189 2.2.14: Engagement Validation

The moment that she stepped out of the carriage, she was greeted with a castle tall and towering enough to reach the sky. At least that's how it appeared to her. It was so grand and majestic with its white and gold decorations on their exterior, that it seemed like her journey with the questioning trio had been worth it. They had questioned her until their mouths had run dry, but she still answered each and every question of theirs to a perfect degree.

Initially, she wanted to answer some wrong, but it was a petty way of revenge as well, so she answered them all correctly and forced them to ask more and more questions. The interrogation was placed on hold when they arrived at the castle, hence the lack of words coming from their mouths.

A servant came out of the castle and greeted them while another guided the horseman and their carriage elsewhere. The servant was very dignified, different than their servants, mainly because theirs weren't monitored as harshly as the ones in the castle are. The servants greeted them with the utmost respect, especially when it got to Xiao Yunhua. It seemed like the servant knew who she was. When they walked inside, the other servants also greeted them, particularly her again, which confirmed her gut feeling. Practically everyone, including the servants, knew about the new engagement, so they treated her like the crown princess already. The engagement wasn't validated, but everyone knew that it would soon be. The girl and her family had already been invited with the royal family to make the engagement official, so it was most likely going to happen.

They followed the servant to a elegant and extravagant room that had tables decorated with tea and other delicious pastries that went well with the tea. The servant told them to make themselves comfortable as the royal family would be there to greet them soon. Although they sat down, they didn't dare to pour the tea for themselves nor eat any of the pastries. It was very disrespectful if the other guest wasn't there and they had already begun to eat. Not to mention that the other guests at the table were the royal family! Anything to make them angry would only result in their head, no matter if they were going to become in laws or not.

They patiently waited for ten or so minutes before the first royal appeared. Crown prince Adriel appeared, looking extremely handsome and dashing with his black and blue clothes. He noticed Violetta first, so he nodded in her direction and then turned to greeted the rest of the family.

"I hope Duke Warrington won't blame us for being a bit late, especially my parents."

"Yes, Your Highness, we don't mind at all. Please, make sure to not worry about it." The Duchess added with a smile. Adriel nodded and knew that their real reason that they were so patient was their goal and aim for today: getting the engagement validated. Speaking of engagement, he looked at the girl he hadn't seen for two days and noticed that she was healthy and less gloomy in comparison to the garden. She looked beautiful today as well, dressed in blue and gold and her blonde curls to match. Although she wasn't as beautiful as the first time he saw her, she was still beautiful today.

He wanted to talk to her but realized that he couldn't bring up anything remotely suspicious that could give away his marriage contract as long as there were other people there except for her. As much as he wanted to invite her to be alone; he realized that it wasn't very appropriate and could end up harming her reputation. Although his wouldn't be as harmed and as affected, it would affect her the most since she had just become an adult lady after having her debutant party.

Adriel didn't want any silence to prevent any awkwardness, so he indulged in talking about other things and they joined in and soon, a harmonious atmosphere filled the room. Ten or so minutes later, the doors opened and a man and a woman appeared.

The man was in his forties with salt and pepper hair, along with a sharp, regal face that had a few wrinkles to indicate his age, but didn't take away from his overall handsomeness. He was dressed in expensive materials and a cloak was behind him. Although the man didn't have his crown on top of his head, it wasn't hard to guess who this was: the King.

As for the woman, she was around the same age as the man but her wrinkles weren't as dominant. She had brown hair and a pair of brown eyes, but her face was extraordinarily beautiful. Even the Duchess, who Xiao Yunhua thought was one of the most beautiful women—ignoring her murderous tendencies—paled in comparison to the woman. Her dress was bright red and youthful, almost like she was trying to make a statement against her age. She didn't have her crown either, but she had a diamond headdress on top of her head, covering her bun as well. It seemed like the headdress was just as expensive as if it were a crown.

Xiao Yunhua wondered where the crown prince had gotten his appearance: it looked liked both the King and the Queen were very beautiful people, so it was no surprise that their child had turned out to be so handsome.

Everyone, including Xiao Yunhua and Adriel himself, stood up to greet the royal couple who nodded and didn't act arrogant nor familiar with them. They treated them fairly, which surprised her. She expected for her Queen to lash out and try to murder her the moment that she saw her for taking away her precious son.

Finally, with the King and Queen there, the servants began to pour the tea and the pastries were served.

The Queen turned her brown eyes in the direction of Xiao Yunhua and quietly analyzed her. Even though Xiao Yunhua pretended like she couldn't see the Queen eyeing her, it still felt uncomfortable to have someone's eyes on her for a long period of time. "Are you the darling that stole my son's heart?" The Queen finally asked, having finished her moment of observation.

"Your Majesty..." Xiao Yunhua looked rough Adriel for help and luckily he understood.

"Mother, your request really had allowed me to meet Violet, so I must thank you for that." The people there were surprised at how natural he called out the girl's nickname, like he had been using her nickname for years when it's only been two days. But more so, they focused on the part where the crown prince admitted that it was the Queen's request to have the crown prince escort the girl at her debutant party. So had the Queen herself thrown herself in the pit of fire by sending her son and getting a daughter in return?

The Queen could easily understand that her son was protecting the girl, but she couldn't understand why. They had only meant once, this being their second meeting, so how had they gotten so close to the basis of nicknames, protection and marriage!? She eyed the girl again; curious on what was so special about her.

"Is that so?" She muttered calmly, sipping her tea. Her attention turned to the Duchess and she smiled. "Old friend, how are you?"

The Duchess smiled just as calm as her, "I'm very well Your Majesty. How about you?"

