Oh well, she thought, staring at the tabloid left on her bedside stand with the coffee, my life is over.

She was sure it'd been left there on purpose by her parents in a passive-agressive way. It was what Egeo always did, leave clues on the way of how disappointed he was with her. The more she grew, and the closer she became of being an adult, the more he seemed unhappy with everything she chose to do. But it wasn't a problem! She was happy in her relationship with the prince, and he seemed to like her the same much she liked him. Her parents made faces and tried to convince her to break up with him in the moment she told them about it. It wasn't something of a proper lady, they said, to fool around with some guy being an eligible candidate to a Queenstrial. "But it's the crown prince himself", she argued. "Even worse", they replied. He would treat her as expendable, and right before the trials? Her image would be the one of some sort of gold digger, meaning to steal the prince before others should have a chance.

Parthenope decided not to think about it, grabbing the wing of her coffee mug. She was happy the way she was, and no sensationalist article about how she had been caught having ice cream with Callum could change that. She took a sip of the hot sugary liquid, smiling like a fool. She was going to hear so much about it from her parents for having been seen in her little romance with the prince... She thought it'd be worthy to read the article. Surely she would see a picture quickly snapped from a hidden corner by some underpaid paparazzi.

However, it wasn't the only one she saw, and the shock made her drop the mug on her covers — coffee was spilt all over the bed and she burned herself on the process. Incredulous, she eyed hatefully her picture beside Callum in a date, both smiling and gazing at each other lovingly. And right beside it, a picture of him and no one less than Esme Titanos, the insipid cow that was the queen's niece. She gave him the same look Parthenope herself dedicated to the prince, and by the angle, she couldn't see his, but he had his arm around her protectively, in a way that no friend or family would. She read and read again the extense article with her eyes burning in rage, so much she almost couldn't feel her skin damaged by the coffee.The amibitious Parthenope Osanos, it said. Trying to shotgun wed our dear prince? Meaning to seduce him for evaluating her chances on the Queenstrial as that non-existent? And a million other pernicious and cruel trinkets. They even accused her of wanting to ruin the beautiful relationship between Callum and Esme.

Furious, she screamed. Not any scream, a roar, where she put all her hurt, all the betrayal she felt about it. She was betting on the imbecile snake that was Esme having paid them to write and maculate her image and extoll her own.

Huffing, the low snarl stuck on her throat, she kicked away the covers and along with it the mug, that fell and broke into a hundred pieces on the floor. Two guards and a maid showed up on the door, worried about the scream of the young lady. Parthenope threw the magazine at the face of the one that standed closer to her, and marched to the bathroom.

"Clean up this mess, and it better be all ready when I return if you all still desire to have a head over your shoulders." And slammed the door on their faces.

{123}

Alone on the Small Saloon of the Astraea palace, Esme Titanos savoured her victory. She had in hand a delicate golden porcelain cup half full with hibiscus tea, and sipped it absentmindedly, between bites of glazed biscuits. The magazine was open before her, being held and pages turned by a red maid, and by that hour the main article should be the subject of the news and futility shows she so adored. Soon, it would be the gossip of the kingdom, how the cruel and ambitious Parthenope tried to steal poor Esme's love. Served her right. Nobody told that disgusting little whore to try and steal what was rightfully hers. Callum had been born to be hers, in the same way the ridiculous Eirian had been born to be a joke on the name of the royal family.

She bit a purple glazed biscuit delicately, holding it between her index and her thumb carefully. Parthie deserved the bad publicity, she told herself vigorously. Anyone that stepped into her way deserved so.

Esme laughed once more in triumph. The voice of the people is the voice of god, they said, and the voice of the people screamed "Parthenope is a treacherous slut".

{123}

The dark haired boy eyed his younger sister with contempt. In that moment, he hated her for having brought the subject to the table. The little traitor just savoured her fruit salad with a servile and innocent air, as if she hadn't just sealed his fate for the next six months at least.

Emmeline stared at her son with disappointment stamped on her face. She raved about how he needed to think of the consequences of his actions, and how the reputation of two noble born girls was now tainted for his incapacity of controlling himself. Callum didn't pay her any mind whatsoever. He only didn't roll his eyes for a matter of image and trying to diminish his sentence, per se.

The king, Maximus Samos in all of his morningly mentally undone glory, observed the exchange, with the same or less interest than his son. He thought it was no big deal that the prince was showing up accompanied by girls, whomsoever they were. But if his wife needed to make a problem out of it, he would pay that no mind.

Leonard was contained in his own carapace. He thought it was for the good his cousin to be reprimanded, Callum was an idiot with no match that needed to be put in his place. Not that the queen's groundings and penitences would be of any good. He never learned, and both she and the princess were imbeciles for thinking otherwise. But he would savour his restrictions. After all, the more they caged the lion, the more it'd become uncontrollable, untill its eventual explosion would become inevitable, wich would be very unhappy for the rest of the Samos. But not him.