Earning the Love of a Princess-Chapter 308: Violet: A Wish Comes True

For a wedding dinner that had been arranged at such speed, the banquet hall had been magnificently decorated. Twinkling candles and vast bouquets of mistletoe and snowdrops made the room look like a scene from a winter fairytale.

Queen Celia might’ve still been furious about who she ended up with as a new daughter, but her pride wouldn’t allow her to host anything less than a spectacularly beautiful wedding for her firstborn.

It was a pity then, Violet thought, that her mother-in-marriage had spent much of the chapel ceremony and now the dinner, glaring at her. There wouldn’t be any forgiveness coming from the queen anytime soon.

Violet sat straight and tall at the high table, the scent of fragrant winter greenery enveloping her. She could see Leo across the hall, laughing loudly with a cluster of his friends, the small group of pampered young noblemen with the same fondness for drinking and riotous nights.

He’s already well on his way to being drunk. Heaven knows what state my new husband will be in by the time dinner is over and it’s time for us to retire, she thought.

Violet glanced down at the stunning pearls on her wedding dress. Once, owning such a dress would’ve made her heart sing.

Now, looking at it made her feel curiously empty.

She looked up as a shadow suddenly blotted out the glow from the enormous chandelier above.

Prince Johan was standing over her. The next moment, he swept her a deep bow. He was smirking when he rose to meet her eyes. "I thought I should show the respect due to the next Queen of Islia."

Violet gave him a wan smile and gestured to the empty seat next to her.

The prince dropped gracefully into the seat and waved a servant over for a goblet of wine. He looked at the plate of barely touched food in front of her. "The dinner isn’t to your liking?"

Violet assumed he knew she was with child. Wasn’t that the reason the whole farce of a marriage had been forced through? Still, she didn’t want to talk about her debilitating nausea with the king’s brother. "I’m just not hungry, Your Highness."

Johan raised a brow in amusement. "No need to be so formal anymore, Princess Violet. We’re kin now, are we not?"

Princess Violet Devon. That’s who she was now. She’d better hurry up and get used to it.

"Yes, I suppose we are." she murmured. "Though I don’t know if I’ll ever feel comfortable calling you Uncle."

"My actual nephews never call me that, so I don’t expect you to either." he said with a laugh.

Violet nodded, then looked quickly into his eyes before dropping her gaze again to the lavishly decorated table. The casual observer would look at them and think it was a friendly conversation taking place between two family members, nothing more.

But nothing could be further from the truth, Violet thought. There had never been a sliver of friendliness in Prince Johan’s eyes before and there certainly wasn’t one now.

He clinked the goblet he’d just been handed, against the edge of hers. "We should toast then."

"What are we toasting to?" Violet asked dully. All she wanted was for dinner to be over so she could crawl into bed.

Even then, she wouldn’t be alone, she realised in dismay. She was a married woman now. She was expected to share her bed every night with her husband.

"Why, we’re toasting to you of course, Princess." Johan looked surprised at her lacklustre tone. "To your incredible rise, from nobody to future queen. You’re now where you always wanted to be, at the very pinnacle of prestige for a woman. You must be exultant."

Exultant? Is that really what he thought?

Violet managed to keep her voice from cracking when she replied, "I’m grieving, my lord. My sister is gone."

"I heard she’d passed. And so?"

"And so?" Violet parroted in disbelief. "And so...I am distraught and in shock! She was my twin sister. A sudden illness just took her away!" 𝙧𝙚𝙚𝔀𝒆𝓫𝓷𝙤𝓿𝒆𝙡.𝒄𝙤𝓶

"Nothing to be done about it now. People die suddenly every day." Johan shrugged. "Besides, you wanted her out of the way, didn’t you? If I recall correctly, you saw her as your biggest rival, your biggest obstacle to possessing my nephew. So doesn’t this mean that by her being gone, your greatest problem is now solved?"

Violet was sickened by his heartless assessment. "I never, ever said I wanted Ilse to die."

"You told me people had ignored you all your life because of her, and that you needed her out of your way so they’d pay attention to you."