The Queen nodded, "Very good as well. Old friend, why don't you visit me more often? I do miss chatting with you. I haven't seen you in any parties either." This was a taboo subject for the Duchess because ever since the death of her daughter, her appearance in high society was scarce. After so many years, her first appearance was when she took Violetta to her first party. After that, it was rare for her to appear, but when she did, people immediately crowded around her. She had the status of a Duchess, after all, and people were greedy for power.

"Well; as a mother of a young child, I do tend to get busy. Violet just recently had her debutant party, so I couldn't focus on anything but her coming of age. Since it's a once in a lifetime chance, I had to make sure everything was perfect for her."

The Queen nodded in sympathy. Although her sympathy was false and fake and she wanted nothing to do with the girl that had gotten her son to want to marry her, she couldn't show her true colors or else it would stir rumors. She could only pretend to be sympathetic.

They chatted for a little bit longer before the Duke began to grow impatient. He knew why the Queen kept bringing up random subjects and conversing so long about them. She was avoiding the main subject at hand: the validation of the engagement. So, he had to take matters into his own hands to secure his daughter's happiness and more importantly, secure the Warrington Clan a secure future.

"Your Highness, do your words from yesterday stand?" Once he uttered those words, all the other conversations ceased and everything took a deep breath. They had all been avoiding this topic, so the Duke was either very brave or very stupid to bring it up first.

"Of course." Adriel agreed almost immediately. He was also tired of the way his mother was manipulating the conversation away from the engagement because she didn't like the girl. So once he found the chance to divert the subject to the main subject, he didn't hesitate.

"Agreement?" The Queen pretended to be clueless. "Adriel, did you agree to one of those silly things you always agree to but never take seriously?" Although the Queen was reprimanding him, she was also indirectly telling the people that he agreed to many things, but most weren't taken seriously. Such as Violetta and her engagement to him.

"No mother, this time, I was completely serious. I hope you and father can be supportive of my decision to want to get engaged to Violetta." He blurted it all at once, not giving the Queen a chance to refute nor pretend otherwise. Her face shifted in color and turned more pale and she clenched her fists.

"Adriel, marriage and engagement are very important things. I hope you're not just saying this for laughs." The Queen was trying hard to convince him to think otherwise.

However, her son was stubborn just like her. "I am serious. I hope to get your blessings to validate this engagement." The Queen didn't want to give her blessings to a union between an illegitimate peasant and her first child, the crown prince of the nation. Just thinking about the couple and how odd they were together, it didn't make sense at all. She didn't want her child to be mocked because of her, so she shook her head.

"There are many out there, are you sure you want to marry her?" She whispered, thinking that Xiao Yunhua didn't hear her. But as Xiao Yunhua has the enhanced senses, she could hear every word perfectly clear. She didn't like how the Queen was discriminating against her but also knew that the Queen was just acting based on social norms. Any royal would oppose this marriage in the time period that they were in. Ignoring the fact that she had a dukedom's support, her inferiority would always be in her bloodline. Maybe her illegitimate status could be forgiven, but her status as a peasant born child would never be. It was a stain that was meant to stay with her forever.

"Yes, mother, I hope you'll support my choices."  He whispered back, ushering the for servant to bring in the documents that he had prepared for the day.

The Queen inhaled deeply and clenched her firsts but ended up agreeing. Even though she agreed, she was already thinking of many ways to break them up. She hated to be the wicked person to break up the lovers, but she also didn't want her son to be mocked for generations to come because he broke the social norm and married a woman with a filthy bloodline. Her eyes turned to the documents that validated the engagement and wanted to take them and throw them in the first to burn. But, she had to maintain the dignity of a queen, so she could do no such thing.

With much disagreement, she watched as her own husband signed the agreement and the Duke did too. Next, it was the children who were to sign it. Adriel signed it with ease and tore a piece of her heart with it. He had signed away his soul to the devil! And the only thing left over was for the girl to sign it. But the Queen saw how hesitant she was and couldn't believe it. Not only was her son a golden opportunity for this girl, but she didn't even use the golden opportunity and hesitated!?

Finally, before the Queen could explode from the harmful blow to her ego, Xiao Yunhua sighed it and looked at Adriel. This was basically signing their verbal contract as well. She had officially completed the contract and they were now engaged! The royal family brought out the rings for the engagement that had been passed from generation to generation of crown prince and crown princess. The rings were very simplistic. So simplistic with their simple golden band design that she doubted that these belonged to the royal family. But, inside the ring was carved the Delavan family name and symbol, which confirmed that it really was their ring.

The Queen watched in horror as the ring that she once wore was now handed to be worn in the hands of that peasant. She reached out to grab it but the King stopped her and gave her a look. She frowned and tried to open her mouth to reason with him, but he wouldn't let her budge. She could only watch as Adriel, her beloved son, placed the ring on the finger of the girl and she did the same for his ring. Both families, with the exception of the Queen, clapped and congratulated each other for the new engagement.

All throughout the engagement validation, the second prince hadn't shown up at all. Nobody realized this detail except for Adriel who had wanted to call for him, but the servant informed him that he couldn't be found no matter who went out to search for him. So, Adriel brushed it off and continued to focus on the engagement. Even though this validated the engagement, they still needed to hold an official engagement party and invite all the nobles to properly announce it. However, since Adriel's nineteenth birthday was approaching in a month, they decided to postpone the engagement party and announcement to after his birthday, which would be two weeks after.

Two weeks was plenty of time to let the hype around his birthday blow over and then allow the news of their engagement blow up. At least that's how Adriel explained it to her. She didn't understand nor care about when the engagement party would be, since her goal was achieved. She had managed to get that security in life with the engagement and now; the Duchess wouldn't ever need to implant any ideas about selling her away or engaging her to a stranger. Even though Adriel was a stranger, he was also her target and she didn't hate his company either. So, she was comfortable with him...