The Made Queen

CHAPTER FIVE

“Your Highness”

I greeted him with a polite smile as I performed a perfect curtsy. How much has he heard? My heart was beating so fast. I hope he didn’t hear the conversation I had with Father.

If I want the engagement to be broken up like last time, I need three years to pull my family out of debt. If the engagement is broken too soon… the debtors will come calling for their debts, and life will end as it did before.

But of course, the prince didn't seem to notice my inner turmoil. Rather, he looked bored to be here. I signed in relief.

“... we came down to check out the horses.” Ivan had been talking, and I wasn’t listening.

“We?” It was then that I noticed he was not alone. A young man accompanied him; he was a bit taller than Ivan, with dark hair and crystal blue eyes, and a brooding look. Our eyes connected, and I felt a strange feeling in my stomach. I must be hungry. This is strange cause i never met him in my previous life.

Cursing at myself for being distracted. I don’t know if Ivan had introduced us properly, while I wasn’t paying attention. Ivan’s companion had a curious expression on his face while he studied me. He didn’t stand too close nor too far from the prince.

I have three years alone to keep the charade of an engagement, and I am already slipping up on the first day. I need to be focused on the goal.

“The idiotic stable master insisted that the horse was too wild to ride. But I know the stable master is unskilled. If he just allowed me to ride him, he would be tamed in a moment,” I forced myself to listen to the Prince.

“I am sure your highness can handle any wild horse.” My voice was laced with disbelief, but I know he won’t understand. Well, not until I heard a cough and turned to see who it came from.

The prince's companion had his palm over his mouth, but I could see the smile in his eyes.

“Is Lady Stella here?” Prince Ivan asked.

“No, Prince Ivan, I believe she is in her home today.” His face became hard. “Is she ill?”

“Not that I know of,” with the years of royal court traning i maintained a perfect smile on my face.

“I was thinking since both of you are best of friends, if she were ill, you would visit her,” Ivan quickly responded.

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“You need to sleep, ”Gloria spoke again as she tried to tuck me into bed. But I stubbornly refused.

“No, with me being sick, surely someone will stop by to visit me,” I said, sweating heavily from my fever.

“No one will come and visit you miss” Gloria said with a blank face.

“But.. brince ivan, Stella, father, mother, the queen, surely someone must stop by to see me,” I whispered.

“No one is coming,” Gloria said as she walked out of the room.

____________________________________________________________________________

“.......kindly give her my best wishes when you see her”. Ahh, he is still speaking. He still has not realized where he hearts belongs. Or had I really been blind to the signs?

A part of me is angry at my former self, but another part wants me to forgive her. Not the blind, naive girl, but the girl who believed that the world was fair and that things would go her way because she asked nicely. A girl who thought love was the most important thing in the world.

… I am no longer that girl.

I curtseyed once more as the gentleman took their leave. But the Prince's companion turned back and looked at me and smiled. I maintained my perfect smile, concealing the darkness I felt within me.

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Marthew kept to his word and set up the office within an hour. I sat down at the desk and went to work.

I studied stacks abd stacks of paper and slowly added the numbers. After hours of adding tax documents, expense sheets, and overdue loans. I was only able to get a little idea of the overall picture.

And from the little I know, I can tell it didn’t look good. It was also clear father should never be allowed near money. And this family's personal spending habits are appalling. Thousands of crowns were wasted on the most senseless items.

This all needs to stop.

I approximated our projected income, flinching as I realized just how much money had been stolen. If I can reduce theft from the collection services, there should be enough to cover the duchy’s expenses. But then there will be the issue of having nothing for personal spending.

“Will I be able to convince my family to stop spending?” As I looked at the luxury surrounding me, I felt a sense of emptiness taking over. I need to find another source of income to support this family by all means.

With his realization, I spent the next few days working my way through all the paperwork. This made me work from morning till night. Only taking breaks when I needed to eat and couldn’t keep my eyes open anymore.

Being too focused on my task, I was spooked by the soft knock that rang through the room. It was Matthew.

“Pardon me, miss, I have contacted a few smaller vendors and am collecting some of the debt with a smaller interest rate,” he said as he handed me a stack of bills. I glanced at the money in hope when I saw the numbers improve.

“This is wonderful, Marthew. I really appreciate what you have done,” I leaned back into my chair with a sigh. “We also need to set up a meeting with the workers who are involved in the collection of tax. If I don’t put an end to the corruption that is ongoing, nothing I do will save the duchy”.

“That is brilliant, Miss. When would you like that to happen?” he asked with a strange smile on his face, like he was happy about what would happen soon.

“I am aiming to have the meeting next week. I need to come up with a plan that would be able to terrify a group of men to do exactly what I want them to do.”

“I am sure it will be a success,” Matthew answered with a perfectly straight face that made me laugh in amusement.

“Well, if that is all. I’ll return to my work…” I paused as he didn’t move an inch. “Is there anything else you would like to say?” I asked.

Matthew hesitated. “Your etiquette class with the queen is tomorrow, right?”

“Yes,” I answered, confused by the way of this conversation. “I would be heading out to the palace in the morning. Why?”

The truth is that I don’t want to go to the castle tomorrow. Cause what's the point of embarking on that training all over again and having no use for it in the future? The last time I had the knowledge to be the perfect queen, but it didn’t save me from dying on the street.

“Actually, miss, I have a cousin who works at the royal treasury, and I have told him about your recent efforts over the past few days on how to save the duchy, and he is eager to lend his assistance.” he bowed. “I apologize if I overstepped my bounds.”

“That's not a problem,” I waved a hand, dismissing his apology. “So how exactly does your cousin wish to help us?”

“He wants to share some of his experience and knowledge regarding taxes, land ownership, and financial reforms,” with an embarrassed look, Marttew continued. “He is a little forward as a man, miss, but I can assure you he is very skilled with his job,” he said.

“THAT IS WONDERFUL,” I stood up smiling brightly. Someone who can teach me the right way to reform this duchy. A person with experience in an area that I lack so greatly. “Can you arrange the meeting to be right after my etiquette lesson with the queen?”

“Alright, miss, I will arrange accordingly. He will be so pleased.”

“As am I, thank you, Matthew”. I sat back down and continued organizing the accounts. “We are going to save this duchy this time around, Matthew.”

“Miss?”

“No matter what,” I chuckled, and it sounded a little sinister.