The Luna Choosing Game

Chapter 0045

My whole heart shattered. "No, no, that's not true. Prince Nicholas likes you a lot."

Elva pulled away to look up at me with large, watery eyes. "But she said Nick-lass is mad at me. She said I was naughty."

"We can't listen to her, okay?"

Her cupped her face with my hands and wiped away her tears. New ones just kept falling. My anger for Lena renewed, and I half wanted to chase her down the hall to give her a piece of my mind.

No one makes my little girl cry like this!

"She's just a mean lady who doesn't know what she's talking about. Nicholas likes you. He's not mad. He waved at you, didn't he?"This belongs © NôvelDra/ma.Org.

The words seemed to placate Elva somewhat. Her tears lessened, though her sniffling remained. Her brows furrowed like she was thinking it through.

"He did wave..."

*Because he likes you."

*...Okay." Her voice was small. It didn't seem like I had fully convinced her, but I doubted I could say anything that would.

She would have to hear it from Nicholas himself.

Maybe if I could talk to him alone, I could convince him to spend some time with Elva.

Lena would hate it, and so would the other girls, I'd have to make sure it happened at a time that didn't conflict with any of his other obligations.

Surely he would meet with her though? If I told him she thought he didn't like her?

Surely he hadn't become totally heartless in the past three years?

No, I knew he hadn't. I had seen the soft-hearted way he'd interacted with Elva before.

He might hate me, but he liked her. He would be willing to do this, I was sure.

I just had to get him alone to ask.

The next morning at breakfast, Lilliana was the most popular girl in the room. Every other girl wanted to know every detail of her solo-date with Nicholas.

I had previously thought, due to her regal air, that she might hold back on the juicy details. Instead, the attention seemed to go straight to her head, and she calmly and smugly answered every question she was asked, albeit with a haughty attitude.

*Prince Nicholas lifted me into the saddle like the princess I am soon to be," she said. "The horse chosen for me could have been tamer, however. Something I will rectify when I am Luna,"

Thinking on it now, maybe that poor horse had reason to be afraid of Lillianna when it had first met her. It had been said that animals had a sixth sense about people sometimes.

*We rode along the edge of the property," Lilliana said. "I felt as if the prince was showing off all that would soon belong to me."

As she spoke, I noticed she talked of the property and the palace and what she would fix as Luna. Not once did she mention qualities of the prince himself, like his beautiful golden eyes or his kindness.

She framed all of Nicholas's qualities in how much it could bring her.

The money. The power. The house and land.

A dark bit of fury collected inside of me. Nicholas deserved someone who would notice things about him as a person.

Lilliana was all wrong for him. Hopefully he would realize that sooner rather than later.

Around me, the other girls were sharing sharp looks toward each other, and open glares at Lilliana. The tension in the room thickened as she continued to talk.

The First Ball was quickly approaching.

Among the girls, it seemed as if Lilliana was enemy number one.

I didn't want to harm her, but I too wanted to see her eliminated from the competition.

I wasn't jealous. It was just pure objective fact.

She wasn't worthy of Nicholas.