[Fine, come what may…]

“His Highness is not too far from the truth. Lilith indeed holds a grudge against Charlotte and I have no doubt His Highness’ attitude really did make her search for some warmth. Can we be blamed for His Highness’ silly actions? No. Are we perfect? Neither we are perfect nor guilty.”

“It is not the answer.” (W)

“It is. We did calumniate Miss de Terehan but never did we beat her. Other than that I barely see a difference between our versions.” Lilith and Xera both were frozen with their mouths opened.

“Then I see no other way but to punish you three. For insulting the royal family, cheating on the crown prince, and possible…” The king was pondering what to add.

“And stealing a ton of tea…” So I helped.

“You did wha…! Khm. And stealing royal property, I sentence Lilith Evereyn and Delight to never appear in the Capital unless called by a member of the royal family. The engagement between Michael de Marcelia and Lilith Evereyn is to be officially broken. Do you have any other comments on that…?” The king glared at me.

“So, will Miss de Terehan become Michael’s new wife?”

“I already ran out of options so she is the last candidate…” The king could only rest his head on the back of the couch.

“What if I tell you she is already heart-broken and seeks my friendship?” I wonder if I can have a villainess with me.

“HAAAAAAA!!! … Whatever… just leave me alone… damned women, every time I find a good wife for this damned son of mine, either they find an excuse to avoid the engagement or he claims they are not good enough…” I even felt sympathy for him. For an entire second.

“So, what are we going to do now?” I asked the girls.

“You are now to go out of this room and let me rest. Whatever you need, ask this damned boy.” (W)

Michael led us out of this room and to the room where we had our small negotiation.

“Can anybody answer me what the hell is going on?” Right after the door closed, Xera raised her voice.

“I would like to know as well.”

“You better not try to fool us. You two surely knew what is going on.” (X)

“We had a little chat here and decided to follow His Highness’ version of events.”

“Miss Delight, I am so disappointed! Why did you not tell us that you are going to do this?!” (L)

“My sweet silly Lilith, when could I do this…?” She immediately calmed down.

“So, now that we solved it, will we get the answers about why the hell you sided with him?” (X)

“Oh my, it is a good time for my payment. Right…?”

“What would you need?” (M)

“Gold, enough to cover our expenses for a few months.” He handed us a bag of coins. Just the weight of that bag was enough to convince me that we are now rich.

“Phew…” He sighed in relief.

“Did you think we are done?” I reminded him about the second part of the deal.

“What do you mean…?” He stiffened.

“The truth.”

“Yes… about what?” (M)

‘BANG’

“Why would you want to set up Lilith?” I am ready to keep beating him until he starts thinking.

“Well… Haaaa!!! I just want to stop those constant political marriages His Majesty finds for me! I always have to act like a good fiancée and play a couple in love. Lilith, there was nothing personal. You are a good woman and I hope we can remain friends but I just don’t want to marry neither you nor de Terehan! I want to find a wife for myself without constant nagging of my parents!” (M)

“Then why not ask Lilith to break the engagement?!”

“WHY DO YOU THINK I WOULD NOT TRY?! Even if I did try, His Majesty is so keen on finding me a wife that he would ignore anything but a crime. Only when the candidates were doing something VERY inappropriate he would break the engagement. He never listened to my opinion and thus constantly causes problems. Haaa… When I heard that Lilith and Charlotte are the last candidates in his stupidly long list of fiancées, I understood that it would be my only opportunity. I am sorry to make you a part of this idiocy but it was my last and only hope. I also think that Miss Evereyn would appreciate the fact that she is no longer bound by anything but the morals.” He suggestively looked at the two of us.

“While I appreciate Your Highness’ care, I would still like knowing what you wanted to do beforehand. Miss Delight and I would gladly cooperate without the need to cause us so much trouble.” Lilith was saying everything calmly, it either means she really appreciates Michael’s efforts, or she is beyond mad.

“Mr. Michael can try to make up for his mistakes by paying for our shopping in the capital. You will, right~?” The girls caught up to my devilish smile and the crown prince had no way to refute.

[Shops, we are coming!]

AFP_Writer

I doubt that the poll's result would change too much so I continued writing based on the current results. I hope it will not backfire.