2 Scandal and Renewal

"Criminal?!" the word left my mouth with utter confusion. My brain could barely comprehend what is happening as the audience began to stir. Murmurs and whispers going around that the once smiling faces I saw have turned grim so I decided to ask "Keith! What are you talking about?"

"Rothschild franchise is a scam!" he proclaimed as if he said those words a million times. "An empire built from broken ones. They have been laundering money from your investments and driving away from people from their homes". All these accusations kept going on and on until he finally concluded with the words she longed to hear "I can't watch from the sidelines as my princess suffers under their rule".

I am his princess. I reminded myself as I visualize him grabbing her hand and running away however, the plot twist arrived. I entered from the beginning of the ceremony by the doors, a lady in her mid-20s with light blonde hair trimmed to a short bob hair cut. Dressed in a plain t-shirt and denim pants, something not quite fit for a wedding, I watched as Keith climbed down the stairs and walked in her direction. I grabbed his hand to stop him and those eyes, the ones that looked at her with love is now replaced with regret and pity.

"I am sorry, Daniella" he began

"But I am your princess, right? I love you!" I replied as I tried my best to stop from going any further but unfortunately, he yanked his hand out of my grasps and answered "I...I never loved you. I only saw you as a partner but never as my lover so please let me go"

I didn't know what happened next when men in police uniform grabbed my dad while my mom pleaded to stop them. The guest murmuring around her and the once happy and congratulations have been replaced with gossip when her prince reunited with the "true" princess. I only stood there watching as he caressed her cheeks lovingly and how the girl reacts to his touch.

"How pathetic! How humiliating!"

"I always knew something was off about their family"

"And on their wedding day!"

"Poor rich girl"

"Poor little wee lamb"

My heart pounded loudly inside my chest as the world began to spin around me. The next thing I knew is that my body is on the ground and people surrounding me. I could almost hear them trying to tell the others to give space and call an ambulance while my mother shouts my name in the background

"Daniella! DANIELLA!"