*Long Chapter*

-Jade-

Jade was on her own. All eyes, but William's, were fixed on her but no one said a word. There was not a single person for her to turn to with questions or concerns. The only one she could ask was her governess, but she wasn't there. Jade wanted her governess to tell her what to say or not to say. The silence in the room was accompanied by an indescribable tension which made her feel uncomfortable and not wanted.

There was no warm welcoming. William did not introduce her to his parents like Elizabeth said he would either. In a way it was of course obvious who she was, but it would have been nice if he had made the effort to properly introduce her to his parents. Especially since it was William who had arranged this whole marriage-thing.

What's happening...? Why doesn't anyone say something? She thought and started feeling nauseous from anxiety. The queen kept scrutinizing her with cold eyes. It almost felt like she was trying to kill her with just her icy looks. Carefully, Jade raised her eyes and met the queen's. They were cold and hard. Anger almost poured out of them. 

Why does she look so angry? What have I ever done to her? 

Suddenly, the king cleared his throat, waved a finger at the servants and they instantly started serving them food and poured wine into their glasses. A covered silver platter was placed in front of Jade and its lid was removed. Beneath laid a whole chicken with steaming potatoes and thick brown gravy next to it. Jade's mouth watered from the vision and the divine smell of it all, but she felt a bit overwhelmed. This chicken could easily have fed her entire family for one evening with some potatoes on the side. How was supposed finish this all on her own? Did they really expect her to eat it all? She looked at her platter with hungry eyes but didn't reach for her cutlery.

I don't even know which of these I am supposed to use... She thought when she realized that there was more than one set of forks and knives. She glanced at William. He hadn't reached for his yet. I'll just wait and see which ones he uses. 

A moment later everyone started eating in complete silence. The food was the single most delicious thing Jade had ever had, but she paced herself while eating. She could not eat, in front of a king and queen, as she had done with William at the inn. She studied William when he didn't notice, and then cut her food into equally as small pieces as he did his before eating.

It will all be cold before I will have a chance to eat it if I have to cut everything in such small pieces. She thought in frustration. 

There was still silence. Until the king finally cleared his throat again and drank some wine before speaking. "So... What do my gentlemen think of her?" He asked loudly so that the four men could hear him clearly. He pointed his knife in Jade's direction. "What do you think of the girl that my son has chosen as his bride?" He asked and ate another piece of his chicken. 

The four men stopped eating and looked at Jade. She looked at William for some form of help but he wasn't paying her or the others any attention. He just ate and did not utter a single word. No presentation, not a sound left him. Jade turned her eyes back to the men and then lowered her eyes to her plate. They studied her like she was a newly bought horse or some sort of object. One of them had smiled a little bit but it didn't calm her down.

"A very fine choice." One of them said encouragingly. "She looks like-"

"She looks like he found her in the woods." The queen harshly interrupted. Jade's eyes widened in confusion but didn't look up, instead she kept them lowered. This was surely not what the man had intended to say, but he didn't finish his sentence after the queen's comment, maybe in fear of offending her. However, no one seemed bothered by the fact that the queen had ruthlessly offended Jade. 

"Yes... Well, that is... Perhaps." The man said after having stuttered out a group of incoherent words. It appeared like he wanted to please the queen even though he might not agree with her. He adjusted his collar as if he was nervous that the queen was staring at him. He didn't have to be, because her eyes were fixed on Jade. She could feel them on her even though she hadn't raised her eyes to confirm it. 

"What do you think, Black?" The king asked another one of the men. "Is she not beautiful?"
Jade listened for the answer but didn't dare to look up in case she met the queens scolding eyes again. The king, on the other hand, sounded sincere about the compliment, and not like he was making fun of her.

"Very beautiful, indeed!" The man named Black said. "She looks strong and will surely bless your son many strong heirs, my king!"

"Indeed she will." The king chuckled. "She might be from a lower class, but I hardly think that matters."

The queen hissed something underneath her breath to her husband. Whatever he had answered her, she seemed very displeased with and it sparked an argument between the two. A low mumbling erupted at their end of the table which wasn't meant for anyone's ears but theirs. While this was happening, William still hadn't said a single word.

Must be nice to be able to ignore everyone... Jade thought and some part of her hoped that he could hear her thoughts.

During throughout the main course, Jade endured more of the queen's cruel comments without any support or interventions from William. The king had stopped the terror at times by asking his guests questions out of the blue. This took the heat of Jade, but only momentarily. However, the peace only lasted shortly before the queen continued ripping Jade to shreds, purely on the base of her social class and lack of noble blood.

What bothered Jade incredibly, was that William still wasn't saying anything. Absolutely no words left him as Jade was terrorized by his mother. He didn't even seem to care about the things she said about Jade.

