A/N: I own nothing. Enjoy!

Piper poured the tea into every teacup, careful not to spill a single drop. Why tea pouring was a skill a bride needed to have, she didn't understand. But every task she had been set out to do, she performed easily due to her education as a princess. She might not be a favored Cytheran princess, but Queen Aphrodite made sure all her children were educated equally.

"You poured the tea extremely well, Princess Piper," the matronly Countess Blake said.

The Countess had been placed as one of the tutors for the candidacy. She was known for her strict teachings, so praise coming from her held great weight.

"Thank you, Countess Blake." Piper said modestly. "It is due to Countess' teachings that this princess can follow easily."

Countess Blake smiled, pleased with her answer. Nearby, Princess Hazel of the Inferis Kingdom nibbled on a cookie happily while Princess Medea looked on with a bored expression. The three princesses got along well, at least on the surface.

Piper made sure to stay quiet and polite with everyone, but her skin crawled whenever Princess Medea landed her gaze on Piper. In particular, the black onyx ring on Medea's hand glistened unnaturally even without any light upon it. It was no ordinary ring, but a mana stone where one could channel his or her power through to intensify one's power. Piper had seen such rings before, since Queen Aphrodite sometimes wore jewelry imbued with mana stones. But such mana stone jewelry were highly expensive. For Princess Medea to casually wear a ring on her finger all the time showed that the Colchis nation was wealthy. Still, Piper could sense that Medea was hiding her true self like a snake in shadows.

Piper took a sip of her tea to calm her nerves. She should be fine, she told herself. If anything, Piper could use her own magic for defense if anything in the candidacy went wrong.

For the first phase of the candidacy, Piper's schedule had been lessons on Cuora history, economics, politics, and etiquette. All the princesses had their lessons together and occasionally ate lunch together with Prince Jason to get to know him better. In the second phase, the prince would have lunch with the princesses individually. During these lunches and lessons, Piper tried not to draw too much attention to herself. Her goal was to survive in the end.

Even in the large wing of the palace allocated for her, Piper still felt trapped.

But the mark on her hand...

She couldn't recall what the person had looked like the first time the mark had burned. The second time when she had fainted in the woods, the last thing she remembered were gold rims and blue eyes. And the first thing her eyes landed on when she saw Prince Jason was his blue eyes behind his gold spectacles.

Piper could only lament at herself for the situation she was in. Here she was in the Cuora royal palace, having to rely on outside help and watching for dangers left and right. Just last week, her maid had been poisoned because the maid had sneakily eaten some of Piper's snacks before they were served. Now, she was also a political pawn in the battle for the throne. In exchange for the Duke's protection, Piper had agreed to compete to the best of her abilities and slip information about the aristocratic faction's movements. If she was caught as a spy, she was doomed to have a bad ending.

Then there was the matter of Prince Jason activating her curse. How could he be her intended? She barely knew the man, aside from the fact that they had met once in the Cythera nation and the second time when he had saved her. But if he had truly known who she was that day in the woods, he probably would have had her killed.

Piper had been forewarned that the Cuora aristocratic faction supported Prince Jason and thus an union with Princess Medea. The royal family faction would now be supporting Princess Piper, but Piper had very little confidence that she would be chosen. The ultimate decision rested on Prince Jason, after all.

It had been two weeks since Piper had entered the palace. Every time the princesses had lunch, Piper quietly tried to get a read on Prince Jason. So far, he had been neutral in his actions towards the candidates. But she could sense that he was more brotherly to the young Princess Hazel. Towards Princess Medea and her, he treated each the same, so it was hard for Piper to gauge which side he lay his true interest in.

Piper could see that Prince Jason was handsome, but she interacted with him too infrequently to get to know his personality or fall in love with him. She could forget about him falling in love with her since the sides supporting them were rivals.

The tea seemed to taste more bitter that day.

"Want to go outside for lunch?" Percy asked Annabeth.

Annabeth put down the blueprints she had been examining. They were in the company building where there was already an equipped kitchen and cafeteria for the employees. Though not as good as the food in the Duke's mansion, the cafeteria food was quite decent, and the employees often stated the cafeteria was one of the best perks of working in Percy's company.

"All right," Annabeth agreed. She could use a break here and there.

"Then it's a date!" Percy said enthusiastically.

"We're already engaged!" Annabeth laughed.

"Doesn't mean we still can't go on dates." Percy announced.

Without much convincing on Percy's part, Percy and Annabeth set out into the city. Percy offered his hand to help her out of the carriage. Annabeth smiled at him but stiffened when she saw where he had taken her.

