I took Alex’s hand and shook hands, while Margaux made her cheek available. It was too proper for me, but I’d have to get used to it as it seemed to be a protocol. I’d have to ask if they had a book for royal protocols.
Margaux smiled at me.
“Well, it was really nice to meet you, Lizzie. The news hasn’t stopped updating us about both of you. Though Alex and I have to get going because of prior engagements. Talk to you later, Lizzie,” she said and proceeded to exit the palace with Alex in tow.
“She seems interesting if I say so myself,” I said, looking at the door they disappeared to.
“Well, yeah. She and Alex are really inseparable. They really do seem in love with each other. They have been together for a few years. It has always been a puzzle why they haven’t tied the knot, though. Everyone knows they both have parental blessings, but I don’t know with my brother,” Drew said while checking his phone.
He showed me to my room and left me to get settled. He mentioned that I could go exploring if I wanted to since he would be a bit unreachable for a few hours because of his royal duties. And I did just that.
I was looking at the different portraits while searching the history behind them on the internet when I heard a voice.
“I see, my son brought you here. If I were the one in-charge, Catherine would be here instead of you. My son had always had the habit of going against my wishes. Do enjoy your stay here because it won’t last. I wouldn’t let some foreigner, much less a commoner, sit at the Sarconian throne. This is the big leagues, little girl. You won’t win,” the king said, directly looking at me.
I was not sure where the sudden confidence came from, but I couldn’t just let him say those things without fighting back.
“You should get used to the idea of a commoner and foreigner sitting on your precious throne, Your Majesty. I love Drew, and he loves me. We will get married whether you like it or not. Cath is already in Drew’s bad books; do you really think he will choose her over me? I’m not afraid of you in any way,” I said, and walked out with no specific place to go.
It was late in the afternoon, and I was preoccupied thinking about my hostile conversation with the king when I heard a familiar voice talking on the phone. She seemed quite upset about something.
“I already told you, I did everything I could do for him to marry me, but he wasn’t taking the bait. What am I supposed to do?” a completely upset lady said.
“I can’t get pregnant. He already told me he couldn’t have kids before he’d get married. I don’t even know if he still loves me, or if he’s just pretending to love me now. Yes, we loved each other before, but we are growing apart, and there’s nothing I could do about it,” she said and waited for whoever she was talking over the phone to reply.
“Yes, even if we spend most our time together. Things changed more when he started talking to an artist abroad. I saw their emails, though. I think the artist doesn’t know it’s Alex she’s talking to. It started out when he saw one of her works in France while he was away on royal duty. I believe he asked one of their private investigators to look her up or something. I confronted him the other day, but he kept saying they were only friends and that it’s me he loves. I’m not sure if it’s true anymore. I can’t lose him. I love him too much,” she said, crying.
“I’m sorry about being such a crybaby right now. Yeah, I’ll see you soon too.” She ended the call, and before I could go and hide, she saw me.
“Lizzie? How long have you been standing there?” a shocked Margaux said.
Chapter 20
Is It Worth It?
“Uhhh… Hi, Margaux,” I said, trying not to look at her directly.
I knew royals had problems, but I never thought I would hear them directly. Sure, Drew told me a lot about his woes, but I didn’t expect to hear from the other royals. What exactly did I get myself into? I was now Lizzie the eavesdropper, and that’s not really a good thing.
“You were eavesdropping on me, weren’t you? Oh my god, and you’re gonna tell Drew about this, and everything will be a pile of shit!” Margaux said, practically screaming. She sat down on the chair and started crying her eyes out. I didn’t really know what to do, but I went to her and gave her some sort of comfort.
At first, it felt really awkward trying to comfort someone you barely knew. I tried the well-known tap against the shoulder, the awkward hug where you simply wrap your arms around the person, and the most effective one, simply saying everything will work out fine.
She cried so hard, and when I thought she was finally done and have cried her heart out, she started again. Once she was finally done, she stared at the wall, deep in thought, and then looked at me.
“You didn’t leave me. Why?” Margaux asked.
I felt the question was quite weird. That wasn’t the first thing people ask after crying, right? I stared at her, trying to gauge what the right answer would be.
I should really find a manual for this whole royalty thing. They’re quite weird for someone who came from the real world like me.
“What do you mean I didn’t leave you? People usually stay and comfort someone who needs comforting,” I said in the friendliest way I could.
Margaux suddenly shook her head and did something with her hands. She then took a very deep breath.
“Everyone in the palace turns a blind eye on what’s really happening around them. That’s the way things are since Chad’s family left. They were the only ones who were really genuine around here, and they were exiled for speaking the truth,” Margaux said as her facial features showed her disgust of the situation. “Yet here you are, the next queen, listening to my petty problems and trying to comfort me. It is as awkward as it can be,” she said, smiling even when her eyes were extremely puffy and making some hand signals I couldn’t quite decipher. I was guessing she was a hand talker.