As their dinner plates were removed by the servants, Jade could feel her father's temper rise inside her. The queen's everlasting berating words and snide comments about Jade had driven her to the edge.She had had enough. Although, now William was being questioned by the guests as to why he had come to choose Jade. His answers were short and not elusive. Jade didn't learn anything new about how or why he chose her. He skillfully dodged the questions, leaving them all in oblivion.

"You chose well either way, my prince..." One of the men said when William didn't give him the answers he wanted. Thereafter there were no more questions concerning the matter. "The girl looks exceptionally well built and is very fine to look at." He said and simultaneously kept a watchful eye out for the queens disliking gaze.

"Yes..." William muttered. "She will, as Black said, give me strong heirs. Hopefully." The last word dug into Jade as a scorching blade. He didn't think of her as anything else than a breeding opportunity. "If we're lucky, she will only give me sons." 

Jade's eyes watered from his words. She felt just as dirty as she had been when arriving in the courtyard, except now she felt dirty even though she physically wasn't. No one asked how she felt or what she wanted. It didn't matter to these people. 

As this wasn't enough, Jade heard the queen sigh hopelessly;

"I think the girls I presented to my son were more fitting then this one." She said bitterly and took a sip of her wine. She shot Jade a venomous look. "And they were more beautiful... But my son refused to even speak to them." She sighed at the end. For the first time during the queen's berating of Jade, she saw William looking up from his plate.

"The girls you wanted me to court were inbred harlots." He answered darkly. "Dear mother..." he added afterwards but there was no affection in his voice. 

The queen looked so offended that Jade thought she was going to throw something at him. The king, however, was laughing and seemed to agree with his son. Jade felt trapped in some sort of domestic quarrel which didn't concern her, only it did. It concerned her very much since she was the reason for the disagreement. 

"It is true, my dear." The king laughed and put his hand over his wife's. She ripped it away from him. "We need new blood to make strong heirs."

"Strength does not come with blood of a commoner." The queen spat. "Royal blood is not to be mixed the likes of farmers or their children." She continued. "Think of the diseases she might be bringing here... and how she will tarnish our blood line."

Jade flinched at the extremely rude comment. She wanted to scream. It felt like she was boiling within. Soon Jade would lose control and assure that spiteful woman that she wanted to be here just as much as the queen wanted her here. Jade took a deep breath and looked directly at the queen as she struggled to stay in control. The battle was short, she had been driven to the edge of her sanity throughout the dinner. 

"Mind you - your grace- that I didn't choose to come here. I am just as unhappy about this arrangement as you are." Jade said with a stern voice. She simply couldn't take another word from the woman at the other side of the table.

The room turned dead silent. The four guests stopped eating and one of them dropped even his knife onto his plate. The king stopped moving while having reached for his glass, and the queen was staring blankly at Jade. Her mouth was open in shock. Jade's outburst had made her jaw drop. Jade didn't look at William but she felt his gaze on her. She squirmed in her seat and pushed her chair back. On nervous legs, she got out of her seat.

"How dare you speak to me as though you are my equal?" The queen gasped. "Remember your place girl!" She hissed. "And may I remind you that we are not, and will never be, equals." 

Jade felt a twitch in the right corner of her mouth. She wanted nothing more than to be free of this woman's presence as much she wanted to be rid of Jade's. "Right you are, your grace. However, your behavior is not becoming of a queen. Instead of berating me, aim your sharp tongue towards the person who brought me here." Jade snapped back.

She then clasped her hands in front of herself. "Your son is the person responsible for your sorrows." She continued while pointing at William with an open hand. All the while, she gave him a very dark look. He met her gaze and he definitely didn't look like he didn't care anymore. The dark blue eyes had widened from her words and if Jade wasn't mistaken, they expressed sadness. Sadness, which then quickly turned into anger.

"Do not take your displeasure out on me. I was fine where I was, until someone decided to take me away from everything I know." Jade then turned her gaze back to the queen. "Do not treat me like I wanted to come here and ruin everything for you; because I would rather be where you think I belong." Jade took a deep breath when she was done and held her head high.

Silence hung in the air for a couple of seconds. Then the king suddenly burst into laughter. He wasn't laughing at Jade she could tell. He was laughing because she had told the queen off. Jade kept eye contact with the only other woman in the room. It scared the life out of her and she was trying her very best not to start crying in front of them all. The level of anger and distress made her shake and she felt the urge to cry but forced herself not to. 

The queen was speechless, but fuming.

Jade stormed out when no one said anything. She kept her tears from falling until the guards closed the door behind her. Her governess, who had been waiting on the other side of the door, flinched violently when chaos erupted in the dining room. Jade could hear William and his mother get into a loud argument with the king trying to mediate best he could. He seemed to fail immensely because they kept screaming at each other. It wasn't possible to make out what they said exactly, but she could guess that it had to do with her, almost certainly. Then Jade flinched as well when the sound of something breaking reached them.