He had brought her to a restaurant that had opened recently. At least, it was recently new in this lifetime. Annabeth had come to this restaurant quite often in her previous life with Luke. In fact, it was the only restaurant Luke had ever taken her to. The food was indeed delicious, but Annabeth hesitated to enter in a place that reminded her of the past.

"What's wrong?" Percy asked, noting her expression. "Do you not like this restaurant? I heard their roast chicken with bread stuffing is their signature dish."

Annabeth paled at the mention of roast chicken and bread stuffing. When she and Luke came to the restaurant, that was the dish they always ordered. The thought of tasting that horrid dish made Annabeth gag as if she was eating sand.

"We could go to another restaurant if you'd like." Percy offered.

"No," Annabeth decided. "It's fine."

She couldn't live life avoiding the memories of her past as if she was no better than a fugitive. Percy still cast her worried looks, but Annabeth had already made up her mind. She would replace all the horrible memories with new, happier ones. Once inside the restaurant, she looked at the familiar decor. There were even some waiters who had appeared in her former life.

Soon food was served, but Annabeth took particular pleasure in not ordering the roast chicken at all. Percy had duck with fried greens, while she enjoyed her steak. Percy pulled her plate towards him and started cutting her steak before returning her food.

"Oh, you didn't have to cut my steak for me," said Annabeth.

"I know, and I'm not berating your steak-cutting abilities." Percy smiled. "It's just I've always wanted to try that one day, cutting someone else's meat."

In return, Annabeth offered him a piece of steak that he ate right off her fork. The boyish grin he sent her made her stomach flutter. Annabeth swallowed a piece of meat to calm down the butterflies.

After lunch, Annabeth dragged Percy to a nearby bookstore. The smell of new books was always enticing to her, and today she had come with a mission to see if there were any books on fascination magic.

"If you want, we could buy the whole bookstore," offered Percy, who had been following her good-naturedly. He randomly plucked a book off the shelf. "Our library is only half-filled, so buying two more bookstores wouldn't even come close to filling it."

"Don't be silly, Percy. That's a waste of money."

"Your soon-to-be husband is the wealthiest man in the nation of Cuora, following the royal family. A bookstore would barely put a dent in our finances. Besides, you don't spend the money allocated to you on dresses or jewels, so the budget is definitely there for you to use however you want." Percy tapped her on the head lightly with the book he held. "Allow me to spoil you once in a while, won't you? You're already making me rich with all your investments."

"Ah, so I'm really just spending the money that I made for you, right?" Annabeth teased. "And stop waving that book around. It's a racy book!" She looked around furtively to see if anyone else was near them.

Percy turned the tome around and read its title, Why the Princess Preferred the Butler's Chicken. "I'm more surprised that you even know that it's a naughty book, Annabeth. Do you have more hobbies that I should know about?"

Annabeth was about to roll her eyes, then decided against it. "Why? Do you want to join me?" She teased.

Percy didn't back down, choosing to step close to her. "Is that an invitation?"

Annabeth instinctively stepped back. Bad choice. She found her back firm against the bookshelves. Percy placed his arms on either side of her, effectively trapping her. Annabeth's breath caught in her throat as his chest pressed against hers.

"Percy, this is a public place-"

Those were the only words that went out her mouth before Percy greedily captured her lips. Drunk on the searing heat, Annabeth thought this was how a proper kiss was meant to be. His lips were full of urgency and need, suckling on her bottom lip, and she returned the fervor. He tasted of the tieguanyin tea they had for lunch. Delicious, Annabeth thought briefly. Her arms soon fell came between them, not pushing but pulling him closer.

Somehow his hands end up tracing her waist, reminding her of that night when his warm hands had caressed her skin. Percy's knee came between her legs, and she startled to find his hip pressed so tantalizing against hers. Every time he stroked her torso, he dared to venture up higher and higher until his fingers just barely grazed the sides of her breasts. Annabeth couldn't help but moan at the touches.

They broke apart to breathe before Percy bent down to nuzzle at her neck. Annabeth shivered as she felt his lips take several liberties in exploring the tender skin there. She could only tangle her hands in the silky strands of his hair, enjoying the little nips and kisses he planted on her neck.

Suddenly, Percy broke their embrace, leaving Annabeth in bewilderment. His face had an expression of annoyance. Had she done something wrong?

"Annabeth!" A female voice cried out in anger.

Annabeth groaned and turned to face her cousin. Kelli stormed up to her, having seen the Duke and Annabeth enter the bookstore.

