Chapter 201: The Special Guests
A guard stepped in to announce, "Her Majesty is here."
With that, he stepped aside, and the doors were pushed open fully. Queen Viva entered the room, dressed in a luxurious olive-green gown whose sweeping train glided elegantly across the floor. A golden crown rested atop her head, gleaming under the soft light.
She sashayed into the room with effortless arrogance, and the maids immediately bowed deeply. Evelyn, however, merely rose from her seat. She didn’t bow or show any courtesy as her vivid blue eyes met Viva’s pale green ones with open defiance.
Viva narrowed her eyes at the silent rebellion but smirked victoriously. After all, there was nothing Evelyn could do now. Everything had already been set in motion, especially with her special guests in attendance.
Viva gave Evelyn a staged, saccharine smile. "Oh, Princess Evelyn, don’t you look so lovely, all dolled up!"
Her gaze slid toward the maids standing stiffly along the wall, still bowing, and she added sweetly, "You all did a wonderful job. Each of you will receive a raise as a reward."
The maids’ eyes widened at the unexpected generosity, and they bowed even lower. "We thank Her Majesty for her generosity," they chorused.
"Very well, you may leave now," Viva said, her voice dripping honey.
The maids bowed to both women and hurried out of the room. Once the door shut, Viva turned back to Evelyn, her eyes sweeping over her from head to toe. Her gaze paused on the golden bracelet still clasped securely around Evelyn’s wrist. Satisfied to see everything in place, she gave a small, inward nod.
"So, Princess," she sang in a false sweetness coating her every word, "how does it feel to be an engaged woman today?"
Eve’s eyes hardened at her question. "Like someone is choking you little by little," she replied evenly.
The queen’s smile stretched into a grin before she burst out laughing. Her cold laughter echoed through the room before she said, "Oh...my dear Princess Evelyn, I must say...I will truly miss that sharp tongue of yours once all of this is over."
"Why? Is it because Her Majesty cannot stand the truth, so she decided to cut it off?" Evelyn asked, completely unfazed, as if she hadn’t just spoken casually about her own tongue being severed.
Viva’s eyes widened at the audacity before she fell into another crackling laugh, one that made Evelyn want to shove a cloth in her mouth just to silence the sound.
Viva clicked her tongue, "Well...let’s see how long you can continue speaking like that when you meet my guests tonight. In fact, you won’t even have to wait that long."
As if on cue, a knock echoed through the room. The door opened, and Jareld slipped inside. He bowed and said, "Your Majesty, they are here."
The smirk on her face widened, and her eyes twinkled as if she had just been handed a gift. She briefly turned to Jareld, "Well, send them in."
Then she looked back at Evelyn, "Let’s see if you can continue to keep wiggling that sharp tongue of yours, princess," she whispered with a vicious smile that would have made anyone else’s stomach churn.
But Evelyn only stared back at her with a blank expression and icy blue eyes.
She had reached a state of mind where nothing the queen did could terrify her anymore, not after witnessing Ivan fall into the queen’s dark influence. Every other horror paled in comparison to that. So she simply waited....to see what the queen had planned next.
But she didn’t have to wait long. Another knock echoed through the quiet room before the royal guards pushed the doors open.
Two figures stepped inside with their graceful and unhurried footsteps tapping softly against the marble floor. The man’s blue robe and the woman’s navy gown trailed elegantly behind them with each step they took.
It was only then that Evelyn broke her cold, unwavering stare from the wicked queen and turned her gaze toward the newcomers.
And the moment her deep blue eyes met another pair of equally icy, piercing blue ones, which was so very much like her own, her eyes slowly widened in shock at who stood before her.
Time itself seemed to hold its breath.
She had thought she wouldn’t see him again, at least not for at least another three years. And yet...here he was.
Standing as elegant and regal as ever. Ageless and untouched by time. His long, lustrous blonde hair framed a face too perfect to be mortal, and his icy, deep blue eyes reflected a cold, ancient light. Every refined line of his features bore the unmistakable mark of the pure-blooded Lumen royalty.
