The King's Mistress

Chapter 75: Eyes For You

"I can’t control what she says, none of us can. But she will cause a scene every opportunity she has and with your identity," she looked straight into Sierra’s eyes as she continued to speak, "it would be best to avoid any form of conflict with her. You’re drawing too much attention to yourself, Sierra."

She walked over to her and placed her hand on Sierra’s shoulder as she continued, "I can’t protect you at every turn, Sierra, and neither can he. If this goes on, you’ll be on your own."

Sierra instantly understood what Roxine meant. She had to be more careful if she wanted her true identity to remain hidden. Drawing too much attention to herself would only raise more questions.

"I understand, my Queen. I will take note of my behavior and keep my distance from her," Sierra lowered her head as she continued to speak, "I will accept any punishment you deem fit."

Roxine smiled, "King Alistair seemed to have plans for your punishment underway. So I will leave that to him to reveal to you when the time comes."

Sierra was caught off guard. The way the Queen spoke made it clear that she was intentionally hiding something. But what, she did not know. She requested Roxine to give her a clue on what it might be so that she could better prepare herself for it. But even Roxine had no clues either.

"I wish I can help you, Sierra, I really do. All I can advise you is to be prepared. Alistair had this sinister look on his face when he spoke about this."

Sierra gulped as she lowered her eyes to the ground she began to wonder just what does the King have in store for her.

Later that evening, everyone was gathered in the dining hall for the dinner party. Everyone was dressed in a new gown of their choosing with their hair and make-up done up. Sierra, however, did not have another dress to wear.

When Myra and Taita saw her coming out of her room in a gown she had worn before, both of them refused to let her leave the lodge. They immediately offered one of their own dresses for her to wear.

Despite her best efforts to politely decline, Sierra eventually obliged. She knew they meant well, and did not want her to get laughed at by the other princesses during the dinner party.

"How can a princess only have a handful of dresses? One should always have a whole wardrobe full of them for every occasion!" Myra explained, with Taita agreeing.

Sierra bit her lip. Ida glanced over to her and tried to help change the subject so that the other two princesses would not ask more questions. She had given them the excuse that she had packed light for the trip. But in reality, she simply did not have that many dresses to begin with.

Back in Cair, Sierra’s daily wear was a set of armor over her casual clothes. Needless to say, wearing a dress was not something she did on a daily basis.

When they entered the venue of the dinner party, everyone gasped as they marveled at the decoration. The dining hall had been decorated specifically for the dinner party. There were special light fixtures scattered throughout the hall.

All the servants and maids who were serving them were dressed up too. Shortly after all the princesses entered the dining hall, King Alistair entered the dining hall. To everyone’s surprise, the Queen was not with him.

"The Queen has other duties to attend to this evening, as such, I will be the host of this evening’s dinner party," King Alistair declared as he sat at the main table at the end of the room.

Each princess had its own table lined. Neatly in rows facing each other on each side of the hall. They were surprised to find that each table had a name card on it, meaning their seats were pre-arranged.

What Sierra did not know, as she had entered the hall later with Myra and Taita, was that her seat had been swapped. Princess Agnes was one of the first few princesses to enter. As soon as she saw the name cards on each table, she understood what was going to happen.

When she saw that Sierra was to be seated at one of the tables that were closest to King Alistair, rage boiled in her blood. After making sure no one was looking, she quietly swapped the name cards.

Not wanting to draw suspicion to herself, she swapped Sierra’s name card with Taita’s.

"If I can’t have fun, neither can you!" She had muttered to herself when she noticed her name card on the table furthest from the King.

Sierra did not think too much of it. When she found her seat, she sat down without much hesitation. But King Alistair, on the other hand, was perplexed. As he sat down at his table, he called for the head butler of the dinner party to come forward.

"Were the name cards placed according to the instructions given?" He asked the head butler.

"Yes, Your Majesty. They’ve been placed in the order in which you instructed earlier today."

"Someone must have swapped it then," Alistair muttered to himself as he glanced down the hall.

He did not have to think too hard to know who it might be. He had hoped that Sierra would be seated close to him this evening. This would give him a chance to speak to her in a formal setting, openly without having to hide. Now, she was three tables away from her.

As much as he wanted the seats to be swapped to how it should be, Alistair knew he could not order for that to happen. His ministers would be sure to point out that it was an act of favoritism.

"I’ll just have to find another way to talk to you, sweetling," he muttered to himself as dinner commenced.

The dinner party went off without a hitch. Everyone had a wonderful time as each dish was served. Sierra was amazed by how tasty some of the dishes were. During which, she even insisted on Ida trying some of them.

"Princess! I can’t," Ida refused as she backed away. frёeωebɳovel.com

"Nonsense, of course, you can! This is delicious, you have to try some!" Sierra insisted.

Unable to reject her kind offer, Ida tried some of the soup Sierra was having. The creamy texture of the soup slid down her throat with ease. A smile formed on Ida’s face as she savored the flavor.

"It’s good, isn’t it?"

"It’s the best soup I’ve ever tasted, Your Highness," Ida replied with a smile.

As Ida glanced around the hall, she could not help but notice that the King was looking in Sierra’s direction. She leaned in and whispered to Sierra her observation. She did not believe her at first.

"What? Are you sure?" She asked her maid, who vehemently nodded.

Sierra glanced over to King Alistair, only for their gaze to meet. The moment it did, she immediately looked elsewhere, embarrassed that they had made eye contact while Ida chuckled.