"Baroness Kelli," Annabeth greeted smoothly despite Kelli's rudeness for calling her name without any title. Percy gave a nod to Kelli as an acknowledgement of her presence.

"You!" Kelli seethed. "How dare you?"

Was she talking about the Duke kissing her in public? Annabeth wondered. Or was it because Annabeth had cut off Kelli's financial support from the Chases?

"I apologize, Baroness Kelli. Whatever are you talking about? We are in a public space, so please do keep your propriety as a noble and lower your voice."

Beside her, Percy coughed quietly to hide his laugh, since they had broken the rules of propriety already by kissing in the bookstore. Annabeth pinched his side, warning him to behave.

Kelli's voice lowered, but the fury on her face did not lessen. "You know what you did, Annabeth." Kelli held up a crumpled letter. "How dare you cut off what little money I receive and take my house!"

Annabeth raised one of her eyebrows and inspected what Kelli was wearing. Her cousin was dressed from heel to toe in finery, in a velvet dress trimmed with fur outfitted for the upcoming winter. Kelli wore emeralds in her ears and gold necklace at her throat. Anyone could see that Kelli was not lacking in money.

"Your house? As you should be aware, that house belongs to the main branch of the Chase family. You know that it is a tradition within our family for us to earn our own keep. Now that you have a title, you should be set. You also have your inheritance from your parents. Isn't that not enough money? You shouldn't have refused to work at a Chase company if you were not satisfied."

"That's..." Kelli muttered.

Of course, Annabeth knew that the decent inheritance her parents had left her had already been squandered by Kelli's lavish spending on luxurious products. Kelli's empty title bore no other flows of gold.

"Still, how could you kick me out of the townhouse? If it wasn't for Princess Medea inviting me to live at the palace, I would have been homeless."

"Oh? You've always said that the house was too small for you. I would have thought you would take the opportunity to move onto a bigger property. Did not Count Castellan offer you to stay at the Castellan mansion? You two seem quite close these days."

It was Annabeth's intention to sow seeds of discord. Her strategy worked as Kelli's face darkened. As Annabeth had suspected, Luke could not bring Kelli into the mansion without major backlash from society. The most he could do was fund her living in another place. If Luke was a good man who truly loved Kelli, then he would do whatever it took to bring her into his mansion despite the discouragement of status, society, and family. Since that wasn't the case, Luke was still scum of the earth.

"But I congratulate you on becoming Princess Medea's lady-in-waiting. It's much more exciting to live in the palace, isn't it?" Annabeth continued.

"Yes, much more so than being a Duchess, I'm sure!" Kelli snarled. Lowering her voice, she said, "You will regret this." She turned away and stomped out of the bookstore.

Annabeth snorted. Kelli was the one who first provoked her by stealing her intended fiance and then poaching her employees. Did Kelli think Annabeth was dumb as a horse to not retaliate? How stupid was it to be vindictive just because Kelli hadn't gotten her way? She would make sure Kelli and Luke were the ones to regret ever playing the game in the first place.

"Your cousin..." Percy left his words hanging. Percy probably didn't have any issues against Kelli, but now that Kelli's words had brought Percy in, Annabeth could sense Percy's heavy disapproval.

"Needs to be educated." Annabeth finished. "Come on, forget about her. I'm still looking for the books I need."

Annabeth took his hand and led him away.

Despite Kelli's appearance, Annabeth felt that the day was good overall. Even if Kelli was moving to the palace, Annabeth had already heard word that the Castellan family had invited Lady Soleia to their mansion to talk about being engaged to Luke. Now that Kelli would be in the palace, there would be less interference from her in regards to those engagement talks. And if Lady Soleia played her part well, Luke would soon be caught in the webs of two spiders.

As Percy and Annabeth returned back to the company, Annabeth found some of her employees giving her odd looks. The weird reactions continued as they went home, as none of the Black Knights dared to meet her gaze. It wasn't until Annabeth saw her reflection in the mirror after her bath that she saw a very noticeable pink mark on the neck from where Percy had apparently bit her.

"Perseus Jackson, you are so dead!"

A/N: Ah, if only I had a boyfriend who would buy me books and boba...I'm so single...

Don't know what was up with the fanfiction site, but I couldn't read anyone's review for two whole days! I saw the review surpass the 200th mark, but I couldn't see the new reviews until a few days later. But I was so excited when I saw that happen! Thank you all so much for loving this story and being so patient with me. Stay safe, and see you next chapter!