Chapter 36 - The art of sabotaging a fixed future. By Mallory Blackburn.

It was on the last night of the banquet that I actually attended after the first and that was solely because Luka had forced me to come because well… it was also the last of his stay in the Empire.

I'm guessing father might've noticed my lack of frilly dresses because a ridiculous amount of them were delivered to me the day after the first banquet. Victor had also received a few new suits and he made a point to wear them with an excited face as he shouted.

"Mallory! Look what father got me!", I had woken up with that and felt a leg stabbing into me on my side while another body peacefully rested next to me. I almost forget what had happened last night.

"What's that Victor?" I groaned as I rubbed my eyes and propped up on my elbows.

"What are they doing here?!" His excitement quickly soured as he caught sight of Lance and Luka.

"Can you shut up. People are trying to sleep here", Lance said and put an arm around me knowing it would aggravate Victor even more.

"Get away from her!" Victor jumped on the bed and was ready to prowl with Lance. The latter ignored him as he nuzzled his head with mine, falling back into a slumber.

It was too cute to disturb.

Luka on the other hand yawned as he sat up. He was rubbing his eyes and he hadn't really opened them, instead he muttered a few things before his eyes finally opened and made eye contact with my own.

"Princess?" He asked himself and then as he recalled last night his face became a bright red and he cried in realisation, "princess?! Did I really sleep here last night?!".

"It's alright", was all I said and Lance, who I noticed wasn't actually asleep squeezed his arms around me. Luka noticed this and quickly reacted with a kick to the poor kid who hadn't expected that.

Victor gave a triumphed cheer at the sight.

"How dare you!" Lance shouted as he realised Luka had just kicked him off the bed.

I would feel bad for him, but it was kinda funny.

"Don't touch my future wife like that!" He yelled at him.

"She doesn't even like you! She likes me more!"

I couldn't bear to hear this again and raised a hand to speak.

"I like boys who eat breakfast right after waking up", I said while holding my hand up. The two boys looked to me and then at each other, a sense of challenge wafting between them as they gave a competitive nod and then like magic they both disappeared.

They hadn't ran off.

They hadn't hopped away.

They had just… poof and then nothing…

I blinked a few times as did Victor, and then I just fell back into my bed, thinking that I must still be dreaming and went back to sleep.

Anyway, back to the banquet.

It was loud, with music being more blood pumping than the previous days to commemorate the last day of the banquet. The ladies wore their most extravagant dresses, draped in what might be called a ridiculous amount of jewellery. The men were no better, they wore suits with jewels embedded in them and their fingers were covered in colourful rings that symbolised power.

If I grew up in this environment then I would become one of them, but that would be the case if I couldn't remember who I truly was. I was a woman, from modern day era. Would I ever be like one of them?

"Mallory. I'm going to head off to speak to a few friends of mine", Edmund whispered to me. The word 'friends' was spoken in a tone that suggested otherwise, but he placed on such a genuine smile at the sight of the young boys from other dukedoms that I might've been convinced.

I guess that was his life… and this mine…

I wanted to cry as I turned back to the table of young girls, who looked at me with eyes that looked at me like I was challenge. It made no sense but they all had the same glint in their eyes.

If there was something that had changed while I had been in Mallory's body, it was that she was no longer invisible.

"Princess, that dress of yours is just exquisite. You look so pretty!" A slightly older girl spoke to me, her beautiful blonde lashes and those mesmerising green eyes couldn't hide the awful acting.

"I thought so too! You're beauty is otherworldly", another chestnut haired girl spoke. I knew for a fact that was an insult and wanted to sigh.

We get it. Mallory was plain according to you lot.

"I was just about to say the same thing about you! I don't think I've seen anyone quite like you before", the look of anger in her eyes should've been hidden better.

To put it short I said she was a unique looking person. I noticed that worked as a backhanded compliment in these such meetings and found it rather interesting.

"My the princess is so wise. I heard you didn't even need a nanny, is that true?" I blinked at the chestnut haired girl that really had it out for me. Wasn't she pretty clever for her age?

"Yes. Yes it is", I muttered noticing from the smirk on the girls face that I had obviously lost this fight.

"Wow~ the princess is so interesting", she gave a strange 'ho ho ho' laugh that sounded tremendously like Santa Claus.

"Right?"

The girls screamed at the sudden head of hair that interrupted their bullying. Their faces immediately brightened when they realised who it was.

"Jirael", I hadn't seen him for a while. I heard he was busy helping with the aftermath of the war.

"Your highness!" A high pitched voice over road mine.

"My prince", another girl curtsied and soon they all did while Jirael stared at them in his smart white suit. Looking like a real prince.

"I happened to over hear your conversation about my sister being interesting, Is there any reason why that was said?" He tilted his head with an innocent smile that made a few girls pale. I on the other hand found myself frowning.

Jirael wasn't supposed to smile at girls at this age… much less smile at anyone. The only time he actually smiles at people is when he meets the heroine and falls in love. There was no way he'd met the heroine at his age… so why was he?..

