Breakfast at Ravenmoor was usually a casual affair but that morning, the energy was different. The hall was more crowded than usual. It looked like more nobles had arrived overnight.

Alina stood in the corridor with Austin, holding his hand. They squeezed each other’s hands and walked into the great hall together.

The room went quiet, every head turned to look at them. Austin walked her past her usual seat and stopped beside the empty chair next to his own.

Then he pulled out the chair beside it, Audrey’s chair. Alina froze. He hadn’t told her anything about this.

"Austin..."

"Sit."

The room held its breath. Alina could feel every eye on her. Then Audrey walked in. She too had arrived at Ravenmoor last night. She saw them standing at the head table and instead of creating a scene, she just walked and sat on Alina’s chair with a smile, surprising everyone.

Alina looked at Austin again and he nodded for her to sit. She sat down while Austin remained standing.

"I have an announcement to make," he announced.

Every head now turned to him.

"Miss Alina Ashworth is not just the daughter of a minor baron. She is the princess of Arcasedia, through Princess Isadora of the House of Ashrael. Her royal heritage has been confirmed by the king’s own intelligence sources."

Everyone exchanged shocked glances.

"Her contract as a bed warmer is dissolved as of today," Austin continued. "By order of the king, my engagement to Princess Audrey has also been dissolved."

He paused before speaking again.

"I am officially courting Miss Ashworth with the king’s approval. And with the intention of marriage, pending formal recognition of her title by the Arcasedian court."

Lady Pemberton’s wine glass clinked against the table while Lady Hargrove’s hand curled into a fist. Even Marguerite looked worried suddenly.

"Princess Audrey," Austin continued. "I want to thank you for your gracious cooperation during this transition. Your support has been invaluable."

Everyone knew it was a lie. But Audrey didn’t let it affect her. She stood up and smiled.

"Austin, Miss Ashworth. I wish you both every happiness."

She raised her glass in toast and sat. Austin sat down as well and immediately held Alina’s hand under the table.

Breakfast continued. Servants brought food and the conversations resumed but Alina couldn’t eat anything. The food was fine but her stomach was too tight with anxiety to eat.

She could feel everyone watching her with hostility. She was the center of the attention today and she hated that. She was uncomfortable and aware of every whisper around her.

"You’re not eating," Austin whispered.

"I’m not hungry."

He looked at her and noticed the distress on her face.

"We can leave," he said.

"We just sat down. If we leave now, they’ll think..."

"They can think whatever they want. They’ve been thinking since we walked in."

He had a point. Everyone in the hall now saw her as the woman who had stolen someone else’s fiancée’.

"I can’t do this," she whispered. "I can’t sit here and pretend everything is fine while everyone is looking at me like I’m some villain."

"Let’s leave," Austin said setting down his fork.

They both stood up and walked towards the exit, hand in hand.

The moment they stepped out, he pulled her into his arms. She gripped him tightly in return.

"I should have warned you," he said.

She shook her head.

"I knew people would talk. I just didn’t know how unsettling it would feel."

"I’m sorry I can’t do anything about Audrey," he said, angry at himself. "I can’t tell her to go as she is staying in Ravenmoor using her princess title."

Before she could reply, she saw a noblewoman who had apparently arrived overnight looking at her like she was something she’d scraped off her shoe.

"Let’s go to the garden," she said.

"The garden?"

"There will be less people."

"The garden is full of people, Alina. The sewing circle is there."

"Then I’ll go somewhere else."

"Alina..."

"I just need a minute alone," she pulled back and squeezed his hand. "I’ll find you."

She went to the other end of the garden where hardly anyone visited and sat on a bench.

She couldn’t stop thinking about the breakfast.

How the hall had gone quiet when they walked in, how Audrey had smiled and raised a toast that made everyone in the hall feel sorry for her.

She had known things would change. She had just not known they would change this fast. Then she heard footsteps and looked up.

Dorian was walking towards her. He stopped in front of her, looked at her for a moment, then sat beside her.

"I watched what happened at the breakfast from the corridor," he said. "Austin made a mistake."

"What?"

"The announcement and how he put you in Audrey’s seat," he shook his head. "He meant it as a gesture. He thought he was protecting you. But instead, he made you the villain. Now everyone in the castle is talking about how Austin humiliated his fiancée of three years for a bed warmer he’s known for months."

She didn’t answer. Because he was right. The story was already writing itself, and in the story, she was the other woman who who had stolen a duke from a princess.

"Austin shouldn’t have made that decision without consulting you," Dorian said. "Marriage is a big deal. You should have discussed it thoroughly, given your titles, and everything at stake."

She wanted to argue but she didn’t know what to say because he was right again. She and Austin had discussed the king’s offer and the three-month deadline and the impossibility of Arcasedian approval. But they had not discussed what marriage meant, what it would look like and whether they even wanted the same things.

"I’m not saying you shouldn’t marry him," he continued. "I just want you to make sure you know what you’re getting into."

He then stood up and walked away.

Dorian’s words no matter the motive made sense. She didn’t know what she was getting into. She had been so focused on surviving, on fighting, on winning each battle that she had forgotten to ask what happened after the war.

She loved Austin; she was sure of that. But the question was whether love was enough and whether it could survive the three months with an impossible task while living in a castle where everyone was already painting her as the villain.

She didn’t have the answer.