Chapter 6

I held my breath as I poured the black liquid from the pot onto my bone china cup, under the watchful eyes of Henry’s mother, Empress Camilla. The breakfast table was already set, but there were no servants to serve them, just like how the sovereign liked it. I then poured oat milk with practiced grace. To avoid spilling and touching the sides, I stirred my tea back and forth rather than in a circular motion. I took a small sip from my cup before resetting it on the saucer with barely a clink.

It was the morning following the tense encounter with the werewolves at Lupine Pass. Camilla arranged for us to have breakfast in the garden, surrounded by fragrant pine trees and shrubbery, and warmed by the morning sun. It was lovely. But the air was tense and filled with nervous energy. I felt nauseous. My future mother-in-law was friendly, smiling, and a delightful host, but I couldn’t help but feel under intense scrutiny. Like everything was a test. Even Becca could feel it, and I was glad she wasn’t being her annoying self that day.

“Helena?”

Everyone at the breakfast table stopped what we were doing. Becca almost dropped her cup of tea in shock when the empress spoke. Although I threw her an annoyed look, I couldn’t blame her for being nervous around the most powerful woman in all of Terran.

My stepmother was the opposite. She was the perfect picture of elegance and grace. She looked and giggled with my future mother-in-law like they were friends… like they were equal.

“Yes, Cammy?”

I nearly choked on my air after hearing Helena’s dreadful nickname for the empress. I wanted to kick her under the table, but Camilla loved it when she was called that.

“How far along are you?” the empress inquired. “You’re so big! Are they twins?”

“Gods, no. But I’m 38 weeks along now.”

“Goodness! And your husband let you travel? In Lupine Pass, no less. What was he thinking?”

I wanted to interject and defend my father, but Camilla might think it was uncouth. I stewed there as the empress made several assumptions and backhanded compliments to my father, while his wife just smiled.

“What if you gave birth while traveling and didn’t have access to medical care? Saul can be so thick sometimes.”

“It’s not His Majesty’s fault,” Helena finally said. “I wanted to come here with my daughter because her father couldn’t. Traveling to an unfamiliar place is challenging for everyone, and I want Princess Selina to feel less alone, even for a while.”

“That’s so sweet of you, Helena.” Camilla turned to me. “Selina, you’re lucky you have your mother here by your side. Not everyone is as thoughtful.”

I wanted to scream at her: She’s not my mother! I am not her daughter!

My mother’s name was Astrid Altalune, and she died alone in her bedchamber while that vile woman you called sweet and thoughtful was keeping my father in hers!

“Selina,” the Empress said. I was about to excuse myself and deal with my true feelings elsewhere, but now that all eyes were on me, I smiled, attempting to conceal it as best as I could. “Henry informed me you are already enrolled at Aldervolf University. What courses are you taking?”

“I’m taking Art History and Literature, Your Majesty.”

“I see… but don’t you think it’s a little boring and predictable? Every noble and royal who has ever entered that university has studied Art History and literature. All those mundane courses that no one in the working class would take because there would be no money or job opportunities afterward.”

“But there are, ma’am. I could be a professor, or a writer, or a curator of an art museum. Depending on my specialization, I could also be an art consultant...”

“Yes, but…” Camilla gave me the side eye. “You’re not going to be all that, are you?”

I was about to dispute her words but realized my mistake right away. I looked down in defeat.

“Do you now understand what I mean? These classes are synonymous with wealth. Taken by people who do not need an education but must have one because they have the means. Because failing to obtain an education despite having the resources will only make you appear lazy. And what rational person would follow a lazy leader?”

I had completed all of my training, education, and preparation for my role as the future sovereign’s wife before I was even 18 years old. The empress was right. We don’t need to go to university, we just do it because they expect it from us. Most of the time, royals and nobles only went to college to pass the time until they inherited their parents’ estates.

“What if you’re not you? If you had the choice, what would you have?”

“I don’t know,” I admitted. I’d been told my entire life what I was supposed to be. Being an empress, a mother, and a wife is what I was born to do. My purpose was to bring our noble houses together and bear an heir. Nothing else.

“What are your hobbies, Selina?”

“Well, I love reading and art…”

“Boring!” Camilla rolled her eyes at me.

“I don’t know what I’m supposed to say, Your Majesty.”

“Tell me, what are you good at?”

“Well… everything that is required of me, I am good at.” And it’s the truth. If I deem it important, I always do my best to accomplish it. I am perfect in that regard.

The empress sighed in frustration, probably thinking I was d*mwitted or something.

“I don’t understand the need to change, ma’am. Like you said, it’s not like I’m going to need it after college,” I defended myself.

“Because while you’re there, you might as well take something that you enjoy and useful to you, not just something to pass the time, or else you’ll hate it there.”