"I'd like to speak with her alone if that's okay?" At his words the girls gave him nods and giggles and walked off, making sure to exaggerate the way they strutted off.

"You didn't need to do that", I said with a sigh.

"Do what?" He pretended to not understand and gave me his male lead smile that made me let out an annoyed laugh.

"Alright fine. I'll leave you alone for now, but we're coming back to this", I gave up with a grateful smile.

"I hate these parties…" he suddenly said after a moment of us observing the orchestra.

That's right! He did! I was happy to find an unchanged detail from the book.

"Why is that?" I asked although I knew exactly why.

"They're loud and full of stupid people. I only came to this one because I had to and you're the only one whose bearable here", he confessed as if he had been meaning to get this off his chest for a while. His amber eyes glancing over mine hesitantly.

It was as if he were scared of rejection. And then feeling like an idiot I recalled that he was obviously scared of rejection. He was rejected by his peers for being a genius, ostracised by his uncle and no one truly liked him for his truest self. Yet here he was, showing me his genuine feelings.

"I think you might be the only person who finds my presence bearable in this room", I said and gave his hands a tight squeeze.

Nobody here seemed to want to stay by my side. Victor was sick today and couldn't attend, the Brennus prince and Lance had prior engagements that they had been very secretive about and promised to attend later on, Edmund hadn't stayed by my side for a minute before he ran off. Father was busy as always and The Duke was… I finally caught sight of the red head and gasped, grabbing Jiraels arm and pulling him closer so he could the scene I was witnessing.

There he was standing with a woman. I hadn't seen her before, but she was pretty and obviously liked him from the way she stared at him. The Duke seemed to clearly enjoy their conversation which made me advance towards them interestedly.

"Who is she?" I knew Jirael would know. Kid literally knew everything.

"Cara Montgomery. She's his fiancé", he said nonchalantly.

"I didn't know he had a fiancé. That was never in the boo"- I stopped myself before I said the word, but it wasn't just Jirael that stopped me from saying it. It was the sudden change from bashful man to 'I will murder you' in the Dukes eyes which from what I saw were trained on that Prime minister.

Mr Drente seemed to be standing up to make an announcement. Whatever it was it excited the crowd immensely. They seemed to understand what it was and even Jirael grabbed my hand, not in excitement but protectively.

I had an inkling as to what it was.

"Ladies and gentlemen, please settle down", he tapped on his glass until the crowd became quiet before he continued. Father, who stood beside him plastered a fake smile as did his two close friends, Duke Arian and Duke Harlow. "Today I will announce a decision that will greatly impact our Empire. A decision made to strengthen the bounds within our forces that I, myself, have taken charge in achieving".

Their were a few cheers at that. Most likely from his goons of followers.

"This Empire carries a commodity more valuable than its gold and riches. Something that Every man dreams of obtaining. However, this prize can only be received by someone who truly deserves it. This war would never have been in our favour had it not been for our soldiers, but more importantly the three families that aided in this victory: Arian, Harlow and Brennus. After careful consideration we have decided to gift the family that has made a great loss during this achievement", at his words, Duke Harlow stood forward.

I felt a queasiness in my stomach. Please don't be. Please don't be. Please don't be!

"We have decided to gift the only princess, Mallory Blackburn to the next heir of the Harlow family. The future Duke, Raphael Harlow!" At his words there was an uproar of thunderous claps and shouts as the crowd parted around me while people gave me congratulations and happy shouts.

I was deaf to it all.

It was overwhelming and so frustrating. So temper inducing that I had no say. That Mallory had no say. That she was called a fucking commodity and nobody disagreed with it. I was seething.

I thought myself Mallory. A naive nine year old girl at the centre of all this and I wanted to hurt someone.

I caught sight of Raphael who was dragged to the centre of it all. He looked shocked at what was happening, as pleased as I was and when we made eye contact he really looked sorry.

At that moment, I realised I was in a better position than Mallory was. I, for some reason, wasn't marrying that war trampled brother that clearly wasn't in his right mind, but Raphael who I had protected from the war and whose personality wasn't dormant as it should've been.

I realised that I had hope.

Although I had no say in our engagement. He did. He could deny me.

In the book he didn't because it pleasured him when he saw Mallory shake her head in fear, but right now, he wasn't like that.

"What do you say child?", the Prime minister said with a laugh, "if you don't take her I might swoop in", the crowd laughed at his words while I felt grossed out.

Even Raphael seemed to be frightened of the idea. He could either say yes and be done with it or reject me, which will definitely humiliate me and as Archie said might land me in a worse position… I felt a shiver at the thought.

"If you say no. Then I'll take her!" A voice boomed from the ceiling. Everyone gasped as a handsome man, clad in black hung from the chandelier. I recognised him instantly and it clicked in my head what those two kids had been getting up to.

So this is what they had planned?

Not bad. Not bad at all.