I was quite thrown off guard with her comment. I knew Drew was the next king, but I still couldn’t grasp the thought of becoming the next queen of a country I only learned of a few months ago. So there weren’t many genuine people around here as well… I knew the reason Chad’s family had to relocate, but it never occurred to me they were the only ones who really cared. But on the hindsight, it would make sense. Chad’s family was exiled not just because of the Cath issue. They simply drew the final straw. I wonder what else happened here?
And she thought her problems were petty. I’d hate to see what she thought were serious problems.
“Well, I grew up where we would normally comfort someone who needed it. Plus, I don’t think you’re being petty about your situation. You’re committed to this relationship, and it’s normal to want that in return. From Drew’s words, I think you and Alex are the perfect royal couple here in Sarconia.”
She laughed a little and shook her head. She looked at the wall once again, playing with her hands as if she was releasing some of the stress out of her system.
“I love Alex with all my heart, but the whole perfect persona was just that, a mask. It was a facade we carefully portray. I knew that Alex wasn’t ready for anything serious when we started dating, but I thought if I did my best, he would view it in a different light. I was so blown away with his royal title that I suddenly thought I was Cinderella. He could have any girl he wanted, yet here he was interested in me. At first, I didn’t know of the King’s purist ways, but to be honest, I didn’t really care. I had Alex and that’s all that matters.” She stood up and slowly paced about the room in a very graceful way. She then looked at me from where she was standing and said, “I’m a selfish person who wants Alex for herself. I know it’s wrong, but I love him too much to not fight for what we have… or what I have convinced myself into thinking we have.”
Her ways might have been a bit too harsh, but I couldn’t imagine the pain people going through something like this feels.
“I want to say something meaningful to make you feel better, but I honestly can’t think of any. I can’t say that I know how y
ou feel because I really don’t, and I feel like if I say anything, it would underestimate what you’re going through. But I do have one thing I would like to ask … Is it worth it?” I asked her.
She was stunned by my question. It looked like it was the first time someone asked her something like that. I was not sure what kind of alternate reality these people were living, but what I was asking was a valid question.
She sat down again, obviously deep in her thoughts.
“If by worth it, you mean I’m being recognized everywhere, then yes, it’s worth it. If it means a better future for me, yes, it’s worth it. If it means having a claim on him over anyone, then yes, it’s worth it. And if it means I’m the one who is beside him every day, then yes, it’s worth it,” Margaux replied. She continued but in a more hushed tone.
“But if it’s happiness and sense of security over what we have, I’m not so sure. There was a time when I would tell you it was, but now? I don’t know. I’m not even sure if the battle I’m fighting is worth fighting for. At the end of the day, it boils down to one question: Is he with me because he loves me or because he needs to be with me?” she said with a faraway look.
Her shoulders were slumped so low that I could feel the pain from a mile away. Her head hung in silence, but I could tell from her shaking shoulders that she was crying once again.
“Do you really think that not knowing is better than knowing?” I asked.
She looked up at me and gave me the tiniest smile I had ever seen in my life.
“What do you think? I have been with Alex for three years now, and I have known him practically all my life. Knowing gives it a finality I’m not sure I want to face just yet,” Margaux said as she stood up with her usual grace and bearing.
“If this is causing you so much unhappiness then, how can you make someone else happy?” I asked.
“Maybe that’s what’s wrong in this picture, I’m too afraid to face my problems because the truth scares the hell out of me. What if what I want and what I have are two different things? I could lose Alex.” She looked at me again while she was gently touching a very expensive looking vase.
“I want to have the kind of family I didn’t have, a happy one, and I thought that maybe having a baby with Alex might make it happen. But after the whole Cath issue, being pregnant anytime soon would be impossible. He might not love me as much as I love him, but he’s a really great guy. Anyone can see he will be a great dad. To be honest, I’m not sure how Alex, Andrew, and Andie grew up like that when they have a pretty crappy dad,” she said.
“Tell me about it,” I said in a low voice, and made Margaux laugh a little.
“He’s a great king, and the people love him. He’s also a great husband as he likes to keep the Queen happy. But as a dad, he just didn’t have enough time for it,” she said.
She walked towards the door.
“I don’t know about you, but I think I have had enough revelations to tell for the day. Get dressed. They’ll call us for dinner in a few minutes, you’d want to be prepared for that. Life here in the palace is not the same as where you came from. We have rules and protocols to follow. Here’s as a tip, never attend dinner wearing jeans. They’ll probably have your head for that one,” she said, trying to sound funny but ultimately failing.
She then left the room, and I was left alone with my thoughts. I thought she looked happy with her relationship with Alex. Now I was left wondering how many more relationships I thought was a happy one but turns out not to be?
I instantly felt lonely and quite frankly, depressed. I was a million miles from home, my friends were not here with me, my boyfriend’s dad hated my guts just because I didn’t have any Sarconian blood, and to top it all off, it seemed like I was going to live in a palace where there were more problems than people who had claims to the throne.
I then remembered what I asked Margaux. Is it worth it? I now asked myself.
I made that decision when I said yes to Drew. It felt like a long time ago, yet here I was, asking myself the same question again. Is it because I’m here in Sarconian land and far from my turf? Is it because everything happened in such a rush I didn’t even have a chance to think of back up plans like I used to do.