“Well–”

“Selina loves to garden,” Helena interjected. I gave her a look, but she continued. “She manages a flourishing greenhouse in our kingdom. She is knowledgeable about medicinal plants and studies them in her spare time. An advocate of animal rights, as well.”

“Is that true?” Camilla eyed me skeptically, especially my well-manicured nails. They were trimmed exactly two millimeters past my finger pads and were painted in a subtle old rose color, not a speck of dirt in sight. I only nodded in reply. “An environmentalist, huh? Now we’re getting somewhere! I think there’s a plant science course in AU.”

“Yes, they do,” I answered. I noticed it while looking through the courses they had available. “It was called Bachelor of Science in Ecology and Wildlife Conservation.”

I debated taking it back then but ultimately decided against it. I came here for one reason and only one reason.

“That settles it then.” Camilla tapped lightly on the table three times, as a judge would on their gavel. “You’re taking that course.”

“Regrettably, Your Majesty, I’m already registered. Even if I wanted to, I just couldn’t...”

“Of course, you can. The classes don’t start until Monday, and even if they tried, they couldn’t say no to me once I told them to let you switch courses.”

The empress looked like she wouldn’t take no for an answer, literally, so I let it go. I wouldn’t want to get on my future mother-in-law’s bad side. I just smiled and nodded before picking up my cup to sip, intending to hide my grimace. Camilla motioned for her Royal Butler to come and she talked to him for a minute, occasionally glancing and motioning her gloved hand in my direction as she spoke.

I noticed her blue diamond ring glinted in the sunlight. It was an oval halo design with a massive 56-carat rock in the center, surrounded by 14 tiny white diamonds all set in gleaming white gold. The style was vintage, it was beautiful and timeless. It was the heirloom ring that every future empress consort received as an engagement ring. I was ecstatic about the prospect of inheriting it through marriage someday. It would look perfect in my hand.

“...Is that possible?” I heard Camilla say and I turned my focus to them again.

“Of course, Your Majesty,” the butler said as he scribbled something on the tablet phone in his hand. “I think it was a wise choice; your subjects will be pleased to learn that their future empress consort cares about the environment and the animals.”

I smiled, but worry began to gnaw at me as things sank in. On the one hand, I liked the idea of studying something that I was interested in, earning the commoners’ approval was a bonus. On the other hand, I’d have more coursework and less time with Henry.

“Squeeze in Political Science as an elective,” Camilla said again. “You never know, you might need it someday.”

Everyone at the table looked at the Empress with our mouths agape. I was especially shocked, almost choked on my tea and sputtered. I did not know what to do or say. Was she implying what I thought she was implying?

“Your Majesty,” the Royal Butler admonished the empress. “That was unkind of you to say.”

“What?” The older woman looked around at us. “Am I wrong?”

“Well, I never…” I managed to say. My nose, throat, and chest burned from almost drowning in that tea.

“You should.” Camilla continued to look unbothered, sipping on her own cup. “When Henry’s father died, I was on the verge of losing the empire because I had only been taught to be a consort, to be beautiful, and to live in the shadow of my husband. I wasn’t prepared. I wasn’t supposed to rule, everyone discredited me, looked down on me, but ten years later, here I am. The ruler of the Greater Volfenheim Empire. And that’s because I studied, and I never stopped learning. Can you imagine if I learned those things from the get go? I would’ve never made devastating mistakes.”

That statement was a test. I know it was. I schooled my expression as Camilla stared at me. She was trying to figure out if I was plotting anything against her son.

“I’ll… think about it, Your Majesty,” I said with as much honesty as I could muster, staring her straight in the eye. “Thank you for the advice.”

“Henry is taking that course as well.”

Of course, he was. It was required of him. When it dawned on me what the empress was trying to say, she winked at me. She wanted me to be in the same class as Henry. Did I pass the test? Have I earned her blessing?

The thought made me happy.

“How about you, Becca?” Camilla turned to my lady-in-waiting. “Are you going to join Selina in college?”

“Yes, ma’am,” Becca answered, turning pink. “I am to have the same classes as her as a part of my job.”

“Aren’t you supposed to be seven in total?” Camilla thoughtfully said, talking about the number of ladies-in-waiting a noblewoman such as myself should have to keep us company. “Where are the others?”

“It was just Becca, ma’am,” I interjected quickly. “A personal choice.”

All those other noble ladies they picked to be my companions were a bunch of tattle-tales and uptight and dumb. Despite her obvious flaws, Becca was tolerable, loyal, and didn’t openly flirt with other nobles or my father. She generally left me alone to my thoughts or just agreed with everything I said. She’s the perfect drone.

“And yours, Helena?”

My stepmother was about to answer when a voice interjected suddenly.

“What’s with the interrogation?”

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