Etiquette

Breakfast was served quickly when they entered the dinning room. Rose was amused as she watched the horrified look on Margaret's face when she saw the food in front of her. How long had this woman been a vampire that she thought food was terrifying.

Noticing her mother's reaction, Victoria quickly nudged her with her elbow. "Just give it a try. You might like it."

"If you don't want to eat, don't force yourself," Caleb said as he looked at his aunt unhappily. "But don't ruin the atmosphere."

Margaret's teeth grinded as her nephew whom was decades younger than her lectured her once again. She pushed down the anger and resentment in her heart, vowing to take revenge on him once her daughter was sitting on the throne as the rightful queen.

Rose silently took her fork and dug into her eggs. She tried to be as elegant as possible, knowing the two women would find fault with her if she was too sloppy. She knew however, no matter how hard she tried to be proper, they were going to give her a hard time. This was proven as Margaret began to reprimand her.

"As the future queen, you will be the example to look up to. You must lead others properly. Look at my daughter, even while eating, she shows charm and elegance," Margaret said as she frowned at the human. "You should let her give you lessons in dinning etiquette."

"My wife doesn't need to learn something so useless. It is not a requirement as queen. I understand that you're old, but no one cares about things like dinning etiquette anymore aunt, you should know that," Caleb said as he glared at his aunt. "Besides, my wife is perfect. She is elegant enough and more than deserving to stand by my side as queen."

Victoria looked down at her plate, forcing herself to swallow back the many insults she wanted to throw at the human. Her face turned red as her heart ached. She had been taught how to be proper since she was a little girl. She had spent years of her life perfecting her manners and etiquette to try and be a suitable wife for him, but Caleb was now saying things like that didn't matter. How much time had she wasted then?

Margaret scoffed, angry that her nephew had called her old. She wasn't old! She was still young and beautiful! His words only fueled her anger and resentment towards the human. "She is the queen. She will be the example for everyone to follow. How can we allow-"

"You have no say when it comes to my wife. What is or isn't allowed is not up to you." The anger radiated off of Caleb, making the atmosphere in the room colder by the second. "If this is all you have to say, you can leave."

Rose gulped nervously, cheeks turning red with shame. While she had taken lessons in etiquette back home, it had never been important to her, so she had always slacked off. Who would have thought something so trivial would be so important to vampires. It's not like they were living in old times. This was the 21stcentury. No one cared about things like that anymore. It's not like they were dinning with royals! They were simply having a meal at home.

Caleb looked at Rose and frowned, noticing her emotions. His mood became colder when he watched her frown. He reached out and grabbed her hand. He pressed his lips on the back of her hand as he met her eyes. "Don't listen to this nonsense. You're perfectly fine the way you are. Something so insignificant doesn't deserve your attention, much less your worry."

She smiled and nodded, touched by his words. He really knew how to ease her mind. "Thank you," she said with a smile

Margaret was furious! Since when was the "future queen" allowed to act like a barbarian? There were clearly rules to follow! Her daughter had been taught how to act like a queen since she was born! How could this human be better than her daughter when she didn't even know how to eat properly?

After a few more minutes of silence, Rose finally put her utensils down. "I'm done," she said as she looked at Caleb.

"Let's go," he said as he stood up and walked to the back of her chair to help her up.

"Wait!" Victoria exclaimed quickly when she watched them ready to walk away. "Weren't we going to go for a walk?"

Rose froze on her way out. Dammit. She had forgotten she agreed to hang out with this woman to get away from this wolf. The corners of her lips twitched as she watched Caleb frown unhappily.

"Another time," Caleb said as he led her towards the door once again.

Victoria had to swallow her anger as she watched them walk out of the dinning room. She grabbed the plate in front of her and smashed it on the table. This was too humiliating!

"Calm down!" Margaret said as she watched her daughter lose her composure. "There will be plenty of chances to get close to her. We will be here for a while. It will be impossible not to get alone time with her while we stay here."

Victoria took a deep breath to calm her emotions. "You're right. It's the first day, so that little bitch is probably hesitant to be alone with us." The corner of her lips lifted into a grin as she thought about the future. She had to be patient. She had to remember the reward she would receive at the end. "It's alright. We'll have to act nice and be patient in order to gain her trust. But, mom, you have to stop acting like this. She will never trust us if you keep scolding her publicly!"

Margaret sighed deeply. "I can't help it! She has no poise or manners! It's clear that you're better than her in every way!" She grinded her teeth angrily as she thought about how the little bitch had stolen what belonged to her daughter. "I don't understand why Caleb chose her instead of you!"

Her mother's words only served to remind Victoria that she had been abandoned for a human. She grinded her teeth angrily. "If you had listened to me and let me come sooner, this would have never happened!" she said as she glared at her mother.

Margaret scoffed. "You're blaming me now? Do you think I didn't send you to him because I didn't want to?" she asked upset as she recalled how many times she had asked Caleb to let Victoria stay by his side. "Your father and I practically begged him to let you live with him once you became old enough. You know very well he refused every time."

Victoria's mood worsened with her mother's words. Her eyes turned cold and dangerous. "We should have never listened to him! I should have forced my way in here! What could he have done to me? He has already humiliated me by breaking off our engagement."

Margaret frowned as she recalled the humiliation they had suffered once words got out that Caleb had broken off the engagement to her daughter. They had been the laughing stock of every elite family around them. They had been mocked relentlessly, saying that Victoria wasn't good enough to be queen. But, that was nothing compared to the insults that were thrown at them once everyone found out Caleb was taking an insignificant human as his bride. They were so embarrassed that they had stopped going out at all.

"If I had taken the opportunity, I would have been able to get closer to him and that little bitch would have never gotten the chance to steal what's mine!"

"It's too late for regrets now!" Margaret said as she sighed unhappily. "All we can do now is stick to the plan and get rid of her as soon as possible."

Victoria frowned, fighting back the anger and resentment she felt towards her mother for having talked her out of forcing her way into Caleb's house back then. She had really fucked up. From now on, she would not take any more chances by listening to her stupid mother. She would do what she wanted, when she wanted. It would be the only way she would feel at ease.

"Don't look at me like that. It's not like I physically stopped you. If you really wanted to, you could have still come." Margaret frowned. "But you know very well why you didn't. You knew he would never accept you and you were terrified of being rejected."

Victoria felt the humiliation she had endured these past few years return. She had suffered ridicule from high noble families because Caleb had rejected her. Everyone knew she was Caleb's fiancée. She had spent her whole life showing off and basking in the glory that came with the title of future queen. When they heard he had broken off the engagement, she had become the joke of the century. No one treated her with respect as the abandoned and unwanted ex-fiancée. It was almost impossible to find friends, let alone find a suitable husband. Not that she wanted someone else. Her heart had always been set on Caleb. She had been born to be his wife and the future queen, so how could she give up and find an ordinary man? Never! She would fight to get her man and her throne back at any cost!