It was like I met Drew, befriended him, started dating him, found out about his secret, and was now talking marriage with him all in a day. I loved him that much. It might be too fast for some people, but when you know, you just know. No explanations needed. Was love enough for all the sacrifices that I was making? This was no fairy tale where every story ended in a happily ever after. This was a reality where divorce rates skyrocket every year.
“There you are. Do you know how long I have been looking for you?” Drew said, walking towards me. He still looked like the simple guy I met in the library, though being here in the palace made him look more powerful and authoritative.
He was still the guy I met in the library. I fell in love with that guy, and the guy standing in front of me right now was the exact same person. He was not a figment of my imagination, but so does the problem and sacrifices that surround him. Maybe, just maybe, there would come a time when I could doubt my doubts. If the voices inside my head ask, “What if I won’t be happy,” I will reply, “What if I end up happy?” If it says, “You can’t make it,” I will instead ask, “What if I make it?”
But then another question came to me, “When do I know once I’ve crossed the line from being realistic to being pessimistic?”
“How and when did you know I was worth it?” I suddenly asked him.
He looked shocked for a minute and smiled like he remembered something that gave him happiness.
“You want a list? Because if that’s what you want, I don’t have one. If I have to make a list of everything I love about you, I have to make a list of the things I hate about you too. You’re not perfect, and neither am I. I love all of you, even the things that would make you unworthy in other people’s eyes.” He looked at me like he was searching for something that would assure him that we had no problem. “Princess, there are things you just know and don’t need any explanations for. I love you, and for me, that’s more than enough to make you worth fighting for until my last breath. You’re my other half and the one that God made especially for me. My question is, do you feel the same?” he asked.
They say the truth would set you free, and as I looked into his eyes for the nth time, I knew the answer to my question. The difference between Margaux and me was that I dared to ask and face the truth. I had hope—hope that everything would be fine in the end.
“Yes, I would die fighting for you, Drew, simply because I know deep in my heart that you’re the only one worth fighting for. Even with all the sacrifices I made and have to make, you’re worth it and much much more. I love you too,” I said and then kissed him while letting all of my old, new, and future doubts behind. I had him and would die fighting for him, and that was all that matters.
Chapter 21
This Is One Weird Welcoming Dinner
“Dinner is about to be served,” a very formal looking guy in a suit said. He was surrounded by a few men with matching suits. We heard this announcement as we went inside the sitting room beside the dining area, waiting for dinner.
When Margaux mentioned that they were taking dinners here seriously, she wasn’t kidding. The king and queen were wearing what I assumed to be their usual clothes for formal affairs, unlike the time I met them on the island. The king was wearing a three-piece suit with a sash that had too many pins for my personal liking. It looked really heavy. The queen was wearing a white designer dress with matching jewelry. Drew was also wearing a suit, as well as Alex, who was with a very possessive looking Margaux. She really took to heart that no one could take her place as Alex’s girlfriend. She was dressed in a cream A-line designer dress.
Andie was also here, acting differently from when she was on vacation. She looked in every bit the princess that she was. She was wearing a nice flowing blue dress with
a matching blue sapphire jewelry set surrounded with diamonds. I kind of missed the enthusiastic Andie who never shut up. Here, she was all prim and proper.
I felt out of place in this whole affair. I was only wearing something from ZARA, definitely not the same caliber as their designer clothes. It was pretty funny that back home, this was already considered quite expensive. I thought I had just entered an alternate reality. Actually, might as well imagine it as a reality TV show where everyone kept outdoing each other.
“Oh, goodness. I didn’t realize you were already here Andrew, Andie, and of course, Lizzie. I thought it was only Ryan coming home today. I was expecting you guys until tomorrow afternoon. You know, so Lizzie could have some time for her family first,” Diana said, walking towards us to greet us properly.
“Mom, what do you mean? Is Ryan here? Doesn’t he have school?” Drew asked with a confused expression. This was the exact same question that popped in my head. Did Ryan get the special treatment like me on this particular case?
Wait, who was I kidding; this was Ryan. He would have convinced the principal that this was an urgent matter.
“What’s going on here? Why does Andrew have his confused face on? This thing rarely happens, and I’m not missing out,” Andie asked, approaching us.
“Didn’t your father mention that Ryan was called on by his father to be here as we will all be busy preparing in the next few weeks to make Lizzie’s royal debut? His dad is the royal adviser, and he is trained to be one if and when the need arises. I thought you were okay with that deal, Andrew?” Diana asked, looking a bit confused with the turn of events. She might have thought that everyone was on the same page as her.
“I am. I think Ryan is perfect for the role, but he needs more time. I have been consulting Luke about royal affairs lately, especially now that he wants to run as the prime minister. Dad never mentioned Ryan while we were talking a few hours ago,” Drew said in a very business-like way, reminding me that he wasn’t just the regular guy I had been dating the last few months. I realized he didn’t like the fact that he wasn’t in on this set-up. I could see the irritation in his eyes, but why? I was not so sure. Drew wasn’t the jealous type.
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