Chapter 114

How to Tame My Beastly Husband — Chapter 114. Puppets (2)

“This is what the King literally told me,” Celestine said, and dropped her voice in imitation of Selgratis. “Lady Keers, I am so glad that we will soon be family. You will be an excellent match for Ludwig. I am very pleased to join my family with the Keers Marquisate.”

Her sharp green eyes were cynical, as much to ask Annette if she could possibly guess what happened next. And Annette’s eyes widened. She understood instantly what the King meant.

“Oh…no…”

“Yes, that fucker! Pardon my language, but it’s the truth! You were disqualified because your family is powerful. So you weren’t suitable for the firstborn son of the king, because the weakling prince couldn’t stand up to his wife’s family!”

Celestine exploded with fury, all but breathing fire. Her voice rose shrilly as her hand clutched at her chest, all evidence of the refined young lady vanished.

“But what about me?! I am the right match for the Crown Prince? Because my family doesn’t have the influence to control him, even if we wanted to?! A fine gift for a Crown Prince, a match to a girl from a ruined family! How dare he insult us like that!”

The last words were nearly a scream, the fury of a fallen family, proud even in poverty. King Selgratis was treating them as inconsequential, and Celestine herself like a pretty, useless ornament to stand beside his weak son.

“And why did we fall so far in the first place?” Celestine went on. “None of this would have happened, if the royal family had just supported us, as we supported them! They wanted the Keers family to fall, and so they let our people starve!”

Celestine burst into tears, as fresh as if the tragedy were yesterday. The Keers family had been wealthy and prosperous, and extremely loyal to the royal family, and received only suspicion as a reward. The earthquake had been a catastrophe for the Keers family, but the royals had treated it as an opportunity.

Even the royal family was supposed to be obliged to care for their subjects.

And now, as a final insult, that same royal family that had shunned the Keers family when they were strong now embraced them when they were weak. Now they were welcomed in and given access to the royal family, now that they had become tigers with no teeth.

Celestine looked as if she might spit nails.

“But do you know what the worst thing is?” She asked softly.

“I didn’t even know. I talked to His Majesty about the kidnapping, and how scared I was. I talked about it to the person who arranged it!”

Her voice rose to a roar, ferocious as a lioness. Despite his benevolent appearance, King Selgratis was exceptionally skilled at deceit. Annette couldn’t help wondering what he must have been thinking, as he listened to Celestine tell him how badly he had hurt her.

Pacing back to her chair, Celestine flung herself into it with a derisive snort, as if that had expended the last of her anger. Silently, Annette patted her shoulder.

“What will you do now?” Celestine asked.

“First, there is a pawn we have to take.”

As compared to Celestine’s wrath, Annette was impeccably calm, sitting with her hands neatly folded together, like the illustration of a lady in a storybook. One would never have known that she was another victim of the same plot?

But despite her outward appearance, Annette was very, very angry. She had wasted ten years of her life, being the puppet of King Selgratis. The Bavaria blood in her veins ran cold, an icy rage that she only dimly perceived.

No one would be allowed to make a fool of her.

No one.