"What happened?" Her governess gasped.

"I happened." Jade sniffled. "Please take me to where I am supposed to sleep..." She whispered, crossing her arms over her chest. They both flinched when the king bellowed at his family to stop fighting. "I don't want to see anyone for the rest of the night."

"But I think he wants-" The woman started and pointed towards the door. She was referring to William.

"Especially not him if you are talking about the prince." Jade interrupted. "I do not want to see, or speak to him."

- William -

William stormed out a while after Jade had left. His mother was dripping with rage from Jade's retaliation while he had loved every second of it. He had enjoyed every syllable that came out of her apart the part where she said that he was the blame for her unhappiness. It was the sole thing that had bothered him during dinner; knowing that she didn't want to be here. Nonetheless, if he hadn't known that Jade was the one for him before, he did now. 

When the door closed behind him, he was surprised to not find Jade and her governess, Elizabeth on the other side of the door. He had told Elizabeth that he wanted to escort Jade to her chambers himself after dinner. He wanted a moment of privacy with Jade and maybe get the chance to talk to her. 

Elizabeth must have taken to her chamber... He deduced and went to see if this was the case. He was right. When he arrived, the door to Jade's chamber was left ajar. It was just enough for him to be able hear them, standing close on the outside of the door. He stood quietly and listened for a couple of seconds. To his heart's despair, he could hear Jade cry from within the chamber.

Every sob that left her pained him greatly. He didn't know what to do to make her feel better or how stop crying. Without a sound he opened the door a little, even though he knew very well that is was incredibly inappropriate. He discreetly stepped in with half of his body visible, the rest was covered by the door.

The sight which met him was pure torture; Jade was sitting with her face buried in her arms, leaning crying over a desk so much that her shoulders trembled. Elizabeth stood behind her, combing the long dark brown hair gently. She was humming a lullaby and it appeared to be to soothe Jade.

William grimaced in agony and then returned to the other side of the door. Without a sound, he stood outside and tried to stay in control over the pain Jade's crying caused him. He failed. I need to talk to her... I need to tell her why she is here. He ran his fingers through his hair, which still needed to be cut. Maybe I can... I can tell her now. 

With a slightly trembling hand, he knocked on the door. Exhaling heavily as he waited for a response. The sound of Jade sobbing loudly in surprise reached him. Footsteps approached the door and then Elizabeth stood in front of him. As soon as she saw that it was him, she walked out into the corridor and closed the door behind her. She tried to keep his presence unknown to Jade, but why?

"Yes, you grace?" She whispered. 

"How..." He didn't find the words he needed. This happened seemed to happen whenever he tried to show some sort of affection towards Jade. It was so hard. He always said the wrong things and this made him panic. "Is she-"

"She does not wish to see anyone." Elizabeth declared, like she could read his mind. "Your mother has outdone herself this time." She said and nodded at the door, referring to the crying girl inside. "Poor thing..."

"I know..." William sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. An expression he rarely saw in Elizabeth's face appeared: silent anger.

"Then why not say something?" She hissed, barely hiding her disrespectful tone.

"It wouldn't have made any difference." William answered.

"Nonsense!" Elizabeth exclaimed. "How could you let your mother treat her like that? Why didn't you defend her?" He felt like a child getting scolded as Elizabeth went on. "I thought you wanted the her to stay here?"

"I do, but it is my mother we are speaking of! You know as well as me that there is no reasoning with her. Especially when she doesn't get her way!" He replied.

Elizabeth gave him a very disappointed look and it reminded him of the ones she had given him as a child when he had misbehaved. "The girl doesn't know that!" She snapped at him. "My dear boy, for your sake, I hope you will take good care of her. You better make sure she is treated well! If not; I promise you that you will wake up one morning and she will be gone!" Elizabeth hissed. William had never seen her like this. This was another level of anger in Elizabeth.

"What?" He asked, fear crawling through his body.

Has Jade told Elizabeth that she will leave?

"Unlike those dumb girls your mother keep bringing here, Jade is a very smart young girl. She will leave if this is what you have planned for her. She won't accept this. The girl in that room," Elizabeth pointed at the door. "deserves more than this, William!" With those words, she went back inside and went left him speechless.

-Jade-

"Who was it?" She sniffled when her governess came back in.
"One of the girls." The woman answered. She was a bit out of breath, as if she had been talking, a lot, but not breathed between sentences.

"Sounds like you scolded her..." Jade stated and dried her cheeks from tears.

"I did." The woman replied simply. "How else will they learn?" She muttered. Jade shrugged her shoulders. "Stand up, child. Let me get you out of those clothes." She sighed and started untying the strings at Jade's chest.

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I hope you liked it this chapter! 

Updated: 25th of September 2020 

Love, Jenny