filled with so tasks." Abrielle apologized for being late making it seem like petting a cat was an actual task.
"We didn’t wait long, I know it must be draining running such a large house," Pierre ntioned. Abrielle nodded, then beckoned on the servants to start serving the al.
The al started kicking off with the appetizers. Abrielle only grew nervous with each passing second. It felt extra difficult to breathe in her dress.
Thankfully, the goddess heard Abrielle’s prayer this one ti, and nothing unexpected happened. Just Rebecca asking a couple of questions about how Abrielle has been coping then other things here and there.
Honestly, Rebecca was even more interactive with asking Calista questions. Surprisingly, she was not how Abrielle imagined her mother to react to Callista, but she still felt sothing fishy about Rebecca’s concern for Callista.
"You have really grown to be able to manage the castle on your own Abrielle. My teachings didn’t go to waste." Rebecca gushed pleasantly surprised.
"She has been doing an excellent job." Cedric praised Abrielle; it felt like she had misheard. She had to give him a glance to confirm if it was the sa man who always fights with her.
"You praise too much; it is all thanks to Lucas, who painstakingly taught everything I needed to know," Abrielle replied; she didn’t want much praise, knowing the reason she was into managing the castle was to make it easier for her to siphon funds.
The conversation then moved on to politics, sothing Abrielle found rather bored of talking about. Everyone on the table seed to be enjoying the topic.
Abrielle possessed a skill she was proud of having a thick skin. She wasn’t bothered by the fact Callista seed to be more into the conversation and was basically the light of the discussion. She was just enjoying her roasted rabbit.
"If you don’t mind asking, Do you know where you were born?" Rebecca asked, Callista didn’t expect such a question the sa as Abrielle. It was an unexpected question but not a weird one so Callista didn’t have an issue answering it.
"I don’t know. My earliest mories are in the temple where I grew up before it was attacked and abducted into slavery, but the head priestess said I was found in the forest in the late months of sumr. This year should make 21 years old." Callista explained. Abrielle’s gaze softened as her grip tightened on her cutleries clutching it
This little action didn’t skip Cedric’s attention. He was curious about what made her react that way. Unbeknownst to him, it was guilt. A faint one, on this table Abrielle knew more about Callista’s roots than the Priestess herself.
Although her actual family blood ties were never ntioned Hazel never deed it important. Callista grew up as an orphan with no roots, leaving off scraps in the temple. And far from what was expected , living in the temple was not all rosy.
The Starlight Cove temple was a convent that took in only girls to groom them to be perfect Priestesses. The abuse and number of days Callista went to bed with an empty stomach was more than she could count.
The priestesses that managed the temple were super strict and treated the children based on their status. An orphan like Callista was always at the bottom of the food chain, but despite all the hardship, like a true heroine, Callista was not broken by her pain but instead got stronger due to it.
She had a torturous backstory all in the excuse of character developnt. "That’s really horrible. Late sumr, surprisingly, that’s around the sa period I gave birth to Abrielle." Rebecca ntioned.
"That’s nice. I was found as new, frail, and weak barely a week old. It is really heartbreaking thinking why they left to die." Callista added.
"You will never know at least you have grown far from where you started." The table seed to have gone still for a second. Callista glanced at Abrielle stunned the princess had complinted her
"Thank you for your kind words." Callista chid, sincerely grateful.
"It’s nothing. You might have started as an orphan in a desolate temple but now you are of the sa title as . Holy Lady Callista Starlight." It was hard to know if Abrielle was complinting Callista or not.
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