"Not like this! Not by her dying!"

Johan shrugged again. "She’s gone. Whether she’s dead, in a nunnery or married to a peasant and living halfway across the continent, the result is the same. She’ll never trouble you again and you’ve triumphed over your competition." His pale eyes were like shards of ice as he stared at her. "My warmest congratulations."

Violet wanted to claw his face and scream at him for speaking with such cruelty. She blinked rapidly to stop her tears from falling. She could only imagine the gossip that would arise if anyone saw the royal bride sobbing at her own wedding dinner.

Johan gave her a faint smile that told her he knew of her predicament, knew what she was thinking. He knew.

"It can be a great sorrow in life when our greatest wish doesn’t come true. And sometimes, it can be an even greater sorrow when our wish does come true. Wouldn’t you agree?" He finished his wine and stood up, smoothing down his velvet tunic.

Violet looked up at him, her tongue frozen in place.

"I tried to warn you but you refused to listen. So now all I can do is wish you luck, Your Highness. Only you know if the price you paid was worth it."

With those words, he calmly walked away.

Violet decided then and there that she’d never, ever say another word to that despicable man. Because every word he’d spoken was nothing but the truth.

From their very first encounter, he’d seen not just her ambition, but also the ugliest side of her. He’d seen it before she’d even known it was there.

She couldn’t bear to see what all her scheming and grasping had turned her into, mirrored in Prince Johan’s eyes.

- - -

Leo was staggering slightly from his heavy drinking, as he walked to his apartments.

Our shared apartments now, Violet corrected herself as she followed her new husband, watching him stumbling along.

Leo pushed open the door to the apartments for her and bowed with a ridiculous flourish. "Please enter, my dear bride...Violet."

Why did he hesitate a little when he said her name, Violet asked herself? Had he forgotten his own wife’s name on their wedding night?

Or was he thinking of another name he’d prefer to be saying?

Leo hadn’t uttered a single word about Ilse in the month since Violet had returned to court and their wedding had been hurriedly planned. But there was a constant distance in his gaze when she looked into his eyes, as if his true feelings were hidden behind a curtain.

The two of them hadn’t really talked since her return to Westerhaven, not besides anything superficial like the wedding arrangements. It didn’t help that Leo seemed determined to drink himself into a stupor every night at dinner.

Ilse continued to hover silently between them, like a festering wound that had scabbed superficially but still held infection behind a veneer of shiny new skin.

Violet forced herself to focus on her surroundings. Ahead of her, Leo strode through the presence chamber and into what Violet assumed was the bedchamber, removing his clothes and throwing them carelessly to the floor.

Violet followed him and entered the most luxurious bedchamber she’d ever seen. Before she could say anything, there was a dull thump as Leo removed the heavy gold circlet around his head and tossed it onto the carpeted floor.

Now only wearing his trousers, he flopped back on the bed and stared up at her. "Come on then, Crown Princess. It’s time to do your duty to your husband." Half sitting up, he beckoned Violet over and patted the bed next to him.

She walked stiffly to the side of the bed. She couldn’t think of anything less appealing than having lie there and let him pound into her like a brute, when she was already nauseous and tired. "Haven’t I already done my duty to you? I have your heir in my belly, don’t I?"

Leo blinked in surprise. "Huh. I suppose you’re right about that, actually." He laughed, then lay back on the pillow. "I’ve had a fair amount to drink and the room’s spinning, so maybe this is for the best. Good night then, little wife."

A few moments later, he’d fallen into a drunken slumber and started snoring.

Violet unlaced her gown and slipped into the beautiful silk nightgown laid an the foot of the bed. Then she stretched herself out at Leo’s side.

She stared up at the bed canopy and its elaborate pattern stitched in with what looked like real gold thread.

A canopy fit for royalty, fit for a princess.

Funny how being a wife means you don’t ever need to spend another night alone again if you don’t want to, Violet thought sorrowfully.

And yet, I feel like the loneliness of my wedding night is going to smother me.