King Solan Lumeath Starforged.
Her father.
The two of them simply stared at each other, frozen in place. None of them greeted each other, nor held any warmth, not even the slightest bit. Months had passed, an entire season had come and gone. Worlds had fallen apart and been stitched back together again, and yet...they had nothing to say to each other.
Evelyn’s mind went blank for a few moments as she looked at the man who was supposed to be her father in flesh and blood, standing there with not even a trace of kindness in his flawless face.
A small, mirthless chuckle echoed in her thoughts.
Why was she even surprised?
Why had she expected anything different from a man whose heart was as hollow and cold as the light he wielded?
’He abandoned me long ago...and now that he’s here, it only means one thing: he’s here to abandon me to a pack of hyenas all over again.’
The thought struck Evelyn with a bitter clarity. She truly wondered then, had he ever loved her at all? Was she even his child to begin with?
As the initial shock of seeing him faded, old memories clawed their way back to the surface. Memories of the torment she endured in his castle in Luminear. Memories of being cast aside, of him sending her away without so much as a glance back. He hadn’t even come to see her off.
And then, like a dam breaking, the weight of betrayal crashed down on her.
Why had she suffered all her life?
Why had she endured humiliation, cruelty, and loneliness for so many years?
Because of him!
He was the one who had sealed away her powers. He was the one who placed that cursed locket around her neck, leaving her weak, helpless, and defenceless. All while she endured the physical, mental, and verbal abuse of his so-called new wife and son.
All because of him!
Her eyes, already devoid of warmth, hardened into a harsh glare as she looked at him with pure disdain, as every bitter memory rose like a storm in her mind. Her jaw clenched as the rage shimmering inside her grew wilder with each passing second, she looked at him.
King Solan, seeing his so-called daughter after so long, silently took in her features...features that reminded him painfully of his deceased wife. It was as though he were staring at her shadow rather than at Evelyn herself. The longer he looked, the more he realised how drastically she had changed.
The eyes that once held quiet kindness and sorrow, the eyes he had always dismissed....now glared back at him with cold, unrestrained fury.
And for the first time, Solan was taken aback. For a heartbeat, he wondered if this was truly Evelyn at all, and soon a slight frown settled on his face.
When neither of them made a move to speak or acknowledge each other, Viva finally broke the silence.
"King Solan, Queen Elara, it is so lovely to see you both again," she said with practised sweetness. "Just as I promised, I made sure you would reunite with your daughter. Doesn’t Princess Evelyn look lovely?" Viva’s eyes glittered with amusement as she watched father and daughter struggle even to acknowledge each other’s presence.
It was then that Evelyn finally broke her eye contact with her father and turned her gaze to the woman beside him, the very woman who was the source of all her misery. The one who had caged her, tortured her, humiliated her at every passing second without a shred of regard for the basic respect any living, breathing being deserved, let alone a royal Queen Elara Lumeath Starforged.
Elara, who stood quietly beside King Solan, observed Evelyn’s changed demeanour in silence. All her life, she had watched this girl grow into a woman. She had personally taken it upon herself to tame Evelyn since childhood, breaking her spirit, moulding her into something compliant, something harmless. And it had been all the easier when her husband showed not even the slightest concern for his daughter.
She narrowed her sharp, dark green eyes at Evelyn, studying the clear, unabashed disdain etched across her face and thought that maybe it was indeed a big mistake to have sent her away from the kingdom.
Still wanting to test the waters, Elara finally spoke, "Thank you for having us here, Queen Viva, and also," her dark green eyes slid back to meet Evelyn’s cold blue ones, "for taking such good care of our daughter. We are glad to see you again, Princess Evelyn. I hope you still remember how to greet your parents...unless the academy has been teaching you to forget your basic royal etiquette rather than reinforcing the correct ones."
